Teachers Chatboard – Teachers.Net

Join Teachers.Net

Chatboards

Recent Groups

Teachers

MEMBERS

240 Members

+ Join Group

Pinned Posts

ALLAll Teachers

Teachers.Net LIVE CHAT Support group - Tues eve!

Featured Jobs

Full-timeMontessori Teacher

Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada

TemporaryTeachers, rural schools

Peace River North School District

Full-timeHead Teacher: 2nd/3rd Grades – Mills College Children’s School

Mills College

Teaching Jobs on Teachers.Net

Featured Job special only $39!

https://teachers.net/jobs

Become a Teachers.Net sponsor!

Teachers Chatboard

2018 EXERCISE ROLL CALL - Monday

by men52

Jan 8, 2018

This is my last day before heading back to school tomorrow. I slushed my way to dropping the youngest grand to her school, rushed home to sign up for cycling @9, afraid there might not be any openings left 15 minutes before class. I get there only to find the class wasn't until noon. I couldn't do Zumba because I just had my boots and cycling shoes...See More

Comment

(2)

report post

Linda Don't resign yet to just one or two days a week for exercise--teachers have a hard time fitting in exercise, but Chris Mumford at Hey Teach! just wrote about "5 REALISTIC Ways for Teachers to Get Healthier This Year." Google it and see how simple it will be for you to stay fit this year! Good luck!

Jan 10, 2018

report post

Elaine/ret/IN Yay, Men. So difficult to cycle alone, but you were up to the task! Shu glad to see you here today. Wishing for other exercisers as well.

We've been on a cruise. Just heading home. I did my 10,000+ steps most days. But we're driving 6 days--few steps there. And I missed lots of days over the holidays. Next week is my exercise first day of...See More

Jan 10, 2018

Like (1)

report post

Students making decisions about their future careerrs

by Indar

Jan 2, 2018

Hello teachers :)

I was hoping that you all might be able to share your insights with me...

I have heard from lots of people that the career counsellors at schools are not particularly well equipped to help kids make decisions about their future. Not that career counsellors are to blame, instead there are so many career options th...See More

Comment

(3)

report post

view previous comments

men52 I agree with Novel that most of these kids will end up doing jobs that do not even exist yet. One of our daughters works at a job that didn't exist when she was in college. She works in a very tech type job and she was a liberal arts major. Computers were just becoming part of our every day lives. What stood out in her background was her year as an...See More

Jan 7, 2018

report post

Linda Nancy Barile is an award winning high school teacher who's written about this topic--a challenging one since, she says, there's always some students who don't want to go to college at all. She says there are many career paths for those students too, and teachers have to be ready to answer their questions and provide guidance for them as well, or th...See More

Jan 10, 2018

report post

Spam/Commercial - Bob?

by Novel

Jan 10, 2018

Dear Bob, there seem to a be a lot of commercial/spam posts on this board. Isn't the enrollment system supposed to reduce the number of these posts?

I have reported them.

Just in case you think I'm a Moaning Minnie, thanks for all the good work you do here for all of us.

Best wishes from, Novel

Like (1)

Comment

report post

Apple Seed for Tuesday, 09 January 2018

by Barb S. hs/ret

Jan 9, 2018

To be or not to be, that is your decision.

~ Pat Paradowski

Comment

(1)

report post

Novel Good one.

Jan 10, 2018

report post

Apple Seed for Wednesday, 10 January 2018

by Barb S. hs/ret

Jan 10, 2018

Apologies are not pass/fail.

~ Randy Pausch

Comment

report post

Postcard Exchange

by Miss Megin

Jan 9, 2018

Good Afternoon! I am looking for schools to participate in a Postcard Exchange. I teach 5th grade students, ages 10-11, in central Kansas. This is a high poverty building and many students will not have the opportunities to leave the city limits. I believe this would be a phenomenal project for all involved! Imagine how much we could learn from eac...See More

Comment

(1)

report post

Linda When you branch out internationally, add cultural activities to it. Former teacher Tania Cowling has incorporated language, food and crafts into her lessons. Google her article "Exploring Cultures in Your Classroom: Activities to Try." Have fun with that!

Jan 9, 2018

report post

Have a teacher grading question

by David

Jan 9, 2018

My son had a 75 in Spanish 2. He failed the final really bad, which dropped his grade to a 66 for the term.

We asked the teacher if there was something he could do to earn the four points and she said no and that he failed because he did not complete assignments.

But when I check the portal (on-line grading system) he has not one ...See More

Comment

(3)

report post

view previous comments

David Thanks for the reply. Actually he is in 10th grade, took Spanish 1 last year. Also in classwork assignments it is: 85%, Homework 100%, Projects 75%, is what he had in class last term. But test and quizzes were both at 40%, that is why his grade was only a 75. So it appeared to me as if he was doing all of his work, because of the 85% in classwork, ...See More

Jan 9, 2018

report post

men52 Could class work include participation during class? Many teachers give part of the grade for that. The students usually get a breakdown at the beginning of the school year as to how a teacher comes up with a grade in his or class. I get the same thing at the fall orientation for parents when we go to each classrroom. I don't pay that much attentio...See More

Jan 9, 2018

report post

posting check

by Cal-Kid

Jan 8, 2018

The retired teachers board has posting problems. Just attempting to see if I can post here.

Comment

report post

Apple Seed for Monday, 08 January 2018

by Barb S. hs/ret

Jan 8, 2018

Dreams not only come true, they can exceed your wildest expectations.

~ Tiffany Loren Rowe

Comment

report post

Coworkers passing off your ideas as their own

by PREKCATEACHER

Jan 6, 2018

I am a prek teacher at a small private school. I recently found out that one of the teachers at my school has been passing off my curriculum ideas as her own.

This is really bothering me for a couple of reasons. I want to have a unique classroom and it hurts me to know that all the time I spend planning and creating new ideas is being pas...See More

Comment

(3)

report post

view previous comments

men52 I just came out of "retirement" to teach at a small preschool that has only 3 classrooms. My adult children are older then most of my co workers and my total years of teaching is probably equal to the total years of the youngest teachers. I am only saying this to let you know my perspective is coming from a different direction then yours.

...See MoreI just came out of "retirement" to teach at a small preschool that has only 3 classrooms. My adult children are older then most of my co workers and my total years of teaching is probably equal to the total years of the youngest teachers. I am only saying this to let you know my perspective is coming from a different direction then yours.

I come from a very different training and teaching philosophy then where I am now. I find this type of teaching as much more demanding time wise due to lesson planning. I was used to setting up my environment each fall and letting it evolve following the children's development and interests. Here I am expected to follow a different theme each week and teachers change things often even daily. I would have disliked this way of teaching if I didn't have on line resources like Pinterest to go to. From what I can see, the other teachers all seem to get their ideas from there, too. I really don't think there are really that many unique ideas out there anymore.

I came from a teaching background that seemed to relish the sharing of ideas for the good of the children we were guiding. As part of our training we adults had to look within ourselves to make changes to be giving and happy people. It took years to drop negative feelings about things I couldn't change about others. Although all of us teachers had the same training and philosophy, even in the big school I taught in, I still stood out as the teacher the parents asked for their child(the school had to drop the parents being able to request a teacher after that like most schools do now). I am a naturally competitive person so secretively I enjoyed that role, but I was always happiest teaching in my own schools where any notion of being compared to others didn't exist.

Where I am at now the teachers have a lot of flexibility to teach the way we want as long as we present a copy for each day that week lesson plan. At our school the two teachers in each classroom share the leading. In mine my co teacher leads for four weeks and then I lead the next four weeks and alternate through the year. After decades of shouldering that responsibility on my own with twice as many students that we have here, it is wonderful. As co teachers we are very compatible, but we found a lot of differences in how we do things. I have found that she loved my ideas and has been implementing quite a few of them during her teaching times. She didn't ask me and to tell you the truth, I felt honored that she is doing so. I think it is because I know my ideas have been so much better for the children and respectful of our time as teachers.

So, ideas I spend time developing for the themes don't bother me when other teachers use similar projects. This is because there is already someone out there in cyberspace that already had the same idea. I am happy that my co teacher is using my classroom management ideas because doing it the way I do makes so much more sense and is better for the children. She said speakers at the early childhood conferences are always telling the participants to do the things I do, but they don't really say HOW to do it. She is excited to see those ideas implemented and working in a classroom.

At this school they keep copies of the lesson plans for each theme in a classroom filing cabinet. These go back for many years. I could use these for my planning but I haven't. However, my ideas are going in there like all the other teachers' ideas after me. All of us have the freedom to look at the lesson plans of any of the teachers in the other classrooms. There isn't a feeling of any teacher being better or having better ideas. They embrace the unique talents and skills of each of us. It's not our ideas we decide on for our classrooms that make us stand out individually. It's the attitude of being our own unique selves and implementing the ideas to make the classroom environment the best it can be that is important.

I understand what you are feeling as I remember when my daughter first started having friends that were always copying her. She was so annoyed. I remember telling her that those friends were insecure with their own ideas. I like to think that adults who do that are either insecure or admire my ideas so much that it is an honor to be copied. I guess it takes an attitude adjustment from ourselves.

Just remember that your students are receiving the best of your time and effort. If more students are getting the same benefit then think of that as a positive, too. Enjoy the rest of your school year with your little ones!

Jan 7, 2018

report post

Novel Haven't read the previous answers but I would be perfectly prepared to share resources BUT would share with EVERYONE at the same time so they all know I did the work. I might even copy in my line manager with my name clearly displayed so they can see it too. Sharing is an important part of being a member of a teaching team. Hopefully, your example ...See More

Jan 7, 2018

report post

« prev page

Teacher Chatboards