Thursday, March 24, 2016

Day 126: Heinz Day

The school had a (non-credible) threat for today.  That, along with it being the day before break and senior skip day, means that school attendance was around 57%.

57% percent attendance with 57 days left in school means that today is Heinz Day!  I'm going to buy a squeeze bottle of ketchup and leave a trail all the way home.

For the students who WERE here, I decided it would be a good day to watch Cosmos.  I decided to have them watch a different episode in each period, so I was highly entertained.  I also discovered that if you watch that series, you get almost the entire curriculum that I'm supposed to cover for the year.

My Astronomy course can be replaced by a subscription to Netflix.
"No worries, Aion. I got this!"

This is perhaps the most engaging educational program I've ever seen.  75% of the student who came to class today weren't watching.  One was even watching a DIFFERENT show on Netflix on her phone.

Another of my colleagues turned his classroom into a jazz club.  He wore a pseudo-tux and set up battery operated candles.  He said most of his students were on their phones as well.
"I don't care about the infinite majesty and mystery of the universe! What will happen to Jess at work today??"

Please, pretty please, with sugar on top, can we acknowledge that student engagement is a bigger issue than making our lessons "more engaging"?

It's time for Spring Long Weekend! See you all on Tuesday.

1 comment:

  1. HEY, I get it. In Colorado whenever we have even an inkling of snow, our inner-city high schools have very low attendance. It's a strange phenomenon since Colorado (Denver anyway) is known for having just a little snow... I do applaud your attempt at bringing interest to your lessons; that is an age-old and always changing dilemma for ANY teacher. :)


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