They're gone...

... My students have been gone for 45 minutes now, and I feel as if I've just gone through a break-up. I miss the good times horribly (even though there were countless bad ones), and I cried a lot the last 15 minutes before the kids left. One of my "tough" boys even teared up. He's this completely macho Mexican-American kid (I only bring that up because it's such a deeply-embedded part of his identity) who rides bulls and is a super athlete and student... He told me several times, "You're my second favorite teacher ever. Almost first." (This actually means a lot to me, even though he's only had 5 teachers at this point in his life.) He shyly (!!) came up to me at the end of the day (with only 1 or 2 students as witnesses), and said, "I'll miss you." He gave me a hug, too!! When he pulled away, his eyes were all teary. I lost it then, and just then 3 of my girls came in and we all cried and hugged. I will miss most of them horribly. I promised to come back and visit next school year (which I will absolutely do!!!), so that helped a bit.

I also introduced them to Grammar Girl today. I ran across the hallway to the library, donned a cape and headpiece, and exposed a shirt on which I had drawn a large "G" for Grammar Girl. I came back into the classroom, numerous atrocities of modern language (see below) in hand. I, er, Grammar Girl, spazzed out on them, shrieking, "What's wrong with these people?!?! How do they get away with this?! Bad language use is my Kryptonite!! It'll kill me if you don't help me stop it!!" A lot of kids really bought into the whole deal, asking me, "Where's Ms. Anderson?!" ("She was kidnapped by my arch nemesis, Grammar Goblin!") or "How do you know our names if this is your first time in the classroom?!" ("I've been spying on you all year, and I'm very close with Ms. Anderson.")





Anyway, it's time to do inventory and pack up the classroom... I'll write more later. Peace!

Photos

So I've just uploaded a bunch of photos from the school year... Here are some highlights (assuming Blogger lets me post them all!!) :

Tuzigoot field trip with the class
Student artwork
Student artwork
More artwork!
The classroom yesterday, after the kids left... It's even crazier now!

Our last (full) day...

... I'm a bit sad. Today was a pretty good day, all things considered. I actually *taught* for the first 2.5 hours of school today. We finished up fractions (dividing mixed numbers), and when the kids got the hang of it, I let them come up, one by one, and work out a problem to the class. It was actually very enjoyable, and it was great seeing the kids confident in their work. We then did a comprehensive language review (a packet of old tests I compiled), which I hope was somewhat helpful. Then, the students cleaned out their desks- I have pictures to be uploaded!- and we started packing up the room. This morning, I had NOTHING packed, and now I'm almost done. Gotta love free child labor! :)

This afternoon, we finished packing up (which was pretty cool, actually), then I assigned our last journaling activity of the year: A reflection of the school year. I asked the students to make a list of positive and negative things they remember. Next, I had them finish the question: "What I remember about this year is..." with 5 or more endings. I then had them write in a notebook for me what they remembered about the year. Some excerpts:

"You are the 2nd best teacher ever and I was very good this year."

"I got to meet you."

"Through all the changes, I will never forget you."

"You helped me improve in anger." (I think this was supposed to be a good one!)

"I rember [sic] the first day [and] the sign language." (I taught them sign language symbols for "water," "bathroom," and showed them how to ask to sharpen a pencil by holding it up silently. This made the year infinitely easier.)

"I got to meet you! and you are a good teacher"

"I will miss you a-lot" (We worked on "a lot" as two unhyphenated words all year!! Grrr..)

"I will always remember you. You are my favorite teacher. Always remember that you give good advise [sic]. You rock!"

"We will miss you. I had fun."

"Meeting you was the best part of the year."

"I will miss you. You were the best teacher I ever had."

"I wish you were the new challenge (6-8) teacher but I still will miss you."

"You teached [sic] me a lot of stuff like math science reading."

"Thanks for teaching me stuff like, science and math and reading."

Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

I'll miss my little monsters, too. :( I almost cried today, but it didn't really feel like the end yet. Tomorrow I will DEFINITELY cry.

After the reminiscing, we went to our last "Treat" assembly of the year. This is pretty much a raffle where students got tickets for doing good deeds for others all semester. Ten of my kids won prizes! :)

After the assembly, it was recess, then the first half hour of "Lilo & Stitch," then the kids were out the door. Sigh. The room's a mess, but it's almost packed. We have quite a bit of cleaning to do tomorrow before they leave.

I will also actually miss blogging about this unique experience. It's been a nice outlet for my whole teaching career (short-lived as it may be), and I've appreciated knowing that I have an audience cheering me on. :) Thank you, readers, for caring about the issues I've brought forth in this blog. I'll probably do an entry or two more, then that's it!! Finito!! :( Due to this blog-sickness, I have started another one (check my profile if you're interested). Thus, I can keep writing, but that one will be about more random (and sometimes more personal) things aside from my life as a teacher.

For now, I finish LOTS of work in the classroom. Ciao!

Random thoughts...

...Struck with a bout of pseduo-insomnia, I reflect upon what, exactly, teaching is to me. In college & grad school, we were constantly forced to develop comprehensive teaching philosophies, and now I realize the importance of those assignments: If one does not know *why* one does things, one runs the risk of being ineffective (or worse, destructive).

Today wasn't as hunky dory as yesterday, though we did have some cool moments. I still love whenever the kids are so enthralled with something that there is this rapt silence that envelopes the classroom. Today, as part of a social studies discussion, we talked about sweatshops, child labor, and the like. I told them about the lack of human rights laws in other countries (chiefly those in Asia and Africa), and how we're impacting such issues. I told them that, for example, if their clothes were made in China or Bangladesh or anywhere that is considered a third world county, those other countries have very loose laws about what constitutes fair labor. I described under what conditions many children and adults labor in foreign nations, and the children were appalled. Immediately, they began checking their shirt lables ("Ms. Anderson, what is C-A-M-B-O-D-I-A?"; "Ms. Anderson, does it make us bad people if we buy clothes that were made in China?"), and they were all fascinated by what they discovered: we still rely a great deal on foreign goods. When they learned what is happening around the world (right now!), many asked, "Why do we have so much stuff that's made in China?" I replied simply, "Because it's cheap for us, and we're more interested as a country in buying cheap goods than ones produced fairly."

Though I'm leaving the teaching profession at the end of next week, I'm starting to think more and more that it is but a temporary hiatus from this line of work. I do so love when the students really *care* about issues and topics, and that's what would keep me going as an educator. I have yet to figure out effective classroom management tactics, homework policies, conflict resolution facilitation, and so forth... but I feel that I may be able to *do* this someday and enjoy it.

I still love all the little "perks" that are included with teaching. Today (as I do on many Fridays), I had lunch with my class in the cafeteria. I love seeing them outside the classroom; I'm like a celebrity. Every single student wanted to talk, and they were all so eager to share the minor occurences in their lives. It was certainly flattering, but I was also feeling like it's one of the few times in the day when an adult actually listens to them and cares about what they have to say. An idea I'd had earlier in the year (that I never did) was to have lunch with them, one by one, throughout each semester, just to chat and spend some one-on-one time together that they so rarely get with teachers or parents.

Anyway, I will very sincerely miss the chaos that has been teaching. Friends in other fields constantly remark to me, "Even when your days are bad, at least they're still interesting! I can't say the same for my line of work..."

For now, I sign off and try to feel confident in my decision to leave the school and the teaching field. Peace!

Our last Friday... ever!!!

So today was my last Friday being a teacher (at least for the time being). SO weird!! We also had our last Monday this week; there's no school next Monday for Memorial Day. Craziness.

Anyway, I'm EXTREMELY exhausted, so I'm going to do a first: I'm going to go home- within the next 5 minutes- and take a nap!! This will be the earliest I've ever left on a Friday, thankyouverymuch.

We had an end-of-the-year party for the last hour of school today (my class, not the whole school), and it was crazy. We had ice cream sundaes outside, and rootbeer floats/dancing inside. It was fun, but soooo loud. However, I did learn a new dance move from the kids. They're so strange.

Sorry, I'll have to write more later; I'm about ready to fall asleep as I type this. Ciao! Enjoy your long weekend, for those of you who have one. :)

Sigh!!!

So today was...

...a...

...GOOD day!!! Ahh!! I'll never understand this profession! :P The kids were interested in everything today! They did well with the math, we had a math review, we did a capitalization review... we drew & painted with watercolors (and they listened to my technique tips!!), we had a GOOD class meeting... kids were *interested* in the science lesson today (about the human body- they love it!)...

Just a good day overall. Will wonders never cease?! Tomorrow, we have our class party at the end of the day. It's then that I'll present them with the letters I've made them... I'm excited!

For now, I'm off on a pseudo-date with the (only single male teacher in the school) art teacher. Ciao!


(Update: 5.30.07: Here is some of the students' awesome artwork:)




(Hmm... I'd wanted to add more, but ghetto blogger won't let me right now... grrr...)

It's always something...

... So I got a text message on my phone at 6:43 this morning from another teacher. It read: "There is no school for kids today but teachers need to go. Has anyone called you? There was vandalism on the buses and at the high school."

Turns out that someone (who is anyone's guess at this point) completely vandalized the buses (slashing tires, sealing locks with glue, etc.) and the high school last night. Thus, the buses aren't running, and students got the day off. I called most of my students' families to let them know, and all but 2 had already heard the news by the time I called. Ugh.

I also called all the teachers whose numbers I have. Of course, my lovely 4th grade teacher buddy got mad... But not about the vandalism, about the fact that we have to be at school today! "That's bull----!" she'd exclaimed. "We have snow days we never used. We shouldn't have to be there!" I, on the other hand, was more upset about the problem at hand. It's so frustrating that just a small group of people can ruin things for a large population. There are about 700 students who were affected by this today. Not fair.

We have our own speculations about who the culprit(s) is (are) at this point. The art teacher and I think it may be my crazy ex-roommate, the former tech guy. Maybe he was acting out of rage of being fired after he went to jail? (He's out now, which is not fun for me!!) Perhaps, the 4th grade teacher purported, it is the parent of one of her students. Obviously, no one's sure right now, but hopefully we'll know at some point. However, they still don't know who vandalized my room several months ago (remember that?). My room had been badly vandalized one day when I had a sub.

Come on, people. There are like 4 days of school left. 3 1/2, actually, but who's counting? Did they *really* have to do this right now? In another district (Scottsdale, a suburb of Phoenix), I heard that last week, all the windshields of the buses in the district were smashed. That was about 100 buses- big bucks and a LOT of work. What the heck? I mean, really.

Anyway, I need to head to school for a staff meeting, and then have a whole workday. I'm actually glad to have the time to get stuff done, even though the circumstances kind of suck. Hope you all have a better day!

Just a few days left...

... and it's not horrible! :) Right now, I have my last-ever 2-special day... :( Next week, I don't think we have specials at all, and I think I'll survive the whole day and a half.

I'm sort of bombarding the kids with work right now, especially math. I'm trying to squeeze as much into their little brains as I can before the year is up. I don't know how they'll do next year or in their lives, but I'm hoping my influence was a positive one.

We have our awards night this evening, which should be interesting. It'll be all the kids who've made improvements throughout the year and/or who have done outstanding work. Should be a good group there. Plus, beforehand, I'll be going to dinner with the other 4th and 5th grade teachers, so that should be enjoyable (or interesting at the very least).

I'm getting very nostalgic and almost sad that I'm leaving. I start my new job in less than 2 weeks now, which makes me happy, but I can't shake my feelings of guilt for leaving the kids here high and dry. I do believe I'll still participate in the PTO next year, and continue helping with the playground project. I want to stay involved with the school, while at the same time not actually teaching. We'll see how it goes.

That's all for now; time to be productive these last 15 minutes before I get my class. Ciao!

a success??

So we had our silent auction/raffle/bake sale thingee today. We raised over $2,000, but I feel like it could've been much more. People were cheap on the silent auction bidding!! Almost nothing went for face value, and a lot of teachers ended up bidding the highest on many items. I myself was the high bidder on 5 things (a quilt, another teacher's awesome painting, a 3-book set, a gift basket, and an autographed book by a local author). The kids & community members seemed to have a good time, though. I had 14 of my students volunteer to help during the day, which was awesome! They actually did a really good job helping out. A lot of them worked the entire day. I was impressed by their work ethic! :) I also had a friend come out to help (thanks, Mr. Fitz!!), whose efforts were invaluable.

To celebrate afterwards, said friend and I got dinner and saw "Shrek the Third." That movie was hysterical!!! It was excellent, and it now comes highly recommended from yours truly.

I'm exhausted, and I know I'm about to get the best night of sleep in my life. However, I wanted to update to let the free world know that our event was a moderate success. It's definitely a start. I told the principal that I'll be back whenever I can next year to help out. I still plan to be involved in the PTO (even if I'm not the secretary) and I would like to see this playground project through. I want to be around the kids & community, but I don't want to be in the classroom for the time being. I think I'll end up trying teaching again in a few years, but not at the moment.

Also, I can't help but feel a bit sad at the moment. Next week is our last full week with the kids. The following week, we have Monday off for Memorial Day, then Tuesday, and then a half day on Wednesday and that's it! My first year of teaching will have come to a close. It's a very strange feeling. I'll miss many things, but I have to believe that I'm moving on to better things. We'll see!

Anyway, faithful readers, I'm about to fall asleep. Have a great night! :)

We're gettin' there...

... to the end of the year, that is!! :) Only 8 more days left, and the students' last day is an 11:30 dismissal!! :) Today was decent... I think I had some good lesson plans (props to me for still trying to teach standards with just over a week left of school!), though I did give the kids a 40-minute recess this morning. Whoops. :P

The high school came to our school today to present their version of "Romeo and Juliet" to the 4th-8th graders... Eesh. It was nearly impossible to understand the actors, between their poor accents, the olde English, and the lack of good microphones. A few kids broke character several times, laughing or apologizing. I was horrified. My class wasn't crazy about the play, but I do give them credit for being a pretty decent audience. To make up for the hour and a half they had to sit there, I gave them their super-long recess. I didn't feel that bad at the end of the day, though, because they didn't have an afternoon recess.

Anyway, that's it for now. MUCH to do to prep for silent auction/raffle. Plus, our class's mini raffle & auction is tomorrow, for which I have to prep. At least the week's going fast!! Peace out.

Man, I feel like a woman!

(My kids are in art right now, which is sooooo nice!)

So today, I've had quite the interesting experiences revolving around females. Aside from being "that time of the month" (Too much info? Sorry!), I am just kind of taken aback by some girly stuff.

At lunch today, several vets were sharing their former pregnancy experiences. I was the only one in the teachers' lounge who had not had a child, so I was soaking in everything I could. I heard about involuntary lactating (like in supermarkets when other people's children cried and other inopportune times), water-breaking stories, loss of bladder control after delivery, and so forth.

Later, just before art, I had 4 girls (the ones from the "gang" incidents of last week's field trip) being catty again. Drama, drama, drama! I'm not so good at mediating little-people fights, so I eventually gave them a solution: they may not talk to each other for the rest of the day, problem solved, case closed.

Arg- I must go pick up my class in a few minutes. More later! Peace.

Summer has (almost) sprung!

So apparently Arizona forgot spring and went straight from winter to summer! It's HOT out now! (It's over 100 now in Phoenix, and in the mid-90s in my little area; this is quite warm for a Clevelander in May!)

We took our kids today to Tuzigoot National Monument. It was beautiful, rich in history, and actually of vague interest to the students. (This is a good thing; at least they said the trip was cool.) Though it was hot out (yay for 32 whiny, dehydrated children!), it was still a nice visit to some ancient Indian ruins. Perhaps I shall put pictures of it on here sometime soon!



The trip (and the day) went very quickly. My class had 2 chaperones plus me for 14 kids, which was nice. We had a total of 32 children and 7 adults; not a bad ratio! A nice, older ranger guided us around for 45 minutes, and the kids seemed to enjoy a male leading the gang for once. (I'm not surprised; they pay special attention to male speakers, probably because they aren't that exposed to them.) After our tour, we went on a beautiful hike (though my kids were getting a bit feisty), then checked out the museum/gift shop. The kids actually took a great deal of interest in the museum; I was excited! It's always so neat seeing them geeked out about historical things. :) After our visit to Tuzigoot, we found a nearby park and enjoyed a long, leisurely picnic lunch. Fortunately, there was a playground at the park, so we let the kids play for about an hour (!) before we headed back.

As an interesting aside, I think I'm starting to understand how gangs are formed. Four of my 5th grade girls (all blondies; go figure) have had this constant drama amongst themselves for over a year. They break off into twos, and the mix changes from month to month. This month, our girls teamed up with girls from the other class (oh, joy). Two sides, equally large and annoying, were formed. One group even claimed "territory" at the park, and made hissing noises and spat at those who walked on "their turf." Wow. Eventually, one group was on one side of the park (where the water fountain and bathroom were) and the other group was on the other side. The group away from the bathrooms had to have "escorts" take them into "enemy territory." Unbelievable!! I even had to walk a few girls to the bathroom and drinking fountain so they didn't get harrassed. SO annoying, but the societal implications are pretty frightening. These girls exhibited genuine anger towards each other, all screaming at each other about who did what. I was actually a bit taken aback by the entire ordeal. When we got on the bus, the two distinct groups started out separated, but miraculously, when we arrived back at school, the majority of the girls were getting along.

When we arrived back at the school (with 30 minutes left in the day), I called the front office to see if we could just let the kids stay out on the playground and burn off their excess energy. The secretary had no problem with it, but referred us to our "acting" principal (as the regular principal was out of town on business today). The ensuing conversation went roughly as follows:

Me: "Hello, it's Beth! We've just arrived back from our field trip, and were wondering if we could just stay out on the playground, since the kids are so riled up."

Acting Principal: "No, that's against school policy." (As of last week, our principal decided that there is to be NO recess after 2:30pm, for reasons still unbeknownst to me.)

Me: "Well, it'll just be a waste of time if we take them back to the classrooms."

AP: "You are to take them back and we'll dismiss them as normal."

Me: "But it would make a lot more sense to take them outside. Can't we just do that?"

AP: "No. Those are the rules."

Me: "Well, I don't understand the reasoning why. Why not?"

AP: [Hesitates, then, annoyed:] "Because I said so."

Me: "Can we at least take them to the gym?"

AP: "No, we will put them back in the classrooms and do a normal dismissal."

Me: "I don't understand why. That'd be a total nightmare."

AP: "Then don't let it be a nightmare."

Me: "Fine." [Hangs up.]

I was not a happy camper. "Because I said so"?! What am I, five? I NEVER, EVER give that as an excuse to anyone, not even children. I despise the phrase, "Because I said so." People (including children) have a right to question what is asked of them if it doesn't seem to make sense. I've made it a point to explain to my students why they do the things I have them do. If they ask me why, I am fully prepared to offer them a rational, logical reason for whatever it is. Grrr.

Anyway, I had my class come back to the room, where we played quite whole-class games until the buses were called. Not a huge deal, but I was very disappointed in the way the acting principal handled the situation. It just felt inherently wrong, especially since there was no justification for the denial. :P

On a quasi-related note, yesterday sucked. Completely and totally. Awfully. Horribly. I wanted to just walk out of the room and let the kids have at each other. The last hour and a half of the day was mayhem. We were trying to do some reading for science, but the kids just would NOT be quiet!! Moreover, they were rude and disrespectful to me and each other. I'd had enough, so I wrote a LOOONG 10-question writing assignment on the board and informed them that they had to do it before they could leave for the day. School gets out at about 3:30 (because of our #**#@@#$#@$ing new bus system), so the kids had over an hour and a half to complete the assignment. The ones who worked diligently and quietly finished in about 45 minutes. I felt 1.5 hours was more than enough time to do what I'd asked.

Not so! I had four kids in tears, two who initially refused to do the assignment, everyone complaining, etc. I was just fed up with everything. They then asked (one by one) to get drinks or go to the bathroom. My response to each and every request was a firm, "No." I finally informed the class, "I will deny every request for bathroom or drinks until your assignment is in my hand." People flipped out. Everyone panicked, and then swore they were going to pee their pants and then have their parents sue me. Such little complainers!! One kid (two, actually) shut down entirely for 30 minutes. I told them both that they were just wasting their *own* time at that point.

Some children became defiant. "I'm not going to do this, and you can't keep me after school." My response? A not-so-professional, "Oh, yes I can, and I will. Ever hear of 'after-schoool detention?' Well, you'll be there until your work is done." Yuck. I had one of my shutter-downers draw a picture of himself hanging (like in "hangman") with an arrow pointing to the stick figure that said, "Me." Underneath, he had written "Suaecide." He's already seeing the counselor; I suppose I need to talk to his parents at this point as well. Sigh.

In the end, I actually kept two students after school until their work was done. They both cried at first, especially when I talked to their parents, but they eventually finished up the assignment.

I am just shocked at how mal-adjusted these kids are. It was a writing assignment, not capital punishment! They acted as if their lives were over (the whole class, not just the ones who had to stay), and that I was totally out of line. They complained, they whined, they cried. Finally, I stood up and lectured.

"Listen," I'd said, calmly, "what I'm asking here is not a big deal. I'm asking you to read the science book that we couldn't read together and answer the questions we couldn't discuss together. In the real world, you will be asked to do a LOT more. If you think a writing assignment is bad, just wait. This is nothing! If you can't just suck it up and deal with it, you're in for a long and hard life. You need to show me and each other that you can step up to challenges and deal with them maturely. Otherwise, this world is going to eat you alive."

I know, I can be pretty inspirational sometimes. I also, in my frustration, let it slip that I'm not coming back next year. A few students smiled; the rest sat with their mouths agape: pretty much the reaction I'd expected.

For now, I prepare for the coming week, then enjoy a mini weekend vacation!! :) I have recess duty from 7:45-8:15am next week, so I'll have no morning prep time. It all must get done now!!

Take care.

A bittersweet evening...

So I just got back from my kids' concert a little while ago. 14 of my students are in one of the two elementary school bands; how could I *not* go? When I arrived (at 6:34pm- oops!), I was swarmed by excited, nervous students. I saw many parents I knew. I felt like this is *my* community. I easily knew half the people present, and the concert had a really good turnout. Sigh.

During the students' performances, I avidly took photos and videos (and filled up my memory card!). I cheered like a nut at the conclusion of each band's stint. Students sat next to me for much of the concert (as the high school band performed as well, so there was some "down-time" for my kids)... I loved it. I almost cried, realizing how much I'll actually miss my little monsters.

The affection I felt tonight made me think I may try this whole teaching gig a bit later on... when I'm more mature, older, wiser, etc. It's quite an experience forming a close-knit community and really feeling like a part of it. After the concert, I met with one parent to briefly discuss issues with the Board of Education, another to see the family's new baby, another to converse briefly in Spanish... it's really cool knowing so much about so many people. I will miss that a great deal.

Anyway, time to waste a few minutes eating & playing a game, then I'm off to try and be productive before bedtime. Ciao again!

I may actually *survive* the year?!

Real quick, because my kids have a band concert in half an hour... So I'm SUPER busy right now: planning a last-minute field trip for THIS Friday (it's actually coming together remarkably well!); planning fundraiser for next weekend (hectic, and everyone's panicking but me); keeping up with grading; starting to pack up the classroom; finishing up class projects; maintaining some sort of personal life; trying to wrap up all that I need to do at school while still preparing for my new job next month, and so on and so forth.

In a nutshell: I'm busy right now (extremely so), but it feels good. Idle time is not good for me at this point, so I'll go stay busy until the end of the year!! (Oh, 14 more school days left until freedom!!! Muwahaha!)

Take care, all! Ciao.

This should be the *easy* part of the year!

Arg... 16 days left, and I'm starting to lose it. I don't know how the heck I'm gonna get through this. I suppose it'll have to be one day at a time until the end. I was not at school today, as my flight back to Arizona was delayed numerous times. I had a sub (with no sub plans!), but it seems the day went OK (aside from two boys squeezing an ice pack until it burst, spewing blue liquid/ice all over the classroom). Sigh. I've exhausted all my leave, and I'm still sick! Grr...

Fortunately, tomorrow is Tuesday: the day of two specials! It should go by pretty quickly. On our flight home (late) last night, the movie "The Freedom Writers" was shown. Having seen the movie before, I opted to watch it again, hoping it would perhaps inspire me to finish these last few weeks with vigor, enthusiasm, and optimism. Last night I BRIEFLY toyed around with the idea of teaching another year. Then I remembered how it's not a bowl of cherries right now, so I'm out for the time being. I have not, however, completely ruled out teaching for the rest of my life. I may try it again when I'm a bit older (and wiser!).

That's the scoop for now. Time to make copies and go home. Ciao!

T.G.I... T?

Yay for Thursdays when I'm not coming in on the following Friday!! :) For once, I was in a stellar mood last night. I stayed up extra long (and was productive) becuase I was so happy! :) I get to see a few good friends tonight, then I'm off to see my family in Ohio tomorrow!! Yay!

My kids are currently in P.E. (out on the baseball field, and it's a really beautiful day for it, too), so I have a few minutes to type a bit. Before P.E., I had the kids working quietly on some packets I'd assembled yesterday. They're pretty substantial, and the ones for tomorrow's sub are almost three times as much work! Muwahahhaa. Anyway, I had the class do packets yesterday, and it worked pretty well. Not only did it keep them relatively quiet for 45 minutes (!!), but I also included a pretty comprehensive review of reading, math, language arts, and other various skills. I was able to "double-dip" the grades for it, so that helped. :)

Anyway, the kids asked a lot of very obvious questions to me when completing the packets. Most of my answers were found upon re-reading the directions. Oy. Today, attempting to combat this, I wrote on the board: "For the love of all that is good and right, PLEASE read the directions CAREFULLY before asking me ANY questions. If I can answer your question by reading the directions to you, I will say, 'Duh!' very loudly." I then announced this to the class, who were amused by the statement. A few smart-ass students asked me questions just to hear me say, "Duh!" in my squeaky, raspy voice. After a while, I saw the kids reading a bit more carefully through the directions, so maybe it helped. Man, being in a good mood REALLY helps! Who'dve thunk?

Well, I shall be off. There are things to prep before I go pick up my little darlings. Ciao! :)

Two Forty!

So I've invented a new catch-phrase for everything that is stupid and asinine: "Two forty!" This refers to the ridiculous schedule we've been keeping the past few weeks at school. Every 1st and 3rd Wednesday of the month, we have early release days. That means the students get out at 2:15, and the teachers have time for meetings and prep until 4pm. HOWEVER, our bus system is so screwed up (and there's construction in one area where the buses go) that a "2:15" dismissal has been pushed back to a 2:40 one. Pah! The kids are *supposed* to be ON the buses, ready to go home AT 2:15. They didn't call the older grades (4-8) to go until 2:40 today! Insanity!!

Anyway, other drama has also unfolded today... Our much-anticipated (though equally dreaded by me) Grand Canyon field trip has been cancelled. It is NOT due to behavior, as the principal, the other 4th grade teacher, and I had agreed. Oh, no. Apparently, I needed to get the Board of Education's approval for an overnight trip beforehand. Did ANYONE tell me I needed to get this or HOW to do so?! Not until today, really. The "acting principal" (another teacher who takes over when our principal is gone) called me & the other 4th grade teacher into the principal's office this morning for a meeting. The four of us (with the actual principal there) discussed the trip and the ramifications it could have on the school. Apparently, having the trip be behavior-contingent is "admitting our incompetence as teachers and as a school." I was told that it'd look bad for ALL of us if we made the guidelines to go based on behavior. What the hell?! They couldn't have mentioned this, oh, I don't know... MONTHS ago!? The "acting principal" pretty much tore me a new one this morning, ripping into how I'm not doing my job right (though I had no specific guidelines prior to today) and how the parents are now going to come after ME for all of this. I wanted to cry. (THIS is "two forty!")

I was also informed- in the last month of school, of course- that I need to have ALL letters I send home with the students approved by the principal. NO ONE told me this up until today. I sent home a letter yesterday, explaining that we may cancel the Grand Canyon trip, and the "acting principal" found out and ripped my head off this morning. Eesh. Definitely "two forty."

Also, last week, I was handed a stack of cardstock sheets with each student's name and the state standards on them. Apparently, before we get our last paychecks, we're to fill in whether or not EACH student has met EACH standard for the year. Keep in mind that there are probably close to 300 standards we have had to teach throughout the year. Keep in mind also that I have nearly 30 students. This will be insane. The other newbies & I have agreed to get together to do these things, armed with the makings for massive amounts of margaritas. We joked that the last few of our standard sheets will look more like Hebrew than English. Ha! This is also "two forty."

Finally, I was told that, since we have the buses reserved for the would-be Grand Canyon trip (NEXT Friday, mind you), we have an obligation to take the students on SOME sort of field trip. We were given a few nearby options, but I know it's going to be a chaotic nightmare organizing a trip in just over a week. This, too, is "two forty."

Have I made my point yet? Also, I'm still pretty sick. I'm on day 5 of DayQuil/NyQuil goodness, but it's not helping as I'd hoped it would. Luckily I only have to come in tomorrow, then I'm off Friday for the motherland of Ohio! :) I swear they're trying (here, at school) to pile as MUCH crap as they can on me in the last 18 days of school. Ya know what? They're doing a good job.

Sweet, sweet May!!!

It's finally here: the beautiful, glorious, underestimated month of MAY!!! :D Only 19 more days left!!

Ahem. So today went by quickly, all things considered. We finished our core reading book (McGraw-Hill) last week, so we've started book reports this week. So far, the kids are interested in the project, especially since they get to choose their own books (with my approval, of course). Yay.

We had a notoriously bad sub for art today, so my kids were awful. Knowing this would happen, I told them before we left for art, "Regardless of who the sub is, you MUST be respectful and polite. Don't ruin our chances of going to the Grand Canyon by not following directions or by messing around." I got kind of gruff, actually, and eventually said, "You WILL not ruin this trip for us. Understand?" And a lot of kids stood up a bit straighter and replied, "Yes, ma'am." Interesting.

And of course the day was downhill from there. The sub (who is known for doing little more than sitting at her desk and reading a book) told me when I picked up the class, "This is the worst class I've had in the past 4 days here." Joy. Someone shoot me, please.

I'm also still pretty sick. My voice is very hoarse and cracks a lot, I have an incessant cough, I'm sniffly, I'm achy, etc. It's really fun. :P It is nice, though, being so hopped-up on DayQuil that I don't really care what happens in class.

We did do one good thing today, though. I printed out a list of all the students in the class and distributed one copy to each student. I had the students put their names on the papers and write one positive comment about each of their peers. I will compile these (tonight??? soon...) and hand them out before school's over, so that each student has a page full of good things about them. I've heard of other teachers who have done this, and I love the idea! We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, that's all for now. Ciao!