Writing a poem

Newsletters

When I was teaching, I created monthly newsletters, but also had a classroom webageclass' web page for updates on the new year.
Including links to our newsletters.
Plus a new math resource page.

Students bullying teachers: professional boundaries

This is an issue that will only increase in this millennium. Teacher training is key.
Teachers should never be alone with students. This is something the faculties need to teach student teachers. The same principle applies on-line.
Teachers should refrain from on-line interactions of a personal nature. Keep it professional.
Horror stories abound.

I had students send me dirty jokes. These were grade 6 students. They sent them to me at my school board's email, which the board has the right to monitor. The students were also sending vulgar photos they purported to be jokes. I told them they must stop this. It could have meant my job.

It is important to keep a professional boundary between yourself and your students. You are not their friends, you must be like their parent, unafraid to discipline and show them where the line is that they must not cross. Faculties are weak in the areas of classroom control, very weak in technology lessons.

When teachers are the bully's target

By Stephanie Goldberg, CNN

March 11, 2013 (CNN) – Several years ago, Brendesha Tynes was taken aback when she received an e-mail from one of her former students.

Reports from teachers say her case isn’t an anomaly. A 2011 study, "Understanding and Preventing Violence Directed Against Teachers,"reported 80% of about 3,000 K-12 teachers surveyed felt victimized by students, students’ parents or colleagues in the past year.

Teachers reported that students were most often behind the verbal intimidation, obscene gestures, cyberbulling, physical offenses, theft or damage to personal property.

Understanding and Preventing Violence Directed Against Teachers

Considerations for personnel preparation

Novice teachers should be informed about the potential of experiencing violence in their classrooms, and then equipped with preventative methods to minimize the probability. Teacher preparation programs need to include child and adolescent development courses where behavioral, neural and development principles are discussed. Classroom management/engagement should be included throughout the program and revisited when students are doing their student-teaching and practicum.  Teacher candidates should learn the integrated three-tiered models of prevention and understand the importance of intervening at the primary, secondary and tertiary level. They should be encouraged to view each student individually and tailor instruction appropriately. Preservice teachers and teachers who are currently practicing need to understand how some of their own responses to students could promote the conditions for violence in the classroom. Through professional development and in-service programming, current teachers could learn strategies to diffuse conflicts in order to prevent escalation such as techniques for interrupting the acting out cycle (Colvin, 2004).

What does preschool art look like?

Whatever you want it to look like. You find a box, crayons, glue, or open a bin of craft supplies. Allow them to choose the materials, allow them to choose the topic. Just let them go.

High School Entry Quiz 1925

This is an interesting piece of history. For the full quiz, visit Scribd. This is the first page.

Published by

Roberta Pennington

Harper High School - gangs and violence in US schools

For stories about the most amazing staff, you must visit this high school via This American Life.
This American Life segments are devoted to the violence affecting Harper High School. During the 2011-2012 school years, 29 current and former students were shot. Twenty-one were wounded; eight died.

Guns are rampant in this neighbourhood. It shows how horrible they are with drive by shootings by gangs, and young children who witness death on a regular basis. What has helped in this school are supportive funding, which is about to run out, for special needs schools. Their multi-million dollar budget is about to lose $1.6 million next year, with staff cuts, including these miracle teachers.
Schools who are at risk for violence, social and emotional ills best remedied by social work intervention, supportive staff, breakfast programs, computers, emergency housing and clothing.

"I appreciate you in advance for getting to class on time!" One social worker declares.
I remember using this tactic in my classrooms: "Thank you for putting that into the recycling!" referring to a piece of paper on the floor. They do, surprisingly.

"We are not selling crack. Pull your pants up, nobody wants to see the crack of your butt, baby!" the principal tells one student! They are corrected with boundless love, joy and humour.

Harper High School, a Chicago public school located on the south side, serving the West Englewood neighborhood. The school was founded in 1911, and was named after William Rainey Harper, a noted educator, biblical scholar and university president. Harper serves a primarily African American population of approximately 638 students.
This school isn't the only one. It is indicative of the realities of many inner city schools.
One tweet, from a listener:

xian barrett ‏@xianb8

@ThisAmerLife tried, but can't listen anymore. Live this everyday. We don't get turnaround $$, just blame. Buried 6 from my classes #tears

LAST WEEK

487: Harper High School, Part One

FEB 15, 2013

We spent five months at Harper High School in Chicago, where last year alone 29 current and recent students were shot. 29. We went to get a sense of what it means to live in the midst of all this gun violence, how teens and adults navigate a world of funerals and Homecoming dances. We found so many incredible and surprising stories, this show is a two-parter; Part One airs this week, Part Two is next week.

THIS WEEK

488: Harper High School, Part Two

FEB 22, 2013

We pick up where we left off last week in our second hour from Harper High School in Chicago. We find out if a shooting in the neighborhood will derail the school's Homecoming game and dance. We hear the origin story of one of Harper's gangs. And we ask a group of teenagers: where do you get your guns? Harper has set up a donation page here.

Finnish Lessons: What Can the Educational World Learn from Educational Change in Finland?

Here is an excellent article:

Want Improved Healthcare Performance? Treat Canadian Doctors Like Finnish Teachers

Steven Lewis

On February 17, 2013, CBC Radio Sunday Edition host Michael Enright interviewed Pasi Sahlberg, author of Finnish Lessons: What Can the Educational World Learn from Educational Change in Finland? Finland routinely scores in the top three among OECD countries, largely because it has rejected just about every North American shibboleth about how to improve education. Students start school at seven (though most enrol in the voluntary pre-school programs). Schools do not grade, rank, or stream students in the first six years. There is a single standardized test taken at age 16. Students get 75 minutes of recess a day. Schools set their own curricula based on very broad national guidelines. Teachers spend 4 hours a day in the classroom. No tough love, no back to the basics, no two hundred fifty day school years. No school sports teams and jock envy (want to play? Join an after school sports group). Yet somehow, at age fifteen, the kids who take the international standardized tests kick our butts (but neither they nor their schools learn the individual results).