I feel that the intentions behind that blog assignment were very valid intentions. I feel like a blog can be a very useful tool for a teacher. It provides an excellent way to communicate with parents. It also provides transparency into the classroom for your parents by keeping them up to date on what is going on in the classroom.
The blog requires a lot of work. I believe the intentions behind this assignment were valid, I just really felt it was one more thing added to my plate that I had to keep up with. The schedule I had this semester was almost overwhelming to say the least, but I am almost finished. I am the head coach of our boys high school and junior high school basketball teams, defensive coordinator of our high school football team, head coach of our junior high football team, assistant coach 7th grade football, serve on two different committees that my principal asked me to, I am also a MAT candidate, and I am a husband. So needless to say my schedule has been pretty full and while I believe the blog is a useful tool I just had trouble finding the time, even when my days start at 4 to 5 am and end at 10 or 11 pm.
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Parental Involvment Survey
I was asked by my Principal to create a Parental Involvment Survey, so this is what I came up with:
Parent Involvement Survey
Drew Central School District
Please help us to better serve you by responding to the following questions. This information will help us to include you in your child’s educational program and to better communicate with you on the topics of interest to you. Please fill in all of the information and return the survey to your child’s homeroom teacher.
Rank the following statements according to your experience with Drew Central Middle School so far this year. Mark your answers on the attached Scantron sheet. Use a No. 2 lead pencil and mark the letter that corresponds with your answer. Questions 1-20 are to be answered on the blue side of the sheet and questions 21-29 are to be answered on the red side of the sheet.
In the section on the back (red side) of the Scantron sheet marked “Comments”, please share what you value most about the Drew Central School District. Also, please share any other information you wish.
Communication
I believe: (Please choose one and mark your answer on the Scantron sheet provided.)
1. The information provided by DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL about my child’s academic progress is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
2. The information provided by DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL on rules and regulations governing student behavior is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
3. The information provided about course offerings for my child at DREW CENTRAL is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
4. The information provided about extra-curricular opportunities for my child at DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
5. The information provided about upcoming activities at my child’s school is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
School Services
6. The education offered to my child at DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
7. When I contact the school for assistance, the treatment I receive is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
8. The availability of the teachers is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
9. The availability of the administrators is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
10. The professionalism of the teachers is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
11. The professionalism of the administrators is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
12. The professionalism of the office staff is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
School Atmosphere
13. The atmosphere at my child’s school is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
14. The general appearance of the classrooms/buildings/grounds is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
15. The safety of my child’s school is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
16. The image of the Drew Central School District is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
Other
17. Have you ever volunteered at school before?
A. Yes B. No
18. Would you be interested in volunteering at DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL? (If “No”, go to question 21.)
A. Yes B. No
19. If you would want to volunteer, how often would you be available?
A. Once a year B. Several times a year
20. If you would want to volunteer, what time of day would be best for you?
A. Morning B. Afternoon C. Evening
21. Mark all buildings in which you presently have students enrolled other than the middle school.
A. Pre-School B. Primary (Grades K-2) C. Elementary (Grades 3-5)
D. Intermediate (Grades 6-7) E. High School (Grades 10-12)
22. Do you use ParentLink? (If “No”, go to question 24.)
A. Yes B. No
23. If yes, how often?
A. Daily B. Weekly C. About once a month
24. Do you use Teacher Ease? (If “No”, go to question 26.)
A. Yes B. No
25. If yes, how often?
A. Daily B. Weekly C. About once a month
26. Do you read the monthly newsletter which was sent home by your student?
A. Yes B. No
27. Do your use Hot Math?
A. Yes B. No
28. If your student had a failing grade in math, would you enroll him/her in an after-school tutoring program?
A. Yes B. No
29. If your student had a failing grade in English, would you enroll him/her in an after-school tutoring program?
A. Yes B. No
Parent Involvement Survey
Drew Central School District
Please help us to better serve you by responding to the following questions. This information will help us to include you in your child’s educational program and to better communicate with you on the topics of interest to you. Please fill in all of the information and return the survey to your child’s homeroom teacher.
Rank the following statements according to your experience with Drew Central Middle School so far this year. Mark your answers on the attached Scantron sheet. Use a No. 2 lead pencil and mark the letter that corresponds with your answer. Questions 1-20 are to be answered on the blue side of the sheet and questions 21-29 are to be answered on the red side of the sheet.
In the section on the back (red side) of the Scantron sheet marked “Comments”, please share what you value most about the Drew Central School District. Also, please share any other information you wish.
Communication
I believe: (Please choose one and mark your answer on the Scantron sheet provided.)
1. The information provided by DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL about my child’s academic progress is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
2. The information provided by DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL on rules and regulations governing student behavior is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
3. The information provided about course offerings for my child at DREW CENTRAL is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
4. The information provided about extra-curricular opportunities for my child at DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
5. The information provided about upcoming activities at my child’s school is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
School Services
6. The education offered to my child at DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
7. When I contact the school for assistance, the treatment I receive is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
8. The availability of the teachers is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
9. The availability of the administrators is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
10. The professionalism of the teachers is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
11. The professionalism of the administrators is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
12. The professionalism of the office staff is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
School Atmosphere
13. The atmosphere at my child’s school is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
14. The general appearance of the classrooms/buildings/grounds is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
15. The safety of my child’s school is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
16. The image of the Drew Central School District is
A. Needs Improvement B. Good C. Excellent
Other
17. Have you ever volunteered at school before?
A. Yes B. No
18. Would you be interested in volunteering at DREW CENTRAL MIDDLE SCHOOL? (If “No”, go to question 21.)
A. Yes B. No
19. If you would want to volunteer, how often would you be available?
A. Once a year B. Several times a year
20. If you would want to volunteer, what time of day would be best for you?
A. Morning B. Afternoon C. Evening
21. Mark all buildings in which you presently have students enrolled other than the middle school.
A. Pre-School B. Primary (Grades K-2) C. Elementary (Grades 3-5)
D. Intermediate (Grades 6-7) E. High School (Grades 10-12)
22. Do you use ParentLink? (If “No”, go to question 24.)
A. Yes B. No
23. If yes, how often?
A. Daily B. Weekly C. About once a month
24. Do you use Teacher Ease? (If “No”, go to question 26.)
A. Yes B. No
25. If yes, how often?
A. Daily B. Weekly C. About once a month
26. Do you read the monthly newsletter which was sent home by your student?
A. Yes B. No
27. Do your use Hot Math?
A. Yes B. No
28. If your student had a failing grade in math, would you enroll him/her in an after-school tutoring program?
A. Yes B. No
29. If your student had a failing grade in English, would you enroll him/her in an after-school tutoring program?
A. Yes B. No
3rd Book Review
The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch is one of the best books I have ever read and probably will ever read. This is an empowering book that really makes you believe in yourself and your ability to accomplish any goal you can dream. One of my favorite quotes from the book was “We can change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.” This reaffirmed for me that things in life happen that are out of our control, and it is all about how you deal with that situation that determines who you are as a person. You can choose to dwell on the negative or find the positive and move on. This book has helped me to realize that no matter my circumstances I will look for the positive in it. I may only find a little tiny bit of positive but nevertheless it is positive.
Another quote that I enjoyed in the book was about brick walls. The author said that “Brick walls are not put in your path to keep you from reaching your dreams, but to see how bad you want it and to keep other people out.” This really hit home for me, I have had my share of brick walls in my life. Just getting into the education profession I had to bust down numerous brick walls. I have learned that the harder the fight the greater the reward. Most people will quit at the 1st brick wall, and everyone else will quit at the 2nd or 3rd brick wall, but if you really want to achieve your goals and dreams you will go through and over as many brick walls as you must to reach your goal or dream. This book is a must read for everyone regardless of what your profession. I truly believe that this book will help enable you to improve your quality of life. It has mine.
Another quote that I enjoyed in the book was about brick walls. The author said that “Brick walls are not put in your path to keep you from reaching your dreams, but to see how bad you want it and to keep other people out.” This really hit home for me, I have had my share of brick walls in my life. Just getting into the education profession I had to bust down numerous brick walls. I have learned that the harder the fight the greater the reward. Most people will quit at the 1st brick wall, and everyone else will quit at the 2nd or 3rd brick wall, but if you really want to achieve your goals and dreams you will go through and over as many brick walls as you must to reach your goal or dream. This book is a must read for everyone regardless of what your profession. I truly believe that this book will help enable you to improve your quality of life. It has mine.
Leading with the Heart
Leading with the Heart by Mike Krzyzewski was a great read. The book talks about strategies to make you successful in basketball, business, and life. Throughout the book Coach K talks about leadership. He goes into great detail about how to earn it, how to practice it, and how you use it to move your organization to the top. From the importance of trust, communication, and pride to the commitment a leader must make to his team. This book is a must read for everyone in the education profession. If you want to learn how to help young people to be successful this book can be your guide.
I originally thought this book was just about basketball, but it is more about life than basketball. It uses basketball as the platform to teach simple strategies that will enable you to be a successful person. I enjoyed the book and have carried what I learned into my classroom.
Coffee!
I just realized something this morning that I found to be pretty funny. Before I started teaching I never drank coffee. Now, I drink it until almost 10:00 am every morning of the week. It is just part of my routine now, I do not know what got it started. I guess I need the caffeine to keep up with my 7th graders!
Just another day
4:00am comes early and my day starts. Before I started teaching I thought I was busy. I really believe you have to love what you do or you can't do very long. I absolutely love coaching and teaching. Our basketball season has started and we have a winning record which is something that the Drew Central High School Boys have not had in a while. It's a great feeling to see these young men experience success. I love this profession, but it is truly labor of love.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Teaching Strategies Reflection
This assignment I felt was a great benefit to me as a new teacher. I believe that this was the most beneficial assignment I have had since I entered the MAT program at UAM. I learned numerous strategies to aid my students in reading comprehension. I learned that there are many different avenues to arrive at the same destination. All of the strategies that I use in my classroom have the same goal. That goal is to improve student’s literacy skills to increase student learning.
I feel that my students learned how to implement these strategies to better comprehend what they are reading. I believe that my student’s also learned that using these strategies makes reading less intimidating to them. Teaching student’s literacy strategies is a great idea. I learned that by teaching students these strategies I am equipping them with tools they will have for the rest of their life. These literacy tools will better enable them to be academically successful.
The only thing that I feel I will change is to teach students more strategies. I do not want to overwhelm them but I believe that the more literacy strategies that my students know the more prepared they are for the academics that are in their future.
I feel that my students learned how to implement these strategies to better comprehend what they are reading. I believe that my student’s also learned that using these strategies makes reading less intimidating to them. Teaching student’s literacy strategies is a great idea. I learned that by teaching students these strategies I am equipping them with tools they will have for the rest of their life. These literacy tools will better enable them to be academically successful.
The only thing that I feel I will change is to teach students more strategies. I do not want to overwhelm them but I believe that the more literacy strategies that my students know the more prepared they are for the academics that are in their future.
Twilight Book Review
I could no longer “put off” the obvious. I am a seventh grade teacher/coach at a Twilight crazed middle school. It’s an understatement to say that everyone in this school has read Twilight except me. All of my students, every teacher, and the walls are talking about the book. “Oh, Edward is perfect…” ”If only every man was like him...” So now they have my attention. I decided that I must read this book. I really wanted to find out, how perfect is perfect? Maybe I could use this to my advantage. Reading the book will allow me to see what my students (and all the crazy women around me) are so in to.
The book itself looks huge, however, once I started reading it, it was very enjoyable and a page turner. It’s about the ordinary girl from Phoenix, Bella, who reluctantly moves to the small, dreary, rainy town of Forks, Washington. Her mother is a bit childish and self centered, and is newly married to a minor league ball player. Bella feels like she should leave and let her mother “be happy” and travel with Phil. Her father, Charlie, is the well-known, well-liked, yet isolated town sheriff. When Bella arrives, everyone knows who she is, and automatically, she is the girl that all the guys want to be with. Of course she doesn’t get it. All she knows is she’s just a plain Jane who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. (She’s accident prone.) However, she does notice a group of kids that are different from everyone else. They are extremely beautiful, but they are their own little click. When she asks about them everyone tells her that they are adopted by the gorgeous Doctor Cullen and they don’t talk or mingle with anyone. Of course, she is just drawn to one in particular, Edward Cullen. He is indescribably beautiful (whatever, if a guy can be beautiful) I knew this was a chick book…Anyway, she ends up sitting next to him in biology, and he freaks out. She just notices how he keeps tightening his fists, and he rushes out of class as soon as he can. Then he disappears for like days. He just doesn’t go to class, all the while, she can’t quit thinking about him, but she’s upset that she doesn’t know what she did to him. (So what makes him perfect?) When he comes back to class, he is nice, and long story short, they start talking as friends. She knows something is weird and up with him, but she can’t resist him. He saves her life at school by stopping a van from hitting her. He jumps in front of it, without anyone seeing and literally stops it from crushing her. Later he saves her life again when she is out shopping with friends. The whole time she suspects he’s some kind of vampire, but knows that’s impossible…but…he eventually comes clean to her. Yes, he is a vampire, and so is his whole family. They are “vegetarian” vampires, they don’t eat humans. But he is so attracted to her because she is his “perfect smell”. He cannot let her die. She has now become his reason to exist. I see what the girls are crazy over, he is there for her at every moment of every day, even night. He watches her sleep (because he doesn’t) and he sings to her to calm her. The big conflict is that there are other vampires that are not like the Cullens. They are actually killing people at night, then they find out about Bella and they come after her. Edward of course cannot let anything happen to her, so he and his family fight the other vampires. Throughout the whole book Bella has decided that she wants nothing more than to be a vampire so that she can be with Edward forever. Edward does not want her to be a vampire. He loves her for who she is. He feel like he is a monster, he really doesn’t like the whole vampire thing, but he has had a hundred years to except it. His favorite thing about her is how she blushes, and he knows that will go away if she does become a vampire. She begs him to change her, and he vows not to. In the end, she is bitten by one of the bad vampires, and Edward must make the choice to let her be changed, or try and suck the venom from her (without killing her). He chooses to keep her human and fights with all of his might to keep from killing her himself. And again Bella is unappreciative because she wants to be a vampire and she doesn’t understand. They continue to live their charade when he takes her to prom. Secretly she thinks he is going to change her that night. He doesn’t. So now I guess I am going to have to suck it up and read the next book.
Overall the book was very descriptive and a true love story. I did enjoy it, and it will be fun to pick at my students about the book. Most know it word for word and they can’t believe that I actually read it.
The book itself looks huge, however, once I started reading it, it was very enjoyable and a page turner. It’s about the ordinary girl from Phoenix, Bella, who reluctantly moves to the small, dreary, rainy town of Forks, Washington. Her mother is a bit childish and self centered, and is newly married to a minor league ball player. Bella feels like she should leave and let her mother “be happy” and travel with Phil. Her father, Charlie, is the well-known, well-liked, yet isolated town sheriff. When Bella arrives, everyone knows who she is, and automatically, she is the girl that all the guys want to be with. Of course she doesn’t get it. All she knows is she’s just a plain Jane who can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. (She’s accident prone.) However, she does notice a group of kids that are different from everyone else. They are extremely beautiful, but they are their own little click. When she asks about them everyone tells her that they are adopted by the gorgeous Doctor Cullen and they don’t talk or mingle with anyone. Of course, she is just drawn to one in particular, Edward Cullen. He is indescribably beautiful (whatever, if a guy can be beautiful) I knew this was a chick book…Anyway, she ends up sitting next to him in biology, and he freaks out. She just notices how he keeps tightening his fists, and he rushes out of class as soon as he can. Then he disappears for like days. He just doesn’t go to class, all the while, she can’t quit thinking about him, but she’s upset that she doesn’t know what she did to him. (So what makes him perfect?) When he comes back to class, he is nice, and long story short, they start talking as friends. She knows something is weird and up with him, but she can’t resist him. He saves her life at school by stopping a van from hitting her. He jumps in front of it, without anyone seeing and literally stops it from crushing her. Later he saves her life again when she is out shopping with friends. The whole time she suspects he’s some kind of vampire, but knows that’s impossible…but…he eventually comes clean to her. Yes, he is a vampire, and so is his whole family. They are “vegetarian” vampires, they don’t eat humans. But he is so attracted to her because she is his “perfect smell”. He cannot let her die. She has now become his reason to exist. I see what the girls are crazy over, he is there for her at every moment of every day, even night. He watches her sleep (because he doesn’t) and he sings to her to calm her. The big conflict is that there are other vampires that are not like the Cullens. They are actually killing people at night, then they find out about Bella and they come after her. Edward of course cannot let anything happen to her, so he and his family fight the other vampires. Throughout the whole book Bella has decided that she wants nothing more than to be a vampire so that she can be with Edward forever. Edward does not want her to be a vampire. He loves her for who she is. He feel like he is a monster, he really doesn’t like the whole vampire thing, but he has had a hundred years to except it. His favorite thing about her is how she blushes, and he knows that will go away if she does become a vampire. She begs him to change her, and he vows not to. In the end, she is bitten by one of the bad vampires, and Edward must make the choice to let her be changed, or try and suck the venom from her (without killing her). He chooses to keep her human and fights with all of his might to keep from killing her himself. And again Bella is unappreciative because she wants to be a vampire and she doesn’t understand. They continue to live their charade when he takes her to prom. Secretly she thinks he is going to change her that night. He doesn’t. So now I guess I am going to have to suck it up and read the next book.
Overall the book was very descriptive and a true love story. I did enjoy it, and it will be fun to pick at my students about the book. Most know it word for word and they can’t believe that I actually read it.
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