Posts

The call

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I feel closest to God when I teach. I see him in the innocence and bliss within the sparkles of their eyes. I look into these eyes. I want to help, I want to train them to see the world, I want to see what they see. Solace in those sparkles. I know that when I’m in the classroom I am doing God’s work and that makes me feel like a shiny penny, like I’ve been shot up with perspective, like a golden ticket holder. You know that inevitable pep in your step when you buy a new pair of shoes and flounce around, wearing them for the first time? The way you walk…you hold yourself high; dignified, important, special, significant. People around you point out how special your shoes are…compliment you even…Look at you go in your new shoes. God has made teaching my students feel like I wear a new pair of shoes every day. God has given me the gift of an irreversible Mr. Tommy swag. These new shoes? They walk on sunshine. They walk on water. They light up. The stomp on bullying and discriminati...
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Module 1: Field Experience Form

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Trinity Christian College Field Experience Form Context for Learning Description of School and Students School Name and City: Dwight D. Eisenhower High School Blue Island, IL Type of School : High School  Setting: Suburban low income 1. List any special features of the school or classroom setting (e.g., themed magnet, classroom aide, bilingual, co-taught with a special education teacher, pull-out program). ·          Classroom contains a kitchen and office area where students learn vocational and life skills. (Washer, dryer, dishwasher, sink, stove, refrigerator, microwaves, toaster ovens) (Paper shredders, glue machine, laminator, poster maker, scan n’ cut machine) ·          1:1 district issued iPads ·          Paraprofessional aids available in each class. School also offers co-taught classes for higher level learner...
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so much to learn, such little time

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QR codes are the way to go. I can’t wait to utilize them in my classroom. I can use this with my students who struggle navigating to google forms that I’ve created or entering my google classroom. QR codes are time savers and will shift my students’ priority from scuffling their iPads to participating in class.      THE GOOGLES. Where were we before the days of Google…or even before all of the awesome Google plug-ins that make teaching and staying organized easier? I don’t think I could have completed my Wevideo without using Google docs. I can’t believe the amount of FREE and user friendly resources that google has developed. Wevideo…what a heck of a platform. Creating a digital story from scratch is a pretty daunting project. I’ll admit, it really intimidated me. I’m proud of myself for attempting to create a video and I am proud of the effort that I put into it. “When something’s more public, you tend to put your best work into it.” I never really thought...
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Picking the mayor's brain

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We spent weeks practicing asking practical and probing interview questions for our big field trip to meet the mayor. Practice makes perfect and we want to be perceived as fully engaged listeners. Questions are meant to be asked with intention. To fuel further curiosity. To prompt follow-up questions. To offer additional insight. I worked so hard on helping my student formulate his question to be asked. A nervous and sensitive dude, he wanted to be considerate and ask a question that hadn’t been asked before. After all, the mayor must have been asked it all…he must be bored of redundant career based questions… “He answers the phone from the citizens all day for crying out loud…Surely he must be sick of repeating his plans and ideas” What a thoughtful approach to learning more about the big man in the suit. You’ve got the shovel...let’s dig deeper.   “I really want to know his favorite color, but I know I’ll only get a one word response. That isn’t probing eno...
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Facebook or force fed?

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Lately my Facebook timeline has contained strands of hate: Trump this, gun violence that, CPS strike blah blah blah. Direct insertions of disagreements for the sake of debate. People whose perspectives I wouldn’t normally care about shoved down my throat as I scroll seeking some kind of positivity. Opinion. Opinion. Opinion. A dumping ground of opinions. That being said, whenever I come across something positive on Facebook, it really stands out to me and sticks with me. A friend of mine shared a video on my Timeline that will forever be engrained in how I plan to run my future classroom. The video shows a special education teacher complimenting each and every one of his students on their way into his class in the morning. What an awesome way to start every day! Sometimes our students don’t hear good things about themselves from their friends and even their own parents at home. All the need sometimes is someone to just point out the good things. A few nice words can g...
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CLASS DRIVER-- Flip. That. Learning.

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No two people are the same and their learning styles aren’t either. While some students learn better by listening others might retain information better from reading or writing. I took a Biology class last semester and I might as well have been taking Chinese. Listening to and taking notes on the lectures was totally above my head. Even reading from the book wasn’t enough to help my learning. Thank God for YouTube. After class, I would go home and watch videos on YouTube explaining the concepts we covered in class. I didn’t learn mitosis from a book or from a teacher, but I learned it from the World Wide Web. YouTube videos contained the visual representations and demonstrations that I needed to grasp the concepts and processes. The friendly and quirky YouTube scientists delivered the information in video form and a way that made it easier for me to understand and apply. It’s the night before a final paper is due. 30 pages. 10 scholarly sources. 5 hours. This is when my best work...
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Her cab never came

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Yesterday was early dismissal and her cab never came. Her uncle forgot to arrange for her to be picked up and dropped off at Pookey the babysitter’s house after school. (She would kill me for calling Pookey a “babysitter” because she is NOT a babysitter she is a “day care provider”) Anyways, the bus doesn’t reach Pookeys house so she takes a cab to get there every day. “Oh I am so gonna give it to that Rhonda….always making me wait around” She said. She’s a first name basis kinda girl. I like that. “I’m sure Rhonda is a nice cab driver and this is a miscommunication, little lady.” “She is...” she answered. “…she took me through the drive thru for a pop the other day because I told her I had money but she didn’t know it was 32 cents.” A girl that knows how to get what she wants. I like that. She keeps meatballs in her purse, because yeah…she gets hungry…you don’t keep meatballs in your purse? What’s wrong with you? Her purse is an extension of herself, filled with chaos an...
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