Realities of Teaching

Here is a link to a (really) long podcast. I have had it waiting in my to listen tag, and Saturday morning a one year old afforded me the time to listen early this morning.  Normally podcasts frustrate me a bit because they are not tight enough, there are parts that do not apply to me or my situation and no way to skip them like when reading.

The whole thing was worth a listen for me. It was a heartwarming and honest conversation between educators. They are obviously passionate and talented and some are even famous in the educational technology arena. Yet the reflect openly about struggling to engage their students. They talk about their frustrations with a student productivity. They talk about the life of a teacher. The conversation could have been going on in my teachers lounge or my office as I coach someone.

Good teachers reflect. Good teacher know that there is always room to improve.

A Charge To Care About Energy

Be prophetic critics of the waste, injustice, and selfishness in our society, and be sensitive counselors to the victims of such evils.
via crcna.org

Today we installed elders and deacons at my church. I had not closely read the form for ordaining elders and deacons in a long time. Buried in the charge is this great line.

I know that God calls us to care for his world. I wish the church acted like it more often. I am glad that in my church the deacons are charged to care about energy, the environment and how its abuse impacts people.

Transitioning to Standards Based Grading

It is hard to avoid reading about standards based grading. I have even tried it out for half a semester in my physics class this semester. I liked the switch from conversations about point to conversations about physics, instead of students asking how can I get more credit I really did get questions like how can I add a mathematical model to my project? The hardest part for me was writing the standards. Here is an interesting article from a Chemistry Professor with a very clear and concise explanation of how he has added standards to his class, using one of my favorites Blooms Taxonomy. I found this link from a wonderful physics blog.