Nice short …do you have the office clips on dvd? And what programs do you use to edit them?

Don’t smile before Christmas is total BS for me. Kids are fun and want to have fun, so if you tap into the fun part (within reason) they will learn more.

I worship maximizing time in the classroom. This means we start before the bell rings and usually run through the dismissal bell.

Also I worship on task behavior from students. Within that context of maximizing time and ‘on taskness’ i’ve found I can joke around more and create a lighter atmosphere while students are doing work. I can take 60 second and tell on outrageous story that relates to the material and students lives.

I’d say I also worship building relationships. I greet each student at the door on the way in everyday, and usually hit them with something…”How was practice yesterday?” “How is the musical going?” etc etc….

My two favorite shows are the Wire and The Office, so this blog has been a real treat. Particularly the Lester Freamon Quote from a few weeks ago “the job won’t save you Jimmy….what you need is a life” Seriously, why are they waiting until August to release season 5? I netflixed and ripped through every episode since March. Getting those discs in the mail is like a junkie fix for me.

Arthus…I see your point…but…when we go over the dismissal bell we are reviewing objectives from the day and previous days and/or starting homework assignments. It just leads to extra repetitions.

Starting before the bell means students are doing things like copying HW or daily objectives or getting notebooks ready or whatever other tasks there are while I take attendance etc…

I don’t think either of these things are a byproduct of poor planning.

Arthus- Duly noted…..Did you have a bad experience with this as a student or a teacher?? Keeping a class for 5 extra seconds to finish a point, while not perfect, isn’t the end of the world either.

Just to reiterate my comment that not everything works in every student body, we have a large enough school campus that we can’t keep students over the bell because some of them will be late for their next class. (There have been emails about this from the administration.)

This automatically nullifies certain advice (keeping students past the bell to maximize time, or Dan’s discipline method of keeping students past the bell).

Also, to end the hijacking situation, Die Hard style, I s’pose I worship insight: those rare moments when students take giant leaps and suddenly their brains (metaphorically speaking) become larger. Watching for this automatically builds patience, so it isn’t too bad a tendancy for a teacher. The downside is I get perhaps more upset than I ought when the students perform below their capability.

Dangit! I was all prepared to say that I absolutely do smile before Christmahanukwanzakah. So now I need to be wondering what *I* worship. Ok, I have it. Great point and thanks for bringing it to my attention in such a great way.

So how much did Smuckers, Wish Bone, and Dansani pay you for the product placement?

Wow, that’s deep. I’m glad I read the DFW thing first. I’ll have to get back to you.

(Nobody ever told me not to smile…? The most prevalent advice I got was along the lines of “be competent” (prepare, have a plan, be relaxed, be in charge, take out the nose ring, etc) which looking back was actually pretty helpful.)

I’ll be showing this to my new teachers this fall. If I had a nickel for every pointless referral the “Dwights” of the world send to my office…

On the flip side, the “Michaels” can push the student/teacher/friend relationship too far and end up in a compromising (or career-ending!) situation.

The one thing I try to communicate to the new and pre-service teachers with whom I work is simple: “Have fun!” It’s hard work, this teaching thing, and we need a reason to keep getting out of bed every morning if we’re going to keep at it for 25 or 30 years.

Not that every day is going to be great, but building positive rapport in an authentic way is the key to doing anything else productive in the classroom.

I, regrettably, spent my first year teetering back and forth between Michael and Dwight. So the question I need to figure out before September 1 is, what do I worship? And how to do I not blow that in the classroom my 2nd time around.

When does this teaching thang get easier?

Come on, you can’t lay down the bomb like that without fessing up?

To play along, I know I have a bad tendency to value ideas over work. I’m much happier in a crackling discussion about ideas, values, and motivations (English teacher) than “on-task behavior.” I respect the idols of all but focusing on OTP feels so Fred Taylor-esque to depress me mightily.

Teaching techniques that I have learned from CSI Miami.

1. How to put on/take off sunglasses to make a point.
2. How to dress like a pro (I think we all know what I mean).
3. How to use the nifty computer where I can move things with my hands.
4. How to deal with Brazilian Gang Members (shoot them).
5. How to deal with comatose (or actually dead) students with real empathy.

Just saying there are things to learn everywhere.

Matt

I (and most of my friends) have some new courses and some old ones. Since that is what I know I cant really say how the dynamic changes if you have all new but I can speculate.

I think it would take you longer to find your flow if you have all new classes since you will have to spend more time on the low level problems (what problem should I use to teach the law of cosine) so you don’t have time to reflect on the more higher level question (My 2nd period class is much more engaged than my 4th, what is the difference and how do I adapt?)

In my opinion you need to fight to find time to reflect on the higher level and you cant do that until you have some premade preps to save you that time and some experience with many situations to think about.

But I do hope that all new classes a few years in doesn’t feel as hard as the 1st year since I am transferring from a regular Swedish high school to an IB school this fall and I will have a new syllabus and I will go from teaching in Swedish to English…. Wish me luck ;-)