Ben Slavic

Water Wings

This blog post from last spring tags on to what we were talking about earlier this week: If we are floundering in the CI, we should compile a list of bail out moves and tape it to our desks. We can call them our water wings because we are all learning this together – there […]

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The Way I Grade

I am moving this from comment status to a blog post: I weigh the quizzes at 75%. They are on scantron. They are yes/no. They can be from any class except Fridays, which I reserve for songs and poetry, areas way to sacred to connect to a grade. Thus, they can be from the PQA

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Kelly Cusson

Hey Ben, I have been teaching teenagers French for the past 15 years. I am the only French teacher at one of the two middle and high schools in Pittsfield, MA. I teach one class at Reid Middle School and fours classes at Taconic High School. Although this has its disadvantages, it has also been

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John Piazza

I got this from John Piazza: Ben, On the Latin list recently, members have expressed anger and frustration at those who publicly say that teachers are overpaid and work very few hours. In response, a few of them have been keeping a log of their work hours: all those hours spent grading, planning, designing online

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A Few Questions

I got these questions from Chris. Any responses are welcome: Hi Ben, I’ve been invited by a methods teacher to her undergrad class about TPRS.  I’m one of the only teachers in the area around here that uses this method so she would like for me to come in and do a little demonstration of

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Phædrus' Argument

I got this from Brian about the current grading discussion: Hi Ben, I thought the attached file was too long to put up on the blog as a response to the “Case against grades” post, but it’s the extended exerpt from Chap. 16 of Zen and the Art…that I referenced in the reponse that I

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Aquachico

Ben, I just had to share a quick story from my class today.  After reading your post about the “he talks too much” story that you used last week, I thought I would try to use a story to reach one of my students.  I have a kid in one of my classes – bright,

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Email from a Colleague

I got this from a colleague and group member today: Hi Ben, I need to cancel my membership to your blog. It’s nothing personal, but I’ve decided to leave teaching after this year. Thank you for all of your support and thoughtful discussions. I really admire what you do.  I wish I were strong enough

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