Teacher Talk

Thoughts on Graduation

dreamergirlkgh — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 01:54:58 +0000

I recently attended the high school graduation of my first 6th grade class. I found it interesting that the salutatorian made reference to Facebook in his speech and the valedictorian admitted to going to Youtube for inspiration for her speech. This got me to wondering whether students who have everything at their fingertips with the Internet, are going out into the world with any originality/creativity?
The teacher in me came out, and I did many searches for high school graduation speeches. I was pleased that I did not find the valedictorian’s speech idea of “5 wishes for my graduating class” come up in any of the many templates/examples that resulted from my search efforts. It would have been disappointing if the valedictorian’s speech was paraphrased/plagiarized from the Internet.
So with relief, I then checked my cell phone to see what text message had come in. It was a thank you from a graduating senior to whom I had given a card and money to after graduation. I wasn’t sure whether to be pleased because it was an almost instantaneous thank you, or whether to be disappointed that the student wouldn’t be sitting down and handwriting thank you notes, as I did after my graduation.
Is a thank you less meaningful as a text message, or is it just a representation of today’s generation? As a teacher, is it more important to teach the forms of communication I used growing up (such as my many handwritten letters to grandma and grandpa), or to expose students to the dos and don’ts of communicating via e-mail, text message, and social networking sites? It is my reponsibility to prepare my students for the future, but that seems an oxymoron since it is they who are creating it.

Going Green

dreamergirlkgh — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 04:14:57 +0000

Something that has been on my mind lately is “going green.” It’s all the rage and everyone’s doing it. Except my school, it seems. Sure there is talk of it and I am sure individuals are doing small things here and there, but I don’t think that’s enough. I am afraid students won’t be inspired to make a difference if they don’t see it happening around them. In school that is, where they spend the bulk of their time. I would like to be an active participant in helping my school go green and I would like to do it with student participation. I guess I’m just not sure where to start. I would like to hear any success stories about how teachers and/or students have made steps to help their schools go green. All ideas are appreciated.

Inspiration

dreamergirlkgh — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 03:42:32 +0000

I was recently introduced to Twitter and after spending some time on it, I realized I really liked the concept. The only problem was that what I had to share and what I wanted to know was not available on Twitter. As a teacher, I want a place where educators can blog and share ideas and thoughts related to teaching. So here I am blogging away. How do I draw people to this site and how do I create conversation? Hopefully, I will learn these things in time.