Amelia Barnes

ELA teacher, co-director of @piedmontvoices, Vice President of @teachenglishNC. My tweets do not represent my school, but they do reflect my character.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

This year, I’m testing out ungrading on a large scale for the first time. I’m going to (hopefully) keep a thread to document it—if for no other reason than needing a place to collect my thoughts that I actually use daily.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@heymrsbond Almost entirely no, with a very few exceptions (like when they’re not safe for the current weather conditions). I prefer not to, but I don’t really care if others do. (I have my own bad fashion preferences.) 33.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@heymrsbond In deference to my sanity, I opted to watch gymnastics trials tonight instead. The recap was bad enough. And none of it changes my opinions on either candidate. Glad I skipped it.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@GnGRanch @SethAus12330572 @MojoFerocious @chad320y @usafutbolfan88 @gwytiaz @_StephenLien_ She CAN eat rice. But the tribe turned down the rice offer at the immunity challenge a few episodes ago, so there was no rice at camp until Liz got her individual portion. She can’t eat coconut. And I think she said something about fish allergy early on too.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

In our district, AP teachers are required to use APClassroom and are monitored for usage—a major cave to @collegeboard’s pressure on the system—but CB continues to not address the problems with their technology.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@CollegeBoard If you are going to lock all your practice resources behind the wall of AP Classroom, then the least you can do is make sure your website has the bandwidth for THE ENTIRE COUNTRY to be using it the week before exams. 🤬

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

And then there are issues like this week, when the website repeatedly crashes and kicks all of my students out of a timed practice.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@MandaMaes_1 Sort of. We have 2-3 water coolers in various teacher workrooms, but because temps in the building are so ungodly hot, we go through it “too quickly” (according to the treasurer) and often are out of water jugs for weeks at a time until she decides to order more.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@heymrsbond And then if you want to continue the Vietnam war narrative, Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers sparked some good convos with my 11th graders. They don’t learn much about that war.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@heymrsbond The first chapter of The Things They Carried might be an interesting pairing with Long Way Down.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@mjbatson1991 @ComplicatedIsOK @themisslarsen @RanaAwdish *mastery

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@mjbatson1991 @ComplicatedIsOK @themisslarsen @RanaAwdish If the objective of the course is to be able to communicate in the language, their grade should reflect that ability to communicate (assuming you believe in the validity of grades at all). Being able to make (or buy) a pastry doesn’t reflect their master of course objectives.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@RebekahODell1 Also, you could pull multiple poems from the same collection and trace the motifs across the book. I love Citizen Illegal or Deaf Republic or Water and Salt for that.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@RebekahODell1 Some of my favorites: The Heart and the Fist by Rudy Francisco. Instructions on Not Giving Up by Ada Limón. In a Time of Peace by Ilya Kaminsky.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@ksliz22 @heymrsbond They turned that off in our district. You can take the test but it doesn’t get you anything.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@OldTymeAthlete @BeTheChange800 @maroonish99 @rcgray62 @ModestTeacher And that’s where we get back to the systemic problem of underfunding and understaffing.

[Amelia Barnes @MsBarnesELA]

@OldTymeAthlete @BeTheChange800 @maroonish99 @rcgray62 @ModestTeacher And when every EC teacher has a case load of 20+ kids AND teaches 3 classes a day, it can be hard to get ahold of them to see the full IEP or discuss the details, unless they’re assigned as a coteacher in your class.