WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

WHAT TEACHERS MAKE

The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One
man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued,
"What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option
in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests
what they say about teachers, "Those who can, do. Those who can't,
teach."

To stress his point he said to another guest; "You're a teacher,
Susan. Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan,who had a reputation for honesty and frankness replied, "You
want to know what I make? "I make kids work harder than they ever
thought they could. I make a C+ feel like the winner of the
Congressional Medal of Honor. I make kids sit through 40 minutes of
study hall in absolute silence. "You want to know what I make? I make
kids wonder. I make them question. I make them criticize. I make them
apologize and mean it. I make them write. I make them read, read,
read. I make them show all their work in math and perfect their final
drafts in English.

I make them understand that if you have the brains, and follow your
heart, and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you
must pay no attention because they just didn't learn."

Susan paused and then continued. "You want to know what I make? 'I
MAKE A DIFFERENCE.' What do you make?"

"Teachers make every other profession possible!"

Link

Here is a link I got off of Blackboard for games.

http://www.murray.k12.ga.us/teacher/kara%20leonard/Mini%20T's/Games/Games.htm

Social Studies

Social Studies can be a difficult subject to get kids excited about because "most" of social studies is dates, times, places, events, and people. With a lot of it being in the past, students question why and how it affects them, why are we studying something that happened 100 years ago? Unless students can make a connection with what the material has to do with them, there is a potential for them to lose interest which is probably why the subject can get a bad name. Students then memorize what they need to know for the test/quiz/assignment and then forget about it. The big question is how do we as teachers make social students topics a little more interesting and engaging for students? There isn't one correct answer for this, I think we all need to use the resources we have and be creative. The text we used for class, "50 Social Studies Strategies," is a great tool to use. I think kids could act out things that are being discussed in class and implememnt more of an interactive approach to teaching social studies. Have kids get in groups and research a particular topic and then have them present what they found to the class, so the class can learn several different subjects and have fun in the process. A very important for understanding our world today and where it is going in the future, we must understand our past, how our world has changed, what has caused those changes, etc.

Sea Lions

I enjoyed seeing the sea lions, even though they weren't too happy with me taking video of them, and they are much better swimmers than me, my odds were not looking good. This can be science and social studies related because the sea lions have a huge impact on the salmon population right now, they are getting in the fish hatcheries and depleting the salmon. The "trouble maker" sea lions are captured and tagged for tracking purposes. One sea lion was brought down to the California coast and dropped off, but guess what, it made it back to Astoria, OR! That's a long swim. Kids love talking/researching animals, they can talk about geographic locations and human relationships with them.

Fort Clatsop

I recently took a trip to the Oregon Coast. While I was there I visited some interesting things that many of us will teach or have taught. In 4th grade we use the book, “A Rendezvous with Idaho History,” one of the main topics is about the Lewis and Clark expedition. Part of their expedition was when they finally reached the Pacific Ocean in Astoria, Oregon. Guess where I went, yes Astoria. I took some pictures of Fort Clatsop and of some canoes that I think are original. The fort burned down in 2005 but was rebuilt in 2006 based on Lewis and Clark’s original plans. It was a great experience and neat to share with the 4th grade class I am interning in. Here is a brief passage from the text talking about Fort Clatsop, “It seemed as if it was always raining. One November day, the sky cleared for just a little while. Ahead they could see the Pacific Ocean. They had finally reached their goal. It was hard to be too excited since it was constantly raining. They had to crouch under rocks to keep dry. At last they were finally able to build a fort. They named it Fort Clatsop after a tribe of Indians who lived nearby. For two months they were only four days without rain. The men were wet, cold, and miserable. During these months, the men worked on building new and stronger canoes,” (Rendezvous with Idaho History, Dutton/Humphries, p.69).

Websites

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/socialstud.html

http://www.proteacher.com/090000.shtml

http://www.csun.edu/~hcedu013/plans.html

These are awesome websites to use for teachers. They are full of tools, games, ideas, activities, and lessons for several different subjects. They are fun and easy to use. The neat thing about the sites is that you can narrow down what you want to look for specifically. Instead of just searching "social studies," you can narrow it down to almost exactly what you are looking for. As teachers, there's no such thing as having too many strategies and/or too many lesson plans and activities.

Thank You, Mr. Falker

Thank You, Mr. Falker. By Patricia Polacco. New York, Philomel Books, 1998. R I.L. 2-4, Lexile 650L.L. 4.5.

Genre: Realistic Fiction

A story about a student who struggles with reading and writing, and gets picked on by her peers because of it. But her teacher wasn't going to give up on her, he believed in her and that's all she needed. In my opinion, this book is definitely a classic. I think every teacher who has read alouds for their classroom should own a copy of this book. My favorite part is how Mr. Falker believed in his each and every student and never for one second gave up on Little Trisha. Every teacher will have students who struggle and become discouraged with school, especially when other students make fun, but Mr. Falker recognized her strengths and worked off of that. He stood up to the students making fun and showed her he cared. Teachers like Mr. Falker are inspirations to future teachers such as myself. I think this book would be great to use in any elementary class. It has character development, plot development, and a wonderful theme. When kids understand the story, they would begin to be more sensitive to similar situations in there own classrooms. It gives an important message about diversity and differentiation in schools. That everybody learns differently and everybody has different strengths and weaknesses. I think kids can make great connections with this book, and they can learn a lot more than they think from it.

Social studies is more than dates, places, times, etc. It is about the study of our social life and the relationship we have with it. Language is such a critical part of our social life because it is everywhere and we use/need language on a daily basis. Reading and writing is where it all begins.