Meeting The Needs Of All Students

Recently, in one of my classes, we’ve discussed the needs of academically gifted children in the classroom. This has been an eye-opening subject for me and I have to admit that I’ve rarely given this student demographic much thought. This is a group that is as deserving of quality, need-meeting education as at-risk students. Somehow, AIG students are often overlooked and underappreciated. I hope to be a teacher that can scaffold my lessons to meet the needs of every student in my class. I don’t want any student to feel unchallenged, unimportant, or unmotivated.

Let Them Eat 'pi'

Happy Pi Day everyone!

http://www.piday.org/

"Overwhelmedness"

Sometimes I feel overwhelmed. Every now and then the demands of my personal life, my work life, and my academic life collide in a way that is decidedly not very pretty. My wife is amazing at helping me realize when I've said 'yes' to too many things and haven't focused on the things that are really important. I imagine that educators must feel overwhelmed quite often. Actually, I can't see how they don't feel overwhelmed continually! I'm curious to learn what strategies that teachers employ to help combat stress, burn-out, and frustration.

Staying Focused

During this morning’s commute I heard a story on the radio about a local soldier who will be receiving the Purple Heart today. He was seriously injured while deactivating an explosive. While his bravery, valor, and dedication are certainly contributing factors in the decision to award him such a prestigious medal, his ability to intensely focus on the job at hand with a huge number of life-threatening distractions taking place simultaneously must also be a characteristic of his personality. I hope that I can maintain focus on the best educational interests of my future students in the midst of all the events of a typical school day. Knowing that my future students are learning and experiencing new things will be all the commendation I need.

No Brakes on Learning

While driving through downtown Raleigh this morning, I noticed a person in a blue Toyota speed through a red light. I thought, what if that person was pulled over by the police and issued a traffic violation, could that person contest the ticket based on Toyota’s recent bought of vehicle component failures? That thought led me to envisioning lesson plans and extension activities that can integrate Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion. Although tragic, this current event could be the impetus for further education and some hands-on learning.

Of Cookies and Educators

It’s Appreciation Week at my daughter’s school this week and I’ve got a batch of cookies in the oven as we ‘speak’. Maybe it’s the late hour or the delicious smell of baked goods, but I think there’s a definite connection between cookies and teaching. When you bake cookies, you have to follow the instructions (unless you’re a great baker and know all the steps by heart…unlike me…I need instructions!) and teachers give instructions that have to be followed. The simpler the instructions, the better. That makes for easy cookies and flourishing students. The right ingredients are crucial to the cookie’s taste and the right classroom ingredients, like thoughtfully designed lessons, engaging activities, the use of best practices, and skillful assessment are critical the student’s success. When combined, the instructions and the ingredients can give rise to something truly wonderful.

Linguine & Salmon

I am a horrible lunch packer. For myself anyway. My children do a great job packing their own lunch everyday, but this is task that I really need more practice in. With that said, I was thinking about how a good lunch is an important part of the day for everyone, not just children. There are a lot of websites devoted to helping parents find new and nutritious (new-tritious? Hmmmm…) lunchtime food alternatives for their children. I’ve determined the problem with most of the web recipe ideas is that many of them view children as little people who will be excited to try something new and interesting for lunch. Most adults I know don’t want ‘new and interesting’ for lunch. They want familiar and yummy. Here is a sampling of some lunch ideas for children that I found on-line today: Easy Clam Chowder, Lemon & Garlic Tiger Prawns, Lime Marinated Pink Salmon, Easy Linguine with Clams, and Slow Roasted Salmon with Cucumber Dill Sauce. Seriously? I’ve never, ever seen a child break out some Tiger Prawns in a lunchroom, or known a parent to wake up at 3am to slow roast the pink salmon for their little one’s lunchbox. As a future teacher, I feel like it’s a responsibility to model the behavior I expect from my future students so I’m going to make a concerted effort now to follow the written suggestion my wife posted on the inside of our pantry and simply pack a lunch that follows the food pyramid. I’ll save the clam chowder for dinner.