Job Fair...

Well I am officially in Spokane and preparing for the job fair tomorrow. I have eaten a fine dinner and am satisfied as far as food. For all you fellow MTE'ers I wish you the best of luck if you are at the fair, unless you are a social studies person and I hope that I dominate you in all aspects of job searching. I know that is not the nicest thing to say, however the truth hurts and lets face it you want a job as bad as I do. Thanks for reading.

Seabass OUT!

Affinity Diagram

I was just reading about cooperative learning strategies online and came across this one that I think would be kind of cool to use in the classroom. It is called Affinity Diagram. This tool is an interesting method for gathering and organizing huge quantities of information (especially written or verbal comments) and allows participants to naturally group ideas and show the relationships between items and groups. All you need it 3x5 cards and a big idea, something that cannot be easily answered. Then put your students into groups of 2-3 and put up a massive question that they have to analyze writing on these 3x5 cards. I think that this would be a good at the end of a unit on the Civil War, World War I & II etc. I might try and use this when I cover WWII. Check out what I read at: http://literacy.kent.edu/eureka/strategies/cooperate_with_others.html

Fight Night 09'

Well if you have not already heard I broke my first fight up the other day. What a rush it was! I had just finished class and was headed to indulge in some Pendleton cafeteria food...oh how I love their food. Anyway, as I was walking I noticed two young ladies beating each other up. There were some great shots taken by both sides. The two young ladies went to the ground. I felt like I was watching a UFC fight. The second they hit the ground I dove in like a referee and split the fight up. My heart was racing and adrenaline was pumping. I successfully broke up my first "cat fight." Has anyone else had the opportunity to break up a fight at school? What would you do if this happened in your school?

Jigsaw Massacre

About two weeks ago in my World History class I tried to use Jigsaw with one of the chapters. This was a disaster because over half the students did not read and new nothing about their section. What are some methods that I could use to encourage my kids to read? Any examples? Thoughts? Help a brother out.

O'Brien on Swearing

I can honestly say that I have quite the potty mouth. And I have also found that many of the teachers that I work with also have bad mouths. However, I have noticed that many of you have posted about what to do about it.

I am going to take it upon myself to give you some ways to handle the bad mouths. First of all, if your grandma says it, it's probably not that big of a deal. Some cuss words are not that bad. A$$ and other such words just are not a big deal. So you don't need to freak out when you hear them.

Second, if you hear some of those really bad cuss words. Like really bad. Don't freak again. We are adults. I would correct the student using a different word and then walk away. Most the time they want to see what reaction that they are going to get from the words that they choose to use. And if you get a kid who doesnt get it. Wash his/her mouth out with soap....it worked on me when I was a kid! LOL. jk.

Call your congressmen!

This was a lesson that I had the chance to watch. It might sound familiar because Zach used this idea in his classroom. My cooperating teacher called Oregon senator Jeff Merkley and we spoke to one of his assistants over the speaker phone. The purpose of this was to show the students how easy it is to voice their opinion and concerns to their senators. We asked how he voted on the Stimulus Bill and when he would be in E. Oregon next. It was a great lesson and something that I would suggest to any Social Studies teacher that is covering the goverment.