The Educators Thread

[73109]

I just want to have a class where I have to read a lot, but not focus on bull shit things like what was in the essay I showed you.

[contest_sanity]

You know in all honesty I kind of prefer talking about shorter things like poems, essays, or short stories because I really like doing "close" readings, which is just so hard to do with novels or even plays.  Like I just can't imagine spending a month on Macbeth with a class.  i mean, I know everyone does it, but man that seems like overkill to me.

[73109]

I want to read more plays too. I love plays and the only real one I ever read (besides Shakespeare) as a part of a high school class was Twelve Angry Men. Come on! Where's the fire and passion in that?

[contest_sanity]

BUT THEY WERE ANGRY, THOSE MEN!!!!

ANGRY!!!

I'm shocked you've read so few plays in your high school program.  Death Of A Salesman was the best them.

[73109]

I've read Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelve Angry Men. I'd love to read Death of a Salesman.

[Jamesman42]

haha no i'm not actually like that

I don't believe that.

I meant in the classroom, but I'm only like that when drunk and around people with a good sense of humor IRL

[Orbert]

By the way, two movies that all teachers should watch: Stand and Deliver and To Sir, With Love.

Stand and Deliver is a true story and I happened to watch it while I was taking my Math Ed classes.  It was also my introduction to the amazing Edward James Olmos.  To Sir, With Love is a classic black-and-white, I'm not sure if it's true or what, but Sidney Poitier is awesome.  One day in class, I happened to notice that I say "Next!" a lot, and I wondered where I'd picked it up.  Then TSWL came on TV, and I realized I'd been channelling Sir without knowing it.

Anyway, rent both of these movies now.

[Jamesman42]

Added both to my queue (SAD was only for DVD, but TSWL is on instant watch)

[Jamesman42]

So I passed the Prof. Ed test today. It was kind of hard and ridiculous.

I have 13 days left of full time teaching and then I am done with that! Then some projects to turn in. I also have to take the certification exam in my subject area (6-12 math) but I have a feeling I should do fine on that.

I am less than 2 months away from my B.S. degree! Holy wow!

[Jamesman42]

By the way, two movies that all teachers should watch: Stand and Deliver

Oh, and I had some 10th graders recommend me this movie because they think I'd like it. That was pretty cool and surprising.

[73109]

Here comes Captain Buzzkill!!! In Stand and Deliver, the kids really did cheat.

Now, I toured a college today with the hopes of checking out the philosophy department because I want to teach that one day. I figured that pertains to this.

[Dr. DTVT]

I am less than 2 months away from my B.S. degree! Holy wow!

I always knew you were full of bullshit James, now you can prove it

[Jamesman42]

I am less than 2 months away from my B.S. degree! Holy wow!

I always knew you were full of bullshit James, now you can prove it

Ironically funny, since a lot of the classes I took were bullshit.

[Orbert]

Here comes Captain Buzzkill!!! In Stand and Deliver, the kids really did cheat.

Seriously?  I've never heard that.

There was the earlier scene (the "tic tac toe" scene) where all the students get the wrong answer, but they all get the same wrong answer.  The math they'd been learning was actually a bit past their level, but he'd managed to get most of it into them by drilling some rote routines into them.  But there were several steps, and it wasn't hard to take a wrong turn somewhere.  Then he has his attack and you forget what triggered it.

But then later when the kids are accused of cheating because both their right answers and their wrong answers all matched, I was thinking back to the earlier scene where they made the point that that tended to happen.

[73109]

What happened was, the kids had a few minutes left on the test, and a bunch of them were stressing out. Then, one of them passed around a paper with the "answer" on it. They all then proceeded to get it wrong. College Board thought something was up because they all got the same, wrong answer using the same, wrong variable. They made them retake the test and they still did well. However, a reporter from the Washington Post was interviewing a student of Mr...(I forget) and he admitted to cheating on the AP test as he thought he was being interviewed off the record.

[Orbert]

Whoa.  I had no idea.

Now I'm thinking they included the "tic tac toe" scene just for that reason.  They showed us in the movie that the students were accused of cheating, but I don't think they made it clear whether or not they actually did.

[73109]

No. What you are thinking about is something else. In the movie, they allude to the fact that they were accused of cheating, but it wasn't until many years later that the student actually admitted they did.

[Orbert]

There was a scene in the movie, set many years later, where a student admitted they cheated?  I guess I don't remember.

[Jamesman42]

Less than a week til my Bachelor's degree is in my hands!

[Fiery Winds]

Congrats!

[Implode]

Just stopping in here to give appreciation to our educators! Whoo! You guys rock.

[contest_sanity]

Here's a short film I made of what is probably still my favorite poem of all time.  It was originally made in 1999, but I re-cut it recently to make it tighter, fix some things, change the music, etc.  Forgive the non-HD quality, but, like I said, 1999.

Also, if you have a youtube account and like the video, give a thumbs up or share your thoughts.  I'm trying to use the video as an example of my work to show to future education employers, so more views always helps.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 

Any feedback or discussion is welcome.

[slycordinator]

There was a scene in the movie, set many years later, where a student admitted they cheated?  I guess I don't remember.

The book that confirmed that they cheated came out after the movie had already been released. Hence, why you don't remember that scene.

[Progmetty]

Here's a short film I made of what is probably still my favorite poem of all time.  It was originally made in 1999, but I re-cut it recently to make it tighter, fix some things, change the music, etc.  Forgive the non-HD quality, but, like I said, 1999.

Also, if you have a youtube account and like the video, give a thumbs up or share your thoughts.  I'm trying to use the video as an example of my work to show to future education employers, so more views always helps.

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock 

Any feedback or discussion is welcome.

youtube dogs removed the video before I could see it.

[Orbert]

There was a scene in the movie, set many years later, where a student admitted they cheated?  I guess I don't remember.

The book that confirmed that they cheated came out after the movie had already been released. Hence, why you don't remember that scene.

Disappointing, and it does cast that whole part of the movie into a different light.

I taught in a magnet program for years, and those kids were under serious pressure.  The cream of Montgomery County, mostly kids of doctors, lawyers, CEOs, and political advisors, the program was insane and there were kids who just couldn't do it.  But they also couldn't go home with anything other than straight A's, so they did the only thing they could do: they cheated.  I honestly felt sorry for them sometimes, but I had to bust them hard any time I caught them.  Which, from some candid conversations with students I knew pretty well, was only a fraction of the time.  They figured it was worth the risk.

I guess that's what happens when you place success above your own morals and self-respect in the heirarchy.

[contest_sanity]

Here's a short film I made of what is probably still my favorite poem of all time.  It was originally made in 1999, but I re-cut it recently to make it tighter, fix some things, change the music, etc.  Forgive the non-HD quality, but, like I said, 1999.

Also, if you have a youtube account and like the video, give a thumbs up or share your thoughts.  I'm trying to use the video as an example of my work to show to future education employers, so more views always helps.

Any feedback or discussion is welcome.

youtube dogs removed the video before I could see it.

New link at Vimeo for anyone who cares:

The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

[splent]

Massive Bump....

Any more fellow educators here now?

[contest_sanity]

Massive Bump....

Any more fellow educators here now?

STILL HERE BRUH

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

Percussion teacher reporting in.

[SebastianPratesi]

Me too. I'm a mathematics teacher. I've worked in a few high schools (including the one I went to) for 4 years, and for the past 2 I've also worked at the local University (together with my old Algebra teacher).

[splent]

 Being a music teacher I've been the victim of job cuts a few times already… I'm looking for a job now that's much closer to where I live because my current position is over an hour away from where I live, and I teach between for elementary schools… That's tough enough without the commute, but the commute makes it 100 times harder

[Dr. DTVT]

I feel bad now, my last two jobs found me (chemistry for those that don't know).

[Orbert]

You feel bad that your jobs found you, as opposed to you having to beat the streets to find them?  I guess I don't follow.

My degree is in education, and I was a teacher for six years.  But once we started having kids and thinking more seriously about buying a house, it became painfully obvious that I could make more money programming.  Like, lots more.  But it wasn't about money, it was about providing for my family the best I could (which -- ha! -- comes down to money).

I loved teaching, and it scared the hell out of me to leave it and venture forth into a completely different field, but I did it because if I stuck with what I liked and was comfortable with, we'd still be living in a shitty apartment in Elgin, broke as hell, and with no sign of that changing.  When they laid me off, I interviewed with a dozen school districts in the area, but entry level programmer at United Airlines got me 5K a year more than the best offer I got in teaching, and it only went up from there.

If I could teach math and computer science and make the kind of money I'm making now, I'd do it.  But you can't have it both ways.

[splent]

 I've thought about switching careers, but there really isn't a career path that really follows anything I am experience with other than teaching… It would have to be a job where my years of experience teaching would be advantageous to that company… I don't know any company that would do that especially with a music teacher…

[SebastianPratesi]

You feel bad that your jobs found you, as opposed to you having to beat the streets to find them?  I guess I don't follow.

The way I read it, he felt bad for Splent (who hasn't had the best of lucks with his profession), because apparently for him it didn't involve much effort to find the job (well, besides studying a lot).

Anyways, I read what you wrote. Good for you! Hopefully at a later stage in your life (when your kids are older?) you'll get to be able to teach again.