What we are learning...
Mr. John Rockne, Math Teacher
What is your favorite color? Green, the color of forests.
What is your favorite book? David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens.
What is your favorite movie? "The Wizard of Oz."
What is your favorite movie? "The Wizard of Oz."
If I hadn't been a teacher, I probably would've been... a house builder.
What is your favorite song? Bob Dylan, "Ballad of a Thin Man."
If you could travel anywhere in space and time, where and when would you like to visit? I would travel to this great Pacific Northwest in the 1830s as a fur trapper.
Where were you born? Boise, Idaho.
Any interesting trivia about you? My middle name is Knute, and I am related to the famous coach of Notre Dame.
Where did you attend Middle School? Sacred Heart in Boise.
Who was your favorite or most influential teacher? P. Bede taught me Algebra, and K. Price taught me how to enjoy travel with children.
My 6th, 7th, and 8th grade classes are all now investigating the Concept of Relationships. Sixth graders are relating the variable x to y in equations and forming lines. Seventh graders have moved deeper into this x and y relationship so that the lines are now intersecting. Eighth graders have been optimizing linear relationships by graphing linear inequalities. These relations form the foundation for understanding natural and human worlds in powerful ways. For example, gathering data and relating it in a bar graph is a way to detect patterns and make reliable predictions. The justifications for things such as climate change or the use of investment strategies depend on these mathematical techniques. People who value the clarity that math can provide find a clear path forward into a future of independence and self-reliance. Inspiring middle school students to focus on math as a way to bring order to their lives is an enduring and elusive challenge that keeps my mind active.
Don't Let Your Phone Control You
Last week, Common Sense Media published a brief article about the ways that smartphone technology and apps are designed to manipulate users' reactions, including our emotional responses. Tips for avoiding that manipulation and feeling of addiction to our phones include:- Turn off all notifications, except those from people.
- Go grayscale.
- Limit what's on your home screen.
- Type to find apps.
- Take social media off your phone.
- Charge your phone outside of your bedroom.
- Fight fire with fire.
The last recommendation might need a little fleshing out. There are apps designed to manage the triggers built in by app and phone designers and engineers, and the site also provides a series of recommendations for kids to use on their devices that help develop time management and healthier habits. Apps range from task managers and anxiety-alleviating calendars to usage-trackers and homework tracking. If your student uses a device and struggles with the attachment to it, or if your student could use some help with time management or staying on task, take a look!
The most important piece of the article isn't necessarily the useful recommendations - it's the recognition that adults are susceptible of being attached to devices just as much as kids. What the article doesn't articulate, though, is the role of adults - parents, teachers, coaches - in modeling healthier use of technology. If we hope our students will develop skills to integrate technology to enhance their learning and their lives - and to avoid the rabbit hole of distraction that smartphones and other technologies invite - we need to model it ourselves.
