EducatingMe

I decided that because we were hearing from a plethora of teachers, that I would involve some of my high school students here today. There are four of them and we needed 5 reasons, so the 5th is my own. So to answer the call out by Mr. Wesley Fryer who was answering the call by Mr.  Scott McLeod .  ...here they go in no particular order. They are written by the kids, proofread by me, and cleaned up by the kids after consulting with me.  1.  Schools need to stop pretending that we all intend on going to college. I have no plans to go to school after I graduate high school. Why are you making me take algebra 2? Why must I take a foreign language? Now you are going to require I to take CPR too? My parents can't even tell me what they use algebra 2 for and they went to college. In Oklahoma, there are now two different paths to take, college-bound and "the dumb kids" route. I feel like schools put labels on us. Sometimes you make us different when there wa...

I was asked where I work this week. It went something like this... "I work for Epic Charter School!" And then I get the..."oh, hm.! And then I am all - you dismissive cuss! I could teach you a few things too. Except I don't really say that, but I am forced to word vomit all over the guy telling him about my school and how it really is closer to his than he thinks. And damnit I am feeling on the defensive and I am good at what I do. I was asked to write an essay this week in one of my Grad classes. The topic was along the lines of Jason James prompting March 23rd, so I will share. Better late than never? If I were King of #Oklaed. Sorry it’s 667 words... I have a beef with public schooling. It is not something housed in your school building. It is housed in your heart and mind. I dislike greatly the competition between schools and districts. I am not talking about the Jenks v Union rivalries.  I abhor that there has to be a huge fight between types of ...

I was challenged late last week by Scott Haselwood. https://haselwoodmath.wordpress.com/2014/12/14/teaching-from-here/ I was challenged to define Success. It only took a week and I still am not sure I have my thoughts completely straight. Well, here goes something... Dictionary.com defines success as: I never set out to be a teacher. I really did get into it for the summer's off. I got the gig, does that equal success? Turns out that I am pretty decent at the gig. Does that equal success? I have never earned an award, and I do not see a future when this country will ever decide that a teacher should be wealthy due to their hard work. I  do however, want to be a part of the change. I want to contribute. I want to help. Does that equal success I grew up in three different types of homes. My moms, her boyfriends' (yes, that is the right form of plural) and my dad's house over the summer. Each had their own version of rules. I would say the coming of age years...