The 8th graders finally - FINALLY - got in their field day.
Granted, it rained most of yesterday so it was (of course) canceled. Today it was dry, but cold (at least for this time of year). I don't think the temperature ever reached above 55 and it was cloudy and windy. But by golly, they got field day in.
So that was the good news.
The bad news is that on field days for the other two grades, we're more or less trapped with our kids all day with no planning or breaks. So, during first and second period when they usually go to their elective classes such as PE, art, band, and the like, they stay with their homerooms (because the PE, art, and band teachers are all out running field day). Usually what we end up doing is giving them some fun time - a movie or something easy like that because, after all, these are their fun elective periods.
Today, however, guidance wanted us to give them an on-line career inventory survey to help them do career planning with them as they get into 8th grade and high school. The good part was that it was all done on line.
The bad part was that it was all done on line.
The Guidance Goober saw to it that we all had the computer labs delivered to our rooms, as well as an individualized instruction sheet for each kid that gave them all the user name, password, and other information (including birthdays as some didn't know their own birthdays last year!) that they needed.
All they had to do was follow the directions and everything would be fine.
Let me say that again. All. They. Had. To. Do. Was. Follow. The. Directions.
You know where this is going, don't you? Just last week we did a Periodic Table of Elements project that involved FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS and many of them were amazed that I'd hand it back to them and tell them to "read number six again and follow the directions." They assured me they had followed all the directions, but it one glance I could tell if they had or hadn't. They just want to jump in, and not do anything so borrrrrring as reading directions.
So. Today they had to go to a website, set up a user account, and answer 60 easy questions about what they liked and did not like to do. Easy, right?
I had three - three! - kids who took over 45 minutes to set up their user account because they couldn't (wouldn't?) follow the directions on their sheet which told them EXACTLY how to set up their user account and what their user account was called.
I am not kidding here. Between the account issues with my kids, and then having to listen to them whine about pages loading slowly - "good gracious, there are 300 seventh graders logging in all at once, give it time!"- it was a solid two periods of aggravation. I think Mrs. Social Studies next door was ready to toss at least one kid and computer outside and slam the door behind him.
It was definitely a day that called for chocolate.
Counting the minutes.
Showing posts with label Behavior Issues. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Behavior Issues. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
The Very Big Deal Government Mandated Testing is Over!
Well.
I am almost at a loss for words.
We are finally - finally! - finished with the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Testing. That is the good news.
The bad news is that we have witnessed the worst - the absolute freaking worst- behavior that any of us have seen in all our years of giving TVBDGMT. It has been an adventure. (Or as one of my teammates said, "I feel like I'm on the roller coaster to Hell.")
We used to have a more flexible testing schedule where each building could more or less decide how they wanted to scheduled TVBDGMT within a certain time frame. Those days are apparently long gone as now we have to give the tests on specific days. Four specific days to be, well, specific. Which means that we have for the past four days spent the mornings giving tests to a bunch of kids who don't really care (they have no stake in them this year although next year it will count towards a spring semester grade), and who, quite honestly, aren't used to being well-behaved and quiet for three hours straight.
I'll give them credit. They were good during the test. Although some of mine, truth be told, were just fed up with practicing good test taking skills. Instead of highlighting, underlining, crossing out, checking their work, and all that, they simply bubbled in answers and put their heads down. The were D.O.N.E.
What this means is that as soon as the tests were done and they were released to first period, all hell broke lose.
It started right after first period when one of my girls (who is suddenly boy crazy beyond belief) got dared by two boys to pull a fire alarm. Which she did. She swears her t-shirt sleeve got caught on the alarm but the cameras said otherwise. I doubt I'll see her again.
Then we tried to take them outside for an hour or so to run off steam which worked for some kids but for the others it was a complete disaster. They spent that hour arguing, getting into each other's businesses, running their mouths and generally gearing up for some fights. The only thing that kept them quiet in my room was because I ran a Brainpop so the room was dark, and cool (they were all whining about being hot after being outside) and they calmed down.
But not enough to stop the fights that broke on the way home.
And today wasn't much better. It was raining and thundering all morning (I had visions of a tornado warning right in the middle of the test) so taking them outside wasn't an option. Mrs. Eagle and I were going to do a really fun mini-lab on states of matter but quickly tossed that idea out the window as the first hallway fights began. Three of my girls got into a tussle and all three have now been suspended for ten days and one has a heck of a shiner for her trouble. Again, if they weren't running their mouths and into drama, I doubt any of this would have happened.
And that was just the seventh grade. I heard that the sixth and eighth weren't much better.
So today, instead of having a fun lab, I had them open their workbooks, work on a section we didn't use this year, put on some lovely classical music and told them they were all going to be quiet, to mind their own business, and CALM DOWN. I think they were read the riot act by just about every teacher (as well as The Principal over the loud speaker this morning after testing was finished), and we pretty much said if they didn't get it together the last five weeks weren't going to be much fun.
For any of us.
But as annoyed as I am at the kids and their horrid behavior, I'm more annoyed at the People Who Make Decisions But Who Have No Idea What Goes On In A Classroom. You spend all week with a bunch of middle schoolers, with hormones raging, and put a high-stress, high-stakes test on them and force them to be QUIET, and then watch what happens.
Morons.
I am almost at a loss for words.
We are finally - finally! - finished with the Very Big Deal Government Mandated Testing. That is the good news.
The bad news is that we have witnessed the worst - the absolute freaking worst- behavior that any of us have seen in all our years of giving TVBDGMT. It has been an adventure. (Or as one of my teammates said, "I feel like I'm on the roller coaster to Hell.")
We used to have a more flexible testing schedule where each building could more or less decide how they wanted to scheduled TVBDGMT within a certain time frame. Those days are apparently long gone as now we have to give the tests on specific days. Four specific days to be, well, specific. Which means that we have for the past four days spent the mornings giving tests to a bunch of kids who don't really care (they have no stake in them this year although next year it will count towards a spring semester grade), and who, quite honestly, aren't used to being well-behaved and quiet for three hours straight.
I'll give them credit. They were good during the test. Although some of mine, truth be told, were just fed up with practicing good test taking skills. Instead of highlighting, underlining, crossing out, checking their work, and all that, they simply bubbled in answers and put their heads down. The were D.O.N.E.
What this means is that as soon as the tests were done and they were released to first period, all hell broke lose.
It started right after first period when one of my girls (who is suddenly boy crazy beyond belief) got dared by two boys to pull a fire alarm. Which she did. She swears her t-shirt sleeve got caught on the alarm but the cameras said otherwise. I doubt I'll see her again.
Then we tried to take them outside for an hour or so to run off steam which worked for some kids but for the others it was a complete disaster. They spent that hour arguing, getting into each other's businesses, running their mouths and generally gearing up for some fights. The only thing that kept them quiet in my room was because I ran a Brainpop so the room was dark, and cool (they were all whining about being hot after being outside) and they calmed down.
But not enough to stop the fights that broke on the way home.
And today wasn't much better. It was raining and thundering all morning (I had visions of a tornado warning right in the middle of the test) so taking them outside wasn't an option. Mrs. Eagle and I were going to do a really fun mini-lab on states of matter but quickly tossed that idea out the window as the first hallway fights began. Three of my girls got into a tussle and all three have now been suspended for ten days and one has a heck of a shiner for her trouble. Again, if they weren't running their mouths and into drama, I doubt any of this would have happened.
And that was just the seventh grade. I heard that the sixth and eighth weren't much better.
So today, instead of having a fun lab, I had them open their workbooks, work on a section we didn't use this year, put on some lovely classical music and told them they were all going to be quiet, to mind their own business, and CALM DOWN. I think they were read the riot act by just about every teacher (as well as The Principal over the loud speaker this morning after testing was finished), and we pretty much said if they didn't get it together the last five weeks weren't going to be much fun.
For any of us.
But as annoyed as I am at the kids and their horrid behavior, I'm more annoyed at the People Who Make Decisions But Who Have No Idea What Goes On In A Classroom. You spend all week with a bunch of middle schoolers, with hormones raging, and put a high-stress, high-stakes test on them and force them to be QUIET, and then watch what happens.
Morons.
Monday, August 09, 2010
Let's Try Something New
Mrs. Eagle and I have always been the type of teachers who are willing to try something new to see if it works with our kids in our classrooms. Foldable notes? We'll try 'em (love them). Cornell notes? We'll give them a whirl (hated them, kids hated them, we don't do them.) Brainpop videos and quizzes? Sure, bring them on (use them a lot!)
So, when nearly a year ago, Admin said they were considering putting together a program (with the help of a prestigious nearby University and members of the staff) to help with our discipline issues, we were all for it. Goodness knows we have more and more at-risk kids walking our halls every year, many of whom have absolutely no support at home. We needed to find a way to keep them in class and learning, rather than constantly getting into trouble and being out the door.
So, it's been nearly a year that our school has been working on this program, and they rolled it out to the faculty (for the most part) last spring right before we left for the summer. Today was an in-service day and we had workshops on how to train our kids on this (gotta love lessons already done up for you), as well as how to reward them and how to do our new discipline referral process.
Gotta be honest...I'm impressed.
Tomorrow and Wednesday we have a two hour block in the morning where we'll be working with our homeroom kids on the program. Lessons are already prepared, posters up on the wall, we're ready to go. From the conversations I've been hearing in the halls, pretty much the entire faculty (and definitely all the admin) are willing to give this a real chance. Good gracious, they even trained the cafeteria people and the bus drivers on the program, so that's saying something!
So, we'll see how it goes. I'll keep ya'll posted.
And in the meantime, let's just hope my class of 36 magically shrinks.
So, when nearly a year ago, Admin said they were considering putting together a program (with the help of a prestigious nearby University and members of the staff) to help with our discipline issues, we were all for it. Goodness knows we have more and more at-risk kids walking our halls every year, many of whom have absolutely no support at home. We needed to find a way to keep them in class and learning, rather than constantly getting into trouble and being out the door.
So, it's been nearly a year that our school has been working on this program, and they rolled it out to the faculty (for the most part) last spring right before we left for the summer. Today was an in-service day and we had workshops on how to train our kids on this (gotta love lessons already done up for you), as well as how to reward them and how to do our new discipline referral process.
Gotta be honest...I'm impressed.
Tomorrow and Wednesday we have a two hour block in the morning where we'll be working with our homeroom kids on the program. Lessons are already prepared, posters up on the wall, we're ready to go. From the conversations I've been hearing in the halls, pretty much the entire faculty (and definitely all the admin) are willing to give this a real chance. Good gracious, they even trained the cafeteria people and the bus drivers on the program, so that's saying something!
So, we'll see how it goes. I'll keep ya'll posted.
And in the meantime, let's just hope my class of 36 magically shrinks.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Are We There Yet?
I worked with a delightful lady Up North who once described the last few weeks of school as one very long car ride with a bunch of kids. "They all get along pretty good at the beginning of the trip, but by the time you get to your destination, they're all sick and tired of each other and are fussing and squabbling in the back seat."
She's right. And I wish I could reach into the back seat and slap some sense into them all.
We finished our Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests last week, so that's no longer hanging on the horizon like a vulture waiting for some road kill. Although we all sort of feel like road kill at this point in time. We are having our reward party tomorrow (lucky me, I'm getting to work the pizza booth), which should be fun for the kids and tolerable for the adults. We get to wear jeans (always a happy day), and basically just shovel food and games at the kids while they run crazy and spend their reward tickets on things like cotton candy, door prizes, and hair painting.
Personally, I love the idea of getting them all hyped up on sugar, loading them on the buses and sending them home.
However, we still have five weeks of school. I am still assigning work. I am still taking grades. And some of these kids still need to bust their tails in order to pass. Yet, for some reason, some of them decided earlier this week that bringing paper, pencil, their binder, agenda or book was just Too Much Work, and they began to show up to class with nothing. They'd sit there empty handed and just look at us as if they expected us to entertain them by pulling rabbits out of a hat or something.
So, we entertained those that brought their materials to class by watching those that didn't clean out their lockers and lose locker privileges for a few days. (It worked, they now are showing up, for the most part, prepared.)
And if that isn't enough, the kids are all getting really annoyed and fussy with each other. It's spring so it must be Fight Season. Lovely. Hall duty is never as much fun as it is this time of year. This week alone we had a fight in the 8th grade hall, another in PE, another at lunch, and a few down in the sixth grade. And those are just the ones that I know about.
So the question is....are we there yet? And will we make it there in one piece?
She's right. And I wish I could reach into the back seat and slap some sense into them all.
We finished our Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests last week, so that's no longer hanging on the horizon like a vulture waiting for some road kill. Although we all sort of feel like road kill at this point in time. We are having our reward party tomorrow (lucky me, I'm getting to work the pizza booth), which should be fun for the kids and tolerable for the adults. We get to wear jeans (always a happy day), and basically just shovel food and games at the kids while they run crazy and spend their reward tickets on things like cotton candy, door prizes, and hair painting.
Personally, I love the idea of getting them all hyped up on sugar, loading them on the buses and sending them home.
However, we still have five weeks of school. I am still assigning work. I am still taking grades. And some of these kids still need to bust their tails in order to pass. Yet, for some reason, some of them decided earlier this week that bringing paper, pencil, their binder, agenda or book was just Too Much Work, and they began to show up to class with nothing. They'd sit there empty handed and just look at us as if they expected us to entertain them by pulling rabbits out of a hat or something.
So, we entertained those that brought their materials to class by watching those that didn't clean out their lockers and lose locker privileges for a few days. (It worked, they now are showing up, for the most part, prepared.)
And if that isn't enough, the kids are all getting really annoyed and fussy with each other. It's spring so it must be Fight Season. Lovely. Hall duty is never as much fun as it is this time of year. This week alone we had a fight in the 8th grade hall, another in PE, another at lunch, and a few down in the sixth grade. And those are just the ones that I know about.
So the question is....are we there yet? And will we make it there in one piece?
Monday, February 22, 2010
Crazy Girl and the Revolving Door
A few weeks ago Crazy Girl returned from her stint at Alternative School.
Truth be told I really never had any trouble with Crazy Girl. True, she chattered a lot but just about everyone in my Fifth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself has a talking problem. And yes, there were days when I wondered if she was on something or just crazy. But really, when it came down to bad behavior, I never had a lick of trouble. So having her back in class was no big deal. She came back, pretty much picked up where we left off, and began to get caught up on the first part of the unit we were working on.
Now when a kid comes back from Alternative School, they're set up on a 25 point behavior contract. Twenty-five points and you're out the door - expelled.
Crazy Girl did pretty good the first week. She did pretty good the second week. And then the third week she lost her mind, was rude, defiant and disrespectful to one of the lunchroom monitors, and ended up in ISS, with a 15 point write up.
And so she's in ISS, and although cell phones have to be handed over to the ISS teacher when they come in every morning (heck, they're not even allowed in our regular classrooms - they have to be locked in the locker and turned off), Crazy Girl didn't follow the rules and was caught texting her boyfriend (who's currently at home with an ankle bracelet).
Not a smart move.
So she's expelled for the remainder of the school year. Mr. Enforcer told me that Crazy Girl's mom is going to try to enroll her in local Christian school for troubled kids, which may not be a bad thing for her. I hope mom also starts considering therapy because, yes indeed, she's still cutting. And if Mom has half a brain, she'd find a way to break up this little romance between Crazy Girl and Future Felon and stop acting as a character witness for all his court dates.
What kills me is that this is a smart kid. A kid with tremendous potential, but she's so entranced with the dark side of life, with bad boys, and risky behavior that I really don't see a rosy future for her unless someone helps her get her head on straight and fast.
Amazing. Last year I had some of the most incredibly awful kids on the planet, kids I could have sworn wouldn't make it through the year without being expelled - and they never were. This year I have a kid who's not a lick of trouble (to me at least) and she's out the door. Something's wrong with this picture...
Truth be told I really never had any trouble with Crazy Girl. True, she chattered a lot but just about everyone in my Fifth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself has a talking problem. And yes, there were days when I wondered if she was on something or just crazy. But really, when it came down to bad behavior, I never had a lick of trouble. So having her back in class was no big deal. She came back, pretty much picked up where we left off, and began to get caught up on the first part of the unit we were working on.
Now when a kid comes back from Alternative School, they're set up on a 25 point behavior contract. Twenty-five points and you're out the door - expelled.
Crazy Girl did pretty good the first week. She did pretty good the second week. And then the third week she lost her mind, was rude, defiant and disrespectful to one of the lunchroom monitors, and ended up in ISS, with a 15 point write up.
And so she's in ISS, and although cell phones have to be handed over to the ISS teacher when they come in every morning (heck, they're not even allowed in our regular classrooms - they have to be locked in the locker and turned off), Crazy Girl didn't follow the rules and was caught texting her boyfriend (who's currently at home with an ankle bracelet).
Not a smart move.
So she's expelled for the remainder of the school year. Mr. Enforcer told me that Crazy Girl's mom is going to try to enroll her in local Christian school for troubled kids, which may not be a bad thing for her. I hope mom also starts considering therapy because, yes indeed, she's still cutting. And if Mom has half a brain, she'd find a way to break up this little romance between Crazy Girl and Future Felon and stop acting as a character witness for all his court dates.
What kills me is that this is a smart kid. A kid with tremendous potential, but she's so entranced with the dark side of life, with bad boys, and risky behavior that I really don't see a rosy future for her unless someone helps her get her head on straight and fast.
Amazing. Last year I had some of the most incredibly awful kids on the planet, kids I could have sworn wouldn't make it through the year without being expelled - and they never were. This year I have a kid who's not a lick of trouble (to me at least) and she's out the door. Something's wrong with this picture...
Thursday, December 10, 2009
He's Baaaaack!
I was cruising through Guidance the other day (it is, after all on the way to the bathrooms and mailboxes) when the Guidance Goddess flagged me down.
"Mr. History is going to want to talk to you," she said. "Bully Boy is back."
This stopped me in my tracks.
"He's back?" I asked, although it didn't surprise me. I figured he'd come bouncing back one of these days, I just prayed it would be after he'd done his time in seventh grade and wasn't my potential problem anymore. After all, he'd bounced back twice last year.
"Yes, he enrolled yesterday. He's apparently now living with Dad and Dad's girlfriend."
"Really?" I raised my eyebrows at this one. "So now Dad wants him?"
"Apparently so. Dad's Girlfriend has a daughter in 8th grade as well, and from what I can tell, this girlfriend has managed to put a foot up his ass. Which he needed. However, Mr. History will still want to talk to you."
He better. This kid is a holy terror.
Some of my former students, now 8th graders, managed to come by and fill me in with this joyful news later on in the day. They were less than thrilled. This kid is so mean, and so hateful, that even the other bullies can't stand him. The 8th grade populace was not happy to see this one bounce back among their midst.
Unless Bully Boy has been completely reformed (doubtful) Mr. History and his 8th grade team are in for a quite a journey.
And just remembering some of his stunts is starting to give me hives.
"Mr. History is going to want to talk to you," she said. "Bully Boy is back."
This stopped me in my tracks.
"He's back?" I asked, although it didn't surprise me. I figured he'd come bouncing back one of these days, I just prayed it would be after he'd done his time in seventh grade and wasn't my potential problem anymore. After all, he'd bounced back twice last year.
"Yes, he enrolled yesterday. He's apparently now living with Dad and Dad's girlfriend."
"Really?" I raised my eyebrows at this one. "So now Dad wants him?"
"Apparently so. Dad's Girlfriend has a daughter in 8th grade as well, and from what I can tell, this girlfriend has managed to put a foot up his ass. Which he needed. However, Mr. History will still want to talk to you."
He better. This kid is a holy terror.
Some of my former students, now 8th graders, managed to come by and fill me in with this joyful news later on in the day. They were less than thrilled. This kid is so mean, and so hateful, that even the other bullies can't stand him. The 8th grade populace was not happy to see this one bounce back among their midst.
Unless Bully Boy has been completely reformed (doubtful) Mr. History and his 8th grade team are in for a quite a journey.
And just remembering some of his stunts is starting to give me hives.
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.
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, 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.
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.
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.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Oh Yeah, By The Way...
Tuesday morning I'm walking through guidance after picking up my mail and I run into Mrs. Squirrel and wish her good morning.
"Oh good morning," she says brightly. "I'm so glad to see you. Has anyone mentioned that I'll need your help on Thursday and Friday?"
"Uh, no," I say wondering what kind of help she's talking about.
"Well, The Principal and The Enforcer have to be out at a conference and with Friday being 8th grade field day, I'm afraid that we need someone else acting as administrator just in case things get crazy and they lose their minds."
"Oh, sure," I say because, well, what else do you say to that?
"Oh that's fantastic!" she says. "We'll get your classes covered and you can help me out."
On Wednesday, The Enforcer went through the stack of referrals sitting on his desk to fill me in on what their status was, gave me his super secret computer passwords, and left his cell number just in case. This morning, after going over my lessons with the aide who was going to cover my classes, I moved into The Enforcer's office for the day and started pounding out referrals.
Oh. Good. Gracious.
Due to The Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests, referrals had not been worked for a week. We close ISS during that week as the ISS teacher spends her time administering make-up tests. We also don't suspend kids because it's too important to have them here taking their tests. The result was a huge pile of referrals.
Which I got through.
Then went to guidance and discovered a stack twice as high and more rolling in.
Mrs. Squirrel spent her morning in the office with a hysterical parent (girl drama in the form of two best friends who got into a cat fight yesterday), so I didn't even see her for a few hours.
I spent my time calling kids, counseling kids, handing out discipline, filling out paperwork, calling parents, and although my "done" pile was growing, my "to do" didn't seem to get smaller.
What was strange is I was starting to see kids who had brand new, never been used, discipline files. Kids who had made it nearly all the way through school all year but, for whatever reason, were starting to lose it. I had a friend once tell me that this time of year in middle school was like a long road trip with a bunch of kids in a station wagon. They all like each other for the most part, but after a while, they're just sick and tired of each other and even the good kids do things they shouldn't. Especially on the bus. Good gracious, I had more bus incident reports than anyone should ever see floating across a desk!
It wasn't all bad, however. I got to get after two sixth graders who were caught kissing in the hallway. The boy informed me, before he even sat down, that "I'm through with girls for the rest of the year!" I suggested he make that until he was 30 and he agreed.
We'll see how long that vow lasts!
"Oh good morning," she says brightly. "I'm so glad to see you. Has anyone mentioned that I'll need your help on Thursday and Friday?"
"Uh, no," I say wondering what kind of help she's talking about.
"Well, The Principal and The Enforcer have to be out at a conference and with Friday being 8th grade field day, I'm afraid that we need someone else acting as administrator just in case things get crazy and they lose their minds."
"Oh, sure," I say because, well, what else do you say to that?
"Oh that's fantastic!" she says. "We'll get your classes covered and you can help me out."
On Wednesday, The Enforcer went through the stack of referrals sitting on his desk to fill me in on what their status was, gave me his super secret computer passwords, and left his cell number just in case. This morning, after going over my lessons with the aide who was going to cover my classes, I moved into The Enforcer's office for the day and started pounding out referrals.
Oh. Good. Gracious.
Due to The Very Big Deal Government Mandated Tests, referrals had not been worked for a week. We close ISS during that week as the ISS teacher spends her time administering make-up tests. We also don't suspend kids because it's too important to have them here taking their tests. The result was a huge pile of referrals.
Which I got through.
Then went to guidance and discovered a stack twice as high and more rolling in.
Mrs. Squirrel spent her morning in the office with a hysterical parent (girl drama in the form of two best friends who got into a cat fight yesterday), so I didn't even see her for a few hours.
I spent my time calling kids, counseling kids, handing out discipline, filling out paperwork, calling parents, and although my "done" pile was growing, my "to do" didn't seem to get smaller.
What was strange is I was starting to see kids who had brand new, never been used, discipline files. Kids who had made it nearly all the way through school all year but, for whatever reason, were starting to lose it. I had a friend once tell me that this time of year in middle school was like a long road trip with a bunch of kids in a station wagon. They all like each other for the most part, but after a while, they're just sick and tired of each other and even the good kids do things they shouldn't. Especially on the bus. Good gracious, I had more bus incident reports than anyone should ever see floating across a desk!
It wasn't all bad, however. I got to get after two sixth graders who were caught kissing in the hallway. The boy informed me, before he even sat down, that "I'm through with girls for the rest of the year!" I suggested he make that until he was 30 and he agreed.
We'll see how long that vow lasts!
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
A Parent Crawls Out of the Woodwork
It is amazing what can get a parent to sit up and actually pay attention.
As a team, we have been trying to get Sassy Girl's mother in for a meeting since September. We have scheduled two meetings, where she was a no-show. She received a personal invitation to our second night of conferences and was again a no-show. She has never returned a phone call, and it's a miracle of nature if she actually picks up the phone when you call. She's received three copies of the letter that went out at the end of the first semester indicating that Sassy Girl was - surprise, surprise - failing all five of her academic classes. She never signed and returned the letter. In short, when it comes to parenting, she's missing in action.
So, the other day, when Sassy Girl got mouthy in Mrs. Language's class it was apparently having to do with a disagreement over a dress code violation. Sassy Girl was showing a bit too much cleavage and Ms. Language told her to go to guidance and get something else to wear. At this point Ms. Language was being nice and giving Sassy Girl a chance to avoid a discipline referral by changing her top. Sassy Girl didn't see it that way and she got really sassy and the long and short of it was she ended up in In School Suspension (insert Happy Dance here) for three days.
Well.
We finally heard from Sassy Girl's Mom. She took offense at the fact that her daughter who "was not dressed bad", got in trouble because of a dress code violation. (Well, actually it was her reaction to the dress code violation and her mouth that got her in trouble, but I digress.) She wrote a note on the back of the referral that basically said that we had no business telling her daughter that she was violating dress code.
Eight months we've been trying to get this parent engaged. Eight months. We've been trying to get her to communicate with us about failing grades (and I mean free-fall failing grades) and her daughter's horrid behavior (which is why she has the failing grades - she's perfectly capable should be be so moved to actually try). Not a word. She's ignored us, stood us up, basically disappeared. God forbid she actually talks to us about something that will impact her daughter's life forever.
But oh, Lordy, how dare we say her daughter is flashing her boobs!!! Now that's cause to get pissed.
Good gracious. I hope I have halfway normal parents next year.
As a team, we have been trying to get Sassy Girl's mother in for a meeting since September. We have scheduled two meetings, where she was a no-show. She received a personal invitation to our second night of conferences and was again a no-show. She has never returned a phone call, and it's a miracle of nature if she actually picks up the phone when you call. She's received three copies of the letter that went out at the end of the first semester indicating that Sassy Girl was - surprise, surprise - failing all five of her academic classes. She never signed and returned the letter. In short, when it comes to parenting, she's missing in action.
So, the other day, when Sassy Girl got mouthy in Mrs. Language's class it was apparently having to do with a disagreement over a dress code violation. Sassy Girl was showing a bit too much cleavage and Ms. Language told her to go to guidance and get something else to wear. At this point Ms. Language was being nice and giving Sassy Girl a chance to avoid a discipline referral by changing her top. Sassy Girl didn't see it that way and she got really sassy and the long and short of it was she ended up in In School Suspension (insert Happy Dance here) for three days.
Well.
We finally heard from Sassy Girl's Mom. She took offense at the fact that her daughter who "was not dressed bad", got in trouble because of a dress code violation. (Well, actually it was her reaction to the dress code violation and her mouth that got her in trouble, but I digress.) She wrote a note on the back of the referral that basically said that we had no business telling her daughter that she was violating dress code.
Eight months we've been trying to get this parent engaged. Eight months. We've been trying to get her to communicate with us about failing grades (and I mean free-fall failing grades) and her daughter's horrid behavior (which is why she has the failing grades - she's perfectly capable should be be so moved to actually try). Not a word. She's ignored us, stood us up, basically disappeared. God forbid she actually talks to us about something that will impact her daughter's life forever.
But oh, Lordy, how dare we say her daughter is flashing her boobs!!! Now that's cause to get pissed.
Good gracious. I hope I have halfway normal parents next year.
Monday, March 02, 2009
A Perfect Gift for a Student Teacher
This is Mrs. Jayhawker's last week. She's phasing out of teaching and is spending more time observing me and some other teachers at work. It's been a really good experience for both of us - she's awesome and if she wasn't moving Up North after graduation, I'd love to have her on board here at The School. Too bad Mr. Jayhawker is getting transferred.
Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Duck and I are taking her out to dinner on Thursday to celebrate, and I've knit her a lovely lace wool scarf that she will need when she relocates Up North. However, that may not be the gift she appreciates the most. That gift she got today.
Sassy Girl is back - yes! - in ISS for the rest of the week.
Sassy Girl is probably one of the most annoying kids we have this year. I wouldn't mind her being annoying if she was quiet, but unfortunately, she's one of the loudest girls I've ever seen. She shouts out constantly. Walking in a room is a production for her. She has a little group of friends who think she's funnier than all get out when she sashays into the room, but for the most part the kids roll their eyes and just wish she would Shut The Hell Up. She is, of course, in My Fourth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself, along with her little group of friends, and if you can get through the period without wanting to kill her, it's a good day. For her, it's all about the seventh grade social scene.
Mom, of course, has stood us up for two parent meetings that we called and scheduled. Now, she won't answer the phone or return messages. She doesn't want to hear it.
Anyway, Sassy Girl apparently really got mouthy during Mrs. Language's class and so Mrs. Language wrote her up. Mrs. Squirrel, worked the referral and of course Sassy Girl pulled her stunt that Mrs. Language was - gasp! - lying about the whole thing.
Now, granted, Sassy Girl isn't that bright to start with, but this goes beyond stupid. For one thing, she tried this stunt just a few weeks ago when she said Mrs. Jayhawker was lying, so Mrs. Squirrel had Mrs. Jayhawker come in and basically tell her side of the story, and the long and short of it was that Mrs. Squirrel gave Sassy Girl absolute grief about lying and put her up in ISS for three days (of peace and quiet). Every time a kid says that a teacher is lying, Mrs. Squirrel will find someone to cover our class, and we'll go in her office and tell our side of the story. As Mrs. Squirrel says, "it never works out good for the kid, and they end up with lying to compound their sins."
Please note that we are blessed - blessed - with administrators who have our back and who believe us.
So, Mrs. Language goes in, tells the story and in a matter of minutes, Sassy Girl is a wailing, sniveling mass of tears, snot and what not in front of Mrs. Squirrel's desk. Mrs. Squirrel is looking disgusted at the scene, tells Sassy Girl to "Dry it up!" and get her books and bounces her out to ISS.
And these three days of peace away from Sassy Girl are probably the best present Mrs. Jayhawker could wish for.
Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Duck and I are taking her out to dinner on Thursday to celebrate, and I've knit her a lovely lace wool scarf that she will need when she relocates Up North. However, that may not be the gift she appreciates the most. That gift she got today.
Sassy Girl is back - yes! - in ISS for the rest of the week.
Sassy Girl is probably one of the most annoying kids we have this year. I wouldn't mind her being annoying if she was quiet, but unfortunately, she's one of the loudest girls I've ever seen. She shouts out constantly. Walking in a room is a production for her. She has a little group of friends who think she's funnier than all get out when she sashays into the room, but for the most part the kids roll their eyes and just wish she would Shut The Hell Up. She is, of course, in My Fourth Period Class From the Very Depths of Hell Itself, along with her little group of friends, and if you can get through the period without wanting to kill her, it's a good day. For her, it's all about the seventh grade social scene.
Mom, of course, has stood us up for two parent meetings that we called and scheduled. Now, she won't answer the phone or return messages. She doesn't want to hear it.
Anyway, Sassy Girl apparently really got mouthy during Mrs. Language's class and so Mrs. Language wrote her up. Mrs. Squirrel, worked the referral and of course Sassy Girl pulled her stunt that Mrs. Language was - gasp! - lying about the whole thing.
Now, granted, Sassy Girl isn't that bright to start with, but this goes beyond stupid. For one thing, she tried this stunt just a few weeks ago when she said Mrs. Jayhawker was lying, so Mrs. Squirrel had Mrs. Jayhawker come in and basically tell her side of the story, and the long and short of it was that Mrs. Squirrel gave Sassy Girl absolute grief about lying and put her up in ISS for three days (of peace and quiet). Every time a kid says that a teacher is lying, Mrs. Squirrel will find someone to cover our class, and we'll go in her office and tell our side of the story. As Mrs. Squirrel says, "it never works out good for the kid, and they end up with lying to compound their sins."
Please note that we are blessed - blessed - with administrators who have our back and who believe us.
So, Mrs. Language goes in, tells the story and in a matter of minutes, Sassy Girl is a wailing, sniveling mass of tears, snot and what not in front of Mrs. Squirrel's desk. Mrs. Squirrel is looking disgusted at the scene, tells Sassy Girl to "Dry it up!" and get her books and bounces her out to ISS.
And these three days of peace away from Sassy Girl are probably the best present Mrs. Jayhawker could wish for.
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Pinball Bounces Out
I did not have a good day today. Pinball Boy has found himself, despite my best efforts to work with him, headed towards alternative school.
I hate it when kids I adore end up going to alternative school. (Long time readers (all two of you) may remember Stoopid Boy.) It breaks my heart. However, there comes a time when it's out of my hands and, as Mr. Enforcer said, "I've got to think about the other 24 kids in the class."
We had been, I thought, making headway. Mom finally got him on some medication so the hyperactivity was under control (no more crawling on the floor and leaping through the hallways which was huge). His grades were improving. He was staying out of trouble - finally. However, January came and something happened. Instead of being the sweet, loving kid we knew, he was getting smart, surly, and argumentative. He stopped trying in school, and he told us all that the meds were out at home and he didn't know when Mom was going to get more. He was talking back and generally finding trouble anywhere he could.
This week he not only missed after school detention (which is an automatic suspension for one day) but gave two different substitute teachers fits when Miss Reading was out with the flu. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was in guidance working on some grade stuff (I'm having to stay out of my room a bit so Mrs. Jayhawker, my student teacher, can teach without the kids thinking she's not in charge) when Mr. Enforcer came looking for me.
"I need your help with a hysterical kid," he said, with a pained look on his face.
"One of mine?" I asked.
"It's Pinball Boy. He's going to alternative school and he's having a melt down."
"So you want me to play mommy?" I asked.
"Exactly."
Oh good gracious. Pinball Boy was a shaking, quivering, crying, sobbing mess. It took us quite a while to get him calmed down. He begged and begged and begged for just one more chance (honestly, he's a likable kid so he's been given a lot of chances, more than most, already). I ended up spending nearly an hour with him, getting him calmed down, talking with him about the pros of alternative school (the kids usually see a huge improvement in grades so he'll pass for the year), and how if he's really, really, really good they might send him back early (hey, it's happened).
What I really wanted to know was what happened last month that caused him to cease being the kid I knew and loved and turned him into a snotty little brat who didn't care about anything. And I finally - finally - got it out of him, in amongst the tears and the wails.
"My step dad got put in jail in January and mom works all the time and I never see her and I have to take care of all the little kids and I don't see my real dad enough!"
Oh crap.
I hate it when kids I adore end up going to alternative school. (Long time readers (all two of you) may remember Stoopid Boy.) It breaks my heart. However, there comes a time when it's out of my hands and, as Mr. Enforcer said, "I've got to think about the other 24 kids in the class."
We had been, I thought, making headway. Mom finally got him on some medication so the hyperactivity was under control (no more crawling on the floor and leaping through the hallways which was huge). His grades were improving. He was staying out of trouble - finally. However, January came and something happened. Instead of being the sweet, loving kid we knew, he was getting smart, surly, and argumentative. He stopped trying in school, and he told us all that the meds were out at home and he didn't know when Mom was going to get more. He was talking back and generally finding trouble anywhere he could.
This week he not only missed after school detention (which is an automatic suspension for one day) but gave two different substitute teachers fits when Miss Reading was out with the flu. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I was in guidance working on some grade stuff (I'm having to stay out of my room a bit so Mrs. Jayhawker, my student teacher, can teach without the kids thinking she's not in charge) when Mr. Enforcer came looking for me.
"I need your help with a hysterical kid," he said, with a pained look on his face.
"One of mine?" I asked.
"It's Pinball Boy. He's going to alternative school and he's having a melt down."
"So you want me to play mommy?" I asked.
"Exactly."
Oh good gracious. Pinball Boy was a shaking, quivering, crying, sobbing mess. It took us quite a while to get him calmed down. He begged and begged and begged for just one more chance (honestly, he's a likable kid so he's been given a lot of chances, more than most, already). I ended up spending nearly an hour with him, getting him calmed down, talking with him about the pros of alternative school (the kids usually see a huge improvement in grades so he'll pass for the year), and how if he's really, really, really good they might send him back early (hey, it's happened).
What I really wanted to know was what happened last month that caused him to cease being the kid I knew and loved and turned him into a snotty little brat who didn't care about anything. And I finally - finally - got it out of him, in amongst the tears and the wails.
"My step dad got put in jail in January and mom works all the time and I never see her and I have to take care of all the little kids and I don't see my real dad enough!"
Oh crap.
Friday, January 09, 2009
Here, there and everywhere?
Bully Boy, we think, is gone.
Bully Boy, of course, was in my Fifth Period From the Very Depths of Hell itself, and he was a piece of work. He could slam a kid into a locker right in front of three teachers and an administrator than deny that he ever did such a thing. It didn't matter that there were witnesses (and often times video)of his stunts, he never did anything wrong, it was everyone else's fault, and the world was picking on him. He threw things constantly and spent a great deal of time up in ISS. The ISS Teacher, who has the patience of a Saint and loves these kids like no other, could hardly stand him. He was rude, mean, had no work ethic, and basically was going no where but down-hill fast.
Of course, if you knew his story, it all made sense.
Bully Boy, when he showed up in August, wasn't even living with a biological family member. He was living with his mother's best friend who also happened to be his godmother. This woman, bless her heart, was trying to do the right thing for a kid who probably never appreciated a single thing she did for him - buying him a television, games, nice clothes, and keeping a roof over his head and food in his belly. His parents both have serious drug habits and spend a lot of time in and out of jail. Any money they may have go towards drugs so there's times Bully Boy went hungry when he was living with a parent. His dad, according to godmother, is a bully himself and most likely abusive. His lying and bullying are most likely survival techniques he's learned living in the conditions he's lived in.
He had, in short, been bounced from relative to relative and now to a family friend all his life.
He wasn't in school on Tuesday and when I sent out an email to my parent contacts with the new study guide, I got an email back from his godmother's mother (who works for the district and would print out the emails and give to her daughter who didn't have email), asking me to take her off the email list as Bully Boy was no longer living with her daughter.
Hum. Interesting. I didn't pursue it for a few days because for all I knew, Bully Boy was still in our zone. However, today, curiosity got the best of me and I emailed godmother's mother back and asked if she knew what was going on as we hadn't heard anyone and Bully Boy was a no show.
Oh boy, did I get an earful. Apparently her daughter had to take a job in another part of the state and decided she couldn't take him with her. Part of her decision was she was probably just worn down with the effort of trying to help him pass 7th grade, and the other was the parents decided they wanted him back (they are both apparently out of jail). In the three weeks since we left for break, Bully Boy has lived with his father, then moved in with his mother, then lived with a grandmother, and now is back with his mother in another city nearby.
She hasn't bothered to even try to enroll him in school as no one has called to get his records.
As godmother's mother said, "I've known this family for years and they are nothing but a nightmare."
No kidding.
So right now, who knows where this kid really is, who he's really living with, and how long it will last.
Any bets on whether he'll graduate from high school? Or even make it to high school?
And whose fault will that be??? It should be the parents' but we all know that the government will blame the teachers, the schools, the administrators.
I feel like the government's scapegoat.
Bully Boy, of course, was in my Fifth Period From the Very Depths of Hell itself, and he was a piece of work. He could slam a kid into a locker right in front of three teachers and an administrator than deny that he ever did such a thing. It didn't matter that there were witnesses (and often times video)of his stunts, he never did anything wrong, it was everyone else's fault, and the world was picking on him. He threw things constantly and spent a great deal of time up in ISS. The ISS Teacher, who has the patience of a Saint and loves these kids like no other, could hardly stand him. He was rude, mean, had no work ethic, and basically was going no where but down-hill fast.
Of course, if you knew his story, it all made sense.
Bully Boy, when he showed up in August, wasn't even living with a biological family member. He was living with his mother's best friend who also happened to be his godmother. This woman, bless her heart, was trying to do the right thing for a kid who probably never appreciated a single thing she did for him - buying him a television, games, nice clothes, and keeping a roof over his head and food in his belly. His parents both have serious drug habits and spend a lot of time in and out of jail. Any money they may have go towards drugs so there's times Bully Boy went hungry when he was living with a parent. His dad, according to godmother, is a bully himself and most likely abusive. His lying and bullying are most likely survival techniques he's learned living in the conditions he's lived in.
He had, in short, been bounced from relative to relative and now to a family friend all his life.
He wasn't in school on Tuesday and when I sent out an email to my parent contacts with the new study guide, I got an email back from his godmother's mother (who works for the district and would print out the emails and give to her daughter who didn't have email), asking me to take her off the email list as Bully Boy was no longer living with her daughter.
Hum. Interesting. I didn't pursue it for a few days because for all I knew, Bully Boy was still in our zone. However, today, curiosity got the best of me and I emailed godmother's mother back and asked if she knew what was going on as we hadn't heard anyone and Bully Boy was a no show.
Oh boy, did I get an earful. Apparently her daughter had to take a job in another part of the state and decided she couldn't take him with her. Part of her decision was she was probably just worn down with the effort of trying to help him pass 7th grade, and the other was the parents decided they wanted him back (they are both apparently out of jail). In the three weeks since we left for break, Bully Boy has lived with his father, then moved in with his mother, then lived with a grandmother, and now is back with his mother in another city nearby.
She hasn't bothered to even try to enroll him in school as no one has called to get his records.
As godmother's mother said, "I've known this family for years and they are nothing but a nightmare."
No kidding.
So right now, who knows where this kid really is, who he's really living with, and how long it will last.
Any bets on whether he'll graduate from high school? Or even make it to high school?
And whose fault will that be??? It should be the parents' but we all know that the government will blame the teachers, the schools, the administrators.
I feel like the government's scapegoat.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The First Seventh Grade After School Science Lab
For those of you who cruise regularly through my rants, raves and whines, you've obviously realized that this year's crop of seventh graders is - to put it mildly - a challenge.
Actually they're a freaking nightmare, but I'm trying to put a Pollyanna spin on it.
Anyway, the three of us who teach seventh grade science (and yes, we are the Queens of Collaboration), just couldn't put up with the bad behaviors anymore and have had to eliminate labs and go to demonstrations in our classrooms. Thus, the birth of the Seventh Grade After School Science Lab.
This Wednesday was our first meeting and it was - can you believe it! - a pretty amazing success.
We handed out about 60 permission slips (we only had space for 32 and that was pushing it) and had 16 kids get them signed and in by the deadline. On that day only 13 showed, and it was wonderful. Two teachers, thirteen kids, one great big awesome lab. (Mrs. Robin isn't able to do the labs with us yet as her hubby is deployed and she has two kids of her own to deal with.)
We are finishing up our unit on elements, compounds and mixtures and we decided to have them work with a mixture called a colloid. Colloids are mixtures where the particles are so small that they don't settle out.
Like butter, for example.
Yup, we had them making butter. It's really a pretty fun lab that we haven't done for a few years due to time constraints. It's pretty easy. You get some little plastic containers that are somewhat clear (Gladware works well), some marbles, and some cream. Basically, you fill the container with cream, plop in a marble, and give to a kid to shake. They had to shake their cream for ten minutes, stopping every minute to observe any changes in their mixture, and to make notations on their lab sheet.
(BTW, if you ever plan to do this do NOT ever use baby jars. Marbles can crash through a baby jar to create a mess like you wouldn't believe, not to mention glass everywhere!)
The changes the cream goes through is pretty cool if you're a kid and haven't ever made whipped cream with a mixer (these kids think whipped cream comes in a can or a plastic container in the freezer section of the grocery store). When it finally turns to butter it happens in a flash and all of a sudden you have a sloshing milky liquid and a yellow blob of butter in the container. The kids were a hoot - shaking their jars, and hopping up and down and trying to get their butter made the fastest.
The hardest part for them was the part of the lab where they had to let it sit for ten minutes and make more observations (the clear liquid settles out and the butter gets a bit firmer). After that we gave them crackers and they ate their butter and crackers.
They were ecstatic. They loved the big lab. They loved the fact that they got a lot of attention as there were only 13 of them in there. They cleaned up without complaint (and did a good job of it too). They filled out their lab sheets in detail and never once whined. No one asked if it was for a grade, which surprised me as these kids usually won't lift a pencil without asking if they get credit for it. They even worked together on a puzzler that we had to kill the last few minutes of class since we weren't too sure how long they'd take.
We walked them out to the parent pick up area, with their little containers of butter (if they hadn't already snarfed it all down), and they couldn't wait to show their parents what they'd made in science lab. A lot of the parents took the time to roll down the car windows and thank us for doing the lab, and off they went.
Mrs. Eagle looked at me and said, "This was the most fun I've had in a long time."
She's right. It was a lot of fun. It was nice to do a lab with kids who wanted to be there and who listened.
And we're already planning our next one.
Actually they're a freaking nightmare, but I'm trying to put a Pollyanna spin on it.
Anyway, the three of us who teach seventh grade science (and yes, we are the Queens of Collaboration), just couldn't put up with the bad behaviors anymore and have had to eliminate labs and go to demonstrations in our classrooms. Thus, the birth of the Seventh Grade After School Science Lab.
This Wednesday was our first meeting and it was - can you believe it! - a pretty amazing success.
We handed out about 60 permission slips (we only had space for 32 and that was pushing it) and had 16 kids get them signed and in by the deadline. On that day only 13 showed, and it was wonderful. Two teachers, thirteen kids, one great big awesome lab. (Mrs. Robin isn't able to do the labs with us yet as her hubby is deployed and she has two kids of her own to deal with.)
We are finishing up our unit on elements, compounds and mixtures and we decided to have them work with a mixture called a colloid. Colloids are mixtures where the particles are so small that they don't settle out.
Like butter, for example.
Yup, we had them making butter. It's really a pretty fun lab that we haven't done for a few years due to time constraints. It's pretty easy. You get some little plastic containers that are somewhat clear (Gladware works well), some marbles, and some cream. Basically, you fill the container with cream, plop in a marble, and give to a kid to shake. They had to shake their cream for ten minutes, stopping every minute to observe any changes in their mixture, and to make notations on their lab sheet.
(BTW, if you ever plan to do this do NOT ever use baby jars. Marbles can crash through a baby jar to create a mess like you wouldn't believe, not to mention glass everywhere!)
The changes the cream goes through is pretty cool if you're a kid and haven't ever made whipped cream with a mixer (these kids think whipped cream comes in a can or a plastic container in the freezer section of the grocery store). When it finally turns to butter it happens in a flash and all of a sudden you have a sloshing milky liquid and a yellow blob of butter in the container. The kids were a hoot - shaking their jars, and hopping up and down and trying to get their butter made the fastest.
The hardest part for them was the part of the lab where they had to let it sit for ten minutes and make more observations (the clear liquid settles out and the butter gets a bit firmer). After that we gave them crackers and they ate their butter and crackers.
They were ecstatic. They loved the big lab. They loved the fact that they got a lot of attention as there were only 13 of them in there. They cleaned up without complaint (and did a good job of it too). They filled out their lab sheets in detail and never once whined. No one asked if it was for a grade, which surprised me as these kids usually won't lift a pencil without asking if they get credit for it. They even worked together on a puzzler that we had to kill the last few minutes of class since we weren't too sure how long they'd take.
We walked them out to the parent pick up area, with their little containers of butter (if they hadn't already snarfed it all down), and they couldn't wait to show their parents what they'd made in science lab. A lot of the parents took the time to roll down the car windows and thank us for doing the lab, and off they went.
Mrs. Eagle looked at me and said, "This was the most fun I've had in a long time."
She's right. It was a lot of fun. It was nice to do a lab with kids who wanted to be there and who listened.
And we're already planning our next one.
Friday, September 12, 2008
The Birth of the After School Seventh Grade Science Club
We tried.
Over the past five weeks Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I have forged ahead with our lessons on matter, which included a number of relatively easy labs which, in the past, have been hugely popular with our students. We've explored solids, liquids and gases with our popular "popcorn lab" where we use popcorn and Crisco to mimic the three states of matter. We've done our Layered Liquids lab on density involving colored water, syrup and oil. We've even done our Oobleck lab which has often resulted in parents requesting the recipe and students recreating it at home in their family kitchen just for fun.
It has been a disaster each and every time with this particular group of kids.
They cannot, will not, behave for a lab. They will not listen. They will not stay in their seats. They will not complete and turn in their lab reports, leaving them strewn across tables and the floor. And the noise level is unbelievable. This group still does not get the concept of using "lab voices".
And no amount of card punching, phone calls, time outs, and whatnot works. They just don't get it and they don't care.
The final straw for us this week was the Oobleck lab. For some reason they thought it would be fun to throw Oobleck at each other. Fortunately, Oobleck is simply cornstarch and water and can easily be washed out of clothes...however, my room (and Mrs. Robin's room and Mrs. Eagles room) and even the hallways outside our rooms looked like a powder bomb had gone off.
"This is insane," said Mrs. Eagle later that afternoon. "I have never, in eight years, had kids behave this badly during a lab. Never."
We both nodded and agreed and Mrs. Robin commented that she was starting to count the thirteen years she had before retirement.
So we've bagged the labs. We just can't trust that this group of kids can behave in a safe manner in a lab. They're so noisy that if we had an accident or an emergency, they wouldn't hear any instructions. And the thought of allowing these kids near a $200 microscope is just plain scary. They don't take care of equipment, and think nothing if something breaks.
This was not an easy decision. We have, over the past five years, tried to incoporate as many labs into our instruction as we can, and we've seen the pay off in rising scores and kids who are turned on by science. It's been tough, as our class time has been cut from 55 minutes to 45 minutes, and getting some of our labs done in this amount of time requires a lot of focus. And let's not even talk about budget issues.
But until this group, as a group, develops the maturity and the ability to behave appropriately in a lab setting, they're going to be getting demonstrations.
And yet...we weren't happy with that. Because we still have a few kids who actually care, who are actually put out with their peers who act like fools, and who are dying to do some real science.
So, with the blessing of The Principal (who's been cruising through our classrooms a lot this week and has seen for herself what behavior nightmares we're dealing with), we're starting an after school science lab club for the kids who actually care.
Basically the idea is that we'll put aside an afternoon of our time every other week or so, and allow kids to sign up to stay after school to do labs that apply to our current content. In order to do so, they have to get a permission slip signed by a parent, which will be due several days prior to the lab. We'll also have a cut off as to the number of kids that can attend as we want to keep the number managable. (We're starting to think a lot of our problems stem from the fact that our class sizes have jumped about 8 kids per class this year.) This will allow us to buy only the amount of materials we need for the labs, thus saving money.
And the best part is we'll have more time (however much we need), and we'll use the big lab, not our classrooms, to do the labs in.
Honestly, I'm hoping we won't have to do this for too long. The hope is that the kids who will be coming will talk up to the other kids about how much fun they're having and hopefully they'll figure out that once they grow up and behave, we'll do labs again in our rooms.
Hopefully.
Over the past five weeks Mrs. Eagle, Mrs. Robin and I have forged ahead with our lessons on matter, which included a number of relatively easy labs which, in the past, have been hugely popular with our students. We've explored solids, liquids and gases with our popular "popcorn lab" where we use popcorn and Crisco to mimic the three states of matter. We've done our Layered Liquids lab on density involving colored water, syrup and oil. We've even done our Oobleck lab which has often resulted in parents requesting the recipe and students recreating it at home in their family kitchen just for fun.
It has been a disaster each and every time with this particular group of kids.
They cannot, will not, behave for a lab. They will not listen. They will not stay in their seats. They will not complete and turn in their lab reports, leaving them strewn across tables and the floor. And the noise level is unbelievable. This group still does not get the concept of using "lab voices".
And no amount of card punching, phone calls, time outs, and whatnot works. They just don't get it and they don't care.
The final straw for us this week was the Oobleck lab. For some reason they thought it would be fun to throw Oobleck at each other. Fortunately, Oobleck is simply cornstarch and water and can easily be washed out of clothes...however, my room (and Mrs. Robin's room and Mrs. Eagles room) and even the hallways outside our rooms looked like a powder bomb had gone off.
"This is insane," said Mrs. Eagle later that afternoon. "I have never, in eight years, had kids behave this badly during a lab. Never."
We both nodded and agreed and Mrs. Robin commented that she was starting to count the thirteen years she had before retirement.
So we've bagged the labs. We just can't trust that this group of kids can behave in a safe manner in a lab. They're so noisy that if we had an accident or an emergency, they wouldn't hear any instructions. And the thought of allowing these kids near a $200 microscope is just plain scary. They don't take care of equipment, and think nothing if something breaks.
This was not an easy decision. We have, over the past five years, tried to incoporate as many labs into our instruction as we can, and we've seen the pay off in rising scores and kids who are turned on by science. It's been tough, as our class time has been cut from 55 minutes to 45 minutes, and getting some of our labs done in this amount of time requires a lot of focus. And let's not even talk about budget issues.
But until this group, as a group, develops the maturity and the ability to behave appropriately in a lab setting, they're going to be getting demonstrations.
And yet...we weren't happy with that. Because we still have a few kids who actually care, who are actually put out with their peers who act like fools, and who are dying to do some real science.
So, with the blessing of The Principal (who's been cruising through our classrooms a lot this week and has seen for herself what behavior nightmares we're dealing with), we're starting an after school science lab club for the kids who actually care.
Basically the idea is that we'll put aside an afternoon of our time every other week or so, and allow kids to sign up to stay after school to do labs that apply to our current content. In order to do so, they have to get a permission slip signed by a parent, which will be due several days prior to the lab. We'll also have a cut off as to the number of kids that can attend as we want to keep the number managable. (We're starting to think a lot of our problems stem from the fact that our class sizes have jumped about 8 kids per class this year.) This will allow us to buy only the amount of materials we need for the labs, thus saving money.
And the best part is we'll have more time (however much we need), and we'll use the big lab, not our classrooms, to do the labs in.
Honestly, I'm hoping we won't have to do this for too long. The hope is that the kids who will be coming will talk up to the other kids about how much fun they're having and hopefully they'll figure out that once they grow up and behave, we'll do labs again in our rooms.
Hopefully.
Sunday, September 07, 2008
The Premier Paper Passer
One of the things I hate to waste time doing is passing out papers to my students. With only a 45 minute class period, I try to eliminate as much "fluff" as I can from my day. Passing out papers just didn't seem to me to be really productive, although it is necessary.
To solve the problem of returning work to the kids, I set up a mailbox system. I have a big plastic file box, and there's a folder in there for each kid, organized alphabetically by class period. I give the kids four minutes at the beginning of each period to fill out their agenda, turn in work, and check their mailboxes. Actually, I tell them that they have four minutes, but they really have three. That's pretty much all they need. That saves me the hassle of calling out a kid's name, and waiting for him or her to get out of his or her seat, walk to me, and then return...or me having to scamper all over the room handing out work. I've tried having students return work, but that's just a big fat mess because half of them can't read the writing on the paper, they don't know everyone's name, and then there's the issue of confidentiality. Honestly, they all know who the goobers are who don't do well, but they don't need to have it validated.
Okay, so that solved the returned work problem. Now there's the problem with passing stuff out that we need to use during class.
Back when I had desks in rows, and not tables, I could easily walk across the front of the room and hand papers to the first kid in the row and they'd pass it back to the students behind them. Easy. However, I now have seven tables, plus the isolation island seats, and it's definitely not as easy to do.
And I believe that having a kid pass out papers is ideal because it gets the squirmy ones up and moving. It's no secret that I tend to have the hyper kids pass out papers. They're also usually the first to practically leap out of their seats when I ask for a volunteer. In any case, I go through a big deal every year teaching them how to do pass out papers. They are not to hand each individual person a paper (this can take freaking forever), but instead, count out four papers, and put it in the middle of the table, and then the kids at the table grab what they need. It works great if you have a kid who can do this without taking forever to count out the four pieces of paper.
So, last week we had the kids return to afternoon homeroom, the fifteen minute period at the end of the day when our homeroom kids return and we're supposed to check and sign agendas, send them to their lockers and - you guessed it - pass out the Very Important Papers that need to go home. I had a ton of papers to pass out - team newsletter, principal newsletter, and three pieces of paper having to do with our fundraiser.
I started off with two volunteers, Pinball Boy and Sweetheart Girl, and off they went. Pinball boy was back at my desk within thirty seconds.
"Next!" he barked, his hand out. I handed him the next stack.
Thirty seconds later he was back again.
"Next!" he barked, his hand out again. I handed him the next stack.
By this time I looked up and watched what was going on. Sweetheart Girl was doing a wonderful job of going to table to table and passing out the papers, but Pinball Boy had her beat in the speed department. He was flying. I don't think he actually stopped at the tables, he simply tossed the papers at them as he flew by. Papers were everywhere. Kids' hands were in the air grabbing at the papers as they fluttered down like multicolored leaves. They'd catch the papers, and staple them in their agendas, and then he was back with the next batch. It was a sight to behold.
He covered the entire room four times by the time Sweetheart Girl was finished...and she went pretty fast herself.
I have never, in my life, seen such a fantastic job of paper passing. This kid is a marvel. If there was a way I could bottle up his energy and sell it, I'd make a fortune.
To solve the problem of returning work to the kids, I set up a mailbox system. I have a big plastic file box, and there's a folder in there for each kid, organized alphabetically by class period. I give the kids four minutes at the beginning of each period to fill out their agenda, turn in work, and check their mailboxes. Actually, I tell them that they have four minutes, but they really have three. That's pretty much all they need. That saves me the hassle of calling out a kid's name, and waiting for him or her to get out of his or her seat, walk to me, and then return...or me having to scamper all over the room handing out work. I've tried having students return work, but that's just a big fat mess because half of them can't read the writing on the paper, they don't know everyone's name, and then there's the issue of confidentiality. Honestly, they all know who the goobers are who don't do well, but they don't need to have it validated.
Okay, so that solved the returned work problem. Now there's the problem with passing stuff out that we need to use during class.
Back when I had desks in rows, and not tables, I could easily walk across the front of the room and hand papers to the first kid in the row and they'd pass it back to the students behind them. Easy. However, I now have seven tables, plus the isolation island seats, and it's definitely not as easy to do.
And I believe that having a kid pass out papers is ideal because it gets the squirmy ones up and moving. It's no secret that I tend to have the hyper kids pass out papers. They're also usually the first to practically leap out of their seats when I ask for a volunteer. In any case, I go through a big deal every year teaching them how to do pass out papers. They are not to hand each individual person a paper (this can take freaking forever), but instead, count out four papers, and put it in the middle of the table, and then the kids at the table grab what they need. It works great if you have a kid who can do this without taking forever to count out the four pieces of paper.
So, last week we had the kids return to afternoon homeroom, the fifteen minute period at the end of the day when our homeroom kids return and we're supposed to check and sign agendas, send them to their lockers and - you guessed it - pass out the Very Important Papers that need to go home. I had a ton of papers to pass out - team newsletter, principal newsletter, and three pieces of paper having to do with our fundraiser.
I started off with two volunteers, Pinball Boy and Sweetheart Girl, and off they went. Pinball boy was back at my desk within thirty seconds.
"Next!" he barked, his hand out. I handed him the next stack.
Thirty seconds later he was back again.
"Next!" he barked, his hand out again. I handed him the next stack.
By this time I looked up and watched what was going on. Sweetheart Girl was doing a wonderful job of going to table to table and passing out the papers, but Pinball Boy had her beat in the speed department. He was flying. I don't think he actually stopped at the tables, he simply tossed the papers at them as he flew by. Papers were everywhere. Kids' hands were in the air grabbing at the papers as they fluttered down like multicolored leaves. They'd catch the papers, and staple them in their agendas, and then he was back with the next batch. It was a sight to behold.
He covered the entire room four times by the time Sweetheart Girl was finished...and she went pretty fast herself.
I have never, in my life, seen such a fantastic job of paper passing. This kid is a marvel. If there was a way I could bottle up his energy and sell it, I'd make a fortune.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Not feeling the love
We've finished three weeks of school.
We've taken our first unit tests. (Horrid)
We've sent out our first progress reports. (Pathetic)
And as Mrs. Bunny commented to me the other day, "I'm not feeling the love with this group." Mrs. Eagle and I both nodded our heads in agreement.
This group of seventh graders is a tough bunch. And that's being nice.
We kind of had a feeling that this wasn't going to be an easy year. After all, the sixth grade teachers last year spent most of their time looking frazzled and stressed and were eagerly planning their summer breaks in October. We also spent a lot of time watching these kids in the hallway (their hallway behavior was atrocious) and we all prayed that they'd mature and grow up over the summer. The majority of our discipline referrals last year were from the sixth grade and the time I spent doing admin while my student teacher was around convinced me that this bunch had a real problem with self control.
And they haven't changed.
For the first year ever, the team had to implement a locker schedule because these kids can't manage to go to their lockers without messing around, hitting each other, smashing fingers in their lockers (assuming they get them opened) and generally fussing and fighting.
The first fight at lunch happened this week...during seventh grade lunch.
Most of us had to do seating charts for our lunch tables within the second day of school because these kids can't sit and behave during lunch. We had to implement lunch detention (bless Coach Math for volunteering to do this duty) for kids that can't behave at lunch and in the classroom. This is another first.
I have had to take each class out in the hall at least once (third period has done this three times) to teach them how to walk into a classroom, get quiet, sit down, and get their agendas opened, because they come into the classrooms screaming at the top of their lungs and don't stop even when the bell rings. I have never had to do this before.
In School Suspension, which hasn't been busy at all, has had a few customers and, you guessed it, the majority of them are seventh graders. This week three of them were from my team alone. And these weren't minor offenses like having a cell phone. They were for cursing at a cafeteria lady during breakfast...showing off naked pictures of a girl from Mrs. Eagle's team on a cell phone...slapping a kid in the back of the head at lunch, knocking over his milk, then kicking him while he was at his locker later that day.
I've spent time watching video of kids bullying each other...calling parents about kids getting caught during their test with a study guide out on their table....emailing the Enforcer about witnessing a kid slamming another kid upside the head and then having the bully look me square in the eye and sneer, "What are you going to do, call my mom again?"
My Fifth Period From the Very Depths of Hell Itself...can't stay in their seats, can't get quiet, refuses to turn in work, throws things, and generally manages to waste enough time every day that they basically end up losing about ten minutes a day of instruction. I feel awful for the kids in that class that actually care because they're being exposed to a bunch of malcontents who don't care...and when you call their parents you get comments like, "Well, I can't make him do anything at home so what the hell do you expect me to do?"
That's if you even get a parent on the line.
On the plus side - and that's because I have to find the silver lining somewhere - Pinball Boy is still doing great for me. I have a few kids asking for extra help to bring their grades up and we may come up with a homework clinic since tutoring was canceled this year due to budget cuts. Some of my parents are great about emailing me with questions, letting me know their kid is absent, wanting to volunteer. My squishy toys are very popular and the kids that use them are calming down somewhat.
But it's still going to be a hell of a year.
We've taken our first unit tests. (Horrid)
We've sent out our first progress reports. (Pathetic)
And as Mrs. Bunny commented to me the other day, "I'm not feeling the love with this group." Mrs. Eagle and I both nodded our heads in agreement.
This group of seventh graders is a tough bunch. And that's being nice.
We kind of had a feeling that this wasn't going to be an easy year. After all, the sixth grade teachers last year spent most of their time looking frazzled and stressed and were eagerly planning their summer breaks in October. We also spent a lot of time watching these kids in the hallway (their hallway behavior was atrocious) and we all prayed that they'd mature and grow up over the summer. The majority of our discipline referrals last year were from the sixth grade and the time I spent doing admin while my student teacher was around convinced me that this bunch had a real problem with self control.
And they haven't changed.
For the first year ever, the team had to implement a locker schedule because these kids can't manage to go to their lockers without messing around, hitting each other, smashing fingers in their lockers (assuming they get them opened) and generally fussing and fighting.
The first fight at lunch happened this week...during seventh grade lunch.
Most of us had to do seating charts for our lunch tables within the second day of school because these kids can't sit and behave during lunch. We had to implement lunch detention (bless Coach Math for volunteering to do this duty) for kids that can't behave at lunch and in the classroom. This is another first.
I have had to take each class out in the hall at least once (third period has done this three times) to teach them how to walk into a classroom, get quiet, sit down, and get their agendas opened, because they come into the classrooms screaming at the top of their lungs and don't stop even when the bell rings. I have never had to do this before.
In School Suspension, which hasn't been busy at all, has had a few customers and, you guessed it, the majority of them are seventh graders. This week three of them were from my team alone. And these weren't minor offenses like having a cell phone. They were for cursing at a cafeteria lady during breakfast...showing off naked pictures of a girl from Mrs. Eagle's team on a cell phone...slapping a kid in the back of the head at lunch, knocking over his milk, then kicking him while he was at his locker later that day.
I've spent time watching video of kids bullying each other...calling parents about kids getting caught during their test with a study guide out on their table....emailing the Enforcer about witnessing a kid slamming another kid upside the head and then having the bully look me square in the eye and sneer, "What are you going to do, call my mom again?"
My Fifth Period From the Very Depths of Hell Itself...can't stay in their seats, can't get quiet, refuses to turn in work, throws things, and generally manages to waste enough time every day that they basically end up losing about ten minutes a day of instruction. I feel awful for the kids in that class that actually care because they're being exposed to a bunch of malcontents who don't care...and when you call their parents you get comments like, "Well, I can't make him do anything at home so what the hell do you expect me to do?"
That's if you even get a parent on the line.
On the plus side - and that's because I have to find the silver lining somewhere - Pinball Boy is still doing great for me. I have a few kids asking for extra help to bring their grades up and we may come up with a homework clinic since tutoring was canceled this year due to budget cuts. Some of my parents are great about emailing me with questions, letting me know their kid is absent, wanting to volunteer. My squishy toys are very popular and the kids that use them are calming down somewhat.
But it's still going to be a hell of a year.
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