Comments for mPower

Comment on The Lady Doth Protest Too Much by Julia

Julia — Thu, 26 May 2011 04:58:57 +0000

I think the third hand was the right choice today. Get some rest and feel better. Soon enough you will be done and Evan can take care of the class tomorrow.
julie

Comment on Last Full Week by Marty

Marty — Sat, 21 May 2011 13:35:58 +0000

I talked to another teacher who told me that she never tests on a Monday or a Friday. I wish I had heard that sooner. In hindsight, I wish I had given the EasyCBM on Thursday and the math quiz on Friday.

Comment on Shrinky Dinks by julie

julie — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:37:15 +0000

Phew… sounds like it was a really difficult day at the end of a few increasingly difficult days. I think you are on the right track. Reading the end of your post I thought I should mention that usually when we start structuring a behavior more – giving consequences and monitoring etc… – usually there is an escalation in the behavior initially. A testing if you will to see how the monitoring is going to work.
It’s a little like when you say, “Don’t look at that or else.” Initially a lot of people, even some unexpected people will impulsively look at it.
Take that for what it’s worth. If your classroom management and enforcement is predictable students will have a better chance of meeting your expectations. And I hope you will all have a better experience.
Good luck.

Comment on Rolling! by Julie

Julie — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 02:37:37 +0000

Marty,
You did a really great job with this lesson! It was so creative and engaging and I am sure the students will remember your song for a long time.
I look forward to seeing the video.
Nice work,
Julie

Comment on End of the Honeymoon by Marty

Marty — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 21:44:10 +0000

I just went to the ELL class. Most of them were out on a field trip. I was able to give one of them a makeup quiz verbally. The other one, N, took the quiz but didn’t do too well. I wanted to go over the quiz with him verbally too but he said he would rather come in at lunch and take it over tomorrow. He’s the one who the CT when he was going to start teaching again. I think he’s hoping the CT will be there at lunch tomorrow. Well I hope he does come in to retake the test because I want him to know that I’m on his side.

Comment on Am I Crazy or What? by Marty

Marty — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:47:35 +0000

Just in: my class was singing “Weather Say Weather” at lunch.

Comment on Lesson Plan 1 by Marty

Marty — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 21:36:03 +0000

I just went and had a visit with the ELD at my school. I feel much better now. She is going to find me a science book in Spanish to work with. Also, I can go and observe the 7th grade ESOL class in the afternoons. Thank goodness. She gave me some ideas about ways to modify my instructions and assignments. For example, next week instead of a quiz, I am thinking about having the students each do a report about some kind of weather phenomenon. That will make it so much easier to customize and modify. I think the rest of the class will enjoy it, too.

Comment on Here we go again by Marty

Marty — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 19:15:42 +0000

Sorry I didn’t get back to you. Last week was alright. I was still recovering from my cold and trying to piece together some kind of cohesive curriculum for this week. But I kept getting sucked into participating in the class. They were building these wind turbines in both the morning and afternoon core classes. It was the kind of mass chaos with hot glue and high powered magnets and spinning propellers that is just too much fun to pass up. Besides, with 30-some kids running around with copper wire and glue guns, it felt inhumane not to step in and help out. So in the end, I didn’t get as much prep done during the week as I had hoped to. But we’re good now.

Comment on Here we go again by julie

julie — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 22:27:19 +0000

How are things going this week?

Comment on Final lesson by Julia

Julia — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 16:36:12 +0000

Wow. What a full morning you had. Sorry to hear about the outcome on the test. We’ll talk soon.