I get allergy shots every Wednesday afternoon. I actually don't mind it much. I go to the on-site clinic that is part of our health insurance program (for county and school district employees) located at the neighboring high school, get my shots, knit for twenty minutes, the nurse checks my arms and I'm off. No big deal. Sometimes I run into other teachers and folks I know, so that can be fun.
Or a bit weird.
I was sitting there yesterday, knitting away on a cardigan I'm making, when I sort of notice out of the corner of my eye a young man leave one of the examining rooms (they're busy with a lot of school sport physicals right now). I don't pay much attention until I hear, "Hey, Mrs. Bluebird."
I turned around and it's the young man, all six feet two inches of him, and his mom who I don't recognize. The kid looks familiar so I know he's one of mine but I can't for the life of me put a name to the face.
(As an aside, I have an awful time with the boys when they grow up - they looks SO DIFFERENT from when I have them in seventh grade.)
"Oh gosh, I know I know you but I can't put a name to your face," I tell him, a bit embarrassed.
His mom laughs. "Oh, he's changed a lot since seventh grade," she says.
"It's Goober Boy," he informs me.
Oh. My. God.
No Way! Goober boy was a long-haired, skater dude who had the motivation of a slug. Nice kid, but a goober. (He was one of my favorites out of a class of really unique individuals.)
What was standing before was, well, a cowboy. He had on the pointy-toed boots, skinny cowboy jeans, big huge western belt with a shiny buckle, a button down shirt, and was carrying a straw hat in his hand. With short hair!
I swear, I couldn't believe the difference in this kid!!! Talk about a 180 degree change. He actually sat down for about twenty minutes (Mom took off - Goober Boy is driving his own truck now) and chatted with me. We talked about some of his classmates, who's doing what, what he's up to (doing much better in school now) and what he's thinking of doing when he graduates. It was such a nice visit, and so surprising to see how different he was now that he's about five years older.
I never, in a million years, would have predicted this change! Cowboy, no less!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Ack-Ack-Ack-Part Three
You know it's going to be an interesting week when the school nurse is out sick with the flu and isn't expected back until next week.
I suppose all the coughing, hacking, and spewing finally got to her. Thank goodness she was well and healthy on Monday when we were able to get our flu shots during our planning periods. So, in the meantime, if a kid needs meds we send them to guidance (and I swear, half the school seems to be on meds) and if they're sick we send them up front to call home and get them out of the building.
One of the high schools in the district is running 25% absent so they've closed for the next two days. We're only running at about 15% absent, so we're nowhere near closing. However, last week a lot of the sixth grade was out and now a lot (more) seventh graders are out.
Starting last week we started to get emails and homework forms that read something like this:
"Sick Kid is going to be out until Someday. Could you get together his/her missing work and send it up front from Mom to pick up?"
Seventh grade has 1st and 2nd period planning so if we get one of these emails after 9:00 am, we don't have any free time (except maybe a few minutes after we've gulped down our lunch before we pick up the kids from the cafeteria) to get anything together. We have repeatedly asked the secretaries to please let the 7th grade parents know that we'll have the stuff ready by the next day because we are - surprise! - busy TEACHING and don't have time to get together five days worth of work until we're done TEACHING. And that's after school.
Does this happen? Not often enough.
So we've rushed around trying to get work together for these kids, in between TEACHING our classes, and have a kid run these packets up to the front office. Sometimes we get the stuff up there in the afternoon, and sometimes we don't.
And here's the kicker. Most of the time the parents don't bother to come pick the stuff up.
Kid you not.
We have had a least half a dozen of these kids come back to class over the past few days, all of whom had piles of work sitting up in the front office.
Mrs. Social Studies and I asked one of these kids, who strolled in today, about the work we put up in the front office.
"Um, Mom didn't come pick it up," he said. "She got busy."
I bet. Kind of like the mom who has a kid who is going hungry (no money in the lunch account) and who's too busy "playing her computer video games" to either give her kid a check or sign a free and reduced lunch request form.
Kids as accessories. I swear, that's all they are for some folks.
And in the meantime, I'm not really motivated to stop my TEACHING to get work together for some kid if all it's going to do is collect dust in the front office.
I suppose all the coughing, hacking, and spewing finally got to her. Thank goodness she was well and healthy on Monday when we were able to get our flu shots during our planning periods. So, in the meantime, if a kid needs meds we send them to guidance (and I swear, half the school seems to be on meds) and if they're sick we send them up front to call home and get them out of the building.
One of the high schools in the district is running 25% absent so they've closed for the next two days. We're only running at about 15% absent, so we're nowhere near closing. However, last week a lot of the sixth grade was out and now a lot (more) seventh graders are out.
Starting last week we started to get emails and homework forms that read something like this:
"Sick Kid is going to be out until Someday. Could you get together his/her missing work and send it up front from Mom to pick up?"
Seventh grade has 1st and 2nd period planning so if we get one of these emails after 9:00 am, we don't have any free time (except maybe a few minutes after we've gulped down our lunch before we pick up the kids from the cafeteria) to get anything together. We have repeatedly asked the secretaries to please let the 7th grade parents know that we'll have the stuff ready by the next day because we are - surprise! - busy TEACHING and don't have time to get together five days worth of work until we're done TEACHING. And that's after school.
Does this happen? Not often enough.
So we've rushed around trying to get work together for these kids, in between TEACHING our classes, and have a kid run these packets up to the front office. Sometimes we get the stuff up there in the afternoon, and sometimes we don't.
And here's the kicker. Most of the time the parents don't bother to come pick the stuff up.
Kid you not.
We have had a least half a dozen of these kids come back to class over the past few days, all of whom had piles of work sitting up in the front office.
Mrs. Social Studies and I asked one of these kids, who strolled in today, about the work we put up in the front office.
"Um, Mom didn't come pick it up," he said. "She got busy."
I bet. Kind of like the mom who has a kid who is going hungry (no money in the lunch account) and who's too busy "playing her computer video games" to either give her kid a check or sign a free and reduced lunch request form.
Kids as accessories. I swear, that's all they are for some folks.
And in the meantime, I'm not really motivated to stop my TEACHING to get work together for some kid if all it's going to do is collect dust in the front office.
Monday, September 21, 2009
You Just Gotta Wonder
So we had a meeting with Skater Goober and his parents.
First off, out of the six meetings we've had scheduled so far, only three parents have shown up. I shouldn't complain. Mrs. Eagle has had only one show up (out of six) and they're darn glad she did because they all stayed after school for an hour to talk to this parent.
Anyhow....so SG's parents seem pretty together and with it. We talk about the fact he does nothing. We talk about the fact that they uncovered, like some strange archeological site, page after page of undone homework, worksheets, notes, and the like buried deep within the recesses of his backpack. They ask him why He Does Absolutely Nothing and he mumbles "Don't know," and just sits there like the oxygen thief that he currently is even though he's capable of much more. They ask to be emailed (Dad has a Blackberry for work and can show up at school within minutes) with updates daily. In fact, the next day when Skater Goober spends an entire class period and did one freaking vocabulary card (despite the nearly constant taps on his desk, prompting, etc.) I email Dad. Dad says he and Mom are going to come down and follow him around this week, most likely on Monday.
Did they come? Nope. Not yet.
And what did Skater Goober tell me?
"Hey, Mrs. Bluebird! Guess what? I got tickets to go see Kiss!"
"Really?" I ask. They bought Kiss tickets for this kid?
"Oh, yeah, isn't that cool?" he beams. He does not, by the way, have his book or his binder with him. I doubt he has his pencil. He is not, yet again, prepared for class.
"Well, all I can say is it's a good thing you're not my kid," I tell him.
"Really? Why?" he asks. (He really is clueless.)
"Because there's no way my husband would let you out of the house, let alone buy you Kiss tickets and let you go see Kiss unless you had passing grades in all your classes."
Skater Goober looks stunned. "Really? I mean, he'd really not let me go?"
"Really."
And then they wonder why the kids don't do anything.
First off, out of the six meetings we've had scheduled so far, only three parents have shown up. I shouldn't complain. Mrs. Eagle has had only one show up (out of six) and they're darn glad she did because they all stayed after school for an hour to talk to this parent.
Anyhow....so SG's parents seem pretty together and with it. We talk about the fact he does nothing. We talk about the fact that they uncovered, like some strange archeological site, page after page of undone homework, worksheets, notes, and the like buried deep within the recesses of his backpack. They ask him why He Does Absolutely Nothing and he mumbles "Don't know," and just sits there like the oxygen thief that he currently is even though he's capable of much more. They ask to be emailed (Dad has a Blackberry for work and can show up at school within minutes) with updates daily. In fact, the next day when Skater Goober spends an entire class period and did one freaking vocabulary card (despite the nearly constant taps on his desk, prompting, etc.) I email Dad. Dad says he and Mom are going to come down and follow him around this week, most likely on Monday.
Did they come? Nope. Not yet.
And what did Skater Goober tell me?
"Hey, Mrs. Bluebird! Guess what? I got tickets to go see Kiss!"
"Really?" I ask. They bought Kiss tickets for this kid?
"Oh, yeah, isn't that cool?" he beams. He does not, by the way, have his book or his binder with him. I doubt he has his pencil. He is not, yet again, prepared for class.
"Well, all I can say is it's a good thing you're not my kid," I tell him.
"Really? Why?" he asks. (He really is clueless.)
"Because there's no way my husband would let you out of the house, let alone buy you Kiss tickets and let you go see Kiss unless you had passing grades in all your classes."
Skater Goober looks stunned. "Really? I mean, he'd really not let me go?"
"Really."
And then they wonder why the kids don't do anything.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Ack-Ack-Ack Part Two
I thought today might be a bit better on the absences. After all, some of our kids are starting to come back and the number of kids listed as absent has been going down.
My homeroom had four out. That wasn't a surprise as two of them had parents who'd called for work as they'd be out until next week.
Third period, which is mostly, but not all, of my homeroom had four out (including one suspended for a girl fight which was quite the talk of the team the other day).
Fourth period - none. Looking good!
Fifth period - three. Not too shabby. It's my largest (and most unruly) class.
And then there was sixth period. The tardy bell rang. I walked in the door from hall duty and stopped. Looked over my shoulder at the hall. Empty. And then I counted.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Eight kids in the room. Eight.
That. Was. It.
The kids were all looking around, looking at each other, and then looking at me.
"Mrs. B," said Hard-Working Boy, "there's like nobody here."
Man, he wasn't kidding. This is my smallest class, but to have over half of them out? Good gracious. It was downright weird.
Except...it was kind of fun. The kids thought so ("Hey, this is cool!"). And the fact that a few of the characters who were out are the same characters who can't sit down and be quiet, made a huge difference.
The total out for the day? Twenty.
And now Mr. Bluebird has a cold. Great.
My homeroom had four out. That wasn't a surprise as two of them had parents who'd called for work as they'd be out until next week.
Third period, which is mostly, but not all, of my homeroom had four out (including one suspended for a girl fight which was quite the talk of the team the other day).
Fourth period - none. Looking good!
Fifth period - three. Not too shabby. It's my largest (and most unruly) class.
And then there was sixth period. The tardy bell rang. I walked in the door from hall duty and stopped. Looked over my shoulder at the hall. Empty. And then I counted.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight.
Eight kids in the room. Eight.
That. Was. It.
The kids were all looking around, looking at each other, and then looking at me.
"Mrs. B," said Hard-Working Boy, "there's like nobody here."
Man, he wasn't kidding. This is my smallest class, but to have over half of them out? Good gracious. It was downright weird.
Except...it was kind of fun. The kids thought so ("Hey, this is cool!"). And the fact that a few of the characters who were out are the same characters who can't sit down and be quiet, made a huge difference.
The total out for the day? Twenty.
And now Mr. Bluebird has a cold. Great.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Ack-Ack-Ack!
My classroom sounds like a tuberculosis ward.
Ack-Ack-Ack!
Kids are coughing and hacking all over the place. Their eyes are glassy and bleary. They have headaches. They come in, lay their heads down, and just want to stay there all period. I've filled out so many "go to the nurse" forms that I've had to go make extra copies as I ran out.
On Monday we had 20 kids (out of 96) absent.
Tuesday we had 16.
Wednesday was 18.
Today we're back up to 20.
Some of them are starting to come back after about five days out. For some it's the flu. For others it's strep. For others, who knows? Of course they all think they've got swine flu (thank you dear media for that one) and are nearly beside themselves because it means They Are All Going to Die.
Of course, letting them know that yes, the regular flu can kill you too, isn't really a great idea. They'd probably all just crawl under their desks and prepare to die.
What's weird? Very few of the teachers have been out. Go figure. We'll probably be the last to get sick and all be sick the same week.
And to think...it's only September.
Ack-Ack-Ack!
Kids are coughing and hacking all over the place. Their eyes are glassy and bleary. They have headaches. They come in, lay their heads down, and just want to stay there all period. I've filled out so many "go to the nurse" forms that I've had to go make extra copies as I ran out.
On Monday we had 20 kids (out of 96) absent.
Tuesday we had 16.
Wednesday was 18.
Today we're back up to 20.
Some of them are starting to come back after about five days out. For some it's the flu. For others it's strep. For others, who knows? Of course they all think they've got swine flu (thank you dear media for that one) and are nearly beside themselves because it means They Are All Going to Die.
Of course, letting them know that yes, the regular flu can kill you too, isn't really a great idea. They'd probably all just crawl under their desks and prepare to die.
What's weird? Very few of the teachers have been out. Go figure. We'll probably be the last to get sick and all be sick the same week.
And to think...it's only September.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
The Vocabulary War
Science vocabulary is the bane of our existence.
Mrs. Eagle and I have spent years trying to figure out ways to get our kids to learn their science vocabulary. Mrs. Hummingbird is now collaborating with us as well, and she's facing the same problems we have had for years.
In short:
If you don't know the science vocabulary we're using, then we might as well be speaking a foreign language (Klingon comes to mind).
Therefore, if you don't know what we're talking about, you're probably not going to understand anything and you'll most likely do poorly in science.
We've finally ended up with an Academic Coach that understands that the same tools you may use for vocabulary in language (Frayer models, finding synonyms, etc.) don't work particularly well for science.
Dare you to find a synonym for mitochondria, for example.
Our vocabulary is somewhat technical. It's specialized. It's not something you can easily work with. It is what it is and quite honestly, it comes down to using the words and studying the words until they are embedded in that long term memory.
Of course, playing video games is a lot more fun than doing vocabulary work.
We have the kids do crosswords (they hate these, they'd rather do word search which requires no thought). We have a word wall. We have vocabulary games. We have vocabulary cards or foldables , (word on one side, definition on the other, extra credit for a picture) where a kid gets a freaking point if all they do is write the word on a card. They are supposed to use these to study and learn their words. We even spend a few minutes a day doing vocabulary games which involve a great many Jilly Rancher candies.
And this year we have the vocabulary study log. We are trying, despite their best efforts to avoid it, to get parents involved in their child's learning. We have a study log where the parent signs every night after their child has studied his or her vocabulary flash cards or foldables for five minutes. It isn't worth a whole lot in terms of points, but it is an easy way to boost a grade.
And it's astounding how few of these we get turned in.
It is, however, improving. We had our second unit test on Friday, which is also the day the study log and the vocabulary cards are due. I saw a pretty huge uptick in the number of cards that were completed and turned in as well as the number of logs turned in. Amazingly enough, they had much better grades on this test than they did on the previous one.
Do ya think there's a connection? Huh? Do ya?
Now lets see if the shovelers can figure this out.
Mrs. Eagle and I have spent years trying to figure out ways to get our kids to learn their science vocabulary. Mrs. Hummingbird is now collaborating with us as well, and she's facing the same problems we have had for years.
In short:
If you don't know the science vocabulary we're using, then we might as well be speaking a foreign language (Klingon comes to mind).
Therefore, if you don't know what we're talking about, you're probably not going to understand anything and you'll most likely do poorly in science.
We've finally ended up with an Academic Coach that understands that the same tools you may use for vocabulary in language (Frayer models, finding synonyms, etc.) don't work particularly well for science.
Dare you to find a synonym for mitochondria, for example.
Our vocabulary is somewhat technical. It's specialized. It's not something you can easily work with. It is what it is and quite honestly, it comes down to using the words and studying the words until they are embedded in that long term memory.
Of course, playing video games is a lot more fun than doing vocabulary work.
We have the kids do crosswords (they hate these, they'd rather do word search which requires no thought). We have a word wall. We have vocabulary games. We have vocabulary cards or foldables , (word on one side, definition on the other, extra credit for a picture) where a kid gets a freaking point if all they do is write the word on a card. They are supposed to use these to study and learn their words. We even spend a few minutes a day doing vocabulary games which involve a great many Jilly Rancher candies.
And this year we have the vocabulary study log. We are trying, despite their best efforts to avoid it, to get parents involved in their child's learning. We have a study log where the parent signs every night after their child has studied his or her vocabulary flash cards or foldables for five minutes. It isn't worth a whole lot in terms of points, but it is an easy way to boost a grade.
And it's astounding how few of these we get turned in.
It is, however, improving. We had our second unit test on Friday, which is also the day the study log and the vocabulary cards are due. I saw a pretty huge uptick in the number of cards that were completed and turned in as well as the number of logs turned in. Amazingly enough, they had much better grades on this test than they did on the previous one.
Do ya think there's a connection? Huh? Do ya?
Now lets see if the shovelers can figure this out.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Just me talking...
I was interviewed this summer by a nice young man, Alex J. Mann, about this crazy profession we're in. If you're interested, check it out.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Shovel Ready
You know, there are times I just have to laugh when I read yet another article about how savvy, and wired, and technologically advanced this generation of kids are. Yeah, so they can text faster than I can knit (and that's pretty darn fast) but there are times they just don't have a clue about the power of technology.
Case in point.
I send out a weekly email to my parents letting them know what we're doing in the upcoming week, what the homework is, what's due, any special projects or assignments, and any generic school news they need to know. I've done this for about three years now and the response has been universally positive. Parents love having this little email in their arsenal because seventh graderslie just aren't the most honest creatures on this planet.
In short, if I had a dollar for every parent that told me that "X tells me that you never assign homework," I'd be bailing out the government.
So I get an email yesterday from the mother of one of my laziest students. Skater Goober was non-academically promoted as he apparently did nothing in sixth grade, and is again doing nothing in seventh grade. What's truly astounding is that if he put as much effort into doing his work, as he does in trying to avoid it, he would probably be a good student. In any case, SG's mom tells me that she noticed that my weekly email indicated that 24 vocabulary cards for this unit were due on Friday and when she asked SG about it he said that he didn't have to do the cards because he just wrote them in his science journal. She wanted to know if this was true.
Oh definitely NOT true. So NOT true. I wrote her back and explained what, exactly, was due and asked, by the way, asked if she'd seen the vocabulary study log that SG was supposed to give her every night to sign after he'd studied his vocabulary words. Any bets on whether or not she's seen this log?
Yeah, that's what I thought too.
Later in the evening I get another email from SG's Mom. She apologizes for bothering me and wanted to check on something once again. It seems that she READ MY EMAIL to her soon and now he'd changed his story and said, oh, yeah, he did do the vocabulary cards but he'd already turned them in. Again, was this true?
You know the answer to this don't you?
Again...definitely NOT true. NOT, NOT, NOT. The whole idea behind the vocabulary cards was to use them to STUDY the words every night so when the test rolls around (which is tomorrow, by the way, any guess on how well my stellar students will do?) they know the words inside and out and can actually PASS THE TEST. It is the ONE thing I do not accept early. Not only did SG NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO TURN THEM IN EARLY, if he had, I WOULD HAVE GIVEN THEM BACK.
So here's what cracks me up. Skater Goober obviously KNOWS that mom and I are communicating because she's reading him the emails. She's telling him that she's going to check with me and HE STILL LIES. He puts forth so much effort in his attempts to avoid work, that he actually starts digging himself a deep, deep hole that he's going to be hard pressed to climb out of. And here this "technology-savy" kid sits, not realizing the full potential of parent and teacher email communications.
You're busted, goober!
I think I'm going to take one of my extra yard shovels in to school one day. These kids are digging some amazing holes and probably could use the help.
Case in point.
I send out a weekly email to my parents letting them know what we're doing in the upcoming week, what the homework is, what's due, any special projects or assignments, and any generic school news they need to know. I've done this for about three years now and the response has been universally positive. Parents love having this little email in their arsenal because seventh graders
In short, if I had a dollar for every parent that told me that "X tells me that you never assign homework," I'd be bailing out the government.
So I get an email yesterday from the mother of one of my laziest students. Skater Goober was non-academically promoted as he apparently did nothing in sixth grade, and is again doing nothing in seventh grade. What's truly astounding is that if he put as much effort into doing his work, as he does in trying to avoid it, he would probably be a good student. In any case, SG's mom tells me that she noticed that my weekly email indicated that 24 vocabulary cards for this unit were due on Friday and when she asked SG about it he said that he didn't have to do the cards because he just wrote them in his science journal. She wanted to know if this was true.
Oh definitely NOT true. So NOT true. I wrote her back and explained what, exactly, was due and asked, by the way, asked if she'd seen the vocabulary study log that SG was supposed to give her every night to sign after he'd studied his vocabulary words. Any bets on whether or not she's seen this log?
Yeah, that's what I thought too.
Later in the evening I get another email from SG's Mom. She apologizes for bothering me and wanted to check on something once again. It seems that she READ MY EMAIL to her soon and now he'd changed his story and said, oh, yeah, he did do the vocabulary cards but he'd already turned them in. Again, was this true?
You know the answer to this don't you?
Again...definitely NOT true. NOT, NOT, NOT. The whole idea behind the vocabulary cards was to use them to STUDY the words every night so when the test rolls around (which is tomorrow, by the way, any guess on how well my stellar students will do?) they know the words inside and out and can actually PASS THE TEST. It is the ONE thing I do not accept early. Not only did SG NOT EVEN ATTEMPT TO TURN THEM IN EARLY, if he had, I WOULD HAVE GIVEN THEM BACK.
So here's what cracks me up. Skater Goober obviously KNOWS that mom and I are communicating because she's reading him the emails. She's telling him that she's going to check with me and HE STILL LIES. He puts forth so much effort in his attempts to avoid work, that he actually starts digging himself a deep, deep hole that he's going to be hard pressed to climb out of. And here this "technology-savy" kid sits, not realizing the full potential of parent and teacher email communications.
You're busted, goober!
I think I'm going to take one of my extra yard shovels in to school one day. These kids are digging some amazing holes and probably could use the help.
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
In One Ear and Out The Other
The School District didn't give us the head's up on the Very Important Speech By The President until late Friday - most likely because they were trying to figure out how to handle the parents who wanted their kids to opt out. An ed-connect phone call went out to the parents to let them know that kids could show up with a note from the folks if they didn't want them to watch it. We simply had to send them to another classroom with some seat work to keep them busy.
The reaction from most of the teachers was "How in the hell am I supposed to hit all my standards before the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Test if they keep interrupting my teaching time?" Many of us, myself included, teach bell to bell and didn't get enough notice (our plans were already done and submitted) to change our lesson plans to accommodate The Speech. Crap. Fortunately I was able to cram most of my lesson in, but with a little less discussion, and the kids didn't get too far behind. Hopefully.
I read The Speech the day before and the first thing that crossed my mind was "Whomever wrote this has no clue about the attention span of kids younger than high school."
No clue at all.
I could not, even on a good day, imagine any elementary kids sitting still for that long of a speech. Hell, even my seventh graders were going to be hard pressed to sit still that long.
Keep in mind that I've often believed that unless it has death, destruction or explosions, most seventh graders could care less. This is why they love tornado, earthquake, hurricane and volcano videos and can watch them ALL DAY LONG. However, someone just talking at them BORES THEM TO TEARS.
Their first big concern today was lunch. They had heard that the speech was going to be at 11:00 am and those that have figured out our bell schedule (honestly some never do) figured out that that was during lunch. So, of course, the rumor flew that they were not going to get to eat lunch. AT ALL.
Oh good gracious. They were in an absolute panic during homeroom until they finally stopped whining long enough to hear me tell them that they would have lunch at THE NORMAL TIME and would watch the speech on videotape later in the day.
Jeez people.
That was about the most interest the kids showed all day towards The Speech. They were more interested in the fact that we were having thunderstorms all day ("Do you think we'll have a tornado?? Uh, do you?") than the fact that The President was going to tell them the Very Same Things Mom and Dad and All The Teachers Tell Us OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
The fidgeted. They stared at the ceiling. They yawned. One wanted to go to the bathroom. Two had their heads bob a bit until I tapped them on the shoulder to wake them up. Most simply looked bored.
Just another grown up telling us what to do...
They could have cared less.
And considering that the class that watched this, my sixth period, has NO ONE passing as of right now, it was a tad ironic.
Another thing to note...last year we saw Obama t-shirts all over the place. The kids wore them to school all the time. I haven't seen a single one this year. Not one.
Weird.
The reaction from most of the teachers was "How in the hell am I supposed to hit all my standards before the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Test if they keep interrupting my teaching time?" Many of us, myself included, teach bell to bell and didn't get enough notice (our plans were already done and submitted) to change our lesson plans to accommodate The Speech. Crap. Fortunately I was able to cram most of my lesson in, but with a little less discussion, and the kids didn't get too far behind. Hopefully.
I read The Speech the day before and the first thing that crossed my mind was "Whomever wrote this has no clue about the attention span of kids younger than high school."
No clue at all.
I could not, even on a good day, imagine any elementary kids sitting still for that long of a speech. Hell, even my seventh graders were going to be hard pressed to sit still that long.
Keep in mind that I've often believed that unless it has death, destruction or explosions, most seventh graders could care less. This is why they love tornado, earthquake, hurricane and volcano videos and can watch them ALL DAY LONG. However, someone just talking at them BORES THEM TO TEARS.
Their first big concern today was lunch. They had heard that the speech was going to be at 11:00 am and those that have figured out our bell schedule (honestly some never do) figured out that that was during lunch. So, of course, the rumor flew that they were not going to get to eat lunch. AT ALL.
Oh good gracious. They were in an absolute panic during homeroom until they finally stopped whining long enough to hear me tell them that they would have lunch at THE NORMAL TIME and would watch the speech on videotape later in the day.
Jeez people.
That was about the most interest the kids showed all day towards The Speech. They were more interested in the fact that we were having thunderstorms all day ("Do you think we'll have a tornado?? Uh, do you?") than the fact that The President was going to tell them the Very Same Things Mom and Dad and All The Teachers Tell Us OVER AND OVER AND OVER.
The fidgeted. They stared at the ceiling. They yawned. One wanted to go to the bathroom. Two had their heads bob a bit until I tapped them on the shoulder to wake them up. Most simply looked bored.
Just another grown up telling us what to do...
They could have cared less.
And considering that the class that watched this, my sixth period, has NO ONE passing as of right now, it was a tad ironic.
Another thing to note...last year we saw Obama t-shirts all over the place. The kids wore them to school all the time. I haven't seen a single one this year. Not one.
Weird.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Sweet but Lazy
I know, I know, I know that the first progress report every year is just downright awful. It takes new seventh graders a bit of time to adjust to seventh grade, to remember how to "do school" and to get with the program.
I know that.
I realize that.
I doesn't mean that I like it.
And true to form, dear readers, these kids walked home last Friday with some DREADFUL progress reports. And our first unit test wasn't even on it. If anything, their grades are worse this week than they were on Friday.
I don't think a single kid in my sixth period is passing.
Seriously.
These kids, while they are heads and shoulders above last year's group of future felons in terms of behavior, just don't do work. Or if they do it, they won't turn it in. And if it gets turned in it's just absolute crap.
Mrs. Bunny, who teaches reading, along with a few other seventh grade teachers came up with an observation, based on the quality of the work that we were getting, that these kids apparently got "effort" grades in the past for turning in anything. She noticed this when she started getting worksheets with the names of classmates listed as answers. These kids were simply filling in blanks with anything and turning it in.
And expecting a grade.
I took about ten minutes yesterday and had a discussion with each of my classes about this. They admitted that they were used to getting "effort" grades from most (not all) of their teachers last year. They admitted to just filling in blanks with nonsense.
I informed them that we didn't operate like that in seventh grade.
They were crestfallen.
I walked them through their workbook pages (which are written at a 5th grade level, mind you) and had them highlight key words and actually take time to READ the questions before they answered. They weren't reading the questions, taking the time to interpret what was being asked. Oh no...they were simply grabbing phrases out of the reading and plugging it in to get the Damn Workbook Packet Done So We Can Play Videogames, or whatever the hell they do all day when they aren't in school.
And of course I had quite a few kids come up, all aflutter, asking just How On Earth Can I Have an F in Science?
"Hum, let's see...maybe it's because you have seven missing assignments?"
This just blows them away. It's like it never DAWNS on them that this
has any BEARING on their grade.
Amazing.
Oh, and out of the 99 progress reports I sent out, mostly with failing grades, I've had two - count 'em two - parents bother to contact me about the grades.
Amazing again.
I know that.
I realize that.
I doesn't mean that I like it.
And true to form, dear readers, these kids walked home last Friday with some DREADFUL progress reports. And our first unit test wasn't even on it. If anything, their grades are worse this week than they were on Friday.
I don't think a single kid in my sixth period is passing.
Seriously.
These kids, while they are heads and shoulders above last year's group of future felons in terms of behavior, just don't do work. Or if they do it, they won't turn it in. And if it gets turned in it's just absolute crap.
Mrs. Bunny, who teaches reading, along with a few other seventh grade teachers came up with an observation, based on the quality of the work that we were getting, that these kids apparently got "effort" grades in the past for turning in anything. She noticed this when she started getting worksheets with the names of classmates listed as answers. These kids were simply filling in blanks with anything and turning it in.
And expecting a grade.
I took about ten minutes yesterday and had a discussion with each of my classes about this. They admitted that they were used to getting "effort" grades from most (not all) of their teachers last year. They admitted to just filling in blanks with nonsense.
I informed them that we didn't operate like that in seventh grade.
They were crestfallen.
I walked them through their workbook pages (which are written at a 5th grade level, mind you) and had them highlight key words and actually take time to READ the questions before they answered. They weren't reading the questions, taking the time to interpret what was being asked. Oh no...they were simply grabbing phrases out of the reading and plugging it in to get the Damn Workbook Packet Done So We Can Play Videogames, or whatever the hell they do all day when they aren't in school.
And of course I had quite a few kids come up, all aflutter, asking just How On Earth Can I Have an F in Science?
"Hum, let's see...maybe it's because you have seven missing assignments?"
This just blows them away. It's like it never DAWNS on them that this
has any BEARING on their grade.
Amazing.
Oh, and out of the 99 progress reports I sent out, mostly with failing grades, I've had two - count 'em two - parents bother to contact me about the grades.
Amazing again.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
A Tale of Two Plannings
I've had some comments from some regular readers (the number of which never ceases to amaze me), about the fact that we have two - count 'em - two planning periods at the school.
Yes, I know. It's wonderful.
How and why we got two planning periods is worth sharing, in the hopes that perhaps there are other enlightened administrators out there who see the benefit.
By the end of my first year at The School, Mrs. Eagle and I were getting together to make our lesson plans. It made sense, after all. We teach the same grade and subject. We have the same standards to cover. So, why should we reinvent the wheel when we could collaborate and come up with the same plans?
The only problem with this was that we didn't have the same planning period.
So, once a week we would get together and meet in the morning before school to come up with our lesson plans.
At six in the morning to be precise.
This wasn't fun. However, we did it, and pretty soon Mrs. Robin (who had little ones at that time and couldn't meet before school) started giving us some input as well, although she never could attend the planning get together. So three of us were collaborating on our lessons and activities we were doing with our kids.
Our test scores rocked. In fact, in terms of growth in student achievement, they were the best in the school. The Principal wanted to know what it was that we were doing that the others weren't. The only thing we could come up with was collaboration.
A few years later The Principal took about a dozen of us to the National Middle School Association conference which had lots and lots and lots of sessions all about collaboration. I remember sitting in with The Principal and Mrs. Eagle for one of the big keynote speakers - who talked all about collaboration - and having Mrs. Eagle lean over and whisper to both us of, "We're already doing this."
Well, we were. However, it wasn't really easy and it wasn't really convenient.
So The Principal decided that all the grade levels would have the same planning. And that we'd have not one, but two plannings. This gave us slightly shorter class periods (we went from six periods a day to seven), but it also gave the kids an extra related arts class (art, music, computers, etc.), and it gave us a chance to work with the other teachers on our team and the other teachers in our subject area. In fact, The Principal put in a requirement that teachers would plan together, just like we'd already been doing.
And our entire school's scores went up. A lot.
So we have the first planning for individual planning - this is also the period where we meet with parents. The second planning is for team meetings, data chats about benchmarks, and collaboration. We also give up one planning per week to work with our remediation students.
I don't know why or how, but this collaboration thing just works.
And I'm glad it isn't at 6:00 am anymore!
Yes, I know. It's wonderful.
How and why we got two planning periods is worth sharing, in the hopes that perhaps there are other enlightened administrators out there who see the benefit.
By the end of my first year at The School, Mrs. Eagle and I were getting together to make our lesson plans. It made sense, after all. We teach the same grade and subject. We have the same standards to cover. So, why should we reinvent the wheel when we could collaborate and come up with the same plans?
The only problem with this was that we didn't have the same planning period.
So, once a week we would get together and meet in the morning before school to come up with our lesson plans.
At six in the morning to be precise.
This wasn't fun. However, we did it, and pretty soon Mrs. Robin (who had little ones at that time and couldn't meet before school) started giving us some input as well, although she never could attend the planning get together. So three of us were collaborating on our lessons and activities we were doing with our kids.
Our test scores rocked. In fact, in terms of growth in student achievement, they were the best in the school. The Principal wanted to know what it was that we were doing that the others weren't. The only thing we could come up with was collaboration.
A few years later The Principal took about a dozen of us to the National Middle School Association conference which had lots and lots and lots of sessions all about collaboration. I remember sitting in with The Principal and Mrs. Eagle for one of the big keynote speakers - who talked all about collaboration - and having Mrs. Eagle lean over and whisper to both us of, "We're already doing this."
Well, we were. However, it wasn't really easy and it wasn't really convenient.
So The Principal decided that all the grade levels would have the same planning. And that we'd have not one, but two plannings. This gave us slightly shorter class periods (we went from six periods a day to seven), but it also gave the kids an extra related arts class (art, music, computers, etc.), and it gave us a chance to work with the other teachers on our team and the other teachers in our subject area. In fact, The Principal put in a requirement that teachers would plan together, just like we'd already been doing.
And our entire school's scores went up. A lot.
So we have the first planning for individual planning - this is also the period where we meet with parents. The second planning is for team meetings, data chats about benchmarks, and collaboration. We also give up one planning per week to work with our remediation students.
I don't know why or how, but this collaboration thing just works.
And I'm glad it isn't at 6:00 am anymore!
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Really Bad Timing
I don't know what Mrs. Eagle and I were thinking.
We are encouraged to work at least two after school events every year. They range from dances, to basketball games, to choir concerts and the like. For some reason Mrs. Eagle and I decided to work the first back to school dance, probably because we wanted to get at least one of our events over and out of the way.
Which in itself is a bit silly because we tend to volunteer and end up working most of the dances and events anyway.
However, this was one of those weeks where we both had something to do nearly every single day after school. I had a historical society meeting, a Civil War round table meeting, a board meeting for a non profit, open house, and then, lastly the dance. Obviously we didn't check our calendars when we volunteered to work the dance.
I don't think we realized that open house was this same week. For some reason the district scheduled the middle school open house really early this year - like nearly a month early. We're just barely getting all the kids' names down (I know their names but I still can't remember what class period I have them) and now we've got parents, grandparents, siblings and who knows who else coming by the room to say hi and see what it looks like. This open house was busy. Really busy. And to top it off we had the book fair (also very early this year) and our second annual community health fair which has turned out to be hugely popular. What was amazing was we didn't just see parents of the good kids, but my team actually got to meet the mothers (and get their emails) of two of the boys that were put on our team so they'd be close by Mr. Enforcer...and because he told the moms that we don't put up with any nonsense. The moms both mentioned that and thought of it as being quite positive - their sons needed a firm hand.
Side note. One of my students who is now sophomore showed up to visit. He's HUGE. He's a grown up! We talked about how much fun it was on the camping trip and what a goofball he was in class. It was nice seeing him, but kind of weird because he's so different now.
Anyhow...so the dance arrives and we're just beat, to say the least. It's been a long week. And our kids had been keyed up about the dance all day (and man, some of those girls were dressed up!) But hey, a dance is easy work for the most part. The student council sponsors and members are actually doing most of the work (it's their fundraiser, after all) and we're just there for crowd control.
And we had a heck of a crowd.
It may have been because it was the first dance of the year, and the kids were still excited about being back with their friends. Or, as Mrs. Bunny said, it was a good way to get rid of your kid for a few hours. In any case, it was packed. Not just with sixth graders and seventh graders, but even the jaded, cool eighth graders who don't often show up at dances because, well, they're just so over that.
The gym was packed. The cafeteria where the kids spend a fortune shoving candy, soda and pizza down their gullets was packed. And those of us working the dance spent most of the evening telling speeding sixth graders To Stop Running.
What is it about sixth graders that they come to a dance to run? We should have track meets with music for these critters.
The good news is that the student council cleared two grand which will go towards our angel tree program at Christmas.
And it's the weekend.
We are encouraged to work at least two after school events every year. They range from dances, to basketball games, to choir concerts and the like. For some reason Mrs. Eagle and I decided to work the first back to school dance, probably because we wanted to get at least one of our events over and out of the way.
Which in itself is a bit silly because we tend to volunteer and end up working most of the dances and events anyway.
However, this was one of those weeks where we both had something to do nearly every single day after school. I had a historical society meeting, a Civil War round table meeting, a board meeting for a non profit, open house, and then, lastly the dance. Obviously we didn't check our calendars when we volunteered to work the dance.
I don't think we realized that open house was this same week. For some reason the district scheduled the middle school open house really early this year - like nearly a month early. We're just barely getting all the kids' names down (I know their names but I still can't remember what class period I have them) and now we've got parents, grandparents, siblings and who knows who else coming by the room to say hi and see what it looks like. This open house was busy. Really busy. And to top it off we had the book fair (also very early this year) and our second annual community health fair which has turned out to be hugely popular. What was amazing was we didn't just see parents of the good kids, but my team actually got to meet the mothers (and get their emails) of two of the boys that were put on our team so they'd be close by Mr. Enforcer...and because he told the moms that we don't put up with any nonsense. The moms both mentioned that and thought of it as being quite positive - their sons needed a firm hand.
Side note. One of my students who is now sophomore showed up to visit. He's HUGE. He's a grown up! We talked about how much fun it was on the camping trip and what a goofball he was in class. It was nice seeing him, but kind of weird because he's so different now.
Anyhow...so the dance arrives and we're just beat, to say the least. It's been a long week. And our kids had been keyed up about the dance all day (and man, some of those girls were dressed up!) But hey, a dance is easy work for the most part. The student council sponsors and members are actually doing most of the work (it's their fundraiser, after all) and we're just there for crowd control.
And we had a heck of a crowd.
It may have been because it was the first dance of the year, and the kids were still excited about being back with their friends. Or, as Mrs. Bunny said, it was a good way to get rid of your kid for a few hours. In any case, it was packed. Not just with sixth graders and seventh graders, but even the jaded, cool eighth graders who don't often show up at dances because, well, they're just so over that.
The gym was packed. The cafeteria where the kids spend a fortune shoving candy, soda and pizza down their gullets was packed. And those of us working the dance spent most of the evening telling speeding sixth graders To Stop Running.
What is it about sixth graders that they come to a dance to run? We should have track meets with music for these critters.
The good news is that the student council cleared two grand which will go towards our angel tree program at Christmas.
And it's the weekend.
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Deju Vu All Over Again
All the seventh grade teachers have first and second period planning (which has its drawbacks). However during the first week of school it felt like we didn't have any planning time at all. We had to cover the remediation class for one of our planning periods, and had some extra meetings thrown in for some of them, so by the time Monday rolled around we were looking forward to Two Free Planning Periods To Actually Get Something Done.
And then, right after we dismissed the kids to go to their related arts classes, and Mrs. Social Studies was walking our paper attendance up to the office, the fire drill bell rang.
Oh crap!
I looked out my door and saw about a dozen kids in the hall - some on the way to The Enforcer's office, a few heading to band, and the rest were either going to the office to drop off the attendance or had just dropped the attendance off and were heading back to class. They all had that deer in the headlights look - "What the heck do I do now!" I stepped into the hall, got their attention, and waved them into my room.
"Get in here and head out the back door," I told them. "Follow him," I said pointing to one of my kids from last year. "He knows the drill."
Mrs. Social Studies joined us a few minutes later. "Boy, they didn't give the kids much time to get to class," she mentioned.
I pointed to my collection of kids. "Look what I gathered up in the hallway," I said. "Most of these kids were taking up attendance. I've got several from every grade level."
A few minutes later we heard the unmistakable whine of a siren. Some of us who were here two years ago, all looked at each other in amazement.
"Not again!"
Three fire trucks sped towards the front of the building which really had the kids intrigued. Then all the cafeteria workers were told to move their cars. One of them told me there was some smoke coming from one of the vents in the cafeteria so they called the fire department. Pretty soon Coach Grumpy came by and said he got a radio call to move all us back into the field behind the school. At that time, I started walking my strays around until they found their classes and were accounted for. The kids did great during all this. In fact, they weren't all that curious about what was going on, not like the group I had a few years ago who couldn't stop asking questions.
Mrs. Social Studies looked at me and groaned. "And just when I thought I'd finally get my entire planning time to actually accomplish something!"
But hey, at least it wasn't 102 degrees this time. And we got back inside after 45 minutes.
The cause? Apparently a belt of some kind on one of the ventilation units got caught and started smoking.
And I did, finally, get a little something accomplished during planning.
And then, right after we dismissed the kids to go to their related arts classes, and Mrs. Social Studies was walking our paper attendance up to the office, the fire drill bell rang.
Oh crap!
I looked out my door and saw about a dozen kids in the hall - some on the way to The Enforcer's office, a few heading to band, and the rest were either going to the office to drop off the attendance or had just dropped the attendance off and were heading back to class. They all had that deer in the headlights look - "What the heck do I do now!" I stepped into the hall, got their attention, and waved them into my room.
"Get in here and head out the back door," I told them. "Follow him," I said pointing to one of my kids from last year. "He knows the drill."
Mrs. Social Studies joined us a few minutes later. "Boy, they didn't give the kids much time to get to class," she mentioned.
I pointed to my collection of kids. "Look what I gathered up in the hallway," I said. "Most of these kids were taking up attendance. I've got several from every grade level."
A few minutes later we heard the unmistakable whine of a siren. Some of us who were here two years ago, all looked at each other in amazement.
"Not again!"
Three fire trucks sped towards the front of the building which really had the kids intrigued. Then all the cafeteria workers were told to move their cars. One of them told me there was some smoke coming from one of the vents in the cafeteria so they called the fire department. Pretty soon Coach Grumpy came by and said he got a radio call to move all us back into the field behind the school. At that time, I started walking my strays around until they found their classes and were accounted for. The kids did great during all this. In fact, they weren't all that curious about what was going on, not like the group I had a few years ago who couldn't stop asking questions.
Mrs. Social Studies looked at me and groaned. "And just when I thought I'd finally get my entire planning time to actually accomplish something!"
But hey, at least it wasn't 102 degrees this time. And we got back inside after 45 minutes.
The cause? Apparently a belt of some kind on one of the ventilation units got caught and started smoking.
And I did, finally, get a little something accomplished during planning.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Well There Goes My Reputation!
Mrs. Goldfinch is one of those people who just wear me out. I don't think she sleeps. She teaches special ed and is one of the first at school and the last to leave. She's extremely active and athletic and hikes, rock climbs, runs, and swims, and in her spare time she gardens like a fiend, scrapbooks, sews amazing Halloween costumes, and makes her own jewelry. She's astounding. She's also an absolute hoot as a person and an awesome teacher.
Mrs. Goldfinch has a room right next to mine - in fact, for some reason we have yet to ever determine, there's actually a door between our two rooms, so we can actually pass from my room into her's without going out in the hall. Why we would want to do this is beyond me, and we rarely ever use it. In fact, right now I have a huge stack of new science books in front of the door because I know it won't be used. In any case, this means that we share a pretty good chunk of wall.
Which means that often times I can hear what's going on in her room and she can hear what's going on in mine.
Yesterday she pulled me aside while we were doing hall duty with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "You should hear what your seventh graders are saying about you," she giggled.
"Oh great," I said. "I can only imagine."
"Oh no, it's funny," she said. "I had a whole bunch of them on the first day, when they got their schedules, just scared to death that they had you. They got to hear you get after that group of kids you had last year and it scared the daylights out of them. They thought you were just the meanest teacher in the building."
"Well, considering the kids I had last year, that doesn't surprise me," I said. After all it was the Seventh Grade Class From Hades (who are now tormenting the 8th grade teachers.)
"I know! After they had your class, they came in saying that they couldn't believe how nice you were," she said. "I explained that often how a teacher acts has a lot to do with how the kids act."
She's so right. I'm sure that most of the kids last year thought we were just the meanest group of teachers around - and I'm sure they think that every year. They have that affect on people. I felt like all I did last year was scream at kids and it was all I could do to get through the day. I hated it.
Which is why we're all still stunned that we are having such an easy time of it so far. I mean, here we are, four days in and we only have one girl in ISS because she got caught kissing a boy in the hallway. Last year we had at least three up there and it was for fighting.
Today, one of Mrs. Goldfinch's kids, Lovestruck Boy (who has admitted being smitten with one of our young ladies who is, truly, cute as they come), actually told me that he thought I'd changed from last year. "You're not the same as you were last year," he said. "You're nice. I thought you were mean."
"Because I had to yell at my kids all the time, right?" I asked him.
"Yeah, you've changed."
"I haven't changed one bit, kiddo," I told him. "The difference is you. You guys are just a great bunch of kids who get along, listen, and do your job. When you do what you're supposed to, we have fun."
"Yeah, I think it will be fun this year," he said. "You're nice."
Amazing.
Mrs. Goldfinch has a room right next to mine - in fact, for some reason we have yet to ever determine, there's actually a door between our two rooms, so we can actually pass from my room into her's without going out in the hall. Why we would want to do this is beyond me, and we rarely ever use it. In fact, right now I have a huge stack of new science books in front of the door because I know it won't be used. In any case, this means that we share a pretty good chunk of wall.
Which means that often times I can hear what's going on in her room and she can hear what's going on in mine.
Yesterday she pulled me aside while we were doing hall duty with a mischievous sparkle in her eye. "You should hear what your seventh graders are saying about you," she giggled.
"Oh great," I said. "I can only imagine."
"Oh no, it's funny," she said. "I had a whole bunch of them on the first day, when they got their schedules, just scared to death that they had you. They got to hear you get after that group of kids you had last year and it scared the daylights out of them. They thought you were just the meanest teacher in the building."
"Well, considering the kids I had last year, that doesn't surprise me," I said. After all it was the Seventh Grade Class From Hades (who are now tormenting the 8th grade teachers.)
"I know! After they had your class, they came in saying that they couldn't believe how nice you were," she said. "I explained that often how a teacher acts has a lot to do with how the kids act."
She's so right. I'm sure that most of the kids last year thought we were just the meanest group of teachers around - and I'm sure they think that every year. They have that affect on people. I felt like all I did last year was scream at kids and it was all I could do to get through the day. I hated it.
Which is why we're all still stunned that we are having such an easy time of it so far. I mean, here we are, four days in and we only have one girl in ISS because she got caught kissing a boy in the hallway. Last year we had at least three up there and it was for fighting.
Today, one of Mrs. Goldfinch's kids, Lovestruck Boy (who has admitted being smitten with one of our young ladies who is, truly, cute as they come), actually told me that he thought I'd changed from last year. "You're not the same as you were last year," he said. "You're nice. I thought you were mean."
"Because I had to yell at my kids all the time, right?" I asked him.
"Yeah, you've changed."
"I haven't changed one bit, kiddo," I told him. "The difference is you. You guys are just a great bunch of kids who get along, listen, and do your job. When you do what you're supposed to, we have fun."
"Yeah, I think it will be fun this year," he said. "You're nice."
Amazing.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Blah, blah, blah, blah, and blah
I am so sick of hearing myself talk.
That's one of the things I hate about the first few days of school. I feel like all I do is hand papers at kids and talk and talk and talk and talk. It's boring as all get out, but It Must Be Done.
On Friday, the first half day, we handed out and discussed all the school paperwork - fee lists, supply lists, fee waivers, free and reduced lunch forms, emergency cards, bus information, student information sheets and on and on and on.
Today was the first day I had all of my classes, not just my homeroom. Today it was all the stuff about science class - the parent letter, the science lab rules, the Science expectations sheet (how I run my class, basically), class do's and don'ts, and our first study guide. Of course I had to go through each thing and explain it, but show them around them room and on and on and on. Here is how we do homework, here is what the new workbooks look like, here's where you find my vocabulary podcats.
Yawn.
By seventh period I was pretty darn sick of hearing my own voice, my throat hurt and I'm sure the kids were wondering when those stupid buses were going to show up so they could go home.
And my feet hurt. No surprise there, they always hurt the first week or so until I get used to standing all day.
Tomorrow will be better...I don't do all the talking.
That's one of the things I hate about the first few days of school. I feel like all I do is hand papers at kids and talk and talk and talk and talk. It's boring as all get out, but It Must Be Done.
On Friday, the first half day, we handed out and discussed all the school paperwork - fee lists, supply lists, fee waivers, free and reduced lunch forms, emergency cards, bus information, student information sheets and on and on and on.
Today was the first day I had all of my classes, not just my homeroom. Today it was all the stuff about science class - the parent letter, the science lab rules, the Science expectations sheet (how I run my class, basically), class do's and don'ts, and our first study guide. Of course I had to go through each thing and explain it, but show them around them room and on and on and on. Here is how we do homework, here is what the new workbooks look like, here's where you find my vocabulary podcats.
Yawn.
By seventh period I was pretty darn sick of hearing my own voice, my throat hurt and I'm sure the kids were wondering when those stupid buses were going to show up so they could go home.
And my feet hurt. No surprise there, they always hurt the first week or so until I get used to standing all day.
Tomorrow will be better...I don't do all the talking.
Friday, August 07, 2009
It's So Good, Something's Bound to Go Wrong...
Today was, at last, the first half day of school.
(As an aside, don't ask me why we have a half day on Friday, give the kids Monday off, and actually start school with a full schedule on Tuesday. I have no idea why. It's weird. But It Is How We Do Things.)
And something really weird happened.
Nothing went wrong.
Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but I remember first days when the entire network crashed, the phones crashed with it, and not only couldn't we call anyone, we couldn't print schedules, enroll kids, or even look up anything. A new kid would enroll and guidance would just go park him or her in a nearby classroom for the day until the system went back up. It was ugly. We've had days where many kids had no schedules or crazy schedules with, say, three math classes. We've had days where kids had no clue where the buses were and the bus drivers didn't know where to park.
And then we had last year when The Team decided, after the first half day, that everything we'd heard about those kids was True and we were in for a helluva year.
This year was so smooth we kept waiting for something to happen. The seventh graders were excited to be back, so much so that they cheered for The Principal, Mr. Enforcer, and Mrs. Sparrow, our new Assistant Principal. The Principal looked over at us with surprise and commented on that never happening before. The fact that these kids cheered for Mr. Enforcer, the guy who does a lot of the discipline referrals, was pretty amazing. And then they actually got quiet, listened for their names to be called, and waited quietly outside the theater (with the PE teachers supervising) for us to finish calling our homerooms so we could collect our cherubs and go to class.
They sat, they listened, the did their tasks, they were nice, they were polite, it was, well, a shock. We all gathered together after the kids were dismissed and kind of stood around stunned.
"Is it me, or were these kids just a lot better than what we had last year?" asked Coach Math.
"They're better," Mrs. Social Studies said. "I could tell within the first hour that this was a better bunch. It's weird."
I guess The Team is just used to our Seventh Grade Class From Hades acting like a bunch of hooligans and having nice, respectful kids in class is truly something we haven't been used to in the past year.
It was, truly, a really nice, easy, comfortable day.
Of course, the eighth grade teachers didn't have such a nice day. Apparently our fervent hope that our group from last year would grow up and mature and develop some people skills did not come to pass. Mrs. Angora, a fantastic 8th grade science teacher, came up to me before we went into our afternoon session.
"Oh. My. God." she said.
"Uh, let me guess...they didn't mature," I responded.
"Not even close," she said. "They were awful. Just awful."
And she got the best of the bunch. I truly feel sorry for our 8th grade teachers this year.
(As an aside, don't ask me why we have a half day on Friday, give the kids Monday off, and actually start school with a full schedule on Tuesday. I have no idea why. It's weird. But It Is How We Do Things.)
And something really weird happened.
Nothing went wrong.
Now, this may not seem like a big deal, but I remember first days when the entire network crashed, the phones crashed with it, and not only couldn't we call anyone, we couldn't print schedules, enroll kids, or even look up anything. A new kid would enroll and guidance would just go park him or her in a nearby classroom for the day until the system went back up. It was ugly. We've had days where many kids had no schedules or crazy schedules with, say, three math classes. We've had days where kids had no clue where the buses were and the bus drivers didn't know where to park.
And then we had last year when The Team decided, after the first half day, that everything we'd heard about those kids was True and we were in for a helluva year.
This year was so smooth we kept waiting for something to happen. The seventh graders were excited to be back, so much so that they cheered for The Principal, Mr. Enforcer, and Mrs. Sparrow, our new Assistant Principal. The Principal looked over at us with surprise and commented on that never happening before. The fact that these kids cheered for Mr. Enforcer, the guy who does a lot of the discipline referrals, was pretty amazing. And then they actually got quiet, listened for their names to be called, and waited quietly outside the theater (with the PE teachers supervising) for us to finish calling our homerooms so we could collect our cherubs and go to class.
They sat, they listened, the did their tasks, they were nice, they were polite, it was, well, a shock. We all gathered together after the kids were dismissed and kind of stood around stunned.
"Is it me, or were these kids just a lot better than what we had last year?" asked Coach Math.
"They're better," Mrs. Social Studies said. "I could tell within the first hour that this was a better bunch. It's weird."
I guess The Team is just used to our Seventh Grade Class From Hades acting like a bunch of hooligans and having nice, respectful kids in class is truly something we haven't been used to in the past year.
It was, truly, a really nice, easy, comfortable day.
Of course, the eighth grade teachers didn't have such a nice day. Apparently our fervent hope that our group from last year would grow up and mature and develop some people skills did not come to pass. Mrs. Angora, a fantastic 8th grade science teacher, came up to me before we went into our afternoon session.
"Oh. My. God." she said.
"Uh, let me guess...they didn't mature," I responded.
"Not even close," she said. "They were awful. Just awful."
And she got the best of the bunch. I truly feel sorry for our 8th grade teachers this year.
Wednesday, August 05, 2009
Tick...tick...tick...
Counting down to the first half day.
Which is Friday.
Which seems way too early, but that's how it goes. Other districts in the area actually started last week.
So, for the past week or so, I've been to two in-services, unpacked and set up my room, met with Mrs. Eagle and Ms. Hummingbird and actually planned our lessons for our first science unit, met with Mrs. Bunny and Mrs. Eagle to plan some things for seventh grade, met with the team, and just more stuff.
It will be a different year this year. First off, the Seventh Grade Class from Hades is now the Eighth Grade Class We Hope Grew Up Over the Summer. Our rosters showed up in PowerSchool today so I had quite a few 8th grade teachers dropping by to get some insight on their kids (especially in terms of putting together lab groups - some kids don't need to be with each other). The good news is that my long email last spring to guidance about kids who needed to be separated worked because many of my more memorable kids (Sassy Girl comes to mind) are no longer with their fellow friends and trouble makers. Mr. Owl will have his hands full with some of his kids, but he got a great bunch for his Physical Science class.
My team is much smaller this year - only 93 kids as of today. So last year's nuclear meltdown when I had 37 kids in my homeroom didn't happen. I have only 23 and that's my largest number. Our seventh grade numbers are down a bit, so we lost a position, and only have four teachers - Mrs. Social Studies, Mr. Math, and Mrs. English (Mrs. English will be teaching reading/language arts blocks which is something they are trying in 7th grade this year). The Principal got approval to get a split Language Arts/Reading position that will teach one block in 7th grade, and the other in 8th grade - his/her room will be in our team area so we'll see quite a few 8th graders in our area, which should be interesting. She doesn't know when the position will be filled, so we've been told to expect a sub for the first week or so.
We had a cookout today to celebrate our Very Big Deal Government Mandated Test Scores which were amazing. We basically kicked butt over nearly all the other middle schools in the county (including two "rich" schools) and all this with a free and reduced lunch population now at 60%, not a whole lot of parental support, and kids that were, to be nice, a handful.
Tomorrow, more meetings, and I need more time to get posters hung up, and some copies made before the cherubs arrive on Friday morning.
Here we go!
Which is Friday.
Which seems way too early, but that's how it goes. Other districts in the area actually started last week.
So, for the past week or so, I've been to two in-services, unpacked and set up my room, met with Mrs. Eagle and Ms. Hummingbird and actually planned our lessons for our first science unit, met with Mrs. Bunny and Mrs. Eagle to plan some things for seventh grade, met with the team, and just more stuff.
It will be a different year this year. First off, the Seventh Grade Class from Hades is now the Eighth Grade Class We Hope Grew Up Over the Summer. Our rosters showed up in PowerSchool today so I had quite a few 8th grade teachers dropping by to get some insight on their kids (especially in terms of putting together lab groups - some kids don't need to be with each other). The good news is that my long email last spring to guidance about kids who needed to be separated worked because many of my more memorable kids (Sassy Girl comes to mind) are no longer with their fellow friends and trouble makers. Mr. Owl will have his hands full with some of his kids, but he got a great bunch for his Physical Science class.
My team is much smaller this year - only 93 kids as of today. So last year's nuclear meltdown when I had 37 kids in my homeroom didn't happen. I have only 23 and that's my largest number. Our seventh grade numbers are down a bit, so we lost a position, and only have four teachers - Mrs. Social Studies, Mr. Math, and Mrs. English (Mrs. English will be teaching reading/language arts blocks which is something they are trying in 7th grade this year). The Principal got approval to get a split Language Arts/Reading position that will teach one block in 7th grade, and the other in 8th grade - his/her room will be in our team area so we'll see quite a few 8th graders in our area, which should be interesting. She doesn't know when the position will be filled, so we've been told to expect a sub for the first week or so.
We had a cookout today to celebrate our Very Big Deal Government Mandated Test Scores which were amazing. We basically kicked butt over nearly all the other middle schools in the county (including two "rich" schools) and all this with a free and reduced lunch population now at 60%, not a whole lot of parental support, and kids that were, to be nice, a handful.
Tomorrow, more meetings, and I need more time to get posters hung up, and some copies made before the cherubs arrive on Friday morning.
Here we go!
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
I'll Believe it When I See It
The first year I taught at The School we were lucky enough to get new science textbooks.
Except they didn't arrive until October.
And school started in August.
Every time we had a faculty meeting, a science teacher would wave his or her hand in the air and ask the soon to be infamous question, "Any news on when we'll get our science books?"
The answer, which our vice principal got from book distribution guys who most likely got it from a publisher rep who probably got it from a guy named Buddy who drove a truck was "They're on THE TRUCK."
We had no idea where THE TRUCK was and soon wildly exciting guessing games were going on about just, where, THE TRUCK was. Many felt that Alaska was a good guess. There was much joy and celebration when the new books, finally, arrived.
So this year, what with the standards changing and our old books having pretty much seen their better days, we are supposed to get new books. We've spent the whole year gearing up for the new books, going to publisher presentations, reviewing the sample copies, and eventually selecting the book that best suited our needs. And we were told that they would definitely be there in August, ready and waiting for school to start.
However.
None of us really, truly believed that. For one thing, there's always a BUDGET CRISIS and one of the first things that get yanked are new textbooks, and there had been rumors going around all year about the fact that we may just have to milk another year out of our old books. That was something none of us in middle school even wanted to contemplate since our standards got all switched around and our books were built around the old standards. One idea floated was to have a class set of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade books and just use whichever book had that particular standard in it. Fun.
And then, after our experience with THE TRUCK, whenever anyone said, "Oh, yes, they'll be there in August," we all snickered and laughed and kicked each other under the table at faculty meetings.
Sure they will. As I told my students last year, "I'll believe it when I see it."
I saw it.
Today Mrs. Eagle and I were coming back from lunch and walked in by the front office only to see a young man struggling to open a door and push in a huge cart with boxes stacked on it. We went and held the door open for him so he could get through, when Mrs. Eagle noticed the labels on the boxes.
"Hey, are those science books?" she asked him.
"Hum, I think so," he said. "I'm not really sure."
"Hang on, I want to read the label," I said and I checked the label out. "It's science books," I said. "But I can't tell what grade."
Since the young man didn't know where the book room was, we gleefully showed him the way...and made him open one of the boxes so we could see what was inside.
Glory Be! They were all seventh grade science books!!!
I think we may have scared him a bit when we started squealing and clapping our hands in excitement.
Except they didn't arrive until October.
And school started in August.
Every time we had a faculty meeting, a science teacher would wave his or her hand in the air and ask the soon to be infamous question, "Any news on when we'll get our science books?"
The answer, which our vice principal got from book distribution guys who most likely got it from a publisher rep who probably got it from a guy named Buddy who drove a truck was "They're on THE TRUCK."
We had no idea where THE TRUCK was and soon wildly exciting guessing games were going on about just, where, THE TRUCK was. Many felt that Alaska was a good guess. There was much joy and celebration when the new books, finally, arrived.
So this year, what with the standards changing and our old books having pretty much seen their better days, we are supposed to get new books. We've spent the whole year gearing up for the new books, going to publisher presentations, reviewing the sample copies, and eventually selecting the book that best suited our needs. And we were told that they would definitely be there in August, ready and waiting for school to start.
However.
None of us really, truly believed that. For one thing, there's always a BUDGET CRISIS and one of the first things that get yanked are new textbooks, and there had been rumors going around all year about the fact that we may just have to milk another year out of our old books. That was something none of us in middle school even wanted to contemplate since our standards got all switched around and our books were built around the old standards. One idea floated was to have a class set of 6th, 7th, and 8th grade books and just use whichever book had that particular standard in it. Fun.
And then, after our experience with THE TRUCK, whenever anyone said, "Oh, yes, they'll be there in August," we all snickered and laughed and kicked each other under the table at faculty meetings.
Sure they will. As I told my students last year, "I'll believe it when I see it."
I saw it.
Today Mrs. Eagle and I were coming back from lunch and walked in by the front office only to see a young man struggling to open a door and push in a huge cart with boxes stacked on it. We went and held the door open for him so he could get through, when Mrs. Eagle noticed the labels on the boxes.
"Hey, are those science books?" she asked him.
"Hum, I think so," he said. "I'm not really sure."
"Hang on, I want to read the label," I said and I checked the label out. "It's science books," I said. "But I can't tell what grade."
Since the young man didn't know where the book room was, we gleefully showed him the way...and made him open one of the boxes so we could see what was inside.
Glory Be! They were all seventh grade science books!!!
I think we may have scared him a bit when we started squealing and clapping our hands in excitement.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Panic Attack
It's about that time again.
School starts, for the kids, on the 7th of August, but I have my first in-service on the 30th. Oh boy!
So I decided to go into the building today to get my room unpacked and set up. We had all received an email from Chief Custodian to let us know that all the rooms were pretty much ready to go. They were still working on the floors in some of the hallways, so as long as we were careful we could get in and get our work done.
There was one problem. I couldn't find my freakin' keys.
I always keep my classroom keychain (which has my room key, a key to get into some of the outside doors, a key to my desk, a key to my file cabinet, and a locker key) in a pocket in my rolling backpack along with my ID badge. That way I don't have to dig around in my purse to find them, and I always know where they are at. (I don't know if it's age, too much going on, or what, but I tend to lose things a lot more lately, which, well, sucks.) I used the rolling backpack on our trip to North Carolina this summer and had placed the namebadge and such on a corner of the work table in my craft room/office. And that's where I thought my keys were until yesterday when I went to grab them and they weren't there.
Oh great.
So I tore apart the craft room/office, opened every drawer, cupboard, box, basket, anything that could possibly contain a keychain. I tore apart my kitchen drawers as well, checked the bathroom drawers, all the dressers in my bedroom, and so on.
I didn't find my keys.
So I came to a plausible explanation.
My cat hid them. Specifically, my youngest cat, Jackson, who is an instigator. He loves to play with things on my desk, and it wouldn't have surprised me if he'd knocked the keys off and played with them. This idea got me crawling around on the floor looking under furniture and bookcases.
Still no keys. But a heck of a lot of pipe cleaners (cats love these) and bouncy ball toys.
Could he have knocked them into the wastepaper basket and they got tossed?
Possible.
So, after several hours, much searching and frustration, I gave up on the keys. I'd just have to see if The Bookkeeper could get me a new one and see if, by some miracle, they had extra spares of the file cabinet and desk keys. The locker key was probably a goner as I think I may have the original. Oh well.
I slunk into school today, hung my head in shame, and managed to get an extra copy of my key from The Bookkeeper. Fortunately, I am apparently not the only one who loses things, she informed me, so that made me feel a bit better. She then handed me a huge, and I mean HUGE, container containing file cabinet and desk keys which would take me all day to go through.
Sigh.
Mrs. Eagle, who is an over-achiever and who has had her room set up since JUNE, came in to help me a bit which was more than nice on her part. Most of my classroom furniture was placed where it needed to be so we only had to shift a few things around. We were moving my desk a bit when the top drawer rolls open, which was odd because I had locked it before I left for the summer.
And there, laying in my top drawer, was my keychain!
"Hey, look at that!" says Mrs. Eagle. "There's your keys!"
Oh good gracious. They never even made it home with me for the summer!!! What most likely happened is that I left them on my desk in the rush to get everything loaded up and summer started, and my janitor found them, unlocked the desk, and put them away for me.
Bless her heart.
And I apologized to my cat for blaming him.
School starts, for the kids, on the 7th of August, but I have my first in-service on the 30th. Oh boy!
So I decided to go into the building today to get my room unpacked and set up. We had all received an email from Chief Custodian to let us know that all the rooms were pretty much ready to go. They were still working on the floors in some of the hallways, so as long as we were careful we could get in and get our work done.
There was one problem. I couldn't find my freakin' keys.
I always keep my classroom keychain (which has my room key, a key to get into some of the outside doors, a key to my desk, a key to my file cabinet, and a locker key) in a pocket in my rolling backpack along with my ID badge. That way I don't have to dig around in my purse to find them, and I always know where they are at. (I don't know if it's age, too much going on, or what, but I tend to lose things a lot more lately, which, well, sucks.) I used the rolling backpack on our trip to North Carolina this summer and had placed the namebadge and such on a corner of the work table in my craft room/office. And that's where I thought my keys were until yesterday when I went to grab them and they weren't there.
Oh great.
So I tore apart the craft room/office, opened every drawer, cupboard, box, basket, anything that could possibly contain a keychain. I tore apart my kitchen drawers as well, checked the bathroom drawers, all the dressers in my bedroom, and so on.
I didn't find my keys.
So I came to a plausible explanation.
My cat hid them. Specifically, my youngest cat, Jackson, who is an instigator. He loves to play with things on my desk, and it wouldn't have surprised me if he'd knocked the keys off and played with them. This idea got me crawling around on the floor looking under furniture and bookcases.
Still no keys. But a heck of a lot of pipe cleaners (cats love these) and bouncy ball toys.
Could he have knocked them into the wastepaper basket and they got tossed?
Possible.
So, after several hours, much searching and frustration, I gave up on the keys. I'd just have to see if The Bookkeeper could get me a new one and see if, by some miracle, they had extra spares of the file cabinet and desk keys. The locker key was probably a goner as I think I may have the original. Oh well.
I slunk into school today, hung my head in shame, and managed to get an extra copy of my key from The Bookkeeper. Fortunately, I am apparently not the only one who loses things, she informed me, so that made me feel a bit better. She then handed me a huge, and I mean HUGE, container containing file cabinet and desk keys which would take me all day to go through.
Sigh.
Mrs. Eagle, who is an over-achiever and who has had her room set up since JUNE, came in to help me a bit which was more than nice on her part. Most of my classroom furniture was placed where it needed to be so we only had to shift a few things around. We were moving my desk a bit when the top drawer rolls open, which was odd because I had locked it before I left for the summer.
And there, laying in my top drawer, was my keychain!
"Hey, look at that!" says Mrs. Eagle. "There's your keys!"
Oh good gracious. They never even made it home with me for the summer!!! What most likely happened is that I left them on my desk in the rush to get everything loaded up and summer started, and my janitor found them, unlocked the desk, and put them away for me.
Bless her heart.
And I apologized to my cat for blaming him.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Christmas in July?
Could it be snow? Inside?
Nope. This is what happens when I forget to hide the toilet paper roll and our youngest cat, Jackson, finds it.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Home Sweet Home
I am, at last, home from camp.
Although I had a great time, saw some old friends, had a blast teaching little gifted kids (and making some money at the same time), I am delighted to get home. I missed hubster and the kitties and now it's wonderful to be back although I have a gi-normous pile of laundry to do, a garden to weed and work on, and we start school in less than three weeks.
Whew! Where did summer go?
Did I accomplish all I wanted? No, of course not. I never do.
Did I at least get some rest and recover from the Seventh Grade Class from Hell? I hope so. I just hope our eighth grade teachers got some rest as they will need it.
A few observations...
I am glad, glad, glad that hubster and I made the tough decision and relocated from Up North to Down South because I, at least, have a job. In fact, I will soon be entering my seventh year at The School, teaching in a building I love, with great co-workers and an awesome administration. Some of my friends who graduated with me in 2001 are still unemployed in the teaching profession, some are working as aides, and others are subbing every chance they get. There just are no openings. Many of them also have spouses who have either lost jobs or lost overtime, or took pay cuts so things are tight up there. The fact that they're taxed every time they turn around doesn't help.
When I first got my license, in 2001, Up North, I paid something around $65 to get it. Apparently the government needs money so the fees for licensing got raised a bit - to over $200. Amazing! I've never paid a penny for my license down here. In fact, when I first got mine, I actually called the state and asked where to send the check since the website didn't mention it. They laughed and said, "oh, you must be from up north." Gee, did it show?
It was a lot of fun hanging out with my friend Mrs. Cardinal and her husband and the four kids and the two dogs, the cat, the two parrots and the hamsters! Good thing they have a large house (and I had my own room). We did have a great time, had some cookouts, had a bunch of our pals from school over with all their kids, and generally enjoyed catching up.
Mrs. Cardinal, her oldest daughter, and I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie. Now I love the book series, I love the movies, and I was looking forward to this one. However. It's, well, grim. Really grim. (The book was as well.) I doubt I'd take a kid under the age of 12 to see it unless they are completely obsessed with the series and can handle the dark aspects of the story. And for anyone who hasn't read the books...don't bother. You won't get most of what's happening.
Well, now to work. The house, the cats, and the laundry are calling.
Although I had a great time, saw some old friends, had a blast teaching little gifted kids (and making some money at the same time), I am delighted to get home. I missed hubster and the kitties and now it's wonderful to be back although I have a gi-normous pile of laundry to do, a garden to weed and work on, and we start school in less than three weeks.
Whew! Where did summer go?
Did I accomplish all I wanted? No, of course not. I never do.
Did I at least get some rest and recover from the Seventh Grade Class from Hell? I hope so. I just hope our eighth grade teachers got some rest as they will need it.
A few observations...
I am glad, glad, glad that hubster and I made the tough decision and relocated from Up North to Down South because I, at least, have a job. In fact, I will soon be entering my seventh year at The School, teaching in a building I love, with great co-workers and an awesome administration. Some of my friends who graduated with me in 2001 are still unemployed in the teaching profession, some are working as aides, and others are subbing every chance they get. There just are no openings. Many of them also have spouses who have either lost jobs or lost overtime, or took pay cuts so things are tight up there. The fact that they're taxed every time they turn around doesn't help.
When I first got my license, in 2001, Up North, I paid something around $65 to get it. Apparently the government needs money so the fees for licensing got raised a bit - to over $200. Amazing! I've never paid a penny for my license down here. In fact, when I first got mine, I actually called the state and asked where to send the check since the website didn't mention it. They laughed and said, "oh, you must be from up north." Gee, did it show?
It was a lot of fun hanging out with my friend Mrs. Cardinal and her husband and the four kids and the two dogs, the cat, the two parrots and the hamsters! Good thing they have a large house (and I had my own room). We did have a great time, had some cookouts, had a bunch of our pals from school over with all their kids, and generally enjoyed catching up.
Mrs. Cardinal, her oldest daughter, and I went and saw the new Harry Potter movie. Now I love the book series, I love the movies, and I was looking forward to this one. However. It's, well, grim. Really grim. (The book was as well.) I doubt I'd take a kid under the age of 12 to see it unless they are completely obsessed with the series and can handle the dark aspects of the story. And for anyone who hasn't read the books...don't bother. You won't get most of what's happening.
Well, now to work. The house, the cats, and the laundry are calling.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Random Thoughts
No students means no drama. I'm kind of enjoying that. For those of you who read this blog I'm sure you're bored to tears.
That being said...
Why is it that the week that Momma Bird visits we top out the thermometer and have some pretty miserable weather, but now that she's home we're actually below normal and I have the air conditioning off and the windows open?
Had to go to the dentist today to have an old filing replaced. The anticipation was worse than the actual procedure. I took along the iPod, listened to the B-52's and survived. Of course, things are a bit tender and I had a mild headache by the time it was over with, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I do have a really great dentist though. Ice cream would make a great supper, don't you think?
My youngest cat has figured out how to pop off the top of the kitty drinking fountain so he can play with the filter. He is too smart for his own good. I'm sure he'll figure out how to change the channels on the television here shortly.
Naps are the best thing on earth.
I am not getting as much knitting done as I'd hoped. Or as much genealogy research done. Or as much reading done. I'm not sure where the time is going, but it's going fast.
My garden is a mess this year. First the rabbits. Then the ground squirrels. I have five tomato plants, and four look great and are doing well. The other one looks like it's on its last legs. I can't figure it out. Everything else - beans, melons, pepper, etc., are kind of limping along. Maybe our cold wet May has something to do with it. Whatever the reason it's annoying me beyond belief. I should have a beautiful, lush, vibrant garden with veggies and all that and I have plants that look like they just want to curl up and die.
The weeds, however, are kicking butt.
That's it for now.
Time for sweet tea ya'll.
That being said...
Why is it that the week that Momma Bird visits we top out the thermometer and have some pretty miserable weather, but now that she's home we're actually below normal and I have the air conditioning off and the windows open?
Had to go to the dentist today to have an old filing replaced. The anticipation was worse than the actual procedure. I took along the iPod, listened to the B-52's and survived. Of course, things are a bit tender and I had a mild headache by the time it was over with, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. I do have a really great dentist though. Ice cream would make a great supper, don't you think?
My youngest cat has figured out how to pop off the top of the kitty drinking fountain so he can play with the filter. He is too smart for his own good. I'm sure he'll figure out how to change the channels on the television here shortly.
Naps are the best thing on earth.
I am not getting as much knitting done as I'd hoped. Or as much genealogy research done. Or as much reading done. I'm not sure where the time is going, but it's going fast.
My garden is a mess this year. First the rabbits. Then the ground squirrels. I have five tomato plants, and four look great and are doing well. The other one looks like it's on its last legs. I can't figure it out. Everything else - beans, melons, pepper, etc., are kind of limping along. Maybe our cold wet May has something to do with it. Whatever the reason it's annoying me beyond belief. I should have a beautiful, lush, vibrant garden with veggies and all that and I have plants that look like they just want to curl up and die.
The weeds, however, are kicking butt.
That's it for now.
Time for sweet tea ya'll.
Monday, June 29, 2009
I'm Just Wondering...
Momma Bird is home safely in San Diego after a nice, but quick, visit here to my neck of the woods. Of course she manages to come the week we have the "hottest temperatures of the year", according to all the beaming weather guys on the local news. Although she lives where it regularly hits the hundreds in the summer, she doesn't have the humidity we have. However, like me, she's an early riser, and fell quickly into the routine of getting up early to garden and walk, then spend most of the day knitting, reading, doing genealogy (we have recently discovered a Revolutionary War soldier and her friend is encouraging her to apply for the DAR), and then going outside in the evening. We had a wonderful time.
This week I'm getting ready for summer camp which begins after Independence Day. I'll be heading Up North for two weeks to teach at a day camp for gifted kids. I usually teach the 3rd and 4th graders because they make me appreciate my 7th graders that much more. It's a chance to visit old friends, make some money, and score some school supplies that I can use in my own classroom.
One thing Momma asked me about while we were running errands around town were the large tents that were all over the place. These tents appear two times a year (before Independence Day and New Years) and sell fireworks, which are legal at these two times of year in my community. Like her, when I first moved here I didn't know what they were for the longest time. They appear, empty, about a month before they are stocked with all sorts of things that you can buy and blow up. Then all of a sudden their signs go up, the doors open, and they're ready for business.
However.
There is one thing that has always bothered me about these fireworks tents, especially this time of year.
We have thunderstorms here. Lots of thunderstorms. And where you have thunderstorms, you have lightning.
(Can you see where this is going?)
With four tents on just about every single corner in town, how come we don't hear about them getting struck by lightning and setting all the fireworks off?
Makes me wonder...
This week I'm getting ready for summer camp which begins after Independence Day. I'll be heading Up North for two weeks to teach at a day camp for gifted kids. I usually teach the 3rd and 4th graders because they make me appreciate my 7th graders that much more. It's a chance to visit old friends, make some money, and score some school supplies that I can use in my own classroom.
One thing Momma asked me about while we were running errands around town were the large tents that were all over the place. These tents appear two times a year (before Independence Day and New Years) and sell fireworks, which are legal at these two times of year in my community. Like her, when I first moved here I didn't know what they were for the longest time. They appear, empty, about a month before they are stocked with all sorts of things that you can buy and blow up. Then all of a sudden their signs go up, the doors open, and they're ready for business.
However.
There is one thing that has always bothered me about these fireworks tents, especially this time of year.
We have thunderstorms here. Lots of thunderstorms. And where you have thunderstorms, you have lightning.
(Can you see where this is going?)
With four tents on just about every single corner in town, how come we don't hear about them getting struck by lightning and setting all the fireworks off?
Makes me wonder...
Monday, June 22, 2009
Chillin', or at Least Attempting to...
Yeah, I'm alive. It's just that I've been, well, busy.
And right now, with the heat index at 101 freakin' degrees, I'm just trying to stay cool and not run up my electric bill at the same time. This involves lots of ceiling fans, not leaving the house, if possible, after ten a.m., and doing anything that needs to be done outside before nine a.m. And lots of sweet tea. Lots and lots of sweet tea.
Done some traveling...Ashville and Raleigh, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia. Road tripping with hubby is one of my favorite things to do. We travel well together - we both like going to museums, and checking out local wineries, and just hanging together - so tagging along on some of his business/research trips is pretty fun.
When I've been home, I've done a lot of things I don't get around to during the school year - trying to clean out the garage (this will have to wait for completion when the weather is bearable), visits to the dentist and the skin cancer doctor (I get a check every year, just to be on the safe side, what with my family history and sun exposure history), file some of my civil war research, work on the family tree project for mom, and just stuff.
Then there's the yard work which, due to the heat, must be done before 8 am in the morning and even then I'm a sopping wet mess by the time I finish. It's not doing too well this year and that's aggravating me beyond belief. First the rabbits did a number on most of my plants and we put up a rabbit fence we seems to work, but then ground squirrels, or something, is still working at digging holes all over the place. Four out of the five tomatoes look fine, the fifth looks like it's on its deathbed with yellowed leaves. The bean plants are limping along, most of them looking like they've been burned up by too much fertilizer, but since I haven't used any this year outside of a tiny bit of compost, I have no idea why they're looking so bad.
The weeds, however, are kicking butt.
So, I'm knitting, reading, and getting things ready for next year. I've been reading our new science book, plus a Kagan book on cooperative learning. I do have an in service this week, so there's that to look forward to. The new standards will prove to make it an interesting year. Mrs. Eagle and I are going to try some new things this year in terms of group work and other activities, so we'll see how that goes.
For fun reading...catching up on magazines, reading some classics I've never read (finished Around the World in 80 Days and now I'm working on Black Beauty), reading some thrillers, plus some good history books.
And then there's catching up on movies and sports on television. I've been enjoying, tremendously, the College World Series. I don't have a favorite team, I just like watching these kids play ball - it's so much more entertaining than the pros, (with the possible exception of the Cubs). And since hockey is over for a while (thank goodness the Penquins won!), I'm pretty much left with baseball.
So that's it. It's not exciting, it's nothing to really write about, but hey, I'm alive.
Sweet tea anyone?
And right now, with the heat index at 101 freakin' degrees, I'm just trying to stay cool and not run up my electric bill at the same time. This involves lots of ceiling fans, not leaving the house, if possible, after ten a.m., and doing anything that needs to be done outside before nine a.m. And lots of sweet tea. Lots and lots of sweet tea.
Done some traveling...Ashville and Raleigh, North Carolina, Knoxville, Tennessee, Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia. Road tripping with hubby is one of my favorite things to do. We travel well together - we both like going to museums, and checking out local wineries, and just hanging together - so tagging along on some of his business/research trips is pretty fun.
When I've been home, I've done a lot of things I don't get around to during the school year - trying to clean out the garage (this will have to wait for completion when the weather is bearable), visits to the dentist and the skin cancer doctor (I get a check every year, just to be on the safe side, what with my family history and sun exposure history), file some of my civil war research, work on the family tree project for mom, and just stuff.
Then there's the yard work which, due to the heat, must be done before 8 am in the morning and even then I'm a sopping wet mess by the time I finish. It's not doing too well this year and that's aggravating me beyond belief. First the rabbits did a number on most of my plants and we put up a rabbit fence we seems to work, but then ground squirrels, or something, is still working at digging holes all over the place. Four out of the five tomatoes look fine, the fifth looks like it's on its deathbed with yellowed leaves. The bean plants are limping along, most of them looking like they've been burned up by too much fertilizer, but since I haven't used any this year outside of a tiny bit of compost, I have no idea why they're looking so bad.
The weeds, however, are kicking butt.
So, I'm knitting, reading, and getting things ready for next year. I've been reading our new science book, plus a Kagan book on cooperative learning. I do have an in service this week, so there's that to look forward to. The new standards will prove to make it an interesting year. Mrs. Eagle and I are going to try some new things this year in terms of group work and other activities, so we'll see how that goes.
For fun reading...catching up on magazines, reading some classics I've never read (finished Around the World in 80 Days and now I'm working on Black Beauty), reading some thrillers, plus some good history books.
And then there's catching up on movies and sports on television. I've been enjoying, tremendously, the College World Series. I don't have a favorite team, I just like watching these kids play ball - it's so much more entertaining than the pros, (with the possible exception of the Cubs). And since hockey is over for a while (thank goodness the Penquins won!), I'm pretty much left with baseball.
So that's it. It's not exciting, it's nothing to really write about, but hey, I'm alive.
Sweet tea anyone?
Saturday, June 06, 2009
A Time For Courage
D-Day.
Sixty-five years ago.
I'm not going to listen to speeches by politicians. I'm not going to watch ceremonies. What I will do is read the words of the men who were there and try, try, try to fathom how they went through that. Because, quite honestly, they are why this matters.
If you know a veteran of WWII, and sadly they are passing on so very fast, listen to his or her stories.
And remember.
And thank them.
Because truly, they saved the world.
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
Summer Carnival Time!
Mister Teacher is taking us all out to the movies! Head on over for his summer blockbusters at the Education Carnival!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
A Good Parent Lesson
Teachers and support staff had to report to school today for some reason only known by the individuals who create our yearly calendar. If that isn't bad enough, it was decided that we would also report tomorrow to make up the extra snow day that we used this year. The kids, however, are enjoying their summer break and were no where to be seen.
So, most of us spent the day packing up our rooms. We empty bookshelves, go through file cabinets, pack up odds and ends, and then label everything with our name and room number. The reasoning behind this is that our rooms are completely emptied during the summer while the custodial staff strips and waxes the floors, and touches up the paint. The key thing is to leave a map of how you want your room set up so that you don't have to struggle as much getting it together in late July when we show up to get the new year started.
I went to drop some items in some teacher mailboxes and cruised by guidance to see how the Guidance Goddess was doing. This is a crazy time of year for her, what with moving files on up to the high school, updating records, enrolling for summer school, and so on. I was kind of curious as to how many of my students had already enrolled for summer school (we had recommended about ten).
"So, how's summer school going?" I asked her.
"Really well," she said. "We have more registered today than we had all of last summer."
"That's pretty good. Mind if I see how many of mine have signed up?" I asked her.
"Of course not," she said as she handed me the list. "By the way, Gawky Girl was one of yours, right?"
Oh yeah, she was one of mine. She was one of the youngest kids on the team but was also one of the tallest. She was also smart as all get out, but did absolutely no work whatsoever, and consequently managed to fail seventh grade. This from a kid who should have been on the A B honor roll if she tried.
"Well, she's signed up," said Guidance Goddess. "You won't believe what her mom did, however."
"What did she do?" I asked. I had seen a few moms and their children marching grimfaced to the guidance office to register for summer school. You can bet that it wasn't a pleasant experience for either of them.
The Guidance Goddess continued. "I know the family and know that they are on fee waivers, so they wouldn't have to pay for summer school. So, I was reaching for the fee waiver list and mom told me to hold it right there. She wasn't going to utilize the fee waiver. She made Gawky Girl pay for it out of her birthday money."
"Seriously?" I asked. Accountability? Finally?
"Seriously," Guidance Goddess answered. "Gawky Girl was not happy, but mom insisted. She said maybe she'd learn to value her education if she actually had to pay for it."
Maybe the best birthday present this mom gave her daughter was the lesson that there are consequences to behavior. And sometimes those consequences hurt us in the wallet.
Way to go mom!
So, most of us spent the day packing up our rooms. We empty bookshelves, go through file cabinets, pack up odds and ends, and then label everything with our name and room number. The reasoning behind this is that our rooms are completely emptied during the summer while the custodial staff strips and waxes the floors, and touches up the paint. The key thing is to leave a map of how you want your room set up so that you don't have to struggle as much getting it together in late July when we show up to get the new year started.
I went to drop some items in some teacher mailboxes and cruised by guidance to see how the Guidance Goddess was doing. This is a crazy time of year for her, what with moving files on up to the high school, updating records, enrolling for summer school, and so on. I was kind of curious as to how many of my students had already enrolled for summer school (we had recommended about ten).
"So, how's summer school going?" I asked her.
"Really well," she said. "We have more registered today than we had all of last summer."
"That's pretty good. Mind if I see how many of mine have signed up?" I asked her.
"Of course not," she said as she handed me the list. "By the way, Gawky Girl was one of yours, right?"
Oh yeah, she was one of mine. She was one of the youngest kids on the team but was also one of the tallest. She was also smart as all get out, but did absolutely no work whatsoever, and consequently managed to fail seventh grade. This from a kid who should have been on the A B honor roll if she tried.
"Well, she's signed up," said Guidance Goddess. "You won't believe what her mom did, however."
"What did she do?" I asked. I had seen a few moms and their children marching grimfaced to the guidance office to register for summer school. You can bet that it wasn't a pleasant experience for either of them.
The Guidance Goddess continued. "I know the family and know that they are on fee waivers, so they wouldn't have to pay for summer school. So, I was reaching for the fee waiver list and mom told me to hold it right there. She wasn't going to utilize the fee waiver. She made Gawky Girl pay for it out of her birthday money."
"Seriously?" I asked. Accountability? Finally?
"Seriously," Guidance Goddess answered. "Gawky Girl was not happy, but mom insisted. She said maybe she'd learn to value her education if she actually had to pay for it."
Maybe the best birthday present this mom gave her daughter was the lesson that there are consequences to behavior. And sometimes those consequences hurt us in the wallet.
Way to go mom!
Friday, May 22, 2009
Good Bye to One Bunch and Best of Luck to Another
Today, being the last half day of year known as the Year We Had the Seventh Grade Class from Hades, wasn't half bad. Many kids didn't bother to show up (I had 13 absent, leaving only 12). Many were already suspended. And the ones that came, with a few exceptions, behaved.
The big fights that had been rumored didn't materialize, and we took our kids out for about an hour and they ran around and ate Popsicles and generally had a great time. It was awfully humid, so they were pretty wiped out, and consequently rather calm, when we got back. My class did a great job of cleaning up my room, and one kid even went so far as to completely clean out the refrigerator. Without me asking. Amazing.
So the year ended on a rather positive note. Even some of our little thugs seemed misty-eyed and promised they'd try to stay out of trouble over the summer and they'd be back to see us next year. And of course we had to wave the buses goodbye. I'm not sure where this tradition started, or if we're the only district that does it (I know I've never been anywhere else that does this and new teachers are always amazed by it) but it's one of the highlights of the year. The bus riders are dismissed and once they're out of the building, we walk our walkers and parent pick up kids outside and line up along the driveway and wave at the buses as they go by, with kids hanging out the windows waving back and the bus drivers honking on the horns as they go by. Everyone joins in, from secretaries to janitors, to the administrators. It's loud, it's fun, it's joyful!
And many of us wouldn't miss it for the world.
We had to stay until 2:30, but many of us went out for a lunch with our teams and chatted about the year, and the summer, and what we were planning on doing. My team is changing a bit next year with Ms. Language moving to Mrs. Bunny's team where she'll be teaching her true love, science. That's a good thing as she'll be working with Mrs. Eagle and I in science and she's a joy to work with. Miss Reading will be moving to Mrs. Eagle's team and Mrs. Eagle's reading teacher will move to mine. We're going to a block language arts/reading format next year, and I'll only have one of these teachers, instead of two. Our numbers on this side of town are going down a bit, so we'll be a smaller than normal 7th grade team. It should be interesting. I had a great team this year and we'll miss having Ms. Language and Miss Reading, but they'll still be in our building so that's good.
We actually have two more days of work, Tuesday which was scheduled, and Wednesday where we make up a snow day. So basically we have all the time in the world to back up and clean our rooms. We have to label and pack up everything as our rooms are completely emptied over the summer so the floors can be cleaned and waxed and some of the walls painted.
This evening Mrs. Eagle and I went to the high school graduation at the local University (which is where all our high schools have their graduations - it's large enough to accommodate everyone's families). Mrs. Social Studies had actually invited us as her daughter was graduating and she wanted us there and at the family party afterward. I wanted to go because this graduating class was my first group of students at The School.
Looking through the commencement program it was gratifying to see how many of my former students had made it through and were earning their diploma. Motormouth Boy was there just to prove that royal pains in the butt in seventh grade can grow up and become intelligent, well-mannered young men. Many of my former special education kids were there, including one I feared would drop out and get involved in the drug trade like his uncle did. He was beaming when he walked across the stage, and I beamed as well. Talky Girl was there, with honors, despite having a baby her sophomore year. Smiley Boy, a tall, gawky seventh grader with a smile as big as Texas who struggled with school but worked harder than almost any kid around (while both his parents worked at McDonalds, as neither graduated from high school) was an even taller smiling young man as he received his diploma.
And they had candles lit up at the front of the stage for Vincent and Philipp, who drowned three years ago this weekend and who I still miss.
Quite a few are going on to college. One has been scouted for the past two years by Major League Baseball scouts and is going to school on a baseball scholarship with hopes of making it into the majors one day. A few are going to trade schools. A number are going into the military, including one of my favorites from my first year, Jolly Rancher Boy (who would clean my room every day for a Jolly Rancher) who is going to become a medic.
I'm proud of them all. And wish them all the blessings and joys that life has to offer. They're good kids.
The big fights that had been rumored didn't materialize, and we took our kids out for about an hour and they ran around and ate Popsicles and generally had a great time. It was awfully humid, so they were pretty wiped out, and consequently rather calm, when we got back. My class did a great job of cleaning up my room, and one kid even went so far as to completely clean out the refrigerator. Without me asking. Amazing.
So the year ended on a rather positive note. Even some of our little thugs seemed misty-eyed and promised they'd try to stay out of trouble over the summer and they'd be back to see us next year. And of course we had to wave the buses goodbye. I'm not sure where this tradition started, or if we're the only district that does it (I know I've never been anywhere else that does this and new teachers are always amazed by it) but it's one of the highlights of the year. The bus riders are dismissed and once they're out of the building, we walk our walkers and parent pick up kids outside and line up along the driveway and wave at the buses as they go by, with kids hanging out the windows waving back and the bus drivers honking on the horns as they go by. Everyone joins in, from secretaries to janitors, to the administrators. It's loud, it's fun, it's joyful!
And many of us wouldn't miss it for the world.
We had to stay until 2:30, but many of us went out for a lunch with our teams and chatted about the year, and the summer, and what we were planning on doing. My team is changing a bit next year with Ms. Language moving to Mrs. Bunny's team where she'll be teaching her true love, science. That's a good thing as she'll be working with Mrs. Eagle and I in science and she's a joy to work with. Miss Reading will be moving to Mrs. Eagle's team and Mrs. Eagle's reading teacher will move to mine. We're going to a block language arts/reading format next year, and I'll only have one of these teachers, instead of two. Our numbers on this side of town are going down a bit, so we'll be a smaller than normal 7th grade team. It should be interesting. I had a great team this year and we'll miss having Ms. Language and Miss Reading, but they'll still be in our building so that's good.
We actually have two more days of work, Tuesday which was scheduled, and Wednesday where we make up a snow day. So basically we have all the time in the world to back up and clean our rooms. We have to label and pack up everything as our rooms are completely emptied over the summer so the floors can be cleaned and waxed and some of the walls painted.
This evening Mrs. Eagle and I went to the high school graduation at the local University (which is where all our high schools have their graduations - it's large enough to accommodate everyone's families). Mrs. Social Studies had actually invited us as her daughter was graduating and she wanted us there and at the family party afterward. I wanted to go because this graduating class was my first group of students at The School.
Looking through the commencement program it was gratifying to see how many of my former students had made it through and were earning their diploma. Motormouth Boy was there just to prove that royal pains in the butt in seventh grade can grow up and become intelligent, well-mannered young men. Many of my former special education kids were there, including one I feared would drop out and get involved in the drug trade like his uncle did. He was beaming when he walked across the stage, and I beamed as well. Talky Girl was there, with honors, despite having a baby her sophomore year. Smiley Boy, a tall, gawky seventh grader with a smile as big as Texas who struggled with school but worked harder than almost any kid around (while both his parents worked at McDonalds, as neither graduated from high school) was an even taller smiling young man as he received his diploma.
And they had candles lit up at the front of the stage for Vincent and Philipp, who drowned three years ago this weekend and who I still miss.
Quite a few are going on to college. One has been scouted for the past two years by Major League Baseball scouts and is going to school on a baseball scholarship with hopes of making it into the majors one day. A few are going to trade schools. A number are going into the military, including one of my favorites from my first year, Jolly Rancher Boy (who would clean my room every day for a Jolly Rancher) who is going to become a medic.
I'm proud of them all. And wish them all the blessings and joys that life has to offer. They're good kids.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
A Little Calm
Today was, remarkably, a very calm day.
This is remarkable because we only had today, plus tomorrow and a half day Friday until the end of school. The kids have pretty much figured out that we have finished grades so they really have no motivation to behave or do much of anything. We had our team academic awards party during first period (and fed them cupcakes and punch just to get all good and sugared up), then yearbook signing party during 3rd period, and even in these group situations they did pretty well.
And then it dawned on me. With a few exceptions, Sassy Girl being one, nearly every kid who has caused problems all year (and even a few that haven't) has either been suspended or sent to ISS for the remainder of the year. Even Tiny Girl ended up in ISS over a hair-pulling incident during Math class that apparently stemmed from criticism of jump roping skills. Seriously. Another girl is up in ISS for a fight during lunch with one of Mrs. Eagle's students. Three are up in ISS for cell phones. A few suspended for playing soccer with another student's purse and then refusing to give it back after they pretty much destroyed it and spread the contents all over the hallway.
We're finishing up our geology unit by watching the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth, and they're being quiet and actually watching the movie. It's almost weird.
That being said, tomorrow will probably be insane and the remaining kids will lose their minds. All the seventh grade teachers are hearing rumors of some fights being planned on Friday (and again, it seems to be our girls causing the problems as we're also hearing about a rather active girl gang in the local apartment complex where many of our lower income kids live). We're going to keep our ears to the ground and if the rumors keep swirling we may just keep the kids on our room that day. We usually like to take them out for some soccer, kickball, and generally enjoying the fact that it's 80 and not humid, but if it means breaking up fights left and right, I'm all for watching Finding Nemo for the 93rd time.
Waiting for Friday around 11:00 o'clock...and praying for the 8th grade teachers next year.
This is remarkable because we only had today, plus tomorrow and a half day Friday until the end of school. The kids have pretty much figured out that we have finished grades so they really have no motivation to behave or do much of anything. We had our team academic awards party during first period (and fed them cupcakes and punch just to get all good and sugared up), then yearbook signing party during 3rd period, and even in these group situations they did pretty well.
And then it dawned on me. With a few exceptions, Sassy Girl being one, nearly every kid who has caused problems all year (and even a few that haven't) has either been suspended or sent to ISS for the remainder of the year. Even Tiny Girl ended up in ISS over a hair-pulling incident during Math class that apparently stemmed from criticism of jump roping skills. Seriously. Another girl is up in ISS for a fight during lunch with one of Mrs. Eagle's students. Three are up in ISS for cell phones. A few suspended for playing soccer with another student's purse and then refusing to give it back after they pretty much destroyed it and spread the contents all over the hallway.
We're finishing up our geology unit by watching the movie Journey to the Center of the Earth, and they're being quiet and actually watching the movie. It's almost weird.
That being said, tomorrow will probably be insane and the remaining kids will lose their minds. All the seventh grade teachers are hearing rumors of some fights being planned on Friday (and again, it seems to be our girls causing the problems as we're also hearing about a rather active girl gang in the local apartment complex where many of our lower income kids live). We're going to keep our ears to the ground and if the rumors keep swirling we may just keep the kids on our room that day. We usually like to take them out for some soccer, kickball, and generally enjoying the fact that it's 80 and not humid, but if it means breaking up fights left and right, I'm all for watching Finding Nemo for the 93rd time.
Waiting for Friday around 11:00 o'clock...and praying for the 8th grade teachers next year.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Bouncing Off the Walls
This past week, the week before the last week of school, the Team and I noticed an interesting trend.
Our kids with ADHD (and I swear, that's about half the kids that make up your classroom population these days) are off their meds.
Tiny Girl, who usually is fairly calm and focused, was all over the place last week. She couldn't stay in her seat, couldn't be quiet, couldn't stop talking, and was generally vibrating with energy. Mrs. Social Studies and I pulled her aside for a moment and asked her if she was, perhaps, not taking her medicine.
"Oh no, we ran out!" she said. "I haven't taken it since last week."
Indeed. The fact that she spent a small fortune on candy and slushies at Field Day probably didn't help either.
She's not alone. We counted at least half a dozen who we actually talked to and admitted that they hadn't taken their medicine. Then there's a handful we didn't ask, but strongly suspected. They are exhibiting more than your usual "end of school" energy levels. They're nearly manic.
We are suspecting that many of our parents will attempt to save some money this summer by not renewing their child's medications (they are, after all, fairly pricey from what I've been told). In addition, I've discovered many parents take these kids off their meds during the summer anyway as it's a good time to make adjustments, see how they react without it, and deal with some of the negative side affects. So, since we're nearing the end of the school year, why bother refilling the prescriptions once they run out?
I completely see the logic in this. However, I sincerely hope these parents have some good coping skills because a summer with some of these kids would drive me over the edge. Hopefully they'll spend a lot of time outside running around and burning off their excess energy.
As for me, at this point, I'm glad I have some relatively quiet cats to contend with. I'll need the peace and quiet this summer.
Our kids with ADHD (and I swear, that's about half the kids that make up your classroom population these days) are off their meds.
Tiny Girl, who usually is fairly calm and focused, was all over the place last week. She couldn't stay in her seat, couldn't be quiet, couldn't stop talking, and was generally vibrating with energy. Mrs. Social Studies and I pulled her aside for a moment and asked her if she was, perhaps, not taking her medicine.
"Oh no, we ran out!" she said. "I haven't taken it since last week."
Indeed. The fact that she spent a small fortune on candy and slushies at Field Day probably didn't help either.
She's not alone. We counted at least half a dozen who we actually talked to and admitted that they hadn't taken their medicine. Then there's a handful we didn't ask, but strongly suspected. They are exhibiting more than your usual "end of school" energy levels. They're nearly manic.
We are suspecting that many of our parents will attempt to save some money this summer by not renewing their child's medications (they are, after all, fairly pricey from what I've been told). In addition, I've discovered many parents take these kids off their meds during the summer anyway as it's a good time to make adjustments, see how they react without it, and deal with some of the negative side affects. So, since we're nearing the end of the school year, why bother refilling the prescriptions once they run out?
I completely see the logic in this. However, I sincerely hope these parents have some good coping skills because a summer with some of these kids would drive me over the edge. Hopefully they'll spend a lot of time outside running around and burning off their excess energy.
As for me, at this point, I'm glad I have some relatively quiet cats to contend with. I'll need the peace and quiet this summer.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Finally a Field Day
It has rained, and rained, and rained, and we had, within the first six days of the month, managed to have the same amount of rain as we usually get in the entire month of May.
So our first Field Day was canceled due to rain.
And it kept raining.
And then they finally said it would be today, rain or shine, because we were running out of days.
If it rained, we'd be stuck in the gym all day with 350 wild seventh graders. This is enough to make me want to put a needle in my eye and start drinking heavily. I can handle 350 kids outside where the noise can be carried off on the wind, but inside a gym is hell on earth. For the entire day.
We prayed for two dry days - one to dry out the playing fields, and another for us to have Field Day.
God listened. We had field day today. It was cloudy, but dry.
Of course our team came in dead last. It was weird, but even Coach Math noticed the difference between our kids when the kids piled into the gym for the first event which was volleyball. Mrs. Eagle's team and Mrs. Bunny's team were sitting rather nicely on the bleachers, they nearly all had on their team colors (red and blue) and they listened better. Our kids on the other hand...were lounging all over the bleachers, most of them didn't wear the tie-dyed t-shirts we made for them, and they wouldn't follow directions.
"You can tell which team has the thugs, can't you?" said Coach Math. "It's apparent just looking at them."
It's even more apparent when you look to see who's in ISS and who's suspended. We spent most of the day filling gaps on our teams because - of course - so many of our kids, both boys and girls, weren't able to participate due to behavior.
Counting the days, man, just counting the days.
So our first Field Day was canceled due to rain.
And it kept raining.
And then they finally said it would be today, rain or shine, because we were running out of days.
If it rained, we'd be stuck in the gym all day with 350 wild seventh graders. This is enough to make me want to put a needle in my eye and start drinking heavily. I can handle 350 kids outside where the noise can be carried off on the wind, but inside a gym is hell on earth. For the entire day.
We prayed for two dry days - one to dry out the playing fields, and another for us to have Field Day.
God listened. We had field day today. It was cloudy, but dry.
Of course our team came in dead last. It was weird, but even Coach Math noticed the difference between our kids when the kids piled into the gym for the first event which was volleyball. Mrs. Eagle's team and Mrs. Bunny's team were sitting rather nicely on the bleachers, they nearly all had on their team colors (red and blue) and they listened better. Our kids on the other hand...were lounging all over the bleachers, most of them didn't wear the tie-dyed t-shirts we made for them, and they wouldn't follow directions.
"You can tell which team has the thugs, can't you?" said Coach Math. "It's apparent just looking at them."
It's even more apparent when you look to see who's in ISS and who's suspended. We spent most of the day filling gaps on our teams because - of course - so many of our kids, both boys and girls, weren't able to participate due to behavior.
Counting the days, man, just counting the days.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Seventy-one Seventh Graders and a Weekend in the Woods
The Great Camping Field Trip was this past weekend.
I haven't written earlier because, well, I was exhausted. Not to mention backed up on finalizing grades, grading homework assignments, and getting my ducks in a row for our retention and promotion meetings with The Principal this week.
Did I mention I was exhausted?
This was the third year that we took a number of our students to a local National Forest educational center and spent the weekend doing things like canoeing, hiking, going through low ropes challenge courses, studying pond creatures and basically having a grand ol' time with a bunch of seventh graders. It's something we started a few years ago because we realized that so many of our kids weren't experiencing nature and had never had a s'more, been on a lake, or even been out in the woods.
I might add that many of our fellow teachers look at us as if we're freaking insane to do this every year. However, we do have a number of eighth grade teachers who got drafted to help last year (because they happen to be male and we're always short on male chaperones to ride herd on our boys) and they insisted on coming back because it's so much fun. I guess it depends on your personality on whether or not you're willing to give up a weekend of your own time to do something like this for our kids.
I just wish that Mother Nature would cooperate a bit better. The first year was in April and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The last two years we've gone in May and a tornado or a severe thunderstorm has hit our town on both Fridays of our trip. This year it was so bad that the kids back at school were hunkered down in the halls for a tornado warning that went on past dismissal and they ended up holding the kids for over an hour. Meanwhile, we're off on our field trip where it's raining like heck but, thankfully, no tornado warnings for us even though we were only 45 minutes away.
However. It rained like mad on Friday afternoon, so we had to eat our sack lunch from school in the dining hall about two hours before we were supposed to be there. It stopped, fortunately, and we were able to get started on our afternoon activities without too much problem. Yeah, it was wet, and muddy, and slippery, and a bit drizzly, but considering that it wasn't pouring, we were happy. We did have to cut the night hike a bit short due to rumbles of thunder and some lightning, and by the time the kids were in their dorms it was raining pretty hard. Around three in the morning the storm was raging and I opened the door to the counselor's room where I was residing with Miss Reading and it was something else out there over the lake - lightning flashing, loud rumbles of thunder, and rain, rain, rain. I went back to sleep and didn't wake up for a few hours.
And when I did, I discovered water on our floor.
This was not good. I shook Miss Reading awake and we took our flashlights and discovered that our room was flooded with about a quarter of inch of water. It went out of our room, into the lobby of the dorm, and then into the area where the girls were. Fortunately, it didn't get into their sleeping area, but stopped right before the bathroom. Great.
I took my shower, tossed on my clothes, doused myself in bug spray (gotta keep those ticks away) and then headed out in the rain up to the dining hall where I knew I'd find Mrs. Bunny and her coffee cup.
"Our room is flooded," I said as I sucked down my first of many cups of coffee.
"Oh good gracious," she said. "How bad?"
It wasn't bad at all, truth be told. I only lost about a dozen decks of cards, and aside from the inconvenience, it wasn't much to get excited about. We told the cooks who had showed up and were getting breakfast ready and they made calls and the maintenance guy showed up later that morning and shop-vac'ed the whole place, along with the unoccupied dorm next to us that also flooded. We found out later that in 20 years, they've never seen that happen. Considering that anywhere from three to five inches of rain fell that night, and that some roads washed out, we were lucky.
However, by the time breakfast was over, the skies had cleared, the sun was out and we had a gorgeous day. We kept them busy (and muddy) all day - we did challenge courses, canoeing, a pond study, orienteering. I might add, that one of the highlights of this trip is the food. They do it up right, and the amount of food they feed our kids is astounding. The kids are amazed - bacon and eggs and pancakes and biscuits and all sorts of good stuff for breakfast, hamburgers and fries and brownies for lunch, and chicken and green beans and salad, and cake for supper, and a snack of cookies for later in the evening. The food is filling, and tasty and for many of our kids (those who are on free and reduced lunch for example) it's more food than they've eaten in a long time. They loved it! They talk about it for days afterward, and I've even had kids from our first year come back and mention how cool that trip was and "wasn't the food awesome?"
Some observations about this year's group of campers...
They couldn't handle the challenge courses as well as the kids in previous years. The group of fifteen that I spent the weekend with was considered by many to be one of the better groups (we simply numbered the kids off and mixed them all up). Even so, they didn't get very far on the challenge courses because they argued, wouldn't take the time to make a plan, wouldn't listen to each other, had too many kids who wanted to be leader, and generally acted like the pains in the butt they've been in the classroom all year. They'd get halfway through a challenge and would find out that it was hard, and then want to start over. As the counselor said, unfortunately in life, unlike video games, there is no reset button. It drove them crazy that they had to solve their way out of their dilemma and that they couldn't just restart.
This group was not the most coordinated group around. Mrs. Eagle, who has years of Scouting under her belt, helped do the canoeing along with Mr. Algebra, and they said that, once again, my group was the best at canoeing. We didn't tip anyone, we didn't have any splashing fights, and they, somewhat, followed directions. That being said, we still had four kids that refused to go with a fellow student (lack of trust there) and insisted on going with one of the teachers, and about three canoes ended up nearly getting stuck in the trees near the bank (the lake was HIGH), and couldn't seem to get the idea of how to steer the things - perhaps because they didn't listen and pay attention when they were being taught how to do this. However, the other groups all had at least one (and one group had four) tips, so at least my kids stayed dry. I was pretty proud of them at this point.
This group of kids are the most physically unfit, whiny, lazy bunch of kids I've ever seen. They need to get off their butts and away from their cell phones and video games. Case in point...we had to hike a mile (down a paved road) to the pond to do the pond study, and then walk back. I'll be 47 next month, and I'm a tad overweight, and I have a bad knee. I kicked their butt when it came to walking or hiking anywhere. Granted, I go to the gym and walk a lot plus I lift weights (so the canoeing was no big deal) but jeepers, a mile walk down a road and you would have thought we'd made them hike up Mt. Everest. The only ones who didn't complain were kids that were already involved in scouting. However, the bulk of them were going on about tired they were and how sore their feet were. We heard this all weekend. I was tired (due to lack of sleep) but my feet, back, shoulders, and everything else was fine. I was also smart and brought lots and lots of socks to keep my feet dry.
I love orienteering with the right bunch of kids. This time I got the right bunch. I had four boys, one little tiny girl, and we had a blast. They listened, helped each other, and we did great. This was our last activity and by then they'd finally learned to work together and help each other out. The terrain was rugged, but I'd managed to get a group of non-whiners for this one and we were all over the place, up and down ridges, through brush, across creeks, you name it. They did a great job of stopping every so often to check their bearings, adjust, and move on. I was so proud of them.
Bonfires rock. S'mores are awesome. And Mrs. Chicken can scare the bejeebers out of them with ghost stories about a old farmhouse that stood near our school playing field. Of course, it helps when the hoot owls and coyotes start howling nearby.
The best part of the weekend, however, isn't necessarily the kids. It's a chance to spend some time with your fellow teachers and just have fun. Most of us were up before sunrise and were drinking coffee and watching the sun rise down on the boat dock. It was the only quiet, kid-free time we had. The kids, fortunately, were so beat that they'd sleep until we'd wake them up so we had a few hours of grown up time before we had to get them ready for breakfast. It was wonderful. Drinking coffee, yabbering, laughing, and generally having fun with people that you work with but don't ever get time to just hang out with during the school day. I love those cups of coffee and companionship down on that lake. It's the best part of the weekend for the teachers.
So, we didn't lose a kid. We had some scrapes, and lots of mud, but overall it was a success. The kids loved it, we loved it, and we'll probably do it again.
If for no other reason than to have a chance to drink coffee at sunrise by the lake.
And to give our kids a chance at what Mother Nature has to offer.
I haven't written earlier because, well, I was exhausted. Not to mention backed up on finalizing grades, grading homework assignments, and getting my ducks in a row for our retention and promotion meetings with The Principal this week.
Did I mention I was exhausted?
This was the third year that we took a number of our students to a local National Forest educational center and spent the weekend doing things like canoeing, hiking, going through low ropes challenge courses, studying pond creatures and basically having a grand ol' time with a bunch of seventh graders. It's something we started a few years ago because we realized that so many of our kids weren't experiencing nature and had never had a s'more, been on a lake, or even been out in the woods.
I might add that many of our fellow teachers look at us as if we're freaking insane to do this every year. However, we do have a number of eighth grade teachers who got drafted to help last year (because they happen to be male and we're always short on male chaperones to ride herd on our boys) and they insisted on coming back because it's so much fun. I guess it depends on your personality on whether or not you're willing to give up a weekend of your own time to do something like this for our kids.
I just wish that Mother Nature would cooperate a bit better. The first year was in April and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. The last two years we've gone in May and a tornado or a severe thunderstorm has hit our town on both Fridays of our trip. This year it was so bad that the kids back at school were hunkered down in the halls for a tornado warning that went on past dismissal and they ended up holding the kids for over an hour. Meanwhile, we're off on our field trip where it's raining like heck but, thankfully, no tornado warnings for us even though we were only 45 minutes away.
However. It rained like mad on Friday afternoon, so we had to eat our sack lunch from school in the dining hall about two hours before we were supposed to be there. It stopped, fortunately, and we were able to get started on our afternoon activities without too much problem. Yeah, it was wet, and muddy, and slippery, and a bit drizzly, but considering that it wasn't pouring, we were happy. We did have to cut the night hike a bit short due to rumbles of thunder and some lightning, and by the time the kids were in their dorms it was raining pretty hard. Around three in the morning the storm was raging and I opened the door to the counselor's room where I was residing with Miss Reading and it was something else out there over the lake - lightning flashing, loud rumbles of thunder, and rain, rain, rain. I went back to sleep and didn't wake up for a few hours.
And when I did, I discovered water on our floor.
This was not good. I shook Miss Reading awake and we took our flashlights and discovered that our room was flooded with about a quarter of inch of water. It went out of our room, into the lobby of the dorm, and then into the area where the girls were. Fortunately, it didn't get into their sleeping area, but stopped right before the bathroom. Great.
I took my shower, tossed on my clothes, doused myself in bug spray (gotta keep those ticks away) and then headed out in the rain up to the dining hall where I knew I'd find Mrs. Bunny and her coffee cup.
"Our room is flooded," I said as I sucked down my first of many cups of coffee.
"Oh good gracious," she said. "How bad?"
It wasn't bad at all, truth be told. I only lost about a dozen decks of cards, and aside from the inconvenience, it wasn't much to get excited about. We told the cooks who had showed up and were getting breakfast ready and they made calls and the maintenance guy showed up later that morning and shop-vac'ed the whole place, along with the unoccupied dorm next to us that also flooded. We found out later that in 20 years, they've never seen that happen. Considering that anywhere from three to five inches of rain fell that night, and that some roads washed out, we were lucky.
However, by the time breakfast was over, the skies had cleared, the sun was out and we had a gorgeous day. We kept them busy (and muddy) all day - we did challenge courses, canoeing, a pond study, orienteering. I might add, that one of the highlights of this trip is the food. They do it up right, and the amount of food they feed our kids is astounding. The kids are amazed - bacon and eggs and pancakes and biscuits and all sorts of good stuff for breakfast, hamburgers and fries and brownies for lunch, and chicken and green beans and salad, and cake for supper, and a snack of cookies for later in the evening. The food is filling, and tasty and for many of our kids (those who are on free and reduced lunch for example) it's more food than they've eaten in a long time. They loved it! They talk about it for days afterward, and I've even had kids from our first year come back and mention how cool that trip was and "wasn't the food awesome?"
Some observations about this year's group of campers...
They couldn't handle the challenge courses as well as the kids in previous years. The group of fifteen that I spent the weekend with was considered by many to be one of the better groups (we simply numbered the kids off and mixed them all up). Even so, they didn't get very far on the challenge courses because they argued, wouldn't take the time to make a plan, wouldn't listen to each other, had too many kids who wanted to be leader, and generally acted like the pains in the butt they've been in the classroom all year. They'd get halfway through a challenge and would find out that it was hard, and then want to start over. As the counselor said, unfortunately in life, unlike video games, there is no reset button. It drove them crazy that they had to solve their way out of their dilemma and that they couldn't just restart.
This group was not the most coordinated group around. Mrs. Eagle, who has years of Scouting under her belt, helped do the canoeing along with Mr. Algebra, and they said that, once again, my group was the best at canoeing. We didn't tip anyone, we didn't have any splashing fights, and they, somewhat, followed directions. That being said, we still had four kids that refused to go with a fellow student (lack of trust there) and insisted on going with one of the teachers, and about three canoes ended up nearly getting stuck in the trees near the bank (the lake was HIGH), and couldn't seem to get the idea of how to steer the things - perhaps because they didn't listen and pay attention when they were being taught how to do this. However, the other groups all had at least one (and one group had four) tips, so at least my kids stayed dry. I was pretty proud of them at this point.
This group of kids are the most physically unfit, whiny, lazy bunch of kids I've ever seen. They need to get off their butts and away from their cell phones and video games. Case in point...we had to hike a mile (down a paved road) to the pond to do the pond study, and then walk back. I'll be 47 next month, and I'm a tad overweight, and I have a bad knee. I kicked their butt when it came to walking or hiking anywhere. Granted, I go to the gym and walk a lot plus I lift weights (so the canoeing was no big deal) but jeepers, a mile walk down a road and you would have thought we'd made them hike up Mt. Everest. The only ones who didn't complain were kids that were already involved in scouting. However, the bulk of them were going on about tired they were and how sore their feet were. We heard this all weekend. I was tired (due to lack of sleep) but my feet, back, shoulders, and everything else was fine. I was also smart and brought lots and lots of socks to keep my feet dry.
I love orienteering with the right bunch of kids. This time I got the right bunch. I had four boys, one little tiny girl, and we had a blast. They listened, helped each other, and we did great. This was our last activity and by then they'd finally learned to work together and help each other out. The terrain was rugged, but I'd managed to get a group of non-whiners for this one and we were all over the place, up and down ridges, through brush, across creeks, you name it. They did a great job of stopping every so often to check their bearings, adjust, and move on. I was so proud of them.
Bonfires rock. S'mores are awesome. And Mrs. Chicken can scare the bejeebers out of them with ghost stories about a old farmhouse that stood near our school playing field. Of course, it helps when the hoot owls and coyotes start howling nearby.
The best part of the weekend, however, isn't necessarily the kids. It's a chance to spend some time with your fellow teachers and just have fun. Most of us were up before sunrise and were drinking coffee and watching the sun rise down on the boat dock. It was the only quiet, kid-free time we had. The kids, fortunately, were so beat that they'd sleep until we'd wake them up so we had a few hours of grown up time before we had to get them ready for breakfast. It was wonderful. Drinking coffee, yabbering, laughing, and generally having fun with people that you work with but don't ever get time to just hang out with during the school day. I love those cups of coffee and companionship down on that lake. It's the best part of the weekend for the teachers.
So, we didn't lose a kid. We had some scrapes, and lots of mud, but overall it was a success. The kids loved it, we loved it, and we'll probably do it again.
If for no other reason than to have a chance to drink coffee at sunrise by the lake.
And to give our kids a chance at what Mother Nature has to offer.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
Give Them Enough Rope...
It's actually been a somewhat pleasant week this week. Despite the postponement of Field Day (to a date to be determined...soon...I hope). Despite having two subs on the team for most of the week. Despite the fact that we're almost at the last day of school.
Why?
Well, we've given these kids enough rope to hang themselves apparently.
The two subs we had on Monday had a rough day. A really rough day. It wasn't all that smooth for the rest of us. So, when The Enforcer started getting word that chaos was rearing its ugly head right across the hall (I love that his office is in the middle of our team area), he decreed that any kid removed from a class for bad behavior, for a sub or a regular teacher, was going to be sent to ISS for not one, but two days.
That took care of quite a few before lunch on Monday.
We're not exactly sure what brought that on (and we aren't complaining) but perhaps it had to do with the fact that he told one of our girls to get into her classroom instead of hanging out in the hallway and she, in his words "Got braindead and started mouthing off and cursing at me!" We aren't quite sure what got into her (definitely not typical behavior but she's running with a bad crowd and may have wanted to impress them), but she's out of our hair for a week.
There were twenty kids in ISS today. Two were sixth graders. Two were eighth graders. Sixteen were seventh graders. Eight of them were mine.
And then there's the case of Pathological Liar Boy who couldn't do the right thing if it was tied up in wrapping paper and a bow and left on his doorstep. Even his mother, who swore that he was an angel and that everyone - everyone! - was lying has finally figured out that he's not exactly Abe Lincoln when it comes to honesty. The other kids don't like him and don't trust him and wish he'd just shut the hell up (he would talk to a wall, and has, when placed facing one.)
Anyhow, my students sit at tables with about two to four kids per table. This can cause problems when it comes to taking tests because they can all see each other's work. To solve this, I give the kids file folders to put up and make privacy screens so they can work and hopefully keep their eyes on their own work. The problem is that over the course of the year this group has managed to totally destroy my folder collection by writing and drawing some of the most vulgar and obscene content you've ever seen, along with pictures of cars, cartoon characters, and the occasional dog or two. And of course, I can never catch who's doing it, so it keeps happening despite being told to Not Write On the Folders. However, when a kid is presented with a folder that has already been written on, the phrase Do Not Write on the Folders goes out the window.
These folders, obviously, would not do for the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests last month so I bought new folders and our Aide (bless her) laminated them (80 of them!) for me. The hope was with the nice plastic coating it would be a tad difficult to write on them. My homeroom was ecstatic over these folders as they were nice, new, and shiny and we went through four whole days of testing without a single mark on them.
So yesterday, when they had their tests, I put out the shiny new folders and all the classes ohhhed and ahhhed and I explained why there were new folders. (You should have seen the blushing when I commented on the vulgar content written on the folders in the past.) I explained how they all deserved to take tests in a calm environment without disturbing comments, graffiti, and things cluttering up their work area. Consequently, they were Not To Write or Draw on the Folders.
So what did Pathological Liar Boy do? Waited until I was out doing hall duty after his class, grabbed two folders, whipped out a Sharpie and scribbled all over them, then ran off to his next class, stopping by a few of his friends to brag and giggle about how he scribbled all over Mrs. Bluebird's new folders.
And his friends promptly dimed him out to me, wrote up witness statements, showed me the folders, and within ten minutes I was walking over to The Enforcer's office with the folders, the statements and the referral. Mrs. Social Studies watched my room while I explained the situation to the Enforcer. He was not happy.
Within 15 minutes, Pathological Liar Boy was in the Enforcer's office. Five minutes later the Guidance Goddess was typing up his suspension paperwork and he was out for three days, and will be (supposedly) returning to ISS when he gets back and will stay there until the last day of school. With 220 discipline points, it's about time. Nothing like being told specifically not to do something and then to go and do it.
I might add that The Enforcer brought back the scribbled on folders and they were on my desk this morning when my homeroom kids came in. They spotted those folders and just went nuts. They were incensed that someone would ruin their nice new folders. Funny what they take pride in, isn't it?
As for me, and the rest of the team, we're enjoying a few days of peace while we can.
Why?
Well, we've given these kids enough rope to hang themselves apparently.
The two subs we had on Monday had a rough day. A really rough day. It wasn't all that smooth for the rest of us. So, when The Enforcer started getting word that chaos was rearing its ugly head right across the hall (I love that his office is in the middle of our team area), he decreed that any kid removed from a class for bad behavior, for a sub or a regular teacher, was going to be sent to ISS for not one, but two days.
That took care of quite a few before lunch on Monday.
We're not exactly sure what brought that on (and we aren't complaining) but perhaps it had to do with the fact that he told one of our girls to get into her classroom instead of hanging out in the hallway and she, in his words "Got braindead and started mouthing off and cursing at me!" We aren't quite sure what got into her (definitely not typical behavior but she's running with a bad crowd and may have wanted to impress them), but she's out of our hair for a week.
There were twenty kids in ISS today. Two were sixth graders. Two were eighth graders. Sixteen were seventh graders. Eight of them were mine.
And then there's the case of Pathological Liar Boy who couldn't do the right thing if it was tied up in wrapping paper and a bow and left on his doorstep. Even his mother, who swore that he was an angel and that everyone - everyone! - was lying has finally figured out that he's not exactly Abe Lincoln when it comes to honesty. The other kids don't like him and don't trust him and wish he'd just shut the hell up (he would talk to a wall, and has, when placed facing one.)
Anyhow, my students sit at tables with about two to four kids per table. This can cause problems when it comes to taking tests because they can all see each other's work. To solve this, I give the kids file folders to put up and make privacy screens so they can work and hopefully keep their eyes on their own work. The problem is that over the course of the year this group has managed to totally destroy my folder collection by writing and drawing some of the most vulgar and obscene content you've ever seen, along with pictures of cars, cartoon characters, and the occasional dog or two. And of course, I can never catch who's doing it, so it keeps happening despite being told to Not Write On the Folders. However, when a kid is presented with a folder that has already been written on, the phrase Do Not Write on the Folders goes out the window.
These folders, obviously, would not do for the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests last month so I bought new folders and our Aide (bless her) laminated them (80 of them!) for me. The hope was with the nice plastic coating it would be a tad difficult to write on them. My homeroom was ecstatic over these folders as they were nice, new, and shiny and we went through four whole days of testing without a single mark on them.
So yesterday, when they had their tests, I put out the shiny new folders and all the classes ohhhed and ahhhed and I explained why there were new folders. (You should have seen the blushing when I commented on the vulgar content written on the folders in the past.) I explained how they all deserved to take tests in a calm environment without disturbing comments, graffiti, and things cluttering up their work area. Consequently, they were Not To Write or Draw on the Folders.
So what did Pathological Liar Boy do? Waited until I was out doing hall duty after his class, grabbed two folders, whipped out a Sharpie and scribbled all over them, then ran off to his next class, stopping by a few of his friends to brag and giggle about how he scribbled all over Mrs. Bluebird's new folders.
And his friends promptly dimed him out to me, wrote up witness statements, showed me the folders, and within ten minutes I was walking over to The Enforcer's office with the folders, the statements and the referral. Mrs. Social Studies watched my room while I explained the situation to the Enforcer. He was not happy.
Within 15 minutes, Pathological Liar Boy was in the Enforcer's office. Five minutes later the Guidance Goddess was typing up his suspension paperwork and he was out for three days, and will be (supposedly) returning to ISS when he gets back and will stay there until the last day of school. With 220 discipline points, it's about time. Nothing like being told specifically not to do something and then to go and do it.
I might add that The Enforcer brought back the scribbled on folders and they were on my desk this morning when my homeroom kids came in. They spotted those folders and just went nuts. They were incensed that someone would ruin their nice new folders. Funny what they take pride in, isn't it?
As for me, and the rest of the team, we're enjoying a few days of peace while we can.
Sunday, May 03, 2009
Field Day?
According to the rain gauge in my back yard, we have had 4" of rain since Thursday. My yard looks like a jungle. Seriously. I have grass up to my knees.
(That being said, it's not like I have a decent lawn to start with - it looks like pasture. It's a mix of weeds, crabgrass, zoisya, bluegrass, fescue, clover and goodness knows what else. But some of it is growing up to my knees.)
Any bets on whether or not we'll have field day on Monday (when it's scheduled)?
Our makeup day is Wednesday.
Wanna guess what the forecast is for Wednesday?
Yup. More rain.
(That being said, it's not like I have a decent lawn to start with - it looks like pasture. It's a mix of weeds, crabgrass, zoisya, bluegrass, fescue, clover and goodness knows what else. But some of it is growing up to my knees.)
Any bets on whether or not we'll have field day on Monday (when it's scheduled)?
Our makeup day is Wednesday.
Wanna guess what the forecast is for Wednesday?
Yup. More rain.
Friday, May 01, 2009
When Thoughts of Wine and Bailey's Get You Through the Day
The. Absolute. Freaking. Day. From. Hell.
Coming back from three days away from the classroom just is not a good thing. At all. Coming back on a day when chaos reins sucks even more. It's 5th grade orientation where they bus the 5th graders over and show them all the glory that is middle school and you hope like hell they aren't in the hallways when two hormonal bitchy 8th grade girls get into a girlfight and try to beat the snot out of each other. This means the band kids are out, the club kids are out, the good kids who are doing the tours for the little cherubs are out, and then they come strolling back at various times. Whatever. That I could deal with.
What I could not deal with is that Someone Messed Up My Computer And I Wasn't Able to Get My PowerPoint Jeopardy Game To Show On the Screen.
This is seriously bad.
First off, I noticed that everything on my desktop was smaller. Hell, I could barely read my email! Good gracious I'm in my late 40's with glasses and I need all the help I can get to see what the heck is going on and now I was practically putting my nose to the screen to see what was there. Not good. Then I put together my morning homeroom PowerPoint, and went to put it up on the screen, and noticed the document reader was dead. Not off, but dead. Holy Crap. I ran over to the tech Geek's office and grabbed him (who, of course is in charge of 5th grade orientation and had a zillion other things to do), and he managed to wiggle some wires, found a short and got the document reader working.
But the PowerPoint wasn't showing up. I was getting, at first, no signal, then a signal, but it was showing a different desktop than I had, and all sorts of weird stuff. Tech Geek comes back fiddles with it and then becomes obsessed. He can't figure it out and he thinks some kid or someone messed with my computer big time. By this time my homeroom kids are wandering in, I end up having to do paper attendance, and then we had a meeting about the camping trip, an IEP meeting, and finally I come back to see if it's fixed...and the Tech Geek has put in a work order for the Big Deal Tech Geeks to come fix it. Maybe the Aide who covered for my classes did something but the general consensus was if she did, she didn't do it on purpose because she's, well, just not that bright.
And I have 20 minutes before class starts to figure out what in the hell I'm going to do since my lessons just went out the window.
Finally, little Miss Reading, bless her heart, suggests that perhaps we can do a system restore back to Monday when I knew everything worked. Praise the Lord! It worked, and I was ready to go 1 minute before the kids came in.
And they were awful. Awful beyond belief. So awful that I almost wanted to leave and go back to The Rich School Across Town.
Third period wasn't too horribly bad. We got through two rounds of the game and they did pretty well. The Fourth Period Class From The Very Depths of Hell Itself was another story. Not only could they not decide what damn question they wanted to answer (I swear, they were arguing over whether or not they wanted Igneous Rocks for 15 or Metamorphic Rocks for 20!) but when it came time to answer, they couldn't get a single one of them right. I think after the entire game was done (and I let them have 90 seconds to decide what the answer was which was a minute more than any other class), we had three questions right out of 25.
Their test is Tuesday. The questions came from their homework packets.
Which this class, for the most part, refuses to do.
Two kids from Fifth Period got into a screaming fit along the lines of "He touched my stuff! No I didn't! Yes you did!" I separated them, blasted the class and said they had a choice, they could all get along and we'd do the game, or I'd just print out a copy of their test and give it to them right then and there. They decided they could behave and we did the game.
By the time seventh period rolled around, I was so ready to be away from kids it wasn't funny.
Interestingly, the classes all wanted to know what happened over at The Rich School Across Town.
And I told them.
In three days only one kid asked for a pencil. (I have probably 2-5 kids per class who never have something to write with; I can give a pencil out to a kid at the beginning of class and they'll lose it before the class is over.)
In three days no kid asked to go to the bathroom. (My kids can only go if they have a pass, which they all used up the first week of the semester, and now they whine and fuss that they have to go although they spent the entire time between classes goofing off in the hallway.)
In three days I didn't have to move a single kid to a different seat. (I must move kids daily as they can't get along with each other.)
I did a project that involved coloring some cell pictures on Wednesday, bringing the pictures back on Thursday and then assembling the project. Not one kid left his pictures at home, in his locker, on the floor, in his book, etc. They all had their work from the day before. (I have kids who constantly lose work. They are usually the same kids who won't put their names on their work so we can get it back to them when we find it on the floor in the hallway.)
Every kid had their agenda opened and was filling it out when I walked in the room. (My kids need a personal invitation each and every day to do this, and then they sigh and fuss and act like I'm asking the impossible.)
I gave these sixth graders (and there were a lot of sped kids on this team) the same assignment my seventh graders took two and a half days to do. These kids did the project, and did it well, in one and a half days.
I told my seventh graders that I was stunned - stunned - that these little sixth graders could, quite honestly, Kick Their Butts, when it came to doing school.
And why did these kids do so much better? They listened. They followed directions. And they Shut The Hell Up and didn't talk constantly.
My seventh graders were, for once, silent. It sucks when sixth graders are better than you are.
Of course, I had to have at least one who whined, "But they're always better than us, they have money."
"Yeah, they do," I replied, "But having money doesn't mean anything when it comes to listening, following directions, and doing your job. Poor people can listen just as well as rich people. You could all do just as well, and as better, if you so much as tried."
But they'd rather just talk than try.
Fourteen and a half days with this bunch.
Coming back from three days away from the classroom just is not a good thing. At all. Coming back on a day when chaos reins sucks even more. It's 5th grade orientation where they bus the 5th graders over and show them all the glory that is middle school and you hope like hell they aren't in the hallways when two hormonal bitchy 8th grade girls get into a girlfight and try to beat the snot out of each other. This means the band kids are out, the club kids are out, the good kids who are doing the tours for the little cherubs are out, and then they come strolling back at various times. Whatever. That I could deal with.
What I could not deal with is that Someone Messed Up My Computer And I Wasn't Able to Get My PowerPoint Jeopardy Game To Show On the Screen.
This is seriously bad.
First off, I noticed that everything on my desktop was smaller. Hell, I could barely read my email! Good gracious I'm in my late 40's with glasses and I need all the help I can get to see what the heck is going on and now I was practically putting my nose to the screen to see what was there. Not good. Then I put together my morning homeroom PowerPoint, and went to put it up on the screen, and noticed the document reader was dead. Not off, but dead. Holy Crap. I ran over to the tech Geek's office and grabbed him (who, of course is in charge of 5th grade orientation and had a zillion other things to do), and he managed to wiggle some wires, found a short and got the document reader working.
But the PowerPoint wasn't showing up. I was getting, at first, no signal, then a signal, but it was showing a different desktop than I had, and all sorts of weird stuff. Tech Geek comes back fiddles with it and then becomes obsessed. He can't figure it out and he thinks some kid or someone messed with my computer big time. By this time my homeroom kids are wandering in, I end up having to do paper attendance, and then we had a meeting about the camping trip, an IEP meeting, and finally I come back to see if it's fixed...and the Tech Geek has put in a work order for the Big Deal Tech Geeks to come fix it. Maybe the Aide who covered for my classes did something but the general consensus was if she did, she didn't do it on purpose because she's, well, just not that bright.
And I have 20 minutes before class starts to figure out what in the hell I'm going to do since my lessons just went out the window.
Finally, little Miss Reading, bless her heart, suggests that perhaps we can do a system restore back to Monday when I knew everything worked. Praise the Lord! It worked, and I was ready to go 1 minute before the kids came in.
And they were awful. Awful beyond belief. So awful that I almost wanted to leave and go back to The Rich School Across Town.
Third period wasn't too horribly bad. We got through two rounds of the game and they did pretty well. The Fourth Period Class From The Very Depths of Hell Itself was another story. Not only could they not decide what damn question they wanted to answer (I swear, they were arguing over whether or not they wanted Igneous Rocks for 15 or Metamorphic Rocks for 20!) but when it came time to answer, they couldn't get a single one of them right. I think after the entire game was done (and I let them have 90 seconds to decide what the answer was which was a minute more than any other class), we had three questions right out of 25.
Their test is Tuesday. The questions came from their homework packets.
Which this class, for the most part, refuses to do.
Two kids from Fifth Period got into a screaming fit along the lines of "He touched my stuff! No I didn't! Yes you did!" I separated them, blasted the class and said they had a choice, they could all get along and we'd do the game, or I'd just print out a copy of their test and give it to them right then and there. They decided they could behave and we did the game.
By the time seventh period rolled around, I was so ready to be away from kids it wasn't funny.
Interestingly, the classes all wanted to know what happened over at The Rich School Across Town.
And I told them.
In three days only one kid asked for a pencil. (I have probably 2-5 kids per class who never have something to write with; I can give a pencil out to a kid at the beginning of class and they'll lose it before the class is over.)
In three days no kid asked to go to the bathroom. (My kids can only go if they have a pass, which they all used up the first week of the semester, and now they whine and fuss that they have to go although they spent the entire time between classes goofing off in the hallway.)
In three days I didn't have to move a single kid to a different seat. (I must move kids daily as they can't get along with each other.)
I did a project that involved coloring some cell pictures on Wednesday, bringing the pictures back on Thursday and then assembling the project. Not one kid left his pictures at home, in his locker, on the floor, in his book, etc. They all had their work from the day before. (I have kids who constantly lose work. They are usually the same kids who won't put their names on their work so we can get it back to them when we find it on the floor in the hallway.)
Every kid had their agenda opened and was filling it out when I walked in the room. (My kids need a personal invitation each and every day to do this, and then they sigh and fuss and act like I'm asking the impossible.)
I gave these sixth graders (and there were a lot of sped kids on this team) the same assignment my seventh graders took two and a half days to do. These kids did the project, and did it well, in one and a half days.
I told my seventh graders that I was stunned - stunned - that these little sixth graders could, quite honestly, Kick Their Butts, when it came to doing school.
And why did these kids do so much better? They listened. They followed directions. And they Shut The Hell Up and didn't talk constantly.
My seventh graders were, for once, silent. It sucks when sixth graders are better than you are.
Of course, I had to have at least one who whined, "But they're always better than us, they have money."
"Yeah, they do," I replied, "But having money doesn't mean anything when it comes to listening, following directions, and doing your job. Poor people can listen just as well as rich people. You could all do just as well, and as better, if you so much as tried."
But they'd rather just talk than try.
Fourteen and a half days with this bunch.
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