My Journey into Teaching Journal Entry 5 February 18 th , 2021 I haven’t written in a few days. I have had so may obligations. Usually, I am able to wrap up my work a little earlier in the day, and that frees me up to get some of the class assignments done, but this week has been a bear. We have a new program manager, and she is trying to change everything at once, and her requests for information, process modifications, and reporting methods are endless. Her and the deputy PM, who has basically fallen in step, seem unaware of the paces they are putting us through. We have processes in place for a reason, and they have been developed over time. Often, they do not explain to us why they are asking for these changes, and I feel that it is affecting my motivation, because they barely listen to my point of view. They need to realize that I was hired for my expertise, and to moderate my contributions undermines the experience I was brought on board for in the first place. For ...

The Lubbock Times        The Teaching Profession at a Crossroads             With all that educators had to manage over the past year, will anyone still want to enter the teaching profession after this?   February 21, 2021  Lubbock, TX.  Elementary school teacher Rebecca Romero woke up on Friday, March 13, 2020, wondering what her school board would decide about closing schools. Throughout the week, one activity after another had been cancelled, and parents were clamoring for an answer. Nobody know where the Coronavirus was, or how easily it could be spread. After two months of hearing about its devastating effects in China and parts of Europe, especially Italy, it had finally been detected in the United States. And just this week, the first cases were identified up in Houston. By 7:30am word was out that schools would be closed on this Friday, and the school board would reassess the situat...

      Review of an effective Study Tool An Analysis of Study.com Background With the plethora of content learning sites readily available on the internet, it can be difficult to decide to determine which will be most effective for your purposes. Free sites such as Youtube.com may be useful for smaller topics. Trying to learn an entire course of study may be difficult because of inconsistent teaching methods, difficult interface, information gaps, or merely the whims of the instructor Deliver Method   In thinking of effective ways to learn, utilizing multiple methods to emphasize and disseminate facts, while clearly articulating, repeating and summarizing content, provides transfer of knowledge, and the opportunity for students to really learn and absorb the topic. Especially with dry content, where long lectures might be hard to follow, and where attention can wane, a multi-faceted delivery method seems to be more effective.  In utilizing study.com to learn abou...

  Scene: Two teachers from different eras meet up in a coffee shop. The elder one, Jim, taught in the 1980’s and 1990’s and is currently retired. He is friends with the father of Micah, who is currently teaching. Jim taught at the secondary school level, from 7-12 th grade. Micah does the same. Jim : So Micah, what grade do you teach? Micah: Currently 8 th grade, but I have done anywhere from 7-10 th grade. I love teaching the middle schoolers. Jim: I mostly taught the 11 th and 12 th grade. I hated teaching the younger kids. Micah: Really, why is that? Jim : Because they were unfocused. They talked to each other constantly, passed notes, got up and walked around for any damn reason. Micah: Well they were middle-schoolers. It’s a very awkward phase. Some have issues sitting still. I allow them to stand or walk. Some are even allowed to walk out to the hallway for a couple of minutes. As long as they don’t disturb anyone. Usually they catch my eye and I just nod...

 this is a test post