Working for the weekend

Man, is it nice to sleep in on Saturday (unlike my poor wife who had to get up and go to a math training today).

A few quick hits today.

First, speaking of my wife, we had an ultrasound done last Friday, and it was pretty spectacular to see our little 8-week-old wingnut, looking like a little spaceship from the old arcade game Defender. He's got a pretty huge head, and a really rapid heart beat. I'm guessing he'll be a ten-pounder at least, like his old man.

Next up, a friendly reminder and request to everyone who got a free copy of Learn Me Gooder a few weeks ago. Please don't forget to write a review online when you are finished. So far, only about 3 people have made good on that exchange. Thanks to those 3!!

I encourage everyone to check out the current Carnival of Education over at Bell Ringers. Carol is great about including posts from Learn Me Good, even when I forget to submit one! Thanks, Carol!

The Teachers Certification Degrees site has included Learn Me Good on its list of Top 50 Elementary Teacher Blogs. It's really just an honor to be nominated.

And finally, a few quick hits from the week at school:

-- The "Fruits and Vegetables" program has been upped to TWO days a week this year. So yesterday at around 2, we were asked by PA (it was either the 2nd or 3rd of about 5 announcements in the afternoon, but we're very "flexible" that way) to send a couple of kids to the cafeteria to get the veggies and then to let the kids eat them in class. This is because the kids have proven a tendency to use the veggies as projectiles when allowed to take them on the bus. My two gophers returned with buckets to broccoli and cauliflower. YUMMY!!
Oh, and the stuff was STILL all over the floor in the 5th grade hallway at the end of the day.

-- We practiced measuring, with a tape measure, this week. The kids enjoyed it. We measured body parts (get your mind out of the gutter) and then turned that data into bar graphs. In fact, I was in the process of demonstrating how to measure the circumference of one's thigh when the fruit and vegetable announcement came on. I now have proof that my thigh is bigger around than most kids' heads.

-- In my latest attempt to get my homeroom to actually participate in class, I made an appeal to the "excellent students" in the class. Without naming any names, and without visibly averting my eyes from kids I know NOT to be excellent students, I asked the "excellent students" in the class to please help me out by actively monitoring their partners while we did boardwork. I think this may have helped a bit. We'll see.

-- The kids SEEMED to grasp how to make change after we practiced, practiced, practiced nearly all day Monday and Tuesday, but on the quiz I gave yesterday, it became clear that most of them had forgotten again. In a scenario where two apples are being bought for 65 cents each, and a $5 bill is being produced to pay for them, a couple of kids STILL tried to add 65 + 2, many kids added the two apples but left that as their answer (not the change received), and a few still think you should subtract items you are buying. In this case, that means 65 - 65, resulting in the opinion that ONE apple costs you money, but buying TWO apples gets you both of them for free.
Is it any wonder our economy is in the toilet?

October quick hits

Catching up time here. I've either been too busy, despondent, or hungry to post much lately, and a little housekeeping is in order.

First of all, I have put the Kindle edition of Learn Me Gooder and the Nook edition of Learn Me Gooder on sale for only 99 cents through this coming Sunday, October 9. If you haven't snatched it up yet, please do so now, and tell all your friends that have an e-reader!

Secondly, a big thank you to those of you who have made good on your end of the free-book-for-a-review swap that I offered last week. I really appreciate it! And for anyone who is able, please copy your review onto Amazon.uk.co! Thanks!

Nextly, Carol of Bellringers was kind enough to include one of my posts in the latest Carnival of Education, so here's a little linky love for the Carnival.

Lastly, a big shout out to Paula at Dailycheapreads.com who featured Learn Me Gooder on her site today! If you have a Kindle, you HAVE to have dailycheapreads bookmarked!

Carnival Review!

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, flora and fauna of all ages -- step right up to the 134th edition of the Carnival of Education! This time it's hosted over at Matthew K Tabor's place, and it's chock-full of educational goodness!

And not only that, but directly in front of the Carnival is Matthew's outstanding review of my book, Learn Me Good!! Sure, I've linked to his page, but I don't think he'll mind too much if I just outright snatch the words from his page and copy them here...



Published by Matthew August 29th, 2007

Learn Me Good, John Pearson
211 pages, 2006; ISBN-13: 978-1-4116-6589-7

Jack Woodson isn’t your typical elementary school teacher. First, he’s a man; second, he’s not an idealist fresh out of college; and third, he “has forty children, and all of them have different mothers.”

But that’s education blogger John Pearson’s identity in Learn Me Good, an irreverent, anecdotal look at life as a first-year elementary teacher.

Jack Woodson was the unfortunate victim of job cuts at Heat Pumps Unlimited. Faced with finding a new job that made use of his engineering credentials, Woodson decides to take a hard right turn into the world of third grade mathematics. What he discovered, endured and laughed about during that first year in the trenches is the basis for Learn Me Good.

Woodson would want you to know that in those trenches he’s a Lieutenant commanding a platoon of rag-tag 8 and 9 year olds, all of whom are armed to the teeth with four-function math skills. Oh, and he’s got the weirdest case of trenchfoot anyone has ever seen. Who knew that graham cracker crumb residue could manifest itself into an infection? At least it’s a sweet-smelling infection…

Such is the style and tone of Woodson’s e-mails to former colleague Fred Bommerson, greeted throughout the book as F-Bomm, Fredster, and Big Poppa Heat Pump, to name a few. In e-mail after e-mail, Woodson describes classroom scenarios that cause him to shake his head, drop his jaw, laugh out loud and everything in between.

The supporting cast of characters in Learn Me Good give Woodson plenty of opportunity to reflect on the quirks of teaching in an elementary school. There are adult oddballs like the district employee who checks Woodson’s students for vision problems - but not before selling the third-graders on the coolness of glasses by proclaiming, “I think glasses are SEXY!” Though Woodson takes the surprise in stride, he can’t help but tell Fred that it was awkward and nothing short of “airing a commercial for Bacardi rum in the middle of an episode of Sesame Street.”

But Woodson doesn’t just pluck the low-hanging comical fruits. He humanizes – or is it humorizes? – students like Esteban, an energetic kid who enthusiastically yells answer after answer without stopping to think whether they’re right [he also has a penchant for filling in test bubbles randomly]. And even the terrors such as the “clinically insane” Chandra, whom Woodson affectionately nicknames “Lucifer,” are regarded no worse than “bad data points” when they clearly have earned the status of a public school urban legend.

It’s not all humor and pop culture references, though. Pearson exposes his energy, command of pedagogy, and curriculum on nearly every page. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff. His blood pressure is largely stable. He isn’t political, doesn’t wail out diatribes on No Child Left Behind and isn’t out to reform the American education system.

Woodson wants to understand the quiet ones, the Spanish speakers and the hyperactive-but-harmless. He just wants to teach and love his kids the best he can and he’s going to do it with a smile.

Purists of the written word may lament the e-mail structure of the book. Pearson avoids a novel-like progression and goes with a unique schema that, while fresh and surprisingly effective, lends itself to reading in short bursts instead of chapter sessions. A particular omission in that structure is the lack of replies from Fred Bommerson; though the character of Woodson sums up Fred’s reactions in the beginning of his e-mails, a few notes directly from Fred might break up the series of familiar blueprints.

Learn Me Good has a place on shelves in all levels of the edusphere from the boiler room to the penthouse in the Ivory Tower. Policy wonks will find that it cures frequent heartburn related to frustration, albeit temporarily; parents will be refreshed as they read candid reactions from a teacher who they’d want to befriend in real life; teachers with this book on their desk will find that its good-natured but relevant anecdotes will invigorate even the most atrophied smiling muscles.

But there’s a caveat to those teachers: be prepared for the longing you’ll feel en route to the teacher’s lounge when you think, “Why can’t I have a Jack Woodson at my school?”

John Pearson’s Learn Me Good is available for purchase at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1411665899?ie=UTF8&tag=matthtaborbri-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1411665899

Sand in all the wrong places

This week's Carnival of Education is up and running over at The Science Goddess's Place.

She has done a great job of tying all of the relevant articles into a nice little narrative. Go and check it out! But watch out for the sand fleas...

Carnivore? No -- Carnival!!

This week's Carnival of Education is being held at The Education Wonks.

As with any Carnival, there are many fine and upstanding and entertaining entries, and a few seedy ones. All are worth checking out.

On another note, since the school year is over here in Dallas, I will not be blogging nearly as often. This summer, I am going to attempt some serious work on a sequel to Learn Me Good. So I may be blogging every once in a blue moon, but it will not be with the regularity of the past few months. Come the end of August though, I plan on being right back into the thick of things.

In the meantime, anyone who has enjoyed my blogging would really enjoy Learn Me Good the book, so why not head on over to Amazon or Barnes & Noble.com and check it out! And for those of you who have already read it, first a big thanks, and second, I would LOVE to have you take a quick minute and post a review on either or both of those bookselling sites.

Have a great summer everyone!

Carnivals, brackets, and breaks, oh my!

Hey everyone, the 100th Carnival of Education is up and running over at The Education Wonks. Check it out, and do your part to stimulate the economy.

Also, today is the last day to get your March Mathness picks in before the tournament starts tomorrow. I just made my picks, and I am downright ashamed of whom I have picked to go all the way. But IMC Guy would be very happy. Actually, right now my biggest hope is that Duke doesn't lose in the first round to VCU.

And since I'm on Spring Break and basketball starts tomorrow, there will most likely be no more posts until next week. Enjoy the break!!

The Carnival Purple

It's Carnival time, folks! This week is the 108th edition, very graciously hosted by Dr. Homeslice. Just the name alone cracks me up. Head on over and check out the entries.

On an unrelated note, I've seen a lot of colored brains floating around blogs that I frequent. So of course, I had to get my own colored brain. It sounds kind of odd to say that I have a purple brain -- actually, it sounds more than a little perverted. Which is probably why I would never say that out loud to someone that I hadn't known for at least five years.

Your Brain is Purple

Of all the brain types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense.Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Brain?

Happy Flash Wednesday

As many of you probably know, today is Ash Wednesday. What some of you might NOT know is that I have a special affinity for The Flash, and that was even my nickname for a little while (a little while which has yet to end). And since today is also my birthday, I worked a little linguistic magic and combined the two into Flash Wednesday.
And look, everyone got me just what I wanted -- a witty rejoinder!! Go ahead, make my day!

Also, the 107th Carnival of Education is up and running over at History Is Elementary. Be sure to put on your crash helmet and elbow pads before heading over, then charge right through that bad boy!

Carnival time and bonus pay

Greetings, earthlings! The 104th Carnival of Education is currently up and running over at The Median Sib. Take a leisurely stroll over to that side of the Internet and check out all of the articles.

A couple that I found very interesting had to do with the Houston ISD's implementation of teacher incentive pay. Some schools in Dallas are giving incentive pay a try, but things in Houston don't seem too copacetic. Check out these two postings, one at NCLBlog -- the other at A Brown Bag Blog.

When the Carnival hits your eye, like a great pizza pie

Today was an afterschool tutoring day, which makes for a very long day, but there was a very bright note at the end. I decided that I wanted pizza for dinner, so I called up my friendly neighborhood Mr. Jim's and placed my order. They then informed me that I was the 500th customer, and that my meal was on the house! How great is that?


Also, the 103rd Carnival of Education is up and running at the site where it all started, The Education Wonks. Go check it out, and you just might get a free pizza.

Slice me off a piece of that Carnival

The 102nd Carnival of Education is up and running, courtesy of Dr. Homeslice. Sidle on over, and give him a great big "WHASSSSSUP?"