Help Me Become a Better Teacher

Would you please use the questions below to cut and paste and answer in the comments box?
1)  What do I need to improve on as a teacher?  Don't be shy or "nice"!  Let me have it.
2)  What do I do well?  What do I need to continue?
3)  Was there a project, assignment, or activity that stands out as excellent?  Describe it.
4)  How was the discipline in my class?  Was I fair?  Was the class under control or out of control?
5)  What great things that other teachers do should I do, too?
6)  Please rank me on a scale of one to ten, one being low ten being high, in a comparison of other teachers.

How to Write an Ode

*Definition:  A lyric or free verse poem that praises or honors something or someone.  

• It does not have to rhyme or have rhythm, but most odes do.
• What is praiseworthy?  What can you write about?  A parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, Mr. Kringel, musical group, car, movie, pet dog or cat or hamster, or something beautiful like a mountain, river, ocean, rainbow, or sunset.

Figurative Language Test

<iframe src="https://spreadsheets.google.com/embeddedform?formkey=dGpjUkJPMnhtM3pGS2ZFWlRHZ3F0elE6MA" width="760" height="1320" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0">Loading...</iframe>

If the Vocabulary Program Is Too Easy You Must Take These Vocabulary Tests

http://www.vocabtest.com/high_school/

Vocabulary Program Test 41-50

https://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dEZORXMtOVZDZWptYnV6VzBJd3dSZlE6MQ#gid=0

Who Do You Need to Learn? Yourself

Students:  Who do you need to learn?  The answer is:  NO ONE!  Once you can read at a certain level, you don't need teachers any more.  But then, why do so many students believe they need a teacher?  Why do students even go to school?  Because schools have created the vice of dependency in students.  If students were scholars, we wouldn't have schools.

So, what is a scholar?  A scholar is simply an independent learner.  A scholar learns whether she is at school or not.  A scholar has broken the chains of dependency on teachers and schools that most students have.  A scholar still has his curiosity intact.  Or he has regained it, somehow.  Pulled curiosity back from the deep dark recesses of their toddler's brain.  And when they regain the curiosity they once had as a child a palpable joy attends their thoughts, as if a long lost  best friend has returned. 

A scholar is like the colonists who were angry at England for all the taxes and unfair rules it placed on them.  They broke free and claimed independence.  Hopefully, you will all come to the point in your life when you will break free from dependency on teachers and school to learn.  You will want to go to school, then, because as a scholar you will crave what school is offering, and you will naturally go above the knowledge that school is offering because it is not enough.  You need school to give you a paper that verifies you were able to jump certain hurdles.  But that paper, your diploma, is not an indicator that the holder of it is a scholar.  No, a scholar can only be proven by what she does.  She constantly searches for truth, wisdom, knowledge, and skills.  He is never satisfied.  He realizes as he learns more and more that he knows less and less and he is amazed by this and excited that his journey will never end.  Only the few, the lucky, the persistent, the determined will ever reach the high place that scholars inhabit.  In fact, many if not most college students have not reached the mountain peak that scholars inhabit.  It is a title for the humble few who never advertise their greatness but know deep inside how great their attainment is.

What is the sign of a scholar?  Simple:  A scholar thinks listens and speaks and reads and writes.  A scholar is just as happy in a prison cell as a library, as it affords him as much time as he needs to think.  He listens to all he can, for he might hear something that is true.  He speaks in questions hoping someone knows the answers.  He reads with the hunger of the starving man, for the effort of writing winnows the field down to those whose knowledge has motivated them to write.  And finally, he writes to share his own knowledge with those other scholars who seek

Cyber-bullying Essay

About three years ago a student spread a vicious lie about me through a text message.  Before I new what was happening, dozens, maybe hundreds, of people read this lie.  Who knows, if they were stupid enough, they might even have believed the lie.  Ever since then, I have been very serious about eradicating rumors, lies, and viciousness spread through the web or electronically, because they spread so quickly on the web or electronically and so are so much more harmful.

Students school-wide have the opportunity to write about their experiences with cyber-bullying or bullying in general.  This could be from the perspective of victim, bully and/or bystander and could be in any form (essay, poem, letter, etc.).  We are hoping to have some sort of lunch time event where students can choose to read their work, or have someone else read it if they want to remain anonymous.  This event would be after spring break. 

Mr. Kringel's students:  You will receive extra credit for doing this assignment.  The amount, up to 20 points, will depend on the quality of work and whether or not you read at the lunch-time event.