While the teaching is easier and the kids are nicer, everything else is harder. There's good news and bad news.
1. I had only 3 failures at midterm. Which really depressed me. I tried so hard to make my passing rates high and my kids learn. They are were failing because they were slacking off. Two of the three were my first discipline referrals of the year. Because....again this year....I do not send children to the office...I just annoy the hell out of them they leave for the office by themselves.
2. That's not really what happened. One young man (very new to the school) violated my tardy policy and was goofing with another girl in the corner and was not in his chair by the tardy bell. I told him to go to the tardy desk to get a tardy slip. He asked "Are you serious?" I said "Of course." He said, "I'm not coming back." So I counted him absent and waited for his return (we were taking a test.) He never did. The principal told me to write him up. I really didn't want to, but I had to ask her if I should let him take the test since he kinda played hooky from my class.
3. My other discipline report came from a young woman who refused to obtain her school laptop because she didn't want to carry it around. When I told her that she needed to write an essay while everyone else was playing Free Rice. She got up and left the room. I counted her absent. She left without permission. I counted her absent. Then 10 minutes later I realized she was just hanging out in the hall. I went out there and informed her to go to the office because I counted her absent. She never did. Arggh!!
4. Neither child has been in school for the whole week. Probably because we are flooding. The Mexican side has it much worse, but we have a shelter on this side. Sunday I got cut off from home by a arroyo flooding and so I went to help at the shelter. The superintendent gave me the keys to the school bus and I took off to buy food for the shelter. That's the most exciting thing I did for the shelter. After that it was hurry up and wait.
Of course, except for where I live was evacuated by mistake. I went home kinda illegally and did my schoolwork comfortably on my couch. As Saint Teacher put it: What do you mean we can't sit on our couch in our homes, but we are required to go to work across the street. I said I am not evacuating until I see them sandbagging the high school across the street.
5. Again, southwest people go crazy about water. We had a district vertical teaming meeting yesterday. Someone got an email that maybe a levee broke and people left.
Work.
In the middle of an important meeting.
Did I say...At work....
Geez.
6. The kids are stressed out because of the flooding but they are coping. Some are staying at the shelter. Yes, we have school, which is ok I guess. It gives the kids a sense of normalcy. But can tell they are upset. I don't have to many kids absent. Some got stuck on the Mexico side when the border closed.
7. I am writing this because I don't want to write lesson plans. The whole week was so up in the air because of the flooding and we were supposed to have benchmark tests. So it has been fly by the seat of our pants all week. I guess I can work on them tomorrow sometime.
8. I got my new teaching certificate with the ESL and History endorsement. I made sure the principal saw it. Maybe I can teach me some history next year.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Week 3
Week three of school is already here! The teaching part of my job is great...only the planning and correcting and everything is kinda burying me. Eleven to twelve hour weekdays and four hour days on weekends has been the norm for the past three weeks.
1. I am still struggling with the vertical team meetings. But it has kinda got better. Occasionally, we talk about the actual job of teaching English and I have used some of the teaching strategies of my colleagues. However, I am still a little perturbed about just sitting there and shooting the breeze. One of the new teachers has a good idea and just sits there and corrects papers.
2. My junior class is continuing to show their increased maturity. They are responding well to "Smoke Signals" and doing their work. I only have one person failing (as opposed to 20% of my students last year.) I have slackers. I called the 3 C's I have. I am a little worried I have been too easy. However, anonymous feedback from the students say that they think the work is challenging and fun. They like my positive attitude.
3. However, I have gotten strict/stern about students not getting their laptops from the school. I am a little upset with our school. First of all, they decided not to follow our committees advice and not pass them out the first week of school. Students are only getting them now. And some laptops are not even working. In any class I have at least 3 students that have no laptops. I don't understand why they are not working.
I got an email from the principal tonight telling me that a student went to complaining to him about that I insisted that she get her computer. Her computer was broken and in for repairs. The student told him that I was "upset" with her because she didn't have the computer. He told me not to penalize her for it.
Like I would. I just am frustrated that every student in our district is supposed to have this resource and so many are not working. Some students do not get the computer because they refuse to carry it around. Some student complain no teachers actually use.
Wonder why? It's like they give us Porsche, but we can't drive it fast. We can't even take it out of the garage.
For example, the filtering system for the internet. I totally understand that some things need to be blocked in a school setting. P0rn, violence etc. However, they block blog creation sites, podcasts, other Web 2.0 applications. I get books on how to use the laptop in my classroom, but most of this exciting new things are blocked.
I'm ready just to go back to the old way with paper and pens. It's just not worth the struggle some days.
4. I keep meaning to post pictures of my room. I will have to soon.
5. The Rio Grande is flooding. I never thought that I would ever have to worry about levees, but two have broken in the area. The Mexican side of the town I live in has been evacuated. I live about a mile from the river on the American side. I don't think I would evacuate. I live on a huge ravine and I don't think shelters would take the dog and I don't think I could just leave her. It's sorta weird that I am in the middle of a desert and it is flooding. There are creeks where I have never seen creeks before.
6. My pre-AP class is doing a unit on plagiarism and how to avoid it. They are responding to it well. I am using the lesson plan in the most recent English Journal. The first day we did a Think Pair Share activity to create a definition. Then they watch a video about famous authors and how they plagiarized. They were appalled that at Harvard students can be expelled for a year and they would lose all their credits. Right now we are working on how to avoid plagiarism by learning the MLA style and how to paraphrase. They like the whole plan. The only problem I have with the whole plan is it is supposed to take only 5 days. It is going to take me at least 10 days.
7. I got one of my pre AP students in trouble. She has been slacking off since the beginning of school. I contacted her parents and her mother came in this morning. The student has had her phone taken away until she gets her grade up to an 80. Her mother said she was receiving text messages after midnight!! She said she didn't read the messages, just saw them come in.
I think if I was her mother, I would have read them. Then again I'm evil that way.
8. There is a reason they are called "sophomores." There is a reason why it is called "sophomoric" behavior. I think I like teaching juniors better.
9. The best thing a teacher has is a reputation. My students know what I stand for and don't like. They tell the other students. I like my reputation.
10. What's nice about being the junior class sponsor? Some other teachers volunteered to take over the concession stands, the collection of student fees, and deciding on a T Shirt design.
What is horrid about being the junior class sponsor? The fact that juniors cannot agree on anything and they think they will get their way by screaming during class meetings. Or walking out when they don't like what they are hearing. Geesh!
11. I have two new crushes. Barack Obama and Sherman Alexie.
1. I am still struggling with the vertical team meetings. But it has kinda got better. Occasionally, we talk about the actual job of teaching English and I have used some of the teaching strategies of my colleagues. However, I am still a little perturbed about just sitting there and shooting the breeze. One of the new teachers has a good idea and just sits there and corrects papers.
2. My junior class is continuing to show their increased maturity. They are responding well to "Smoke Signals" and doing their work. I only have one person failing (as opposed to 20% of my students last year.) I have slackers. I called the 3 C's I have. I am a little worried I have been too easy. However, anonymous feedback from the students say that they think the work is challenging and fun. They like my positive attitude.
3. However, I have gotten strict/stern about students not getting their laptops from the school. I am a little upset with our school. First of all, they decided not to follow our committees advice and not pass them out the first week of school. Students are only getting them now. And some laptops are not even working. In any class I have at least 3 students that have no laptops. I don't understand why they are not working.
I got an email from the principal tonight telling me that a student went to complaining to him about that I insisted that she get her computer. Her computer was broken and in for repairs. The student told him that I was "upset" with her because she didn't have the computer. He told me not to penalize her for it.
Like I would. I just am frustrated that every student in our district is supposed to have this resource and so many are not working. Some students do not get the computer because they refuse to carry it around. Some student complain no teachers actually use.
Wonder why? It's like they give us Porsche, but we can't drive it fast. We can't even take it out of the garage.
For example, the filtering system for the internet. I totally understand that some things need to be blocked in a school setting. P0rn, violence etc. However, they block blog creation sites, podcasts, other Web 2.0 applications. I get books on how to use the laptop in my classroom, but most of this exciting new things are blocked.
I'm ready just to go back to the old way with paper and pens. It's just not worth the struggle some days.
4. I keep meaning to post pictures of my room. I will have to soon.
5. The Rio Grande is flooding. I never thought that I would ever have to worry about levees, but two have broken in the area. The Mexican side of the town I live in has been evacuated. I live about a mile from the river on the American side. I don't think I would evacuate. I live on a huge ravine and I don't think shelters would take the dog and I don't think I could just leave her. It's sorta weird that I am in the middle of a desert and it is flooding. There are creeks where I have never seen creeks before.
6. My pre-AP class is doing a unit on plagiarism and how to avoid it. They are responding to it well. I am using the lesson plan in the most recent English Journal. The first day we did a Think Pair Share activity to create a definition. Then they watch a video about famous authors and how they plagiarized. They were appalled that at Harvard students can be expelled for a year and they would lose all their credits. Right now we are working on how to avoid plagiarism by learning the MLA style and how to paraphrase. They like the whole plan. The only problem I have with the whole plan is it is supposed to take only 5 days. It is going to take me at least 10 days.
7. I got one of my pre AP students in trouble. She has been slacking off since the beginning of school. I contacted her parents and her mother came in this morning. The student has had her phone taken away until she gets her grade up to an 80. Her mother said she was receiving text messages after midnight!! She said she didn't read the messages, just saw them come in.
I think if I was her mother, I would have read them. Then again I'm evil that way.
8. There is a reason they are called "sophomores." There is a reason why it is called "sophomoric" behavior. I think I like teaching juniors better.
9. The best thing a teacher has is a reputation. My students know what I stand for and don't like. They tell the other students. I like my reputation.
10. What's nice about being the junior class sponsor? Some other teachers volunteered to take over the concession stands, the collection of student fees, and deciding on a T Shirt design.
What is horrid about being the junior class sponsor? The fact that juniors cannot agree on anything and they think they will get their way by screaming during class meetings. Or walking out when they don't like what they are hearing. Geesh!
11. I have two new crushes. Barack Obama and Sherman Alexie.
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