Tonight is that happy happy joy joy of nights once again -- Parent-Teacher Conference night.  Here are a few things I will definitely NOT be uttering.

For the past two weeks, we've been hearing a lot about "a sense of urgency" at school.  Mostly how our principal doesn't think we have one.  And how her higher-ups don't think we have one.

I wonder how exactly a sense of urgency is measured.  I haven't seen any kind of barometer on the wall (Urgency Level Purple today!), nor do I get updates on my smartphone.

Is someone who is running up and down the rows of desks (with or without scissors), sweating profusely, eyes bulging, yelling basic factoids at the their kids demonstrating a sense of urgency, while someone enjoying an even-paced lesson while smiling at their kids dropping the urgency ball?  These are things I'd love to know as I'm being told I don't have a sense of urgency.

The best guess I can come up with from what has been going on is that a teacher's true sense of urgency can only be reflected in how well their students do on tests.  That somehow if a teacher has a sense of urgency, he/she can transfer that urgency over to the student who will then feel compelled to score higher.

I know for a fact that I have a strong sense of urgency about wanting and needing my kids to do better.  Not just on tests, but in life in general.  But I will admit I've been somewhat deficient in transferring that sense of urgency over to most of my kids.  It's a very hard thing to transfer, because it's not like an auto title that one can just sign over to someone else.

I've tried direct skin-to-skin transfer -- but high fives and fist bumps seem to only make the kids happy instead of stressing them out more.

I've tried Vulcan mind melds -- but thoughts of Hot Cheetos and Justin Beiber have forced my mind back like a brick wall.

I've tried lecturing, but judging by the quickness of eyes glazing over, it's obvious my sense of urgency just didn't take.

So I continue to be one of those teachers who is labeled with the USN (No Sense of Urgency) stamp. 

I guess until I can think of something else to try, I'll just have to continue instructing the kids and building up their math skills as best as I can.

Let's face it.  Sometimes kids get distracted.  It doesn't always take much.  Here are just a few reasons kids may get distracted in class.

While everyone is coming clean, I have a confession to make. I too once used a banned substance to enhance my teaching performance.
The hardest part was finding a fellow teacher to actually administer the shot into my buttocks.

Having a little fun today, I thought I'd list a few reasons that kids may ask to go to the nurse.  Then I turned it into this graphic.

Enjoy!

Hey everyone,

The Kindle version of my first book, Learn Me Good, is free today and tomorrow (Jan 9 and 10).  If you haven't ever checked it out, I hope you will do so now, and if you already have, I hope you will pass the news on to friends and family.

Thanks!

John

Now that we are in a new year, I'd like to once again extend an invitation to anyone who is interested to join the Learn Me Good mailing list!  Every once in a while, I send out emails with ideas for promotion of the book, questions for suggestions, and giveaways.

If you're interested, please drop me an email -- [email protected] (note the 2) -- and let me know you're in!

Happy New Year, everyone!

May your 2013 be full of excellent observations, inquisitive students, and dry erase markers that never run out!

A fellow author mentioned that the more Likes you have on your Amazon Author page, the higher your books are placed in their algorithms for views. So everyone, please click on the link below then click on the Like button. Should take less than 10 seconds of your time.
Thank you!
http://www.amazon.com/John-Pearson/e/B002BLZ06U/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

With apologies to Jeff Foxworthy:

If you think it's a good idea to pull teachers out during instructional time to have them make an action plan for how to improve student performance...

you might be a principal.

I got a new kid a few weeks ago, and to put it mildly, he seems to live in a haze.  While he does (surprisingly) possess some math aptitude, he usually doesn't look like he knows what is going on.

Whenever it's time to switch classes, he is always the last one out of the room, no matter what order I call the kids in.  It just takes him that long to get his muscles firing and moving, I guess.

So while he and his class -- the class that has JUST left my room -- wait for their other teacher to pick them up, I stand in my doorway and greet my third class of the day.  As they come into the room, I stand with my fist out, to give them a fist bump and a "Good afternoon." (I used to do high fives, but switched to fist bumps in the hopes that it would cause less germ-passing.  HA.)

My new kid, standing at the end of the line that has just LEFT my room, will quite often see me standing there with my fist out -- and walk over with HIS fist out in an attempt to give me a fist bump and enter my room.  I have to gently remind him (more than once, on some days!) that he has already been to my class that day.

At least he remembers his name... most of the time.

I told the kids in one class a fraction-related joke today.

A guy walks into a restaurant and orders a pizza.  The waiter asks if the man would like the pizza cut into 4 pieces or 8 pieces.  The man replies, "Better make it 4.  I could never eat 8 pieces!"

There were a few pained grimaces of non-understanding, and a general lack of comprehension.  When we started talking about it, how the guy would be eating the WHOLE pizza, no matter whether it was cut into 4 pieces or 8, a few kids started to get it.

One kid had his hand raised the whole time, and when I finally called on him, he asked, "How old is that joke?"

I said, "I'm not sure, but pretty old."

He then said, "Oh, no wonder it's not funny."

Yesterday, in our opening discussion on fractions, I asked the kids to count all of the students in the room.  Lots of sweeping glances and finger pointing around the room as the kids counted.

I then asked them what fraction of kids in the room were boys.  Again, a flurry of exaggerated counting, with mostly right answers shouted out.  Finally, I asked them what fraction of kids in the room were girls.  Same activity of spinning in chairs to count everyone one by one.

When that was done, I told the kids that I knew what the fraction of girls was without even needing to actually COUNT the girls in the room.  The TA in the room with me at the time spoke up with a "Me too!"

I asked the kids to discuss with one another how it was that Mr. Ball and I knew the fraction without needing to count.

Several kids immediately shouted out, "BECAUSE YOU'RE SMART!!!"

Well, sure, but not exactly the answer I was looking for...

Since this past week was my turn to do morning announcements, and the science word of the week was Magnetism, I sent a girl down yesterday with a great Dave Barry quote -- "Magnetism is one of the six fundamental forces of the Universe, with the other five being gravity, duct tape, whining, remote control, and the force that pulls dogs toward the groins of strangers."

The teachers seemed to enjoy it.  :)

Today's post is a guest post from writer Aileen Pablo.

*******************

As a teacher I have had the joy and the challenge of meeting a wide variety of students. I have also come to understand that students are not divided into various classrooms based on their personality. Instead, they are melded together with the hopes that everyone in the class can embrace diversity and get to know people that hold different characteristics than themselves.

But as any teacher is aware of, this is not always possible. You undoubtedly have felt that teaching itself becomes far more difficult when the person leading the class has to find a way to balance these varying personalities and still convey the same information to all students. While you want to encourage individualism and allow students to let their personalities shine through, you may find it difficult to know how to manage a classroom filled with varying demands of you and the student’s peers.

Here are a few ways I have learned to cope with the ever changing dynamic of varying personalities in the classroom.

• Choose to use a calm and positive tone of voice – This is not always easy when you are up to your ears in stress over the way the children are interacting with each other and with you. When you feel yourself getting overwhelmed, make a conscious decision to remind yourself to continue using a calm tone of voice with a positive message. This will help to avoid escalating excited students energy levels and instead help to bring the classroom back to a sense of normalcy.
• Pause strategically – When it feels impossible to use a tone of voice to speak over the chatterbox in one corner, and the nagging student who is in constant need of your help in the other, simply pause. The students will have also felt the classroom starting to feel out of control and will notice your less than enthusiastic mood over the change. This can have a powerful impact and can help bring the center of focus back on the lesson instead of the seemingly bickering between personality types.
• Let the student’s choose – Classrooms are created without attention to various personality types or learning styles to help teach students how to best work with one another. In some situations, this can work to your advantage. Put the students in charge of deciding how the lesson plans will go. For example, allow them to choose together if they will read out loud or to themselves quietly. Once they have made the decision, you are able to use that in your favor to maintain control over the classroom and bring the personalities of students that would have otherwise been divided, back together.
• Avoid struggling for power over the students – Some students love a good debate with their teacher, and they thrive on the opportunity to prove a teacher wrong in front of the classroom. Other students may appreciate this power struggle or they may be annoyed with it, but chances are even if another student comes to your rescue, it will only cause the debate to worsen and you to feel out of control of the classroom. Instead, it is a good idea to avoid any power struggles with students and not get defensive. This will provide an opportunity for debate that you should not engage in, and instead will give the power to the student. While it is important to allow students to speak their mind and be individuals, this power struggle can make it more difficult than necessary to conduct the class.
If you are like me, you have experienced the entire lot of personality types. The way you react to the various personality types will directly impact how the student reacts which means you are still in control over your class and gives you a better way to handle individuality in the classroom.



Author Bio



Aileen Pablo is part of the team behind Open Learning Australia, one of Australia’s leading providers of Distance education. When not working, Aileen blogs about education and career.She is often invited as a speaker in Personality Development Seminars in the Philippines.If you have a blog and would like free content. You can find her on Google+.

Last Thursday, my second class fooled around a lot and didn't get very much done. As a result, I sent them home with homework, while the other two classes did not have it.

Friday, when it came time to switch classes, I spoke to that class before they came into my room.

I said, "Remember what happened yesterday. Do you want to have homework again tonight??"

Much to my surprise, most of them yelled, "YESSSSSS!!!"

They never cease to surprise me.

This week's Learn Me Good comic strip is reminiscent of something that I actually heard in class this year.