Our last class and your grades

Thank you for a lovely last class session. (Daniela, the staff in our office really enjoyed the tuna dish you brought in.) Everything seems so much better when there's good food around, don't you think?

On another note, after more thought, your grades will be based on the sum total earned for assignments turned in plus the percentage given for class participation. Your score sheet for the intro, philosophy and contextual factors paper will also be based on the scores you earned from those assignments. Since I work hard at reading and evaluating everything, I don't know why I torture myself with this grading process--there really is no need to!

Hope you all have a great summer, and feel free to contact me for academic advisement if you need help.

A Healthy Dose of Humor: Act 3

http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c157590b2fa1a7d093a3


Finally, hopefully

A Healthy Dose of Humor: Act 2

My link is now added.

A Healthy Dose of Humor

One of my friends who is a teacher sent me this. Enjoy!

About Teachers and Teaching…

To be good is noble, but to teach others how to be good is nobler—and no trouble.
~Mark Twain 

Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher.
~Japanese proverb 

The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains.  The superior teacher demonstrates.  The great teacher inspires.
~William Arthur Ward 

Whoever first coined the phrase ‘you’re the wind beneath my wings’ most assuredly was reflecting on the sublime influence of a very special teacher.
~Frank Trujillo 

Good teaching is more a giving of right questions than a giving of right answers.
~Josef Albers
 
Real education should educate us out of self into something far finer; into a selflessness which links us with all humanity.
~Lady Nancy Astor

Teaching should be full of ideas instead of stuffed with facts.
~Author Unknown 

What a teacher is, is more important than what he teaches.
~Karl Menninger 

I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think.
~Socrates 

Gentle Reminder: Philosophy Statement AND Introduction are due next FRIDAY May 9th!

It seems like we're always in such a rush...

Let's talk about today's important presentations. First of all, I want to tell you how impressed I am by you. For sophomores, you show a great deal of confidence and presence when you speak from the front of our classroom (and I speak from experience--you guys are good). Maybe it's because you've chosen your own topics to research, but in any case, you've made an effort, and I think I can speak for us (your audience)--we appreciate it.

This morning's topics were particularly interesting to me. Inclusion, as we discussed, is core to our humanity. Yes, you have an obligation to teach your students the three r's, but modeling good values is at the heart of our job. Set high standards in your classrooms regarding true inclusion; it's really important. Thanks for choosing this topic, Carlos--as you heard, it's particularly significant to me and some others who responded to your report today.

Parent-Teacher partnerships (sorry you missed this Nick & Mayra) ideally would be a "force" to keep our children on the right path. That's our goal, try not to get off-track by all of the annoying, stressful and pressing daily or hourly issues we so easily find ourselves in the thick of in our classrooms....and Maija--the care you took to interview your neighbor and ask other experts in the field for input, as well as personalizing the presentation with current and relevant examples from your own life (including photos)--I'm so impressed by the caliber of your contributions.

Our last topic today was bullying. Haven't we all been involved in it at some point in some way? If we practice true inclusion, then we can probably prevent some of the bullying from occurring. Didn't we all find it interesting to see that Claire included all of those psychological bullying tactics and gossiping along with the traditional shoving and name-calling and cyber-bullying we're hearing about. It's also good to hear Claire's point of view since it's from a different continent. Goes to show you the universality (?) of human nature. True inclusion should cut down on bullying, don't you think?

Since we haven't met regularly in class, I'd appreciate it if each of you would write a little paragraph about some (one each, for example) of the other presentations we had this semester. Just as a review/summary so we can try to capture the good stuff we talked about and learned this semester from each other. Any back and forth comments would be beneficial to all as well. This is your chance to post some of your own thoughts in regard to the material learned in this course this semester.

Working this summer?

Click on the title for tips for creating a concise resume. Some of the items listed in the left (blue) column should prove helpful.


Friday, May 9th Menu (so far)

Mindy: Portuguese Rice Pudding
Carlos: Portuguese _____________
Mayra: Peruvian empanadas
Nick: Italian Buffalo Wings
Daniela: Peruvian Causa (Tuna Casserole specialty)
Claire: English tea
Maija: potato pancakes w/ sour cream & apple sauce
Maria: Filippino or Spanish ? or cake
me: paper goods & plastic ware

Keep in mind you guys that there are only 8 of us & it'll be 9am!