Effective Teacher Day 1

Summer is here...

Happy Summer to all Teachers!

Summer, Oh how I missed you. I have 60+ days to enjoy your beauty and relish in your glow. Let's get acquainted again shall we.  

Special guest blogger, sorta

I had a guest stop by and smile with me today. Hey Taylor. 2 more days bin school year.

Changing up my blog

Been talking about my experiences as a classroom teacher for a while. Starting next school year I'll come from a different angle. I'm still fiddling around with a name, but I'll give you an idea of the subject. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Let's see if the new birth of my blog has a similar outcome. 

8 days

About to wrap up from the Summer

So much is going on these last days before the school year ends. I'm expecting even more, really. I'm going to stop blogging over the Summer and focus on some other family things. But fear now I will be back after this LONG, DRAWN OUT Summer with a new look, new name and a new blog focus. Not like my blog has even been accused of being focused. 

Anyway let's end this school year strong and send these kids off to success in the future and most importantly back to their mamas! 

4 Days to enjoy my teaching experience

This blog is going to make a major shift this Summer. Please feel free to check out all my previous posts, because next school year we're going in a totally new direction. 

Ain't no body got time for this

    Next year I'm going to make my class use composition books to keep all their work. Keeping up with all this paper is not the business! I had a mind to do it this year, but next year for sure. I'm going to have 3-4 comp books per student and they'll just keep all their work in for a grade in that. Not sure what will happen with worksheets or that, but I'll find a way. Might make them trim the page and glue it to the a page in the composition book. My oldest does something like this for their homework. Thankfully she's overly responsible so that book is well taken care of. I'll have to budget/plan for the inevitable lost comp book, but hey. The ones my students use now in class are pretty well taken care of. I have had a few waste so many pages that they're done with their book and needed a new one. If I do a good job explaining the books on the front end I think I should be able to make my way through.

    If anyone has any really cool ideas on helping 2nd graders who have never had to manage 3-4 comp books, keep them in tact and safe, let me know. 

    

    All I really know is I don't possess the time in the day or in my life for the abundance of loose paper that floats around my class. 

 

1st day back after Spring Break

"Mr. Whitaker, you look different."

 

"It's called rested. You wouldn't know about that, because I'm rested due to the fact you and I weren't in the same zip code."

 

Still weeding and feeding my lawn of emerging learners. 

Weeds and grass

    Anyone who has a lawn knows that it's MUCH easier to grow weeds in your yard than it is to cultivate a nice, healthy lawn. I know from a reliable source that if you trim down a weeded yard often enough it will really look pretty good. It's only when someone inspects it does the truth jump out. This yard is full of weeds. 

    This is a pic of a neighbor's lawn. Every time I see it I say "Wow, that guy's yard is incredible". I see him a couple times a week out watering or cutting. The tools he uses to do the aren't his granddad's mower. He's using some top shelf or near top shelf stuff. I'm sure he has the occasional weed invasion, but he certainly doesn't let it show, even at close review. His yard has it going on. He has something to show for his hard work and I'd be proud if my yard looked a little bit like this. 

    It equally takes work to raise a student that loves learning and is about learning. You can pretend that you're raising a learner, but it doesn't take much to see that what you're doing is sending a child to school without any goals, expectations or idea what you want from them. It's going to take work and it's going to be hard, but what else do you have to do? We have these kids of ours for only a little while. Then one day they will be off setting their own path and building their own futures. Why not make sure that they have to tools/know how and skill set to make a good run at it? 

    Contrary to some strange beliefs, your kids belong to you. They were entrusted to you and you're going to one day say how well or poorly you did at raising them to tackle the World. We have to do better to cultivate their love of learning and help them to see it as a blessing to learn rather than something to be ashamed of. 

    I can't imagine my neighbor with the great yard being ashamed of his hard work. Now that character who was trimming down the weeds in his yard to make a faux lawn, that just won't do. 

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Happy Spring Break

Thankfully, I'm on Spring Break. I'm looking forward to sometime reflecting and clearing my mind. Got to make the last semester great. 

So how's it going, Jason?

Let's see how's my week been? 

I didn't win the Crossfit Challenge. Didn't even get the Cupie Prize. I am pretty slim though. 

My wanna be garden took a major hit during the hail storm Monday. Major like all of it is DOA. 

I've been teaching like a Beast this week. 

Had a lot of tough decisions dropped on my lap in the last 48 hours. 

My kids keep going back and forth with this sickness thing. Every now and then I jump in just for laughs. 

I had a phenominal observation this week. 

That's the summary of my week so far, but the final word is It's been a lot of fun. My wife and I have been super diliberate about talking about stuff going on, so neither of us are working with 1/2 a brain. Even though her 1/2 is better than mine.  Knowing that I'm connecting with some of my students is a great feeling. Listening to my girls just warms my heart. I'm so excited about their future. I hope the World is ready for the rise of the Whitaker girls. 

This is post 248. I've decided that at #300 I'll end this blog. It's been so much fun, but I think it's run it's course. If I had something to sell I'd have a guy standing on the corner waving a sign "Store Closing! Everything must go!" So I think I can make it through the Summer or right to the beginning of the new school year. We'll see. 

Alright, let's get at it. 3,2,1...Go!