mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: December 2008
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html
Sunday, December 14, 2008. Missing the point Mr Gladwell. My son sent me a link to. Note to any aspiring financial gurus. Read Dickens’ Hard Times. You might find the character of Bounderby interesting. Aside from the practical problems his suggestions would create (Is he suggesting no teacher training at all? Who writes and grades the tests that chart student progress? How long before you can ‘prove’ that the teacher is the problem? Many of them positively interrupt good teaching. Take the obsession...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: Tough tests
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/tough-tests.html
Saturday, January 03, 2009. So what do you do now? Career counselors would, without hesitation, advise a career change. Not everyone can handle a job like that, although granted there are some who will thrive in that environment. Those who ‘perform’ better will love the affirmation they get from being placed top of the list. There’s only one problem. I am not advocating no testing or grading. I am not saying that we should pretend that some students are not academically more able than others. All...We ha...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: June 2008
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html
Wednesday, June 04, 2008. Three more days to go. I haven't blogged for ages. The term is now winding down and I am almost at the end of my first academic year here in St Paul. One thing I need to do is work out what I am doing with my blog. I need to reconnect with my old blog friends and hopefully find some new blog friends -people who are also teaching 'over here' and willing to share their expertise. In the meantime here are some of my highlights from this year. Most confusion caused to other member o...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: A Laughing Matter
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/laughing-matter.html
Thursday, February 12, 2009. My British Literature classes have been studying the eighteenth century drama ‘She Stoops to Conquer’ and talking about the way comedy works. Its author, Oliver Goldsmith obligingly wrote an essay on comedy, setting out what he was trying to do. His thoughts can be summed up pretty simply by saying that comedy should make people laugh. Well, yes. Have you ever been the only one not laughing? Are there some things we should never joke about? Posted by Liz O'Neill. Sorry again ...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: Ape: to copy or mimic, often with absurd or amusing results.
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/ape-to-copy-or-mimic-often-with-absurd.html
Saturday, April 11, 2009. Ape: to copy or mimic, often with absurd or amusing results. I am marking research papers this weekend. Or at least I am trying to, in between peaceful moments reflecting (see above) and frantic moments planning an enormous Sunday lunch. How can I teach my students to be more rigorous in their use of sources? How can I explain to them what plagiarism actually is, and why it might be wrong? We really do live in ‘the information age’. There is so much on the intern...I am also int...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: September 2008
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008_09_01_archive.html
Saturday, September 27, 2008. Fundraising for the school. As a homeroom teacher (registration teacher)who incidentally can win $100 if my homeroom sells the most candy, I am expected to give my students plenty of encouragement. My freshman homeroom (S3) are geared up to start selling the chocolate bars this weekend. I wonder how they will get on? I have promised I will wear my 'See you Jimmy' hat all day if they sell more than the other homeroom. Posted by Liz O'Neill. Subscribe to: Posts (Atom).
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: Assessment for Learning in the USA
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/assessment-for-learning-in-usa.html
Sunday, November 16, 2008. Assessment for Learning in the USA. Well, I did it. I found Assessment for Learning in America. At 730 am on Wednesday of last week, I found myself in Plymouth, Minnesota, parked outside an oddly shaped building with an enormous sign saying ‘Intermediate District 287’. I was there to attend a two-day workshop. Not even, she explains apologetically, outside the building. I get all annoyed until I remember I don’t smoke. I know why I am here. I am here because I need to be he...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: January 2008
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008_01_01_archive.html
Saturday, January 12, 2008. Let's all help one another. I've been inspired by this post from Shaun's blog. To think a bit more about student motivation. Here in the USA, I see students dealing with the same issues as I saw students deal with in Scotland. To work or not to work, to study or not to study? Shaun muses on the different ways teachers help students to study or to get motivated. I was especially interested in his comment about a teacher (good old Harry Keery. Some of the comments included thing...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: Missing the point Mr Gladwell
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/missing-point-mr-gladwell.html
Sunday, December 14, 2008. Missing the point Mr Gladwell. My son sent me a link to. Note to any aspiring financial gurus. Read Dickens’ Hard Times. You might find the character of Bounderby interesting. Aside from the practical problems his suggestions would create (Is he suggesting no teacher training at all? Who writes and grades the tests that chart student progress? How long before you can ‘prove’ that the teacher is the problem? Many of them positively interrupt good teaching. Take the obsession...
mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com
Mrs. O'Neill's Blog: October 2008
http://mrsoneillsblog.blogspot.com/2008_10_01_archive.html
Tuesday, October 14, 2008. I am generally happier with teaching vocabulary in context, but sometimes I find it necessary to give students a list of words that they will be encountering in our next book or poem. That is especially the case when we are looking at older texts where familiar words are used differently. It is also helpful when giving students the correct critical terminology for language features. I'm not sure how I came across quizlet.com. To hear it in American. Posted by Liz O'Neill. So...
