Tag: teaching

Miniature Comet Set (Work in Progress)

trevor
miniature comet surface set

The product of some pretty awesome work by my ladies (with my help) this afternoon. A great WIP model set for some indie filmmaking. #make #mo365 A video posted by Trevor (@lovemakeshare) on Nov 11, 2014 at 2:30pm PST This is an upcoming build. The girls are helping me to build a miniature set (which will loosely mimic the surface of comet 67P when it’s done) as an exemplar to use in my film class. Man, were they into it. A more detailed post and probably a podcast is definitely forthcoming…

#mo365 Day 15: My Everyday

trevor

I think about my mom a lot when I’m going to or from work. She worked really hard at jobs she generally liked to provide a really positive childhood for my sister and I. She’s still one of the hardest-working people I know, and it seems like she’s really starting to see the fruit borne of her constant hard work. Still, I can’t help remembering, whenever I think about my mom (which is frequently these days) that she always wanted two things, professionally speaking. She wanted to teach, and she…

#mo365 Day 14: Thanks Justin!

trevor

I don’t always know what kind of teacher I am. Today was a day that told me. This term, I have the immense privilege of teaching with the love of my life once a day. It’s an incredible experience, and one that I’m constantly and immeasurably grateful for. I also get the benefit of being able to call in talented and successful people I know to enrich classes and bring the subject to life. This term, my students got to meet an old school friend of mine, the talented filmmaker…

#mo365 Day 10

trevor

I came down to the classroom I teach in period 3 to find this new addition waiting for me, next to Marker Liam Neeson. The only thing better than coming up with an idea for a lesson that sticks is seeing that idea resonate with students in other classes. Not only that, but seeing students who I taught last term remembering inside jokes from the beginning of last term and riffing on the inside jokes with my new classes… It’s funny, how little families form. As always, paddle your own canoe, folks. -Trevor

#mo365 Day 9

trevor

There’s something wonderful about teaching, and it’s this: I get to go to my job and play. Fundamentally, I know that if I’m not having fun, my students won’t be having fun. I have no illusions about the fact that, with the kind of students I have, I need to be equal parts educator and entertainer. It would be awfully easy to put the onus on them to pay attention. Some days, I do. It’s their responsibility to be engaged. But it’s my responsibility to do my part to grab their…

Let’s Stop Asking Why We Should Study Literature, and Start Asking What English Class Is For

trevor

I’ve been wondering a lot lately what the hell I’m doing. I treat my English class like my own personal rumpus room. What do I think is fun or interesting? What do I think it’s important for my students to know? What is in the news that I feel like talking about that day? It makes for a lot of great class discussions. One of my students from last term, walking past my classroom, said to me between classes, “Monsieur, I don’t know what you were teaching before, but it…

TED Tuesday: Build a School in the Cloud

trevor

Sugatra Mitra presents a model for education that I absolutely love — present students with a problem to solve, a practical challenge that demands to be solved, and then provide them the resources that they need to learn for themselves the skills required to solve the problem. What a great idea–put the students in charge of their own skills development! I question, though, how effective that would be in certain situations. Can a student become a skilled communicator without feedback and refinement? Can a kid learn organically the relationship between…