post 35

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?

working everyday

I apologize for not being here lately. I have been busy subbing! I have been in so many different classrooms it is crazy. Today I was in our special ed inclusion 3/4 and loved it! Yesterday, half day in the afternoon, first grade. I did do quite a few days for our phys ed/reading teacher as she had a family emergency to take care of. The differences I am allowed to enjoy as a sub are immeasurable. I find it amazing and exciting to have the chance to visit and be a part of the lives of so many students.

Student Teachers....and Substitutes....

First, let me describe the student teacher (ST) I had during the fall semester. She probably has her heart in the right place, but the rest of her is NOT THERE! She wants to teach math in grades 4-8. She says she ABSOLUTELY does NOT want to go lower or higher. Well, I don't think she should go higher than maybe 5th grade. It was a very bad experience for me. (Let's put it this way, if she were my first student teacher, I'd never have another one!!!)

Maybe I'm a "freak" when it comes to doing certain things in my classroom. But, I'm ultimately responsible for the learning, or lack of, that takes place in my room. I want my students to excel in everything they do. Is that wrong?

Let me give you a few examples of what my ST did wrong.

1. She told the gifted students "I don't know how to do this problem...I'll look at it later." (Hello??? YOU NEVER TELL THE "SMART" KIDS THAT!!!!!) Now, I've put some problems up for them to do and then realized it is WAY over their heads and will say "Ok--that won't work, you'll be confused, let's try this." But, I've never told them I don't know how to do a problem. (Once I told them I was having a brain freeze and called another teacher, but they didn't think bad of me!)

2. She was so mild mannered, she let the kids walk all over her. One day, they were so out-of-control. When I asked her what the consequences were, she said none. She said the whole class was bad. I replied "Then you write 15 detentions!!!!!! (Yes, this is a VERY small class and she couldn't handle it!)

3. She cried in front of them. OMG! This is the biggest mistake of all times. You know the commerical "Never let them see you sweat?" Well, for a teacher, it's "Never let them see you cry!" It was all over from that point on. She never had their respect. EVER!

Well, my dear ST was a sub in our hallway (next to my room) on Friday. She did ok for the first class, but not so well the rest of the day. During fourth period, I opened the connecting doors and yelled at the class. See, my kids were working quietly (which is amazing in itself for that class!), and all of a sudden we hear a student yell "What the hel-?" I looked at my kids and before I could say "Did I hear what I think I heard?", they all shook their heads and said YUP! When I said something to that room about profanity, ST looked at me like a deer in the headlights. After school when I saw her, she said she couldn't figure out what I was talking about. She said maybe I thought I heard her say only part of the word class. When I told her what was said, she went "Oh, I know who said that." I looked at her like "WHAT?!?!?!?!?" She told me the kid who said it and then so profoundly stated "I heard her say it, but I guess I just didn't realize it was wrong." HELLO?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Since when is that acceptable in a school????

Well, I just really, Really, REALLY, REALLY wish the sub could be a sub in our school. At least then our classrooms would be run like they should!!!!

State pledge....

In the state of Texas, our great congressmen and women decided that every school child would say the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag and the Texas Flag and have a moment of silence (to do whatever) every day.

(For those of you who don't know it, the Texas Pledge goes like this: Honor the Texas Flag, I Pledge Allegiance to Thee, Texas, One State Under God, One and Indivisible.)

Now, I disagree with this. Everyone here says it's because I'm a "Yankee." Call it what you want, but it's because I'm an AMERICAN!!!!! In our Pledge to the U.S. Flag, we say "One NATION, under God...." We don't say 50 individual states under God! So, why would ONE STATE believe they could be on the same level as our country? Well, because Texans think they can do whatever they want!

(For the record, one other state has a pledge to it's state flag. That would be Louisiana--and if you get a chance to read it, it's pretty similar to the U.S. pledge.)

So, everyday, I stand and say the U.S. pledge and remain standing respectfully while the class says the Texas pledge. I don't participate. Some co-workers say I'm being disrespectful. I say I'm respecting my country. It takes all 50 states to be our great country--all 50 are EQUAL!

What do you think?????

...till the end

Can you believe it is March 1st? This time last year, I could say I only had 3 months of school left since our last day was in May. This year, however, we go until June 4th. Lot's of teachers, students and parents are complaining because we are going to school in June. I personally don't see what the big deal is. I always went to school in June when I was a student. (My birthday is at the beginning of June, and I always got to celebrate with my classmates.)

Dear readers, do you think it is a big deal???

23

It has been a busy week. I was in third grade on Monday and Tuesday...the highlight was being called a jerk in front of the entire class. The student pointed at me, yelling, "JERK!" on his way out.

It was exhausting! I wish there was more hands on to teach...I felt like I was rushing the entire day. Rather, both days. Teachable moments came up and I felt as though there wasn't any time for teachable moments. must get back to dittos, must get back to dittos...

Tomorrow is second grade and then into first grade on Friday. I am looking forward to the slower pace. And the great morning song in the first grade room.

State Testing

We are getting ready for our state standardized testing. At the 7th grade level, our kids take a writing, math and reading test. The 8th grade kids take a reading, math, science and social studies test. When the kids take the tests, the teachers can do NOTHING but stare at them. I'm so glad I only have 3 tests!

I have a problem with these tests. We are requiring kids to meet a minimum expectation. Most people would assume this would be at 70% passing rate. Oh, no, it isn't. It depends on the test and the grade level. Some tests require a passing rate of 72% and some only require a 56% passing grade. Yet, many people in the general public think we are holding these kids to higher standards than what we are.

POLITICIANS NEED TO STAY OUT OF EDUCATION!!!!!!!!!!