Hey #WeirdEd, Mel here. Happy to be free and able to join in. Based in central Jersey. And obviously unicorn 🦄 one of my students was obsessed with unicorns so a #TeamUnicorn hashtag started and never stopped in our classroom!
Hey #WeirdEd! First time joining even though I’ve followed along for a while. Kindergarten teacher in Houston. #teamUnicorn because all my kids are obsessed.
Anyone under, say, 30, in Brooklyn would ask, "They had rhinos there?"
Yup, and elephants, hippo, and other big animals.
Children's zoo now. Sea lions and prairie dogs. #WeirdEd
That's the real name. I learned it from My Little Pony. When Twilight accomplishes something that makes her worthy of being the Princess of Friendship she gets wings and becomes an alicorn. #WeirdEd
#WeirdEd My nephew is 5. He's into My Little Pony, and some other series where the ponies are actually teen girls (at least, that's how his mother explained it to me.)
I just gave him an old Baby Pegasus I found in a box in the basement from a McDonald's Hercules Happy Meal toy from umpteen years ago
He said it looked like a Pony
#WeirdEd
#weirded Q1. My responses are going to be skewed because I teach children how to function in a school setting, for the first time for many of them. I would say lining up to get from point A to point B.
#WeirdEd Wait, you still print things? *EduTwitter scoff* why aren't you paperless and all on computers only, you barbarian. I suppose you use *scoff harder* leeches too
#weirded A1: That Ss can go to the bathroom without asking permission. (If me saying "no" actually keeps you in your seat....you don't really have to go.) And that raising your hand means you just want me to wave back.
#weirded Q1. My responses are going to be skewed because I teach children how to function in a school setting, for the first time for many of them. I would say lining up to get from point A to point B.
A1 How to be respectful of people's feelings. You wouldn't want them to say that to you or your friends, so why are you saying it? WHY IS THIS SO HARD. #WeirdEd
A1 I had to teach division a couple years ago. This high school teacher thought it’d be tough, but not like...impossible. How...how do you elementary teachers do it? #WeirdEd
We also write on slates and force students to wear dunce caps and sit in the corner. Lunches are brought in pails and sometimes we sleep at school if there is a blizzard. Wait... That’s Little House on the Prairie. #WeirdEd
Our printer is double sided too, unless you need it on cardstock and then you just go ahead and TRY that double-sided magic and watch the world burn. #WeirdEd
#WeirdEd A1 My answer is related to my last few days- Ask you group what is going on before coming to me and outing yourself as having NO IDEA what's going on in your group.
Oh man, tutoring elementary kids totally turned my entire world on its ear. But, it really helped me fix flaws in how I approach things in A1. #WeirdEd
LOVE it when I walk by and hear the curses from the usually overly polite primaries because the card stock messed the copier up! I only started some laminating because it’s a regular task of one of my students on the spectrum and he was sad I never had anything for him #weirded
Uh, a little off topic, but can we talk about being a new teacher and learning to use the copy machine? “Should be easy” = every manual book and person-completely-over-you-not-knowing-what-to-do #WeirdEd
#WeirdEd I don't think this is easy. I think this is one of the more complicated ideas we have to teach because it runs so counter to what they might think.
A1: Cut and paste. Cut and paste. Cut and paste. My 3rd graders have such difficulty doing this. I used interactive notebooks so there’s a lot of cutting and pasting. Then I question how did you manage to cut and paste this wrong? 😭 #WeirdEd
This this this! I did less of it this year bc of face out shelving. I think to the detriment of the traditional shelves. #weirded I'm sorry @diananewman20
I realized that I didn’t actually understand multiplication and division until I took abstract algebra at university. I just assumed somehow 10-year olds were more in tune with the universe and could get it. #WeirdEd
I love witnessing these conversations among group members because it really shows that different students pick up different directions/interpret directions differently. Major area for self-reflection for me as the teacher in my delivery! #WeirdEd
My aide made hole-punched copies last week and every teacher that saw her do it said “THE MACHINE CAN HOLE PUNCH AND COPY AT THE SAME TIME CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW??!!??” #weirded
#WeirdEd Q2 Do you have a Big Complicated Project or Assignment in your class that always stresses you/your kids out? What is it, why does it stress you/your kids out, how do you all cope?
#weirded when the building got new to us copiers, we actually had training on them scheduled over 2 days during lunch so folks could get trained on how to do exactly that!
My aide made hole-punched copies last week and every teacher that saw her do it said “THE MACHINE CAN HOLE PUNCH AND COPY AT THE SAME TIME CAN YOU TEACH ME HOW??!!??” #weirded
#weirded just finished Our Wild Zoo which is 1st & 4th grade buddies researching animals n habitats. Make 3d prints of them plus dioramas, ebooks & physical nonfiction books.
A2: I haven't been as consistent with projects as I should be, so every time we have to spend forever reinforcing norms and how to work in a group. #WeirdEd
#weirded A2: the big midterm/final presentation for my comparative anatomy class (in lieu of a "true" final) assigned a month ahead, always had issues - had a suggestion from one of our intervention specialists to chunk the assignment, worked like magic this year
A2: I haven't been as consistent with projects as I should be, so every time we have to spend forever reinforcing norms and how to work in a group. #WeirdEd
Oh my! That reminds me of my first year when we were “out of photocopy paper” but still had to send home weekly “homework booklets”. Led to some fun staff meetings. sigh. #weirded
In reply to
@MrMinguela3, @TheWeirdTeacher, @mel_katzz
#WeirdEd If anything, it's an example of the square-cube rule:
for a linear increase in size of the project, it's the square of the amount of math, and the cube of the amount of worry and anxiety
#WeirdEd who's fighting? Everyone knows these creatures don't overlap. Unicorns are just fat mythical rhinos and narwhals are water rhinos. No overlap. No fights.
It’s a good exercise I guess. I should have lost my budda belly by now. There’s only one copier for teachers to use in the building. We are not allowed to use the office one... #weirded
#WeirdEd A2. My kids get stressed with daily work....
They seem better with PowerPoint, posters, projects
But half my day is spent dealing with behavior and stress management
I only help peripherally. But getting everyone's 3d prints done is NUTS. Tried G Form this year to help communicating errors to Ts. Still not best. Too bad Ss don't have email. Maybe I'll msg thru Seesaw or G Classroom next year. #WeirdEd
A2: being my first year, nope, but I’d like to do a PBL project with my kids on a lemonade stand; however, I do not know with my group of kids. We’ll see. #WeirdEd
#WeirdEd Q2 Do you have a Big Complicated Project or Assignment in your class that always stresses you/your kids out? What is it, why does it stress you/your kids out, how do you all cope?
A2 This year, every project stress me out. Taking over a class mid year has been a challenge because the routines are not as solid as I am used to them being! #weirded
#weirded A1: Putting numbered chromebooks back into their numbered slots on the computer cart. Or plugging in a chromebook after using it. Or just checking to see if they are using the correct numbered computer before they begin (if numbers even matter at all!)
There’s supply of paper. When the teachers run out, we have to ask to get a ream from the storage closet. I ended up buying 50 reams of my own paper that I lock up on my classroom closet. Ain’t got no time to beg for paper. #WeirdEd
Not specific to a topic/project, but just building the stamina to work through a more long-term assignment. Definitely takes work and practice, and working through that can be an uncomfortable experience for students (& the teacher, too!) #WeirdEd
#weirded A2: We do a huge zoo animal research project that takes about a month and teaching the norms for working in a group with five year olds is not for the faint of heart. They argue over every detail. Next year, I'm assigning roles.
I'm always trying to get them to learn those words.
They need to know the slopes of vertical & horizontal lines
And there's the Vertical Line Test
#WeirdEd
In reply to
@varkgirl, @TheWeirdTeacher, @librarianerd, @Sneffleupagus, @nathan_stevens
Not specific to a topic/project, but just building the stamina to work through a more long-term assignment. Definitely takes work and practice, and working through that can be an uncomfortable experience for students (& the teacher, too!) #WeirdEd
Sugata Mitras book Beyond the Hole In The Wall - @Sugatam ‘s SOLEs (Self Organized Learning Environments) have been amazing to help my groups not be “groups relying on one person to do the work” his ted talk won him the big prize too! #weirded
In reply to
@TheWeirdTeacher, @Sneffleupagus, @Sugatam
#WeirdEd a2
Except for one. As I was explaining group assignment S kept saying that he’d have to do it alone because “once I get an idea in my head, I can’t change it”
Spent time insisting if peers weren’t going to use all his idea they couldn’t use any
Of course, I was the youngest, so I was always the one who had to get up and adjust the Vertical Hold on the TV set.
When I wasn't part of the antenna
#WeirdEd
In reply to
@varkgirl, @TheWeirdTeacher, @librarianerd, @Sneffleupagus, @nathan_stevens
I taught HS my first three years and then went to grade 7/8. I was just like “oh, they totally got this month-long project! I did it when I student taught.”
Thing I didn’t know when I student taught: my teacher spent a lot of the fall prepping them for project work. #WeirdEd
A2: Not the “biggest” project I did, but when I taught art my kids always struggled with abstraction. We did “stained glass” projects where they had to abastract an object/person and it was a STRUGGLE. I’d like to go back and redo all of that and try to scaffold better. #weirded
Love doing PBL all the time now (or a lot of the time😇) look up “design thinking” to get started or I’ve got some resources here: https://t.co/AarSOeqRW7#weirded
They still do this in 3rd grade-arguing. My class argues over everything and anything. Today my kids legit argued on who cut the cheese. At this point I just stood there and watched. Can’t make this stuff up. #WeirdEd
Thanks! We're doing well but I have learned a lot for the future. Why do we make our new teachers do stuff like this? No wonder they burn out. At least I have enough experience to not blame myself, celebrate the wins, and use new strategies when needed! #WeirdEd
Projects ... used to stress me out ... now I’m like ... everything is a learning opportunity ... usually goes back to “Did you pick your partner wisely?” #WeirdEd
#WeirdEd A3: A little anxious -- just took over a class for a teacher on maternity leave. It's all review for the state exam, so they "KNOW" it already. Uh-huh.
#weirded A3: only my 5th yr. teaching, every year by Q4, tired, exhausted, yet optimistic I'll get done what I need to, while planning 18-19 Q1 (summer is already mapped out) I thought it'd get easier, just gets more optimistic
#WeirdEd We're far enough in the year that my kids are starting to come out the other side of knowing procedures and I'm doing a lot of internal "Is this your first day? Welcome to our class!"
#WeirdEd A3 not ready. Report cards due Tuesday. Last day a week from today. Still working on HIPAA compliant year book (no names, no pictures of faces)
A3: Exhausted and frustrated. This year has kicked my arse. I’m surprised I am even up now. I have a lot of reflecting/reading to do in order to prepare my for second year and beyond. I can’t repeat this year. #WeirdEd
I second that we can allow triceratops because triceratops is my favorite.
My second favorite is that dude that makes sound with his crest. (Pacycephalosaurus?) #WeirdEd
Oh I snapped in fourth period today. "We have NOT worked this hard ALL YEAR for y'all to COMPLETELY LOSE THE PLOT NOW. You only have to keep it together for SIX MORE DAYS, PEOPLE." #WeirdEd
Oh I snapped in fourth period today. "We have NOT worked this hard ALL YEAR for y'all to COMPLETELY LOSE THE PLOT NOW. You only have to keep it together for SIX MORE DAYS, PEOPLE." #WeirdEd
#weirded 8th graders have been counting down since the beginning of the school year. Of course they cannot agree on the actual number or whether to count the last day.
#WeirdEd A3: Is overwhelmedadocious a word? Grammarly says No! Week 2 of my Master's program, father daughter dance coming up, school olympics (my kids need to learn a dance from Italy to perform), spelling bee. Oh and my gradebook is totally up to date, NOT!
#WeirdEd So in a vane attempt to keep this chat on track for five more minutes and pretend it's not suddenly about dinosaurs I'm posting the last question
I'd do late cake but y'all are leaving in a few.... What the hell, I'm Filipino and we provide take home Ziploc bags, foil, for people to take home food during gatherings/parties #weirded
#WeirdEd A4
Press a recording of me saying "what am i about to say?"
(Instead of restating rules we'll ask students to tell us what correction we are about to give them)
My class is good at mindreading
A4: Oooo. Turn on the lights in my lab. There is only one switch and it’s at the “back” of the room and while I could enter through that door in the AM, I don’t wanna. So my machine would trigger when I open the “front” door and turn on the lights. #WeirdEd
