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TEACHERS.NET GAZETTE
DECEMBER 2001
Volume 2 Number 8

COVER STORY
Harry & Rosemary Wong say, "Establishing clear and precise classroom procedures and practicing, practicing, practicing them is the same in concept as to why sport teams drill and choirs rehearse." This month the Wongs offer more examples of successful classroom management....
COLUMNS
Effective Teaching by Harry & Rosemary Wong
Promoting Learning by Marv Marshall
4 Blocks by Cheryl Sigmon
Ask the School Psychologist by Beth Bruno
Online Classrooms by Leslie Bowman
From Here to There by Ginny Hoover
Busy Educator's Monthly Five (5 Sites for Busy Educators)
Around the Block by Cheryl Ristow
ARTICLES
The Do's and Don'ts of Read-Aloud
Teaching Gayle to Read
Thoughts About Giving
Matthew's Sunshine
Reflections following September 11, 2001
Teachers Are 100% Full Time Workers and Even More
Funding the Season
Forms of Expression, Interview with an Artist
REGULAR FEATURES
Humor from the Classroom
Handy Recipes
Help Wanted - Teaching Jobs
New in the Lesson Bank
Upcoming Ed Conferences
Letters to the Editor
FYI
Call For Participation
New Sagan Center
The League Gives Poetic License to Canada's Young Writers
Creativity Workshop: Writing, Drawing, Storytelling, and Personal Memoir
Gazette Home Delivery:


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YENDOR'S TOP TEN CHRISTMAS PRESENTS
by YENDOR (yendor@teachers.net)

10. Batteries for electric fence around my desk
 9.

100 Cases of the new mayflower milk (fortified with xanax)

 8.

25 New ball gags (some of you will get this!)

 7.

New lazyboy desk recliner

 6.

Copy of book 'HOW TO MAKE MOMENT OF SILENCE AND/OR NAP TIME LAST THREE HOURS'

 5.

Preparation h for all the ********* i will see at parent conferences

 4.

Copy of book 'HOW TO CHARGE YOUR HOOTER'S BILLS TO THE STATE DEPARTMENT'

 3.

The new Ronco parent/principal butt kisser

 2.

Cattle prod to speed up lunch line

 

1.

 

Subscription to the video series 'MANSIONS OF THE WORLD'....vol. One--the playboy mansion


Blowing In The Wind
by Goose/TX (goose@teachers.net)

By a colleague who is taking a class in education, I was recently presented with the question, "What does significant educational change look like?" I immediately smelled a doctor of education in the works.

I tend to harbor a slight distrust for doctors of education. The cause of my apprehension for these folks originates from their lack of common sense and periodic inept ability to successfully mingle with reality. I believe that they may have attended so many college classes that their brains have become overdosed with facts, which they have memorized for tests and have possibly purged their brain's capacity for common sense.

My first reaction was to not engage in playing mind games with a doctor of education. However, I couldn't resist the temptation to play his game and possibly touché him with a bit of consternation. I suppose that I was pitting my common sense against his book learning. In answer to his thought-provoking question, I concocted an explanation.

Last night while I was sitting on my front porch and contemplating the question of what significant educational change looks like, I began to notice parallels between the wind and change. I could not actually see the wind, but only the effects of the wind. Likewise, a person cannot see change, but only its effects. As the wind blew, I noticed the bending branches and the fluttering leaves. Wisps of dirt periodically arose from the road that borders my house. The sound of rustling leaves was another indication that the wind was blowing, yet I was still unable to see the wind.

In the past, there have been such intense winds that I have ventured out into them merely to experience their effects. During a particularly strong wind, I even heard parts of my neighbor's barn crash into my house. I was once very close to a tornado, but I wasn't overly fond of experiencing the effects of the tornado and retreated to a storm cellar. During lighter winds, I have mostly been content to sit on my porch.

I presume that mild educational changes might not move folks from their front porches, but intense changes would sufficiently prod their curiosity, causing them to leave their porches to experience the changes. However, I have plans if tornadic educational changes were to occur, I would immediately retreat to the shelter of retirement.



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