Great quote

Dear student

I found this online, and can't take credit for it, but it absolutely deserves a repost. Love it!

 

Dear Student,

Resistance is futile. I am your personal, designated brick wall. 

If you write "111" as the answer for half the math assignment, I will tell you that I only send students to recess who have done their best on the assignment...and I WILL check. If you miss every single question on the science quiz because you're unhappy that you moved your number because of that inappropriate gesture in line, then I will calmly reply, "You know, I give science tests over and over and over and over again to students until they miss no more than 5." I wasn't really surprised that a student who could get every question wrong when they wanted could also ace the test when they tried. You were only 1 of 3 to receive 100%, by the way.

But most of all, my dear student, I wish I could whisper this truth into your soul: You really should let me win, because when I win, so do you.

So, tomorrow is Monday, dear student, and I'm prepared to communicate to you once again that resistance is futile. You may not know it, but I'm fighting for you.

Love,

Your Teacher

No Homework Binder

 

 

 

New year, new goals. This year, my students are going to be working on improving their study skills and discovering what will make them better students.  To help them with this, I've decided to implement the "no homework binder."



 

Each student has a page with their own name on it and a table that lists date, assignment name, and reason that the homework was not done. Every time a student does not have his homework, he will have to find his page in the binder and complete the table. Over time , we will be able to find out if there are patterns in the student's homework completion. For instance, a student who habitually forgets to turn in his weeklong math worksheet will see  this and work on remembering to complete it on Fridays. Love this for personal accountability! It's also a great tool to pull out at parent teacher conferences.

Coursera

Have you heard of Coursera? If not, you have to check it out. It's a website that offers free online classes from top universities throughout the world. Some classes have upward of 20,000 students at a time. I'm currently enrolled in a class from Duke University about philosophy and constructing arguments.  You don't get college credit, but many courses offer a completion certificate. From their website: "we hope to give everyone access to the world-class education that has so far been available only to a select few. We want to empower people with education that will improve their lives, the lives of their families, and the communities they live in."