Wes Montgomery - The Art of Wes Montgomery - Boss Guitar (by Greengrassmusic)
Michael Jackson - Burn This Disco Out (Robot Style) (by MiSsJdAtSeXcBiTcH)
My first day back at the school where my cell phone was stolen, I’m teaching English in the self-contained Level 3 program for kids with severe emotional / behavioral disabilities.
I go over the vocabulary PowerPoint, giving an example for each word, and then instruct them to write a paragraph about what they want to be when they grow up. I walk around to help. Some of them are doing their work, but most of them are totally disinterested.
“I want to be a porn star,” announces one student.
Ooookay. “That’s not appropriate,” I tell him. “Can you think of something more appropriate for school that you might want to be?” I stretch my imagination for how to distill something positive and school-appropriate from that. “Maybe you want to be an actor?”
“Yeah!” he says. “I want to be an actor.”
“Great,” I say, relieved. “So now you need a topic sentence, three supporting details, and a conclusion.”
When I stop back later, he has written quite a good paragraph about taking on different roles and empathizing with different situations. It concludes, “I want to be an actor because I am a character.”
I look at him. “This is GREAT,” I tell him. “This is the best paragraph I’ve read all day.”
“Oh, well,” he says, clearly pleased, “I’m a writer, so.”
“What do you write?”
“Just my thoughts and ideas,” he says.
“Keep it up,” I tell him. “You have talent.”
After class he stops by with his notebook. “Here’s something I wrote last week,” he tells me, trying to hide his nervousness.
Here’s one:
#4.) Address behavior issues quickly and wiselyBe sure to address an issue between you and a student or between two students as quickly as possible. Bad feelings — on your part or the students — can so quickly grow from molehills into mountains.
Now, for handling those conflicts wisely, you and the student should step away from the other students, just in the doorway of the classroom perhaps. Ask naive questions such as, “How might I help you?” Don’t accuse the child of anything. Act as if you do care, even if you have the opposite feeling at that moment. The student will usually become disarmed because she is expecting you to be angry and confrontational.
And always take a positive approach. Say, “It looks like you have a question” rather than, “Why are you off task and talking?”
When students have conflicts with each other, remain neutral. Arrange for the students to meet with you at lunch, after or before school. Use neutral language as you act as a mediator, helping them resolve the problem peacefully, or at least reach an agreeable truce.
Trigger Warning: Violence, Disrespect, Injustice, Public Education
Yesterday, a veteran teacher and wonderful person, with a thirty year unblemished record was attacked by one of her students. She defended herself, but still ended up on her back in the hallway, with the student on top of her…
I have a small notepad of a bunch of photo ideas. I can up with a bunch of them randomly or after a dream. I expect to get them all done before the end of next year.
