After just now almost putting a pot of hot coffee into the refrigerator, I decide to spend a few minutes reflecting on how my Mindfulness Project for 2015 is coming along. To begin with, I just tried to put a hot pot of coffee into the refrigerator. That did not strike me as being especiallyContinue reading “Mindfulness in 2015: Day #17”
Category Archives: Education
School House Rock ‘n’ Sock
Almost two months ago now, in the throes and excitement and the optimism of a new school year, I found myself writing with my students and posting the results as blog entries here on the Michael Jarmer blog page. I was a happy camper then. Those were truly salad days in September. Fast forward toContinue reading “School House Rock ‘n’ Sock”
#113: The Child House
The Child House is so called because the children in this building outnumber the adults about thirty-seven to one. Inside over a thousand big children are busy (or not) at some purpose which often remains mysterious to them, but never- theless is perceived by many to be of some importance. Many of the kids love theContinue reading “#113: The Child House”
#97: Doing the Extra Soul Credit
Is this worth any points? they ask. And I say, of course, but you won’t see them in the grade book; instead, you’ll feel them somewhere inside your head or your heart–that’s why we call it extra soul credit. Very few students are motivated by this. I don’t care. While I’m not opposed to enrichmentContinue reading “#97: Doing the Extra Soul Credit”
#85: The Eight Year Old Son of the American English Teacher Illustrates the Chinese Poets
It’s a teacher work-day and Mom is getting an MRI, so the boy comes with Dad to school, takes copious notes during the staff meeting and afterwards creates a mural in the classroom. He begins with the tree. When you come back from Spring Break, he says, you can do a lesson about trees. ConsiderContinue reading “#85: The Eight Year Old Son of the American English Teacher Illustrates the Chinese Poets”
#83: The American High School English Teacher Tries To Do Second Grade Math
Show your work, the instructions say, in tens and ones. Okay. Fair enough. What’s the problem? 35 – 18 = ____ When I was a kid learning to do the math, we were taught to borrow from the tens column which made a problem like this easier to do; it made one hard problem with twoContinue reading “#83: The American High School English Teacher Tries To Do Second Grade Math”
#82: The Eight Year Old Gives His Father the American English Teacher a Writing Lesson
The eight year old says, what did you do at work today? And his Dad tells him about the fishbowl discussion around the novel he’s teaching. And the boy says, during writing time at school we make hamburgers. He explains: Writing is like a hamburger. It has to start and end with the same thing,Continue reading “#82: The Eight Year Old Gives His Father the American English Teacher a Writing Lesson”
#81: The American English Teacher Addresses His Students About the Failed Lesson on Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle”
He announces a quiz over the Washington Irving story his students were supposed to have read in class on the previous day. The quiz is designed to efficiently assess what, if anything, they understood from their reading, dumb kinds of literal comprehension prompts, the type of which he rarely, if ever, gives: Explain why RipContinue reading “#81: The American English Teacher Addresses His Students About the Failed Lesson on Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle””
#78: The American English Teacher Wonders About the Effectiveness of Reading To His Students
My students love it when I read out loud to them. Well, that might be putting it on a bit thick. Let’s say instead that they prefer that to reading independently. I read out loud well and this guarantees at the end at least some level of certainty that every kid in the room hasContinue reading “#78: The American English Teacher Wonders About the Effectiveness of Reading To His Students”
#77: What I’m Doing While My Students Are Taking Standardized Tests
I’m writing poetry, of course. Early in the semester, I’ve got no grading to do and I’m unusually planned for the upcoming unit. My students are taking a standardized writing test for which they choose one dumb prompt from four dumb prompts in each of the four and only four dumb categories of writing thatContinue reading “#77: What I’m Doing While My Students Are Taking Standardized Tests”
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