Writings of a First Year Teacher

On the Reservation

2008-06-05T16:13:00.003-07:00

I'm sure Native Americans would have something to say about this but my 1st period kids seemed to enjoy being put onto the reservation I created in the corner of the classroom.

Renaissance Debates

2008-06-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

Lina, Brenda and David- our Magellans
Danny, Andrew, Faris and Amy- our Brunelleschis

Because we have so few days to teach the Renaissance, we kill about eight birds with one stone by having the kids take on the role of a Renaissance Man and prove why they are the greatest influence on modern society. So the kids for a day become William Shakespeare, Fillipo Brunelleschi, Johann Gutenberg, Leonardo da vinci, Michelangelo and Ferdinand Magellan. The students are divided up into debate teams (they pick who can debate 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) and they try to prove to me why they are the greatest person of the Renaissance. I've read biographies about all these men and let's just say some of the things that I heard in this debate are far cries from what they might actually say. Read on for more entertainment.

"If you didn't have the lantern, you couldn't go camping!"
- Andrew, as Brunelleschi

"What would happen if there was no gas in your helicopter- which I inveted. Well, I invented the parachute too so you wouldn't die."
-Geo as da Vinci

"Why am I the greatest person of the Renaissance? Um, because I'm cool."
-Manny, as Magellan

"I made it easier to send letters to peoeple who were in a war."
-Nick, as Gutenberg (although no mention of Gutenberg Bible.... hm....)

"You know, you look good with tape on your mouth!"
- debating got a little heated and I don't remember who said this but I did write it down :)

and probably my favorite (although I did almost fall off my chair I was laughing so hard at Andrew's quote...)

"I made it harder for people to make good art that's better than mine because i'm so good."
-Sean, as Michelangelo

Love it!

Clash of the Titans: Leonardos versus Gutenbergs

Tuyen, Andrew, Geo and Alyssa strategizing for the da Vincis

Ariel, Vu, Eli and Ana preparing to defend Gutenberg

Edgar, Jessica and Yanira- our Shakespeares

Did Michelangelo get his inspiration from the heavens? That's what Nick seems to be indicating, joined by Lydia, Jonathan and Dennis

Really Cool Lesson

2008-05-29T16:46:00.000-07:00

So today with my seventh graders I did a lesson on the Black Death. "Sounds cheery!" as one of my students said. I really didn't spend any time at all on the Black Death last semester because we were running short on time but Catherine recommended this lesson so I thought I'd give it a try.

I passed out to each student a copy of the Graphic Novel, which is supplemental to the textbook. This portion of the graphic novel had only pictures, no words, and basically went through the story of the Black Death. It started with a picture of a trading ship coming in and then showed the rats transferring the fleas which bit the humans and started off the train of the Black Death. Later pictures showed more and more people coughing and dying, the bodies being taken away on carts drawn by men with skeleton masks on and ended with a picture of a town with rats overlooking it on a hill.

I partnered the students up and gave them a Sum It Up page. For each page of the graphic novel, there was a questions. The kids talked to their partner and then wrote their answer down in the appropriate Sum It Up box and then we shared out. The kids were FABULOUS! They came up with some great answers, some diverse answers and definitely some unique answers. One of the last few questions was why there was the nursery rhyme "ring around the rosies" and so I sang it for them in a very dramatic voice.

Ring around the Rosies
A Pocket Full of Posies
Ashes, Ashes,
We All Dall Down

Let's just say it totally creeped them out, especially when we discussed the meaning of each line and how it's not a fun game to play and dance to but it's got a very dark history. I told fourth period about this book I have called "Heavy Words Lightly Thrown" which basically digs into the history of a whole bunch of nursery rhymes (Little Jack Horner was a squatter and a thief, Ba Ba Black Sheep was a cry against taxation, etc.) and some of them (not the ones that I would have expected) asked me what the book was called so that they could read it! Some kids came up to me at the end of the period too and told me that they really enjoyed the lesson. Yes! That's what I like to hear!

Certainly a First

2008-05-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Last night I was night duty for the spring play, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Let's not even get to the performance yet (which was probably the funniest thing that I had ever seen in my life...) but I'd like to repost here the letter that was passed out to all audience members because never before have I seen something so elaborate like this before. Usually when you go to a performance, someone comes up before it starts and says something like this: "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming tonight. Please make sure that all cell phones and pagers are turned off. No flash photography and please be aware that the performance is being taped. If you need to leave, please do so quietly as to not disrupt over audience members. Thank you and enjoy the show.

This is what we get....

Dear Audience Members,

In an effort to provide both the performers and the audience with an enjoyable performance experience, we offer these guidelines for audience behavior. By overseeing these guidelines, everyone contributes to the success of the show.

1. During the performance, it is important not to talk, sing along, or yell. Shouting a performer's name is inappropriate and will disturb the performer and others. Applause at the end of a musical selection or scene is appropriate and welcome.

2. We are professionally videotaping this performance. Please stay away from the stage area, all sound equipment and the videographer so that we can have the best possible copy of the show. If you are interested in purchasing a high-quality DVD of this production, please see Mrs. M after the show or send a note stating you'd like to purchase a DVD of the performance.

3. Please avoid walking in front of our video camera operator, who will be in the center aisle. If is important to attend the entire production out of respect for the efforts and dedication of all involved. If one must leave or enter while the show is in progress, lease do so only during the applause between selections and avoid the center aisle.

Finally, we deeply appreciate your attendance at our show. We understand that may people attend in support of a specific person or persons. Please remember that while your person may have completed his or her contribution, someone seated next to you could be listening intently for another special person's performance. Please help everyone enjoy all performances by respectfully adhering to the above guidelines.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Mrs. M and the Drama and Choir students.

Wow.

Again, wow.

I was pretty speechless, so let's get onto the performance. First of all, one of my students was up there and I have never heard him speak so much before. Good to know that his vocal chords work. Another one of my students was playing one of the "actors" and my goodness, was he not the best "moon" that I had ever seen. The other students were OK, but so many forgot their lines and confused the plot! I know the plot of a MSND pretty well and there were times when ever I was like "what?" So all in all, it was definitely a show to laugh at and get some amusement from. I'm seriously contemplating buying the DVd just for the dance that the actors did at the end. Best part of the entire show. Full stop.

Idiot

2008-05-21T17:33:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when you go for a month without posting. You repost stories twice. So at least you get the proposal story two times. Good thing it's a good story.

By the way, here are a few more quotes from today.

Peter (repeating over and over again while trying to figure out a question on the Southern Literacy Test): Spell backwards, forwards. Spell backwards, forwards. Spell backwards, forwards. Stop laughing, Miss Yadlin!!!!

Sammie: R-squared P! Get it Miss Yadlin! R-squared P for Radical Republicans Plan! Do the math, woman!!!

Peter (again, struggling with the Southern Literary Test): This is harder than the CST!

me (as I'm checking over Yarely's Crusade paper): What does that mean? The Crusade lost. A Crusade can't lose. Go fix it.
Yarely goes and "fixes it"
me: This still doesn't make sense! Now you've written The Crusade French! What does that mean?
Yarely: Ooops, I erased the wrong word....

Coming up with their own plans...

2008-05-21T17:18:00.001-07:00

So, there are several plans of Reconstruction. Lincoln had his 10% plan, Wade-Davis had their plans, Johnson had his plan and the Radical Republicans had their plan. And now, my students have their own plans. Here are a smattering of them, along with my sarcastic comments.

Jonathan: It would be better if we just forget the past and go on with the future.

my commentary: This sounds like the Oprah plan. Can't we all just forget the past.....!!!!

Briana L: Southerners shall be jailed if caught disrespecting African Americans.

my commentary: Don't you disrespect me! What's that from!!?! South Park maybe? We should call this the South Park plan.

Gaby: The southerners who rebelled should be left behind in all the planning until they agree with the plan.

my commentary: This is the either you're with us or you're on the outside looking in plan.

Briana C: When someone rebels, I would put them in jail. Also I would try to beat them to the punch.

my commentary: I THINK she means that she would try and make sure that the south doesn't rebel again by taking forward action but she needs to be aware that using a phrase like "beat them to the punch" can also mean physically beating them up. Which would take the plan in a whole 'nother direction...

Jackie: Execute KKK's, execute any lynchers kick the senate and governments that make unfair laws. Call a huge meeting for a compromise.

my commentary: Where do I begin? I'm a big fan of kicking the senate. Although does that meaning kicking the Hart Building in DC or the door of the Senate chambers in the capitol or kicking each individual member? And then I also like the huge meeting. Where will this meeting be held? In the entire state of Kansas? We might all fit there....

Denny: Southerners who rebel should be tried and if found guilty should be punished accordingly to their crime.

my commentary: What's the crime for leaving your country, starting a Civil War where over 600,000 people were killed and African Americans should be enslaved? 25-life?

Melissa: I think Southerners should be punished in the worst way possible.

my commentary: Again, what would that be? Tickle them until they squeal? Put them in a cage and poke them with a stick? Push them out on an airplane? I need specifics here!

Here's my favorite...

Good Ricardo's plan: All African Americans would be free. They will be able to vote. They will be treated with respect. Southerners who don't respect this will be shot (oh dear!). State should have new Confederates (wait, what?)

Bad Ricardo's Plan (is he schizophrenic? Multiple Personalities? Where did Bad Ricardo come from?): African Americans who do the smallest thing wrong will be shot. Some some Confederates but none black (I don't get this one). If an African American rebels, he/she shall be hung.

my commentary: Wow, I really have no words.

I love reading the stuff that their crazy minds come up with!

How Could I Forget....

2008-05-20T21:13:00.000-07:00

...that a student proposed!! :)

OK, before you think it's scandalous or anything, here's the story.

I was teaching about European Feudalism and we were talking about how it was nice to be king or a lord, but not so much a peasant. I was also reminding them that they needed to stay on my good side because I was the queen of the classroom and I would be chosing who was going to be the king and the lords and knights and serfs during our Feudalism activity the following week. They were all trying to "flatter" me and I was telling them that it wasn't working and then one kid, Sean, who was sitting on the floor in the front of the room got a big grin on his face.

"I know how to be king!" He exclaimed, and then rolled up onto one knee in front of me and pretended to open a ring box.

Needless to say, the entire class and I cracked up. And Sean, for his effort, was given the position of knight for the activity.

Hey, there was NO way that I was actually going to make him king! That would be wwwwaaayyyy too awkward! :)

Time to Stop Avoiding....

2008-05-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

All right, I've been avoiding writing this for awhile but I guess it's about time for a big update. So here goes....

So, I don't know really where to start, so I'll go back to March. I received a Form D in March, which basically says that I need to "improve" on some things and since then, have done everything that my principal requested I do- went to go see a teacher on campus as well as off-campus, meet with the 7-12 Social Studies instructor and debrief with her, etc. Since March, she came in to see me for a cumulative of 20 minutes- five minutes here, ten minutes here, three minutes here, etc. Several times I even requested for her to come in and she did for about five minutes, which was frustrating.

So on April 30th, she comes into my room 5th period on Wednesday, saying that she was "just" told by personnel that she needs to do my formal evaluation meeting by May 1st which was THE NEXT DAY! Then at the meeting, she tells me that although she's seen some improvement, she hasn't been enough (when, during all those times that she's visited????) and that after consulting with other people who have observed me (who are all teachers and therefore should not be part of the evaluative process) I'm just going through my motions because my job is on the line and that I'm not just a good fit. So she's going to decline to rehire me at the end of the year. When I tried to protest saying that I didn't feel that I was being evaluated properly because she had only been in a few minutes, she wouldn't take that into consideration saying that she's looking for very specific things (which I still don't understand how she can evaluate when she's been in for two minutes.... anyway). When I told my department, it hit the fan. One of my dept members came with me the next morning to meet with a GGEA Union rep (I love how they've just adopted me as their little girl in the department- they are so incredibly protective) and then today I was told by the principal that she wants to come in sometime this or next week to observe me "again" formally (although how it can be again when she never formally observed me in the first place is beyond me....). I was also told that someone from the district would be in during the next two weeks to observe me as well (which is nice but also frustrating since those were two weeks of testing where we see our kids every other day).

So fast forward to Thursday when she came to observe me. I was teaching a lesson on lynching and the blues. We started out by talking about music and what kind of music the kids like and it eventually led us to talking about the blues. We t hen watched a video clip from Ken Burns' Jazz DVD about the blues, which had great pictures and some awesome blues music in the background. We then listed ideas on the board why the African Americans might be "blue"- i.e. Jim Crow laws, black codes, having to sharecrop, lynching, etc. We focused on lynching, looked at some stats on lynching and then watched another clip from Jazz about the KKK and lynching. Then we turned to nine documents about lynching and they got into partner groups and analyzed one document each, summarizing it and indicating if it was a step forward for anti-lynching or a step back. After we went over each document as a class, the partner groups took a big index card, wrote their document, the date, the summary and whether it was a step forward or back. We t hen put those kind of on a vertical timeline on the board with the step forwards to the right and the step backs to the left. we discussed the significance of the steps forwards and backs and how lynching went on for quite some time after Reconstruction. Finally, we brought back the music from the beginning of the period and listened to Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit. Their homework was to fill out a metaphor chart, explaining what Billie Holiday was really talking about.

I had the principal come and observe third period. They're a small class, 17 kids, but a pretty good class, certainly 100,000 times better than at the beginning of the year. And let me tell you, we both KNOCKED IT OUT OF THE PARK! They were great, I felt so confident and at ease and when it was over, I was so proud of them and myself. I KNEW that I did a good job so no matter what happened at our meeting on Monday, I was going to know that I did my best and did a great job. She came up to me afterwards and said that she saw improvement and that we'll talk on Monday.

So another fastfoward to Monday. She starts by asking me why I taught that lesson since it wasn't a focus standard (I KNEW she was going to ask me that too and so I had a kick-butt answer prepared). I was very confident during the meeting and very articulate and explained my positions well. she made some odd nit-picky comments that were pretty ridiculous but whatever and she eventually said well, we'll continue to observe you and let you know more in June.

What the heck?

So that's when I said, very politely, of course, that I needed a more specific timeline. Especially since the job market in California for teaching is so up in the air right now, it's not fair for me to be in limbo for all that time and so I need to know sooner rather than later what the situation will be. I'm really proud for sticking up for myself (thanks department!) and although she kind of danced around an answer, I'm going to stay on her case until she let's me know. June, what the heck does that mean anyway? June is in two weeks. Beginning of June, end of June, what? But whatever happens, I know that I've done my best, my students are doing great and constantly improving and if she's dumb enough to not hire me back next year, then I don't even want to be there.

So that's the situation. Full stop.

Some more quotable quotes

2008-05-20T20:27:00.001-07:00

So disclaimer: Some of these will be funnier to me because of the context but hopefully some of them will be enjoyable to the rest of you.

Jose, Denny, Ricardo, Andy, Joe

Me (observing that a kid sitting in his chair has his wallet hanging down onto the ground): Um Sean, your wallet is just hanging out there...

Sean: Yeah I know.... this thing (pointing to the metal ninja star looking thing on his wallet) is poking my butt.

Me: Hm... thank you for sharing....

Julio (seeing if Linh has a paper since he has an extra): Excuse me, miss, do you have one?

--since when do eighth grader call each other miss or mister?

Jenny, Kendy, Irma

Jose: She doesn't want to work with me... (said with the SADDEST puppy dog face EVER)

Seventh grader (coming through a mass of kids outside the door, looking like he's just made his way through the biggest crowd ever): Everybody's hugging everybody outside!

-AMEN seventh grader- what is it with middle schoolers and having to hug everybody in their five-foot radius! They aren't even real hugs! They barely touch!

Alex: Miss Yadlin, do vegetarians eat animal crackers?

Robert and Thomas

Thomas: Miss Yadlin, have you ever seen "Not Another Teen Movie"
Me: No, I don't think so. Why?"
Thomas: Cuz you look like the girl in that movie.
Me: Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Denny (rolling up his sleeves to make his t-shirt sleeveless): Check out my guns!

Irma: Dude, Denny, you're so white!

Denny: Yeah, well, you should see my thighs!

Me: Please Denny, please don't.

Gabriel: Miss Yadlin, you're Jewish?

Me: Yes.

Gabriel: So does that mean you despise Hitler?

Me: Gabriel, I would hope that even if I were not Jewish I would despise Hitler.

Gaby, Gabriel, Melissa

Ricardo (after I confiscated, for the second time, his Magic Eye book from Melvin): Dammit Melvin!

Me: So what does pastoral mean?

Thomas: Well, pastoral is like a big meadow with flowers and little streams with deer jumping over it....

Me: Deer? When did deer get involved in this?

Man, I love these kids!

Teach What You Love

2008-04-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

I feel horrible saying this but I am so glad that we're done with China and Japan. There's nothing wrong with those subjects, but I just don't feel connected to them. I haven't been there, I don't have any stories, any anecdotes, any pictures, anything. The Chinese and Japanese were awesome, don't get me wrong. I mean, who doesn't love a good reenactment of how samurai committed hari-kari? I know my kids do.

But Europe man.... Europe is my bread and butter! I love this stuff, I eat it up, I'm consumed with it. I love telling my stories and showing my pictures and getting the kids excited about this. I get to bring in my pictures of Dover Castle and Canterbury and Southwark Cathedral and the Globe and the statue of David and Oxford and Cambridge and all these places that I'm teaching about that I've been to! I get to tell stories that I've heard myself a hundred times. I had the kids in sixth period eating of the palm of my hand this afternoon when i was telling them the story of "Why One Should Only Have One Child If One Does Not Want to Fragment Their Empire." They loved hearing about how Charlemagne's grandchildren split up his empire and then divided it again.... and again.... and again.... and again... until finally the king had to make sure all the lords were loyal so they didn't rise up against him!

They asked a ton of questions about what it was like to be a knight or a lord and lady or the king or a peasant and a serf. They even now are trying to act as good as possible because they know that next week, one of them might be king and the others will be serfs and peasants. Sean even went so far as to "propose"! He was on the ground having come up to sit nearer to the board and stated: "I know how to be king!"and then got on one knee in front of me and mimed opening a ring box! The class cracked up but it was so clever since I had dubbed myself queen of the room earlier and had gone around promising certain people that they could rule their table as long as they didn't cause me any trouble (fealty at its best).

Man oh man, I hope they continue to enjoy Europe because I know that I'm going to have a blast teaching it again.

Lesson Learned

2008-04-24T17:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, you've never supposed to touch a kid. I thought that i had the relationship with most of my kids where we could joke around but apparently I got involved with the wrong kid. yesterday, I tapped a kid with a pencil to get him to pay attention and the extent that this incident got blown out of proportion was out of control! During 4th period, Mr. Presby came by to find out what happened and I told him, because the kid had claimed that i had thrown the pencil at him. The pencil did slip out of my hand when I tapped him but there was definitely no throwing. Presby asked for some names of kids in the area pretty much for "witnesses" but apparently this kid has a mom (who I met at Open House and seemed very nice) who also likes to blame everyone but the kid.

So the next day, Presby came in before school and said the mom had called and could I apologize? I said absolutely, and I don't mind saying it in front of the class because it's no big deal. He thanked me and said that's all I needed to do and if she still had a problem and wanted the kid out of the class, I probably wouldn't have a problem with that. I replied that i certainly wouldn't shed any tears.

The funniest part of the entire thing: Third period rolls around and a few kids come in. One of them comes up to me and says "MIss Yadlin, did you get in trouble for Gabe and the pencil?" And i replied, "No, but I'll apologize to him today." She says, "Well, if you have any trouble with him, then let me know. I'll take care of it." I cracked up. Then two more kids, the two quiet, sweet Vietnamese kids who sit at his table, tell me that they were called up to the office and said that it was a tap and Gabriel was totally blowing things out of proportion. I felt so bad for those kids and they were just pissed that he had to be called up to the office for something so ridiculous (for those good kids, getting a note to come see the VP is terrifying!) Even Gaby, a friend of Gabriels' was called up to the office and said that he had blown it out of proportion. It was really funny to see all those kids ganging up on the kid and pretty much all on my side. Very interesting!

Anyway, at the end of the period, I apologized and s aid I hope that we could put this all behind me. He claimed that the only reason that he said anything was because Presby came by and asked him why he was outside. Note: he was outside because he failed to do his homework again and I was sick of it, not because he was tapped with a pencil.

At least I know now that Christina has my back... good to know. :)

Surrounding Support

2008-04-24T17:18:00.000-07:00

On my way to school this morning, a red light went on on my dashboard around the temperature guage. When I got to school, the engine seemed to me smoking a little but I really couldn't deal with it until after school. I had called Abba and he told me to get one of teh guys to help me out. Of course, what is the first thing that Mark tells me when I ask him if he knows anything about cars?

"No."

Brilliant. I didn't even try to ask Hau but instead ended up asking Irv Abrams, our lovaeble, incredibly un-PC but totally funny woodshop (and apparently life skills next year) teacher. I explained what had happened and he gave me some suggestions and said that he'd come check it out after school. So after school, Irv, dressed in his seriously bright lime-green polo (awesomest shirt ever!) and brown pants, comes out to the car with a bucket of water and proceeds to spend about twenty minutes looking at the car, trying to fill the correct compartments with water, etc. He got wet and his hands were filthy but he was so incredibly helpful! I was blown away by how well he was taking care of me. He came to the conclusion that I probably shouldn't drive home so I then sat outside on a kind of three-way conversation betewen Mom, Abba and myself and Wendy walked by. She offered to take me home even though I didn't need it but again, it was nice to have that support. The lovely ladies in the office found me a god place for me to take the car that was in Garden Grove so I wouldn't have to tow it all the way down to Lake Forest. Later that afternoon, when I was getting the car towed, both Sharlene and Steve made sure that everything was OK and that I had someone meeting me at the garage and picking me up.

Even though I don't get around to much of the staff because I'm mostly with the history department, it's nice to know that I've seemed firnedly enough for others to care. I definitely think that I have more friends on campus than the rest of the department (mostly because I'm too scared to outrightly hate anyone anyway!). I've been volunteering for things lately and that's gotten me involved witho ther people and it's nice to know that if the entire history department left (please God, don't let that happen) there would be other people around that i can be friendly with and that I know will help me out.

It's a nice feeling.... :)

Oh Idaho

2008-04-12T11:34:00.001-07:00

Things I miss and love about Idaho:
1. Downtown Boise
2. Pita Pit
3. Old Chicago
4. The HAPENNY!
5. My kids at Timberline
6. The apparetly nonexistant elk farm
7. Being able to gather around the table with eight people who kind of know each other and still be able to chat and have fun for over an hour.
8. CAMPUS- with the clocktown, memorial garden, buildlings filled with memorials, fountains, oh man I miss ACI
9. Sitting behind the 100+ car train at very specific times of day
10. The feeling that it takes longer to get from the Franklin exit to Caldwell than it does to get from Boise to Caldwell
11. the Capitol buildling, despite its reconstruction
12. the Anne Frank Human Rights memorial
13. random coffee shots like Thomas Hammer, Flying M, Java, Moxie and of course the needed Starbucks through in every once in awhile
14. Ralph Smeed's gems
15. driving past the empty hops fields on the way to church
16. church
17. my professors- history, english, ed and music, plus the admissions folk
18. driving through the center of the Activities parking lot, ala Megan
19. the random track around, but not really around, the soccer field
20. people playing golf the day after it snowed
21. 96.9 the Eagle! Best classic rock station ever!
22. Brooke's house
23. Mary's cooking
24. freeways with two lanes
25. traffic being bad if you sit for about ten minutes
26. my small group
27. all my friends
28. Idaho in general

But, because my life is not horrible down in California, here is a list of what I love about California.
1. my family
2. my friends- especially Amanda, Megan, Kristina, and Maya
3. my kids, except a few ..... :)
4. my department
5. my bed
6. the weather
7. Junior high group and staff
8. college and young adult group and staff
9. voyagers
10. Legacy
11. freeways with more than 2 lanes
12. driving against traffic both ways
13. the beach
14. San Diego
15. Elephant Bar's drinks, especially Strawberry Cyclone :)
16. walking around the lake
17. my car with the ipod connector that my rental car didn't have
18. the ability to wear tank tops nearly 365 days a year
19. palm trees
20. parks

So yeah, I totally miss Idaho but I don't have much to complain about down here either. :)

Long Overdue Update

2008-04-03T17:52:00.000-07:00

So yes, I know that it's been weeks since I've updated. Not because I've not had anything going on but mostly because too much has been going on. A lot has happened since I last posted. So let's start at the beginning.

So I didn't receive a pink slip (California's going through some pretty intense budget cuts right now) but I come back from Winter Camp to have a meeting with the principal. She told me the previous week that she wants to talk about "instructional issues" so I'm like "that's fine, let's do this". So in the meeting, she discusses some "instructional issues" that she would like to see in the classroom, like engagement (aka making Popsicle sticks with everyone's name on them to call on them in class) and "checking for understanding" (which is the new "big thing" in the district right now). Those were under issue number one and there was an issue number two that said curriculum issues or or something like that but she said absolutely nothing about that. So after the meeting I go over to Catherine and she's like "this is a Form D! She can't give you this after the deadline." She immediately gets on the phone to GGEA, the union and sends me over to go see them immediately. Apparently, a Form D basically is what you get if they're maybe thinking of not having you back next year. If she didn't want me back at the end of the year, she would have had to previously given me a Form D. This doesn't mean that I'm done for and I'm not getting my job back next year, but basically I'm on the chopping block. Anyway, I go over to GGEA and talk to the president and he tells me that she can give me a Form D whenever she wants but to give me one with no warning and having only been in my classroom twice in the last two months (one of those times being a day they specifically told us to not teach new material since half the kid would be out for the Spanish language test) is pretty shady.

Now what does this mean for me now? Well, basically it's Suck-Up City time. I basically need to show her in as many ways possible that I'm trying to be the teacher that she wants me to be. If that means making note cards with my kids' names on them to useto call on them in class, do it (check). If that means going to observe Mark and his questioning strategies, do it (check). If that means going to visit another off-site teacher to observe, do it (will be checked after Spring Break). If that means meeting with a TOSA after I'm observed, do it (check). If that means attending optional meetings, no matter how inane, do it (I will be attending probably every single upcoming advisement meeting for the year of my life). And this sucks. Not the extra stuff that I have to do per say but really the sucking up to someone that i don't really like and respect. I really don't have confidence in my principal. I have watched her around the students and they can walk all over her. You can't have that in an administrator of a middle school, especially a middle school with some pretty tough kids. They should not be saying that Friday Follow Through (Friday detention for not doing homework during the week) is fun when she's there because they know that they can talk. It's very very frustrating. I realized that there is no way in hell that i can ever present my thesis to the school without cutting out a lot because everything that I discovered about what makes a good school with a strong culture is missing from my school right now. It's out of control!

Thank goodness for my department though. From minute one of getting the Form D, they have been behind me, giving me whatever I've needed, from support to humor to a letter to the ACLU asking if we have a lawsuit on our hands since both Jimmy (the teacher who was fired last year) and I are Jewish. I'm so grateful and lucky to have such a great department and also support of people outside of the department who have been on my side with this. So that's where my saga ends for the moment. Who knows what will happen as things go on. Tomorrow my kids take their benchmark and then I'm off for Spring Break. Thank goodness- it cannot come soon enough!

Some quotes that I remembered....

2008-03-17T19:09:00.000-07:00

Alex: How old do you have to be to retire?
Me: Um, usually 65.
(long pause...)
Alex: How old is Mrs. Tartaglini?

ouch.....!

This one was more a quote on my part but the kids loved it.
Me: So when you're powerful enough to take over an entire country, you get to decide what religion they are. So the Chinese came into Korea and spread Buddhism through the power they had.
Brayhan: Miss Yadlin, do you like power?
Me: Brayhan, who doesn't?
Brayhan: I don't like it when people who don't have a lot of power think that they really do have a lot of power.
Me: Well listen, Brayhan. I don't care how much power you think I have. All I'm going to remind is that I'm still in charge of the gradebook.
Class: Oooohhh (softly)
Me: Oh, and would you like some ice with that burn (said of course with a grin).
Class: Ohhh! Brayhan, she told you!

And this one came today while discussing the accidental invention of tea.
Benny: So tea was actualy an accident.
Me: Yes, Benny. A lot of what is invented comes because of an accident.
David: So does that mean I'm an accident?

Quotable Quotes

2008-03-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

Amanda told me that I should write down all the funny quotes my kids have said over the months so I'm going to start compiling them here. I can't remember too many off the top of my head so for now, I'm just going to put the ones that I can remember and then try to add to them later.

Denny: No straight man is name Chester!

Nick: Why do British people say "wink wink, nudge nudge" all the time? (when requesting that I speak in a British accent)

Me: Yeah, I was kind of in a bad mood yesterday.
Kristine: Yeah, we noticed....

OK, I for the life of me can't think of any more right now. I'll think of more later though and make sure to write them down and add them. Trust me, my kids are funnier than I make them out to be :)

Breaks My Heart....

2008-02-26T20:23:00.001-08:00

One quote that I wish I never have to hear again:

"Can I come do my dentention tomorrow because my family is going to visit my brother in jail today?"

Absolutely heartbreaking.

Jingles

2008-02-26T20:16:00.000-08:00

At the end of last semester, Catherine and I had our kids write jingles to sum up what they knew about the Aztecs, inca and Maya. Here now, a month later, are the top quality ones.

(this one is sung to the tune of "Dashing Through the Snow")
Dashing through the swamp
In a one llama open sleigh
Through the grass bridges we go
Yelling Quechua all the way.
People about to die
By being sacrificed
Oh what fun it is to collapse
Someone else’s land!
All the slaves and warriors
They were sacrificed
Just to be tribute to
The gods in the skies.
They started to collapse
When Pizarro came and robbed.
Their king never returned
Because he was kidnapped.
We used chinampas to farm
To grow tobacco, tomatoes, and peppers.
Sweet potatoes corn and beans
In their swampy area.
They saw death, they saw death
As an honorable thing!
Oh they thought that killing
People was a sport.

(this one is sung to, I believe, "My Name Is" by Eminem..... and it did NOT get a good grade because I TOLD them a hudnred times to focus on more than just killing people....)

Hey kids, do you like violence? (yeah, yeah!) Do you want to see us the Maya, Aztec, Inc stick three-inch nails on each one of our eyelids? (OK!) Then you better watch us sacrifice all these people and play the death game. (Alright!) Which is the reason why we’re all gonna be extinct in exactly 100 years of less, expect the Inca. (I know!) Hi, our cultures name is (huh?) our name is (what?) our names are the Aztec, Inc and Maya (awesome!). Now watch up buy slaves just with one llama to stick a sword through his guts and eat them (Cool!). Now watch me sacrifice this person by cutting his head off with my sword (Sweet!) We’re all gonna die now because we’re all gonna be sacrificed now. Remember out names, the Maya, Aztec and Inca (Yes!) (Uh…. Die sound) Time to celebrate by eating our crops now!

(not sung to the tune of anything really...)

I am the Maya
I do the farm work
While my sisters do the chores
I believe religion
Is the center of life
Our people invented
The number zero
Our people sacrificed
All our slaves
We know…. How to….
Protect us with walls
So you better not mess with us at all
Bt if you ever want to meet us
We’ll never be there
Teotihuacán is our capital
And we disappeared
Oh…
I am the Aztec
I get educated till
I’m ten
You better pay a tribute
If you don’t want to die
You can visit us by the gulf
But you better not betray us
Like Hernan Cortez
He is the reason
We all are dead
Oh…
I am the Inca
You can find us
By the Andes
I hope you’re healthy
Cause you have to climb high
I live on a farmland
The mountains are hard to farm…
We don’t use chinampas
So terrace farming is for us
We call our selves
The “Children of the Sun”
You better not betray us
Or we’ll kill you all
You better not be
Francisco Pizarro
Because we’ll kill you all
So which one of us do you like the best?
Is it me?
Is it me?
Is it me?
Or is it me?????

(sung to.... what else? Yes, "Jingle Bells")

Jingle bells, Aztecs kill, conquistadors are from hell, we hate them, they hate us, they are conquering us, oh! This battle will be recorded in the best codices in Tenochtitlan, we’re running out, of food, from our chinampas, ah Quetzlcoatl must ate us, he needs more sacrifices, what fun it is to die from the Spanish armada tonight, oh!
Jingle bells, Incas, tell, stories from oral tradition, right now they sing of Pizarro conquering civilization, first he wanted gold, then he took Sappa Inca, then he held him ransom and ended up killing him, oh!
Jingle bells, Mayas are scholars, they invented zero, they were great stonemasons, they had a calendar, and used a codex, ho ho ho, they played death ball, talk about organized culture, this concludes my presentation.

(this one too is sung to the tune of.... nothing....)

Maya, Aztecs, Incas too… Let us tell you something new!
Sacrifices were important. Religion made an impact too… the Maya and Aztecs in Mesoamerica, he Incas lived in South American, so let us tell you something new.
The Incas loved their llamas, for they were essential for their needs: traveling, fertilizing crops, wool for clothing, and transport too! The Incas used terrace farming for growing leveled crops while the Aztecs used chinampas as floating gardens to grow food!
Aztec, Mayan calendars, keep track to play their games. They use their hips to hit the ball, losers get sacrificed after all! Inti, Chac, Quetzlcoatl, are the sun gods that the three empires praised! Incas, Aztecs, Mayas did religious sacrifices to please their gods as a tribute all in all!
Men were priests, warriors, hunters too. Women cooked, made clothes, created medicine. Women often married to Royal Families who lived in distant states, which created an alliance! These were the Mayan roles! Girls were taught to stay home, but those who got pregnant were honored. Women were skilled craftsmen too. Men were told to be tough and were farmers, artisans or traders. They could join the noble class, by doing one act of bravery. These were the Aztec roles!
The Mayas weren’t so nice. They threw captives into watery pits to please their gods, which wasn’t very polite. Aztecs, Incas, were conquered by conquistadors. Cortes defeated Aztecs, where Pizarro defeated the Incas
Nobody knows how Mayan’s empire collapsed. Aztecs are dead because of Cortez. Inca’s ended because of the Spaniards. Hope you enjoyed our jingle and maybe it will become a single.

From JJ

2008-02-21T16:03:00.000-08:00

This isn't necessarily about teaching but it IS about books- therefore I deem it appropriate for this blog (plus, I'm the author- I get to choose to put whatever I want in here....) So here goes.

1) One book that changed your life.

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I loved it as a story when I was little and then when I grew up, I felt a strong connection to the symbolic ties- Aslan sacrificing himself, Edmund's temptation of Turkish Delight and being a prince, the power of family and friendship. Plus, things just get better as you read on and continue to see symbols in the other six Chronicles of Narnia.

2) One book that you have read more than once.

The Outsiders. It's short but so incredibly powerful that as soon as I get to the end, I just want to go back to the beginning and read it all over again. (It's also possible that I want to do so because the last lines and first lines are the same....)

3) One book you would want on a desert island.
Honestly, probably The Idiot's Guide to Survival. Seriously, I highly doubt my abilities to keep myself alive on a desert island. Now, if I was just chilling on a desert island for a long time by myself, I'd probably want London by Edward Rutherfurd because it's loooooonnng and keeps me captivated.

4) Two books that made you laugh.
Anything by Bill Bryson but especially Notes from a Small Island. Parts like "My neighbor is a darkie", "Colins Crapspanties", "Don't call me bub....", pretty much made me snort with laughter the entire time.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. So bizarre (no wonder, coming from the likes of Douglas Adams) but also so hilarious. It teachings you how to fly, reminds you of the dangers of tax evasion (being dead for a year), the answer to the Big Question of Life, the Universe and Everything (42) and features at one point of a cello player. Plus, how can you not laugh at an alien who spends his entire life going around and insulting every single person in the entire universe?

5) One book that made you cry.
Only Revolutions by Mark Danielewski. By the time I got to the end, I was so entranced by the love Sam and Hailey had for each other than by the time the book concluded and it wasn't the happy ending I was expecting, I had tears running down my cheeks.

6) One book you wish you’d written.
The Little House on the Prairie books. First of all, I grew up wanting to be Laura Ingalls Wilder. Secondly, because she wrote it, she obviously experienced so much history- living in Indian Territory and being removed by the US Army; living in the Dakotas before they were states; experiencing the locust plagues that often happened in the midwest. She lived such a life, seeing all these things! I'm jealous!

7) One book you wish had never been written.

Honestly, I can't think of one right now (at least something significant- I kind of don't like all those self-help books, which I never read, but I guess they're useful to someone...) but when I was in eleventh grade, I HATED reading Tess of the d'Urbervilles and honestly wished that Thomas Hardy had spent his life doing something else. Maybe he would have been a good blacksmith?

8)Two books you are currently reading.

Before. I just stared it so there's not too much to say although I have been enjoying the first few chapters. Also, technically it's not reading but it is a book so I say it counts. I'm listening to The Da Vinci Code on CD when I fall asleep and it's been interesting. As a basis for Christian belief, it's crap, as a story, it's decently captivating. But as a written piece of work, honestly, it's also kind of crap. Dan Brown is not the world's best author... not even close. But at least he can hold an audience.

9) One book you’ve been meaning to read.
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand. Colin's told me for teh last four months to read it. I've given it a start but didn't have a chance to finish so I'm got to go back and give in another try this summer, possibly when I go to England since I'll have lots of time on my hands.

Life and Times of Die Fuhrer

2008-02-19T17:44:00.000-08:00

Here is the paper on Hitler written by the kid in my fifth period that i referenced below. All spelling and gramatical errors are left in their original form.

Hitler Report

Hitler, the man who started and caused depression and angered others deeply. He was borned in Austria. He lived a poor life and later became homeless then soon je joined an army in Germany. theen leaders of Germany and Hitler started world war one. Then later on the war was ended, germany lost. Soon Hitler came to realize he hated Jewish people. He started well known racism. As hew as in the army his rank ascended. He had plans of massacreing Jewish people. So he did, which started the Holocaust. by then he became a leader of a fierces party, Nazis. His political party and military soon took the swastika symbol, symbol of which many type of people worshipped. Those people were very angry but were massacred too if you were against Hitler. Many Jews were so afraid of him he was soon known as a tyrant, fierce, dictator. during his plans the "Holocaust" killed many Jews. Attacked cities of the eastern side of Austria and eastern Europe. He'd also killed pople who are not the same as him or normal or something that he is not. That whole event caused world war two. Almost all countries that were against him teamed up to defeat Hitler and the nazis. Not long till other countries learned his teachings and ways "communist". After a long period of tie USA and other countries defeated the outrageous party and Hitler. He decided to kill himself, "suicide". The terror and fear was ended but not al was done. Most of the Asian countries went through his ways, "communist". Many people's lives were taken even the young were taken out, and mostly Jews of all kind, young, old and middle aged. Most were glad that that event was over. Soon other countries did communism but some were ended. And now still today they still do his teachings. Never the less we hope pain of our wounds will heal from the past.

Wow. Speechless.

Brother Future

2008-02-19T17:27:00.000-08:00

When I was in eighth grade, every single class watched "Glory". Great movie. Plus, who doesn't like Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, Morgan Freeman and Andrew Braugher. Depending on time and everything, I may even show it to my own kids. What I had never heard of before was a movie called "Brother Future". Mark and Hau told me about it and I later went to go google it. The first thing that popped up was "science-fiction story...." and I was like "wow, um, OK...." Then I read further and got a little more worried. Basically, "Brother Future" is a story about a black kid named TJ from Detriot who's got a lot of street cred and basically thinks that he can do better hustling and making money from the street than goign to scool. He doesn't care about his past or his heritage- he's jsut interested in making money. One day, he's running from the police, gets hit by a car and wakes up in Chartleston, 1822. When I read that, I thought "Oh man, the kids are going to laugh me to Kalamazoo and back." While in Charleston, he is caught and thought to be a runaway slave. He's sold to a man name Mr Cooper at a slave auction and goes to work on Master Cooper's plantation. He meets a bunch of peope there- a friend named Josiah who is trying to read, Josiah's gf Caroline, the black slavedrive Zeke and Mortilla, a paml reader who tells TJ that in order to get home, he must help another slave without getting anythign in return and then find the big tree. Again, kind of cheesy and I'm getting concerned with the reactino of the kids.

Over the course of TJ's time in the plantation, he gets himself whipped, accidentally gets his friend Josiah whiped, hits on caroline, tries to run away and then ends up going to meet Denmark Vesey (woohoo! Real person!) He becomes involved with a slave revolt, led by Vesey and other slaves, including Josiah. Josiah, TJ and Caroline all try and escape after Zeke rats out the plan to Cooper and the two evil men chase after the three slaves. TJ stalls them while Josiah adn Caroline escape. Cooper shoots TJ and he falls from the shot, right under the big tree (after, of course, helping out someone without getting something in return.... cue cheesy music....). He awakens and leanrs that he really needs to know about his past and his heritage in order to know himself and learns that to help yourself, you have to help others. The end. Happiness all around.

So, by the time I decide to show this, I'm worried. I was borrowing the video from Mark, so I didn't know how the kids were going to react. But it turns out they were captivated. It really ended up not beign cheesy at all. The acting was decent, there weren't to omany bad lines, and best of all, the kids really got a sense of what like was like on a plantation in pre-Civil War times. I was really quite relieved. Incidentally, TJ was played by a young Phill Lewis, who now is apparently a character named Mr. Mosely on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, whcih the kids loved, and Denmark Vesey was played by none other than Carl Lumbley, who played Dixon on Alias.

So, I definitley will be showing Brother Future again in the future (no pun intended....)

Long Overdue Update

2008-02-19T16:53:00.000-08:00

So, first semester has come and gone and we're into the third week of second semester. It's been a crazy last few weeks and honestly, I just haven't been motivated to update. But here, first of all, is a little recap of all my classes and how they're going.

First period- they're doing just fine. The only problem is that in the last two weeks, I've gotten two new students. One of them is from out of the district/county and doesn't know what the last thing that she did was. The other student came from a school in the district and when I asked her what she was learning, she said she didn't remember. I replied, "How can you not remember? You were just there last week!" To which she replied that she hadn't been in school for two weeks because she had been suspended for fighting. Well, fan-frickin'-tastic. Where do these people come from!

Second period- The only major problem with this class right now is my loud-mouth, life-enthusiastic kid who needs to just tune down the loud-mouth life-enthusiasm. he's a great kid, smart, highest (usually) grade in the class but just needs to learn when it's appropriate and when it's not. Hopefully he'll start to learn the more he has to stay after school. By the way, I don't know if I mentioned this earlier, but the rentention kid from fifth period who moved is now back and in my second period. And honestly, he's been fine. Still rolls his eyes and says "oh my god" but he's been doing his work and hasn't been rude or out of line so that's been nice.

Third period- Due to several kids moving or transfering into other periods, I now have 18 kids on this class and they're amazing. I love them. It's hard to believe that three months ago, they were a class that I didn't like and was having issues with. I think the fact that it is so small helps. I can connect with them on another level and can give them individual attention. They're not always thebrightest, but they're hard working kids, we've got some good report and some good inside jokes and they seem to be excited about what we're learning about right now.

Fifth period- Pretty much the same as last semester. Special-Ed boy still driving me (and pretty much the rest of the class) crazy (except for the day his MOM came in and sat with him during class... man!) but what can you do. The rest of the kids have been doing pretty well. Funny story- one kid (I don't remember hwo we got onto this subject) said that something about Hitler being cool or interesting or something like that. I was pretty shocked and so I said "OK, what I want you to do is go and write me a one page report on Hitler." And he did! I'll include it in its own separate post because, despite some flaws, he obviously did some research. So go him.

OK, so that's my eighth graders. My seventh graders are a whole 'nother story. So, they're definitely not as smart as my kids were last semester and they don't seem to try as hard. The major problem that I'm having with them is that they're not very quick on the uptake with learning my class rules. I've had to keep both classes after for talking, not raising their hand, wasting class time, etc. and I'm hoping that they're starting to learn. I wish that I remembered more of how it was the first few weeks with my first semester kids (dang, I knew I should have taken better notes....) to see if they're taking more or less time to adjust. Another thing that's hard with both of the classes is the amount of prior knowledge that they have. Which is none. Seriously, my kids don't know the 50 states, they don't know the differences between cities and countries and states, they can't tell me what number is approx halfway between 85 and 90, they don't know how to plot numbers on a chart, it's crazy! I know that elementary teachers need to focus on math and reading but if they don't teach basic history skills, then I can't teach what I need to! I'm struggling with that SO much but I'm really working to try and go as basic as I can with the amount of time that I have.

They also seem to have an issue with homework. I know that I started right at the beginning of the year with Friday Follow Through with my other kids so maybe I really have to enforce that right off the bat with these kids too and then back of when they start doing their homework. Many of them have already lost the privilige of turning their HW in late and I'm really thinking of doing away with it compeltely at this point because it just makes a whole heckuva lot more work for me and it just rewarding them for not doing their work in the first place. Because they either don't do their homework or they do it so poorly that it's basically worthless. Sigh.

I do like most of the kids though. There are some uber excited ones that just make me smile a lot and there are also some kids who really try hard. One quick story- there's a kid in my sixth period class who has a language issue, as well as a learning disability. So I can tell rright off the bat that there's something wrong with him and David (SDC and RSP teacher) confirms that with me last week. So despite the fact that this kid probablyd oesn't udnerstand a word coming out of my mouth nor does he understand the amterial, he is the HARDEST try-er in the class. His effort and perseverence to get his assignments in is amazing- all theo ther kids in the class need to take a look at him and have him be their example. he's fantastics. so for the story... today, after lunch, he walks into my classroom. "Marco," I said, "it's fifth period. You're not in here until sixth period." He is absolutely convinced that i'm wrong, that it's sixth period and that he's in the right room. I finally have to ask him if he recognizes anyone in the class (which, of ocurse, causes a kid to say "hey, he knows me!"- thanks, that defeats the purpose...), and finally he gets it. He is so precious!

So yeah, that's the update. Welcome to my life....

My seventh graders

2008-02-01T19:32:00.001-08:00

Pictures of my fourth period kids....
Pictures of my sixth period kids...

Things That I've Learned

2008-02-01T19:16:00.000-08:00

In light of the end of the first semester and beginning of the second semester, here are TEN things that I've had learned these last four months (but don't worry, I've learned more than this.... these are just the fun ones).

1. Always hole punch the handouts that you give. There's a 99% chance the students will NOT have a hole punch, there is a 99% chance that mine will get stolen if I give it out so, therefore, life will be eaiser for all if I hole punch the handouts myself.

2. Always make sure that the pencil sharpener is emptied- pretty much on a daily basis.

3. Be careful when calling on students who hold a pencil up when raising their hand. Most likely they don't want to answer the question, they just want to sharpen their pencil.

4. Always make WAY too many copies. Too much is much better than too little.

5. Never underestimate the mind of a seventh grader. They may pull something on you that will pretty much make you dissolve in laughter and end the lesson right there and then.

6. Boys will probably always play with those little fingerboards in seventh and eighth grade. They did when I was a seventh and eighth grader, they still will when my kids are seventh and eighth graders.

7. You can get yourself a lot of street cred with seventh graders by showing the collection of fingerboards that you've collected from the eighth graders...

8. A look of death can go a long, long way....

9. Practice makes perfect so PRACTICE not smiling, no matter what an eighth grader says about the sexual orientation of Chester A. Arthur ("no straight man is named Chester")

and finally.....

10. Learn to not flinch despite how bizarre a student's haircut might be.... how much cracking a seventh grader's voice might experience..... how ridiculous a girl's outfit may be...... and especially what their hair looks like after they show up in your class after P.E. and/or a very windy day.

Demon Possession and Bad Moods

2008-01-29T16:11:00.000-08:00

For the most part, these last three weeks with my kids have been amazing. Other than minor disturbances here or there, the kids have been well behaved, friendly, inquisitive, not annoying, etc. Until sixth period Thursday. If this has been a Friday, I would have understood. But this was a regular, run-of-the-mill, ordinary Thursday afternoon. Which is why I am convinced that during sixth period, my seventh graders were possessed by demons. I was tempted to find myself some holy water, ala Sam and Dean style to see what I was dealing with. I have no idea what their problem was. They were talkative, noisy, they refused to settle down and, this is my biggest pet peeve, did the whispering and shuffling through things while I tried to talk. it got so bad and they wasted so much of my time that they ended up spending 4 minutes after school. I haven't had to do that with them in literally months! And the following day, they were fine!!! Ridiculous! I swear, demonic possession or satanic influence must have had something to do with this.

On the same sort of note regarding the major changes from day to day, I was in a horrible mood first period yesterday. I haven't been sleeping well, I had a major headache and the majority of the students hadn't done their homework. So basically, it was a "don't piss Miss Yadlin" off day. And they pissed me off. So first period was pretty tense. The rest of the day got better but the entire time I was praying that things just went up from this point, that the horrible first period wouldn't be the high point of the week. So this morning, I was in a much better mood, things were good and one of my students comes in and is like "Miss Yadlin, you're in a good mood this morning!" And I replied, "Yeah, I know, I was kind of in a bad mood this morning." And she replies in return, "Um yeah, we could tell." Nothing like the words out of the mouths of babes to put you in your place.

Final closing remarks- Thursday is my last day with my seventh graders! I'm so bummed! But i am looking forward to hopefully an even better crew next semester. Keeping those fingers cross and keeping that holy water in hand, just in case.....

Recap and Update

2008-01-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

So I haven't written in a week not because things have been bad but maybe because things have been good. These last two weeks (two weeks? sometimes it seems like it's been longer, sometimes shorter...) have actually been amazing. I was incredibly worried about how the kids were going to react to being back at school after break but I have been blown away. Every day has been great. I have no idea what's going on differently or what's been changing but it's been fantastic. We've been having a great time in all classes and I've been feeling really confident. In the eighth grade classes, I've been doing more of my own lessons which I hope have been keeping them entertained and the end result of their test seemed better than before. I need to try and get an average for all the tests and see how they did and see if I can make some sense of teh data but yeah, in general, I've been feeling REALLY good.

CHANGE IS GOOD!

2008-01-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

So my friend Megan and I were talking over hot chocolate and Daphne's tonight. One of the things that we ended up talking about was the idea of change. It's a long story about how we got there but in a nutshell, we were talking about how brutal junior high was. If you weren't in the cool crowd, your life could sometimes be miserable. If you weren't one of those kids who wore the right clothes and knew the right people and did the right things after school, forget being popular. And for those of us who were on the outside, we had such a fascination for those girls in the cool crowd. Even though you knew that your smarts and your brain would take you so much further in life, there was still this obsession, as Megan said, with those girls. And it wasn't as if they were nice.... even if you were on their side and you pissed them off or did something, they would give you up in a second. Presby and I were also talking about that today. A student got arrested at our school today and they knew it was him because his seven friends gave him up. They were all asked to write down on a piece of paper who did it and they all wrote down "It was John" except for John who wrote "It wasn't me." He told me that in junior high, it's every man for himself, you look out for yourself and there's is absolutely no loyalty. He paired this with a story from the high school where he sat with some high schoolers at lunch every day for a month trying to get them to tell him who stole a dictionary from a teacher's classroom and they just wouldn't budge and wouldn't give each other up.

In high school, this obsession just seemed to get worse. In a way you longed to be a part of the cool crowd but on the other hand, you really didn't want to be friends with them because they were mean and they drank and they talked behind peoples backs. Yet we knew every single detail about their lives. I know for me, I would always be really quiet around them, especially in class. They would use me to ask for help and then forget about me and talk about their inner social life and I, being the awed person I was, would just sit quietly and listen. I knew all the details of their inner circle and really, as much as part of me wanted to be a part of them, the other part knew that I would be miserable.

Fast forward now to college and post-college. All these people are still friends! And here's is where the Change is Good phrase comes into play. I'm not saying there's anything bad about being friends with people from high school. Heck, I still am friends with friends from my high school. But I've also branched out. I've grown. I've found out who I am. I've found what makes me happy. I'm totally and completely happy spending more than six hours a day with 150 squirmy, ADD, hyperactive, sometimes unmotivated kids. I love and adore the friends that I've kept from high school. They were an integral part in helping me find out who I am. But I've also made new friends. The friends that I've made in college and beyond far outnumber the friends I had in high school (and I am not that popular). I look at the people in that cool crowd in high school and junior high and I know that they're always going to have each other. But I wonder if they're going to be happy. I wonder if they've been caught up in this same social circle for so long that they don't know how to get out. I don't think they realize that change is good. Moving on is good. Meeting new people and making new friends and having new experiences is good. Being exclusive for the rest of your life is not going to get you anywhere. Part of me wonders if in twenty years, they're going to be looking back at their life and wondering where it all went wrong....

I'm not entirely sure where exactly I was heading with this when I started writing. In general, Megan and I had a really great conversation about the idea that changing is good and it was really great to talk and share with someone who was kind of there in the same place as I was, in a totally different school. It definitely made me think about my kids later when I got home and I hope for all of them that they can take those steps out of their comfort level, that they should strive to push the boundaries of their confinements. Overall, I want them to know that sixth period history class in seventh grade is not the rest of their life, junior high is not the rest of their life, college is not the rest of their life, it's just the steps that are being taken on this long road that we do call life. I want them to be able to lookg back at their life one day and be proud of how they lived, be proud of what they accomplished and most importantly, be proud of the changes that they saw over the years.

Debating and Discussing

2008-01-08T17:09:00.000-08:00

I decided spur of the moment yesterday, admist discussions about the Electoral College and my realization that my kids realy know nothing about the world they live in, to assign my eighth graders a newspaper project where every week they get an article about the campaign and summarize it. I know that most won't do it but hopefully it'll get a few of them involved in what's going on and how the upcoming election will affect them. In first period, we ended up having a very long discussion about why they, as thirteen and fourteen-year-olds, they should be interested and should care who was president. We talked about policies that presidents have that will affect us- education laws, environmental laws, taxation law which, although mainly affect their parents, also affect them. But then we got onto teh discussion illegal immigrants and how illegal immigrants can't vote so why should they care. This got us onto a discussion of illegal immigration and why people immigrate and why Mexicans tend to do the more menila work and the American dream.
Anyway, this was a very long discussion and of course, you have to be INCREDIBLY careful about what you say. Usually I'm good at picking up when kids want to talk about "issues" but really just want to get me off-track but today, they were all really engaged and seemed extremely passionate about it, which seemed to make sense because a lot of it actually applied to them and their families.

Then, in fourth and sixth period, we were discussing Machiavelli. I love Machiavelli. I don't agree with nearly anything that he says but in generall, I think that what he says really rings true for a lot of people and certainly for a lot of leaders. The two main quotes that we were debating and deciding whether we agreed or disagreed with were "It is better to be feared than loved" and "The ends justifies the means". The best discussion took place in, obviously, foruth period. Most of them agreed that they wanted to be a combination of feared and loved. If you're feared than most of the things that people do for you are because they're scared but if someone loves you, they go it because they genuinely want to. I loved playing Devil's Advocate and pushing them to explain what they were thinking.

In fourth period, we were also able to talk about the quote where Machiavelli says "the only thing that prince's should learn is war and peace is just a time to breathe and get ready for the next war" (ok, so that's paraphrased, but the basic gist). This quote was interesting because we started listening things that rulers should be learned in. Students said things like history, theology, and then one kid speaks up.

Eric: How about philosophy?

Me: OK, good, philosophy. Why should they learn philosophy?

Eric: I don't know, I'm just throwing that out there.

Me: Eric, do you know what philosophy is?
Eric: No, no I don't.

Oh Eric.... :)

First Day Back

2008-01-07T21:16:00.000-08:00

I was definitely nervous for my first day back after vacation. First of all, I had pretty much done nothing over the break, which was fine. I didn't really have anything to do, I graded the papers that I needed to (plus I offically finished and sent off my thesis... let's see what additional changes Maughan wants to make) but I was worried about the pattern of going to bed really late (darn West Wing episodes, Rob Lowe and Sudoku) and waking up late and then watching a bunch of West Wing episodes and listening to the Outsiders commentary during the day. Anyway, so I was worried about that, and I was also definitely worried about how the kids were going to be. I always remembered how inattentive I was during my first days back when I was in junior high and high school (even college) so I was worried about my kids. But in all honesty, it went really well. First period was actually a little rough but I think, no, i know that tomorrow will be better because my second period, I had hit my stride and the kids had hit their stride as well. And the majority of my seventh graders actually turned their projects in! I was looking over soem of them tonight and most of them are really great. I'm looking forward to the sixth period presentations tomorrow.

In other good news, fifth period has gone really great. Special Ed Boy is still acting up, despite supposedly being scared into submission but when hes's not aroudn or when he's quiet, then the class is so much better. I'm really looking forward to working more with them and seeing how they hopefully continue to improve. In even more good news, I pretty much have seventh grade lesson plans taken care of until... wait for it... wait for it... next Tuesday! Yes! We're testing next Tuesday and so basically, I have the entire unit planned out. So that's really nice and will help me to focus more on the eighth graders.

So all in all, it was a really great day, not at all as bad as I thought/expected/assumed, etc. And, January means three-day weekend. Thank you MLK for all that you did for Civil Rights and I'm sorry that you had to die for us to have a three-day weekend. But I appreciate it nonetheless.

Oh, and the final good news before I go. I think I'm going to Idaho during the second week fo April. This means I'll get to see my kids from last year! Yay!!!

Some pictures

2008-01-01T22:32:00.000-08:00

These are SO late in being posted but I finally found time to download them from my camera. A few weeks ago, in my seventh grade class, we did an interactive activity which helped the kids know what life in Feudal Europe was. We arranged the classroom into four manors and a castle. The king or queen, depending on the class, got to sit on a chair on top of the table, wear a crown and be ruler of the class. The four lords got to sit on the tables, the serfs had to tie themselves to the table leg with a ribbon because they were tied to the land (and lord, did I not pray ever second of fourth andsixth period that there wouldn't be a fire drill....) and the knights got to travel freely from one place to another. The lords had to swear an oath of loyalty to the king in order to get their food and land tokens, each serf had to swear loyalty to their lord and give up some food tokens and the lords had to bid using food and land tokensto get the loyalty of the knights. It was a really fun activity (although some serfs moaned about being tied to the table because they wanted to be a lord- and then shut up when I told them that it sucked being born into a role, right?) We had a really great discussion afterwards and I really think that it helped them understand Feudal Europe. So enjoy the pictures.

Way to be king, eh????

The poor serfs tied to the land....

Explaining why he wants to serve this particular lady

Ladies swearing their oath to the King

Knight swearing oath to the Lord

One would think one would be a little more excited to be king, eh?

HURRAH!!!!!

2007-12-20T22:30:00.000-08:00

So I know that I've complained here numerous times about my fifth period class- mainly the three guys that drive me crazy. Well, here is an update. I finally got so incredibly frustrated that I emailed the counselor, the Vice Principal and the two case workers of the special ed kid (we'll call him John to preserve some anonymity). John's the one on a special ed plan who sits and does nothing and disrupts the class and usually ends up sitting outside because class runs much smoother with him not around. Basically I told them all that I had tried everything I could think of with him, that I had no more strategies and that if something didn't change (talking to his parents, talking with the counselor, etc.) then i didn't want him in my class anymore. It was that bad. So a few days later, he starts shaping up.... I talked to the Vice Principal and apparently there was a meeting with Dad, both Dad and Johnny boy were crying and basically they told him that if he wasn't going totake advantage of his special ed accommodations, they would take him off and he'd have to repeat the eighth grade. Since then (about a week), he's been amazing! Doing his work, not talking in class, it was fantastic! I even wrote a note home to Dad about his change in behavior. He still needs constant attention, especially to keep him on task, but he's working! By goodness he's workign! This week was a little less positive but he was still working, just a little more jumpy. But a few warnings sets him back on track.

So, then, with John not taking out, I still had to deal with Brandon (again, anonymity, not his real name). With John not taking my attention and acting out in class, Brandon decides that it's his turn. He makes fun of other students, calls them mean nicknames, draws inappropriate pictures with his friend, and so he started being the one to be sent outside. Basically, you act out in my class, you're out. You don't get me respect, you're out. So he's here Monday and Tuesday of lats week and then was out Wed-Fri as well as Monday and Tuesday of THIS week. And then, thank you Jesus, I get a big white paper which reads that Brandon is transferring out of the school. Hallelujah! I was so incredibly excited. I know that's horrible but with Brandon gone and John not acting out anymore and the third amigo of the group having no one to banter with, I so looking forward to actually being able to teach my fifth period. I don't expect a huge change because I have a lot of ELL students in the class anyway, but I will now have more time to focus on the other 18 students in the class, not just the two of them. So excited!!!!

We Are Family....

2007-12-11T22:24:00.000-08:00

I've kind of been going through a minor crisis at work these last few days and one of the things that I've come to realize through all of this is that my department is just like a family. Mark is definitely the slightly irrational dad, very passionate and very "Mama Bear-ish", as in always wanted what's best for the department/family. He sometimes gets VERY angry when people attack his family and he is really the true definition of a dad. Catherine is the mother of the group, much calmer and composed, but very protective. She gives really great advice and is quiet about it, not over-reacting but trying to find solutions for everything. Then there's Hau, who's like the older brother who enjoys torturing the younger sister, which is me. And I'm the little sister, the baby of the family, who everyone protects but teases nonetheless. It's really great- I've been so lucky to have such an awesome and totally supportive department. I haven't had to reinvent the wheel, they accepted me into the department the minute that I arrived at the school. I could be spending hours and hours coming up with new lesson plans but being able to collaborate and talk with the department and share their materials has been such a blessing. I'm really lucky to have such a great department, especially one that's just like a family

A WTF Mate Moment

2007-12-05T17:20:00.000-08:00

So I don't mind when people come in and observe me teach. Feather's done it, the principal has done it, no big deal at all. I usually just ignore them and go on teaching is if nothing was different (except for making emphasizing some of the strategies that I know they want to see.....) Anyway, no biggie if you want to come and watch me. But just don't talk to my kids. Let me teach and don't distract my kids from their focus on me and the lesson.

And that's where my WTF Mate moment comes into play (if you don't know what WTF Mate means, watch this: http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end. It's effing hilarious). Anyway, my WTF Mate moment. I'm in the middle of teaching yesterday when Betsy, my principal comes in. As mentioned above numerous times, no biggie. We're wrapping up a brainstorming of what clothing, people and supplies would be needed for the Lewis and Clark expedition and then I give them a graphic organizer to fill out while using a supplemental reading magazine. I start to wander around the room, keeping kids on track, helping them to focus, answering questions, etc. and she starts doing the same. Again, no big deal. I don't mind if they have a question and she helps out, fine. But (and here comes the WTF Mate moment...), I pass by her talking to a group of students and instead of talking about Lewis and Clark or Sacagawea or the antelope or the discovery of prairie dogs, they're talking about cardio workout and bench pressing!

WTF MATE!!!!

Why would you do that? I don't care if you want to be hip, if you want to be cool, if you want to be their friend, you don't come into another teacher's classroom and then distract their student from their lesson. If two students have been found talking about this, they would have been separated or made to work on their own. I found it incredibly disrespectful to me. Yet, because it's the principal, I can't say anything. Am I wrong for feeling this way? WTF!

Learning from Frustration and Obstacles

2007-12-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

I throw up my hands

Oh, the impossibilities

Frustrated and tired

Where do I go from here?

Now I'm searching for the confidence

I've lost so willingly

Overcoming these obstacles

is overcoming my fear

-"For the Moments I Feel Faint", Relient K

Having just gone to the Relient K and Switchfoot concert, I've been listening to their music a lot lately. Today, the lyrics from "For the Moments I Feel Faint" just resonated in my head, especially after sixth period. Catherine and I are trying a new activity that we're calling "Universal Access". Basically, the kids are 27 different project options, ranging from writing and performing a play or making a 3-D model or writing a test and providing an answer key, etc. Basically, a huge range of options (plus their own choice). Several stipulations, though: they have to do a project based on one of our focus standards and the point value goes up by 30 for every student added to a group.

As part of this project, Catherine and I require a Learning Contract with the student. They fill out teh details of their project, letting us- the teacher- know exactly what it will take to compelte their proejct, what focus standard their project applies to, and their criteria evaluation. basically they have to give me a rubric for how they want me to grade their project.

Anyway, this is a very long-winded way of going about adn trying to explain why I was feeling the above lyrics so much. My sixth period class, a group of 27 kids, turned in six Learning Contracts. That just got me so incredibly frustrated because so many of them said "Oh, I didn't understand what to put here, I didn't get what to do here." Usually the questions don't bother me but in this case, we had spent ten minutes the day before answering questions! That stuff drives me up the wall. And then I get so irritable and feel like I can't do anything right. So I try and explain the rubric part again and again and I feel like there's this obstacle in front of me and the kids won't let me get past it. My patience decreases and my frustration increases and I end up getting upset at the kids. And then, when finally they're gone and the bell has rung, i realize that the majority of it is my fault because I had forgotten a few days before to show them an example of a rubric. I realize that not many of them even know what a rubric is and I'm a horrible teacher for not teaching them what it is! And then I just feel absolutely useless and frustrated and angry at myself! There are so many days where I feel so confident and so great about myself and then it just all collapses and I feel like I'm back at square one because of one little event. I really need to work on being more patient not with my students but with myself and realize that just as I give my students encouragement and patience and compassion, I need to give myself the same sort of encouragement and patience and compassion.

December 3rd, So Far So Good

2007-12-03T19:40:00.000-08:00

Apologies for not posting lately- it's been a little crazy and busy. Last week, the week after Thanksgiving, was just madness and by the time the non-student day on Friday came around, I was more than ready for a day without students. I actually had a great and very productive day- Catherine and I planned, I talked with the guys about the upcoming week and teaching about Lewis and Clark, the department went to lunch and I worked on some of my BTSA things that are due at the end of this week. All in all, it was a feeling of accomplishment getting so much done.

Plus, I ended up getting absolutely everything planed for this week, which only leaves two weeks of planning. Plus, I have a day of training the last week of school so I'm literally at the point where I'm counting down the days until Christmas. Not because I'm not enjoying my job but because it's a vacation and I can sleep in and we'll have just finished a unit in seventh grade so no major lesson planning and of course Christmas and friends and lots of good books.

All in all though, things are going quite well. I made it through Thanksgiving and November without hitting a wall. These last two weeks with the kids have been great.

First period: They are my all-time favorite class. By far. Some of my favorite kids are in that class, they're enthusiastic and inquisitive and in general, just a good group of kids. They're really well-tempered and calm so they're actually the perfect class to have as my focus class for BTSA. Every time the BTSA lady has been in class, they've been great. They're definitely the class that I can joke around with, especially with these two students who are perpetually late (one has been on time for five days in a row now... we're trying to see how long the record can get).

Second period: My largest class and at this point, not yet on my bad side. They're a mix of really high-achieving students and some low-achieving students so differentiation is key. And sometimes difficult. However, they're pretty well-tempered as well and when I do have to get tough, they quiet down. I do have a couple of lazy-butts who literally do absolutely nothing and there's pretty much nothing else I can do about them. There's one student, very high-achieving, who doesn't know the meaning of be quiet which is hard to deal with because he does know the answers... he just needs to learn how to control himself and keep himself on task. There's also a slightly-lower achieving girl who is one hard worker- she just kicked butt on the last homework assignment and despite being slightly lower in achievement, she's very dedicated.

Third period: My small class, I believe my smallest of eighth graders. I used to not like this class but I feel much more comfortable around them now and I think my relationship with them has improved. They're also more comfortable around me and we can joke and have fun but they're also small enough that I can make them work individually if they lose focus or stop concentrating. Definitely lower-achievers but all in all, they get down to business, especially when they're in class. There are also definite "groups" in the class but because they're so small, no one really gets left out at all. I also have these absolutely adorable little Asian girls who are so hard working- and they are just so incredibly precious! I love them! And their little accents.

Fourth period: I LOVE THESE KIDS! There are only 21 of them and they are all incredible little kids. Some who don't do work but most of them are smart, hard-working, inquisitive, just so enthusiastic. And they're just a bundle of fun. They buckle down when it's time to work but I just love every single class period I have with them. Definitely tied with first period for my favorite class. Possibly my favorite class over all. Nothing bad i can really say about them.

Fifth period: I hate this class. OK, correction, I hate a few kids in this class. There's one student who has no GPA (aka 0.0 because he's failing everything), needs to be on a behaviour plan, does absolutely nothing but distract in my class and overall drives me up the wall. But because he's technically special ed, there's nothing I can really do. I've tried pretty much every single strategy that I know of and still nothing works. And the worst part is that he sets off two other students, one who is a retention student and the other who is actually decently smart. Honestly, when this first kid isn't in class, the rest are fine. When he is in class, he distracts, talks, makes inappropriate noises and comments and is a general disturbance. On the days when he's not in class, we've had a productive time so I'm working on seeing if he can be transferred to another fifth period class, one where maybe the discipline will work better. if he wasn't on the class, I really do believe that my relationship with the rest of the students will improve. The rest of them are not too hard-working (there are a few that are) but in all honesty, I can't fully focus on them because I'm too busy trying to keep the other one on task. Sigh, this class frustrates me.

Sixth period: My largest seventh grade class and definitely not has hard working. A few absolute gems but definitely the class that I have to be on their backs about turning in their work, focusing, staying on task and not yelling out in class. There are a few frustrating kids and a few kids that don't do their work but I do believe that sixth period holds a special place in my heart. There are definitely some that make me smile in spite of myself. In general, a good-hearted class with some problems.

So yeah, all in all, things are going quite well. After Christmas, its' only three more weeks until the second quarter is over and I will have survived the first half of my first year teaching. I can do it!!!!

I seriously love my best friend

2007-11-26T21:35:00.001-08:00

From Megan: And I am floored at all of the training and other stupid stuff you have to do. Its seriously even annoying me and I don't even have to do it.

She always knows how to cheer me up. Seriously, I love her to death. :O)

Just Another Manic Monday....

2007-11-26T20:18:00.000-08:00

Today was just a totally crazy day. I got in really early because I hadn't done much over the four-day weekend (yet, as I just mentioned, it was a four-day weekend and I really wasn't in the mood to do any work). I made some copies, talked to the guys, talked with Catherine, did my things in the morning, it was looking to be a good day. My eighth grade classes, at least first and second period were not too bad. I'm absolutely astonished at how little they know though. For example, many of them couldn't tell me the two political parties of the United States. Anyway, with most of them, I think they understood the concept of Early Politlca Parties. I'm also looking for a quiz that will help them figure out their own political parties. I have to get on that.

On the other hand, I was also absolutely astonished at how stupid some of my kids were. There was one girl who could not answer a simple question, despite the fact that we had just spelled it out word for word AND the answer was on the board. And then when I asked her if she had been paying attention, she said no! I nearly kicked her out of the classroom- if she's going to waste my time, I don't need her around! It was so absoltuely frustrating! On the good side, in my fifth period, the instigator and most annoying student wasn't there and the other two were actually pertty good. I wonder if I can talk to someone and see about getting him removed from my class-- he doesn't do anything and when he is in class, he just distrups the other students. Or maybe we could just sedate him or muzzle him when he comes in.... Anyway....

To make up for the stupidity of my eighth graders, my seventh graders actually did a great job, especially my sixth period students. We had a shortened period because of passing back report cards and I was so impressed at how quickly they got the information. They seemed to udnerstand the concept of feudalism in class today- we'll see how they do when we recap tomorrow.

But that wasn't the end of my Manic Monday. I was planning on working on grades after school until I got an email from Feather that said: Hi. I am sure you are aware but I wanted to double check. Tomorrow 11/27 @10:16 3rd, Betsy arranged for you to see Trinity. She will demostrate some of the instructional strategies that BTSA has been talking about. I will be with you so we can talk about what you see. Arrange materials and plans as someone (Betsy & Bob) will watch your class.

WHAT???

At this point, I have to totally change my lesson around. I had been planning on doing direct instruction and now had to go and make copies of not only the quiz the kids are getting, but also a bunch of worksheets for them to do because I don't want to leave the teaching to anyone else. I'm also trying to figure out my lesson for Thursday for World and meanwhile, find out that I have to meet with the other BTSA people to talk about our box review on Wednesday.

By the time, I get everything finished, it's nearly 3:30- and then I find out that just kidding- we're postponing the demo lesson. For cryin' out loud! So, now I've just wasted almost an hour and I still haven't done my grades. So, while I'm doing my grades, atound 3:50< I get an email that there's a history training session- 3:30-5:00 on Wednesday for World and 3:30-5:00 on Thursday for US. Except, at this point, I already have that BTSA thing at 2:15 on Wednesday and another official BTSA meeting on Thursday. So now I have meetings from 2:15-5:00 on Wednesday and from 3:30-5:00 on Thursday. This leaves me NO time either day, except for maybe a half hour on Thursday to get work done. Thank GOODNESS there's a non-student day on Friday- I'm going to need that time to make up all the grading and lesson planning that I'll msis out on.

I guess I'm just really frustrated at the lack on communcation. A few hours ago, I had nothing but a short BTSA meeting and another BTSA training. Now I am jammed full of meetings and trainings and I didn't know but so many of them. It's ridiculous. I just wish that we would get thiese things a little more in advance so I have time to work my schedule around them. Sigh- if wishes were horses.....

Haikus

2007-11-20T20:17:00.000-08:00

As we wrapped up the Japan unit, I had my students write me haikus. I had them pick a season of the year, since Japanese haikus are based on nature. We talked about seventeen syllables- a combination of 5-7-5 and they came up to get their poem approved before settingn out to put it onto a poster and decorate it. I was pretty impressed and thoroughly amused at what they came up with. Here are the winners of the First Annual Haiku Awards.

Best Decorated (imagine in your head- snowflakes, snowmen, trees, beauty, very lovely):

Snowflakes fall softly

Lovely drifting here and there

Floating Gracefully

Most Poetic:

Leaves dressed on the earth

Dancing to graceful breezes

Up, down, swilf, up, down

Poem Least Related to Picture (picture is of a cabin, snow-covered mountains, reindeers, etc.:

Winter always ends

How come it is very cold

Because it does rain

Most Misspelled (presented with no corrections):

It's warm, its's cold, ha.

I open all the presenit

Now it's over, bye.

Least Connection to a Season (see if you can see the connection to Spring....):

The car is broken

Took it to the shop to fix

Fixed it and it works

Makes the Least Sense:

Little Lily's Red

Follwoing my head and blew

and the white and red

(huh?)

Best Use of Roget's Thesaurus:

The snow is frigid

Everything freezes over

Some sun would be nice.

LAUGH Out Loud Poem:

I went to the pool

I yelled why are you here, Val?

I was bored at the pool

(***note: Val is a student in the class- and there is a picture of two people, one saying "why are you here, Val" and the other saying "I don't know")

Most Heartfelt:

A field of flowers

Where I sit down to look at

the beautiful sky

Evokes the Senses:

Time flies and leaves falls

The wind blows against my face

What a pretty sight

Most Use of the Words "May" and "Hot":

Summer is so hot

The hottest days are in May

In May it's so hot.

Most Honest:

Man it's really hot

I'm trying to get a fan

My mom is real cheap.

Fastest Passing of Seasons Ever:

The snow is freezing

In the cold I felt like frost

The snow is melting.

Most Incorrect Haiku:

In the month of

October it is windy

and cold.
(hm...)

So there you have it- the creme de la creme of the haikus that I was given. They were certainly fun to read and definitely a way for the kids to let out some of their creativity.

PS- I still crack up when I think "why are you here Val?"

BTSA Update

2007-11-19T17:54:00.000-08:00

My apologies first and foremost for being entirely remiss in my blogging duties. It's been a crazy few days and I just haven't had the time to sit and collect my thoughts. Most importantly, now that I'm back, is to give you a BTSA update.

So, I was REALLY nervous about this whole situation because I was really worried about what lesson to teach and how my schedule was being kind of thrown off and all that. But, I needed to stay focused on how I just needed to get through first period, my favorite group of eighth graders, and then that was it. I ended up picking a TCI lesson on Hamilton and Jefferson, comparing the two and filling out a chart using some Biographical Briefings. I wanted to try and do as much modeling, sharing, pairing, etc., as I could so I went all out. I put a diagram on the board with what kids were going to fill out what sections and what pairings the students would be in, made sure to do the first section myself so that I could show them how to do it, etc.

the other thing I was worried about were the things that she had talked to me the previous time- management and behavioural issues, the whole not randomly picking on students, etc. There is no way that I'm using Popsicle sticks and I was ready again to have a discussion with her about the whole reason behind it, etc. Also, I never really have management issues with my first period class- they're all pretty docile- but I needed to make sure I had some strategies. I wasn't going to count down or anything, but I found this great website from the NEA which had all these strategies that I was already doing so I figured it was legit... and could be some good ammunition.

So, anyway, my lesson goes really well. We do a little in general talking, I explain the assignment, read a section out loud, I model and then have them contribute and then I set them on their way. I wander around, make sure they're on task, I give them further directions for sharing, etc., anyway, it goes great. She looks really pleased when she leaves, which is a good sign.

So we met that afternoon (I didn't think we'd meet until the next day but I was really glad that we met that day. she made a lot of good comments, was very positive (that's a new thing...), overall, the meeting went well. I still stood my ground on the whole Popsicle stick issue. So, after the meeting, she gave me some assignments which I have to finish by tomorrow and then I think I may be done with BTSA (well, still have meetings and such, like one tomorrow) but I don't think I'm being officially observed again for a while. Thank you Jesus.

So on Friday, Mark commented on how happy I looked- it definitely amused him... :)

The Three Musketeers from Hell!!!

2007-11-13T20:09:00.001-08:00

There are these four kids in my six period class who make up Athos, Porthos, Aramis and d'Artagnan from hell. They are really sweet kids but they drive me up the wall sometimes. We'll assign the role of d'Artagnan to the least annoying of the three- he's actually a really smart kid and just kind of gets caught up with the other Musketeers. Because they have the same initial, we'll call the two who got detention today Athos and Aramis. They are also good kids but tend to get caught up in the instigation of Porthos, who we'll call our final kid. Athos and Aramis also tend to shout things out in class without raising their hand, which is very disrupting to everyone else. So both Aramis and Athos got three days of detention- today, tomorrow and Thursday. I let them work on their homework for half an hour but they first had to write me an essay for half an hour telling me why their got detention and what they were going to do in the future to not get a detention anymore. I found them oddly amusing and information, so I thought I'd recreate them here.

There is Athos's essay:
The reason I'm in this detention is because I talk too much in class without raising my hand. I shout things at other people, like [Porthos] always is calling me "she" and "fish" so I tell stuff back at him. I always blurt out in class although I have an answer to the questions. I'll try to not yell out in class by ignoring everybody else, if they have to say something bad to me, especially when [Porthos] calls me a girl or a fish or tells me to go back to the ocean. I'll try to raise my hand instead of blurting out the answer or something I have to say. In the future I'll try to be a smarter and better kid to know what's wrong or bad and I'll try not to talk with anybody else when the teacher doesn't want us talking, only if I'm working with a partner or doing a presentation. I'll raise my hand instead of blurting out and shouting out answers andI'll try to ignore [Porthos] so I won't shout back or get distracted or into trouble.

And here is Aramis's essay (see the similarities....):
I got a detention because at first I was goofing around and then [Porthos] called [Athos] a fish and so I laughed a lot and then that's how I got detention. I will not get detention by not goofing around in class or by not disturbing the teacher. And also by not laughing at [Portho's] jokes. I won't get detention because you have to stay one hour after school and I dont' like that. I think in the future I won't get detention because Iwill try not to get it and I will do what the teacher tells us to do. And I also think I won't be getting detention because I'm gonna focus on working hard because I want to get good grades because right now my grades aren't good and I'm going to try to raise them up. And that's how I'm not going to get detention. And I hope this is the last time I'll get detention.

Hm.... let's list the similarities. 1) Talking out in class and goofing around. 2) It seems like Porthos is the real instigator and maybe if HE gets the detention, he'll stop goofing around and the other two will calm down a little bit. 3) Neither of them want detention anymore..... 4) I think that they're both trying... hopefully two more days of detention will help.

I've found that when the class is working on a group project or with partners, it's so much more productive when one is on one side of the room, the other is working with d'Artagnan on the other side of the room and one, usually poor Athos is outside working by himself. I hate having to send Athos outside so often but unfortunately, it's usually the best way to get him to work. I'm still working on some sort of a system to keep them separated and engaged and not driving me or the rest of the class crazy!

American Idol They're NOT

2007-11-08T21:04:00.001-08:00

So today my students had to recite the Preamble of the Constitution to me. For the past two weeks, we've been watching the Preamble clip from School House Rock (for them, it's been about seven times in two weeks- for me, it's been about twenty-eight times in two weeks but who's counting....) so they should know it. They received twenty points for reciting it and forty points if they sang it to the tune of the School House Rock clip. Each mistake was minus one point and if they really crapped it up, it was pretty much like two points for "trying".

So let me just say right off, American Idol they're NOT. Actually, there were a few who could actually hold some semblance of a key. There was one girl who gave a little bit of "vibrato", which was interesting. But in general, they were the most horrendous singers ever! I could barely hold it in. There was one guy who started in so high of a key that I am incredibly impressed that he was able to hit those high notes. Oh, and then those poor boys who were going through puberty.... oh man was that a crack up!

My favorite part of the day was those kids who whined and moaned, "But I don't know it.... I can't do it.... i only remember the first part...... wah, wah, wah, wah, wah." They were forced to go up to the front anyway and oh course, with only a little bit of prompting, did they pretty much get the entire thing. And they were so incredibly proud when they were able to get it. And all I could say was "I told you so!" Except this one girl, she didn't even try and I got so pissed off with her that I gave her two weeks detention on top of the zero. This girl pisses me off anyway. She's failing because she does absolutely nothing, she doesn't stay after school when I ask her to so she can get her assignments, she takes absolutely no responsibility for her work or her education so if she's going to waste my time, I'm going to keep her after school and take her time. Maybe in those two weeks she can make up all the work that she's missing in my class. I'm kidding- it'll take two months.

Simon Cowell-- watch out if any of my students come onto your show....

SO Impressed!

2007-11-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

So, I don't know what happened but today AND yesterday, my usuall irresponsible and slacky sixth period class turned in ALL their homework! I was so incredibly impressed and I told them so! It's amazing how much easier it is to teach a class when the students come prepared! I have been really impressed with sixth period these last few days. I've moved some seats around, started a system where everytime a certain individual speaks without raising his hand, he gets an additional minute after school, things like that and it's looking like they're beocming more responsible, more inquisitive, more interactive, in general, more like fourth period. My fourth period kids are always great and have always been great. For an example, one of them really wanted to know my name so I told her that if she went and looked up at least ten Hebrew names, I would tell her. So not only does she get ten, she lists pretty much every single one! It was pretty cool, so I told her my name. I think in general, fourth period is easier to teach because they're right before lunch, they're smaller (only 21 kids) and there aren't as many ELL students. But I really hope that this trend continues because it makes my life eaiser when I'm not on sixth period's tail every day about their work.

Here's to keeping your fingers crossed....

Frustration to the MAX

2007-11-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

The following is an email that I just sent Patti, Don and Deb. It pretty much goes through what happened tome today and all the frustrations that I have pent up in my right now. Needless to say, I'm not a happy camper right now.

Hello my dear education folk,

First of all my apologies for this endless email. I really need some advice and you all know me really well and I really trust and appreciate your opinions so hopefully I can get some good advice that'll help me out.

Before I get into my dilemma for which I need some advice on, I just wanted to say hello, hope that everyone is doing well and that things are going OK at good old C of I (SO weird to say that!). In general, things are going well here. We have our first benchmark test on Friday, which is a little nerve wracking but to be expected, but on the upside, it means 1/4 of the school year is over. Plus, it's November, which means Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and a non-student day. Is it good that I'm focusing on my days off?? :) In general, I really like my kids. I have a kick-butt class of seventh graders who are so inquisitive and enthusiastic, which helps me deal with my less enthusiastic other seventh grade classes. In general, my eighth graders are OK, a few problem kids who I have a hard time dealing with because they take away my attention from the other kids, but I'm working on various strategies to deal with them specifically and individually.

OK, now for the requesting of advice. A little background first. So, first and second year teachers in California have to do something called BTSA (I think I mentioned this). It's basically first year teacher mentoring and on top of having to go to a bunch of meetings and training sessions outside of class, I need to have a BTSA support person come in and observe me. The woman who comes in is called a TOSA (Teacher on Special Assignment), which I seem to understand as a teacher who is out of the classroom for a few years doing something else- in this case, BTSA. So my supporter person is a third (or fifth, I can't remember) grade teacher who is spending a few years as a support person for BTSA. So the first few times she observed me, it was for a few minutes each time, popping in, sitting in the back for a bit, and then leaving. A few weeks ago, she came and made her first informal but official evaluation. It wasn't the best lesson to see and I know that and admit it. I had been out of the classroom on Monday and had to be out the following week so it was one of those "OK, today's going to be a bit of lecture and not much time to dwell on specifics, so let's just do this". The lesson wasn't a standard, it was just to introduce the kids to a concept so that they could have background knowledge of the following day. Anyway, I got absolutely NO positive feedback whatsoever, which was really frustrating because I know I'm not a perfect teacher but you taught me well, there are some things that I can do correctly. she made a big deal about putting thought into picking who I called on (not just randomly selecting), Think-Pair-Share, etc. I understood her criticisms but it was just frustrating that it wasn't an ideal lesson for her to see and I didn't' really feel like she was getting a good snapshot of what my classroom was like. Since then (before today), she had been in the classroom maybe twice for about two minutes, literally, each time.

So today was another "official" evaluation. This time I made sure that my lesson included group work, group sharing, questioning strategies, etc. I thought that I was putting together a good lesson. Basically we were talking about the rights and responsibilities of a citizen. I started off by asking the students for certain rights that we had been talking about. Some students raised their hands and gave the rights, while I pointedly called on other students. That was the check for understanding, accessing prior knowledge part. Then I asked them what responsibility means. Those students who couldn't define it were asked to give examples and I really didn't do much participating, other than asking questions. (How is babysitting being responsible? Are your parents responsible? For what? What about you? You're 13, do you have responsibilities? etc.) Then I asked them what responsibilities they had to their classroom/school/city/etc. and then asked them about their country. Instead of having them raise their hand, I had them brainstorm individually three ways they participate and are responsible to their country. While they were writing these down, I circled round the classroom and gave some students a brief one-on-one time to help them dig a little deeper. After a few minutes, when each student had at least three things written down, I asked them to share with the table and generate a communal list. I then called on each table and specifically asked one of the students to share so we could generate a list on the board. Again, they were supplying the answers and I was following up with specific questions to get more information. Finally, they got into the textbook and took notes on the textbook list and then discussed what they thought the most important way to participate in government. We didn't get a chance to discuss this but they had to write a paragraph for homework.

All in all, I felt that the class went really well. but when I sat down with Feather, my BTSA lady, she was so critical again. So this is what I'm frustrated with. I want to give you some examples of what she said to me and ask for advice on how I should respond and what I should do in the future.

She told me that I didn't have a system when calling on students and that I should use popsicle sticks or cards so that each student has an equal opportunity to be called on. I responded that my expectation is that all my students should be able to answer a question. It's part of their class participation points, they were told at the beginning of the year that nobody is exempt from speaking in class, etc. I didn't think it was necessary or particularly age level (especially since I'm trying to prepare them for high school) to use popsicle sticks. She argued that some students are ELL and I replied that regardless if they're ELL or gifted or whatever, I have the same expectation of them that they answer my question. Maybe the expectation of their level of response is different but I know my students, I know which ones like to answer questions and which ones don't and I make sure that even if I don't get to them during class, then I've talked to them and questioned them while making my rounds around the room

She made me a "minutes" sheet of how long I spent on each thing and she indicated that the first ten minutes were lecture. This was when we were talking about what rights and responsibilities are. I don't' understand why she called this lecture. I really didn't feel that pretty much any of it was lecture. It felt more like a discussion where the teacher led by questioning strategies. Never was I standing up in the front of the room and talking and having the kids take notes. She reprimanded me for not using Think-Pair-Share enough and that I only did it once when it was actually several times. And additionally, this goes back to a BTSA training where we were told that if we have the kids Think-Pair-Share first, we should be able to call on ANYONE and get an answer, since they're already shared. Yet, I get reprimanded for calling on students randomly....

I was told that I don't have an established standard for classroom management. I know that classroom management is something that I've had trouble with in the past, especially with my tenth graders last year, but it's something that I feel I have quite under control. I feel like I've t rained my students to know that when I stand up in front of the room, then it's their cue to be silent. Usually it takes a few students to start going "shhh" and within seconds, everyone is quiet. They know that I can keep them after, not let them leave with the bell, etc., and they tend to quiet up quickly. Sometimes I have to give them verbal cues by asking them to quiet down or saying sh but do you think that there's really a problem with that? I know that there are classes that have much worst classroom management and that I'm not the perfect classroom but so far I haven't felt like time has been wasted by my method and it gives me classroom and more relaxed and not as uptight atmosphere. When it's those days that we really need all the time we can get, I let them know right off the bat and this is NOT a day for messing around and in the last two months, I haven't had any problems with that.

This wasn't a big deal but just slightly pissed me off- she said that she could model a lesson for me even though she doesn't know history. She can teach the instruction but "fake her way through the history". I nearly slapped her. There's no way that I'm letting her teach my class if she doesn't know the content.

Anyway, I guess my problem is I feel like I have to change things that are working to appease the person who's watching me. Any advice on what do to? I feel like I need to make each lesson that she watches "perfect", as in do WHATEVER little detail she wants me to do, whether it helps out the class or not. I'm just frustrated- I feel like she's trying to lower my expectations of the kids and treat them like babies instead of getting them ready for high school. I know that this school is NOT Timberline but I still feel like, especially with my background in high school, that we should try and treat them more like high schoolers instead of elementary school kids. I'm just really frustrated, confused, angry, bitter, etc., etc. Any advice that you can give, I would so appreciate it.

-Michal

All I have to say after reading that again is AAARRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Schoohouse Rock

2007-11-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

No, not School of Rock... Schoolhouse Rock. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this series. It is amazing. Because of Schoolhouse Rock, I know why Three is a Magic Number, what a Noun is, where you can get your adverbs (same place that Lolly does), how electricity works, how a bill becomes a law, how to say an easier version of Rufus Xavier Sapsarilla, etc.

When I became a teacher, I got so excited to show these, although it's not really relevant to show them to high schoolers. So I was thrilled to show these to the junior high kids. My students need to memorize the Preamble, so I showed the Preamble clip (and gave them the lyrics) twice yesterday so get the song/words into their head. And then we watched it again today. Meaning that in a span of three days, I've watched the Preamble clip 14 times. I'm about to shoot myself. I'm definitely at the point where I can not only say the Preamble forward, but I can probably say it backwards. My kids in second period, LOVE it though- they will even sing along with the lyrics, which is hilarious. Some of my other kids are a little too "cool" for it, but they all seem to somewhat enjoy it. One students in second period came in after school today to borrow the video to watch it a few times. That's dedication right here :).

Tomorrow I'm showing the clip about how a bill becomes a law. You know, the famous "I'm just a bill, yeah I'm only a bill and I'm sitting here on Capitol Hill."
The only problem that I have this this is that I tend to forget to sing "cuz it's a long long way to the capital city..." and instead sing, thinking of Jake Fulcher the entire time, "cuz it's a long long way to graduation" ala ACI Scholarship Banquet for last year. Oh dear.... that won't help the kids learn at all :)

But man do I love Schoolhouse Rock. Anyone remember Mr. Morton? I still remember Jeff Moore drawing Mr. Morton on his eraser in Mrs. Wanchek's seventh grade English class. He became a beloved member of our table until one day he broke in half. Then it was sad.... Man, those were good times.

VERY Pleasantly Surprised....

2007-11-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

My eighth graders spent yesterday in groups breaking down the Preamble of the constituion. Each group (about five kids in 1st and 2nd period and three kids in 3rd and 5th period) had a segment of the Preamble and had to explain what their segment meant and then what is done to ensure that the segment happens (e.g. what is done to establish justice; ensure domestic tranquility, etc.). I know that each group did the work because it was their ticket out the door yesterday. So today, each group was instructed to teach the rest of the class about their segment. They were supposed to stand up and explain the definition and what their segment means. Easy right?

Wrong.

They were terrible! First and second period did not rise to teh occasion. They were mumbling, read too fast, not letting their clasmates ask questions, etc. It was just dreadful! I was so disapointed in them. Finally, two groups into third period I just made them sit down and independently fill out the worksheet, due at the end of the period. In that case, they rose to the occassion. They did a really good job with that so I might, depending on whether or not I want to try this fiasco again, just keep the group projects to a minimum in third period. Or at least keep the persentations to a minimum. After the dreadfulness of third period, I was so scared and worried about fifth period which is my poorest perfomring class. And man oh man, did they surprise me and rise to teh occasion. It was amazing! The first group was a little shaky but the rest were just better and better. The one that I was the most afraid for was the last group, which was made up of two people- except one didn't show. This is a student who rarely does his work, often times just sits in class and does nothing or will need to be reminded numerous times to take out an asignemtn or worksheet. But he got up there and not only did an amazing job presenting, but also had some great information. I was so proud!

However, this whole day has really made me rethink how I'm going to do group presentations in the future. It's nice to have the leeway to experiement too. But seriously, way to go fifth period.

That's What Friends Are For...

2007-10-30T19:10:00.001-07:00

The following is an email exchange between me and Megan. This is why I love this girl so much.

My initial e-mail: Oh man did I get pissed at my second period kids today. Hardly any of them did their homework and they were just not responding to what they were doing and I got PISSED. I did the whole "This is unacceptable and I will not tolerate this disrespect. You are wasting my time and you are wasting the time of those that were responsible and did their homework. I am collecting this worksheet tomorrow and for those of you that do not have it, it will be an automatic detention. And furthermore, I expect nothing worse than a 7/10 on the quiz tomorrow. Those who score below a 7 will receive an automatic zero." Imagine this in an icy cold voice (not yelling- just the scary steel voice of a teacher that I feel I have cultivated QUITE well). Now unfortunately, it turns out that the quiz is 15 questions. Oops.

Megan's reply: And I pretty much fell over laughing at how you talked to your class. I never thought about the other side of teachers, just the student part. This is a whole new perspective, quite enlightening, I must say. I can totally see you saying "not acceptable" in an icy tone. It's really funny. If I had been there I would have sat in the back and pointed and giggled. Probably not very helpful.

I love being able to share my experience with someone not in the teaching world. Love it! And love her!

Sub bizareness

2007-10-26T16:07:00.000-07:00

So it's always hard to know what's going on in the classroom when you are a out and there is a sub in charge. But as the teacher, you have to trust that the person that they're sending you is qualified if not to teach at least to administer the plans that you've left. I always give the sub my email and number just in case there is some sort of emergency but I never expected the sub to call because my plans are always thorough and I always make sure to leave enough copies and the answer sheets and all that. I've been sick for this last week or so- fever, runny nose, cough, etc. so on Wednesday, I went in and made a sub plan and left lessons for two days- Thursday when i was going to be out for BTSA and Friday so I could have a day to recuperate, get better and be ready for Monday and the two week countdown to the first benchmark.

As I said above, althoughI leave my number, I never expect the teachers to call. So imagine my surprise when I check my phone at the BTSA meeting and I see that I have three missed calls from an unusual number and one message. Turns out that the sub has called me asking me where the answer key to the activity my eighth graders were doing (which was bizarre in itself, because I had paper clipped it to the back of my lesson plan). Anyway, I call her back, expecting to leave a message and she picks up! I don't know if this makes me old fashioned, but I never expected her to answer the phone when she's supposed to be supervising my kids. I know that I didn't' give her a lesson to teach but I don't think it's appropriate to answer her phone in the middle of class. She hadn't even left her number on the message so she shouldn't have been expecting me to call. But whatever, I just found it odd.

That night, around 9:30, I found another message on my phone from her telling me that my seventh graders will probably finish their activity early and they'd probably need another activity to do. So I appreciated that but I'm thinking that maybe from now on, I'm going to leave my email instead of my number- although I appreciated her calling me and letting me know since they knew I wouldn't be at school on Friday but I think from now on, I'll just be leaving an email or something...

Remote Controls

2007-10-22T20:54:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I wish that my kids had remote controls. Just think- if you need to repeate something, you can rewind and start again. If you need them to move a little faster, you can fast-forward to speed them up. How wonderful would it be if you could put your students on pause for a minute- you need to think about teh answer or get your cool or something, just press pause and they're silent. And how about the mute button. Oh the money that I would play to have a mute button for some of my kids. That way, they could continue to talk and be annoying but NOBODY WOULD HEAR THEM! A-mazing! And then, of course, the most amazing button of all. Whenver you need a break, you can just puss the power button and off they go.... Oh goodness, if wishes were horses, then I would win the Royal Ascot. Can someone please invent a remote for my students? I would pay big bucks... not like I have big bucks but I would buy lottery tickets if I needed to. Any takers out there???

Comparing

2007-10-22T20:26:00.000-07:00

I don't like to compare my classes and I know that I shouldn't because it does nothing good but sometimes I can't help but compare my fourth and sixth period classes. They're both seventh grade classes and they are so incredibly different. I just have so much fun with my fourth period class. They're such eager kids with such high enthusiasm and although they're not all geniuses, they're pretty bright. My sixth period on the other hand, it just seems like a chore to teach them. They're so not motivated and it seems like i have to drag so many of them along. There are a few kids in that class who just was attention sappers and they drain my energy. I'm really frustrated for those students who are on task and want to learn (similar to my fifth period problem), but I'm trying to get the other kids interested that it's hard to keep tabs on all of them. One thing that has worked is that one of my students got a week-long detention for taking another students' homework and turning it in as his own. Since then, I haven't heard a peep out of him. I don't know if he's just too scared to do anything or if he's pissed that I turned the paper into the VP or what but it is nice that he's quieted down a little. And the other one that's really loud has gotten a three day detention with me so I'm hoping that spending an hour after school will deter him. I don't like to use that kind of negative reinforcement, but I really do think that it works with some kids. So we'll see what the next few days bring.

Anyway, back to the comparison. I'm really glad that fourth period is great because it leaves me jazzed and hopefully that it can happen again with sixth period. If I get disappointed with sixth period, I get to go home instead of having to stay at school for two more periods, which is nice. The best situation that I've had with them lately was a debate I had them to. I wasn't sure what to expect but fourth period absolutely blew me away. They were divided up into two teams- the Tang Dynasty and the Song Dynasty.The groups had about a period of time to list the positive details of their Dynasty, then listen to each others arguments and then rebut the arguments. As I said, fourth period blew me away. One team did an excellent job taking the negatives of their dynasty and turning it into a positive while the other team did a fantastic job finding the flaws in the opposing side's argument and rebutting the facts. They were amazing and I was so proud of them. And honestly, they really seemed to enjoy it, as well as want to do some more later.

Sixth period was a whole 'nother story. One of the stipulations was that I needed everyoen to participate. When they did their initial arguments and not everyoen participated, I reminded those students that they may want to participate during the rebuttal. Even then some students didn't participate! Some individual students did a great job but in general, no one ended up winnign the debate because they were so boring and blah about the entire thing. I thanked them all for a rousing debate and they all felt the sarcasm, which was supposed to be heard. I ended up giving the points to those that aprticipated and told them who won the debate and rebuttal but they didn't get any points in general, so hopesfully that will be a deterrent for next time as well.

Seriously, fourth period rocks.

Two-Year Olds

2007-10-19T16:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was really struggling with my fifth period class. I have three students in that class that, when they're together, they're just terrible. They talk, they laugh, they mess around, and it's all very subtle. They'll pretend to be working but all of a sudden they'll start sniggering about something. And the Constitutional Convention is really not that exciting, to tel you the truth. So I try and keep them focused, especially the RSP kid who has SO many issues and I inevitably end up spending the entire time dealing with them. Meanwhile I have seventeen other kids in the class that are sitting there being frustrated because I cannot focus on them and I have to focus on the three kids screwing around. One great thing about my room is that I'm able to isolate students if needed. I have a lot of single desks around the perimeter of the room, so I eventuall put one on one side of the room, the other on the other side and finally had one kid on the middle. But I was still really frustrated that I was distracted by those three students at teh detriment of my other students. So I talked today to the VP (two of them ended up getting referrals because they had just crossed the line one too many times) and he recommended some strategies that I can use in teh future. On the bright side, today they did a much better job so I'm hoping it was just an off-day and they can continue to be on task as much as possible.

Knowledge

2007-10-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Confucius said: What is knowledge? If you know something, you know it and if you dont' know something, you realize you don't know. that is knowledge. I opened up Tuesday afternoon with my seventh graders with this questions and had them write a few sentences about what they thought knowledge was. They came up with some interesting ideas like being both street smart and book smarts, being intelligent, being able to show and tell people things, a bunch of really great ideas. then I talked about what Confucius said about knowledge and asked them what they thought it meant. They talked about how Confucius meant that you should share what you know and not say anything if you didn't know. So I asked them if they agreed- if they thought you should share when you know something. The class was definitely divided almost in half. The group that said you should shae said things like "if you know the cure for cancer, you should share it". The main idea they were mostly getting at was that you should share because it could be beneficial for others and that your knowledge can help others out. One student said that if you have a talent, you should share it with others because it's something that you're good at. Then one of my favorite students, we're going to call him Earl (because that's what I'm watching right now and because his name has four letters in it too), pops up and says "hey! I have a talent?" So I say, "OK Earl, what's your talent?" And Earl replies matter-of-factly, "Sleeping." Well, at least he's honest.

Then the other group gave their ideas. One said that it wasn't good to share what yuo know because you could become conceited. Another student asked what conceited was and Earl jumped to life. "I know what conceited it!" he exclaimed. What I asked him to share he again said matter-of-factly, "conceit is when you have a Myspace and you have forty pictures just of you." The class, and I, to be honest, cracked up but in all honesty, he was right. It was pretty excited to see their unconventional methods but they seemed to get it, which was great.

Plus, the myspace quote was amazing....

Rant continued....

2007-10-16T21:57:00.000-07:00

OK, so I thought of a few more things as I had time to think and plan my lessons and all that (BTW, I realized that the whole mock Constitutional Convention isn't going to work out but I've got some ideas down, including a group project that I have to write up while watching Aidan Quinn on SVU). Anyway...

first of all, I should probably preface that I don't dislike my BTSA lady (despite the fact that has a slightly silly name)... she's very nice and I think she genuinely wants to help out. But, that doesn't dispute the fact that I got absolutely no encouragement from her today.

And I figured out some of the things that pissed me off about what she said. One thing that she mentioned was that because I have a lot of ELL learners, I need to try and show pictures. OK, fine, I understand that but I have NO resources to use pictures. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE using pictures- I used pictures up the wazoo last year- I had power points and slides and more pictures that I could count. And I would love to use pictures this year but I have absolutely NO resources. I have ONE white board to use for both periods, I have a piece of crap overhead that the kids and I both hate, I have no LCD projector and my TV is so small that the people sitting in the back can't really see it (plus, I have no cord to connect my computer to the TV). So there's really no way for me to show pictures unless I pass them around the class.

Another thing that my mom mentioned that is helpful is realizing that I should probably teach to the observer on the days that I'm being watched instead of teaching just to the kids. Sometimes when someone is only in the classroom one day/one period a week or every two weeks, they only get a tiny little glimpse of what is going on. If I'm having an off day or the kids are having an off day, that's all they see and that's all they're going to write about. So that's something that I need to work on for the next time.

That doesn't make me any less pissed off though....

A Sucky Day

2007-10-16T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today was just that- a sucky day. I already felt behind because of the STUPID training session that was the biggest waste of time yesterday. I got to school really early and tried to be productive and was but still felt like I wasn't. One of the things that I was trying to do was get all this data on my students printed out for my BTSA event. I finally ended up getting into the data program but there was no way to get all the data into one big chart and there was no way that I was going to write down every student's information individually. So that was frustrating me.

Then in first period, I was being observed. I thought the lesson went really well and the kids actively were participating and I felt really good about how things went. First period is always, in any case, probably the most shaky period in general because it's the first time that you're teaching the lesson and there isn't anything to compare it with. So that's why I hate being observed first period. The other periods always are more stable because I can adjust and fix things that have gone wrong. I know that I'm not the only teacher who feels this way- Doug talked to me a lot last year about how first period is always the hardest because it's always new and untested. so I know that I shouldn't put myself down for not doing well first period. It's just hard knowing that I'm being watched at my worst. although I suppose, on the other hand, (I'm not sure how many hands I have at this point), perhaps it's best to be observed at my worst so that I know that in other classes I'm much more improved. It's still frustrating though.

Second period was pretty bad too because there was so little response from the students. I'll say it again and I've said it a million times. Teaching is not a one-man show. It's an exchange between teacher and student and when you don't have something/someone/the class to bounce ideas and exchange thoughts with, it is so hard and slightly miserable. Now I know why my teachers were always so eager when I raised my hand in class. I hate it when the kids just sit there and there's absolutely no response. It drives me crazy. And on the flipside, I absolutely love it when they come up with a great answer or really seem to understand where I'm coming from.

Third and fifth period actually both went great, which was really nice, and fourth and sixth were OK too, but the day just felt really long. And then after school, the BTSA lady came to tell me everything that I did wrong. She says that she's there to just observe and give back what she sees, like a mirror, and to not pass judgement or evaluate or anything. But does that mean that she shouldn't tell me what I'm doing well? Trust me, I know that I'm not a perfect teacher. I'm far from it and I accept that. Hell, I've only been doing it completely on my own for a month and a half. So, that being the case- don't you think I should at least hear some things that I'm doing well? Boost that confidence a little? No, I just felt like she was constantly telling me all the negative things that I was doing. No, not negative, I guess that's the wrong word. I suppose it was more like telling me all the ways that I wasn't helping my kids. Thanks, way to make me feel OK about myself and give me confidence to continue. I wish there was a Doug or a Don or a Patti or Deb here to watch me and give me both positive and negative criticism. Again, I know that I'm not perfect- far from it- but at least reassure me that I'm doing some things right!

Sigh, so that put me in a bad mood and really gave me lots of confidence for the rest of the day. I spent the rest of the afternoon trying to figure out how to teach the Constitutional Convention tomorrow and what I am going to do for World. I got seventh grade figured out and now I've got three hours until SVU or bedtime to see what I can do about the Constitutional Convention. I would love to do some sort of a mock convention but some of my classes are so small that I don't think it'll work. Hopefully if I can't think of something I can fall back on the TCI activity for that day which seemed kind of good.

I'm going to eat some ice cream.

Heightened Senses

2007-10-11T22:26:00.000-07:00

I've always heard that when a person loses one of his or her five senses, the other four are heightened. This is why, for example, blind people have amazing hearing and sense of touch and I'm assuming that deaf people have a heightened sense of eyesight. I've discovered that this is certainly true for my students. The less hearing they do (and they oftentimes ignore me), their sense of sight and their ability to talk (OK, I know it's not a sense, but it's with the mouth so work with me here) increases. Today, for example, I was wearing an orange wristband from the House of Blues, where I went yesterday to see Jars of Clay and NeedtoBreathe. Of course, I should have realized that as my kids weren't listening to me at the beginning of the period, their increased sense of vision would certainly pick up on the orange wristband. And of course, I should have realized that as their hearing decreased, they would also need to increase their level of talking. WHich is what led to about tenty various hypotheses of what the wristband was from. Several of my favorites: I went to a club and got my groove on; I went to a bar and got really, really drunk; and my personal favorite- I went to Las Vegas and got married. To which I answered, "Yes, kids, because that's what I do every Wednesday night." This trend continued in the other periods when my students seriously turned off their ears and turned on their mouths. I probably had the same questions about a gazillion times, two seconds after I had originaly answered the question. It got ot the point where a cold stare was all that I needed to keep class moving forward. In a perfect world, I wish that my students would decrease their sense of talking and increase their level of listening to me. But, as I always say.... if wishes were horses, I would win the Royal Ascot. At least I can take comfort in the fact that my kids think I have a much more glamourous social life than I really do. They would never believe me if I told them how much sitting around the house I do during the week. Maybe keeping up the illusion that I have a fantastically posh and cool social life will keep them interested. Who knows.....

Stupid Announcements...

2007-10-10T17:45:00.001-07:00

So funny story from this afternoon. I was playing a non-technology version of Jeopardy with my kids in fourth and sixth period in order to help them review for the test. Things were certainly getting heated: each table group was competing against each other for a few extra credit points and there was a two way tie for first place and a three way tie for second place going into Final Jeopardy.....

And then.....

....the announcements begin.

Now, we in sixth period, especially me, are not a fan of the announcements in general. Why not just do them at teh beginning of the period when the pledge happens. Who knows. But for whatever reason (his heart or his shoes.... oh wait, we're not in How the Grinch Stole Christmas), the announcements come at the end of the day. And it's at the worst time too.. about four minutes before the bell rings so I always end up feeling like I can't do anything during the last two minutes of class cuz the kids already think we're done.

Anyway- today, the kids were so pissed off that teh annoucnements came when they did. I was about to read the final Jeopardy question when the announcements come on. If only I had a tape recorder to record the unanimous groan that they let out. It was fantastic. But then, not only did the studdnts read the annoucnemtns, then the principal comes on and starts talking about this stupid pizza party competition that the Yearbook staff is putting on in order to getp eople to buy yearsbooks. At this point, the kids are so frustrated. "Just be quiet so we can do final jeopardy!" they kept exclaiming. So finally the principal stops talking and my mouth again is open to read the questions.

And then.....

someone starts singing...

Yes, four of five students start singing a little ditty about buying yearbooks to the tune of Avril Lavigne's "Can I Be Your Girlfriend" (Sidenote: Isn't Avril Lagivne married to the guy from SUM 41? Why is she singing about being someone's girlfriend when she's already someone's wife....) Now the kids are absolutely LIVID. They are in their seats, they are shouting, they are so indignant. One ever asked me if there was a volume level on the speaker so I could turn it off and we could get to final Jeopardy. They know that time is running out. It was SO COOL to see them so exciteda bout something, even if it was just a few points of extra credit. You should have heard the cheers when the stupid song (which was about five stanzas long, plus a chorus) was finally over. So I finally got to read the Final Jeopardy question, we ended up with another two-way tie for first place (incidentally, both teams were bold and wagered all their points) and everyone was able to finish the game happily. But seriously, the indignation of my kids when those announcements went off were enough to make me proud. :)

Backpack Analogies

2007-10-08T19:46:00.000-07:00

So, I love analogies.... I really do. And I've found that oftentimes, they work really well with middle school students. In my eighth grade classes, we just finished our unit on the establishment of the colonies, life in colonial America, unrest on teh colonies and then, of course, the fantastic Revolutionary War. We ended the unit with the Battle of Yorktown and the signing of the Treaty of Paris.

This unit is the Constitution and the creation of our government today as we know it. So to build up to that, we were looking at John Locke and some of the politcal philosophers of the time. They had a little trouble understanding John Locke so I had to use some little analogies to help them understand.

For example: John Locke said that the point of governemtn was to not take away the natural rights of the people. Natural rights, such as life, liberty and property (or the pursuit of happiness as T-Jeff said... or the pursuit of happyness as Will Smith said). Additionally, kings should not be absolute rulers and take away the natural rights of the people. To help the students understand this, I explained that if I took Maria's backpack without asking and made it mine, I was abusing my absolute power as well as taking away her right to property. This they understood.

So we took it a little further. Locke also says that sometimes people have to give up their rights in exchange for protection and safety. So I asked what would happen if I took away Maria's backpack again. The kids said that I would be taking away her right to property. And I replied yes because I was using teh backpack to whack someone that was about to attack Maria. This laughed but understood that although Maria has to give up her right to property, she is exchanging it for being protected from the guy who is getting whacked by the backpack. Luckily, they got this too.

So, I really am enjoying how the analogies are working. i have a feeling that these ideas in the Constitution are going to be a little difficult for them to understand, especially my EL students, so I'm hoping that I can continue coming up with analogies and that my students continue to use the analogies to understand what concepts I'm trying to teach.

Oh, and they liked my nicknames for some of the framers of the Constitution: T-Jeff, B-Fran, Jadams, J-Mad and A-Ham. Good times.

Procrastination

2007-10-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

So I had my first BTSA meeting with my supervision, Feather, today, and I have a list of things I need to do before I meet her again on Tuesday. She said she must have overwhelemed me with all she talked to me about/what she gave me and I was like "pssshhh, I went to ACI.... try and overwhelm me as much as you like." :)

So by Tuesday, when she comes to observe me, I have to fill out my Self-Assessment Evaluation Form, pick two girls from my first period class to observe (and apparently mentor...) and get my goals eady for my IIP, which I think means Individual Induction Plan or something like that. So many bloody acronyms.... And then I have to meet her on Thursday before our general BTSA training session to type out my IIP.

Additionally, there are six "events" that I have to have completed before the end of the year. Why they are called events, I'm not entirely sure... but that's a whole nother story (as is my beef with BTSA as an acromnym.... what a dumb name.... but i digress). So by Thursday, I'm also supposed to have the paperwork for the first "event" filled out. I have to get the list of all the students in my first period and divide them by ELL, IEPs, etc. (again with the bloody acronyms!!!!). I also have to fill up a bunch of paper work about what types of people I could use for references, Community, District and School profiles, the stuff like that.

So.... instead of working on this, I'm watching Scrubs and getting ready to watch Prison Break and Heroes. Yes, I may be slightly hypocritical when I tell my kids to not procrastinate. HOWEVER, I graduated in three years and got my masters in another year.... I deserve some mindless television. Because I know I will get it done.... eventually....

Laziness..... sorry

2007-10-06T19:49:00.001-07:00

I have been incredibly lazy about posting this week. No excuses, it was simply laziness. So I'll categorize my thoughts to put them into some sort of order to catch everyone up with the week.

Jimmy- for those of you who were wondering about where Jimmy went. Apparently, Jimmy was supposed to be going to another middle school anyway and was going to JIIS because his mom had signed some paper sending him here instead. So when the whole suspension thing happened, his mom just decided to withdraw him and send him back to the school he was originally supposed to be at. So Goodbye Jimmy. And now, goodbye let's call them Tim and Pete. Both Tim and Pete, both gentlemen who I believe have not turned in a stitch of homework since school began, have both been withdrawn from my class. The upside that i see to this is that I don't have to deal with their constant msising homework AND my first period class is two people smaller. Hooray.

Jane- Jane appeared on my class list for about a week at teh beginning of the year and I think I remember her actually being in class but I can't be sure. Anyway, she was MIA for the first week and then disappeared from the roster. Now she's back, after being gone in Utah, of all places, for the first month of school. So she comes to me, three days before the 5 Themes of Geography Test and a week before the Islam test, ready to learn. I had absolutely no idea what to do with her. After consulting with my wise department, I decided to catch her up on Islam so she can pass teh benchmark and give her the handouts for geography so that she can take the test next week. So she'll pretty much be spending this next week working on her own, separate from the class while I finish up Islam with them and then join us as we start Africa. Or China. Or Japan. I really have no idea where we are going next in World History. This could be a problem...

Testing- The US history teachers gave our first test this week on Chapter 2 which is basically the early colonies, colonial unrest and the Revolutionary War. Huge range of grades in the end- some kids aced it no problemo, lots were stuck smack dab in the middle and then of course, those that I knew would do poorly did poorly. Hm.... it seems to me that all those that did poorly have aproblem turning in their homework.... Connection? I think so..... I'm interested in talking to the other members of the department and trying to compare exactly how my kids match up to them. It would be really great to see if I'm on the same page with them or if most of my kids are lower/higher than theirs. It would also probably give me a real boost in confidence to see if I pretty much match up with them so more on that later.

OK, honestly, those were the big things that were happening in Room 2 this week. I promies that next week will be more faithful to daily/almost daily postings. I promise...

Lack of Communication

2007-10-01T16:51:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a little confused at the moment with the lack of ocmmuncation between the administration/front office/whoever and me regarding a student of mine. About two weeks ago, while I was teaching my sixth period class, the principal came into my classroom and asked for my fourth period seating chart. I immediately gave it to her and then went back to teaching but was slightly confused as to why she wanted it. was this some sort of a test to see if my seating chart was updated? Was I supposed to know she was coming in? Was my seating chart correct? What was going on?

So, after school that day, I popped into her office and asked her why she needed it? Apparently one of my students in fourth period had thought he or she (I don't know who this student is so let's call him/her Taylor) had seen a BB Gun in the backpack of another student, let's call him Jimmy. However, Taylor did not know Jimmy's name (and apparently this is a major theme in my classes as always there is a student passing out work who doesn't know the names of everyone else in the class. Come on, people, if I can do it when all 150 of my kids, can't you do with the 19-32 people that are in your class?) Anyway.... Taylor did not know Jimmy's name but knew where Jimmy sat. So the principal came to borrow my seating chart and used it to find otu the name of the kid (Jimmy).

So, this was on a Thrsday and Jimmy isnot in class on Friday. Nor is he in class again on Monday. Nor Tuesday. Finally, I got up to the office and ask about Jimmy. Apparently, Jimmy has been suspended and will be out of school until Thursday. Never did I receive any notification about this. Not a note in my box, a meeting, a quick visit from the P or VP, nothing! I asked if I could arrange to have homework sent home since at Timberline, in-school suspension REQUIRES the student to do their homework. They said I could put the homework together, so I put it together and got it ready for Jimmy's return on Thursday. When Jimmy returned, he fit right back into what was going on- he had the homework that he was supposed to turn in from before his suspension, he fit right into the activity that we're doing although he's missed a day, he seems to understand my direction for the homework, life is good.

I'm not in school Friday so I don't know if he's around or not but today, not only is Jimmy not in class, but Jimmy's name is crossed out on my attendance sheet once I get it back after school. I assume this means that Jimmy is no longer in m class but again, no notification? A quick note saying "don't worrk about Jimmy, he's being taken care of, etc." Is this the type of communication I am to expect regarding all of my students? How do I know if an absence is an illness, a truancy or a student in suspension? What if the kid is dead? Hopefully this won't be an issue I'll have to face but in general, that's my confusion. I don't know, I guess I expect to receive communication about my students just as the administration expects me to communcation about the progress of my students.

So yeah, tomorrow, hopefully the Mystery of Jimmy shall be solved and I'll know if Jimmy is permanently gone from my class or just again on a week-long suspension.

Poor Jimmy.....

Quirks

2007-09-27T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am learning about hundreds of new types of students in this job. Please read on to see if any sound familiar....

Personal Space Invader: This student will stick his or her face right up against yours no matter what. Mine likes to see if I'm wearing eyeliner or not (slightly odd and disturbing at the same time). This student also likes to come up behind you and stick his or her face over your shoulder so when you turn your face, you smell his or her breathe. Usually needs to be reminded that he or she is invading your personal space.

The Rocker: This student enjoys rocking back and forth on his chair. Despite numerous reminders, he will continue to do this. Inevitably you will either become seasick from the rocking or, most likely, he will end up on the floor because you have taken his chair away.

Um.......: This student ALWAYS has a question. Unfortunately, he usually cannot remember the question that he has. Yet, it seems to be that he doesn't want to lose the teacher's attention or the "floor" because he will say "ummmmmmm" for about ten seconds before asking some random question. Usually this question has absolutely nothing to do with the actual lesson and is just another way to prolong his control of the floor. Every once in a while, he rises to the occasion and actually remembers his question.

The Silent Surprise: The kid who says absolutely nothing, always sits by himself, works better on his own, is so quiet that you dont' really remember what his voice sounds like. But when you're trying to get an answer out of the students and no one i responding and you fele like the world is ending, Silent Surprise not only surprises you by raising his hand but doubly surprises you when he answers the question correctly! Amazing.

The Adoring Girl: This student is always a girl. It doesn't matter what you look like, what you wear, how long it took you to do your hair in the morning, she will look at you adoringly and tell you that you look good or that she likes your hair/eyes/makeup/shoes/clothing/earrings/etc. Always good to have around on those bad days where nothing is going right. It's like your personal mood-upper.

The Expert: This students become smore common in high school but can be foudn in middle school as well. This students is an expert on something, be it Japanese samurais, The Five Pillars of Islam, the Incas, etc., either because of a personal interest or because of too many hours watching the History Channel. Whatever this person's expertises may be, they enjoy monopolizing the conversation when the class is studying the area of expertise. They will always raise their hand and when the other students realize that there is an expert in the class, they will clam up and force a conversation between the teacher and the so-called expert.

The Cupcake: This student is called the cupcake because he or she is so absolutely adorable that you just want to eat them up. Usually small, sometimes chubby with a cute round face, they usually are pretty hard-working, sometimes a little low on confidence but with the greatest smile ever. So cute that they put a smile on your face too and just make the day better.

The "Perfect Student": This student is just perfect. Hard-working, participative, works well with others, turns in his or her work, is inquisitive, enthusiastic, and always on-task. Abslutely a teacher's dream. Unforunately, tends to be picked on by the "less-perfect" students. Which then makes the teacher love him or her even more for having to put up with these less perfect kids. Truly a teacher's dream.

The Antagonizer: ALWAYS a larger student. This student enjoys driving the teacher up the wall and driving the other students up the wall. Sometimes just is obnoxious in class, sometimes doesn't know how to keep his hands to himself and ALWAYS thinks that he's the cat's pajamas. Inevitably, you and he/she end up having numerous talks outside one-on-one and numerous threats of detention is things do not shape up. Oftentimes, the Antagonizer is also a Rocker, which just is a recipe for disaster.

Well, it's late and I can't think of any more right now but this is a little taste of what I deal with on a regular basis. I'm sure more will come out of the wordworks as time goes on so stay tuned for more developments.

Stupid is as stupid does

2007-09-25T16:14:00.000-07:00

My kids were just being dumb today. Dumb, dumb, dumb. Yes, dumb. In my eighth grade class, we were looking at primary source documents. As a veteran AP class taker and a recent graduate of the ACI history department, I know as well as the next person how hard it is to read primary source documents. The documents that we were looking at were either from the point of view from the British or the Colonists and they were discussing what happened at the Battle of Lexington. Before we even got started, we were talking about what a primary source document is and what a bias is. I was using questioning strategies and they were just bumps on a log. Not even bumps on a log. They were like slugs just starting blankly back at me. It was ridiculous! And so frustrating! The questions I was asking were NOT hard in the slightest. They were all connected and it was so annoying for them to just sit there and not answer. I think it was an off day for everyone though because first period was fine with it and then it was downhill. And I was slightly reassured because when I went into lunch, I said something like "Man, my kids were being stupid today" and Mark said "oh, yours too?" So it's not just me or the assignment because it's happening to everyone.

On a brighter note, my seventh graders did really well. AND I only have one lesson to plan for Thursday for my eighth graders before I'm done for the week. Thank goodness fo three-day long activities and long-term projects.

And seriously, there will be a smackdown if the kids are as dense tomorrow as they were today. But I nearly pulled my hair out. Hopefully these days will be IN-frequent. Man.

Parents

2007-09-25T16:05:00.000-07:00

I DO NOT want to meet the parents of my students. During Back To School Night last year, I just was introduced but Charles pretty much took over and I was able to sit back and just listen. I am so afraid of the parents judging me because I'm a young teacher, because I may seem inexperiences, for hundreds of other reasons. I'm afraid that they won't agree with my way of doing things and get angry or blame me for their child not doing their work. I feel like I only have so much control over situations in my classroom and I can only do so much but will get blamed for what mistakes the students make. I can't force them to do their homework and if they get a U on their progress report or low grades because they haven't been studying, I have no control over that. I'm really glad that I only have ten minutes per period- I can introduce myself, let the parents see their kids' work on the walls, go through the standards and what we'll be covering the year/semester and hopefully the ten minutes will fly by. I know it cetainly doe when I'm teaching their kids.

On the upside, the nice thing about having parents that dont' speak English means that I am off the hook when calling home (which, by the way, I also absolutely despise). There is a community liason that speaks Spanish or Vietnamese and she will call home for you, talk to the parent in their native language, and then return a note to you with what was discussed. GENIUS! Now can I have someone do that for me with my English speaking parents???

Struggles and Confusion

2007-09-19T16:50:00.000-07:00

"It is best to be both feared and loved, however, if one cannot be both it is better to be feared than loved." -Machiavelli

This is something that I've been struggling with lately. On the good side, I no longer have three classes that I like and three that I don't like. I'm liking more and more of my students and so far, by today, Wednesday September 19th, I have had three good days this week. Thank goodness. However, there are still some of those students who are driving me crazy. And this is where my struggle comes into play. Do I want to be feared or loved? Do I want my kids to like me and for me to be cool Miss Yadlin. Or do I want the kids to fear me. Not running away from me screaming but to know that I won't back down and that I won't take any crap from them. There are a few kids who I think need that slap on the wrist now because the behavior will continue to escalate if I don't nip it in the bud now. I talked with my vice principal about this and he gave me some recommendations but today in fifth period I just lost my patience and assigned two students detention. The weird thing was that one of the students became started to participate and give decently smart answers, as well as voluteered to do some helpful things in class. It was an amazing transformation in about three seconds. I don't knwo if this was a way to say "See, look I can be good, I shouldn't get detention" but there is NO way that I am backing down with this. I need him to still come in so that I'm not seen as someone that he can push around. For most of the other classes, I've foujnd that the idea of detention works, either for one student/group or for the entire class. By letting them know that I have to stay after class anyway and that I have no problem with them staying with me, then it usually helps settle things down.

Now for my confusion. I assigned a quiz to my 8th graders earlier this week on the Thirteen Colonies. This doesn't seem like a big deal but here is my confusion- the people that I thought would do well pretty much bombed it and those that I thought would bomb it did considerably better. What the heck am I supposed to do with this? It's very confusing. Although I guess it's better than if those who I had assumed would do poorly really did. That would just depress me. And in the scheme of things I'd rather be confused by a surprising turn of events than be depressed for a week.

Today

2007-09-17T17:27:00.000-07:00

was a better day.....

Thank goodness, because Mondays are already bad :)

But no, it was a good day. My kids behaved pretty well, especially when compared to last Friday, and I felt really confident with what I was teaching and with what the kids were receiving. I tried a few new tactics when teaching and they seemed to work. My US kids had to work together using their textbook and their workbook sheets to match eleven different philosophers (OK, nine and then I added the Magna Carta and the 10 Commandements) to their beliefs. Some kids worked great, others would need some prompting to help get on track but then got to work and of course there were those few that just didn't want to do anything. But I guess that's to be expected. With those students, I just made sure that even if they weren't getting their answers done, they weren't distracting others and then used questions to try and guide them to the correct answer. Often i would leave them answering a question and then make my rounds to the other students and come back to lead them through more questions. So it worked.

In my World History class, we made a web on the board for Muhammad but because they had already read about him in the textbook, they had a little bit of background knowledge. The lesson ended up being a combination of me teaching and them sharing what they had remembered and I think it ended up being a good blend of my info and their info. As usual, with my sixth period class, there were students who were chatty or weren't always paying attention but i'm getting good enough with the names so that I can specifically talk to them by name. Also, the kids have picked up on my silent signals- usually a few kids will see that I'm silently standing at the whiteboard and the "shhhhs" will start going through the classroom. And the sixth period kids HATE it when I say that I have no problem keeping them after school so that usually zips their lips too.

I have one student in my sixth period who is VERY enthusiastic but sometimes a little distracting. He always wants to answer the questions but also can be disruptive, answer silly answers instead of thinking throuhg his thoughts, etc. He's a great kid but can drive me crazy! Today, for example, he kept poking and prodding one of his friends at the other table (who he shouldn't have been sitting next to in the first place) and then balancing on his chair, back and forth from four legs to two legs. At one point, I moved him to the front of the room and then sent him back to the other side of his table (away from his friend) but I got a better opportunity to talk to him after school. When the Vice-Principal or Couselor at JIIS holds detention, they do it in my classroom for some reason. So my student was in detention and I got a change to talk to him quickly, on-one-on, no other students around, just simply saying "hey, let's try and work on being a little calmer and more attentive in class and work on keeping all four legs of the chair on the ground". He was receptive and so we'll see what tomorrow brings...

The Lonely Road

2007-09-16T17:03:00.001-07:00

In my first week of teaching, I've learned that sometimes it can be a lonely job. It's one thing to be able to talk to your lead teacher- you have a relationship with them, you deal with the same kids, you're working together with lesson planning and figuring things out, etc. I think even when you become a first year teacher at teh same place where you've been doing your student teaching, it's easier because you already have a foundation. You know the routine, you know all the teachers, you know most of the kids already, you feel like there are people who can help you out.

Now, don't get me wrong, I really an enjoying my job so far. I really like the other teachers in my department but I don't feel like I'm at that point yet where I can ask them things. For example, there are a lot of kids who haven't turned their homework in yet, despite their knowledge that they will be attending a program called Friday Follow-Up where they'll be required to stay after school on Friday to complete ALL missing assignments. I have no idea what to do with this. I don't feel like i'm the point hwre I can ask the other teachers what their homework turn-in rate is. What if I'm the only teacher whose kids don't think their homework in? Does that then make me a bad teacher? As Adrian pointed out today, it may jsut be their interest level- who really wants to do homework in seventh and eighth grade? It's nothing to do with me. On the other hand, it would be arelief to know that I'm not the only one who has kids who don't turn their homework in. At what point the do I have to try something new or try and new approach with the homework. I don't feel like I'm close enough to anyone at the school right now to ask them, especially because I feel there's alot of pressure on me as the new teacher. Will they think I'm just a dumb, unexperienced kid and just say "go figure" or will they help me out? I don't know, it sometimes feels like a catch-22. But in all in, it's felt like a very lonely road so far. Hopefully things will work themselves out...

Lesson Planning

2007-09-11T19:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know how other teachers feel about this, but I really enjoy lesson planning. I don't necessarily like laying out what I will be doing over a long period of time but I like figuring out what I want to teach the next day and then going from there. Tonight, for example, I'm tryign to figure out the best type of worksheet to use for learning about the 13 Colonies. I like going online and seeing what's available and then creating my own worksheets and ideas. it lets me be creative but i also like seeing what other people have done. I think sharing is important (sharing is caring, as we told the kids today)- there's no point in recreating the wheel if it's already created. I don't understand teachers who hoard their material and have no desire in sharing. I'm the total opposite- I have no problem letting other teachers look at my material. And I'm really appreciative when others let me look at their information. So if you're a teacher out there hoarding material, I have one word for you-- SHARE!!!

:)

Some quotes

2007-09-11T16:22:00.000-07:00

Student: Miss Yadlin, how old are you?
Me: How old do you think?
Student: Um, 32?
Me: (cringing) You're killin' me, smalls!
Student: 31, 25, 29, 23, 22?
Me: Yes, 22.
Student: Wow, my sister is older than you!
Me: (thinking) This conversation needs to end NOW.

"Slavery was bad."-- deep, man, deep

"MLK freed the slaves."-- well, sort of....

Me: How about we have a girl read?
Student #1: (in a high voice) I'll read!
Me: Changing the pitch of your voice will not make me pick you.
Student #2: (in a high voice) I'm Antonia!

"Does the Titanic count as US History?"

"So there was Daddy Bush and Baby Bush?"

More to come later, I'm sure. I'm certainly glad that my kids have a sense of humor. I don't know what I would do if they were bumps on a log.

Here's how is started....

2007-09-10T21:34:00.000-07:00

I guess it all really began when I decided to stay an extra day in Irvine. The plan was origianlly to start driving back up on Tuesday because that was when the rest of the family minus Shiri were going to Colorado. But I ended up deciding to stay one more day and hang out with Shiri (which mostly included watching Start Wars Episode Three and then a lot of bad summer TV). Sometime during the afternoon, I went to go plug my phone in and found that I had a message from a woman at the Garden Grove School District. I called her back and was told that there was a position open at the GGUSD and did I want to come and interview?

I explained that I was on my way back to Idaho but we scheduled me in for an interview at 8:30. Wednesday morning, I packed up my car, including the cello and went to go interview. I met first with one of the HR women who, after what felt like a good interview, wanted to send me over to meet the principal of the school. I drove over to James Irvine Intermediate and met the principal and had what against felt like another good interview. Once leaving JIIS, I literally, got back on the road to head up to Idaho. I arrived in Caldwell Thursday afternoon, spent the evening hanging out with the guys in Boise and then sat down on Friday morning to start working on some thesis revision.

At this point, I'm really torn with what might happen. On the one hand, I really wanted a job. On the other hand, I would be abruptly leaving Idaho, I wouldn't get to sub for my Timberline kids, England would be out of the question.... Plus, there was that whole issue of having to move in about two days maximum and that was overwhelming to me.

But, around noon that day, I got the call from the woman who first interviewed me and was told that I got the job. Overwhelming literally was a understatement. I pushed my thesis aside and got to work. Not only did I have to be down in Irvine on Tuesday, I had to move as much of my things as possible. I started by packing up the things I really needed (to be honest, I didn't even unpack my suitcase... I figured it would save me an hour if I just lived out of it for a few days). This mostly included textbooks, my DVDs and videos, work clothes, the cello, etc. Then, since I still had time on my hands, I packed up most of my books, took everything off my walls, etc. Allie came over on Saturday to help me out and she was wonderful- really great support. I also had to do all the "housekeeping materials"- filing out the apartment paperwork, changing my address, etc. etc. As I said, overwhemling doesn't even begin to cover it.

On Sunday morning, I went to church to say goodbye, played a few special pieces (Amazing Grace, Blessed Assurance and Tis So Sweet- my oldies but goodies) and then took off towards Reno, Joey the cello hanging out in the front seat with me. I arrived in Reno around 6:00 PM, watched some TV and then went to sleep around 8:00. I woke up the next morning at 4:00 AM, getting myself onto the road half an hour later so I could try and avoid labor day traffic. I only stopped twice, once to fill up with gas and once to fill up with smoothies. On the upside, driving over the Sierra Nevadas in the dark was beautiful and I arrived back home at 1:30 having not hit any traffic at all. Whew.

Tuesday morning, bright and early, I arrived for my first staff meeting at Irvine Intermediate. I met some of the staff, including the department chair, Catherine, and then went to get my paperwork done at the district. I had to be fingerprinted, needed a physical that afternoon (which was literally a three hour process which included an eye-exam, urine test, x-rays and a three second conversation with the doctor), filled out a ton of paperwork and in the meantime, had to set up my classroom and start to plan my lessons. I "stole" a lot of stuff that was letfover, including some awesome posters which I started to put up and of course, called my family in for some much needed extra hands in setting up the class room. It wasn't until Wednesday when I received the textbooks and materials but luckily, the other three teachers in the department are really helpful and let me use their syllabus/parent letter and the letter that they wrote up for their textbook.

And then the students showed up. I was ready for them but was definitely still trying to adjust to my new surroundings. Because JIIS is in Garden Grove, it's a different socioeconomic class than Timberline or Woodbridge or most other schools- it's similar to a suburban Wilder. 90% of the students are Hispanic or Vietnamese but so far, I haven't found this a problem. My kids were SILENT the first day, execept for a few. I'm hoping that they'll start to talk more as we get into the material. Thursday and Friday were spent mostly getting to know the kids and doing the usual first day things- passing out textbooks, recapping some lessons learned in seventh grade with the eighth graders, introducing new concepts with the seventh graders, and then, on my part, starting to plan out my upcomings weeks.

So yes, that is how it happened. Never would I have expected that deciding to spend an extra day with my sister would turn into me getting a new job and moving back home. Oh yes, because I am living at home for awhile, which isn't a bad thing. It's letting me save some money, get a chance to start paying my loans back and free food is never a bad thing :). Hopefully you'll come back and check out this blog to continue to read about how things are going for me. Thanks for stopping by!