The Curse of Electronics

In this ever evolving world of electronics in the school setting, there are some drawbacks. While I love that my students' parents can access grades and assignments online - it does cause some problems. Like most teachers, I don't grade EVERYTHING as soon as it's turned in. During IEP/CSE Meeting season, it gets more difficult to get grades in quickly. So when parents get flustered about low grades - that might not be the actual grade. Sometimes, it might just be worth it not to publish grades until later. Keep a hard copy and enter them in all at once. However, I do appreciate that parents are on top of their kids grades. Just not fond of the frequent emails!


So, is this a small portion of the "instant gratification" crisis that we have in this nation? What happened to waiting till the end of the week or the end of the 5 weeks to find out about grades? Or asking your kids first about why they think their grades are low or if they turned in things? Are we in such a hurry to get an education, do well, access data at a moment's notice - that we don't appreciate waiting and extra day or so?

Football in the Classroom

This may not look like anything special, but with the help of some of my football playing students - we managed to explain the task of the DBQ they had to write.

The task: How did the US gov't respond to the Great Depression?

The analogy: How did students react to a football game? 

The Play: No idea, but I know we won! (I played tennis in HS and college!)

I've also been introducing my students to Google Docs and Google Classroom during this DBQ Essay assignment. So far, my students say it's come in handy. They can turn in their essays without having to worry if they left it in their locker AND they can look at the task, documents, and outline anytime they want (home or at school). We'll see how much of this new tech will come in handy for future units.

 

Math Review

 

While the tip is a little generous, I think my kiddos had fun! We looked at the websites for Red Lobster and Olive Garden. These restaurant sites will list foods and their prices. From there, my students made meals, made up tax & tip. They created word problems and situations and then solved! Their test scores are way better!

 

 

Visitors!

So, while I wait to get the Great Depression letters from my students - here are some drawings from my students. Buggy Buzzy is a frequent visitor that brightens up the day! 

Not sure I'd like to eat these chips! 

Yes, my children, I understand.

Bacon is Better than Trump

Solving the Great Depression

"Don't keep everything"

"Try and find stuff that would be useful"

"Sell some of your stuff that you don't need"

"Start somewhere new and get a house somewhere"

"Try to make your own clothes"

"Do your own farming, don't hire people to help"

"Give people what they need to start somewhere so they do not starve"

"Make more businesses so people have jobs"

"Calm people down and give them goodies"

"Try to get more goods on the market"

"Give vets their money sooner"

"See what people want"

"People need to use their resources like plant seeds and grow things"

"The gov't needs to pay other companies to give all the workers a job or give a paycheck for them to work instead of firing them"

"People should stop spending all their money on stuff they don't need"

"The gov't needs to give more"

"The gov't should pay store owners and companies so they can give a check instead of firing workers"

"Give out blanket to people that don't have a house/shelter"

"Don't spend a lot of your money"

"Move somewhere else"

"Make your own food"

"Give them charity"

"People should work harder"

"open up soup lines"

"Make sure the vets have a job"

"Open up more jobs"

"Give vets their $1,000" (Bonus army)

"Have people that have money give the poor food"

"The banks have to get their money back"

"The gov't has to help out"

"People need to stop lollygagging about and get to it"

"Start your own farm"

"make your own store"

"Get another job"

"Help other people"

"the gov't should give out money"