Sweet, sweet Friday

So it's here: Friday, my beloved. I have almost all of next week planned out already (a HUGE relief!), so that I may attend a friend's b-day festivities in another city! :)

Today was OK... The morning was library/computers (where I ran around like CRAZY; we don't have "prep periods;" we have "running time!"), then a gazillion tests. Honestly, right now, I like giving the kids a lot of tests on Fridays. It is a quiet time of actual concentration, and it lets me know what they do and do not know. Today we had: spelling (two kinds), grammar (pre-test), vocab (which I created), and math (which I also created). Funfun. To offset the crazy amount of testing, I gave them a 15-minute snack/break time in between the language and math tests.

The afternoon was hectic, as usual. After lunch was fine; I read to them. This time, they not only drew, but also wrote down all the names of the characters they heard as well as the setting. We'll get there somehow. (To where, you ask? Well, I'm not sure myself just yet.) Halfway through the read-aloud, the counselor and his intern came in to observe for half an hour. We then went into Social Studies, which took a long time to get to because of talking and off-task behavior. At the end, the counselor approached me.

"While we weren't doing an observation on you," he'd started, "I did jot down a few notes about your teaching style."

Uh oh, I thought. Here it comes: 'You need to be more firm, more in control. You need to do different kinds of instruction other than just standing at the front of the room. The kids have no discipline in here!'

Instead, he handed me a handwritten evaluation. It reads:

"1. Class tone-------------------excellent
2. Management---------------------" "
Ignoring bad behavior-------------" "
Rewarding good behavior -----very good
3. Clarity of directions -----------excellent"

So that was nice. I wonder if there are rumors going around about my impending burn-out. It seems like it; I've gotten more compliments and offers for help this week than ever before. It is nice knowing we have a good staff here. Don't get me wrong: I enjoy the staff and the students. It's just the actual teaching I don't like. We'll see.

During the afternoons, as I've mentioned before, half the class goes to band, and then they switch (half come back and half more go). It's a chaotic time, especially the transition, but today it was OK. The first group is my more mature, hard-working students, so it's nice. The second group is bigger, louder, and generally the poorer students. I had to help maybe two or three students a few times during the first group today in Social Studies. During the second group's Social Studies time, I was running around the ENTIRE time helping students out. It was crazy! They just don't get it! They don't listen, they don't understand the directions, they don't read the questions... it's unnerving.

The end of the day on Friday is always nice; they usually choose to use the Earned Free Time (EFT) they get during the week as extra recess. Today they chose to tack it onto their afternoon recess, so the last half hour of the day was spent outside. Very relaxing. And now I have a system: those who are incapable of cooperating/working in the class during the week simply have their EFT privileges revoked. Yay.

After school, we had yet ANOTHER meeting about our 301 money. Yipee. There was actually a good proposal made by a teacher, though, so that was nice. After the meeting, one of the third grade teachers sat down to offer me any help or resources I may need. However, I hear through the ENORMOUS grapevine that this guy needs to be babysat himself sometimes (due to incompetence??), so I'm not sure if I should take advice from him. It's also funny; we hadn't really talked before this week, and all of a sudden this guy (and several other staff members) are particularly helpful. I'm sure I'm being talked about now.

Anyway, I've got my bag o' stuff to take home with me, and I'm out for the weekend! Peace.