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I have a bit of a theme going lately, back to school. I was thinking about all the first year teachers my old school just hired and was then thinking about my first year teaching. I got very lucky my first year when I found an experienced teacher who took me under her wing. She helped me navigate all the school politics that I wasn’t expecting and also gave me helpful teaching tips. Now it’s time to give back. Here are a few of the things I learned.

School Politics

• During staff meetings don’t ask questions. Experienced teachers want to get out and will resent you. Instead, find a teacher you trust and ask him or her. If that doesn’t apply ask the secretary, principal, or vice principal.
• About school secretaries. They know absolutely everything. Be very, very nice to them and chat them up if you want to know what is going on before everyone else.
• Be nice to everyone. This is less a political thing than a pet peeve. It irks me no end to see teachers being dismissive of the custodians. I loved all of our custodians, they kept my room running and watched out for my classes when I had subs.

Teaching Tips

• You are not there to be friends with the students. You are there teacher, it doesn’t matter if they hate you as long as you can keep them under control and teach them. This doesn’t mean be a total jerk to them, just don’t try to make them ‘like’ you. Just do your job.
• Don’t assign homework that will take you hours to grade. Homework is to help children learn but it isn’t the main point. You aren’t going to be allowed to base their grade on their homework so don’t kill yourself grading it.
• Don’t take on a lot of clubs and sports. This may not seem like a teaching tip, but it is. If you are spending a ton of nights and weekend time working on the extra stuff you’ll have less time for teaching stuff. You are there to teach, it needs to be your top priority. When done right it isn’t an easy job. Give yourself some time to learn the ropes before you jump into a lot of extras.

If you are a new teacher do you have any questions or need some advice? If you are an experienced teacher do you have any tips to add??

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Okay, first I should tell you that the healthy school lunch isn’t to be found in an American public school.  Chef Dominique Valadier is the man who purchases the majority of the food served at the school within a thirty mile radius of the school and then prepares it with little or no frozen ingredients.  All at the cost of about $3 per student.  If you want the full story you can check it out here.  Makes cafeteria food sound yummy!

So here is what I was wondering…why can’t we do the same kind of thing here.  I mean I’ve heard the odd story about our schools getting healthier and you hear about the ‘war on obesity’ all the time BUT I don’t see many changes in actual school lunches.  At the schools I’ve worked at the usual lunches were pizza, some variety of meat nuggets, fried this and that.  Yes, we started having salads but they consisted of iceburg lettuce a few slices of tomato and cucumber and cheese.  Uhm…not so nutritionally superior in my opinion. 

Wouldn’t it be great if all public schools were required to follow health guidelines just as they are required to follow curriculum guidelines?  If the government is going to control the schools then dang it they could do something about the food while they were at it.  Or, and this is probably the solution I like better, they could privatize schools completely.  I’m pretty sure if parents were picking where their kids were going to school and had an influence in where their education dollars were going they’d be more vocal and more insistent in their cries for healthy food.

Do you think school lunchrooms should strive to make healthy food a priority?  Do you think the government should force public schools to serve healthy (and tasty, of course) food?  OR do you think the government should back off all the regulating and let the private sector take over?

Source: admin

This is what I’m talking about!  Some decent media coverage about putting education front and center in the presidential election.  It makes me happy that someone who can do something (as in not just me and my little blog) is trying to make this a national issue.  As a matter of fact the article says that polls are showing that education and the economy are ranking as more important than the war in Iraq. 

I was all kinds of shocked to hear that.  I mean the war in Iraq IS important and all of the men and women over there should definitely be in our minds this election season but that is what everyone is focusing on in the media.  There cause doesn’t need me to go around waving the banner.  Education on the other hand does need some banner waving. 

One last thing, I’m not by any means saying I’m with Watts on what he thinks needs to be done with education but any discussion at all is better than what I have been seeing!

Do you think education will play an important role in the presidential election this year or am I just dreaming??

Source: admin

As a follow up to the adverb video thought I’d post the Grammar Rock adjective video.  An excellent and cute video.  Kids (heck adults for that matter) often learn better when something is put to music.

So is the song stuck in your head?  Do you love or hate these videos?

Source: admin

According to this article McCain is saying some things but nothing that I feel strongly one way or the other about.  The part of the article that really interested me is that McCain is to discuss his education platform at the end of summer.  I’m so excited that there will BE an education platform that I hardly know what to do with myself.  One assumes (yes, I know where assumptions can get me) that a platform might have actual information.  That would be so wonderful!  Don’t get me wrong I’m not going to go with a candidate just based on what he has to say about education but it is going to have a lot of pull.  After all, the way our children are taught will have one of the most long lasting affects on our country.  As a teacher I can tell you that I’m a bit worried about how our country is going to handle the generation that is coming up for graduation. 

What issues in education are you hoping McCain addresses at the ‘end of summer’?  I’m looking forward to some information about No Child Left Behind, vouchers, standardized tests and national standards.

Source: admin