Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!! Winter break is here!!!!

Since I want to get out of here (and come back around New Year's), I'm gonna keep this short.

First, I survived half the year so far! I'll be back in 2007, new policies (e.g., homework, behavior, etc.) in hand. Yay.

I got a gazillion presents and cards from staff & students. I feel loved!

During recess today, it snowed! Like, actual snow!! It was cool, but the kids freaked out about it.

All in all, not a bad two days before break. I'll be back in 2 weeks, which is nice. So, to all my faithful readers, this is the halfway point of the year. Happy 2007 to y'all, and I'll catch you then!

Woo hoo!! Tomorrow, then break!!

So today flew by. I was in a relatively good mood all day, mostly because tomorrow's our last day 'til winter break! After lunch, I was downright chipper- it was astounding.

We had our "official" class spelling bee today, and the results were surprising. Though I teach a 4th/5th combo, 3 of my top 4 spellers were 4th graders! A lot of the kids got all shaky and nervous, and some of my best spellers froze up a few times. It's very interesting. Just when I think they don't care about anything, they show me that they do.

Oh, speaking of which, reading was pretty cool today, too. In the series we use (Mcgraw Hill), each new story is preceded by a related photograph or painting. The idea behind that is to get the students engaged in the topic. Today it worked very well! The story was about the carving Crazy Horse:

The intro photograph was of the Sphinx:



Apparently, the Sphinx and ancient Egypt fascinate the class, as they did me at that age. We had a looong discussion about Egypt, which I didn't mind, since the class was interested and learning things.

In the afternoon (after the spelling bee), we worked with my second grade teacher-buddy's class. We made gingerbread houses (out of grahm crackers "pasted" onto milk cartons with frosting), which actually was fun to do! The teacher had a friend in the class to help out, and the school nurse joined us for the festivities. With 4 adults in the room, the 50 students were manageable.

The end of the day came quickly, and the students weren't super crazy, despite the massive amounts of sugar around them. As a reward for a good day (with no real incidents!!), I gave them the gift of no homework.

Tomorrow morning (7:30am) we have a staff potluck. Judging by the list of foods to be brought, we should be enjoying a feast! :)

Oh, and as an aside... Did you, faithful readers, ever play "Hangman"? You know, where you guess letters until a stick figure "hangs" on the scaffolding? Well, the kids were playing it today during the spelling bee, and I later looked at their games. Nowadays, they draw the noose in full detail. I didn't remember ever doing that in my day. Just an interesting little thing.

Finally, this morning, it was actually cold enough here to get a teeny little snow flurry. The kids absolutely FLIPPED out. They ran to the window, screaming, "Snow!! Snow!!" A native Clevelander, I barely raised an eyebrow. I just became upset that they were all out of their seats, yelling. When they were all back in their seats, I said, "Ok, I know there's a bit of snow. Now, onto reading..." One student replied, "But we don't see snow here much at all! To us, this is a big deal!" I stopped, and realized that she was right. In the Great Lakes states, snow is an all-too-familiar ordeal; to the kids here, it's an oddity. I loosened up on them and let them appreciate the "snow" they saw.

Ho, ho, ho

Today was not altogether a bad day. Crazy, yes, but not awful.

This morning, the 4th graders had their math test (which some 5th graders later graded and entered in my gradebook for me!!). We had library, where I got a lot of grading done, and then grammar, practice, and spelling tests. Not too bad, all in all. We then had our practice spelling bee, which went relatively well. We have our real one on Monday, which angered one girl a great deal. Her grandmother will be taking her to Mexico on Monday (don't ask me why), so she begged that we have the bee today. I apologized, but said that our bee is Monday. She was furious for the next hour. Awesome.

We did, however, have our practice bee today. It went quite well. We'll see who our "official" class winners are on Monday. The top three students will go to the school spelling bee the second week we're back from break in January. Score. As a spelling bee coordinator, I have my work cut out for me. The other teacher and I have to organize the entire fiasco. What's more, for some reason, the *county* spelling bee will be held at our tiny little school. That'll be interesting!

Anyway, after recess, I had the students use their books to fill in a map of the states of the Midwest. Ok- could I have made this any easier? ... We reviewed the states last week and this week, and today I let them use their books to fill in the maps. We then had an open-note test where I put the exact same map on the overhead that they had just filled out. The students numbered a paper from 1-36. I put numbers in each state, asking the students to name each state on the corresponding number (1-12) on their paper. Then I erased the numbers and put more numbers (13-24) on, asking for the capitals of each state. Finally, I erased the numbers once more and put another set (25-36) on, asking for the 2-letter abbreviation of each state. Piece of cake, right? Wrong!! Several students became frustrated, saying, "I don't know these! I don't know how to spell these!" Come ON, kids... We've spent a week reviewing them, AND I gave them the answers before the dang test that they could USE on the test!! I still have people who failed it. You have to TRY to fail that badly.

Ahmem. After that, we did a final review of the states, and we were off to our school's holiday sing-along. Eeesh. Imagine students grades K-8 (about 350 students total) packed into a gym, plus teachers, plus bleachers full of parents and families. Wow. The sing-along itself was fun, and I took mad pictures. (Too bad there are sickos out there, or I'd post the pictures on my blog!) After the sing-along, however, disaster occurred. A few "organizing" teachers opted to "organize" some holiday games for the kids. I use "organize" in quotes because there was no sense of order whatsoever. It was loud and unruly and just plain crazy. One by one, teachers took their classes outside instead. I joined them with 15 minutes left in the day.

Anyway, it wasn't an awful day. The worst part of today (and many days) was just dealing with the anger some of these kids have. They're just so full of negative feelings. The girl who gave me grief yesterday did the same today. Some students lately have been helping sweep the floor during downtime in the day. I told this girl that she couldn't sweep at the time because I had previously told another student he could. She became irate, and screamed, "I HATE THIS SCHOOL!" Wow. Displaced anger much? It's just something every day with her. Also, I had one student become extremely upset because he couldn't go outside until I dismissed him. (This is the same rule to which every other student is subjected.) He threw down a chair on another desk. Of course, I also have the girl who was furious about missing the spelling bee because she's going on an early vacation.

Why are these kids so angry??? I can see how their lives aren't easy (parents are on drugs or in jail, they're homeless, they don't have good role models, etc.), but the constant overreacting really is ridiculous. I'm trying to help them cope. I've already given two of my overreactors journals, which helps on occasion.

Three days 'til break!!

Soooo, despite staying up waaaaaaaaay too late last night, I actually felt fine today. The days go so quickly, it's frightening. The morning was good overall, though my kids are not doing their homework very much. In January, I MUST have a stricter homework policy.

Also, I don't know if I'm too lenient with the kids. There are several students who are openly defiant to me on a near-daily basis, and I really just don't know how to handle it. It's extremely frustrating, and I can't figure out a way to just have them cooperate with me. It's not like I'm asking for the world- just for them to do some work and to not be cruel to other people. Hmmm... maybe that *is* asking the world of them.

So I have this nasty habit of going to the bathroom right before I have to pick up my class from lunch recess. The art teacher and I constantly vie for the (one) adult bathroom in our building, as this is both of our preferred times to go during the day. Somedays I get there before him, but he usually beats me there. Today, not only did he beat me (causing me to be a few minutes late picking up the class), but he had locked the door behind him (accidentally) after he left, which made me even later because I had to hunt down the key.

Aaaaaanyway, long story short, I was about 7 minutes late picking up my class from recess. Whoops. When I went outside to the spot where they line up, there were no students there! I went back inside to check my classroom, but there was no class! Who loses a class?! I was eventually informed by a recess aide that they were all seeing the principal. All of them. Turns out a lot of the students were throwing rocks, screaming, and just being little punks. Sigh.

I marched the kids back to the room and had them put their heads down for a few minutes. (Some teachers make their classes sit with their heads down for a full 30-45 minutes... I can't do that; it feels like such a waste of time.) After a few moments, I asked people to tell me what happened. I decided to practice school conduct with them, so I marched them back outside and lined them up against the wall where they normally line up. I told them that, for 20 minutes, there would be NO talking, and that they needed to sit where they were. Only 5 students (out of 23) were able to completely follow the directions. Sigh. However, it was cool to watch them entertain themselves. Without talking, about half the class managed to make an enormous dirt volcano, complete with red lava (a broken bracelet one of the students had). It was cool to see them deal with each other without words and without violence. Small steps, I guess.

Later, I had them back into two lines, and we picked up trash on the playground for 10 minutes. They were to do it in teams, and each team needed to stay in line. This proved a most difficult task for the students. They mostly worked well together, but there were some anger issues as well. They kids are so fascinating.

After the trash pick-up, we had our weekly class meeting. For once, it seemed to go relatively well. Upon the completion of the meeting, a parent had volunteered to come in to teach a lesson on Ireland and family heritage. Though the lesson was dry, I think it was nice for the students to have a guest speaker for a change. They were pretty well-behaved with the mother, and then it was time for them to pack up and go.

The last 5 minutes of the day seem to be the toughest. I asked one girl (who had a coat and two of her sweaters on the floor by her desk) to pick up her belongings. I asked calmly and politely, and her response was, "I don't want to." Our conversation went something like this:

"OK, well, just pick up your belongings, and then you can go home." (me)
"I don't want to!" (student)
"You don't have a choice. Just please pick up your things." (me)
"No!" (student)
"If you miss your bus, it'll be because you chose not to follow directions." (me)
"I'm not doing it!" (student)
"Well, you'll just wait here until it's picked up." (me)
"No!" (student)
"You know, the apology in the card you wrote me yesterday really means nothing to me right now, because you're doing the same thing you apologized for yesterday." (me)
"Fine, I'll pick up the stupid jacket. I didn't mean the card anyway. I wish you'd just left and gone to friggin' kindergarten." And she walked out the door.

I stood there, stunned. I wanted to cry, because I was both hurt and angry, but I didn't. I didn't chase after the student, either. I just really, really abhor situations like that where I don't know what to do. What the hell!? I just asked her to pick up some of her things on the floor. Ugh. She and four of my other students constantly overreact to simple requests or instructions. It's very annoying, and it really wears on me.

Ok, I must get home now. All in all, a very interesting day. Thank goodness tomorrow's Friday AND payday AND we only have a few more days 'til break!!

"Winter," my butt!

So it was like 70 out today. I love this state!! It's mid-December now, and I don't need my winter coat yet. The kids come in some mornings, complaining, "It's sooo cold!" I just scoff and say, "You don't even know what cold is." So there.

Anyway, I was a bit of a dork today with my class. We are studying the Midwestern states at the moment. This is my chance to talk about Ohio (my motherland), and I get all geeked out about the darn state for some reason. Anyway, I have a buckeye necklace hanging by my desk- a necklace from my Ohio State days. Today, we were identifying Ohio, its capital, and its 2-letter abbreviation. When several of my students couldn't get the abbreviation, I thought back to my college days...



I remembered the chant I'd hear every game day: "O-H"... "I-O!!" It's a back-and-forth chant they did at the stadium and in the streets. One person (or group) would shout, "O-H!" Another person (or group) would respond, "I-O!" This would go back and forth several times (sometimes too long). Anyway, I did it with my class. I divided them in two, and then we did the "O-H!" "I-O!" chant several times. I also taught them how to do a wave, where each group says one letter (O, H, I, and O). It was a blast. They loved it, and I told them that my mother would be so proud. :) (She, too, was a Buckeye. It's also her birthday today, so that was sending some Ohio State/Arizona love her way!!)

Right before recess, I told the class that I'd decided to stay. They cheered for a while, and I was bombarded with hugs. It was a great feeling. The end of the day was actually good, and I am looking forward to tomorrow. (?!)

Also, I love that people I don't know read this blog. Really. It's nice getting comments from you random readers- feel free to come back and check in from time to time, and I'll do the same for you! :) It's nice to have support from perfect strangers. Thank you!

Okee, I'm out. Have a great night!

The verdict is in...

I just talked to my principal, and the news is in:

I'm staying with my class!!! Ultimately, the principal asked me point blank, "What do you want?" I replied, "You're gonna kill me for the fickleness, but I'd like to stay with my class." She was very happy with the decision, and it turns out they found the perfect candidate for kindergarten. Seems like this is what needed to happen. :)

Right now, I'm elated, and I'm excited to tell my class. Maybe this drama will carry me to winter break, then I'll recup and start anew with them in January. I know it'll be a hard rest of the year, but I'm now officially here for it.

Bring it on, crazy job.

Oh, bipolar job!!

So today, I decided to have another heart-to-heart with the students. I don't know what's up with me being so open in front of them, but I'm just trying to be honest with them and with myself. I told them about the situation with me leaving or not in January, and asked for them to vote. I created ballots that read:

"What do you think?

______ I would like [our teacher ]to stay with our class this year.

______ I would prefer to have a different teacher for our class in January.

______ It does not matter to me either way.

Comments: _______________________________________________..."

So the class voted, and I encouraged them to NOT put their names on the papers and to vote honestly. After the votes were in (I had a student collect them so I wouldn't see them), I tallied up the results in front of the class. Turns out they voted unanimously to have me stay. I was quite surprised. I got a bit choked up, and told them that I appreciated the sentiment.

However, after the voting, they were little hellions again. They just cannot stop talking. If I punish them for talking, they still do it. If I reward them for silence, they still talk. If I try to use peer pressure against the talkers, they still talk. It's most frustrating. I hear it's not just my class, though; a lot of the kids in this area seem to have little respect for anyone or anything. I don't quite know how to hand this right now.

I was at a dilemma this morning: I realized I like my class. Hm. Now, at the end of the day, I remember why I'm so disheartened with the situation: no matter how much I give or what I do, I don't feel like the class is getting anywhere. I end up tired and frustrated, and then have to come back and do it all over again. I guess I just hope the good moments become more and more. Also ,teh principal comes back tomorrow, and my fate should be decided soon.

Stay tuned for further updates.... for now, I go meet with the mother of one of my most troublesome students.

A good time...

So this morning was rough; I didn't want to be here (as usual). However, the kids are always surprisingly mellow on Mondays for some reason. Today's math and reading went pretty well, and we went to lunch with no huge incidents.

After lunch, I pulled a little poetry activity out of the air. I had planned to watch a movie with the class today. We watched a 26-minute video called "The Snowman," which was a cute story put to music. (There was no dialogue, only music. At one point, a kid asked aloud, "Is this a silent movie?" Another student, known for his sarcasm, replied, "No...." It was pretty funny.) Anyway, we ended up writing poems that were drawn inside snowmen. The poems had this format:

Noun
Adjective, Adjective, Adjective
(Gerund) verb, (gerund) verb
Noun

They turned out pretty well! Some of my favorites:

(actual poem) (intended meaning)
icy Icy
sloshy Slushy
Flacky Flaky
enjoying Enjoying
sleding Sledding
snowboarding Snowboarding
snowballing Snowballing
Snow House


Another:

Winter
Beautiful and graceful
Falling
Snow

Another:

Stars
Shiny, Yellow, Decoritive [sic]
Shining
Celebrating
Sparkling
Shooting Stars

Another:

Snow
is a white
fluffy cloud
of softness.
When I feel
snow I feel
like I'm floating
on a cloud.
I like catching snowflakes
and snowball fighting.
playing while it is snowing
is alot [sic] of fun

So those were cool. We'll have to hang them up also. We had a decent Social Studies lesson on the Midwest (I'm representin' the homeland!!), and then they were out to recess.

After recess, we did vocab. This was the most fun I've had with the class, aside from doing "The Macarena." The word "exploring" came up, and as a class, we write the WORD, the DEFINITION, and draw a PICTURE of each word. (Those 3 words in caps are the headings they put on their papers.) I asked the students what we could draw to show someone exploring. One student replied, "We could draw a person in a Jeep, driving around and exploring." "Great idea!" I had said, and I proceeded to attempt to draw a Jeep. My "Jeep" looked like a box with wheels. The kids all burst out laughing, and I couldn't help but crack up as well. I actually laughed so hard I cried! It was a great time. Vocab after that was a blast. My drawings got progressively worse, and the word "amuse" came up. One student told me, "Your drawings today amuse me." I thanked him. Later, we had the word "pitied." For the picture, it was suggested that I draw the class pitying my drawings. I did so, labeling a few students. This, for some reason, was a riot. I also attempted to draw a boy in the class's face. He has a cut on his cheek, and I was drawing "applied" to show that he had applied ointment to his wound. The drawing was hilarious, though I didn't mean it to be.

After vocab, it was already the end of the day, and almost every single student left with a smile on his/her face. It made me wonder if I could maybe harness this kind of awesomeness on a regular basis. Only time will tell. Also, our principal is recruiting tomorrow at a large university. I'll find out sometime this week where I'll be a month from now. At the moment, it's up in the air. Peace.

Second-to-last Friday?

So today was a bipolar day... We had our "Student of the Month" assembly this morning, which was nice. Afterwards, I did some announcements with the class, and then we had some extra recess. I played "Horse" with some of the kids, and we had a blast! During their library/computer time, I called students out in groups of 2 (I chose my most hyper students, in hopes of depleting some of their energy) to come and shoot some hoops with me. Very enjoyable time, especially since it was about 70 out today! (Oh, how I love Arizona!!)

After specials, we did jumping jacks. We counted first by ones (to ten), then by twos (to 20), then threes (to 30), fours (to 40), fives (to 50), sixes (to 60), and tens (to 100). This totalled 70 jumping jacks, which wore me out. We took a stretching and water break, and then went through the regimen again. The students who *did* all 140 jumping jacks were exhausted; the rest were still full of energy. Oh, well. We then had our spelling and vocab tests (during which the counselor and his assistant came in to observe two students), and off to math the 5th graders went. I worked with the 4th graders on some review, and then it was time for lunch. All in all, a good, energetic morning.

The afternoon started out well; they came in and read silently for a while. Afterwards, we started science. During science and social studies, I have two boys who come in from a self-contained classroom, since it is in their IEP (individualized education program) that they attend these classes. One boy (who was ousted from my room early in the year) is particularly annoying. He sets off the whole class. He was said by others to have been cursing, and I heard him ask another boy, "Are you horny?" I immediately kicked him out, sent him back to his class, and his teacher marched him over to the principal. I love my job.

The class voted to use their EFT (earned free time) outside today- hallelujah!! They had earned a whopping 24 minutes this week, giving them a total of 39 minutes outside. After we finished science and social studies (which took a while, but we were only a few minutes late getting outside), we all went out. I played basketball with 5 students, and did sprinting drills with 6 others. It was tiring, but very enjoyable. I also swang on the swings and ran around for a bit.

At our recent after school staff meeting, our principal had informed us that we may no longer have recess at the end of the day. She reasoned that this is when students are getting pulled out of school, and when end-of-the-day announcements are occasionally made. Fooey. So now I have to have recess from 2:30-2:45, giving us half an hour at the end of the day which is generally a waste of time.

Today's after-recess time was wretched. I showed the class how to make paper snowflakes, which should have been a simple, enjoyable process. HOWEVER, the class was so wound up from our time outside (I'd thought they'd have been tired!!) that they could NOT stop talking. I told them they could whisper, but that talking was just too loud. They still persisted. I had to stop after EVERY single direction, and got super frustrated. Finally, I asked, "How many of you in here are thinking of ever being a teacher?" A surprising number of hands shot up. I chose two responsible students to be the teacher for a while, and I assumed the role of a student.

...

Chaos- utter chaos- broke loose. The kids were screaming at each other to shut up. Others chanted, "We want ice cream! We want ice cream!" Others were running around the room. Two students, fed up with the situation, walked out the door. The two overwhelmed "teachers" asked me if they had the power to give lunch detentions. I said that, yes, as teachers, they had that authority. They were nice: only 5 students received lunch detentions. I felt bad, though; they two "teachers" could NOT keep the class quiet. I had to step in after ten minutes and resume my role as teacher. It was amazing how quickly and quietly they pulled their act together. I love it. :P

The day ended with a silent clean-up, and the students stayed even after the buses were called to finish cleaning up. I love it. What a day!

After school, two students came in to hang out for a bit. I recruited them to help me hang the snowflakes from the ceiling. The classroom actually looks pretty festive right now. Another teacher and I joked that we were using child labor to make the classroom pretty. One of the students remarked, "But this is fun child labor!!" I asked if I could quote her, she agreed, and there is her comment.

On that note, I take my leave. I MUST be back here this weekend; my desks are a mess. Also, planning needs to be done. Next week the decision will be made as to where I'll be in a month. Stay tuned!

75th entry!!

So this writing officially marks my 75th entry in this crazy teacher blog of insanity. Feel free to throw a party in its honor.

Today: confronted teacher who let my secret out. She said it was the male sub (not she) who brought up the topic with little ears nearby. Anyway, who knows where I'll be in January? I don't even know!! My options:

1.) keep my present position until the end of the school year (may 2007)

2.) take over the kindergarten in january 2007, leaving my class to a different teacher

3.) pray that our principal finds teachers for BOTH my class and the kindergarten, and i'd sub and go to massage therapy school in january

So I'm very undecided at the moment.

Today was a heck of a day with the class... the morning was rough, and we had a BIG class meeting (almost an hour!) in the afternoon. I think it went relatively well, but they just never LISTEN! It's not just me they ignore, it's their peers as well. Seems no one's taught them how to be a good listener. I have to find a way to make them practice! Sigh.

After school: tutored a group of 4 students. I did an informal assessment of their reading ablities today, and WOW, are they low. I have one 4th grader, two 5th graders, and a 6th grader. We worked from a moderate (not high or low) 4th grade leveled reader, and they all struggled a great deal with it. I have my work cut out for me. How to be awesome at everything all at once (teaching, babysitting, putting out "little fires" all day, counseling, mothering, etc.)... It's enough to drive an already crazy person even more nuts!

Tomorrow should be nice... We have a Student of the Month assembly, spelling/vocab tests (I love Fridays!!), some fun winter activities (what??? me??!?), and EFT, among various academic stuff. Should be (relatively) enjoyable.

For now, I'm off to a police academy soirée! Peace out.

A mid-morning update

So.... my secret's out. Darn it. I didn't want to tell my class about the kindergarten thing until the END of next week. This morning, half the class was talking about it as they came in. Oy. So I had to make an announcement that I *might* be taking over kindergarten after winter break.

The response? Most of the girls were very upset, one of the boys was thrilled (since he knows my replacement will be a male), the rest seemed indifferent. Heh. One girl even tried to skip her math class and specials today to "spend quality time" with me. Aww.

Anyway, it seems my secret is out because of my lovely teacher friend next door. Nevermind that she's semi-dating the sub who would take my position. I'm angry, because the kids who knew said she told them. That was not her place, and I'll have to have a word with her. Grrr... So that's the big news for now.

Thank GOD for early release days; the kids get out an hour early today!! Tonight's their band concert, which I'll be attending. I feel pretty sick at the moment, but I promised myself I wouldn't take another sick day until after the winter break (unless I'm absolutely dog-sick, of course). And here we are.

The end is in sight

So it's looking more and more like I'll be doing this kindergarten gig in January. How strange that a spur-of-the-moment conversation has taken me in this direction! I'm swarming with ideas right now, and am excited about the change of scenery. We'll see...

This morning, as usual, I did NOT want to be here. However, after talking with the principal, I realized that this might be my second-to-last week with my class. I was then feeling bittersweet about leaving my kids halfway through the year. We have a male sub at the school who will most likely take my position (he's a certified teacher looking for a full-time job), which would be nice... Seems he's a former Marine, so the class could benefit from an assertive male, I think. I'll still visit (I'll only be across the building), and I'll recruit some of my girls to help out with the kindergarten... Oh, sigh.

Anyway, it's about time for me to get to my massage therapy class... (Another side job massaging teachers looks promising!!) Peace out, faithful readers!

Monday's over...

... not a phenomenal day by any means, but I survived. By some fluke, I have somehow ended up talking to the principal about taking over the kindergarten class in January. What?! Umm... we'll see. I'm just at that point again where I don't like coming to work and have been getting progressively more annoyed (and thus meaner) with the students. I don't like that.

At the moment, I'm looking into starting a Massage Therapist program in April of next year. I'll still teach during the day, but do the classes in the evenings. We'll see how it turns out, but that's the plan for the time being.

Of note today: in science, we began talking about tobacco, alcohol, and drugs (even though technically alcohol is a drug!). It was very interesting, and I like having discussions about actual things that matter. This far this year, we've talked about:

1.) The Darfur situation
2.) The war in Iraq
3.) The *real* meanings of the words "gay" and "retarded"
4.) Evolution/intelligent design
5.) School shootings
6.) Drugs

I do like that part. The kindergarteners probably wouldn't be able to talk about any of the above. Hm.

Anyway, I'm back in the first year teachers' group, and I just got invited to dinner! I'm out, y'all. Peace.