Find A Motivator (Total Teacher Transformation Day 5) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 7, 2009June 30, 20102 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Yesterday we looked at making phone calls and using parent pressure as a motivator for classroom management. Today, we're going to go with a slightly more high-brow alternative, and one that tends to be more effective over the long run. Hopefully by now, you have begun to exercise a little more control in your classroom. I was telling a friend the other day that when I teach, it's sort of like I'm acting. I assume the roll of Benevolent Dictator of the classroom. I mentally tell myself that I am in control of the classroom, and I make sure that the students know that
Find A Mother (Total Teacher Transformation Day 4) Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 6, 2009June 30, 201010 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Face it, misbehavior has been around only slightly longer than behavior has been. As teachers, we are often expected to fill every possible role in the lives of the students. Unfortunately, that can't always happen. Sometimes our control and influence over the actions of the students is limited. Every teacher has students who misbehave from time to time. One of the things that revolutionized my teaching was to realize that most of the parents really wanted to help me help their child be successful. Most parents also have no real idea of how their children really act. To really get through to the students,
Joel’s Simple Homemade Salsa Recipe Personal by Joel Wagner - May 5, 2009June 30, 20103 All right. This is completely off topic, but since today is Cinco de Mayo and since I have lived on the Texas-Mexico border for about five years now, I felt like it was an appropriate time to share with you this incredible salsa recipe that I learned after I moved here. The coolest thing about it is that it is all fresh and natural ingredients. At least they are simple to find for me living here on the border. You may have to shop around for a few of them, but it's so worth it! Ingredients Tomatoes (about 4 small) I usually use one can of stewed whole tomatoes, but you can go with fresh ones as
Find A Mentor (Total Teacher Transformation Day 3) Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 5, 2009June 30, 20102 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Let's play a game I want you to think about your classes right now. Think about the four biggest trouble-makers on your roll sheet. Now imagine, what it would be like if they all got sent to another school. You wake up tomorrow and those four kids are gone. What a great day! But you know what? With them gone, four more kids will step up and strart ruining your life. There is no end to the number of children who will misbehave if given the chance! Even if you only have one kid, they will still act up when given the
Find A Mirror (Total Teacher Transformation Day 2) Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 4, 2009June 30, 20102 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Today's lesson is simple, and yet profound. One of the most difficult concepts for me to grasp was one of the most important in my early days of teaching. It is also the most transformational and pivotal of everything that we're going to be doing through this process. Every problem that happens in my classroom is my fault. Or stated more positively I am responsible to ensure good things happen in my class. If we can get over that hurdle, if we can get through that first barrier, we are on the downhill ride to becoming a great teacher. We are responsible for
Find A Moment (Total Teacher Transformation Day 1) Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 3, 2009June 30, 201010 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. Congratulations First of all, I want to congratulate you on taking the first step of this journey toward becoming a great teacher! I can't even begin to describe for you the exciting possibilities that await you as you move through these lessons and begin to come over to the other side. If your experiences are anything like mine as I went through this process five years ago, you will not believe that you used to have classes the way you currently do. If you follow the advice here, I can virtually guarantee you a completely different classroom environment before this month is out. To
Total Teacher Transformation: Hope For All Teachers Classroom Management by Joel Wagner - May 3, 2009June 30, 20100 This is an ongoing series. Bookmark this page as a way of navigating your way around the series. By the way, this was my 400th post on the blog. Day 1: Find A Moment Day 2: Find A Mirror Day 3: Find A Mentor Day 4: Find A Mother Day 5: Find A Motivation Day 6: Find A Mentor (Again) Day 7: Week 1 Summary Day 8: Be Prepared Day 9: Be Consistent Day 10: Be Fair Day 11: Be Respectful Day 12: Be Respectable
Total Teacher Transformation Begins Inspiration by Joel Wagner - May 2, 2009June 30, 20105 This is an article in the Total Teacher Transformation series. Click here for a complete table of contents. As I suspected when I started this blog, there are a lot of teachers who don't really have a strong grasp on how to be a great teacher. The number of emails and comments that I have gotten this year are a clear indication of that. When I take into account that only a small percentage of those who visit my site contact me in any way, I can only believe that the problem is far greater than we can imagine. Is this you? Well, there is hope! Beginning tomorrow, I'm going to start a crash course series on getting control of
Flashback Friday General by Joel Wagner - May 1, 2009June 30, 20101 I've been thinking lately about trying to have each day be a sort of theme day. I don't intend on posting every day (that's not realistic for me at this time), but I would like for things to be a bit better aligned. So for instance, if I write a list article, I'll schedule it for the next available Monday. If I have a blogging article, I'll schedule it for the next available Wednesday. Or something along those lines. Here's the ideas I've come up with: Monday Music Monday - I am a band director. I haven't posted a whole lot about teaching band. I would like to overcome that and really begin to place a bit more emphasis on the
Why I Teach: Twitter Poll Inspiration by Joel Wagner - April 30, 2009June 30, 20108 This morning, I asked my Twitter and blogging friends the simple question: Why do you teach? While most of the responses came in via Twitter (limited to 140 characters), some also came in through the comments. What I found in my nonscientific cross sampling of technolgically literate teachers was interesting. If you missed out on your chance this morning, feel free to add your own comments below! Without any further formalities, here were the responses: @flourishingkids I teach because I love cultivating the joy and efficacy of learning @kaferico I teach because is my vocation and passion. There is never a dull day. My goal is to make every day an A-HA! moment for my students. @flotoonie To use tech
Twitter And 35 Other Ways To Kill Productivity Personal by Joel Wagner - April 28, 2009June 30, 201010 Here are some quick things that you can do with now that will help you fall further behind in your workload. MySpace Facebook Check your email Edit your blog design Check your blog stats Catch up on RSS Watch TV Watch a movie Take a nap Drive around aimlessly Daydream Window shop Listen to music Take a walk Go to the park Go out to eat with friends Spend your lunch break talking Call a friend Call your mom Read a fiction book Read a magazine Fly a kite Sort your clothes Watch a baseball game Play a video game Surf the internet Read blogs Write in your blog Write an email Text Chat Comment Blog Sign up
No Rights Reserved Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - April 26, 2009June 30, 20109 This blog is about sharing ideas. The ideas and conversation are far more important than me personally. For that reason, you are hereby free to take any articles or comments that I (Joel) personally have produced for So You Want To Teach?and use them in whatever way you so desire! Call it Open Source Blogging, call it Uncopyright, call it Public Domain. I call it No Rights Reserved. Absolutely. Unequivocally. If you want to take an entire article, or even a series of articles, and publish them in a book, magazine, newsletter, newspaper, ebook, or whatever else (edited or unedited), go for it. Let the information flow! What if I want to sell ? Feel free to find one of my witty quotes
Should All Great Blogs Have A Comments Policy? Blogging & Technology by Joel Wagner - April 26, 2009June 30, 201023 Recently, Holly left a comment that brought out a few points. I wanted my readers to address her question, and so I posted that question. In the process of doing so, I realized that her comment (and a few others lately) raised a key question for me as to whether or not I should have a codified Comments Policy for So You Want To Teach? As I've been working my way through Darren's 31 Days to Build A Better Blog project, I've been analyzing a lot of things on my site. I've come to realize that there are a few things lacking on my blog that a lot of the great blogs I read out there have. With Holly's question
Special Education Students In The Classroom: How To Effectively Teach Them General by Joel Wagner - April 26, 2009June 30, 20104 Holly writes: I am a nineteen year old (3rd yr) secondary education student (yrs 8-12 ) at the University of Queensland in Australia. I have read the above comments and would love with your permission to use some of your comments as a reference (In which you will be quoted) in a case study /research report I am writing on Asperge’s (Task Outcome: A written Report reporting the procedures for preparing and conducting a face-to-face interview and integrating the outcomes/findings of the interview with the ideas from the academic literature and research.) On this blog I have found your opinions to be very informative and would be very appreciative if you could tell me some teaching method’s you have used
Where Do You Want To Teach? Navigating U.S. State Educator Certification Criteria New Teachers by Edward Kim - April 23, 2009June 30, 20107 This is a guest post by Edward Kim from The Certification Map Team. Joel, thanks for letting us write a guest post on your blog. This site is a great source for educators who want meaningful information with a down-to-earth touch. For Joel's regular readers, thanks for taking your time time to read this post. I want to start out by asking you a simple question: Do you know your state's teacher certification requirements? How many of you have experienced or heard horror stories about people trying to navigate through your state's Department of Education website trying to figure out the certification process (not to mention long phone conversations with the DOE that lead nowhere). It can be a