The Classroom

I’m one of those bloggers who loves to check his stats. I look at them all the time. I like to see where people who view my site are from, what pages they look at, and what brings them to my blog in the first place. It never ceases to amaze me however, that people from all over the world are drawn to my site on a routine basis due to the same keyword search: “What makes a good teacher?”

Now I actually find that funny, as I only ever did one post on the subject, and with the exception of the four initial comments, no one has ever decided to add their voice to the discussion. But I get many hits each week with people looking for the answer. Sorry folks, there is no right answer. Everybody learns differently, and so a good teacher is different for each student. That’s not to say that there aren’t some commonalities that can be found in most good teachers, but we have to remember that “it takes different strokes to move the world”.

Knowing that it takes many different types of teachers to reach the many different types of students, I have to ask – what exactly is it that teachers do? Why are we here? Read the rest of this entry »

Almost 10 years ago a spoken song from a Baz Lurman Album, Something For Everybody, was all the rage. “Everybody’s Free (to wear sunscreen)” told us of the value of taking time for ourselves and staying positive in life. Good advice comes at us from many places and at many points in our lives. I remember being a first year teacher – fresh out of an internship in a Behaviour Assistance program and rewriting the lyrics of “Everybody’s Free” for some student teachers who I had befriended, and who were having a hard time. I don’t know if that helped any of them, I mean really, what did I know – I was barely out of my teaching diapers myself – but I still give that reworked song to each student teacher I get. Read the rest of this entry »

I love stand up comedians. I think that’s why I let class clowns get away with so much. As long as they know when to stop (I know, that rarely happens…) I let the jokes fly. I was once told by a very concerned Librarian that my class couldn’t be learning anything. They were laughing too much. I took that as a complement.

I often considered trying my own hand at stand up – but I know I don’t have the gift for it. But if I did – this would be one of my first bits – it’s funny because it’s true. Read the rest of this entry »

I think Janine Lim is an AMAZING teacher. I’ve thought that for years. After taking part in Read Around the Planet twice, listening to her speak at the Broadband Summer Institute last year (which by the way is open for registrations this year), and taking part in one of her on-line courses she offers she has fast become my Videoconferencing Idol. So imagine my surprise when I get an e-mail from my buddy Randy asking if I had check out the latest entry on her blog. She featured one of my posts about the success of this year’s RAP event. I still can’t wipe the smile off of my face. Yes it’s probably juvenile of me, but I feel like one of my heroes just patted me on the back and just said – “Nice job kid!”