Blog Detail
Urban Teach
http://blog.urbanteach.com
This blog is a journal of my episodes in teaching English to middle school students who live in an urban area.
Recent Posts
A Visit From Administration
We have another Superintendent and we're in trouble. In case you're wondering why, it's because things change often in the district where I teach. People tend not to stick around for a long time. He seemed like a nice guy. He was dres...
No Time To Teach
Last year, I was given the impression (from seasoned educators) that my second year as an eighth grade English teacher would go smoother. This is not the case. In fact, so far, this school year has been even more challenging than I anticipa...
Obstacles
Each day in my classroom I try to find ways to get around the distractions of poor behavior. I don't expect students to sit still and be quiet while I lecture about the fundamentals of English. In fact, I try to avoid this approach to teaching becaus...
Test Scores
Recently, I attended a staff meeting to find out about test results taken last spring. Most of the seventh and eighth graders didn't pass. Only 20 percent of our students received passing scores. This was a really shocking blow to my ego. What did I ...
Taken for Granted
I became so infuriated today with my sixth period class. Not the entire group of students either just a handful of them. Let me explain. In the far corner of my classroom, I have a small table. I call it the utility table. There’s an orange basket ...
Student of the Week
I put up a bulletin board in my classroom to acknowledge students who show leadership, polite behavior, and receive high scores on writing prompts. My students of the week really seemed pleased to see their pictures and names surrounded by arrows, br...
