Tech News Roundup November 19th

Tech News Roundup November 19th

Just a few articles I have seen I enjoyed this last week.  With the push to improve the individualization of student learning I have been focusing on reading where I can let me students get some more out of their learning experience.  The first article is there because where I live in Saskatchewan we are having a big population and economic boom.  This is putting a lot of pressure on our schools.

More Planning is need for school repairs.

www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/more-planning-urged-for-school-repairs-1.2431517?cmp=rss

The biggest hurdle to flipping your classwww.edutopia.org/blog/biggest-hurdle-flipping-your-class-jon-bergmann?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=blog-hurdle-flipping-class-quotes-3

4 tips to improve student learning in the library

www.scholastic.com/teachers/top-teaching/2013/11/4-tips-promote-student-learning-library

Traits for teacher

I was asked the other day what personality traits you need to be a teacher.  My first response of course is that you need to be crazy!  In truth that is part of the answer. You do have to be a bit crazy to be a teacher these days.  The amount of pressure from students, parents and administration can be overwhelming.  I have worked in a number of schools now.  Some of which the admin was there to help me teach and relieve pressure and some increased it.  Parents can also be a great help or they can be your worst nightmare!  I have seen parents completely defend their kids, which they should do to an extent.  However parents also need to realize that as a professional I may know a thing or two about your child and what they need.  So, yes you need to be a bit crazy to be a teacher.  You have to be crazy enough to love the job and see the positives about hat you are doing!  You have to be crazy for the kids because they are the reason you are really there.  You have to be crazy enough to know yourself really well and be confident in who you are because you are questioned on a regular basis.

Crazy ya teachers are crazy!  You had better hope your child's classroom teacher is a little nuts or they will crack under the pressure!

Success Interview

Last night my son came home and had to do a success interview for his Religion class.  What a great idea!  We spend so much time running around now days that it is hard to stop and talk about the important things.  Spending time with my son talking about my life and what I was successful with and what has been challenging was a great exercise that we both enjoyed.  He had to write out paragraphs for each question so it also worked on his writing skills.  I thought it was such a great idea that I stole it for my class this morning.  I often thing that my best ideas I have ripped off from someone else.  Here is the 5 questions I gave my students this morning.
1.  What has helped you be a successful person?
2.  What is the biggest challenge you have faced?
3.  If you could teach me one thing what would it be?
4.  If you could change one thing about your past what would it be?
5.  What is your biggest hope for me?

This is the list I came up with. Let me know if you have better questions.