Friday 4th Grade...

You sometimes hear some interesting noteworthy comments coming from elementary students. By noteworthy I mean offbeat enough to jot down the comment for a blog post.

The setting is 4th grade class last Friday. The assignment, "Write a letter to this week's Star Student" as practice in the craft of "letter writing"

Personally, I have never been fond of assignments like this. It is only the third day of school and I can assume that not everyone in the class even knows the person to whom they are writing. I know I would find it a difficult to write a "friendly letter" to someone I hardly know so I can sympathize when I heard the start of a 4th grader meltdown when a boy in the back row wailed:

"I'm an illustrator, not a writer!!"

School Year 2013-14 Begins...

The new school year 2013-14 resumed yesterday.

Summer seemed to go so quickly. The transition from sleeping late morning to wakey-wakey at early dark thirty usually takes some adjustment. It will have to be quick this year as my first assignment is tomorrow morning in a 4th grade class.

How schools kill creativity - Ken Robinson

This guy is on to something...

PBL...

School starts up again next week and I finally have the paperwork and medical stuff squared away that allows me to work yet another year. In fact the district, for the first time ever, is offering to pay subs a half development day to learn about a new concept called Project Based Learning (PBL) that they started last year at the lowest performing school in the district.

I have routinely turned down assignments at this school because the majority of the student clientele seem to be there only for the recess and lunchtime social interaction. It is going to take much more than one development class and $65 to change my mind.

That said, I'm willing to be bribed for their attempt.

Update: 8/15/2013 

I arrived at the school to find a packed library in attendance. The presentation team were scrambling to find room for all the substitute teachers that showed up. They were surprised and  happy to have such a large turnout. They said they would have been happy if 15-20 showed interest. I estimated the attendance at 50-60. I believe that all of us came away with a optimistic viewpoint for success at this school. 

Who knows? Maybe it will migrate to the rest of the schools in the district over time.





ESL Kinders...