Catching Sparrows

I don't know if I still have any readers at this blog, but I want to let you know I'm moving - again. I've finally gotten my own site and blog up to speed, which was what I was working toward (an...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/moving-again.html

I know it's not polite to refer to it as "Dumbing up, dumbing down." I'm sure I should call the practice "modification" or, since that became a Bad Word in our school last year, "accommodation." ...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/dumbing-up-dumbing-down.html

I've always thought the quickest way to undermine student trust is to enforce rules which students must follow...but teachers don't have to.Case In Point: I recently went to an ARD proceeding in ...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/consistency-is-not-bad-word.html

I love this quote I ran across today. It describes teaching quite a bit as well."People ask me how far I've come, and I tell them twelve feet: from the audience to the stage."-David Lee Roth

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-quotes.html

I was teasing one of my classes for being slow today - not picking up their handouts before the tardy bell rang, not getting their journals out in time (they were tired, I have a good relationshi...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/and-beat-goes-on.html

The arrival of a note releasing a kid from class is always worth a moment of silence. Reverence and longing, you know.The note came. It was for a student who was not in my class. (Probably got th...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/how-they-keep-me-sane.html

Yesterday was a professional development day. Let me share with you how it went.School upon arrival: blisteringly hot. The heaters were on over the holidays. In Texas, this is completely unnecess...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/i-have-now-been-professionally.html

The top 10 signs it’s nearly time to return to school after the holidays.10. You realize you’re going to have to have some kind of anticipation set for the first day, and a journal about New ...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/teachers-new-years-top-10.html

Via Joanne Jacobs: Student suspended for tearing up a Bible in a speech about Ralph Waldo Emerson.Here’s a great way to snow people on an issue: just add Bible. I’ve got images of Richard Ger...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2008/01/give-em-ol-razzle-dazzle-and-dont-talk.html

Here's a quote I stumbled on a while back, in the blog of a young Swedish graphic designer:"Everything's changing, it is unseemly to stand still."- Radoslaw SiechowiczI don't discredit the value ...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/12/may-your-new-year-bring-new-beginnings.html

It's been my habit for many years, over the various blogs I've had, to post this essay around the close of the year and to follow it up with a sort of manifesto on the morning of the new year. Th...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/12/pressing-our-fingers-in-clay.html

Student: I failed my semester final, and the semester. Is there any extra credit work I can do to pass?Me: You do realize today is the last day of finals and the semester?Student: Yes.Me: I don'...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/12/student-turns-back-on-hand-that-feeds.html

I usually try to spend my second period conference in a social skills class with some of our Autistic/Asperger students. The privilege of being welcomed into this (mostly private) class by them h...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/12/student-drinks-chocolate-cheese.html

I have a student who tries very hard, but often gets lost in his work easily. He's also very shy and won't ever ask for help, so I usually try to make sure I'm anticipating some of his needs.Toda...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/12/student-too-cute-for-words.html

Cheating has become so high tech these days it's almost ridiculous to expect that I'm going to catch all of it. With phones getting smaller and teens' fingers getting faster, they can get five an...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/12/good-old-fashioned-cheating.html

I took my students to the library Tuesday to check out books for sustained silent reading in the classroom. Students dread SSR time, because they are usually required to keep page counts, write j...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/11/teacher-knows-books.html

Why you should not ask overworked English teachers to fill out a long survey about their writing training on the day grades are due, after they’ve lost 2 full weeks of teaching in 2 6 weeks’ ...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/11/english-teachers-fill-out-survey.html

It's like Through The Looking Glass. It's like April Fool's in November. It's like being tripped up by some cosmic banana peel and hearing a faint celestial laugh-track in the background.Everythi...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/11/its-always-different-around-holidays.html

"If I pass out, don't send me to the nurse.""Do you have......seven bandaids I could borrow?"

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/11/things-teachers-hate-to-hear-part-ii.html

Typed "What is a teacher?" into Google, and took the first five responses off the top.A person whose occupation is teaching; a personified abstraction (Books were his teachers.)To a mind of flint...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/11/what-is-teacher.html

Things Teachers Hate To Hear:When did you tell us this was due today?Can I keep this knife in your cabinet so I don't get in trouble?Does this look like a Staph infection to you?Things Teachers H...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/10/things-teachers-hate-to-hear.html

I've been out sick for three days, and finally returned today. You know it's going to be bad when the inclusion teacher sends you an email that says, "There were some problems with third period. ...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/10/you-know-its-going-to-be-bad.html

Our department head was recently accused, in an email, of being a racist, and grading a student as such. She had to attend a meeting with the parents, student, and 3 APs last week. I spoke with h...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/10/explain-yourself.html

After an entire day of mind-boggling inanity, we received a form in our boxes asking us to give feedback about the professional development. The form has three parts, and looks like this:FEEL: Ho...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/10/professional-development-response-form.html

Session 1: Engaged Learning Strategies for the Differentiated Classroom - presented by teachers.1. As we entered, we saw strips of paper lying on a table. Some people took them. Some people did n...

http://catchingsparrows.blogspot.com/2007/10/what-i-learned-in-professional.html