Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

Today was the last school day before Christmas vacation.  During my classes yesterday afternoon and today, I wished my students a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule, and a Happy Kwanzaa, Festivus, Saturnalia, Feast of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and a ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

As a teacher, I am entrusted with your children, no matter who they are or what they’re like.  Every teacher has students we like and students we don’t particularly like; teachers who say otherwise are most likely not being honest with themselves.  If you believe ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

A common discussion among educators is about the student who acts out in class, reminding us that there are always reasons.  Maybe this student suffers abuse or neglect at home.  Maybe a close family member has had a major health episode or loss of job.  Maybe the family ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

Evidently, today was National Teacher Appreciation Day, and this week (May 1-7) is National Teacher Appreciation Week.  This means we get to wade through an ocean of “teachers are overworked and underappreciated” articles and posts on social media.  This post is not one ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

Recently, a friend trotted out the old adage, “Those who can, do.  Those who can’t, teach.”  This quote bothers me.  I understand the frustration behind it, but my experience suggests otherwise.( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

In kindergarten and elementary school, birthdays are a big deal.  However, sometime between elementary school and high school, birthday celebrations become relegated to families and friends outside the classroom.( Read the rest of this entry » )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

I’ve posted about student self-esteem several times.  In two posts, Self Esteem from October 2011 and Self-Esteem Starts With Esteem from November 2013, I described students who continually put themselves down, and how I would insist that they say to me, “Mr. Bigler, I’m ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

When a normally conscientious student lets the end of the quarter arrive with a failing (or barely passing) average because of missing work, it doesn’t take a lot of insight to realize that something is wrong.  I had two such students in my room today, doing after-the- ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

Three years ago, I taught a one-year stint in a “no excuses” charter school.  (It was the least satisfying year of my teaching career.)  The biology teacher and I started a science team. Problem solving and building things with power tools attracted a slew of excited ( Read more... )

Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.

One of my father-in-law’s astute observations of human behavior is that most people do not correctly perceive ratios or probabilities less than 5% or greater than 95%.  A greater-than-95% chance of something occurring becomes irrationally either “It definitely will ( Read more... )