AMAZING because I brought this up in my class tonight haha we talked about the media's impact on public schools & I specifically brought up how I dislike this metaphor! #WeirdEd
Hi #WeirdEd! I'm Lila, a project-based STEAM curriculum designer, educational network associate @NametagChat, & traveling blues dancer making my way down the West Coast.
#WeirdEd For example- the word ginkobaloba is fun to say. It feels neat to make my mouth form. What about you? Am I the only one who thinks about this?
Hi #weirded! I'm Caitlin, I teach tech in gr1,2, and 3, and tonight while hosting trivia I mispronounced "plants" as "pants" and that really changed the point of the question.
Allison, current #edpolicy grad student at @VanderbiltU, former public school teacher in NC! Love saying 'lackadaisical' :) Will be popping in and out tonight while I work on a policy memo due this week! #WeirdEd
And a very well timed blog as we (on Canada) get ready for assemblies in advance of Remembrance Day on the 11th - and no, it’s not a torture to prepare for or participate in an assembly #weirded
A1: I don't like when people use oppositional phrasing when talking about groups of people with the same goals. It's not Ts vs Ss, it's not Ps vs Ts, it's not admin vs Ts, we're all on the same team #weirded
A1: OH! Also martyr phrasing, like teaching is a big sacrifice... it's a job and we love it, but we also like being paid for it, because it's WORK. #weirded
A1: I don't like when people use oppositional phrasing when talking about groups of people with the same goals. It's not Ts vs Ss, it's not Ps vs Ts, it's not admin vs Ts, we're all on the same team #weirded
In one of my classmates’ presentations recently the research they found called Ss “economic units”…no relational component to this HUMAN BEING of a child! #WeirdEd
It’s super pervasive right now with the political climate & schools needing “competition” to become better. Cyclical process we also saw in the 1980s. #WeirdEd
A1 The transition from STEM --> STEAM --> STREAM --> what's next!
Can we just teach good content with cross-curricular connections and not have to brand it with an acronym? #WeirdEd
A1 The transition from STEM --> STEAM --> STREAM --> what's next!
Can we just teach good content with cross-curricular connections and not have to brand it with an acronym? #WeirdEd
I think it's dangerous to conflate education with business too much, because the end goals of each are different. In business you want to make a profit. In education, you want to... make kids into informed citizens ready to meaningfully contribute to society? I dunno #weirded
basically to make something increasingly challenging while also engaging is the definition they would like to promote, but that's not what the word means. #weirded
Q2: We have an imaginary student named Bob. He is my example for every explanation of activity and for all things we shouldn’t be doing. So I guess my word is Bob #WeirdEd
A2: I actually often carefully, intentionally use precise vocab w students, but that's bc I find common language so useful. I teach tech so must use correct terms for browser, tab, search, URL, link, keyboard shortcut, and so on. #weirded
A1 nothing bugs me more than telling a 12 year old, "You'll need this in the future" They are 12, 10 years from now has 0 meaning, that's almost double their life #weirdED
#WeirdEd A2 Most made-up words in my class become "You know, the whats-it thinger stuff" as I gesture wildly in the direction of whatever I'm talking about
#WeirdEd A2 Most made-up words in my class become "You know, the whats-it thinger stuff" as I gesture wildly in the direction of whatever I'm talking about
A2: I actually often carefully, intentionally use precise vocab w students, but that's bc I find common language so useful. I teach tech so must use correct terms for browser, tab, search, URL, link, keyboard shortcut, and so on. #weirded
A2: I actually often carefully, intentionally use precise vocab w students, but that's bc I find common language so useful. I teach tech so must use correct terms for browser, tab, search, URL, link, keyboard shortcut, and so on. #weirded
Please read this in a Jerry Brown voice: Rigor without imagination is DEATH! PARALYSIS! RIGOR MORTIS!
Imagination without rigor is INSANITY!
I found it hilarious, for some reason.
#weirded
#WeirdEd A2 Most made-up words in my class become "You know, the whats-it thinger stuff" as I gesture wildly in the direction of whatever I'm talking about
I totally understand the business terms like students as products, but what’s so off-putting about stakeholders? What else do you call other people who aren’t within the school who are interested in student success? #WeirdEd
#weirded a2 not made up but every multiple choice test has @frankturner@CarlAzuzCNN as an option. When they get test they look for those answers first
"You did it again!!!!!"
"Common language" is a thing my district is trying to do with a writing framework called Collins writing. But I find the phrase useful for tech, esp since so many adults I work with can't always communicate clearly about tech problems, bc they don't know the vocab words. #weirded
A2: I teach Italian music words while students are waving streamers around. Then I speak broken Spanish. Made up words require more effort somehow. #weirded
So, I admit part of the problem with using business terms in edu is... I don't fully understand business terms. I know coffee is for closers, though. #weirded
A3 this is a q that's been on my mind as I've changed teams, halls, and content this year. I'm having a good year so far. One of my teammates from last year is miserable. I want to support her without being mired. But how? #WeirdEd
A3. When I taught resource it drove me nuts to hear kids on my caseload referred to as "one of yours" by their classroom teacher. Um. They're your students, too. #WeirdEd
#WeirdEd There's still that connection to business I cant shake off. 1st time I heard it during my TPrep, I was actually a bit disgusted. But other terms: family, community, the people.
Oooh. I get you.
Very carefully. If you, say, believe in equity and social construction of inequity, you should stay away from even the hint of deficit mentality.
Etc.
#weirded
When I saw you speak at CUE last year, I remember you talking about this. It has stayed w/ me ever since. Using a phrase like “trenches”’to describe our amazing profession is so incredibly negative. #WeirdEd
Sometimes I have to ask a not as good question to get to an awesome question. It is like when people put with aquaman saving them when they were really hoping for Batman #weirded
which might be hard at times, given the ways that some "teacher cultures" and school sites tend to blame kids and families for structural inequities. #WeirdEd
A3 teachers work really hard just like other service professions, but they aren’t superheroes and it takes a village (oh no, I added another metaphor I’m not crazy about but seriously “a village”) #weirded
A3 It’s important to be honest & stay solution-minded. If you have a complaint, voice it, but have some ideas to share to make it better, too. Good to stay open-minded! #WeirdEd
A3 Pause, reflect, and think about how you want your message to be received. Think about your audience. Shape it carefully out of your mouth or fingertips to est land on someone's ear or tickle their brain. #weirded
My other personal fave is the suggestion that we should give ourselves completely to the profession. Um, I need food and bathroom and solitude. #WeirdEd
A2 my classroom & students are named. It is a tribe/city/nation as necessary (I teach ss) & its name is a portmanteau of my last name and -stan #WeirdEd
Apparently my son's math teacher used to make "old" quotes and lyric references and he was the only one who laughed #parentingsuccess#weirded became an in-joke between the two of them
Sigh. My aquaman is my sons favourite hero - though I suspect it is just part of his teen rebellion stage. Sweet mercy I hope it’s just a teen rebellion stage!! #weirded
In reply to
@nathan_stevens, @TheWeirdTeacher, @shadow_uzumaki, @senoritaRCwusd
A4: Honestly? Chaotic! At least during book selection and checkout time. We are always on a time crunch, too. But my students seem like happy students in the library. #WeirdEd
A4-2: I actually had to rewire my brain this week bc I was getting so irritated at kids saying hi to me in the hallway. I should be happy that I get 60 hellos a day. #weirded
A4: My classroom is a hub. Often buzzing with activity, somewhere students can access resources & people to help them work hard and achieve goals #weirded
A4: Reality. A microcosm of the larger community. If it happens or impacts life outside of my room/school, it probably does inside as well.
(Ps good question #WeirdEd & @TheWeirdTeacher)
(PPS look how many characters I'm using!)
(PPPS it's ok if you TLDR me now)
#WeirdEd a4 short answer - practicing for the circus
Long answer - constant attempts at something resembling second language learning, but my first priority is actually mental/physical/emotional safety, so [shrug] we'll get to it, but they'll WANT to try.
#WeirdEd I like this Q because it's deceptively simple but forces real reflection. What would I want someone to mean if they said, "This class is so Robertson!"
Interactive gallery of ideas
The boardroom of curiosity
The magical theatre of knowledge
The convocation of directed thoughts
The imaginarium or intellectual emporium
#weirded perhaps too weird?
A5: I think it already kind of is. It means basically you don’t really know what you’ll see, but it’ll be loud, messy, shocking, yet somehow effective. #WeirdEd
A5. I don't know that I've put much thought into my teaching style other than "it's okay to make yourself come across completely silly to Ss." #WeirdEd
A5: My name would mean not knowing things, but cheerfully embarking on the journey to find out, sometimes headed in the wrong direction but hopefully course-correcting before too long. #weirded
When I got divorced (and returned to my maiden name) we had a RE-Joyce-ing celebration and the room has continued to be Joyce-ful ad infinitum #weirded
A5: It’s exhausting to teach like me. Sometimes you’re dancing and sometimes you’re dancing bc you haven’t had a chance to go to the bathroom and HEYYYYYY KINDERGARTEN YOU’RE EARLY #weirded
A5: Don’t sweat the small stuff, controlled chaos is part of learning, books are friends that you should treat right, and kids can make decisions about what inspires them that has absolutely nothing to do with their reading level, and that is perfectly okay. #WeirdEd
I actually get kinda irritated when people shut my door. “Sorry my class is too exciting for you” One always gave a dirty look as she closed it. #weirded
Very excited to be teaching the social construction of white supremacy in early America. Eye opening for many. Puts todays' racism in excellent context. #weirded
A6.1 Worked with ELA teacher on a short story lesson for 7th graders, some of them are incredible. Then they used 3d animation and code to bring stories to life #weirded
#WeirdEd a6.2 I'm working on a novel for #NaNoWriMo2017 I'm not ready to share because I'm afraid it's terrible, but I'm really proud of it. I'm on day 8, but here's doodling through day 7 in my personal Instagram if anyone wants to follow.
Also, on another note, we got Kindles donated, with somewhat unlimited books, and the kids are pppuuuuuummmpppped! Yay reading! Yay reading awesome YA fiction! #weirded
This week my fifth graders were designing multimedia campaigns against bullying and some of their ideas are lovely. Also, it turns out I have some aspiring lyricists in my class. #WeirdEd Also, Hi Doug, not having to be succinct makes me tweet worse.
Q6: Book review posters w/ ELD middle school students, lessons on keywords and searching w/ grades 3-5, spider lessons with grade 2, community helpers and firefighters with grade 1. Getting ready for read alouds of Stone Soup and Thank You Book by @The_Pigeon next week. #WeirdEd
My team & I often remind ourselves that the students are still developing- and that everything that has/does/will happen to them shapes who they are. They are who they are and they have the best intentions.
#WeirdEd
