Tossing Things Overboard

You may have heard that items have been thrown overboard from ships when in rough seas.  What exactly would be thrown into the sea?  A non-specific list would simply be cargo, tackle, and food. Thus, I am not including the Boston Tea Party.   Why would the crew do that?  Well, most importantly, it would lighten the ship.  The heavier the ship, the deeper the ship will sit in the water.  That is especially problematic in shallow water. Tossing cargo overboard lifts the ship in case the ship is blown to less deep areas where reefs and rocks could cause destruction. If the ship ran aground, the crew could be tossed into the sea. The moral of the story:  when faced with life or death, everything becomes expendable.  Taking weight off the ship also results in stability and prevents the ship from being capsized.  Lastly, throwing cargo overboard would allow the ship to go faster just in case the crew wanted to outrun the storm.  This all makes me think about the 60’s show, Gilligan’s Island. What the heck, “The Professor” could make an FM radio out of a coconut, but he couldn’t fix a hole in a boat?  Lame as it gets.

What things do you need to toss overboard as a teacher? As the remaining time available wanes, there is just no time for meaningless activities.  So, what can you get rid of? No, you cannot toss the kids.  Explore first the lessons that just don’t engage the masses.  Activities that do not have a positive impact toward reaching the daily or long-term goals is a waste of cargo. Throw it overboard.  But I really like that activity. It’s fun. I do it every year because well, that’s what my plan book says. Dump it. Next, take a good look at the collection of “materials” that you have. We don’t want to see you anytime soon on Hoarders. If you haven’t used something in the last two years, zip that sucker over to the USS Dumpster.  What else can lighten your load?  Try looking at grading in more specific ways. If you are assessing correct usage of adverbs, then why grade an entire paper?  Save the big grades for the big grades.  Outrun that storm by focusing on what the assessment is all about.  If you are assessing a Math problem set of “the odds on page 213 from 1-23 and each problem requires the same processes, why grade all twelve when grading a few will get you the data that you need?  Throw that to “Davy Jones Locker”.  Keep looking for things to toss overboard besides your cookies. While you are at it, toss the Gilligan’s Island DVD collection.