Blackboard Notes

Sheldahl, C. 2011. Media Center. Perhaps not every moment a teacher experiences a teachable moment is inside the classroom (or a media center.) In this case, I experienced very personally, right on the floor of the family room in my house. My kids, when decided that they are not  going outside to play, develop this ravenous cabin fever (or at least the older siblings love to stir up the younger ones like a top; sound familiar?).  But when they got some Legos(TM) out (that at least was their initiative, not mine, unless my wife prompted them to), I plopped down on the floor and started to make something with the "pretty" colored Legos(TM) y daughter was using. (My next older child had brought his own "boy" Legos(TM) to the play scene). I was wasn't sure what I was going to make, since I didn't have directions or a map of what I was going to make...but remembering a ride cart from Walt Disney world, I fashioned something of the same design with Patr

Happy thanksgiving! hope you get this as my phone is not really working

Another late posting (meant for summer) I am starting to hate browser based publishing!--Cory I admit, I've taken a respite from posting.  Not because of lack of material (but thank you Richard Byrne, I'm gone for a week and I find my RSS bin up to 200), but because I needed a mental vacation.  Obviously when I went on vacation my mind was at work much to my wife's chagrin. Well, I took a physical vacation, and by the picture on the right you can see I visited Devil's Tower as one of my stops.  To list, I've been to Rapid City and Rushmore (again), over to Gillette, WY and down to Riverton.  From there I went through the forests and parks (Grand Tetons), with many stops there. After that we kept going north through Yellowstone and saw Ol' Faithful, and many hot springs (and one unstable geyser, which I DIDN'T know until I read the sign right in the middle of it!) Of all the sites I saw, (and animals--tons in the Northeast corner of the Yellowstone are

"Chasm of Communication" --Cory Sheldahl LATE ENTRY==oops I meant this for 8/22... Sometimes there comes a time (especially when one hasn't blogged in a while), that there are moments of inspiration that caused me to try to blog a few light bulb ideas from my not-so-smart phone.  I cannot remember the sparks that prompted me to blog, but obviously they fell in a chasm of protocol (or programming) where the translation back to earth yielded gibberish. I cannot remember the few inspirational thoughts that I wanted to share, but I do remember how good I felt at sending these epithets...It's ALWAYS good to double check before sending. How does this relate to communicating math?  We (teachers/adults) have a frame through which we transmit our thoughts and ideas, and generally assume everyone else  has the decoder which to decipher our transmission (technically speaking).  While the students MAY have the ability to translate it, they may not care or want to, whi

This is my modus operendi as of late. (my pattern of doing things in other words).  I just got finished with a long term sub position (again!), though this time it was in 8th grade science.  The students really rely on a textbook based work ethic (at least as 7th graders).  So I had the privilege of not only opening up the year to the students, but also rendering lessons without the use of a textbook . This is something I would encourage ALL teachers (minus subs) to try (if you have the stomach for it, that is).  The reason I say that is because it was extremely hard for the students to accept this, especially from a sub starting the year out (even though the students know me).  By the way, do NOT try any social media toys, until you know crystal clear what the district's policy is on Social Media and Personal Learning Devices.  (I wasn't totally sure, so I made specific restrictions tailored to the district I was in). I started with Procedures and Expectations (at least f

Disclaimer: BEA Middle School Library I realize teachers (especially those with a master's degree) shy away from subbing positions that aren't designated teacher positions, but the lure of being in a Library Media Center had me hooked. After all, you essentially do more for less, (as is the current structure of learner assistant schedules--as my sister-in-law would agree).  But from my graduate work, the LMC is the heart (or should be) from which the blood of education flows.  (Okay students, I know this isn't English, but I couldn't resist that metaphor).  The picture I used is actual from Blue Earth's middle school, not Lake Mills where I currently am on assignment. As I worked there, I had alot of fun communicating the learning, even though it wasn't math related (okay, some, if a student asked me a math question during study hall).  I envisioned Dr. Loerschter's Model of a 21st Century Commons, and how (one day) technology integrationists, Medi

Matthileo CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 Invariably, when you try to take on too many jobs at once, such as working a business (which I've had to put aside temporarily--though it surprised me how many students were interested that I sold protein?!?), tutoring, working as a full time long term substitute (say that 3 times), and also working as lead math teacher for SOCRATES, AND taking my kids where ever they need to go...you lose track of some of your old routines...like blogging. I've been having a blast working in an Iowa school district (remember I got my licensure for Iowa this year, as well as Tennessee and Florida), but not in math...in Spanish!  Espanol! When I talked about COMMUNICATING last time, I didn't think I'd have to be doing that in another language, but it's been pretty fun!  Right now I'm working on a project drastically different than what they may be used to in that class, but it seems they're doing great --  The only downside is that now I have

Since this is one of the points of the blog, seems that it's worth writing about (given the amount of void I've put between posts).  It seems that Math and World Languages have a common trait; they seem foreign to most people.  Therefore it's good to talk about communication. This goes on more than just telling your own children, "So how did it go today?"  I'll guarantee that if that's a filler for conversation, DON't expect honesty from your children (or last least expect 1-2 syllable answers).  Realizing this can be a slippery slope topic, let me break it down (chk-chk-a). If you really want to communicate, you may need some "translation" skills.  This isn't trying to change math words and symbols into equations; I'm talking about real dialogue, especially with teens whose world has been kidnapped by the technology bandits (cell phones, iPads, anything that can detract attention from those around them).  They're facing more