by Dr Davis on July 18, 2008
and what does that look like?
How did I learn to teach?
First, I learned to teach by being taught. I learned what I would not do and what I would do.
I would not:
only read the book aloud (various)
drone on solely about my personal life (7th grade math)
insult anyone’s parent (7th grade homeroom)
have too little work (8th grade math)
require knowledge levels that couldn’t be reasonably expected (7th grade science)
be nebulous about what I wanted (history teacher in college)
assume students understood my expectations (various)
assume students can read literature without helps (college English major lit courses)
think my area was the only one of importance (9th grade science)
I would:
be passionate about my subject
encourage others
give second chances
add value to a subject, a class, or an assignment
be on time
be prepared
return papers promptly
provide as clear a grading system as possible
be clear about expectations
By the time I was teaching, I had spent twelve years in K-12 and college. I had lots of excellent teachers and a few bummers.
So I knew what a good classroom situation looked like, but how did I know how to get prepared?
by Dr Davis on July 18, 2008
by Dr Davis on July 18, 2008
Textbooks, Free and Illegal, Online talks about the fact that texts are expensive and that people can often download them online.
Faced with soaring prices for textbooks, cash-strapped students have discovered a tempting, effective, but illicit alternative – pirated electronic books, available for free over the Internet.
“We think it’s a significant problem,” said William Sampson, manager of infringement and antipiracy at Cengage Learning Inc., a reference book publisher in Farmington Hills, Mich.
I am appalled at the price of textbooks. Yes, as a teacher I get my books free, but both my sons are in college. I paid $185 for a paperback book that is 11×7 and had about 180 pages. Doesn’t that seem a little excessive? When you sell them back, you get about $15. Then the store resells them for $185. That’s right. The paperback I bought was used.
Booksellers don’t want the price of texts to go down. The publishing companies have a golden goose.
So why would they do something about it?
If I ever have a choice, I’ll go for cheaper books. Or ones we can get from Amazon or some other bookseller for less than a dollar a page.
by Dr Davis on July 18, 2008
My paper on students and information literacy was accepted to TYCA-SW.
The gentleman who contacted me (I know I have his name somewhere, but I don’t know where it is.) said that they might also like me to present on the controversial issues idea as well. It’s a “rover and filler.” That means if someone doesn’t show, they put me in. I’m good with that. I’ve written the paper they accepted already and most of the second paper as well. I need to flesh it out a bit, but….
He had looked at my website, but it’s my email website, not this nor my classroom blog. I should have given him the web addresses, but I didn’t even think of it. I’ll have to find his email and send it to him.
I wonder if it is too late to ask for internet access. For the first paper, it might be good to show them the actual blog online with the students’ work. Or maybe not. Maybe it sounds more impressive than it looks.
