Hedgetoad Teaching

The official drawing the comment number And the winner is….   Number 13! Debbie said “I love CSN. Thanks for the chance to win.” Congrats! And thanks to all who entered!

Over at Schools Matter – great response to the same shite-same answers speech given by Obama. Contest winners announced later today. Swim lessons in 20 minutes!

You watched the State of the Union speech right? Of course you did… and if you were like me, you were waiting with baited breath for something really inspiring. Or you had assigned your AP Language and Comp. students to watch the speech and identify the rhetorical strategies, so you could all discuss what BS fine elocution it was the following day. Either/Or. And the President did mention education. Nothing new. Race to the Top was a huge success! (for how many states?4?) And demanded changes that are not feasible or economically sound in many parts of the country… but whatev’s. Then he said “Become a teacher. Your country needs you.” Because, apparently, the country does not need the several thousand teachers who are about to be laid off – that would laid off… not fired for ineffective teaching. Laid off, because not only will the state of Washington (not a RTTT winner) cut funding next year, but they cut funding this year – after everyone was hired, books purchased, and pro...

Free Stuff! What a great way to start a week! A little somthin’-somthin’ for my peeps. (does sound hokey? ‘cause it sounds totally smooth in my head). CSN.com is letting me hand out a little gift card to one lucky reader! And by little, I mean, a substantial amount. $50 smackers. 50 semoleons. 50 clams, baby. Which can buy you something very nice to make your January quite fun or your Valentine’s Day a little more romantic.  CSN is comprised of over 200 online stores, where you can find everything from Delsey luggage to Le Creuset cookware! How styling would I look with this set, while attending my first AP reading? This has a definite wow factor! Yes! I was asked… still waiting for my district to work out the details as it takes place while we are still in school. No one can make the decision at this point because, well… there is no more money anywhere. I’ll know for sure by next week. Enough of school politics! This will be one of those giveaways with fantastic odds! Unfortunat...

Is it just me or does this time year make every one a little kooky? I can't decide if it's the weather, wrestling season (was there ever a more annoying sport for teachers? starved adolescent boys and girls sleeping in class... fun!) or semester end looming. I'm looking for some fun ideas to do with poetry - something that will get everyone in a better mood and moving around but still include those durned learning targets! Ideas?

I started reading Counting Coup during my reading class – good example and all that good stuff. It was one of the books suggested during my college days to help give us a multi-cultural background. While I’m wasn’t so sure about the assignment (in fact, I believe it was changed after I graduated), the book always lingered in the back of my mind. This summer the title resurfaced in a discussion about Native American texts. While I’m not sure I would characterize the book as a “Native American text”, it was a pretty good read. Basically, the story follows a high school basketball team in a small town in Montana. Although the high school is not on a Reservation, it is located near enough that nearly half of the population is Native American.  Initially, the narrator came to the town to follow a boys basketball team and discover why almost no Native Americans end up playing after their high school career has ended. After his first trip to the nearby reservations, however, he discov...

Back to the grindstone! I’m sure that spirits will be high, and there will be not much of a chance to get much done – I know I’m DYING to find out who got a new XBox Kinex and who got an Ipod Touch.

Yah, you know I totally love to make resolutions. I make them ALL the time! It’s Monday… time for a new resolution! It’s July… time a for a new resolution! I like to think of it as continual improvement and adjustment. 1. Obviously, my resolution for school is to, again, keep up with grading. For the rest of the semester, I think that will show up more as projects – wherein students are working for several days on a finished product, rather than having an assessment of their learning almost every day. And to quit screwing around during my prep period talking to people about stuff that doesn’t really need to be talked about, like who is going to make me loose my mind that day. 2. Sadly, although I received a Mimio for my classroom several weeks ago, I have yet really pull it out the box. I haven’t had the time to explore with it or even figure out how to plug it in. Hopefully, I’ll do that this year! 3. Be more organized! Actually, I did quite a lot of organization this summer – ...