The Teacher's Almanac

Like the rest of the world, we have  unexpectedly become a home-school family! John is working from home and is basically on a nine hour conference call every day in his office downstairs which means we need to keep our distance in order to keep the noise down so that he can work. Below is a photo of part of the upstairs of our house before we moved in. Basically the entire upstairs is a room over the garage but there is a bar area in the middle. We weren't really using the bar area for anything specific besides a place to store some of the kid's toys so I thought it would be a good place to create our new school room. I painted the bar area with chalk paint a few months ago and added the bar stools. Since we've been quarantined I've had time to wallpaper the back wall with a kind of ship-lap style wallpaper (it's removable and just peels off so it's not too permanent). I also put the kid's table in there which is where they do their work and order...

I work at a classical Christian school. We tend to stray from a any significant use of technology in the classroom.  Our students are not allowed to have their phones in school.  Last month, our parent teacher association hosted an event for parents to better understand the negative effects of screen time on adolescents.  We're big on discussion, Socratic circles, and relationship building. Today we started teaching online because the governor closed all the schools in Virginia through the end of the school year. We took last week off to prepare and plan. We had 8 days to go from a school that intentionally does not embrace technology to a school that is teaching 100% through distance learning.  What. An. Adjustment.  So how do you maintain a classical model while teaching virtually? Here are some suggestions...but I'd love to do hear your thoughts as this is incredibly new for me.  Diversify the assignments: We know that stud...

Today I tried a new thing in 8th grade English... Annotating With a Purpose . We are currently working through John Steinbeck's The Pearl  and they were tasked with reading one of the chapters as homework last night. Before class I copied a five page section from what they were assigned to read last night. They had already read this material once so it was fresh in their mind. I chose to copy the pages so that they could highlight the actual text, rather than take notes on a separate sheet of paper. Later they mentioned that they really enjoyed that aspect of it. I handed them the copied pages and told them that they were going to focus on three things, which I wrote on the board: When they came across a phrase or idea that caught their eye, either because they thought it was well written, or because it made an excellent point, they were told to highlight the phrase and put a (!) next to it.  When they came across a phrase or idea that brought a question to their min...

Despite what my blog has revealed up to this point, I do teach a few classes besides 8th grade English! One of those classes is rhetoric speech. Last week we were looking at how Cicero had his students organize their speeches. He divided them into six main parts: exordium, narratio, partitio, confirmatio, refutatio and peroratio (these are the original Latin terms). Once we defined each section, I read them the following text from Acts 22. Acts 22   English Standard Version (ESV) 22  “Brothers and fathers, hear the defense that I now make before you.” 2  And when they heard that he was addressing them in  the Hebrew language, [ a ]  they became even more quiet. And he said: 3  “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated  at the feet of  Gamaliel [ b ]   according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers,  being zealous for God  as all of you are this day.   4  I persec...

In 8th grade this week we are finishing up our second Sherlock Holmes story. A few weeks ago we read The Hound of Baskerville and tomorrow we will finish The Sign of Four. I came across this article from The Gospel Coalition (which if you don't read you should-they are excellent!) and couldn't wait to incorporate it into today's class. 10 Tips on Solving Mysterious Bible Passages from Sherlock Holmes You can find the full article at the link above, but it basically gives the reader ten tips (which include quotes from Holmes) about how to dive into scripture and observe like Sherlock. Below is an example (tip # 2): 2. The kind of looking that solves mysteries. Holmes: “You have frequently seen the steps which lead up from the hall to this room.” Watson: “Hundreds of times.” Holmes: “Then how many are there?” Watson: “How many? I don’t know!” Holmes: “Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is just my point. Now, I know that the...

I try to have a "game day" in my classes at least once a month. Kids, just like the rest of us, sometimes just need to slow down. Playing educational games is such a great way to have them relax, but also keep their minds moving. An added benefit is that many of today's games help students understand how to work together. I try to do one game day near the beginning of the year when students are still trying to get to know one another. Today we had a game day (two weeks into school) and I absolutely loved seeing new students interacting with veteran students. There's just something about the humor of a game that helps walls come down and insecurities fade away. In today's culture, relaxation is almost always tied to a screen of some kind. Video games, television, cell phones, tablets, smartwatches...the list can go on. Our kids are forgetting what it truly means to relax.  The Greek word "Schole" means leisure. One of the goals of classical ed...

Biblical Integration is not just prayer.  Over the past few years, this concept has been reinforced at many of our training sessions. And it's so true! But, while saying a prayer at the beginning of class isn't Biblical Integration, I do feel like it serves an important purpose Last year, I began trying something different when it comes to class prayer. On the first day of class, I have all my students write their name on an index card (are you beginning to get how much I love index cards !). Each day, when class begins, I draw a name at random and ask them what I can pray for. A few students say "nothing", but most of them will fill you in on something going on in their life. I also noticed that last year, as the year went on, students who were initially hesitant became more open. I do this for a few reasons.  1. It helps you get to know the students. Early in the year, I'm still trying to master names and this is a big help! Additionally, I w...