HURRAH!!!!!

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....

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

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

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

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!!!!