I just ended a unit on the stock market. On the last day, my students were in the library using excel and nyse.com to create a report on their portfolios. It was beautiful. I just sat there and they did all the work. Some of them did finish early and watch videos, but that's not a battle I'm willing to fight in. Some students came during lunch to check their stocks today.

I started a project with my eighth period in which they create a report about playing a sport on the moon. I didn't create the project, but I am modifying it. Me and another teacher are working on it together. We showed a very "white" video on the moon to a group of 35 freshmen. It was pretty hilarious. I think some kids learned something. It was fun to teach.

I started the new unit with my fifth period. I kind of bumbled trying to explain demand. Here's the definition I tried to give: When you desire a good or service and can afford to buy it. They didn't do so well using "demand" in a sentence on their exit quizzes. Here's the definition I'm going to use in my other periods: When you buy something. Hmmm, maybe I should give them both definitions. These are the types of stuff I think about now.

Teaching can be stimulating, but you have to have your routine together first. My routine is more together. For example, I try to grade my students' work on the day they do it. That way I have immediate feedback on what they know and don't know. My seventh period is scoring awesome in part because they are behind other classes. My routine improves each day.

My kids learn, but I do somethings that are frowned upon by other teachers. For example, I don't worry about the state standards too much. The stock market is not part of the standards. As long as its useful to them and the students are excited about it, I think its good to teach it. I also yell sometimes. It can be effective if used sparingly.

I don't use the textbook. A lot of people I respect believe students need to be "reading on grade-level." I dodge the text in order to teach, because my students can't absorb the information through the textbook. I think I am going to push them to read more this semester. I can teach them well without the text, but I need to give them skills in addition to knowledge (although I did teach them to use excel and nyse.com).

Well, those are my thoughts. I'm going to try to write more.

John