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Asking for Student Opinions Isn’t Risky, It’s Rewarding

heather — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 20:47:49 +0000

I was reading this great article from Slate Magazine about the cheese that is Billy Joel. And I thought back to many a car trip singing his “Themes from an Italian Restaurant.” I also remembered just how many times I’d fast-forwarded through some of his more heavy-handed, political-themed songs set to rapid rhyme scheme.

I’ll even one-up Slate’s insolent trashing of the Piano Man. I’ll go so far as to say I’m not an Elton John fan.

Don’t freak. I’m allowed. Remember, this is my website.

But this got me thinking about opinions, criticism, persuasion, and choice, and their place in the classroom.

In a collaborative classroom, students are not only given choice, they are given the ability to disagree with grace, with each other, and even with (dare I say) the teacher.

I’m still getting crazy responses to my Breaking Dawn Book review. I can’t tell you how many comments I’ve deleted with X-rated words or threats. It’s not that I’m looking over my shoulder, but if the majority of these comments are from tweens, there’s clearly a lesson not being taught to these kids. How does one disagree appropriately? Yes, I slammed the book. But the theme of the post is to Discuss over Censor. They just couldn’t see it through our disagreement.

Students should be allowed to choose in a classroom. It’s a true form of differentiation. Choice could be given on reading texts, assessments, projects, partnerships, etc…But with choice, also comes opinion, hand-in-hand. And with opinion comes disagreement.

This shouldn’t be scary; it should be embraced. Choice is empowering for a student. But a teacher must teach how to disagree appropriately, how to criticize appropriately, and how to move on from there.

It is a new form of pre-teaching. There are skills involved in teaching Reaching a Consensus. There are skills involved in Criticism Etiquette. These are worthwhile – arguably more so than the skills involved in How to Bubble Accurately.

These are lessons that would not only be reflected in blog comments, but in how our students, as adults, would make choices, form opinions, and have disagreements in the world.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: collaboration, commentary, critical thinking, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, How To, k-12, k12, life long learners, metacognition, technology, Title I, TLN, websites, Writers Project, writing

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Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a’comin…

heather — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 21:12:38 +0000

So, in a move reminiscent of a 12-year old girl caught up in the riot mentality of rumors, I believed the whisper I heard about not getting my Whiteboard for 2 months. But I tell you now: it was false, dear readers! Yes, not only have I heard that the boards have shipped, but the company even came after hours this week and brought me a borrowed board to use in the meantime. Props for service and courtesy.

So I write to you today as a contrite tweenteacher. Lesson learned. Don’t listen to the gossip in the teacher’s lounge.

So, in an attempt to bring this post around to some actual advice for all you educators out there, I want to reiterate that point: do not waste one minute of your time this year in a toxic teacher environment. This is different than a Toxic Teaching Environment which can be defined as anything that gets in the way of you doing your job: under-funding, lack of school wide discipline, fractured classrooms, etc…

No, I’m talking about a specific breed of pollution that is meant to choke the enthusiasm out of you: the Toxic Teacher Environment. (...)
Read the rest of Oh, the Wells Fargo Wagon is a’comin… (419 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, blog, carnival of education, Character Education, collaboration, computers, credential, critical thinking, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, digital immigrants, Ed Tech, ELA, employment, equity, game shows, interactive whiteboards, internet literacy, k-12, k12, middle school, new teachers, professional development, teaching, tenure, Title I, UCI, websites

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The Carnival #178 is in town!

heather — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:49:35 +0000

An (aspiring) Educator is hosting this week’s Carnival of Education #178. I’ve tweaked my How to Take Control of Your Teaching list and although it’s still in an evolving state, you can read it here. Enjoy the Carnival and the post.

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: 2008, achievement gap, assessments, blog, book review, btsa, budget, Careers, carnival of education, character, Character Education, classroom library, collaboration, computers, concrete, contract, CORE, credential, critical thinking, CUE, Curriculum, curriculum design, curriculum development, differentiation, Ed Tech, education policy, ELA, electives, essay, essay starters, jobs, k-12, k12, Language Arts, life long learners, merit pay, metacognition, middle school, NCLB, new teachers, online, peer teaching, performance pay, PI, podcasting, powerpoint, professional development, Proficiency, school accountability, school funding, speeches, standardized testing, technology, tenure, Title I, TLN, top 10, union, voice, websites, Writers Project, writing

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Surely Shakespeare has a sniglet for it?

heather — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 23:02:57 +0000

Remember Rich Hall in HBOs 1980s comedy, Not Necessary the News? He created sniglets, words that should have been in the dictionary, but weren’t. For example:

Foodgitives: The food on one side of a TV dinner tray that escapes to the other side. (Hall 1985a: 31)
Furnidents: The indentations left in carpet after moving heavy furniture (Hall 1983)
Sniffleridge: The groove running between the nose and the mouth (Hall 1984: 92).

Well, today I’m asking for help in creating our own.(...)
Read the rest of Surely Shakespeare has a sniglet for it? (322 words)

© heather for tweenteacher.com, 2008. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: computers, Ed Tech, education, education policy, ELA, integration, internet literacy, k-12, k12, Title I, TLN, websites