🤷♂️ What Really Happens in the Classroom (Notes 8/4-10/11)
A roundup of my Notes for the first nine weeks. Also included: Kids don't use folders.
As the first nine weeks blends into the second nine weeks, I thought it would be fun to revisit past Notes. To be honest, I sort of forgot about some of these. (Many of these.) Several stand out as deserving of their own posts. I’ll add some commentary.
Also, I was recently published on Matt Miller’s blog, Ditch That Textbook. And I got brave and started posting on LinkedIn. Check them both out below:
Ditch That Textbook. Ten Ways Pictures Boost Learning: Dual Coding Theory Introduction.
LinkedIn. Interview Questions for Teenagers.
If I attempt a voiceover, this post contains Notes with commentary. I’m sure I’ll attempt making it sound coherent by saying the date and words “Note” and “commentary” or something.
To start, here’s my most recent and relevant Note.
Teaching Life
How did I end my summer break? By watching disaster movies. Let’s hope that was more entertainment than prophecy.
When I look back at my first year of teaching, my first journal said something like “Today I made 184 new friends.” More false words could not have been spoken. New teachers should be warned about “the honeymoon period,” where, once kids settle in, some become mean.
Classroom Methods
I completely forgot about this one! Philosophically, James Moffett’s student-directed classroom sounds great. Yet reality argues we won’t try some things unless forced. Or perhaps we may never know we like something until it’s forced.
I don’t care whether generative AI “thinks.” In the past year, I’ve been able to develop teaching materials I’ve dreamed of, but lacked viable examples. If today’s AI is the worst it will ever get—you know, short of the Terminator—it frees my attention elsewhere in the classroom.
And getting metaphorical writing prompts and strict text structure assignments… for free? It’s a good day.
Training students to write means training students to think.
Kids These Days
With words like “skibidi,” I long for the days they said “on fleek.” Wait! As part of the Class of 2007, what slang did we even have? I don’t remember. But pink RAZR phones were all the rage…
In the past nearly decade I’ve taught middle school, this issue keeps getting worse. My thinking for 8/23-8/24 followed the same train of thought. If folks realized the depths to which digital natives can’t navigate physical life, their eyes would bug out like a cartoon character!
Haters Gonna Hate
Look, if push came to shove, after more than ten years working in schools, I get the criticisms. I really do. But I’m positive the most vocal critics slept through class.
After eight years in the same building, I constantly hear new angles to stories I thought I knew. I’m always learning something new about the classroom.
Some keyboard warriors prove to be blithering idiots about “what happens” in the classroom. If you believe FOX, you’d think every teacher tries trans-ing kids or forcing them to read gay library books. If you believe MSNBC, you’d think parents ban books every day. Both, in my experience, are false.
📚 While you’re here, check out some other posts:
📱 Also, check out some other posts from my side blog, HappyCasserole.
