Carol S. Dweck - Mindset

Professor Carol S. Dweck is at Stanford University. She has written a book called Mindset: The Psychology of Success. Her website is www.psych.stanford.edu/~dweck. She says there are two mindsets, one being "fixed" and the other being a "growth" mindset.
The fixed mindset says success is based on ability. The growth mindset says success is based on hard work and learning. She has worked with lots of students and believes that we must stop saying: Good work! You are so smart! and start saying: Good work! You really worked hard and it shows!
The growth mindset helps any person live a less stressful and successful life, not just the "smart ones."

TNT 2008 Field of Dreams Technology Conference

Had a blast at the TNT Field of Dreams Technology Conference at Hilcrest Middle School in the Ysleta ISD in El Paso, Texas. I met and got a picture with the Keynote speaker, Dr. Tyson. He is a transformative former principal from Georgia. His school has almost a million hits on a monthly basis. He says it is all about making learning relevant and meaningful.
I gotta get a MacBook with a dual platform! I was able to get a loaner and it worked well. I went to a session on making an interactive whiteboard for 50 dollars! I went to a session on iWorks with Pages. Awesome! I learned how to work with:
Garage Band
Imovie
Iphoto
Isight
Blogmeister
and a couple more that were very cool!
Digital technology has the potential to change the life of every child for the better!

Most Humbling Experience

Before I became a middle school teacher, I was an elementary school teacher. Recently, one of my former 5th grade students came by to see me. She told me that she was graduating from Nursing School in December. I told her I was very proud of her. Then she tells me this.
Mr. Jones, I wrote an essay about you awhile back. The essay was entitled "My Most Influential Person". I won scholarship money because of that and it helped me finish school.
I was very humbled and I couldn't help it. With joy, like a river, they flowed down my face and onto my school shirt. I love what I do. I am so blessed to be a teacher.

Best Line about Scripted EPs

I heard this comment:
"It must be pretty easy to teach a scripted program."

I heard this reponse:
"Yeah, it is, but the students aren't scripted."

Inservice for 9 days!

I was on inservice for 9 days! I missed my kids. I could tell they missed me because of all the little notes I got from the substitute, all the little notes I got from my principal team, and all the little notes I got from the At Risk Coordinator. I am back now and can take good care of my children.

Two Week Inservice

I have two weeks of inservice. That means my kids have a sub for two weeks. I know my kids are saying YESSSSS! This is the third week of the first six weeks. I teach 4 different subjects. I teach TAKS Reading, Alternative Reading, Dyslexia Reading and I have a "normal" or "regular" 8th grade Language Arts Block.
I can't wait to get back to my kids!

Do the Lizard to Me!

My kids must really like me, because when I came outside the cafeteria today two of them tried to do the lizard to me. One comes up and says, "Hey Mr. Jones! How are you?" While he says this he sticks out his hand. His little accomplice sneaks up on me and tries to drop the lizard on my arm, but little buddy misses! It was hilarious! We were laughing up a storm. That test I thought about leaving til Monday just got moved up to Friday!

Mozilla

I found an older version of Mozilla and have installed it on 6 of my Emac OS9 computers. It seems very stable with the Google accounts, and keeps asking for certificates, but after about 3 or 4 uses, the certificate issue is gone.
When I set up my students on the email accounts, we will be able to use Google documents to respond to literature and be able to save our work. So far the backup plan is working. I only have 15 more Emacs to install the Mozilla on.
An option I don't have right now would be to upgrade the Emacs to OS10, but I am a little pressed for time. Benchmarks are coming soon.

Not Fair! 80/20 Rule - Replay the Good Stuff!

I am doing this backwards! I am spending 80% of my time on the 20% of my students who are disruptive, disrespectful and who disregard the classroom rules! That is not fair to the 80% of my students who are READY TO LEARN!
Instead of allowing this to continue, I am going to take advantage of my adminstrators, the In School Suspension teacher, the Alternative teacher, the At Risk counselor and the parents of these students. I am also going to make home visits!
When I go home at night, way late at night, I think about the bad behaving students. I have a particular class of 26 and 2 are not READY TO LEARN! But I have 24 who are READY TO LEARN!
I don't reflect on what a great response J had about narratives and what a good answer D gave about Venn diagrams. I don't reflect on how C and Y were composing and editing their paragraphs and using the vocabulary words from this week and from last week. But I need to develop the habit of thinking about the positive stuff! Of course, I am still going to be concerned about my students who need more attention. But I need to replay the good stuff too!

Home Visits! Venn Diagrams!

I made two home visits this week! The results were encouraging. The behavior I got in class ,after those two visits, was much improved.
We also had a blast comparing different types of music and identifying what makes one music this type and what makes another that type. We were comparing and contrasting using a Venn diagram. We decided that if we could find the similarities and the differences between two stories about music, we could apply those skills to the 8th grade TAKS reading passages. Sometimes on the TAKS reading test, two stories are related or connected and the questions after the passages are asking about both stories.
Hopefully, we can repeat the level of enthusiasm and increase the level of understanding for next time.

Way to Go 5th period!

I know it is hard to sit and read, especially if you don't like it! But I appreciate the efforts my students made to make it through the period and try to complete the work.
Tomorrow we complete the rest of the practice pages and create our powerpoint based on the practice pages. Plot, summary, characters, setting, and vocabulary. Way to go 5th period!

Things to Do

This is my Classroom To Do Lists!
Do the computer thing!
Do the TAKS thing!
Do the mandatory tutoring thing!
Do the talk-to-the-sports-coaches thing!
Do the home visit thing! (Already got one!)
Do the ask for UTEP Dr. Reyes thing!
Do the planning thing!
Do the 15 minute thing!
AVOID the referral thing!
AVOID the boring thing!
Do the experiment thing!
Do the listen to my students ideas thing!

Good First Week!

We made it through! I got a cool schedule! I got some great kids! I got some that still need to make better choices. I had a great experience with one of the ones that needs to make better choices! That's my pay right there!

Issues with Google Gmail

I was hoping to set up gmail accounts for all my students, but I think the district has the servers restricted. So I will try to set my students up by hand. The great thing about having my students using their gmail accounts, is that they get to practice their reading, writing, grammar and THINKING!
I will also have a backup plan for when things don't go as planned.

Second Day of School

Awesome! I have some really awesome students! I am going to do my best to help them pass the TAKS Reading. Some of them are really smart. All of them need to be really smart.
I had to go to a training for the reading program we are using, so I lost half a day with my students, but gained some knowlege of how to implement the reading program.
Anyway, good start to the year!

Reading Survey WiggsMS

Hi boys and girls! Welcome back to school. I need to find out how you feel about reading. This will help me to teach reading more effectively. It will also tell me something about you!
Since we seem to be having server issues, I will do this by hand!

Alice Nine and Dr. Westerburg Academic Vocabulary

I was happy with our inservice today. Alice Nine and Dr. Westerburg were condensing a lot of information into half day sessions, but I think we got the gist of what they were trying to say. Alice Nine says students can learn to read and write using grammar. She says students can write better by "Aping the Writing". We copy authentic writing and modify it to better comprehend what the author intended and to better understand the power of what we read. See the examples below.

"Any sign of Sun Chief?"
"Not hide nor hair." McCarthy dug into his saddlebag for a strip of jerky and began chewing on it. from Louis L'Amour North to the Rails

"Any sign of Jesus Teran?"
"Not hide nor hair." Luther dug into his saddlebag for a strip of jerky and began chewing on it.

"Any sign of Luther?""Not hide nor hair." Solis-Williamson dug into her saddlebag for a strip of jerky and began chewing on it.

Old Faces, New Faces, and Older Faces

I have seen my own older face and those of several of my colleagues. I have seen the new faces and I have seen the old faces. But what I have seen in every face is that we love what we do, and that we want to make the world a much better place through the young people that we encounter.

Whatever It Takes!

That is our new mantra for this school year. We almost got recognized last year. Last year's mantra was "Our Time is Now". I think we could actually be recognized, but like my boss said we have to collaborate.
I have a classroom with computers. I have some insanely great ideas to try with my kids!

This is a Reflective Teaching Blog

I want to improve my skills as an educator. I want to be excellent. This blog is a way of reflecting on what my practices are and how to improve them.
I care about my students. I care about what, how and why I teach. I care about myself also. I want to maintain a win-win situation.

Make Comments

At the bottom of each post, you are able to make comments by clicking on the word comments. If you need help setting one of these up, e-mail me at LJonesLJones2@gmail.com. Thanks!

One Dozen Roses

I entered a contest for my photos at www.captureelpaso.com. I am trying to win a Canon Camera. This photo is one of mine. Go to search and look up Jones for my pictures. Join in, make a comment, and click on I dig it! Thanks!

Welcome Back to School!

I hope you all had a great summer! I did. I will tell you more in future posts. This is my blog, which is short for web log. It is an online journal, but a little bit more than just that. Can you say EXPERIMENT?!
I tried doing some of this through Learning Village, but this is quicker. Send me your thoughts, comments and ideas to my new e-mail address. Here it is:
LJonesLJones2@gmail.com.
Please use this e-mail to send your "interesting stuff" to me. I still have the district business e-mail at ldjones@episd.org.
Have a great year!