Posted in Family Studies, Time Out!, tagged Barack Obama, behavior, discipline, disrespect, education, health care, heckling, Joe Wilson, kids, parents, teaching on September 11, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Did you hear about the Congressman who yelled, “You lie!” at President Obama during his speech on health care? (If you didn’t, then welcome back to the world from under your rock. ) People are shocked, but I wasn’t really surprised. I wondered why. Not that I thought it wasn’t a big deal, because [...]
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Posted in Family Studies, Philosophy 101, Time Out!, tagged Barack Obama, behavior, Cambridge, consequences, discipline, education, elementary school, Harvard, Henry Louis Gates, James Crowley, kids, Officer Crowley, Professor Gates, race, rewards, Skip Gates, stupidity, teaching on July 24, 2009 | 7 Comments »
What’s wrong with calling a spade a spade?
This is part of the problem in schools. We are supposed to point out all the good things kids do (however minor), and talk them up and praise them out the wazoo, but you can’t say anything negative. Even if they do something wrong, whether it’s academic or behavioral, [...]
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Posted in Family Studies, Philosophy 101, Time Out!, tagged Barack Obama, behavior, discipline, education, elementary school, following directions, kids, parents, teaching on April 5, 2009 | 4 Comments »
Rules must be binding.
Violations must be punished.
Words must mean something.
~ Barack Obama 4/5/09
Now granted, President Obama is talking about North Korea test-firing a missile, but his words automatically made me think of school and how kids don’t understand rules and consequences.
Our school rules have no meaning because they are not binding. Kids get a [...]
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While watching the pre-Inaugural festivities during library this morning, a boy turned to me and asked, “Is there a school named after George Bush?” My first reaction was to blurt out “no” and shake my head. (I really wanted to shout, “God, no!!!”)
A split second later I busted out laughing at the thought of the [...]
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“President Obama says you have to read.”
You should’ve seen the look on the girl’s face to whom I said this. Jaw-dropping disbelief. The whole room got quiet. (Extremely unusual for this class. Especially when you consider I didn’t say it very loudly.) I said, “Didn’t you see his commercial about education?” Silence. “Oh, it’s great. [...]
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The kids are really excited for this election. This is only my third election as a teacher, but I haven’t had a class this interested in politics since my second graders in 2000. They were pretty much the only kids in a school of 500 who voted for Al Gore in our mock election. (Probably [...]
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Posted in Family Studies, Philosophy 101, tagged Barack Obama, behavior, education, elementary school, insanity, NCLB, No Child Left Behind, parents, teaching on October 27, 2008 | Leave a Comment »
I blame parents.
Kids who don’t behave don’t understand consequences. Over the last ten years, I have come up with three scenarios for why kids don’t behave:
Home Life Scenario #1. There are no rules at home.
Home Life Scenario #2. There are rules at home, but parents don’t follow through with consequences for breaking the rules.
Home Life [...]
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asbestasican: My Hair on Fire
