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Mrs. O'Neill's Blog

Wednesday, June 04, 2008

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Three more days to go...
I haven't blogged for ages... The term is now winding down and I am almost at the end of my first academic year here in St Paul. One thing I need to do is work out what I am doing with my blog. I need to reconnect with my old blog friends and hopefully find some new blog friends -people who are also teaching 'over here' and willing to share their expertise.
In the meantime here are some of my highlights from this year.
• Most surreal moment - Getting to see a real American High School Homecoming complete with Queens, Kings and decorated thrones.
• Most enlightening moment -My first American football game. I now understand why it is such a popular social event. The crowd seem to be there to catch up with one another and are only occasionally distracted by what is happening on the field.
• Favorite moment in class. The students impress me with their wonderful attempt at my accent. My catchphrase which they beg me to say - 'That's brilliant!' (ThaatsBrullyunt)
• Most challenging moment – getting my electronic grade book to make sense.
• New experience – temperatures are cold enough for a snowman built on Christmas eve to survive -in a slightly stooped form- until March.
• Unexpectedly gratifying moment - Students graduation ceremony when they all throw their caps in the air. Corny but somehow quite good fun.
• Most confusion caused to other member of staff. I am asked my weight by school secretary and give it in stones.
• Annoying Americans by telling them how much gas (petrol) costs in the UK when they are scandalized at the $4 a gallon they are paying this summer.
Can't believe how fast the first year of teaching here has gone.
Posted by Mrs. O'Neill's Blog at 1:34 AM4 comments[image: icon18_email.gif][image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: firstyear teaching USA highlights

Sunday, April 06, 2008

Backspell

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We are back to school after Spring Break and I am enjoying warmer weather. Yesterday it was around 60 F (about 16 degrees celsius). It's been hovering around freezing, for the last few weeks, so this felt like summer, albeit a Scottish one.
Many of my students are starting to ask me if we can 'go outside' for lessons. I suppose they have cabin fever after all these months. I have fond memories of sitting outside on warm days, even in secondary school. Unfortunately it's not very practical and tends to lead to a breakdown in discipline as other classes see you heading out and feel aggrieved.
Having said that, like most teachers, I love making school fun for students. It seems to me that we should build on their natural high spirits without letting up on discipline. Is that unrealistic?
Here in America a 'quiz' is actually a test and students groan when you announce one. You are testing memory in many cases, not understanding.
With this in mind I am trying to put together some genuinely enjoyable word games for end of class or Friday afternoons. Spelling bees can get a bit intense. That's why I use 'Backspell' which is easy to play and quite often has unexpected experts. Two players, five rounds. You begin with a short word -spell it backwards and the person who shouts out the correct answer gets a point. As soon as a student reaches three points you have a winner. They can then challenge someone else.
Any other tried and tested games?
Posted by Mrs. O'Neill's Blog at 2:47 PM4 comments[image: icon18_email.gif][image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: word games 'friday afternoons' backspell

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Why no seatbelts on school bus?

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Last week was a sad one in Minnesota. On Tuesday a school bus was knocked over by a van which went through a red light. Sadly four students were killed in the crash with a further 14 injured. The children belonged to Lakeview School in Cottonwood which is about 140 miles west of Minneapolis.
The big yellow buses which carry kids to school in the US are everywhere in commuting times. The fact that they are so noticeable is a help to drivers. School Bus Laws exist which make it illegal in certain circumstances to pass a bus that's stopping to drop off or pick up passengers. Bus companies pride themselves on employing drivers who know their road safety. It's important after all. It has been estimated that 54 % of students attending K-12 (kindergarten to final year high school) ride on a school bus each day.
But the question that I can't help asking is: Why are these school buses not fitted with seat-belts? The news reports quote the authorities as saying that seat belts would not have made a significant difference to the injuries. The children are protected by a system called 'compartmentalization' which is considered roughly as safe as seat-belting. I find this difficult to believe. Is all the research about seat-belts faulty? What about those campaigns to get us to wear seat-belts? Is the data wrong?
A quick internet search brings me to the National Coalition for School Bus Safety. Here you can look at an account of some of the testing that has been done on the need for seat belts. The coalition also claims that the compartmentalization system does not provide adequate protection. In fact according to them current bus designs do not even merit the protection which compartmentalization engineers claim for it, as they do not follow all their the original recommendations.
Do seat-belts make us safer on buses? I can't imagine there are many people willing to say that seat-belts in other vehicles don't generally give us greater protection. So why not school buses?
One other issue I would like to know more about - the stability of the big yellow bus. The bus in this accident was knocked over onto another vehicle. Is this not a little surprising? I don't remember seeing a bus knocked over by a car or truck before. I'd be interested if anyone knew any statistics on that. Is the US School bus more likely to be knocked over?
As a teacher and a parent I'd be the first person to say we are over-protective of our kids. But in this one instance I cannot understand why a school bus wouldn't have the same safety features as a normal automobile.
Posted by Mrs. O'Neill's Blog at 10:53 PM2 comments[image: icon18_email.gif][image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: usa school bus crash cottonwood

Thursday, February 14, 2008

St Valentine's Day Massacre

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Tomorrow is (of course) St Valentine's Day and I am not sure I can stand the tension. Tonight as I left school several (male) students were carefully filling their beloveds' lockers with pink balloons, flowers and heart shaped candy. It was all being done very carefully and with a sort of thoroughness that suggested a great deal of prior planning. I will find out tomorrow if it is appreciated.
This week concludes with a big dance for the high school students 'The Sno Daze' and we have already been celebrating it with a series of out of uniform days. Monday was 'Celebrity couples' and my next classroom neighbor teachers dressed as Sponge Bob and Patrick. On Tuesday I took part in 'Twins day' by dressing like all the other teachers in white t-shirts and jeans. Rather bulky because I had my thermals on underneath, school spirit or no school spirit I promised my mum I'd wear my vest... It's 23 C below outside.
Today was 'Retro day' and we had the 40's, 50's, 80's and 90's. Lots of girls wearing wide skirts and bobby socks, being jostled by Bananarama and Depeche Mode. I thought it might prove difficult to teach Shaft, James Dean and Marty McFly but they settled down quite nicely to Kafka and Huckleberry Finn. Next week is going to seem quite tame.
Posted by Mrs. O'Neill's Blog at 2:40 AM0 comments[image: icon18_email.gif][image: icon18_edit_allbkg.gif] Labels: snodaze highschool valentines

Saturday, February 02, 2008

Teachers: their use and misuse

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It's come to that time in the year when students are starting to feel they know me well enough to tell me what they think of me. They also begin to tell stories of their previous teachers. I always take the 'old mad teacher' stories with a pinch of salt. That's low sodium, organic, naturally sourced salt; I am in America.
My predecessor's worst habit was 'bringing coke into the classroom'.
Me: What? Crack? Snow? C-dust? Nieve? Bernie? Er... I really do read those articles about drugs in school that you find in staffrooms. The kids stare at me as if I had produced the aforementioned articles.
No, it turns out the reprobate was regularly to be found sipping from a can of coke. Talk about debauched. For all we know she might have laced it with something else, I suppose.
I read John Connell's article recently on the testing times that America is going through. The following day I came across this BusinessWeek article – 'I can get your kid into an Ivy' - from October 2007. It's about the work of Michele Hernandez who calls herself "America's Premiere College Consultant."
Hernandez coaches students in how to make an application which will achieve acceptance at the country's top (Ivy League) universities.
Her advice -which can cost up to $40 000 ranges from the sort of stuff you would have thought anyone sensible could offer about prioritizing your time, to the kinds of courses you should be taking to impress application officers. Nothing wrong with helping students prioritise. We've all had conversations with - let's call her Ashley - bright enough to get top grades but missing crucial homework and classes because of her hours at the supermarket.
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