2010 Global Education Conference

Time: November 15, 2010 to November 19, 2010

Location: In Elluminate - see website for room details for each session

The 2010 Global Education Conference will be held November 15 - 19, 2010, online and free.  Details about the conference are available at http://www.globaleducationconference.com.  The conference currently has scheduled 50 keynote addresses and over 300 general sessions  from 62 countries.  Sessions will be held in multiple time zones focusing on teachers, students, curriculum, policy and leadership and global issues.

The conference is a collaborative and world-wide community effort to significantly increase opportunities for globally-connecting education activities and initiatives.

There is no formal registration required for the conference, as all the sessions will be open and public, broadcast live using the Elluminate platform, and available in recorded formats afterward.  Actual session links will be posted the week of the conference.  See the full hour-by-hour schedule in your time zone at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/schedule.html  and read more details about the sessions at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/all-sessions.html.

The Twitter account for the conference is http://www.twitter.com/globaledcon, and the "hashtag" for the conference is #globaled10.  The conference Facebook page is http://www.facebook.com/pages/Global-Education-Conference/125602090788788?ref=ts.

We encourage all to actively publicize the conference!  Help us spread the word.  Press releases, flyers, graphics and badges are available at http://www.globaleducationconference.com/press-and-promotional-materials-web-badges.html.

Mad about Madison - A Unique Look at Professional Development

I've just finished taking a class focused on GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program,) an image editing application.  GIMP is a free software alternative to Adobe Photoshop so it makes it an appealing choice for teachers who want to introduce image editing software to students.  GIMP allows essential image editing tasks such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, photomontages combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format.

Lots of kids are talking about GIMP and using the application at home.  I thought it was time to learn how to use the application and consider using it in Tech Class.  At first glance, it appeared a bit cumbersome and although I had access to tutorials on Atomic Learning and YouTube, I decided to seek out an expert and take a class from one.

Enter Madison, a sixth grader at the school I teach and resident expert in GIMP.  Together, on Thursdays after school for five weeks, Madison patiently taught me the ins and outs of GIMP.  I asked loads of questions and most of the time she had answers.  When she didn't, she did what most teachers do, she figured it out.  I appreciated Madison's willingness to help a teacher learn something new.  Her excitement about the application is what piqued my interest in the first place. 

I'm highly competent in the area of technology, yet I keep wondering what more I can learn from my students if I take the time.  I love learning what's new and relevant in their lives.  At any rate, this new route to professional development has been a great way to sneak some learning in and that's why I'm mad about Madison.

The Top Five Tech Myths

This article, written by By Megan Kaesshaefer can be found on Scholastic. 
Given my own experience, the myths presented below are rampant yet the realities are spot on the mark, reinforcing the need for Tech Integration Specialists in schools.  Training, though important, isn't the answer as much as it is part of a solution.  A Tech Integration Specialist working side by side with a teacher can do more in one hour than any day long training session because the work is relevant and specific to teacher needs.  Once teachers begin using technology in the classroom, the realities of Myth #3 becomes glaringly apparent.

True or false: Technology in the classroom helps kids learn. A new survey reveals the answer, and the top five myths surrounding technology in K-12 classrooms.


Myth 1: New teachers who have greater access to technology are more likely to use it.
The Reality: A teacher's experience and age don't affect how often or well she uses tech. About 72 percent of frequent users have taught for 10 years or more.

Myth 2: Only high-achieving students benefit from using technology.
The Reality: Technology doesn't discriminate. Using technology helps to engage all types of students: high achievers, English language learners, and students with special needs.

Myth 3: Kids today are so comfortable with technology that teachers don't necessarily need to use it in the classroom.
The Reality: Kids may use tech on their own time, but fostering 21st-century skills is best done through active learning in a classroom setting. Plus, setting a good example encourages students to use technology properly and effectively.

Myth 4: Teachers and administrators are on the same page about classroom technology use.
The Reality: While 92 percent of administrators say they are "supportive" of new technology use, only 66 percent of teachers say their administrators actually are.

Myth 5: Teachers feel well prepared to incorporate technology into instruction.
The Reality: Many teachers don't feel prepared to teach 21st-century skills or use technology in instruction. Many believe advanced teacher-to-teacher training would help.

Tech Quiz
What Kind of User Are You?
Researchers used the following criteria to assess teachers' technology use. Where do you match up?

Frequent user: You've got a whiteboard and you're not afraid to use it. When it comes to classroom instruction, tech is on your radar. Approximately one third or more of your class time involves some type of technology use.

Moderate user: If the technology is available and fairly easy to implement, you'll use it on a consistent basis. You've made sure that 21-30 percent of your class time involves the use of technology.

Sporadic user: Tech isn't a major priority in your lessons. If you can get a laptop on loan, great! If not, no big deal. Approximately 15 percent of class time uses technology.

Infrequent user: Maybe technology isn't readily available, or you prefer more traditional teaching tools, but less than 10 percent of your class time involves technology.

Source: Educators, Technology and 21st-Century Skills: Dispelling Five Myths, Walden University
Read the report online.

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Five

Chapter Five:  Creating a Strong Classroom Culture

This chapter focuses on the necessity of creating a strong classroom culture in order to sustain and drive excellence.  These fives principles:  discipline, management, control, influence, and engagement are synergistic and a positive classroom culture won’t sustain itself without all of them.

Notes:

1.     Entry Routine – How students enter the classroom.  The routine created when students enter the classroom is about making a habit out of what’s efficient, productive, and scholarly after the greeting and as students take their seats and class begins. (Pg 151)

·      Students should know where to get materials for class on their way in

·      Students should know where to sit

·      Students should know what to do with homework

·      Students should know where to find the “Do Now” (Technique 29)

I am all about the entry routine as this is probably one of the most important management techniques for a teacher to establish in a classroom.  Not only does it allow teachers to take care of routine business at the beginning of class but also it empowers students to take learning into their control and students thrive with this empowerment.

2.     Do Now – A short activity that you have written on the board or is waiting for student on their desks before they enter.  This works because of consistence and preparation. (Pg 152)

·      Be clear about what students should be working on

·      Eliminate the excuses that lead to distraction

·      Students can complete without direction from teacher

·      The Do Now takes 3 – 5 minutes to complete

·      The Do Now is in the same place every day

·      The Do now requires putting pencil to paper

·      The Do Now should preview the days lessons

Do Nows are my warmups.  They are an essential beginning of my daily lessons and students expect them on a daily basis.  Often, I will circulate the room and check their work, increasing the accountability.  This activity gets students into the classroom and working immediately.

3.     Tight Transitions – Quick routine transitions that students can execute without extensive narrations from the teacher.  (Pg 154)

·      Critical piece of a highly effective classroom

I’ve been known to practice and time transitions with my students.

4.     Binder Control – A technique that emphasizes and teaches a system for storage, organization, and recall of what your students have learned.

(Pg 157)

·      Required place for notes

·      Required format for organizing paper, homework, etc…

Another one of my favorite techniques – I used to use a notebook method where there was a place for everything.  Because the students relied on their notebooks for everything, they did not forget them.  Those that did did so only once or twice. 

5.     SLANT – Five key behaviors that maximize students’ ability to pay attention. (Pg 158)

·      S – Sit Up

·      L – Listen

·      A – Ask and Answer Questions

·      N – Nod Your Head

·      T – Track the Speaker

I think it’s very important to teach students how to listen and pay attention.  Too often we expect they already know these skills when nine times out of ten they haven’t been taught them or they could benefit from a reminder.  I hadn’t heard of the acronym SLANT before – I like it.

6.     On Your Mark – Every Student must start class with books and paper out and pen or pencil in hand.  Teach and use this expectation in every class, everyday.  Teaches students how to prepare before they begin. (Pg 159)

·      Be explicit about what students need to have to start class

·      Set a time limit – be specific

·      Use a standard consequence to administer without hesitation

·      Provide tools without consequence to those who recognize in advance the need

·      Include homework

Another favorite because being prepared is the key to being successful.  I like the idea of providing tools without consequence when students recognize the need for these tools in advance.  I also think that when students have an entry routine, a do now, and binder control it’s easier for them to be on their mark.

7.     Seat Signals – A set of signals for common needs (Pg 161)

·      Students must be able signal their request from their seat

·      Students must be able to signal their request nonverbally

·      Signals must be specific and unambiguous to keep them from becoming a distraction

·      Teacher should be able to manage both request and response without interrupting instruction

·      Explicit and consistent – Discipline yourself to respond only when signal is used

I like the idea of using seat signals for using the bathroom and getting a drink of water during classes.  Once students are taught appropriate times to use these signals I think the time saved from distractions using them will be extremely beneficial.  Look forward to implementing these into class this year.

8.     Props – Public Praise for students who demonstrate excellence or exemplify virtues.  (Pg 161)

Props are:

·      Quick (1-3 seconds)

·      Visceral – Rely on movement

·      Universal – Everyone joins in

·      Enthusiastic – Tone is fun and lively

·      Evolving – Students may suggest ideas

Props are a great thing and I need to celebrate more greatness in class period!  Need to watch the DVD for this one.  We don’t do enough of this in our culture

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Four

Chapter Four:  Engaging Students in Your Lessons

Drawing students into the work of class and keeping them focused on the learning,

Notes:

22.     Cold Call – In order to make engaged participation the expectation, call on students regardless of whether they have raised their hands. (Pg 112)

·      Allows teacher to check for understanding effectively and systematically

·      Increases speed in terms of pacing and rate of covering material

·      Allows teacher to distribute work broadly around the room and that all are likely to be called upon

·      Allows teacher to distribute work around the room more authoritatively as it establishes that the room belongs to you.

·      Cold Call is:

o   Predictable – students react by being prepared for the obvious

o   Systematic – they come without fail, to everyone

o   Positive – goal is for students to get the answer right, not learn a lesson by getting the answer wrong

o   Scaffolded – questions involve a careful progression of difficulty

Cold call brings a level of accountability to a classroom that I like.  It creates an atmosphere of learning where dialogue is the expectation.

23.     Call and Response – Use group choral response – you ask; they answer in unison – to build a culture of energetic, positive engagement. (Pg 125)

·      Accomplishes 3 Goals

1.     Academic Review and Reinforcement

2.     High Energy Fun

3.     Behavioral Reinforcement

·      Five Types of Levels

1.     Repeat

2.     Report

3.     Reinforce

4.     Review

5.     Solve

All students respond to teacher signal (verbal and nonverbal)

This technique seems a bit elementary to me.  I can see how it would increase the energy in a classroom but ….  I haven’t watched the dvd yet, maybe seeing the technique in action will change my opinion.?

24.     Pepper  - Use of fast-paced, group-oriented activities to review familiar information and foundational skills. (Pg 131)

·      Great warm-up activity

·      Game atmosphere

25.     Wait Time – Delaying a few strategic seconds after a teacher asks a questi0n and before you ask a student to begin answering it. (Pg 134)

·      Answers are more reflective (use of evidence likely to increase)

·      Length of correctness of student response increase

·      Number of failured responses decrease (less “I don’t knows”)

·      Number of students to volunteer increases

Wait time is always a good thing in the classroom and I work hard to incorporate it into my questioning.  Still, that extra second ticks by ever so slowly. 

26.     Everybody Writes – Set your students up for rigorous engagement by giving them the opportunity to reflect first in writing before discussing.  “I know what I write.”  (Pg 137)

·      Increase the quality of the ideas discussed in class

·      Expand the number of students likely to participate

·      Increases the ration since it causes everyone to answer

I love this technique and use it frequently in the classroom, though now that I teach tech the kids are writing on their blogs instead of in their notebooks.  Writing provides students the opportunity to express ideas freely without judgment. 

27.     Vegas – The moment during class when you might observe some production values:  music, lights, and rhythm, dancing.  It’s the commercial break in the lesson. (Pg 141)

·      Reinforces not just academics but also one of the day’s learning objectives

·      Upbeat

·      Short

·      On the point

·      Once it’s done, it’s done

If there were a technique I could embrace and be good at it would be Vegas.  I think kids like these little interjections that remind them of the lesson’s objective.

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Three: You Techniques

Chapter Three:  Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

I/We/You - otherwise known as Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice.  With I/We/You responsibility is gradually released from student to teacher.  A teacher must pay attention to both the manner in which work is released to students but also to the rate at which cognitive work is released.

This chapter is a long one so I'll break them down by techniques.

You Techniques – Shifting to student practice

19.     At Bats – Repetition!  Lots of practice (Pg. 104)

·      Great lessons should have plenty of opportunities for students At Bats.

·      10-20 repetitions instead of 2 – 3.

·      Go until they can do it on their own.

·      Use multiple variations and formats.

·      Grab opportunities for enrichment and differentiation (push students to the next level.)

·      At Bats is often contrary to the argument you hear from kids and teachers when they state “why do they have to do something 20 times?  The key here is to arm your reasoning for practice with research and to take into account the importance of grabbing opportunities for enrichment in practice.  Marzano’s book, Classroom Instruction That Works, states someone must do something 75 – 100 hundred times before they master the skill.

20.     Exit Ticket – A single question, sentence or sequence of problems to solve at the close of a class or lesson.  Allows you to check for understanding in a way that provides strong data and thus critical insights. (Pg 106)

·      Quick – 2 to 3 questions

·      Designed to yield data

·      They make great “Do Nows” (Technique 29)

21.     Take a Stand – A technique that pushes students to actively engage in the ideas around them by making judgments about the answers their peers provide. (Pg 106)

·      Students process more content

·      Helps teacher check for understanding

·      Careful not to let technique become cursory

Teach Like a Champion - Doug Lemov Chapter Three: We Techniques

Chapter Three:  Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

I/We/You - otherwise known as Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice.  With I/We/You responsibility is gradually released from student to teacher.  A teacher must pay attention to both the manner in which work is released to students but also to the rate at which cognitive work is released.
This chapter is a long one so I'll break them down by techniques.

We Technique – Portion of the lesson completed together as teacher and student.

16.     Break it Down – Respond to a lack of clear student understanding by breaking a problematic idea into component parts. (Pg 88) 

·      Provide an example then ask for another

·      Provide Context – Effective only if student knows the word or component.

·      Provide a Rule – often prompts student with correct response.

·      Provide the Missing (or First) Step – Best as cues.

·      Rollback – Repeat the student’s incorrect response.  This is often sufficient to get a student to instantly recognize their error.

·      Eliminate False Choices – review insufficient choices and discuss errors.

·      Breaking it down too often comes naturally.   The problem with this coming naturally for me is that I don’t allow the opportunity to think of responses in advance, which doesn’t allow me to precipitate misunderstandings to a particular lesson.  Advance planning will lead to stronger lesson development!

17.     Ratio – Push more and more of the cognitive work out to the students as soon as they are ready with the understanding that the cognitive work must be on task, focused and productive.  The goal is to get more students to participate. (Pg 92)

*  Always focus on upping your ratio in the classroom

·      Unbundle – Break questions into smaller parts and share the work to more students and force them to react to one another.

·      Half-Statement – Express half of an idea and let the student finish it.

·      What’s Next – Ask about the process, not the product.

·      Feign Ignorance – Turn the tables and pretend you don’t know.

·      Repeated Examples – Push

·      Whys and Hows – Push for more.

·      Supporting Evidence – Support opinion.  This is more cognitive than providing opinion.

·      Batch Process – Students respond in discussion.  Limit this discussion by interjecting.  It’s volleyball, not soccer.  (Soccer team passes to each other continually, need teacher guidance for appropriate discussion)  Three than me.  Must teach habits of discussion first.

·      Discussion Objectives – Focus discussion on the most productive and rigorous points only.

18.     Check For Understanding – Used to determine when and whether students are ready for more responsibility and when they need material presented again i.e. Two parts:  check for understanding (gathering data) and do something about it right away (responding to data.)  (Pg. 97)

·      Requires teacher to think of the answers to questions as data in terms of:

o   Data Sets – Reflect on questions in groups

o   Statistical Sampling – Sample the entire room, all levels

o   Reliability – Don’t stop at just one answer

o   Validity – Align questions with what students will be accountable for at the termination of the lesson or unit.

·      Observation –Observation by circulating the room and checking written response is an excellent way to check for understanding.

o   Easier to do when responses are standardized in a particular format (notebook entries, packets.)

·      Respond to Data Quickly – The shorter the delay between recognizing a gap in mastery and taking action to fix it, the more likely the intervention is to be effective.

o   Reteach using a different approach

o   Reteach by identifying the problem step

o   Reteach by identifying and explaining difficult terms

o   Reteach at a slower pace

o   Reteach using a different order

o   Reteach identifying students of concern (small group)

o   Reteach using more repetitions

·      Checking for understanding is key during any lesson and perhaps one of the most necessary techniques if students are to get anything from instruction.  I’ve always been a fan of student notebooks for observation techniques.  They give me the opportunity to check on every student and then quickly confer with that student to their level of understanding.  Doing something about that understanding is imperative.  However, I never realized the importance of speed to correct that misunderstanding in this step.  Though I correct most misunderstandings immediately, I appreciate the reminder here.

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov - Chapter Three: I Techniques

Chapter Three:  Structuring and Delivering Your Lessons

I/We/You - otherwise known as Direct Instruction, Guided Practice, and Independent Practice.  With I/We/You responsibility is gradually released from student to teacher.  A teacher must pay attention to both the manner in which work is released to students but also to the rate at which cognitive work is released.
This chapter is a long one so I'll break them down by techniques.

I Techniques

12.     The Hook – When necessary, use a short, engaging introduction to excite students about learning. (Pg 75)

·      Story – Tell a story that leads directly to the material

·      Analogy – Connect to students’ lives with an interesting and useful analogy

·      Prop

·      Media – Picture, music, video

·      Status – Describe something great

·      Challenge – Give the students a difficult task and let them try to accomplish it

Hooks are short, they give way to great teaching and they are energetic and optimistic.

13.     Name the Steps – Teach complex skills by breaking them down into manageable steps, giving each step a name so it can easily be recalled.

(Pg 77)

·      Identify the Steps – no more than 7

·      Make Them Sticky – Name the steps with a story or a mnemonic device

·      Build the Steps – Design well

·      Use 2 Stairways – relate to the current problem as well as any problem of the same nature as you are teaching.

14.     Board = Paper – Learning to take notes. (Pg 82)

·      Expect students to make exact replicas of what is on the board.  “Make your paper look just like mine.”

15.     Circulate – Moving strategically around the room during all parts of the lesson. (Pg 84)

·      Break the Plane – Do this within the first 5 minutes of every lesson.  The plane is the imaginary line that runs down the length of the classroom parallel to and about 5 feet in front of the board.

·      Full Access Required – In addition to breaking the plane you must have full access to the entire room otherwise students will quickly establish a “no fly zone” and ownership will be ceded to the students.  You should never say “excuse me” to one student in order to get to another student.

·      Move Without Interrupting Your Teaching

·      Engage When You Circulate – work the room, make frequent verbal and non-verbal interventions.

·      Move systematically but unpredictably as this exerts accountability.

·      Position for Power – Always face as much of the class as possible, power position is where you see students but they can’t see you.

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov - Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Planning that Ensures Academic Achievement

Great lessons don’t just happen. They must be planned well in advance. Chapter two provides techniques that will ensure good planning before a teacher walks into the classroom to teach the lesson.
Notes:

6. Begin With the End in Mind – Not what will my students do today but what will my students understand today (Pg 57)
• Progressing from unit planning to lesson planning
• Using a well-framed objective to define the goal of each lesson
• Determining how you’ll assess your effectiveness in reaching your goal.
• Deciding on your activity
• I’ve rewritten my essential learnings in plain English and will always start with them at the beginning of my lesson planning.

7. 4MS – 4 Criteria for Effective Objectives (Pg 61)
• Manageable (objective met in a single lesson)
• Measureable – Write your objective so you can measure it at the end of class. (Exit ticket, outcome sentence)
• Made First – Write your objective to guide your activity. Begin with the end in mind.
• Most Important – Focus on what’s most important on the path to college.
• I have never thought of writing an objective to be met in a single lesson as I’ve always associated objectives with unit planning but of course this makes complete sense. It’s not that I didn’t have outcomes for daily lessons, just never thought of them as objectives.

8. Post It – Post your objective so everyone can identify your purpose for teaching (use Plain English.) (Pg 63)
• The 4MS resonates with me. I always post the day’s for all to see but fail to mention the objective. From now on this will be the first item written.

9. Shortest Path – Activities should always be the most direct route to the goal (mastery of the objective) (Pg 64)
• I’m having a hard time accepting this one 100% of the time. Sometimes most direct may not be most authentic, then what?


10. Double Plan – Always plan for both teacher and student for each phase of the lesson. (Pg 65)
• T-Charts work well for this

• I’ve always used a t-chart type idea for planning my lessons only they look more like outlines instead. Teacher phase at the top, students below. This makes sense to me. I want to know and want to communicate, in advance, what my students will be doing when I am teaching. That way, they know what I expect of them.

11. Draw the Map – Always select the appropriate classroom layout for all lessons. (Pg 67)
Ask yourself
• When should students interact?
• How should students interact?
• Which kinds of interactions support the objective?
• How does the seating layout support the above?
• Doug Lemov prefers students in pairs, in row fashion, and I couldn’t agree more. I like the proximity this arrangement provides to each student. I don’t quite agree that the primary focus is the teacher/board especially in a student-centered classroom.

Teach Like a Champion Reflections

Summer reading for a teacher is always interesting.  Assigned summer reading, well another story completely.  That's why I was pleasantly surprised when I opened my copy of Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov.   His premise is that great teaching is an art and just like great artists there are great teachers.  Behind every artist there is an artisan.  The book, Teach Like a Champion, provides teachers with 49 tried and true techniques that are used consistently in Teach for America schools across the nation.  These tools aim to equip the classroom teachers so they too, can become great teachers.  Notes for chapter one follow.

Chapter 1 – High Academic Expectations           

High expectations are the most reliable driver of high student achievement, even in students who do not have a history of successful achievement. This chapter looks at five techniques that raise expectations and differentiate great classrooms from the merely good ones.

1.     No Opt Out – sequence that ends with a student answering a question as often as possible (Pg 34)

·      Cues vs. hints – cue guides a student into discovery, hint suggests student is incapable on own

·      The place where answer can be found – teacher asks where in book answer can be found

·      The step in the process that’s required – teacher asks this of class or student so student in question can be guided

·      Another name for the term that is the problem – if student hears another word for the term, he/she may arrive at the answer.

·      This is an old Denny McLaughlin trick I’ve been using for years but never to the extent I read here.  I like, and will work at incorporating, the ideas that extend further than just asking another student for the answer and then returning back to the original student.  The goal is to provide students as many opportunities for success in the classroom as possible.

2.     Right is Right – Set and defend a high standard of correctness in your classroom (Pg 37)

·      Hold out for all the way – do not accept partial answers

·      Students should answer the question, not a question they want to answer

·      Accept only the right answer at the right time.  Nothing more.

·      Use technical vocabulary at all times.

·      Need to seriously work on the this technique as I often find myself answering – that’s close.  Close is not good enough.

3.     Stretch It – Sequence of learning does not end with the right answer.  Reward right answers with follow-up questions that extend knowledge and test for reliability.  Good for differentiation. (Pg 42)

·      Ask How or Why

·      Ask for another way to answer

·      Ask for a better word

·      Ask for evidence

·      Ask students to integrate a related skill.

·      Ask students to apply the same skill in a new setting

·      I have to say that time constraints often keep me from stretching it.  I need to remember that learning is a passion and that passion can only grow from constant stretching.

4.     Format Matters – “The Complete sentence is the battering ram that knocks down the door to college.”  It’s not what students say that matters but how they say it. (Pg 47)

·      Identify the error

·      Begin the correction

·      I do use proper format in the classroom and expect my students to do so as well.  I often begin corrections they must complete.  I think this is essential if they are going to communicate in a future setting, as I have no idea what that future setting will be.  I prepare for the most important and formal setting.  Students can always practice informal speech and response on their own.

5.     Without Apology – There is no such thing as boring content.  (pg 51)

Alternatives to Apology

·      This material is great because it’s really challenging.

·      Lots of people don’t understand this until they go to college but you know it now

·      This can help you succeed

·      This gets more and more exciting the better you understand it

·      Excellent example provided by the author at the beginning of the technique.  He enrolls in a poetry class and almost doesn’t take the class because he thinks the content boring.  The teacher never apologizes for teaching Yeats and the author finds himself riveted by class.  I have heard myself apologize for content when teaching certain aspects of Physics or Earth Science, or most recently when reviewing the school’s Acceptable Use Policy.  Will work on this!