A Great Video to Demonstrate Similes and Metaphors

This is a great video to demonstrate similes and metaphors.  I used this in ESL and they really enjoyed it--it was something to hold on to for them and they can think back to it!! Enjoy!

Five Favorite Front-Page Features #8

5. Kansas City fire...kills 1 and injures 15.  The interesting thing about this one is that because I have enough friends in the Kansas City area on Facebook--that I heard about this via statuses before I saw it on the news.  http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/50880153#50880153 

4. Danica Patrick... I am not a NASCAR follower...but I love it when women break barriers.  Congrats on being the first women to win pole position at Daytona.  Who cares if she doesn't win?
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/danica-patrick-wins-pole-position-daytona-500-18533203?tab=9482930&section=1206853&playlist=18533374 

3. "Blade Runner" Bail Hearing...I have a feeling this will become just like the Italy case with Amanda Knox---nobody knows who did what and it drags out FOREVER!
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/blade-runner-murder-charges-oscar-pistorius-bail-18571230

2. Sequestering the Budget...The automatic spending cuts apparently go into effect on March 1st.  I don't talk about which way that I lean with any political issue...its the teacher in me...and the fact that I don't like debating with people very much.  But what is bugging me about all of this is that the media is making the government into a bad guy....and we probably don't have all the information.  I don't know, maybe I'm just crazy but it would be helpful if we could all work together so that it doesn't affect so much of daily life (if you listen to one side) or affect so much of the deficit (if you listen to the other).
http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/06/politics/cnn-explains-sequestration 

1. Snowstorm hits the Midwest...and then we get the first days of above 32 degrees out here.  Got to love the weirdness of the end of winter.  The "cool" thing about this video is that 141-Mason-64 are all about 5 minutes from my house.  Grateful that my family is safe...  http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/22/winter-snow-storm-midwest/1938249/ 

If that is the correct side of the freeway..I have been stuck
there before for 2 hours too...due to an accident

The Bain of My Existence this Week...Grading

Ugh! I bet some teachers feel like this...but some times all I feel like is that I grade, grade, grade.  I knew that this is a frequent problem....especially for English teachers.  I knew this to the point that it was often a discussion with my fellow pre-service teachers in college.  The biggest thing that I got out of that was the fact that don't assign too much because you have to grade it...and don't assign something you don't want to grade.  However, my job is super unique in the fact that I don't assign the amount and I don't assign the work either.  With our online system the questions are randomly given to the student and the students work at their own pace.  So sometimes I feel like this....

From: http://macleodcartoons.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

Or like this....

From: http://www.philosophyandlaw.com/2012/12/grading-student-papers-insanity.html

Bottom line: Exhausted and tired...so this is a fast post.  Off to grade!

Five Favorite Front-Page Features #7

Yep its Friday again...thank goodness!! It has been a crazy week...but I still have figured out the five news stories that I will share with you today. I decided to have all the links today be videos and they are from a variety of sources....so that teachers can use them in their classrooms if they so choose. As always--preview the videos you show in your classroom.

5. Pope resigns...Big surprise to everyone...including me. I haven't talked much on this blog about my religious beliefs, but I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Similar to the Catholics, our president of the Church leads everyone in the Church.  He travels everywhere, just as the pope has--and he is significantly older than the pope.  It prompts me to be thankful for the beliefs that I have. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/11/pope-benedict-xvi-resigns-age

4. State of Union...It would be sad if I didn't mention this at least once.  I have watched many a State of the Union whether I support the current president's policies or not.  President Obama delivers a speech well so his have not been as boring as some others.  A huge laundry list....but still very well written. http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50140940n 

3. Misinformation from the Media...There has been a manhunt going on in Los Angeles for an ex-cop this week--I started hearing during the State of the Union that they had found him and killed him.  Then I start watching the press conference with the LA police spokesperson who basically chides the media for reporting that because nobody had confirmed that the guy was in there because the fire was still hot. Just shows how sometimes this 24-7 news cycle gets people in trouble. Wish I could find the video of the conference but here is a decent summary http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/chris-dorner-dead_n_2649763.html 

2. Carnival Cruise Ship...Wow....nobody wants to go on a cruise any more!  They said on the news today that it will probably take 2 months to repair the ship..but a lot longer than that for the Carnival reputation to be restored.  Seriously! Prediction in the next 6-12 months, the story will be that people are going less on cruises.  http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/nightmare-sea-carnival-cruise-liner-nears-port-18506777 

1. Meteorite/Asteroid visits yesterday and today---Really cool images from Russia...though not cool for those that got hurt.  I am glad that it didn't kill anyone.  Also, the asteroid that passed 17,000 miles away was cool to see pictures of too.  Love the astronomy lessons on the news! http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/15/16966984-catch-asteroid-2012-da14s-flyby-on-video-and-watch-it-fade-out-online?lite 

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/01/09/potentially-dangerous-asteroid-apophis-bigger-than-thought-see-it-online/

Productivity...Part 2....Online

I read this interesting article here, that is actually a book review of a book about how to be smart with your time online.  As I mentioned previously (here), I don't know if productivity is helpful to all people.  This review says that the biggest advice that the Net Smart: How to Thrive Online by Howard Rheingold gives is to really plan out what you are going to do online when you get on.  This is hard to think about practically for me because I am influenced by what I see--I will go to someone's blog post because they posted and I happened to see it.  Or I will read an article that I happened to see on Twitter etc.  But I like the idea in theory. So...how would you go about planning your online adventures each day?

Thank you www.effective-time-management-strategies.com

Teaching History Requires that Students Relate

I recently read an article from Education Week from the perspective of a history teacher that works with some sort of diploma recovery/adult-education program. As a result, these students have definitely never caught the spark of history that we all have.  The article talks about how the teacher relates what she and her student is talking about to relevant issues of the day.  I also love how she answers his questions without saying that there is not time to do so.

That is one of the things that I love about where I teach.  Because the regular curriculum that the students have covers everything, I know that they will eventually get there.  So, we can spend time on what the kids are interested in learning about, and what I am learning about.

Even though this is an English story from today---I think it still applies. We are currently starting a poetry unit, and we were going through some common poetry terms. I set it up with the kids that some of them might know them and they might not know others.  It opened up everyone up for questions, and I love it when I am scrambling to think of the answers to the questions that they ask.  They love it when I pull up Google on the projector and we go looking for the answer.  That is the type of inquiry that I love!

Thankfully we don't use chalk anymore!

Technology and Students

I recently read this article called "Digital Immigrants Unite!" It is all about how students might know all about the social network sites and the video games but they don't know the power that technology has and how to use it smartly.  Students see it all as entertainment for them.  The whole thesis of his argument is that the students still need our help with technology.

I completely agree, and I think it is worse than some of us might think.  But what I consider simple troubleshooting on a computer can't be done by my students, I wonder how much we assume that they know everything about computers--or at least they should.  And you would be surprised how many of them don't know about the social networking sites either.  I would encourage schools to keep technology courses, because unless we make them use it--they won't learn how to do everything.

Thank you: http://therandomhomeschoolspot.wordpress.com/