As we near the end of school, our middle school has an 8th grade party for our kids next Friday. Only problem is we have two hours to fill with our team of kids (85) before it starts. Any ideas for a pbl or group activity you’ve used to help us out? Thanks in advance!
I have been teaching for 15 years but somewhat new to middle school. I’m surprised the student has been tapping his under chin because I do have a small double chin and then recently holds up his arm and taps the underside of his arm and it’s only when I’m wearing short sleeves that he does this, and he looks at his friend and laughs….
Keep in mind. This is a newcomer to the United States from a Latin country. I think there’s a fair amount of misogyny/ machismo. Not an excuse… I’m just giving context. Of course I’m shocked and I don’t like it. I’m just surprised he keeps doing it…
I know what you are doing. - it is not OK… so…. How serious is it? I am already talking to the social worker and plan to call his parents, but has anyone else experienced this and what have you done? Thanks.
Hi fellow teachers,
This year, I've been teaching a weekly "math enrichment" class for the more advanced math students in our 7th grade.
It's my first time running this class, and with a couple weeks left, I'm running out of ideas. Any suggestions for a good thought-provoking math activity for that level? Thanks!
Some topics I've used already:
probability / combinatorics
binary numbers
Fibonacci sequence
abundant, deficient, and perfect numbers
how many diagonals can you draw in an n-gon?
Magic Squares
finding lines of best fit
We have a district-mandated keyboarding program. It's been in place for years. Students are supposed to be doing it from 2nd grade up. And yet I get 6th graders who type with two fingers and have clearly never internalized anything from it.
My theory is that the program exists on paper but nobody enforces time on it, so teachers squeeze it in when convenient or skip it entirely when other things come up. By the time students get to me there's a huge range, some are totally fluent, some look like they've never seen a keyboard before, and I can't tell if the curriculum is the problem or the implementation.
Curious whether other teachers have seen this and whether the fix was actually a different program or just better accountability around using the one you have.
I (26M) am just wrapping up my second year teaching. I was informed recently that I wont be rehired. I was not given a reason as to why they won’t be rehiring me. I’m not quite sure where to go from here. My biggest concern as of now is what do I say in future interviews about it?
Every year since I started teaching (2021), I’ve tried to keep a little momento of each student, but in a simple (and easy to store!!) way that would be a way to remember each one. Some practical (finger printed on a wood stool that I DIY’d, student paints part of a globe on a grad cap), some not so (student drawings on canvas shoes).
Ideally it’d be easy to store, but not cost money (like the shoes that I actually never wear and are displayed on a shelf). Edit: I have 105 students :)
Ideas?