Kids these days.....

We have several students who have not been successful on our state test in the past. We offer many different strategies to help them become successful this year. My question though is "How do you make THEM care?" I feel like I have participated in an IronMan competition and they haven't even crossed the starting line. I have stayed after school to provide tutoring--even purchasing snacks for them with my own money--and they don't even attend. I am not in my classroom the last period of the day, but I have another teacher in there. I have told her to NOT let them leave the room. Yet, every day, I return to an empty classroom. I have called parents. I have sent letters. I have even assigned detention to get them there. To no avail.

This is the future of our country!!!!! Pretty scary!!!


I actually had a conversation with one of the kids the other day that went like this....

Teacher: Are you breathing?
Student: What do you mean?
T: Are you breathing?
S: I don't know what you mean.
T: Are you breathing at the moment?
S: Yeah, I guess.
T: Good--because that is the only thing you are doing!!!

April Fool's Day

Last Thursday was April Fool's Day. I really hadn't planned on pulling any pranks on my kids, but it just seemed to happen naturally...after I realized that I can keep a straight face quite well. Earlier in the week, the top of one of my desks came unfastened on one side. This caused the desk to flip up if pressure was applied to the front. The first student in my third period class to bang the top while signing for their progress report happened to be the daughter of our Parent Booster club. I thought I would mess around with her. (When the desk first became loose in that class period, I told the boy who sat there that he would have to pay for the desk if it came apart.) So, I told this girl that she broke the desk and would have to pay for it. She was kind of upset, but I figured she would realize I wasn't serious. After school that day at tennis, I asked another student about it. She commented that she thought I was serious. I couldn't believe that. The next day, I polled the class and THEY thought I was serious! So, on April 1st, I said a lot of things and they kept asking "April Fool's?" WHAT FUN I HAD!!!!

vacation

I was subbing the other day and had a bit of time at the end of the day before dismissal (I was a sub for a reading teacher and guided reading groups were over), so I wandered into the office. There was a student sitting there who was talking to the secretary and this is how the conversation went:

student: Can I have a vacation form?

secretary: Are you going on vacation?

student: No, I just want the form.

me: So, do you think just by having the form you will be going on vacation?

student: Yup.

secretary and me: Hahahhahahahahhahaha!!

WTF????

If your child came home from school saying "Mom, we get to use the F-word, the N-word, and WTF if math class", WHAT WOULD YOU DO???? Hopefully you would question your child more instead of just calling the school and complaining.

These are 3 teaching methods I use in class. The F-word means Formula Word. There are five formula words that we use--Area, Perimeter, Circumference, Volume, and Surface Area. The N-word means NOT. For some reason, kids skip over that three-letter word that means so much. WTF=What's the Formula?? When we are finding the area of a shape, I make the kids do a multi-step process. List the shape, list the "F-word", write WTF and the formula, plug and chug (fill in the numbers and solve), write the answer, write the label. If they do this every time, they are almost certain to get the correct answer!

This just makes learning a little more fun!

Homework

What is the deal with students and homework? When I was in school--many, many, many years ago--we had homework daily. Researchers suggest students are successful if they have 10 minutes for every year in school they are in--seventh graders should have 70 minutes of homework a night. My students have about 15-20 minutes of math homework a night--if they waste time in class and don't finish. No other subject in our school gives homework regularly...well, reading has them read their library book for homework. I average 1-7 kids per class period DAILY who do not have their homework finished. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT?????? My policy is to have the kids call home each day when they do not have their homework finished. I have kids who call home DAILY! AND THEY ACTUALLY TALK TO THEIR MOM OR DAD DAILY!!! Why are these parents not requiring their kids to do their work?????? Then, when the kid fails, the parent has the nerve to question ME!

In order to be successful in Math, you HAVE TO HAVE HOMEWORK!!!!!!

pronouns

Has it really been that long?

This past Monday and Tuesday, I was subbing in a third grade classroom. I was introducing object and subject pronouns. For whatever reason, the kids were just not getting it. We talked about pronouns in general at first..how they take the place of nouns. What is a noun? What is a pronoun? Then when we replace the noun with a pronoun and it was originally the subject of the sentence, it is the subject pronoun. The object pronouns were more complicated. If it comes after an action verb or is the object of a preposition, it is an object pronoun. We dissected sentences, I made up sentences that were not on the ditto, etc, to try to get across how to know the difference.

Finally, one girl says, "My light bulb just went on!" I cheered and had the warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with teaching. A few minutes later, another student says to me, "Miss L, my light bulb is only flickering. Can you explain it again, please?"

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Today is the first day of school in our district. Our theme is reach for the stars this year. There is always some sort of assembly to get the kids into the new year. The kids and staff were all given 3D glasses...there were white holiday lights strung up with "reaching for the stars" accessories. I tried to capture the feeling that was given so here you go.

The photo below was taken through the 3D glasses lens...you can see the stars!

A New School Year....

It has begun! And, let me tell you, I'm Lovin' It!!! I've had quite the adventures already. Some sad, some funny!!!!!

Don't want to go into the sad stuff...too depressing! Besides, there are some legal issues preventing the conversation as well.

However, I can tell the funny!!

I have a student this year who wants to be called Nacho. Most of my Yankee friends will make a face and act as if this kid is nuts. However, it is a common "nickname" for a popular Hispanic name. (Kind of like Jim is short for James!) Our campus is on a block schedule--alternating A and B days. I happen to be lucky and see my kids every day still. On the second day of class, Nacho was missing. The kids were beside themselves asking "Where's Nacho?" They didn't give me a chance to locate him. I started making phone calls...to the teacher he has after me, to the teacher before me, to the front office. The entire time, the kids are repeating "Where's Nacho?" Finally, I couldn't help myself. I looked at them and said "I have to say it...It's Nacho Business!" All of them laughed and laughed. Nacho appeared about 20 minutes later--after the teacher he has after me realized he was in her room. (Hello???? Didn't I call and ask???)

This past week, Nacho was the topic of another funny moment. (Poor kid! I hope he doesn't think I'm picking on him!) I looked at him and said "I don't know why this happens--it's not logical, it doesn't make sense...I know it's crazy! However, every time I say your name, in my head I go cinco, seis." (Nacho, cinco, seis!) The kids all looked at me as if I had two heads or something. I repeated that I knew it was crazy and "it doesn't even sound like cuatro!" Another kid--TOTALLY SERIOUS!!!!!--says "It sounds the same....Nacho, Crotcho." I cracked up! I was laughing so hard, I had tears running down my face. He seriously thought that was what I said!!!! I asked if he was taking Spanish this year. When he said yes, I just smiled and thought....I feel for your teacher!!! Another boy looked at me and said "Miss....you went from red to yellow!" The class thought what he said was just as silly, and we laughed even harder!!!! Oh those silly seventh graders!

Off to bed....more stories to come!

Summer School

I can't believe it. Summer School is almost over. One more day with my kiddos!! Then, one day with two 5th graders. Then, I'm done. Finished. Kaput. I'm so excited!!!!! I can't wait!!

I've decided that summer school is not designed to help students. The main purpose is to tear down perfectly good--sometimes great--teachers.

During the school year, discipline procedures are in place to take care of difficult students. A lot of the time, the threat of detention is good enough to cease undesirable behavior. In the summer, there is no such thing as detention. The ONLY discipline option is to send the kid to the office. Since we are trying to get them to pass a test, this isn't always an option, either. Some of the teachers were talking, and we all feel like we have no classroom management at all.

The other thought is about the group of kids we have. The majority of the students were behavior problems during the school year. Where there might be one or two bad apples in a class of 25, you now have five or six in a class of 10.

Throw in no consequences for their actions, and you have some big problems!!

We really need to come up with a better system.

Funny or Sad?

Being the cheer sponsor, I have a ton of stuff in my classroom--boxes and boxes of koozies, totebags, water bottles, t-shirts, concession cups, towels, and seat cushions. (I counted at least 12 boxes the other day!)

Recently my team hosted our final academic pep rally. One of the activities at this pep rally was a relay race. Since the theme was based on auto racing, we had each team design a car out of a box. My cheer stuff had to be moved into different boxes. For a few days, the seat cushions were piled up on the floor. (These are your basic plastic covered pads with advertising on one side.) The following conversations ensued.

Me: Watch out so you don't trip over the seat cushions.

Few minutes go by.

Kid: Miss, are those life jackets?

Me: Yup (Thinking "Are you serious?")

A day or two go by.

Me: Quit goofing around and leave the seat cushions alone.

Kid: Miss, you said those were life jackets.

Me: No, you said that. Do you really think they would float since they have holes in them?!

And, this is the future of our planet.

WOW

School will be over tomorrow at 12:30. Well with kids anyway. I will still have the rest of the day and all day Friday. Summer school starts on Monday for teachers and Tuesday for kids. Nice normal weekend. It will be a nice change, I hope.

The final stretch...

Well, there are only 17 1/2 days left with kids for me. WOOHOO!!! It's not that I don't like my job. It's not that I don't like the kids. It's that we are tired of each other! Actually, I think every 7th grade kid in my school has LOST THEIR EVERLASTING MINDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You would think we ran a school of wild animals at the moment! Why is that you ask? Our state-mandated testing is over. YEAH!

See, because of the high-stakes attached to the tests these days--NCLB, AYP and all of those other letters--schools place a great emphasis on the tests. Which they should since that should be the curriculum being taught. So, when the tests are finished, the kids think the year is finished. IT'S NOT!

We have had more kids acting like 5 year olds on a playground than ever before. The pushing/shoving/horseplay in general is DRIVING ME NUTS!!!!!!! Why can't 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16-year-olds keep their hands to themselves??? And, we aren't talking PDA! (Yes, you did read that correctly. Thanks to high-stakes testing and NLCB, we have students from age 12-16 IN THE 7TH GRADE!!!!! We half-way joke that we will need to build a student parking lot soon.)

That is another topic for another day.

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there! And, to all the teachers who play mom during the school year!

Stupid Questions....

I am having my students work on a project at the moment. It is about Mean, Median, Mode and Range. To complete the project, they have to survey their class mates to get data. The question should start with "How many...." and be able to be answered with a number. The goal is to get a range of numbers to use to find the measures of central tendency. Here were some of the "questions" that students wanted to ask. My replies are in parenthesis.

1. What is the exact value of pi? (First, there is no answer. Second, everyone should say the same thing!)
2. How many computers do you have? (Most people will have 0 or 1. Not a good selection.)
3. How many jewelry do you have? (I was thinking "WHAT?!?!?!?" I actually said--That is too big of a number.)

My personal favorite---
4. How many fingers do you got? (With the exception of Mrs. A, I believe EVERYONE in the building has 10!)

This is our future!!!! Kinda scary, eh?