Welcome to Gaia! ::

wut iz rong w/dis?/

I honestly find it funny and ironic to use netspeak off of the internet. I love writing essays in it, but only in AP World History, since Mrs. Ricks is the only one who can tolerate it, and only barely. I wonder if she uses Gaia?

As long as it doesnt' end up like what happened in Billy Madison. Always proof-read the notes before reading them out loud.

I pick them up and read them myself, but rarely do I read them out loud. I find that the greatest thing I can foster is trust among my students. Reading private notes out loud by choice when I have the option not to breaks or weakens that trust, in my opinion. Now, you could be in my colleague's class, where he'll have his drama kids act out the notes he catches.

I discourage notes for three reason:

1) It does draw attention away from the instruction. 95% of the time, if I'm talking in front of the board, it's something you want to listen to. I have no problem if you fail a test because you weren't paying attention.

2) Most notes, when finished, seldom make it to the trash. Instead, they find their new homes on my floor. I hate it when my floor gets messy because of lazy people.

3) I'm trying to save you the embarrassment of having whatever you don't want others to know from being written down, where it's very possible it could fall into the wrong hands. Teenage drama is centered around information, and so far several friendships have been broken because of hearsay.

It's not that I'm against the general principle of notes. Rather, it's the side effects that we need to work on. As a solution, I give my students the option to work in small groups or partners during work time. I honestly don't give a rat's a** if they're working 100% of the time. They know that if they use class time effectively, they'll have maybe 15 minutes of homework max from my class. However, if they dink around, they'll have 30-45 minutes. It's a fair trade in my opinion: you work now, you play later on. Most of my students realize this, but a few just don't get the idea that work earns rewards. Anyway, there's lots to educational pedagogy that I find myself at odds with my fellow teachers. Hell, I got flak for letting students use their iPods in class. Maybe when I get a little more power in the school that rule will be reversed.

AHHHHHHHH, I'm so doing that. I'm so learning binary. I'll send notes in binary.

I taught my kids binary. They didn't find it especially interesting.