Immigration
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The Things We Carry
A long time ago, when I was a much younger man, I read a book called The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend doing so. But one of the things I took away from reading the text was as a reminder of the things that all veterans,… Continue reading
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Of Updates and Epiphanies
Yesterday, I was frustrated. Today, I feel a bit better. I was able to connect with the student I was referencing and learned more information about the whole scenario. Then, I corroborated the information by talking with one of the trusted adults that the student talked with on the day when all of this occured.… Continue reading
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Disappointments
Disappointments. Today was full of them. I’m usually not one to let issues marinate and linger for longer than they need to but today is different. I started my morning thinking that we were going to be holding our Equity meeting in spite of a conflicting meeting. That feel through because the presenters decided that… Continue reading
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Conferences
It’s that time of year. Again. Conferences are here. Teachers are imbibing on massive quantity of caffeinated beverages. Parents are . . . nowhere to be found. I can count the number of parents I have seen in the last 3 conference nights on both hands. This is a gross waste of time and money.… Continue reading
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Item Analysis
One thing that I have learned from doing this project on tracking student data for ELLs is that there are many layers to understanding data that is collected. I think that each of the layers are equally important and have been the cause of much of my confusion about how I wanted to track the… Continue reading
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Pop Quizzes
I love giving pop quizzes. I know, you might be thinking to yourself, “You’re an A**hole!” But hear me out. First of all, when I give pop quizzes, I grade them on participation and personally track the official scores separately. There are a few reasons behind this. First, quizzing on a topic is good for your… Continue reading
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Data Validation (Student Data Update 1)
I was able to complete a huge milestone in my project to document student data in more productive ways. I was going to try to use MS Onenote for data tracking, but this option proved to be ineffective in consolidating everything I wanted in one place. However, I think that option can still be explored at a… Continue reading
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Problem Solving Storing Data
Storing student data is something that I have struggled with immensely in my career. Collecting data and examples is the easy part. All I have to do is give a test, ask a question, or tell them to write something. The real issue begins when trying to store examples for later use. For example, today… Continue reading
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Realizing What You Know
The first time I had realized what I learned in college was when I took the MTLE content area test. The MTLE is the Minnesota Teacher Licensure Exam. Anyone who wanted to be a teacher in the state at that time needed to take the tests. Now it’s a little different, but you still need… Continue reading
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Emojis and Sociolinguistics
I wasn’t quite sure what to title this post, as with most others. I have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about emojis over the last few days. I know that seems a bit silly, but I tend to notice differences in writing and speaking. Over analyzing is what I do. In addition, if… Continue reading