I whipped up a batch of chicken and dumplings for our hall potluck at school last week. Since I was under the weather nothing tasted good and Dan wasn't feeling well so he wouldn't taste them for me, so I showed up to school with dumplings; the first batch I've ever made by myself, and not entirely sure how they tasted.
Since I had a half-dozen boys hanging out in my room I decided to con one of them into tasting it for me.
So I called over Andres and asked him if he would taste my food.
"What is it?"
"Chicken and dumplings."
"What's that?"
Well this presented an interesting problem. How do you explain dumplings and have it sound like something someone would want to eat?
"Well it is chicken, in like a thick broth...Then there is a bread thing inside, dumplings. They are like biscuits that are cooked in. They should be soft but taste cooked, not doughy. Can you just taste them and let me know if it tastes cooked?"
"Sure."
I mean really, he is a 15 year old boy. Is he honestly going to turn down food?
So I give him a scoop full and he tastes it and tells me it is ok. Then they all walk around the room whispering about my food. A couple of boys made faces, to which I replied that I don't make fun of *their* food (specifically mentioned menudo). And this is what we eat at my home. They laughed and no one else said anything else about it. Most of them said it smelt good but weren't entirely sure about tasting it.
Tuesday, December 27
Christmas at the Pape house
My parents have taken off the week between Christmas and New Year's. Amazingly, since they hardly even take off work on the weekends. Of course today they went on 3 service calls and spent the morning at the shop, but still.
What have we done over Christmas? Had multiple parties: Dad's company Christmas party (which I missed most of cause I hadn't gotten over the crud yet), Family Christmas party at Aunt Gloria's on Christmas Eve and then Christmas day we ate the tamales that one of the guys that works for Dad gave him for Christmas and an enchilada experiment that I made. I probably wouldn't have attempted it but it was just going to be for mom, dad, Dan, Sheri and Joey....then Mammaw and Pappaw, Eddie's family, Aunt Leisa and my cousin Derek all ended up there too. I don't make terribly authentic enchiladas, I always do it wrong. But they ended up ok. Martha saved me by knowing how to make sour cream enchiladas and made those also.
Yesterday we went shopping at the mall and ate dinner with a friend of Dan's. then today we went shopping again. Best thing today was that we got to go and eat at El Sombrero's in Clinton, which I probably ate at 2-3 times a week in college. I had missed it terribly. Silly huh? I live in Fort Worth and can have much better Mexican food and I end up craving El Sombrero. But you know? It was good.
What have we done over Christmas? Had multiple parties: Dad's company Christmas party (which I missed most of cause I hadn't gotten over the crud yet), Family Christmas party at Aunt Gloria's on Christmas Eve and then Christmas day we ate the tamales that one of the guys that works for Dad gave him for Christmas and an enchilada experiment that I made. I probably wouldn't have attempted it but it was just going to be for mom, dad, Dan, Sheri and Joey....then Mammaw and Pappaw, Eddie's family, Aunt Leisa and my cousin Derek all ended up there too. I don't make terribly authentic enchiladas, I always do it wrong. But they ended up ok. Martha saved me by knowing how to make sour cream enchiladas and made those also.
Yesterday we went shopping at the mall and ate dinner with a friend of Dan's. then today we went shopping again. Best thing today was that we got to go and eat at El Sombrero's in Clinton, which I probably ate at 2-3 times a week in college. I had missed it terribly. Silly huh? I live in Fort Worth and can have much better Mexican food and I end up craving El Sombrero. But you know? It was good.
Wednesday, December 21
Silence OR What do you say?
Currently it is 12:24 am. Now, for those people who know me, (and since Sheri, Deva and Dan are usually the only people who read this) I don't stay up late. In fact I am early-to-bed girl sometimes getting in as early as 9:30 on a school night and can sleep right on through with no problems. Now I can't sleep. Probably because I'm getting better and am not as tired. Though apparently those steroid shots can keep you awake.
Train just went by. Didn't even know there was a train at 12 am. One of the joys of living across the way from a railroad track. Of course, nearly everyone in Fort Worth lives near a railroad track.
One of the teachers at school has discovered blogs. Specifically student blogs. I pinned my lips shut and didn't say a thing. He monitors them for inappropriate content and discussions about himself. :) Please don't let me get that old!
Today was a good day at school. I was feeling better. I was only disheartened when 3rd. . . which is my planning period I had 8, count them 8, students show up in my room. Why were they there? Apparently they were exempt, from both tests and didn't want to go home. Well except the kid that rides the bus and had to stick around until the bus ran at 3:35. At one point I had 21 people in my room. Now that was after my friend down the hall brought in her class so that I could head out a little early to go to the doctor.
The majority of the boys in class today were on elchat.com again. I am still shocked and surprised that the filter hasn't blocked them from it yet. I keep having to watch a few of them to make sure that it is appropriate content. The problem is that I don't speak that much spanish. I was doing ok at shutting them down when they were just cursing at each other. We caught one of the boys talking to "laura - sexy y horny." We told him that someone with that name was up to no good. Come to find out it was another boy from across the room. Then "maira" shows up and she was also someone in the room. My friend and I let it go on for a while and somehow with us giggling on the other side of the room, they never figured it out. We ended up having to tell him later. :)
Later on two other students were chatting with each other and only realized it when they asked each other where they were from and one of them calls out, "Hey, this person is from Fort Worth!"
But really there was only one thing that happened today that really impacted me. Sitting at lunch we were discussing students and one of them had gotten taken away to juve for being found with cocaine. Not someone I teach, but someone I knew, and I was there when they got caught. . . .We thought they were tagging the walls in the boys' bathroom or smoking cigarettes. We were going to be pretty mad about that, but I wish that had been the problem.
In the process of discussing this, one of the teachers brings up that this student wasn't the only one involved in drugs and started naming names. So the first couple I thought, "Ok, *maybe*, but I'm not sure." I try not to take what teachers say about students to heart. Everyone deserves more than one chance. It isn't like I haven't needed them myself in life. Then they named one of my kids that hangs out in my room all the time. Immediately, myself and another teacher piped up and said, "No, not him. He isn't involved in anything like that!" But we were assured on good authority that it was true. If it were true I would notice, right? I am not completely naive to think that it doesn't happen. I know of students who have come high on weed to my class. I noticed that.
To make a long story stort, we pulled the student into another room (because like I said, he hangs out in my room all the time) and my friend point-blank asked him. I didn't know what to say. It broke my heart. He swore up and down that it wasn't true. So we had a discussion about who you hang out it with and people's perceptions of you. No matter how much you don't care what people think about you, it changes your opportunities in life if people don't trust you or have misconceptions of you.
I'm sure there is a lesson there that i can learn. Right now I still want to cry about it. I'm glad my friend was there cause I wouldn't have known what to say. I didn't say a word. I just stood there and tried really hard to comprehend the accusation.
Train just went by. Didn't even know there was a train at 12 am. One of the joys of living across the way from a railroad track. Of course, nearly everyone in Fort Worth lives near a railroad track.
One of the teachers at school has discovered blogs. Specifically student blogs. I pinned my lips shut and didn't say a thing. He monitors them for inappropriate content and discussions about himself. :) Please don't let me get that old!
Today was a good day at school. I was feeling better. I was only disheartened when 3rd. . . which is my planning period I had 8, count them 8, students show up in my room. Why were they there? Apparently they were exempt, from both tests and didn't want to go home. Well except the kid that rides the bus and had to stick around until the bus ran at 3:35. At one point I had 21 people in my room. Now that was after my friend down the hall brought in her class so that I could head out a little early to go to the doctor.
The majority of the boys in class today were on elchat.com again. I am still shocked and surprised that the filter hasn't blocked them from it yet. I keep having to watch a few of them to make sure that it is appropriate content. The problem is that I don't speak that much spanish. I was doing ok at shutting them down when they were just cursing at each other. We caught one of the boys talking to "laura - sexy y horny." We told him that someone with that name was up to no good. Come to find out it was another boy from across the room. Then "maira" shows up and she was also someone in the room. My friend and I let it go on for a while and somehow with us giggling on the other side of the room, they never figured it out. We ended up having to tell him later. :)
Later on two other students were chatting with each other and only realized it when they asked each other where they were from and one of them calls out, "Hey, this person is from Fort Worth!"
But really there was only one thing that happened today that really impacted me. Sitting at lunch we were discussing students and one of them had gotten taken away to juve for being found with cocaine. Not someone I teach, but someone I knew, and I was there when they got caught. . . .We thought they were tagging the walls in the boys' bathroom or smoking cigarettes. We were going to be pretty mad about that, but I wish that had been the problem.
In the process of discussing this, one of the teachers brings up that this student wasn't the only one involved in drugs and started naming names. So the first couple I thought, "Ok, *maybe*, but I'm not sure." I try not to take what teachers say about students to heart. Everyone deserves more than one chance. It isn't like I haven't needed them myself in life. Then they named one of my kids that hangs out in my room all the time. Immediately, myself and another teacher piped up and said, "No, not him. He isn't involved in anything like that!" But we were assured on good authority that it was true. If it were true I would notice, right? I am not completely naive to think that it doesn't happen. I know of students who have come high on weed to my class. I noticed that.
To make a long story stort, we pulled the student into another room (because like I said, he hangs out in my room all the time) and my friend point-blank asked him. I didn't know what to say. It broke my heart. He swore up and down that it wasn't true. So we had a discussion about who you hang out it with and people's perceptions of you. No matter how much you don't care what people think about you, it changes your opportunities in life if people don't trust you or have misconceptions of you.
I'm sure there is a lesson there that i can learn. Right now I still want to cry about it. I'm glad my friend was there cause I wouldn't have known what to say. I didn't say a word. I just stood there and tried really hard to comprehend the accusation.
Monday, December 19
Fever count - 101
Ok, today I am sick. It is extremely obvious to my students, my collegues and most of all me. I am not walking-dead-sick, but still lacking energy. My co-11th grade teacher (who is leaving me next semester to be an instructional specialist) told the principal that she didn't think I would make it through the day. Principal says, "Who?" "You know, Mrs. F." [gotta point out how memorable I am here.] "Nah, she won't leave. She'll stick it out."
Now I need to point out that the person that had to think about who I was pegged me better than my friend. but I did leave at exactly 3:45. It took 10 minutes of 'date prisa' and 'vallence a su casa,' but i got all the boys & girls kicked out of my room and headed home. My across the hall neighbor was even impressed that I didn't stick around today.
Why you might ask was there anyone in my room that wasn't taking an exam. Good question. I had about 7 boys show up. 2 that rode the bus and couldn't leave, 2 that were taking the last exam, but not the first and 3 that just showed up. Then two more asked their teacher next door could they come in my room when they finished the exam. I should have kicked them all out. but I wasn't leaving, I knew I wasn't leaving and where else would they go? At least in my room they weren't getting into trouble.
We did have a moment where they all felt my head to see if I had a temperature. I was proclaimed "calliente" (sp?) and they stayed away from me after that. they didn't try to give me any grief though and that was good.
Now I need to point out that the person that had to think about who I was pegged me better than my friend. but I did leave at exactly 3:45. It took 10 minutes of 'date prisa' and 'vallence a su casa,' but i got all the boys & girls kicked out of my room and headed home. My across the hall neighbor was even impressed that I didn't stick around today.
Why you might ask was there anyone in my room that wasn't taking an exam. Good question. I had about 7 boys show up. 2 that rode the bus and couldn't leave, 2 that were taking the last exam, but not the first and 3 that just showed up. Then two more asked their teacher next door could they come in my room when they finished the exam. I should have kicked them all out. but I wasn't leaving, I knew I wasn't leaving and where else would they go? At least in my room they weren't getting into trouble.
We did have a moment where they all felt my head to see if I had a temperature. I was proclaimed "calliente" (sp?) and they stayed away from me after that. they didn't try to give me any grief though and that was good.
sicky girl or i'm really tired and school hasn't started yet
Ok, it is currently 6:27 in the morning. I'm coughing (already took my antibiotics and cough syrup -- hey deva. i been meaning to call you. can i take both at the same time?). I couldn't sleep tonight. So why am I going to school? It is finals. My 1st period has no idea what is on their exam cause I haven't reviewed it and 4th needs to get a review so that they can take their exam tomorrow. up side? i get a planning period today, we haven't taken 3rd period's exam yet. And 2nd is doing locker cleanout. So i'm pulling my oh-so-famous Ikea mushroom stool out to the hall. and yelling at kids from there to keep their stuff neat. :)
On the other upside, as soon as I get exams graded I'll be completing my TAKS/Wiesel unit on Night. I have found a way to read a novel, which will faciliate answering 3 step open-ended responses, which will lead to higher level thinking skills and hopefully facilitate essay writing. this is my plan. sometimes . . . ok, usually, my grandious plans don't turn out as I would like. but this unit will be immediately after my heart to heart with my classes about behavior and how if they don't want to do anything, that is fine. I'm here to help but really it is up to them. if they want to pass TAKS and graduate, they have to step up and do the work. I'm letting the kids who don't care sit it in the back row. I'm not fighting with them next semester. Not till after February. :)
On the other upside, as soon as I get exams graded I'll be completing my TAKS/Wiesel unit on Night. I have found a way to read a novel, which will faciliate answering 3 step open-ended responses, which will lead to higher level thinking skills and hopefully facilitate essay writing. this is my plan. sometimes . . . ok, usually, my grandious plans don't turn out as I would like. but this unit will be immediately after my heart to heart with my classes about behavior and how if they don't want to do anything, that is fine. I'm here to help but really it is up to them. if they want to pass TAKS and graduate, they have to step up and do the work. I'm letting the kids who don't care sit it in the back row. I'm not fighting with them next semester. Not till after February. :)
Thursday, December 15
spanish lessons
now, in addition to my informal spanish lessons, it seems I can sign up for spanish for teachers taught through the district. :) classes start in January.
in the meantime here is the spanish I've learned this week.
What's up - Que honda?
What's up (in chilango speak) - Que tranza?
Vallence a su casa - Go to your house.
Largete (sp?) - You go.
Oh and a great deal of good spanish curse words. I learned at least two really pleasant ones today. The last two spanish phrases are to help kick the kids out of my room.
Exams start tomorrow....that should be fun.
Today was the last time I will see 7th period until January! Woo-hoo!
in the meantime here is the spanish I've learned this week.
What's up - Que honda?
What's up (in chilango speak) - Que tranza?
Vallence a su casa - Go to your house.
Largete (sp?) - You go.
Oh and a great deal of good spanish curse words. I learned at least two really pleasant ones today. The last two spanish phrases are to help kick the kids out of my room.
Exams start tomorrow....that should be fun.
Today was the last time I will see 7th period until January! Woo-hoo!
Tuesday, December 13
Field trip to the library or "Can you help me find?"
Amid the hectic schedule of the past week, we managed to secure that our field trip to the central library still happened. The other reading teacher and I have bribed our kids this 6 weeks that if they read a certain number of pages (160 for Reading I & 200 for Reading II) they can go on a field trip. . . to the library. I had seriously downplayed the library part and seriously up-played "you get to spend a whole day with us, out of school, not in math or English class. come on, it'll be fun." In the end we had 45 of 75 that finished their reading and brought permission slips and got to go.
We had a blast.
Among the highlights:
-Teaching the students how to hold chopsticks at our lunch at P.F. Chang's.
-After Francisco was the kid to sit the farthest to the front of the orientation, getting to point out that he read HP & the Goblet of Fire and is halfway through Order of the Phoenix (the librarians gave him a copy of Half Blood Prince!!! He was so excited that he said it was the best day. He got to eat Chinese food AND got a book.)
-Having the kids genuinely excited to be at the library and get their own library cards.
-Spending all day with my students. they are great kids. they were *quiet* in the library even. They didn't complain and were genuinely pleased to be there. Even if it was a trip to the library, less than 5 min from the school. (Our school is right near downtown.)
To copy my sister:
Things I learned today -
1) I have been calling one of my students Isaac, everyone else calls him Ee-sahc (spanish pronunciation)
2) I can't count...or add. I counted the kids on the bus 7 times only to have another teacher come through and say "they're all here."
3) I learned 'what's up?' in spanish. but i forgot it already (didn't write it down).
4) Homework is "tarea"
5) sports is 'Deportes'
6) The kid I thought never talked, talked all day long!!! His brother was even surprised.
7) My after-school club is going to spread the words sancho/sancha into the English language. They were extremely disturbed that there wasn't a word for it in English. Basically a sancho is an extra boyfriend. It doesn't carry quite the same negative connotation as an affair or mistress. The kids are fixing us up with sanchos all the time.
8) Two of my kids are being left home alone for 3 weeks over Christmas.
We had a blast.
Among the highlights:
-Teaching the students how to hold chopsticks at our lunch at P.F. Chang's.
-After Francisco was the kid to sit the farthest to the front of the orientation, getting to point out that he read HP & the Goblet of Fire and is halfway through Order of the Phoenix (the librarians gave him a copy of Half Blood Prince!!! He was so excited that he said it was the best day. He got to eat Chinese food AND got a book.)
-Having the kids genuinely excited to be at the library and get their own library cards.
-Spending all day with my students. they are great kids. they were *quiet* in the library even. They didn't complain and were genuinely pleased to be there. Even if it was a trip to the library, less than 5 min from the school. (Our school is right near downtown.)
To copy my sister:
Things I learned today -
1) I have been calling one of my students Isaac, everyone else calls him Ee-sahc (spanish pronunciation)
2) I can't count...or add. I counted the kids on the bus 7 times only to have another teacher come through and say "they're all here."
3) I learned 'what's up?' in spanish. but i forgot it already (didn't write it down).
4) Homework is "tarea"
5) sports is 'Deportes'
6) The kid I thought never talked, talked all day long!!! His brother was even surprised.
7) My after-school club is going to spread the words sancho/sancha into the English language. They were extremely disturbed that there wasn't a word for it in English. Basically a sancho is an extra boyfriend. It doesn't carry quite the same negative connotation as an affair or mistress. The kids are fixing us up with sanchos all the time.
8) Two of my kids are being left home alone for 3 weeks over Christmas.
Thursday, December 8
SNOW DAY
Yep, I got a snow day today, along with the rest of FWISD. I also got a snow 'afternoon' yesterday. We let the kids out at 12:10 to go to lunch, buses picked up at 1:00 pm...but most of our kids walk or drive home. I spent the better part of the afternoon making sure that all the kids I could find had a ride home.
The thing that amazes me most about our school is that kids don't want to go home. Days off, after school and summer they just show up and hang around. Multiple students were sent home with reliable rides and then they would show back up on the 2nd floor *because they never left!* I mean, I'm flattered, that they want to be at school and not out on the street getting into trouble, but it was sleeting, my car was covered with an inch of ice, and the students needed to go home. So we kept pushing them out the door.
An hour after we sent kids home 7 of my students show up. All telling me they are going to walk home. None of them live within a half mile of school, so I start trying to find a way for them to get home. They wait till I get just slightly panicked, then they say that they are all walking to Pedro's house and he is going to take them home. So I send them all to Pedro's house to hang out there instead.
Today I have the excitement of not getting up until 9 am...Dan said it was a snow day miracle. I never sleep past 7:30. Then I watched ABC Family's Christmas Carol movie version of the year and 2 weeks ago's Charmed. For those of you who keep up (ha!) Leo didn't die, but he is frozen and being "kept" by the Angel of Destiny until such time as the sisters can fight a final battle. They needed the loss of losing Leo to make them stronger for this battle. :) Ok, I like Charmed, you can get on to me if you want.
I think my husband wants to play Civ IV this afternoon. I suppose I can accomodate. :) It is a good snow day activity...but we have to decorate the house later!
The thing that amazes me most about our school is that kids don't want to go home. Days off, after school and summer they just show up and hang around. Multiple students were sent home with reliable rides and then they would show back up on the 2nd floor *because they never left!* I mean, I'm flattered, that they want to be at school and not out on the street getting into trouble, but it was sleeting, my car was covered with an inch of ice, and the students needed to go home. So we kept pushing them out the door.
An hour after we sent kids home 7 of my students show up. All telling me they are going to walk home. None of them live within a half mile of school, so I start trying to find a way for them to get home. They wait till I get just slightly panicked, then they say that they are all walking to Pedro's house and he is going to take them home. So I send them all to Pedro's house to hang out there instead.
Today I have the excitement of not getting up until 9 am...Dan said it was a snow day miracle. I never sleep past 7:30. Then I watched ABC Family's Christmas Carol movie version of the year and 2 weeks ago's Charmed. For those of you who keep up (ha!) Leo didn't die, but he is frozen and being "kept" by the Angel of Destiny until such time as the sisters can fight a final battle. They needed the loss of losing Leo to make them stronger for this battle. :) Ok, I like Charmed, you can get on to me if you want.
I think my husband wants to play Civ IV this afternoon. I suppose I can accomodate. :) It is a good snow day activity...but we have to decorate the house later!
Tuesday, December 6
taks scores
I got the senior TAKS scores. 12 of my kids passed, 22 failed. Of the 22 that failed, 19 of them failed because of the writing. I teach reading....I'm not supposed to be teaching writing, but i guess i'm doing that from now on. i just can't take a chance.
today i was relocated for 6th and 7th. the cheerleaders were doing stretches outside of the portable that I was in. The male members of my class were very excited.
One of the kids I taught last year just came back from alternative school yesterday. I, apparently, am the only teacher he gets along with. he drives the rest of them crazy. very very add kid. why is it that i do fine with the add kids? ok, don't answer that.
alex and jorge were rating the girls on a scale of 1-5 during the testing by pointing to a girl and then holding up fingers.
one of my kids came up and told me 7th that it was going to snow tomorrow. I told him he was crazy. He asked me did I watch tv. I said I was out of town all weekend. I nearly, almost nearly bet him $10 that it wasn't going to snow tommorrow, that he was just making that up. I would have been wrong!
today i was relocated for 6th and 7th. the cheerleaders were doing stretches outside of the portable that I was in. The male members of my class were very excited.
One of the kids I taught last year just came back from alternative school yesterday. I, apparently, am the only teacher he gets along with. he drives the rest of them crazy. very very add kid. why is it that i do fine with the add kids? ok, don't answer that.
alex and jorge were rating the girls on a scale of 1-5 during the testing by pointing to a girl and then holding up fingers.
one of my kids came up and told me 7th that it was going to snow tomorrow. I told him he was crazy. He asked me did I watch tv. I said I was out of town all weekend. I nearly, almost nearly bet him $10 that it wasn't going to snow tommorrow, that he was just making that up. I would have been wrong!
Sunday, December 4
a week off...
...Exciting fun things of the day:
1) I'm presenting about India tonight for the Week of Prayer at my grandparent's church. I went there in 2001 for an ethnographic study. Kinda nervous...Apparently they have hyped me up quite a bit, i hope no one is disappointed.
2) I called H's sister. . . who speaks perfect English. She is about 15 years older than him and was in high school when he was a baby born in Los Angeles. We had a discussion about him and how he is doing and what he could be better at.
Then 2 days later I caught him wearing spanish curse words on his shirt. :) kinda proud of myself for noticing. Had to hunt him down cause he wouldn't come back and change it right then.
3) I get to go on a field trip with my reading I's a week from Tuesday. We are going to the downtown library and then out to eat. *I'm* excited, I hope they are.
4) My 7th period class is out of control and I'm being observed in there on Wednesday...This could be bad. I get to practice my lesson on Tuesday, but we are relocated because of TAKS benchmark testing to a portable. This *might* just be chaos.
1) I'm presenting about India tonight for the Week of Prayer at my grandparent's church. I went there in 2001 for an ethnographic study. Kinda nervous...Apparently they have hyped me up quite a bit, i hope no one is disappointed.
2) I called H's sister. . . who speaks perfect English. She is about 15 years older than him and was in high school when he was a baby born in Los Angeles. We had a discussion about him and how he is doing and what he could be better at.
Then 2 days later I caught him wearing spanish curse words on his shirt. :) kinda proud of myself for noticing. Had to hunt him down cause he wouldn't come back and change it right then.
3) I get to go on a field trip with my reading I's a week from Tuesday. We are going to the downtown library and then out to eat. *I'm* excited, I hope they are.
4) My 7th period class is out of control and I'm being observed in there on Wednesday...This could be bad. I get to practice my lesson on Tuesday, but we are relocated because of TAKS benchmark testing to a portable. This *might* just be chaos.
Tuesday, November 22
thanksgiving
Well, I got everything I wanted to do done yesterday. This morning I sat and watched Little Women...my favorite book growing up and a good 'Christmassy' movie. It is nice being off.
Dan and I went to go and see Harry Potter last night....I love Harry Potter. Goblet of Fire was my favorite book so far so I really enjoyed the movie. We stayed up late, ok, midnight and we even found See's Candies at Ridgemar!!! They are selling them at a kiosk for the Christmas season. mmm-mmm. We are taking them back to Jackson with us. I used to bring a box back every holiday when I lived in CA.
I'm kinda sad about the movies though. They waited so long to make them all that the actors are growing up. Neville Longbottom has *really* grown up, lost all his baby fat, etc. I am not sure they will pass as high schoolers, of course movie people do it all the time. I guess we will see what happens.
We had one language center kid who just read the entire Goblet of Fire novel (800+ pages). In addition to the fact that he could have just gone and gotten a copy in Spanish, he actually finished it! He borrowed book 5 from me and was in chapter 7 when we got out for Thanksgiving. Pretty impressive, huh?
Dan and I went to go and see Harry Potter last night....I love Harry Potter. Goblet of Fire was my favorite book so far so I really enjoyed the movie. We stayed up late, ok, midnight and we even found See's Candies at Ridgemar!!! They are selling them at a kiosk for the Christmas season. mmm-mmm. We are taking them back to Jackson with us. I used to bring a box back every holiday when I lived in CA.
I'm kinda sad about the movies though. They waited so long to make them all that the actors are growing up. Neville Longbottom has *really* grown up, lost all his baby fat, etc. I am not sure they will pass as high schoolers, of course movie people do it all the time. I guess we will see what happens.
We had one language center kid who just read the entire Goblet of Fire novel (800+ pages). In addition to the fact that he could have just gone and gotten a copy in Spanish, he actually finished it! He borrowed book 5 from me and was in chapter 7 when we got out for Thanksgiving. Pretty impressive, huh?
Saturday, November 19
puedo hablar...
Ok, more on the calling of my student's momma, since I realized that it sounded a little odd. I tease my kids, especially those who are more ADD, that I am going to call their mommas. Well, I have this one kid whose mom and two sisters live in Mexico City, he doesn't talk to her a lot, lives with his dad and older brother. As much as I can tell he was there this summer and hasn't talked to her since. Well, he started saying that I should go ahead and call his mom..."What do you want me to say?" "Tell her I'm ok."
We went through that banter for a few days, then Friday he brings me his mom's phone number in Mexico City, writes down her name and tells me to call after 8. I asked did his mom speak English and he said to ask for his sister Georgina cause she speaks "a little." (this last bit was with a grin and a giggle, so I'm not real sure how much 'a little' is.) So I really think he does want me to call. Not sure what to say, he is a good student, very bouncy, the boy who taught me what "tuba" means in spanish, but a sweet kid. He apparently misses his momma and wants her to know he is doing ok.
So, does anyone know how to call Mexico City?
We went through that banter for a few days, then Friday he brings me his mom's phone number in Mexico City, writes down her name and tells me to call after 8. I asked did his mom speak English and he said to ask for his sister Georgina cause she speaks "a little." (this last bit was with a grin and a giggle, so I'm not real sure how much 'a little' is.) So I really think he does want me to call. Not sure what to say, he is a good student, very bouncy, the boy who taught me what "tuba" means in spanish, but a sweet kid. He apparently misses his momma and wants her to know he is doing ok.
So, does anyone know how to call Mexico City?
Friday, November 18
fall cleaning time
Posting since I am waiting on my husband to get home. :)
Today, the last day before a week long, much needed Thanksgiving break, I chose not to do the originally planned writing center activity. Instead I chucked the lesson plan and offered my students the following deal: "You help me get my life organized here and I'll show you the movie you want to watch the last half of class." Worked like a charm.
The things I accomplished today:
1) sent every bit of paper, book, stuff to the correct teacher/office...even the stuff that has been sitting in my room for 3 weeks...ok, the entire year.
2) moved my two filing cabinets across the room and away from the air conditioning/heating sensor (the air guy says that was my heating problem)
3) moved my desk
4) cleaned out the files left by the teacher before me
5) organized the class library
6) alphabetized all the folders
7) cleaned my boards and put the birthday calendar up permanently so I don't have to keep doing it
8) got rid of all the boxes in my room and put empty ones behind the books so they don't push over.
all in all a productive day.
also I learned a little spanish:
"Puedo hablar con de la mama de Hernan, por favor?"
One of my students wants me to call his mom in Mexico City and tell her he is ok. I am sorta tempted to do it cause he really did want me to.
and
"que de histe" (spelling extremely rough?) 'What did you say?'
Today, the last day before a week long, much needed Thanksgiving break, I chose not to do the originally planned writing center activity. Instead I chucked the lesson plan and offered my students the following deal: "You help me get my life organized here and I'll show you the movie you want to watch the last half of class." Worked like a charm.
The things I accomplished today:
1) sent every bit of paper, book, stuff to the correct teacher/office...even the stuff that has been sitting in my room for 3 weeks...ok, the entire year.
2) moved my two filing cabinets across the room and away from the air conditioning/heating sensor (the air guy says that was my heating problem)
3) moved my desk
4) cleaned out the files left by the teacher before me
5) organized the class library
6) alphabetized all the folders
7) cleaned my boards and put the birthday calendar up permanently so I don't have to keep doing it
8) got rid of all the boxes in my room and put empty ones behind the books so they don't push over.
all in all a productive day.
also I learned a little spanish:
"Puedo hablar con de la mama de Hernan, por favor?"
One of my students wants me to call his mom in Mexico City and tell her he is ok. I am sorta tempted to do it cause he really did want me to.
and
"que de histe" (spelling extremely rough?) 'What did you say?'
Monday, November 14
my day in the library
ok, well to start off with, myself and the other language center reading teacher are bribing our kids to read long books. if they read 160 pages by the middle of december, they will get to go on a field trip downtown. tool around awhile, tour the library and go out to eat for free. i have conned most of them into trying.
then i spent the rest of the day alternately admonishing and praising my students for behavior when the sub was here. it culminated with yelling at them about posting a note to the pointy part of the flag and leaving it for my 9th graders to find this morning. my 9th graders translated it for me. my list of spanish curse words gets longer by the day. the first girl was so embarrassed she almost wouldn't tell me. i did get out of two girls in 7th who posted it. he wasn't there today so i'll get him tomorrow. :)
so today i give 7th their rant about behavior and how lots of them are seniors and 6-7 months from now they will be done with high school and i shouldn't have to be telling them how to act. basically a 'grow-up' speech. :) then i had to take them to the library because i had to wait a week to get in. i'm helping these groups of boys find books (16:9 boy-girl ratio remember) and get so frustrated that i take off my jacket while i'm talking to them. apparently this surprised them cause they all go "whoa! what are you doing?" "Taking off my jacket. I'm hot." "Right, Ms. You're hot!" what do i do? blush.
This is not what i needed today. especially from the class i'm supposed to be mad at. though i never stay mad at 7th period very long cause they are good kids and generally i like them. there are quite a few kids in there that shoot off a smile like "you can't be mad at me." and there i go and don't hold them to it. I should be a better disciplinarian.
then i spent the rest of the day alternately admonishing and praising my students for behavior when the sub was here. it culminated with yelling at them about posting a note to the pointy part of the flag and leaving it for my 9th graders to find this morning. my 9th graders translated it for me. my list of spanish curse words gets longer by the day. the first girl was so embarrassed she almost wouldn't tell me. i did get out of two girls in 7th who posted it. he wasn't there today so i'll get him tomorrow. :)
so today i give 7th their rant about behavior and how lots of them are seniors and 6-7 months from now they will be done with high school and i shouldn't have to be telling them how to act. basically a 'grow-up' speech. :) then i had to take them to the library because i had to wait a week to get in. i'm helping these groups of boys find books (16:9 boy-girl ratio remember) and get so frustrated that i take off my jacket while i'm talking to them. apparently this surprised them cause they all go "whoa! what are you doing?" "Taking off my jacket. I'm hot." "Right, Ms. You're hot!" what do i do? blush.
This is not what i needed today. especially from the class i'm supposed to be mad at. though i never stay mad at 7th period very long cause they are good kids and generally i like them. there are quite a few kids in there that shoot off a smile like "you can't be mad at me." and there i go and don't hold them to it. I should be a better disciplinarian.
Sunday, November 13
bragging on my kids
Ok, so I don't actually teach any of these kids, but I am super super proud. yesterday we went to state cross country. And OUR GUYS WON FIRST! In the state of Texas, North Side has the best 4A cross country team! We got written up in the Star-Telegram the day before.
Just wanted to brag.
Just wanted to brag.
Friday, November 11
friday night plans
what am i doing tonight? i'm going to the drive-in with 3 middle schoolers. :) a promise made to take them during Rambling Road Trip VBS this summer...then they didn't show a G/PG rated movie for 3 MONTHS!
We're going to see chicken little. wanna join us?
www.thebrazos.com
From Ft. Worth exit 429A from I-20/820 to US-377
Take 377 Business to Granbury Square
377 becomes Pearl St.
Go 2.5 miles on Pearl St.
The Brazos is on the right, before the High School
The estimated driving time is about 50 minutes
We're going to see chicken little. wanna join us?
www.thebrazos.com
From Ft. Worth exit 429A from I-20/820 to US-377
Take 377 Business to Granbury Square
377 becomes Pearl St.
Go 2.5 miles on Pearl St.
The Brazos is on the right, before the High School
The estimated driving time is about 50 minutes
Thursday, November 10
substitutes
now normally i have excellent luck with substitutes, or at least am not in the building where i know all the problems....but today....
1st period the sub was late. she took the job last night, no excuse. we start at 8:35 for crying out loud. my teacher assistant got the class started. then 2nd 2 kids and the teacher assistant came down to ask, "what are we supposed to be doing, cause the class is crazy. they are all listening to music, etc." well, apparently, the sub lost the instructions and didn't know what to do. the directions were on the board; the grammar packets were in the basket by my desk. . . seriously, figure it out. I went up there and by the time i got there the students had found the work and passed it out and started working on it. 4th, apparently they didn't do anything. 5th, they hunted down the grammar packets and did it themselves because she told them she didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. 6th, nothing...that is when i found all this out. i went up there 7th, passed out the packets myself and got them started. most of them were doing their work between blaming this girl of being pedro's (another kid in class) girlfriend. go figure that. oh and they tagged my board up...mostly in dry erase markers, partly in regular markers.
what did my sub do today? she make some excellent pencil drawings because she is an amateur artist. did she attempt to make them do their work? did she check or worry about what they were doing? you know the answer to that i'm sure.
so this is my quandry. i *was* going to let them watch a video tomorrow if they did the grammar packets efficiently today, but most of my classes didn't do them and those that did didn't get them till the end of the period (except for 7th). though i shouldn't punish the students for the sub being crazy. i'll just make sure that she doesn't come back to my room. i was visably angry today when i went up there after school, but i didn't say anything to her about it. i asked what they did and she said she didn't know what they were supposed to be doing and she lost the assignment page. i wouldn't be so upset about it but i was in and out of my room all day and she didn't ask. she said she didn't know where the packets came from, they just appeared. :)
on a happier note, the conferencing is going very, very well. most of my student are actually very very close to passing and many of them could make 3/4 on their essays if they work at it. so the day wasn't a complete bust.
1st period the sub was late. she took the job last night, no excuse. we start at 8:35 for crying out loud. my teacher assistant got the class started. then 2nd 2 kids and the teacher assistant came down to ask, "what are we supposed to be doing, cause the class is crazy. they are all listening to music, etc." well, apparently, the sub lost the instructions and didn't know what to do. the directions were on the board; the grammar packets were in the basket by my desk. . . seriously, figure it out. I went up there and by the time i got there the students had found the work and passed it out and started working on it. 4th, apparently they didn't do anything. 5th, they hunted down the grammar packets and did it themselves because she told them she didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. 6th, nothing...that is when i found all this out. i went up there 7th, passed out the packets myself and got them started. most of them were doing their work between blaming this girl of being pedro's (another kid in class) girlfriend. go figure that. oh and they tagged my board up...mostly in dry erase markers, partly in regular markers.
what did my sub do today? she make some excellent pencil drawings because she is an amateur artist. did she attempt to make them do their work? did she check or worry about what they were doing? you know the answer to that i'm sure.
so this is my quandry. i *was* going to let them watch a video tomorrow if they did the grammar packets efficiently today, but most of my classes didn't do them and those that did didn't get them till the end of the period (except for 7th). though i shouldn't punish the students for the sub being crazy. i'll just make sure that she doesn't come back to my room. i was visably angry today when i went up there after school, but i didn't say anything to her about it. i asked what they did and she said she didn't know what they were supposed to be doing and she lost the assignment page. i wouldn't be so upset about it but i was in and out of my room all day and she didn't ask. she said she didn't know where the packets came from, they just appeared. :)
on a happier note, the conferencing is going very, very well. most of my student are actually very very close to passing and many of them could make 3/4 on their essays if they work at it. so the day wasn't a complete bust.
Wednesday, November 9
conferencing
tomorrow and friday myself and a teacher down the hall are conferencing the students that we teach on their writing for the state test. i am actually quite excited about it. i get to spend a whole day talking to the kids and *really* giving them things to help them w/o having to shush kids every 5 minutes or stop and find more work for those that finished early to do. we have gotten subs for two days so we can do this. i can really talk to each and every kid and given them things to hold on to. it actually should be a lot of fun.
Tuesday, November 8
raising expectations
Our school just got some kind of insane grant to do High Schools that Work. It is a smaller learning community program. The kids will go to a freshman academy then will choose a major and stay in that academy till they graduate (they can swap majors if they like later one). Really neat idea. Great for the teachers cause you will teach the same kids and can keep track of them and help them out a lot. It really is very helpful to talk to other teachers about kids cause you can find out if it is just you or if they are slipping or if something is up with them.
We had to go to the faculty meeting today and hear everyone complain about how the students can't all take ap classes (should be up to 80% on a distinguished grad plan) and how we need an extra administator just to call parents and you can't help kids out if they just can't do it. I really hate faculty meetings that end up that way. The principal got frustrated and actually told the teachers that we are doing this next year and if they don't like it they need to let her know and she will get them transferred for next august...or even January. :) Lots of fun.
We had to go to the faculty meeting today and hear everyone complain about how the students can't all take ap classes (should be up to 80% on a distinguished grad plan) and how we need an extra administator just to call parents and you can't help kids out if they just can't do it. I really hate faculty meetings that end up that way. The principal got frustrated and actually told the teachers that we are doing this next year and if they don't like it they need to let her know and she will get them transferred for next august...or even January. :) Lots of fun.
Monday, November 7
to write or not to write....
In my first 3 months being a reading teacher I have realized that I in fact really, really love to teach writing. I understand writing, I retain the information about the people who are writing gurus and I think I'm pretty good at getting the students to do it. This six weeks I decided to teach writing. It is on the test, the kids need it and the other teachers (that are teaching English) are not doing it. Well I say that, they aren't doing it as much as I would, but they are writing some.
Today I created this awesome lesson where the students choose a generic topic (first day of school, championship game, etc) and then they choose 3 styles of how to write an introduction (description, dialogue, interior monologue, action, etc.) It is cool cause they rewrite the same thing 3 different ways. They can see how they can rewrite things to match the story better, how you can say the same thing 3 ways and practice with different methods of writing. I found that last year students would only try one way of writing an introduction. They ALL used begin with a question. Thus, they never branched out and never really refined that method either. I'm trying it different this year.
So far I have at least two kids that *never* do anything that are interested and asking how to do it. One literally didn't write anything last year. The other wrote some stuff for me, but didn't put much effort and *never* asked questions about how to do it. Both kept trying to get me to help them and wrote stuff!!! Yes, that seems like a small thing, but really it is a very big thing. I'm super proud of them. small victories.
update on the kids who hang out in my room. Today I had 3 who used computers, 3 who finished their intro paragraphs before I let them on (one i made stay after because he goofed off all 7th period). One kid told me that he wished he could know what I was like outside of school (not being a teacher) this i laughed at and told him that was a much more interesting teacher than I was a person. I explained that my husband and I read books for fun...and that we went to the movies for the first time in a *long* time on Friday and it almost got vetoed cause there wasn't anything Dan wanted to see. But I conned him into Zorro (Antonio Bandaras :). I think I convinced them that I wasn't that interesting a person.
Today I created this awesome lesson where the students choose a generic topic (first day of school, championship game, etc) and then they choose 3 styles of how to write an introduction (description, dialogue, interior monologue, action, etc.) It is cool cause they rewrite the same thing 3 different ways. They can see how they can rewrite things to match the story better, how you can say the same thing 3 ways and practice with different methods of writing. I found that last year students would only try one way of writing an introduction. They ALL used begin with a question. Thus, they never branched out and never really refined that method either. I'm trying it different this year.
So far I have at least two kids that *never* do anything that are interested and asking how to do it. One literally didn't write anything last year. The other wrote some stuff for me, but didn't put much effort and *never* asked questions about how to do it. Both kept trying to get me to help them and wrote stuff!!! Yes, that seems like a small thing, but really it is a very big thing. I'm super proud of them. small victories.
update on the kids who hang out in my room. Today I had 3 who used computers, 3 who finished their intro paragraphs before I let them on (one i made stay after because he goofed off all 7th period). One kid told me that he wished he could know what I was like outside of school (not being a teacher) this i laughed at and told him that was a much more interesting teacher than I was a person. I explained that my husband and I read books for fun...and that we went to the movies for the first time in a *long* time on Friday and it almost got vetoed cause there wasn't anything Dan wanted to see. But I conned him into Zorro (Antonio Bandaras :). I think I convinced them that I wasn't that interesting a person.
Sunday, November 6
computer time OR Can you Cumbia, Ms?
I have this set of laptop computers that live in my room right now. The school bought two carts of 16 computers each and I volunteered to learn how to use one. :) I let my students use them for class projects but they can't surf or look up other stuff during class. Two of my students came and asked to use them after school so I told them they could. That was Wednesday 5th period. By 4:00 (school lets out at 3:35) I had a dozen boys (nope no girls) in my room all on computers varying from "Latin Chat" to Cruz Azul merchandise (Mexico City's soccer team) to streaming cumbia. My thought on it is that most of my kids *don't* have computers and can't just play around on computers, get comfortable with them, etc. I was a little worried about Latin Chat, but by the next day the filter had caught it and blocked it also. :) yes, about 6 of them came back Thursday. Both days they stayed till about 5, then walked home. Friday a bunch showed up but I told them it was Friday and they should go home. (The internet was down anyway.)
So my new goals:
1) Finally learn a little Spanish. This is ridiculous. I seriously need to know some.
2) Learn how to cumbia...or at least be able to tell that it is cumbia music by listening to it. It has a different beat to it. When I get a good artist/group, I'll let you know.
3) Come up with some official plan to let students use the computers.
So my new goals:
1) Finally learn a little Spanish. This is ridiculous. I seriously need to know some.
2) Learn how to cumbia...or at least be able to tell that it is cumbia music by listening to it. It has a different beat to it. When I get a good artist/group, I'll let you know.
3) Come up with some official plan to let students use the computers.
Tuesday, November 1
i feel like crying
Never in my year and half (almost) of teaching have I wanted to cry after getting out of school. I want to scream or give up or reintroduce corporal punishment, but never ever cry. I'm not much of a cryer really. But today that is how I feel.
First my kids should be doing study guides today. After I get 300 questions about why, can't we just. . . . They got down and actually did them.
Fifth period there were three boys, who I put up with because I like them, who all decided that I had somehow wronged them because J was passing and the other two were, in fact, not. I told them that J had turned in his make up work....they hadn't.
Sixth the girl who spent the entirety of last year trying to give me a heart attack by saying she was pregnant has actually gotten pregnant. She missed the last six weeks of last year because her family was relocated to a shelter (something that most people don't know, I'm just nosy and check the withdrawal forms to see where my kids go). This girl does not need this. She is a junior but not quite motivated enough to overcome taking care of a child.
7th period...This class is bouncy. I cut them a deal a couple of weeks ago that there could be no more bathroom passes, they have to ask before class starts and they can come in 1 minute late if they do. I expect people not to take advantage of me when I cut them a deal. My best kid, the kid who is not enrolled in my class and one of my talkers all get brought to my room by the teacher across the hall. They were in someone else's classroom... "Are these yours, Mrs. F?" Yes, they were so I send them to get tardy passes. Yes, they had asked to be late so they can go to the bathroom *NOT* to wander across the building. So I had to send the two enrolled in my class to the tardy calculator to get tardy passes. My best kid has literally never had a tardy this year...nor an absence. He was really mad at me because I sent him. His brother was embarrassed first period because I called him by my best kid's name.
Then there was this one kid. He put down his backpack (Kenny from the Halloween zombie episode) and left. Just distinct enough that I know exactly whose it is.... He never came back. I figured he was late...then he never came to class and I was mad. What kind of kid lets me see them and then doesn't come to class? After school I track down every kid I know that is friends with him. "Where is he? Did you see him? His stuff is in my room but he never came to class." I tracked down kids who aren't even friends with him. I was starting to get really worried. about to call his house looking for him, when he walked in (30 min after school let out). WHERE have you been??? He sat down and I got out of him that there was some type of stomach problem and he went home. I'm not sure there isn't more to the story because 'stomach' sounded like spanish the first three times he said it. He wasn't pronouncing it right. He lives like two miles from the school. So he missed all of class to go home and come back. I reminded him that you can't just leave school. You have to get checked out, go to the nurse or go to the office. You can't just walk off campus. He said he understand, he was sorry. He didn't mean to make me worry.
So this is my thing. What compels a kid to just walk home during 7th period? Was this premeditated? I mean, he *came* to class. Then he went home. Didn't tell anyone. I don't think he is lying flat out to me because there is no reason to. Plus the students had already given a dozen reasons for him not to be there (in-house, soccer practice, fell in the toilet :) )....
Regardless I was so relieved that he was ok and not laying in a ditch somewhere that I didn't write him up for skipping. but i did want to cry. :)
First my kids should be doing study guides today. After I get 300 questions about why, can't we just
Fifth period there were three boys, who I put up with because I like them, who all decided that I had somehow wronged them because J was passing and the other two were, in fact, not. I told them that J had turned in his make up work....they hadn't.
Sixth the girl who spent the entirety of last year trying to give me a heart attack by saying she was pregnant has actually gotten pregnant. She missed the last six weeks of last year because her family was relocated to a shelter (something that most people don't know, I'm just nosy and check the withdrawal forms to see where my kids go). This girl does not need this. She is a junior but not quite motivated enough to overcome taking care of a child.
7th period...This class is bouncy. I cut them a deal a couple of weeks ago that there could be no more bathroom passes, they have to ask before class starts and they can come in 1 minute late if they do. I expect people not to take advantage of me when I cut them a deal. My best kid, the kid who is not enrolled in my class and one of my talkers all get brought to my room by the teacher across the hall. They were in someone else's classroom... "Are these yours, Mrs. F?" Yes, they were so I send them to get tardy passes. Yes, they had asked to be late so they can go to the bathroom *NOT* to wander across the building. So I had to send the two enrolled in my class to the tardy calculator to get tardy passes. My best kid has literally never had a tardy this year...nor an absence. He was really mad at me because I sent him. His brother was embarrassed first period because I called him by my best kid's name.
Then there was this one kid. He put down his backpack (Kenny from the Halloween zombie episode) and left. Just distinct enough that I know exactly whose it is.... He never came back. I figured he was late...then he never came to class and I was mad. What kind of kid lets me see them and then doesn't come to class? After school I track down every kid I know that is friends with him. "Where is he? Did you see him? His stuff is in my room but he never came to class." I tracked down kids who aren't even friends with him. I was starting to get really worried. about to call his house looking for him, when he walked in (30 min after school let out). WHERE have you been??? He sat down and I got out of him that there was some type of stomach problem and he went home. I'm not sure there isn't more to the story because 'stomach' sounded like spanish the first three times he said it. He wasn't pronouncing it right. He lives like two miles from the school. So he missed all of class to go home and come back. I reminded him that you can't just leave school. You have to get checked out, go to the nurse or go to the office. You can't just walk off campus. He said he understand, he was sorry. He didn't mean to make me worry.
So this is my thing. What compels a kid to just walk home during 7th period? Was this premeditated? I mean, he *came* to class. Then he went home. Didn't tell anyone. I don't think he is lying flat out to me because there is no reason to. Plus the students had already given a dozen reasons for him not to be there (in-house, soccer practice, fell in the toilet :) )....
Regardless I was so relieved that he was ok and not laying in a ditch somewhere that I didn't write him up for skipping. but i did want to cry. :)
Monday, October 24
how do you explain grumpy?
Today my Reading I kiddos, my kids who have immigrated in the past 2 years instead of when they were 8, were being 9th graders. They come bouncing in saying my room is hot. :) now it is currently 51 degrees outside and I would say that is on par with what it was at 8:30 this morning (love the new school start times!) So I smile and tell them that I *hate* cold weather and that it makes me grumpy. "what's that, ms?"....Hmm. How do you explain grumpy. It completely stumped me. I pulled out the spanish/english dictionary and *it wasn't in there!* So i pulled out a language learner's dictionary and read the definition. But it isn't unhappy, or sad or really even moody. I just said that cold weather puts me in a bad mood. But I really wanted to say, "No, it just makes me a little grumpy." :) Oh, well.
On a side note, my kitty hasn't left my lap all evening. We are curently waiting for my hubby to get home. yes, he isn't home at 10, the new baseballwarehouse website launches the first week of november (we hope).
also, practicing my spanish today. I learned that you have to be careful when saying J in espanol because it can come out like you are saying "gay." All this was triple checked from 3 different sources (2 kids, one teacher) just to make sure that I wasn't having the wool pulled over my eyes. Still can't believe that I have taken French, Greek, German, Chinese and learned some Russian in country and *still* don't know a lick of Spanish. Seriously, that is a little ridiculous right? I'm getting better though. I can at least guess what they are saying to me about 1/2 the time now. :)
On a side note, my kitty hasn't left my lap all evening. We are curently waiting for my hubby to get home. yes, he isn't home at 10, the new baseballwarehouse website launches the first week of november (we hope).
also, practicing my spanish today. I learned that you have to be careful when saying J in espanol because it can come out like you are saying "gay." All this was triple checked from 3 different sources (2 kids, one teacher) just to make sure that I wasn't having the wool pulled over my eyes. Still can't believe that I have taken French, Greek, German, Chinese and learned some Russian in country and *still* don't know a lick of Spanish. Seriously, that is a little ridiculous right? I'm getting better though. I can at least guess what they are saying to me about 1/2 the time now. :)
Saturday, October 22
day of adventure
Today we went to the new Super Target downtown. Super excited about it now. It is really close, not that crowded and has all the stuff we want. :) dan's happy about the food selection...I found naan bread and fuji apples -- neither of which I have seen since I left SF.
In a moment of excitement we bought Scrabble....This is to tide us over until Civ IV comes out next Tuesday!!! Our pre-order copy from Amazon should show up on Wed. Yes, we are dorks. We accept this and deal with it. We are super excited about it. I've played Civ since ... Well I played FreeCiv first, then CivII...Then Civ III, all the expansions...now Civ IV. It got a 9.4 from IGN. It is good because it is not too much about war, lots of strategy, etc. :)
In a moment of excitement we bought Scrabble....This is to tide us over until Civ IV comes out next Tuesday!!! Our pre-order copy from Amazon should show up on Wed. Yes, we are dorks. We accept this and deal with it. We are super excited about it. I've played Civ since ... Well I played FreeCiv first, then CivII...Then Civ III, all the expansions...now Civ IV. It got a 9.4 from IGN. It is good because it is not too much about war, lots of strategy, etc. :)
Friday, October 21
Miracles
Want to know a miracle? Yesterday my 4th period & my 7th period classes were *completely silent* during silent reading time. Now, that may seem like a no-brainer, however, if you have classes with ratios of 16 boys/9 girls (7th) and 6 ADD (i swear i'm not exaggerating) students (4th) you tend enjoy the small miracles. :)
best story of the day:
there is a teacher at my school (1st year) whose students managed to pull the pins out of the door *while she was teaching.* she went outside to check on a kid and the door fell over. :)
best story of the day:
there is a teacher at my school (1st year) whose students managed to pull the pins out of the door *while she was teaching.* she went outside to check on a kid and the door fell over. :)
Wednesday, October 19
terrible blogger
that is what I am...a terrible blogger. oh well. make due with what you get huh?
I am currently in my second 6 wks of school. My schedule has changed twice and I have sifted down from 183 kids in 6 classes to 145. I have about 20-27 in each class which is actually incredibly good odds. :) I love my kids. most days they drive me completely bonkers, but I love them.
what am i teaching? 20 9th grade language center kids (been in the US 1-2 years) and 125 TAKs prep kids. I have every remedial student in the 11th and 12th grade. Every student who didn't respond to my or the other 10th grade teacher's proddings last year to pass the state test, yes every single student. :) but i love them .... I keep telling myself that.
here are some of the kiddos I have:
-a kid who invariably, without fail, is completely rude to me, appologizes, lays down on my floor to "take a nap" then gets up to do his work. won't quit talking, i spend 1/3 of the class focusing on him alone.
-3 boys in the same class who can not talk in inside voices. literally. i ask them to bring it down about 3 times a day when we have class discussions. all are late, all skip repeatedly. :)
-2 boys who every time they do something wrong they wink at me. and say "come on ms!"
-1 boy who "teaches" me spanish. i can't repeat anything he teaches me because most of it remains unconfirmed. tests me daily by coming up and speaking in spanish just to see if i understand yet.
-2 girls who assure me the boys behind are not being flirted with. "trust me, ms. we are not flirting with *them*" i get the distinct impression that these boys aren't interested in the cute girls sitting in front of them....
-one boy who apparently was a pick-pocket in mexico on the streets as a child. i really like the kid and cant get mad at him. however he can't stay in his seat, talks nearly exclusively in spanish if it isn't with me (problem during small group discussions).
-a kid from auto tech who assures me that i should have let them fix the alternator in my car when it went out last week and shook his head with the most fatherly shake saying i should have known. :)
and a million sweet kids who actually try to do their work. it is fun...but stressful.
I am currently in my second 6 wks of school. My schedule has changed twice and I have sifted down from 183 kids in 6 classes to 145. I have about 20-27 in each class which is actually incredibly good odds. :) I love my kids. most days they drive me completely bonkers, but I love them.
what am i teaching? 20 9th grade language center kids (been in the US 1-2 years) and 125 TAKs prep kids. I have every remedial student in the 11th and 12th grade. Every student who didn't respond to my or the other 10th grade teacher's proddings last year to pass the state test, yes every single student. :) but i love them .... I keep telling myself that.
here are some of the kiddos I have:
-a kid who invariably, without fail, is completely rude to me, appologizes, lays down on my floor to "take a nap" then gets up to do his work. won't quit talking, i spend 1/3 of the class focusing on him alone.
-3 boys in the same class who can not talk in inside voices. literally. i ask them to bring it down about 3 times a day when we have class discussions. all are late, all skip repeatedly. :)
-2 boys who every time they do something wrong they wink at me. and say "come on ms!"
-1 boy who "teaches" me spanish. i can't repeat anything he teaches me because most of it remains unconfirmed. tests me daily by coming up and speaking in spanish just to see if i understand yet.
-2 girls who assure me the boys behind are not being flirted with. "trust me, ms. we are not flirting with *them*" i get the distinct impression that these boys aren't interested in the cute girls sitting in front of them....
-one boy who apparently was a pick-pocket in mexico on the streets as a child. i really like the kid and cant get mad at him. however he can't stay in his seat, talks nearly exclusively in spanish if it isn't with me (problem during small group discussions).
-a kid from auto tech who assures me that i should have let them fix the alternator in my car when it went out last week and shook his head with the most fatherly shake saying i should have known. :)
and a million sweet kids who actually try to do their work. it is fun...but stressful.
Wednesday, August 24
2nd wk of school....
But i have great news so i decided to put in a short post. i'll try to catch up next week when they get my class sizes below 35.....
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/12461791.htm
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/business/12461791.htm
Saturday, June 11
YA novel #5 - The exchange student by Kate Gilmore
This novel is about a girl whose parents sign up for an exchange student from another planet. This is set in the future after the world has been annihilated by a ecological catastrophe. The heroine is involved in rebreeding all of the animals on earth. All the common sci-fi stuff is there, food replicators, etc. her exchange student eats a lot, turns colors according to his mood and is very interested in the animals. their relationship develops but she can tell that there is something she is not telling him. Great story, good sci-fi background. a little slow, but most sci-fi novels are, aren't they?
YA novel #4 - 3 days off
3 days off by Susie Morgenstern
This author, though born American, originally wrote this in French and the translation retains a sprinkling of French phrases and a scene where the main character tries to understand an American tourist as they go through the city together.
Now, when the title says 3 days off what do you think it would be about? A vacation? A snow holiday? No, you would be wrong. the main character here actually gets suspended for telling his English language teacher he would like to know what color her panties were. Apparently he didn't mean to say it, just blurted it out. but gets suspended for 3 days nonetheless. he gets up every morning to figure out how to tell his mom. she actually gets fired from the factory the same day he gets suspended so he chickens out of telling her and has to pretend he is going to school. he can't actually return until she comes to school with him. he is a teenage boy, thinks a lot about the girl he likes, wants to get out of the town he lives in and move to a bigger city, etc. All ends up well, he learns his lesson. The whole book is only 89 pages so it is short enough to read quickly. There are 3 sections/chapters, one for each day.
This author, though born American, originally wrote this in French and the translation retains a sprinkling of French phrases and a scene where the main character tries to understand an American tourist as they go through the city together.
Now, when the title says 3 days off what do you think it would be about? A vacation? A snow holiday? No, you would be wrong. the main character here actually gets suspended for telling his English language teacher he would like to know what color her panties were. Apparently he didn't mean to say it, just blurted it out. but gets suspended for 3 days nonetheless. he gets up every morning to figure out how to tell his mom. she actually gets fired from the factory the same day he gets suspended so he chickens out of telling her and has to pretend he is going to school. he can't actually return until she comes to school with him. he is a teenage boy, thinks a lot about the girl he likes, wants to get out of the town he lives in and move to a bigger city, etc. All ends up well, he learns his lesson. The whole book is only 89 pages so it is short enough to read quickly. There are 3 sections/chapters, one for each day.
YA novel #3 - Both Sides of Time
Both sides of Time by Caroline B. Cooney -
Apparently this is a series. The Time Quartet. It is a cute love story about a girl whose boyfriend cares more about his car than her and she wishes she lived in 1895. As she is walking around a condemned house that is about to be demolished, she ends up "falling" through time to 1895. She falls in love, gets caught up in a murder and falls back to her own time. All ends up well in the end. This novel is well written, fun and a bit sappy. :) I am interested in finding the rest of them because I wonder where the story goes.
Apparently this is a series. The Time Quartet. It is a cute love story about a girl whose boyfriend cares more about his car than her and she wishes she lived in 1895. As she is walking around a condemned house that is about to be demolished, she ends up "falling" through time to 1895. She falls in love
Sunday, June 5
virtual worlds
I am officially a computer geek. Now, I have been flirting with this for years. My husband, Dan, and I would go into the video game stores and all the other guys would tap and nudge each other, "Look, a girl! a real live girl! and she has heard of these games!" I would giggle at being the oddity and move on. We would play selective games: Civilization II & III; Kingdom Hearts; Lord of the Rings. . . . But all in all I was just flirting with game playing. Until last night. Last night I officially signed up to play Everquest II. Dan has been playing for 3 weeks now and I have been holding off, watching movies, reading books instead. However I sucuumbed. My screen name is Anaria. I am a level 5 Gnome Scout after one night of play. Actually, I just finished the tutorial and we are about to head away from the refugee camp into the "real" world. :)
Honestly, it is kind of fun. I'm not into killing, but there is more to do than just kill the monsters. And I have a sneak attack that makes me invisible. :) Fun times to be had by all.
Honestly, it is kind of fun. I'm not into killing, but there is more to do than just kill the monsters. And I have a sneak attack that makes me invisible. :) Fun times to be had by all.
Saturday, June 4
YA novel #2 - Hole in my Life by Jack Gantos
Really liked this one. This guy is a children's author and this is his true story. When he was in high school he knew he wanted to be a writer and it talks some about his quest to be a writer. he didn't live with his parents his senior year of high school and got into some drinking and pot smoking. This isn't so much condemned as it shows that it did get him into some trouble because it was a symptom of his irresponsibility in this case. All said, he takes a job helping drive a boat to New York full of hashish fresh from Morocco and gets caught, goes to jail at 19/20 and spends 15 months there. This is a good story that lets you know what exactly he was thinking. It isn't preachy. It isn't really a "don't do what I did." It is just "hey this is what happened to me." Even if you aren't into Young Adult novels, this is a good one and a quick read.
YA novel #1 - Whirligig by Paul Fleischman
Really, I picked this book up because it had a cool cover and i liked the word "whirligig." Which, come to find out, is an actual thing you can build that has spinning arms or parts when the wind blows. The premise of this book is that there is this extremely self-absorbed teenager. Obsessed with being popular and his dad moves around a lot. He over analyzes everything to make sure that he is what other people think he should be. After a bad experience at a party, he drives home (beyond the legal intoxication limit) and decides to kill himself by letting his car swerve in the other lane. He lives, the other driver, a high school senior, dies. The girl's mother sends him on a trip to of penance building whirligigs in the four corners of the country. It tells the stories of the people who find them as well as his own. Cool, lots of irony.
Thursday, June 2
Catching up
Ok, It is currently 4:50 am. I have been awake since 3:30. I feel like I'm jetlagging, however I'm not so i know I will pay for this tomorrow. I can't figure out what the problem is: i went to bed at 10 (normal), didn't take a nap, don't feel sick or anything like that. . . who knows. but regardless i'm up so i'll take advantage of my time.
Joys of my life right now:
-We failed the national AYP standards last year for LEP (limited English proficient) students last year so we are currently at inservice all week to learn how to teach them. Our contracts ended Friday at 3. We aren't finished till this Friday at noon. :) But lots of people need this stuff so i'll just stick with it.
-I'm teaching literary genres - 110.51 next year. . . sounds like a fancy advanced course doesn't it? :) nope, it isn't. actually is the TAKS (state standardized test) remediation for those juniors who have to start passing this february or they won't get a diploma. it is a reading class...i really love teaching writing better. It is going to be all the students that are reluctant, not sucessful students, but actually i really like teaching those (why is that when i was actually the opposite that all these kids were when i was in school?). Bonus: I get to teach TWO Reading I classes in language center (immigrant students on their 3 year phase in plan back to regular classes - Reading I is for 9th graders. Usually their 2nd year in the US). And I am teaching one or two literary genres just for ex-language center students. Don't get me wrong, I think it will be fun. . I'm just going to miss writing.
-The students arrive from Japan on July 16. 9 days. Leave on 23rd. We leave on July 26 and return on August 4. Getting close.
There, now everyone is caught up. For the summer, since I am reading masses of books, I think I'm going to share all the Young Adult novels that I'm reading. Some of them are quite good. Some aren't. If anyone runs across something that HS students would read (interesting, low reading level (6-8 grade), not too many pages 100-150/175) let me know. i have gotta find things to read as a class and stuff to recommend individually.
Joys of my life right now:
-We failed the national AYP standards last year for LEP (limited English proficient) students last year so we are currently at inservice all week to learn how to teach them. Our contracts ended Friday at 3. We aren't finished till this Friday at noon. :) But lots of people need this stuff so i'll just stick with it.
-I'm teaching literary genres - 110.51 next year. . . sounds like a fancy advanced course doesn't it? :) nope, it isn't. actually is the TAKS (state standardized test) remediation for those juniors who have to start passing this february or they won't get a diploma. it is a reading class...i really love teaching writing better. It is going to be all the students that are reluctant, not sucessful students, but actually i really like teaching those (why is that when i was actually the opposite that all these kids were when i was in school?). Bonus: I get to teach TWO Reading I classes in language center (immigrant students on their 3 year phase in plan back to regular classes - Reading I is for 9th graders. Usually their 2nd year in the US). And I am teaching one or two literary genres just for ex-language center students. Don't get me wrong, I think it will be fun. . I'm just going to miss writing.
-The students arrive from Japan on July 16. 9 days. Leave on 23rd. We leave on July 26 and return on August 4. Getting close.
There, now everyone is caught up. For the summer, since I am reading masses of books, I think I'm going to share all the Young Adult novels that I'm reading. Some of them are quite good. Some aren't. If anyone runs across something that HS students would read (interesting, low reading level (6-8 grade), not too many pages 100-150/175) let me know. i have gotta find things to read as a class and stuff to recommend individually.
What did you read in High school?
Ok, quiz. What did you read in high school that you:
a) liked
b) stuck with you
c) have shared with others since then.
I want to include stories that are more of a classic nature...but I don't want to bore my kids with Old Man and the Sea, Tale of Two Cities (though I liked it) and Hound of the Baskervilles. Ok, now I am going to tirades that these are three of the most influential books in someone's life, but really...do I want to fight that battle?
Instead, what did you read that stuck with you, that you liked? Short stories, novels or novellas. I have no curriculum so I'm making it up as I go along. I have money to buy stuff too! :)
a) liked
b) stuck with you
c) have shared with others since then.
I want to include stories that are more of a classic nature...but I don't want to bore my kids with Old Man and the Sea, Tale of Two Cities (though I liked it) and Hound of the Baskervilles. Ok, now I am going to tirades that these are three of the most influential books in someone's life, but really...do I want to fight that battle?
Instead, what did you read that stuck with you, that you liked? Short stories, novels or novellas. I have no curriculum so I'm making it up as I go along. I have money to buy stuff too! :)
Monday, May 16
Missed Pop Culture
The other day I was at our planning meeting for the Harashin Japan trip this summer that I'm co-sponsoring. The kids were considering doing the Macarena as their entertainment for the Mayor, Japanese Businessmen and Mr. Hara himself. (They ended up going with a hick rendition of Deep in the Heart of Texas. . . which I actually had learn the words to.)
The whole thing made me realize something. See, the Macarena was one of the things I "missed" being out of the country. Came back and it was this huge fad and I had never heard a word about it. You miss a lot of things when you are out of the country. It is funny how much pop culture is shared in the two months or so that I've ever been away. Does anyone have a story of something they "missed" when they were away?
The whole thing made me realize something. See, the Macarena was one of the things I "missed" being out of the country. Came back and it was this huge fad and I had never heard a word about it. You miss a lot of things when you are out of the country. It is funny how much pop culture is shared in the two months or so that I've ever been away. Does anyone have a story of something they "missed" when they were away?
Monday, May 2
Sunday, May 1
fun things i plan on doing
Ok, I am not further ahead on my lesson plans than i have been the entirety of this year. I have all planned out the cool things I am going to do to get the students to focus. . . let's just see if they buy in. :)
First, If you haven't read Isabel Allende, she is a really good writer. Perhaps airing a little to the romance genre, but very good nonetheless. She just wrote a new book based on Zorro. . . usually she is dealing with material based in the background of the political situation in Chile (where she is from). We are reading a short story by her, "And of Clay Are We Created," set around a volcano in Columbia in 1985 that caused a mudslide and obliterated a town. No background on the destruction, just the story of one girl and a reporter. Really great story. I am hoping the kids are liking it.
Then we read a non-fiction piece about a plane crash (the one in D.C. over the Potomoc) and look a picture. The triplet.
Then we are going to do a powerpoint. they should enjoy this. it will be a lot of fun. Since we are doing these heroic events it is going to be based on a heroic event of their own or someone they know that is a hero. Downside is that I'm requiring a picture so I may spend 3 days helping them get the pictures scanned in while we work on them. We'll see.
Ok, so that is the fun that is my life. I think we are down to 20 instructional days left. I only have 16 cause I have 3 more inservice days and my sis graduates from Southwestern with her masters this friday. My brother graduates from Mississippi State on Saturday...busy weekend.
First, If you haven't read Isabel Allende, she is a really good writer. Perhaps airing a little to the romance genre, but very good nonetheless. She just wrote a new book based on Zorro. . . usually she is dealing with material based in the background of the political situation in Chile (where she is from). We are reading a short story by her, "And of Clay Are We Created," set around a volcano in Columbia in 1985 that caused a mudslide and obliterated a town. No background on the destruction, just the story of one girl and a reporter. Really great story. I am hoping the kids are liking it.
Then we read a non-fiction piece about a plane crash (the one in D.C. over the Potomoc) and look a picture. The triplet.
Then we are going to do a powerpoint. they should enjoy this. it will be a lot of fun. Since we are doing these heroic events it is going to be based on a heroic event of their own or someone they know that is a hero. Downside is that I'm requiring a picture so I may spend 3 days helping them get the pictures scanned in while we work on them. We'll see.
Ok, so that is the fun that is my life. I think we are down to 20 instructional days left. I only have 16 cause I have 3 more inservice days and my sis graduates from Southwestern with her masters this friday. My brother graduates from Mississippi State on Saturday...busy weekend.
Friday, April 29
Ok, after this I promise. . .
. . . I harp on things. If you know me very well, this will be obvious to you. But currently I am harping on my own wrestling with an inservice I'm in for the weekend. It is the first one I've been to since I became a teacher that I didn't agree with everything or almost everything the presenter said. He prefaced the talk by saying that we needed to be open-minded, etc. so I am trying *really* hard to do that. It is hard with me cause I think I have some ideological problems with the basic premise. . . . one more day.
But on to my harping. Does anyone know where the "teach a man to fish" saying really came from? In the workshop it has been attributed to the Bible, which is not anything I remember or can verify. I can deal with people being culturally naive, but lets not go throw things around like "That came from the bible" when really you have no proof. I found this site that references phrases that *did* come from the bible. But it is by no means comprehensive. Any thoughts?
But on to my harping. Does anyone know where the "teach a man to fish" saying really came from? In the workshop it has been attributed to the Bible, which is not anything I remember or can verify. I can deal with people being culturally naive, but lets not go throw things around like "That came from the bible" when really you have no proof. I found this site that references phrases that *did* come from the bible. But it is by no means comprehensive. Any thoughts?
Saturday, April 23
Respect, TAKS and 4/20
Things I have learned this week:
1) my kids like me. well, one does. i have them writing their culminating Caesar papers and one of the topics is qualities of a good leader. After fighting with one student, leaving him alone, coming back, etc, etc. I finally relented and let him use me as the good leader. a lot of the students tried to pull that they were going to use me, but i talked all but this one out of it. I let him write. . .came back and read it. one thing stood out. he said that I respected my students. now this is big for teenagers and for the students at my school particularly. they don't dish that out lightly. i was pleased. this kid made like a 10 in my class first semester and is passing for the spring. he is one of my sucesses, be it ever so slim.
2) TAKS is tiring, very hard for regular kids and apparently a breeze for the bright, culturally neutral students. for teachers it is just a worry and an incredible pressure. will they pass? if they don't will the state really come in and take us over? will it make a difference? we are on probation with the federal government's no child left behind annual yearly progress. we didn't make standard last year. this year if we don't the state has someone on campus every day then the next year we all reapply for our jobs and start over. . . or wait, maybe we reapply in the fall. who knows. it is bad. but we have prepped, yelled at the kids, tried to make them take it seriously and now we have to just wait.
3) 10 points extra credit for anyone who knows the significance of 4-20 day. :) My birthday sits smack between it and Earth day. what does that say about me?
1) my kids like me. well, one does. i have them writing their culminating Caesar papers and one of the topics is qualities of a good leader. After fighting with one student, leaving him alone, coming back, etc, etc. I finally relented and let him use me as the good leader. a lot of the students tried to pull that they were going to use me, but i talked all but this one out of it. I let him write. . .came back and read it. one thing stood out. he said that I respected my students. now this is big for teenagers and for the students at my school particularly. they don't dish that out lightly. i was pleased. this kid made like a 10 in my class first semester and is passing for the spring. he is one of my sucesses, be it ever so slim.
2) TAKS is tiring, very hard for regular kids and apparently a breeze for the bright, culturally neutral students. for teachers it is just a worry and an incredible pressure. will they pass? if they don't will the state really come in and take us over? will it make a difference? we are on probation with the federal government's no child left behind annual yearly progress. we didn't make standard last year. this year if we don't the state has someone on campus every day then the next year we all reapply for our jobs and start over. . . or wait, maybe we reapply in the fall. who knows. it is bad. but we have prepped, yelled at the kids, tried to make them take it seriously and now we have to just wait.
3) 10 points extra credit for anyone who knows the significance of 4-20 day. :) My birthday sits smack between it and Earth day. what does that say about me?
Ray Bradbury
Cool site about Bradbury. It has the first chapter of a quite of few of his fiction books to "test drive."
Ray Bradbury
Also, this is a new program by Jon Scieszka (the guy who wrote Stinky Cheese Man and other fairly stupid tales) about how to get boys to read and what they like to read. Any validations from the guy community out there?
Ray Bradbury
Also, this is a new program by Jon Scieszka (the guy who wrote Stinky Cheese Man and other fairly stupid tales) about how to get boys to read and what they like to read. Any validations from the guy community out there?
Saturday, April 16
Saturday school
Ok, first off, I have proven that I am a horribly unreliable blogger. I will work on getting better.
Random thought of the day. I worked at Saturday school this morning. In addition to providing extra tutoring for students it is also a way to make up attendance. . . when you realize that it is April, you have 15-20 absences and can't get credit for the semester for anything over 9 and panic. We let them come 3 hours a week on Saturdays and make up the time. Today they needed a math teacher. I told the lady in charge on Wednesday to make me her absolute last backup person. While I am not horrible at math it has been a long, long time and I tend to get confused on the rules. Today I was able to help 7 kids. . . most of whom told me how to do it first or I just asked the right questions like:
"So after you set it up, what should you do first?"
"What is the order of operations here?"
and other mathy type questions that I remember. I don't think I confused more than 1 poor kid and by the end of the 3 hours I was actually beginning to remember algebra and geometry, I think. Now it is also possible that I was just fooling myself and doing all the questions completely wrong because I only went and asked the AP math teacher (doing a lesson down the hall) one question cause I kept having to bother the class and I have a phobia about that. All in all I think it went pretty well. My students even smiled to see me on Saturday. That is encouraging. They didn't groan and walk out though I freaked out one kid entirely trying to teach him math instead of English. . . he left early and said he would see me on Monday.
Random thought of the day. I worked at Saturday school this morning. In addition to providing extra tutoring for students it is also a way to make up attendance. . . when you realize that it is April, you have 15-20 absences and can't get credit for the semester for anything over 9 and panic. We let them come 3 hours a week on Saturdays and make up the time. Today they needed a math teacher. I told the lady in charge on Wednesday to make me her absolute last backup person. While I am not horrible at math it has been a long, long time and I tend to get confused on the rules. Today I was able to help 7 kids. . . most of whom told me how to do it first or I just asked the right questions like:
"So after you set it up, what should you do first?"
"What is the order of operations here?"
and other mathy type questions that I remember. I don't think I confused more than 1 poor kid and by the end of the 3 hours I was actually beginning to remember algebra and geometry, I think. Now it is also possible that I was just fooling myself and doing all the questions completely wrong because I only went and asked the AP math teacher (doing a lesson down the hall) one question cause I kept having to bother the class and I have a phobia about that. All in all I think it went pretty well. My students even smiled to see me on Saturday. That is encouraging. They didn't groan and walk out though I freaked out one kid entirely trying to teach him math instead of English. . . he left early and said he would see me on Monday.
Sunday, April 10
Switching gears
Mondays through Fridays I prod and poke my 10th graders along. Really I enjoy it a lot. I like conning kids into doing their work and then seeing them actually retain the material. (For this Caesar test it is going to be the "sleepers" in the class that do well . . . don't ask me why, but they are the ones that can answer the review questions).
Sundays I switch gears entirely and pull out all my long buried children's knowledge and teach 5th and 6th grade. It is probably a good break but it is fun pulling out the scissors that cut funny shapes, crayons, magazines and making cards for the leadership in the church. Today the only kid I had that showed up was pulling out all the questions he had been saving up all week. First he asked who Pope John Paul III was going to be. . I told him I didn't know and then tried to explain what a pope was, just so we were on the same page. Then he asked me what girl popes were called.
"What? Girl popes? They don't have girl popes."
"Yeah, you know girl popes. They are like married to God. What are they called?"
"Oh, you mean nuns. Nuns aren't really the same thing as a girl pope."
"What does it mean to be married to God?"
"Well, it is their way of saying that they are dedicating their lives to God and his ministry instead of getting married."
"Can they fly?"
"What?"
"Can the...what do you call them?"
"Nuns"
"Yeah, can nuns fly?"
"No, that was just a movie."
We went back to the lesson from there. I can only assume that The Flying Nun was on TV yesterday. And just for those of you who are wondering what I teach in Sunday School, we were studying baptism. You can't get much more doctrinally sound than that.
Sundays I switch gears entirely and pull out all my long buried children's knowledge and teach 5th and 6th grade. It is probably a good break but it is fun pulling out the scissors that cut funny shapes, crayons, magazines and making cards for the leadership in the church. Today the only kid I had that showed up was pulling out all the questions he had been saving up all week. First he asked who Pope John Paul III was going to be. . I told him I didn't know and then tried to explain what a pope was, just so we were on the same page. Then he asked me what girl popes were called.
"What? Girl popes? They don't have girl popes."
"Yeah, you know girl popes. They are like married to God. What are they called?"
"Oh, you mean nuns. Nuns aren't really the same thing as a girl pope."
"What does it mean to be married to God?"
"Well, it is their way of saying that they are dedicating their lives to God and his ministry instead of getting married."
"Can they fly?"
"What?"
"Can the...what do you call them?"
"Nuns"
"Yeah, can nuns fly?"
"No, that was just a movie."
We went back to the lesson from there. I can only assume that The Flying Nun was on TV yesterday. And just for those of you who are wondering what I teach in Sunday School, we were studying baptism. You can't get much more doctrinally sound than that.
Saturday, April 9
Worried students
I love giving out grades . Every time I give out grades I have these students that panic "What you mean I have a 21 in your class? Why did you give me a 21? I do all your work?" Let me reinterate that I don't give grades. I have found out that some teachers do, in fact, make up grades as they go along. However I base my grades purely on what the kiddos did. I don't even have a participation element. Secondly, if they had actually "done all the work" then they would have a blank bottom half of the page where the missing tasks go.
Yesterday I gave out grades, I have about 75% of my students failing because I gave a test grade for memorizing Mark Antony's funeral speech. A lot of them blew it off. So I had 3 kids stay after yesterday for tutoring. . .on Friday. . . I don't stay on Fridays. I ran home cleaned up and two of our friends came over with their new baby. So I got to play with the baby all night and chat with Sarah, while Dan and Scott look on monster.com for a job for Scott when they move out to North Carolina last month. Far too much excitement for a Friday. . I'm tired!
Yesterday I gave out grades, I have about 75% of my students failing because I gave a test grade for memorizing Mark Antony's funeral speech. A lot of them blew it off. So I had 3 kids stay after yesterday for tutoring. . .on Friday. . . I don't stay on Fridays. I ran home cleaned up and two of our friends came over with their new baby. So I got to play with the baby all night and chat with Sarah, while Dan and Scott look on monster.com for a job for Scott when they move out to North Carolina last month. Far too much excitement for a Friday. . I'm tired!
Sunday, April 3
A Week of Kindness Blog: The Laura K. Krishna Saga Archives
A Week of Kindness Blog: The Laura K. Krishna Saga Archives: "Laura K. Krishna is Just a Dumb Kid With a Nice Mom"
Found a great resource that lays out a present day example of plagarism and can be used in a lesson. I'm working up a lesson for next week (April 14) if anyone wants a copy of it w/ a powerpoint, let me
Found a great resource that lays out a present day example of plagarism and can be used in a lesson. I'm working up a lesson for next week (April 14) if anyone wants a copy of it w/ a powerpoint, let me
Cheater, cheater, cheater
Every Friday I give a vocabulary test. Every Friday since school started I have looked around for students to be cheating, given them zeros for talking during the test (mostly threatening to give zeros but a few students have actually gotten them). However until last week I haven't actually caught any. . . does this mean I am getting more observant? Building that teacher sense?
Cheaters in the past two weeks:
1) Hid words under hand, put head on desk. . .ended up having the wrong list of vocabulary words, swore they were there already and weren't using them
2) Hid words under their hat with hat on desk (nothing is supposed to be on their desks) picked up hat to move it, found words
3) Taped Marc Antony funeral speech to Mountain Dew bottle and asked to bring it up as they recited. Turned their back to class and read from the bottle.
4) Taped vocab words to the back of chair in front of them.
If I have caught this many in the past two weeks have I been being scammed all year? Scary thought.
Cheaters in the past two weeks:
1) Hid words under hand, put head on desk. . .ended up having the wrong list of vocabulary words, swore they were there already and weren't using them
2) Hid words under their hat with hat on desk (nothing is supposed to be on their desks) picked up hat to move it, found words
3) Taped Marc Antony funeral speech to Mountain Dew bottle and asked to bring it up as they recited. Turned their back to class and read from the bottle.
4) Taped vocab words to the back of chair in front of them.
If I have caught this many in the past two weeks have I been being scammed all year? Scary thought.
Friday, March 25
Ghetto slang
In the school that I am at there is the eternal debate about whether you provide paper and pencils for the students or whether you make them bring their own or suffer. (The logic is that if you make them suffer then really *you* are the one suffering because they can't do any work.) So I, being the entergetic, naive, first year teacher that I am bought a box of golf pencils at the beginning of the year and told them to get a pencil anytime they didn't have one. The first box lasted 6 weeks, as did the second and third. Now I am halfway through the 5th six weeks and they have finished off the third box for the semester. That roughly comes to 43 pencils going missing every week. Now I will admit that many of my pencils leave with the students. But 43 a week! No complaints, I started it so I guess I'll go buy another box this weekend.
On to the reason why I posted this. . .I was going to point out to my students in what I thought was a shocking way that my pencils have repeatedly gone missing. So all day yesterday when they asked to have a pencil I told them that they had all been "jacked." 1st period I did this off the cuff to be funny. . .no one said anything or cracked a smile. All day long no one even made mention of the fact that I just said "jacked" in a sentence without even a cracked smile. Only last week when I explained "mistress" to mean "sancha/sancho" they had looks of shock and amazement. Usually I don't get that much street cred with my classes. It is slightly disturbing.
On to the reason why I posted this. . .I was going to point out to my students in what I thought was a shocking way that my pencils have repeatedly gone missing. So all day yesterday when they asked to have a pencil I told them that they had all been "jacked." 1st period I did this off the cuff to be funny. . .no one said anything or cracked a smile. All day long no one even made mention of the fact that I just said "jacked" in a sentence without even a cracked smile. Only last week when I explained "mistress" to mean "sancha/sancho" they had looks of shock and amazement. Usually I don't get that much street cred with my classes. It is slightly disturbing.
Monday, March 14
Where am i?
Borrowed from http://www.ahistoryteacher.com/blog/
Bold the states you have been to, italize the states you have lived in and underline the state you are in now.
Alabama / Alaska / Arizona / Arkansas / California / Colorado / Connecticut / Delaware / Florida / Georgia / Hawaii / Idaho / Illinois / Indiana / Iowa / Kansas / Kentucky / Louisiana / Maine / Maryland / Massachusetts / Michigan / Minnesota / Mississippi / Missouri / Montana / Nebraska / Nevada / New Hampshire / New Jersey / New Mexico / New York / North Carolina / North Dakota / Ohio / Oklahoma / Oregon / Pennsylvania / Rhode Island / South Carolina / South Dakota / Tennessee / Texas / Utah / Vermont / Virginia / Washington / West Virginia / Wisconsin / Wyoming / Washington D.C /
Sunday, March 13
Getting Started
This is my spring break week off. Thus the beginning of my education blog. I have to tell you that I still don't think of myself as a teacher. My whole family was nothing but teachers, but the older I got, the more everything started to lean that way. So I teach high school English/ESL but I don't call myself a teacher, I own no apple decorations or Christmas ornaments that say "#1 Teacher" on them and I don't plan on buying any vests that represent the seasons any time soon. :) (No offense meant to those teachers who are very proud of these representations of their field.)
I am teaching English II (I am teaching myself not to say 10th grade English because maybe only half of my kids are actually in the 10th grade. This is simply the second of four years of high school English.) My school is about 94% hispanic, therefore the main issue is language learning. The research says that it takes 5-7 years to acquire an academic level in a language (reference children beginning school at the age of 5 or 6). However, in the state that I live in we transition students into a mainstream classroom and require them to take the state mandated test at 2 years.
Right now, since I am talking about language, I am teaching Julius Caesar. I would like to point out that this isn't in the curriculum, but I was told that I am expected to "fit it in." Personally, I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare. Give me a modern rendition and I'll appreciate the intricacy of the story, a sonnet and I'll appreciate the language, but to read the whole play and figure out what on earth they are saying every 3 lines. . . !!! Don't revoke my English teacher status for that. The English dept of my college should never have let me graduate. . .but then again I don't like Milton either, or Thoreau, or anyone from Concord except Louisa May Alcott. I love Dante and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and random Victorian writers. I even like Dickens. . . the teacher across the hall can't understand that one bit. But he loves American lit so we called a truce.
Back to Shakespeare. We are doing Caesar. They are bored. Incredibly bored. I got them interested in Portia referring to herself as a harlot (Act II, Sc i) and Brutus using the metaphor that Caesar is a serpant's egg (Act II, Sc i also - once he hatches it would be a lot harder to kill). One student even brought up that a baby snake venom is more dangerous than an adult snake. A fact that I was able to verify. Those are the days that make it worth it.
I am teaching English II (I am teaching myself not to say 10th grade English because maybe only half of my kids are actually in the 10th grade. This is simply the second of four years of high school English.) My school is about 94% hispanic, therefore the main issue is language learning. The research says that it takes 5-7 years to acquire an academic level in a language (reference children beginning school at the age of 5 or 6). However, in the state that I live in we transition students into a mainstream classroom and require them to take the state mandated test at 2 years.
Right now, since I am talking about language, I am teaching Julius Caesar. I would like to point out that this isn't in the curriculum, but I was told that I am expected to "fit it in." Personally, I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare. Give me a modern rendition and I'll appreciate the intricacy of the story, a sonnet and I'll appreciate the language, but to read the whole play and figure out what on earth they are saying every 3 lines. . . !!! Don't revoke my English teacher status for that. The English dept of my college should never have let me graduate. . .but then again I don't like Milton either, or Thoreau, or anyone from Concord except Louisa May Alcott. I love Dante and Gabriel Garcia Marquez and random Victorian writers. I even like Dickens. . . the teacher across the hall can't understand that one bit. But he loves American lit so we called a truce.
Back to Shakespeare. We are doing Caesar. They are bored. Incredibly bored. I got them interested in Portia referring to herself as a harlot (Act II, Sc i) and Brutus using the metaphor that Caesar is a serpant's egg (Act II, Sc i also - once he hatches it would be a lot harder to kill). One student even brought up that a baby snake venom is more dangerous than an adult snake. A fact that I was able to verify. Those are the days that make it worth it.
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