Education is Tasty!

Hey Folks. Just a quick note, since I’m running like crazy:

Teaching health or nutrition? Use smoothies! Last Friday I dragged my blender into the classroom and had students learn good nutrition and correct serving size by making their own smoothies! It was a total bitch to schlep in all the supplies, but the students enjoyed using measuring cups and the blender to make their own smoothies.

Ingredients:

Can of pineapple juice, Carton of OJ, Frozen strawberries, a bunch of bananas, can of diced pine apples.

A serving of fruit is a half cup, so students measured out half cup servings of fruit into their smoothies and added ice. You’d be surprised how many teens don’t know that 8 oz. of ice is a serving of water. Each smoothie ended up being approximately 10 oz, with at least two servings of fruit.

After the students left I was tending bar for beloved coworkers, making smoothies so I wouldn’t have to take ingredients home. Smoothies make friends! And no added sugar!

(C'mon!) Feel The Noise

The second fieldtrip of the year went off without a hitch. For an added twist, we went to the movies on a Monday…not a Friday. Thos of you who read my blog last year remember my students and me showing up to a sold out theater…Monday worked out so much better.

As a class, we saw Feel The Noise…and my students loved it. And before you say there’s no academic merit in this kind of film remember that the best lessons are served with a dollop of sugar. The movie was actually pretty blah and generic, but taught a powerful lesson against gangs, and stood up for artists on the street. The values I’d want my students to display in my classroom were modeled by actors and made palatable for my Street-hardened students. (Not to mention the theme of “follow your dreams!” )

I'm still here!

Sorry for the lapse in writing—I’ve been crazy busy with my students. Fear not, though! My second year is shaping up to be really good. I have very high functioning students with high reading levels…and frankly they are running me ragged because all my assignments and lesson plans they simply burn through. That’s cool thought. If my students are willing to do the work, I’m ok with creating more.

Here’s a little something that really inspired me:

I’ve been working with a student who’s all geared up to enter the work force. He’s not a behavior issue, more of an attendance problem. But I’ve been getting him to come in by finding time to help him with his resume, posting on Monster.com, working on job applications and holding mock interviews. So the student and I have been working pretty hard over the last month, and last Thursday night I got a call on my cell. It was J, my student, calling me because the manager of Boston Market called him in for an interview. J wanted me to know, and he sounded so proud and excited! I was the first to know. And if j gets the job….I’ll be getting some discounted rotisserie chicken: My favorite!