heaven in a resealable cookie package

I have found the perfect combination: peanut butter creme filled Oreos. An even more lethal combination? Peanut butter creme filled Oreos crumpled up and mixed in with vanilla ice cream.

I'll give you a minute to wipe the drool off of your keyboard.

Life is beginning to slow down, and at the same time pick right back up again in a different way. The TWS is finished. I just have to get my examples of student work put together, print if off again after some proofreading, make a copy of it (AKA kill a lot of trees).

At this point I am a lot more focused on planning (which is a good thing). Trying to figure out some fun activities with the Lewis and Clark/Expansion Unit. Nothing is fun to 8th graders, though, if it means they have to learn. Imagine that.

"Was Napoleon the guy that sold the Louisiana Purchase to the U.S?"

"Do you see this strange looking figure on your desk in front of you? It's called a book. And it's MAGIC. Do you know why it's magic? If you open it and read it, it will tell you ALL of the answers!"

"Do you mean we have to actually read?"

mmmhhmmmm

Adolescence. It's a beautiful thing.

update

Quarter: Over

Grades: Posted

Teacher Work Sample: One more section! Almost. There.

Tomorrow's lesson: Planned. For the most part.

Resume: Looks pretty good.

Online Application: Completed.

Sanity: What sanity? Nothing a nice cold drink can't cure.

progress

Only one more section on the TWS to do!!! I have only left my apartment once since I got home from school yesterday, but that is beside the point.

In fact, I've hardly left the chair I am currently sitting in. Progress has been made. Onward!!

Only 140 or so short answer tests to grade and enter into the gradebook before Monday.

And I still need to plan for 8th grade.

But there has been serious progress made this weekend, people. Believe it.

And the Hawks won today. Denard who?

one million

....is the number of things on my to-do list. If you couldn't already tell from the last post.

I ended by saying "Does this mean I've made it?"

I feel like I had another one of those moments today. Yesterday, I sent a student down to the counselor because she was refusing to do anything on the exam I was giving them (one required by the district). This morning, our counselor told me that she said that she didn't understand what she was supposed to do (I explained it to the class), and that she didn't think that I liked her because I never called on her. Ooohh my the perception of 7th graders is so far off base it is hard to deal with sometimes. First of all----ask me to re-explain it when I come to you and ask what the problem is and why you aren't doing anything. Second of all----I do call on you. Just not every. time. you. raise. your hand. There are other students, my dear.

7th graders are extremely self absorbed---part of it is the entitlement of society today and part of it is just that they are 12 and 13 and pre-teens tend to be self absorbed in general. So, the counselor recommends that in order to have her more comfortable I sit down not one on one with her but also with my CT (she says she likes my CT---DUH!! All she does is sit in the back of the room. I am the one that disciplines, so of course it is harder to like me) But I maintain I would like to chat with her on my own and if that doesn't work then I will do the other. Have to be an advocate for yourself from time to time.

Long story short---the chat seemed to go very well. We cleared the air, she seems to understand that I have to make sure the WHOLE class is learning, not just her. And we have had a nice chat about having a better attitude--stopping the eye rolling, and the pouty tone.

One of my other students is potentially getting expelled. She has been in 3 physical altercations at school, is on a restricted hall pass, and can no longer ride the bus because of fights that have happened on the bus. I have never once referred this girl to the office. We started out with a good relationship. I saw a lot of promise from her. She is a smart girl. She can be quite sweet. However, she is aggressive and does not know when to be quiet. She argues with everyone and it has only gotten worse since she came back from her last suspension. We have butted heads a lot. I treat her the same as every student (no you can't go to your locker because you didn't bring your things to class--I don't let anyone do that). She does not see it that way (again, that 7th grade perception thing).

SO today--I take her work as she is sitting in the office waiting to be picked up. This is as I am picking up 5th hour to bring them back from lunch. One student (also a trouble maker who may not last at this school) asks on the way up if the other student has been expelled. First--not your business. But, I tell her I don't know (which we really don't for sure), but that I was told to take her work. She FLIPS out "you can't expel her!! waa waa waa" I choose to ignore her and simply tell her to turn her voice off. She proceeds to yell to another student (as she's pointing at me) "It's her FAULT that she's getting expelled."

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Oh, my. I love 7th graders. You're right. I, a student teacher, have so much power that I walked into the principal's office and told him he should expel her. I HAVE NEVER EVEN REFERRED HER TO THE OFFICE!! I did my best, actually, to try and keep her in the class and get her turned around.

I am not the one who punched someone yesterday in the middle of the last class of the day. I am not the one who cannot control my temper. I am not the one making poor choices on a daily basis.

But, it's my fault. And I'm willing to accept that. Now there are two people on our team to blame for everything. The science teacher because he is white, Republican, male, and Catholic. And me, because I am a mean, unfair, student teacher that got your friend expelled.

Shape up and shut up and I wouldn't have to continually discipline you. Simple. Done.

I think being called "unfair" means that I've made it. Because that means that I am teaching you to be accountable, to be responsible, and to be an adult. Welcome to the "Real World," life won't give you second, third, fourth, and even fifth chances like we do here.

Back to the TWS---it is eating me alive, but I'm on a role. I won't be sleeping this weekend.

The end of the quarter is unbelievably overwhelming.

My Teacher Work Sample is nowhere near completed.

I don't know when I will have time to complete it.

It needs to be done by the 19th (Tuesday).

When do I teach?

Overwhelmed.

Grades are due by 5 PM on Monday.

Lots of students are slackers.

It is my fault because they turned it in and I lost it.

The other teachers lost all of their completed work, too.

Why can't I just teach?

Next Friday/Saturday is the Teacher Interview Fair in my district.

That means resumes and credentials need to be done.

I have a semi-completed, crap resume and no letters of rec yet.

I would really like to teach now....

Verbal recommendations? Check. Written?

....Do teachers and principals really have time for that?

Principal introduced me (and gave great praise to) the Asst. Superintendent.

Confidence boost.

Reminded twice (from Principal): make sure to send the Sup an email when you apply.

Check...and check.

Overwhelmed.

Do I get to teach now?

No. You must test, test, test.

But...but...why?

Because Big Brother told you so.

My big brother also told me when I was 6 that alligators lived in the sewers and would come up out of the toile.....oh

Not that big brother.

Too much time spent with 7th graders.

Sincerely,
A student teacher-turned-secretary-turned-parent-turned-absolutenutjobcrazypantsbecauseican'tthinkstraight-turned-SUPERWOMAN WHO CAN DO 10 THINGS AT ONCE FOR 15 DIFFERENT PEOPLE!!

Does this mean I've made it?



Disclaimer: this does not mean blog silence is completely broken. Stressful times call for drastic measures.

paranoid

So last night at our Student Teaching seminar, we had a speaker that was an attorney for the state education association (ISEA). AKA they represent you if the district wants to fire you for silly reasons, etc.

He told a story of a 2nd year teacher who had always gotten glowing reviews in her first 2 years. She was still on her temporary license, and at the end of the 2nd year if you get a good recommendation from your administration and have successfully completed all of your artifacts you get your permanent license. She had done all of these things and was a great teacher.

In early May of her 2nd year she contacted the ISEA attorney because the district wanted to fire her (and not give her a good recommendation, which means no permanent license). Why, you ask when she is a good teacher? Because she had a blog.

So the attorney went and started reading her blog from the beginning and saw nothing. So he went to more recent entries and saw nothing. It was just funny to him. Downright hilarious. Turns out that even though the teacher had never mentioned the school district by name, nor any students by name, they found it to be unprofessional because she told stories about a nitwit freshman who asked if lava was hot and referred to another student as "the spawn of satan." And while every other teacher laughed and said "OH YEAH, I HAD HIM!" it made her a poor role model (even though no one knew names, etc.) And according to the Supreme Court, teachers are role models and have to always be aware of their actions even outside of school time.

It was ludicrous. BUT, it was either fight it or resign and try to get a job somewhere else so she wouldn't lose her license entirely. This was a great teacher. And they wanted to kick her out of the classroom for something so silly! No one would know who or what district she was talking about!

So now I'm at a crossroads. While this seems to be a 1 in a million case, I don't want to ruin my career before it starts. Granted, I haven't told anybody about my blog except family and friends. But still. I HATE BUREAUCRACY!!

So while I ponder what I should do here...I'll let you know that it's been a crazy week.

I found out that a student of mine has had an extremely rough,rough past two years. Drugs, alcohol, suicide attempts. A mess. But I like this girl a lot. She is so smart, has a ton of potential, and I just generally like her. She participates in class, works hard. Hopefully she finds the right path.

AND, I broke up my first fist fight today. Fists flying, hair pulling, clothes being ripped off. Happened right outside my room during the passing period. It was INTENSE! I'm having such an interesting experience. It's unbelievable.

So anyways, on that note...I need to decide how paranoid I should be about my blog. Hmm. Input definitely appreciated.

to the point

Yesterday:

A fist fight (between a girl and a boy) broke out bright and early in the morning while we were on supervision duty.

I got into a verbal altercation with a student who refused to listen to me and continued to speak disrespectfully to me while on supervision duty.

A student ran away from my CT in circles as she tried to get him to quit doing something and talk to her. He claimed he didn't have a name when asked. All while on supervision duty.

Then, in 5th hour I tried some conflict resolution strategies between 2 students. It ended with me calling the school security guard to escort her to the office.

Today:

Well today was just an interesting lunch time in general. Our principal kind of walked all through the halls yelling at students. Mine were actually well behaved today (yay!).

I continued to diffuse a brewing fight between two students. New seating chart tomorrow hopefully will help.

--------------------------------------------

8th hour is obsessed with guessing my first name. They will never win. I'll end up telling them if they don't guess after the hints I gave them today.

The funny part? We had Open House on Tuesday night and my CT put my first and last name on the handout that the parents took before 8th hour started into the guessing game.

They came back today and nobody knew---even those whose parents came. 8th graders are observant. It is a fun game, though!

I'm tired and have work to do, though. Time for a night cap.

addendum to the previous

So I'm reading some of the TIME articles my CT gave me. Despite there being some parts that make me want to gag, I found a few things that are worth mentioning. They sum up the part of teaching that those individuals who make comments like "those who can't do, teach" and "how hard can it be to teach?" and "why should you get paid more, you get summers off?" truly do not understand. Do not speak of what you do not know.

"First year teachers tend to be unprepared for the astonishingly disparate demands of the job--speaking loudly without shouting, deciding what to do when someone throws a spitball, looking up the rules for bathroom breaks, determining whether the class on Abraham Lincoln should come before or after the one of Frederick Douglass."

--------This might sound silly to you, but it is imperative to know all of these things. If you find yourself in a situation that you don't have an answer to, 7th graders will EAT. YOU. ALIVE. Guaranteed.

Here's a good one (yet another reason why people should study some freaking history)

"Since the early 1970s, high schoolers' math and reading scores have barely budged.....teenagers are now less likely to graduate from high school than their parents were."

Take a look at what started happening in education in the 1970s. More (extreme) 'progressive' education. Don't make my students actually learn. They need to be coddled, you need to be building up their self esteem.

It was the beginning of grade inflation. It was the beginning of the lowering of the ceiling and the raising of the floor. Let's make all of our kids mediocre so that their self esteem is not hurt by their higher achieving classmates. Please. It's called competition.

And, no offense to Mom and Dad, but think about whose kids were starting Kindergarten around that time? The baby boomers. The hippies. Free love!! Don't tell my kid that he is failing! Shame on you, teacher. Life isn't about what grade you get in school. It's about how you feel.

You're right, dear hippie, life isn't about the grades you get in school. But your work ethic, your behavior, and your desire to succeed generally shows how well you will do for yourself in life. And, well, our country is currently not in the greatest shape. So thanks for all that you've done. Free love, it is. Free love for everyone!

Now, I'll sit back and listen to the rest of the country complain about the state of public education in the United States all while they vote down any type of bond issue that would increase the amount of funding for their public school.

So, go to your fancy 9-5 job 5 days a week and tell me that I don't deserve to be paid more because I get summers off. I am at school every morning by 7 AM, I don't leave until at least 3:30, only to come home to grade papers, essays, or projects, enter them into the grade book, write lesson plans (ensuring that I have made accommodations for students with special needs---yes this sometimes means an entirely different assignment), make sure that I am contacting parents of students about behavior problems or homework that has not been turned in, keeping track of which students miss class on which days and getting extra copies of notes for them, worksheets ready with their names on it, and generally taking care of their every need because if I don't and they fail? IT'S MY FAULT.

Not to mention while I'm at school I have students mumbling things like "What the hell?" under their breath, students yelling "This is bullcrap!" because I took their phone away, which is blatantly explained in the student handbook, and students almost getting into fights every day in 5th hour.

My day at school never ends, even when I'm at home. So go have some calamari and drink some sparkling water. Then come to my classroom and takeover tomorrow. And vote for a bond issue for once.

SOAPBOX OFF!

r-e-s-p-e-c-t

So I'm not sure if I intentionally or unintentionally failed to blog about my week last week, but it was eventful. Short version: 2 of my students (7th grade) are suspended out of school for 2 days (nothing that happened in my class), I took away my first cell phone from a student on Thursday and sent my first student to the office (they were one in the same), and on Friday I got so frustrated with my 5th hour class I found myself getting out the dictionary and defining the word 'respect.'

Yep, I'm THAT teacher. You'll thank me for it later, employers of the world.

BUT, it's a new week. We are all new people, starting over, clean slate. Today was overall a pretty good day. Aside from the staff meeting at the end of the day that lasted longer than it should have. That's what you get when your district implements a new grading system, tells the parents about it, and then 4 weeks into school the school district sends out a letter to teachers saying "We want you to be on board with the new policy and do your best to implement it, but if you want to work based on percentages this year that is fine."

Crazy letter=even more confused teachers. Crazy letter=very upset administrator at our school (who has been extremely gung-ho "implement the Standards Based Grading, 0-5, trend grading scale!!!!!!"). Crazy letter=ridiculous parents tomorrow night at Curriculum night who will have NO IDEA WHAT TO THINK!

Oh my, I just can't wait to answer (or try to) all of their incessant questions.

And who can blame them for having non stop questions? They are hearing 3 different things from the district. I (and the rest of the staff) are being told 3 different things by the district.

Teaching's fun!!!!!

You can choose to read that sarcastically, and it was said in that way. But as much as I have those moments-- I do love it. Even though TIME Magazine just published an entire issue about why public schools in America are failing because they have bad teachers (Hey! That's me!! woo hoo! Thanks, TIME). Even though my students say "What the hell?" to me under their breath when they think I can't hear it. Even though I plan what I think to be an awesome lesson and it only works in 2 out of 3 classes because I have one class full of shitheads. Even though I know that good parenting, while it might not solve all of the my problems, is the real answer to students arriving in 7th grade with more RESPECT for authority---despite all of that---

It is always my fault. If my students fail? My fault. If I can't effectively differentiate because I have a class full of shitheads who ruin it for everyone? My fault.

But hey, I love it. What does the Statue of Liberty say? "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Sure, most of these kids don't understand the fact that a solid educations is their chance to "breathe free," and they are just in school because they don't have a choice. But I know that an education is their chance to "breathe free" and change what is currently their sad destiny. Teachers may not succeed in doing that for everyone, but it is the few that you do succeed with that count, right?

So, please...bring me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses...and the wretched refuse. I'd love to. And I'd love to grade their work based on trends. And I'd love to force them to read the Declaration of Independence out of a textbook which some former student has so cleverly written "He's Sexy" next to a picture of good 'ol Tommy Jefferson.

Yes, dear 8th grader. T. Jeff knew how to pick up the women---he was particularly fond of slaves. But we'll leave that for another day....on to Independence.

Today in Team Plan, our Team Leader (the science teacher) said that when in doubt we could blame him---he is white, Republican, and Catholic--- said he was used to it.

Always nice to start your day off with a good laugh.

Wednesday my CT and I have to cover a 3rd hour Chinese language class for the teacher. Any fresh ideas of interesting phrases to teach the students so they can surprise their teacher on Thursday are appreciated. (This is aimed at a very small audience, obviously).

Happy Monday!

Thank the good Lord it is Saturday morning. It has been a long, stressful week. Both school wise and otherwise. Hopefully things start to look up (I know, I said that the last blog post). I have a feeling they will but it will just take time, and patience and I are not getting along too well.

As we speak, I am glued to the History Channel reliving 9/11. The memories, the stories, the pain, the heartache, and the overwhelming sense that I have lived through one of the most defining moments our country has ever seen. I know it seems morbid that every year I continue to relive that awful day, but I do it because I don't ever want to forget what happened; the emotions I felt watching it happen, and the palpable feeling of an entire nation experiencing the same thing at the same time. Shock, fear, uncertainty, sadness, anger. I will never forget seeing the constant stream of photos posted by family members, desperately seeking out lost loved ones that were still missing. Clinging to one last bit of hope.

My 8th grade students were 4 years old when it happened. They have no idea. They may have been told what happened, but they don't understand it. They can't possibly. I am so glad my CT and I share the view that they should be exposed to some of those images. The video of the plane hitting that second tower. The people running desperately for their lives. We both shared our stories (fittingly, I was an 8th grader when it happened). As a history teacher, it was a strange experience to teach a history to students that have no recollection of something that I do. It is history to them. It is reality for me. It is strange to think that in just a few years I will be teaching students who weren't even alive when it happened.

9/11 changed my entire world, and my family's world. At the time my oldest brother was in the Marine corps. I knew the minute it happened that his life would change. In the years that followed, the enlistments in my family increased. This came as no surprise, as even before 9/11 we had expected it to happen. But enlisting meant something entirely different after 9/11. At least 7 deployments later, tears shed worrying after news of 14 Marines in my brother's battalion being killed, waiting for a Marine in dress blues to show up, humvees and strykers being blown up on a semi-regular basis...well, you could say life hasn't turned out the way we expected it to on 9/10/01.

Please, please, please remember. Relive the images. Relive the heartache. Tell your kids about it (if they're old enough). It is odd to think that one day I will be my grandmother's age and people will be asking me about where I was on 9/11, just as people ask her where she was on 12/7. Have a story to tell. Personal accounts are what make history. Textbooks can never tell the story the way that you can. I even encourage you to write it down. Save it for future generations that you will not be around to tell. It sounds so dramatic for me to say that, but I spent this summer reading diaries from 19th Century America and it was extremely powerful to read the accounts of an individual.

What do you remember? Where were you? What were you doing? What did you feel? How did it change you?

I am tired!! Weirdly tired. I didn't stay up any later than usual, didn't get up any earlier, and I just had a 3 day weekend. You would think that I would feel refreshed. Not so.

It doesn't help that I have a lot of stresses right now outside of student teaching and all that comes with it. Hopefully things all work themselves out and I can feel a bit more at ease about life. If that doesn't happen, then..well, I won't think about it.

The last two days have been fairly uneventful. It is Week 4, but it feels like we have been at it for a long time. My CT took her youngest to her first day of pre-school yesterday, so I had a sub. Not that it mattered, I still taught everything per usual.

The 7th graders did fairly well on the portion of the test where they labeled latitude and longitude coordinates. But give them a multiple choice test about a map of SW Asia and they are done for. I thought that would be the easiest. Ah well. We will get there.

I think the thing that is most tiring about teaching is that if it's not one thing it's another. For example, the students were pretty good overall today but then we had to figure out progress reports (which are due tomorrow). That might sound easy--don't you just look at the average of their grades? Not anymore! It's "are they meeting expectation or not meeting expectations?" Not to mention we are still unsure of grades in general....ugh. So that was interesting.

I had a small chat with one of my students today. She has a ton of potential but she is just throwing it all down the drain with her choice of actions, words, etc. It is so upsetting to see! Let's hope I can put her down the right path. Middle school really is where it is decided. Granted, everyone can change their life path whenever they want to but this is a make or break year.

On that note, I'm tired, need to try and get some 8th grade tests graded and then get to bed. Don't let the bed bugs bite, right? (For real, though, there's outbreaks across the country...including in some apt complexes here in the big O. Sick) Try to go to bed tonight and not be paranoid....

lovely weekend

I never thought this would be the case, but three day weekends are so much more enjoyable when you're the teacher and not the student!

Let's just say that Friday was...an adventure. We did a Map Lab in 7th grade which consisted of group work in stations. It went great with the first class, went well with the second class, and just fell apart in 5th hour. They really might drive me off the deep end. One girl had just returned from 2 days of out of school suspension. (Count it now--three 7th graders in ISS, one of whom then got suspended out of school) She nearly got into a fight on Friday in my class. As I was turned around dealing with her and the other kid, I hear a crash behind me and there is a kid on the ground. WHAT THE HECK!

My patience was gone. It didn't get any better after lunch, I'll just leave it at that. It actually came close to getting worse. It was Friday, and I just wanted the day to be over with.

The drive back to the great state of Iowa with its rolling fields full of late season corn was nice and relaxing. I played my music as loud as I wanted and no one could hear me screaming. It was glorious. For the third time I fought my urge to stop at the Danish Immigrant Museum on the way. It will happen one of these times.

I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend at the Farms. It was extremely busy, but it was much needed. It has been a slow season with the weather being either extremely wet or extremely hot. Plus, we had some awesome visitors who had great questions. It isn't always the case. Needless to say, I enjoyed the change in scenery.

Despite last week being a bit rough in the classroom, I feel like I can go back tomorrow energized and ready for a new week. The poor sevies are taking a test tomorrow over the information we have been reviewing the past 3 weeks. They get to use their notes, but I'm still severely concerned.

I'd like to take this time to request a moment of silence for the government issued day off known as Labor Day. It would only be better if I could be outside grilling, having a cold one, and generally enjoying the weather. Instead, here I sit, surrounded by papers to grade, lessons to plan, and learning goals to write.

so maybe not EVERY day

Yes, it's Thursday. No, I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've had a stuffy nose and a sinus headache since Tuesday. It is better, so I am thankful for that. It's been a rough week, though.

Tuesday 5th hour pissed me off SO. BAD. I was going to go over a few more things that would help them on their assignment but they just would not. shut. up. Their word vomit (aka saying everything that comes to mind...really loudly....while I am trying to talk) was out of control. So I essentially threw the assignment at them, explained it, and told them that I didn't want another word out of them. If you have a comment keep it to yourself, I don't care. If you have a question, raise your freaking hand! ARGH!

The sinus headache did not help, I'm sure. The next day was measurably better, but not perfect. Same goes for the cold.

Today was a trillion times better! Still not perfect, but they are middle schoolers with raging hormones. I can't ask too much. However, 2 students were gone from 5th hour (mind you, one of them is serving a 2 day out of school suspension) and it made all the difference. This class frustrates me more than any other because having just one or two students gone changes the whole dynamic of the class. Of the 3 7th grade classes they by far have the best discussion. These kids are smart but when all of them are together they can. not. focus!! Cue my frustration.

My summer internship at the Farms is shining through in these opening weeks. I can think of no better examples for the impact of human-environment interaction and movement than the history of the pioneers pushing further and further west and the impact that has had on the environment. It is so natural at this point for me to talk about it. At least I am getting a little out of it, since I won't still be teaching when the 8th graders get to that era in history.

Speaking of 8th graders, I came to a realization today. After 8th hour we have homeroom and one of the girls in 8th hour is also in our homeroom. After the students left she said "I bet you're glad to have that over with." What does she mean, you ask?

8th hour had been a bit of hooligans today. We were talking about life in Colonial America, which for me is exciting... I get to talk about clothes, and fun customs, food, herbs...things that I learned a lot about this year (for a slightly different time period, yes, but a lot of it can apply). They can be a chatty class and they were exceptionally so today, but not unmanageable. We had talked about the fact that gentlemen especially were expected to stand up when a woman entered the room or stood up from the table, etc. They thought it was stupid, and I attempted to teach them otherwise. Needless to say when my CT left the room they plotted to all stand up when she came back in. Distracting? Yes. Funny? Yes. It was a nice break in the monotony of saying the same thing 3 times a day.

Anyways, they got progressively rowdier and I powered through simply "shushing" them here and there. That is why this student asked me if I was glad it was over. My response?

Actually, I could handle a class like that any day as compared to 7th graders. For some reason a rowdy bunch of 8th graders is so much better. I don't know why, they should be equally as annoying. Simple fact of the matter is, they're not.

So the verdict for this week? I like 8th graders. I don't hate 7th graders, but they are just a completely different beast. Still stuck in elementary school, they are. Sorry, I'm not here to baby you anymore.

I am headed back to DSM tomorrow afternoon to finish up at the internship. I'm pretty excited to be back at the Farms for a weekend. It will be a nice change of pace! Plus, I have Monday off altogether. Woo hoo for made up holidays!!!

the best laid plans

Monday, Monday. I never know what you will bring.

This morning in 2nd hour my supervisor came to observe me. I wasn't crazy about this idea as 2nd hour is my 'guinea pig' class and normally I can adjust things that maybe didn't work so well. Today, however, I was glad that she came during 2nd hour.

2nd hour went swimmingly. She had great things to say (turns out I have a great 'teacher presence' and give good directions yada, yada). Yes, we didn't get as far as I expected to but that's OK. I simply adjusted/pushed back the week's plans in my mind and everything was just cheery. We would finish the physical map in class tomorrow instead of having it as homework. No big deal.

Too bad 2nd hour is a bunch of zombies! Enter 4th and 5th hour who take twice as long to accomplish the same things, talk twice as much, and ask irrelevant questions/make irrelevant observations. I should have seen it coming. I should have known. I should have stopped it in its tracks.

Instead I found, during our discussion of what a political map is, that half of 5th hour doesn't seem to know what BORDERS are. Yes, those things that mark the boundaries of states or countries. Let me illustrate the wide range of knowledge in this class.

Ms. P: I like to remember that politicians draw political maps. Because borders are man made. Some man sitting in an office at some point in history decided that 'yes, I think it's a good idea to make a little thing jut out of the top of the made up country of Jordan in this region I refer to as the Middle East.' (Note: this was not the only way I described it, I even used images to illustrate)

Student 1: (again..we are off topic) How many countries are in the world?

Ms. P: I have no idea. It changes relatively quickly, people are still fighting wars and redrawing borders in places like Africa.

Student 2: Did you know that Morocco still today has a disputed border? Morocco and Southern Morocco are shown on the map as having a disputed border.

Ms. P: Thank you, Student 2, I did know that. It is a very interesting story but I just don't have time to go into it right now.

Student 3: So, like, how do you know that a border is there? 'Cuz I went to Kansas City this summer and all of a sudden there was just a sign that said 'Kansas City.'

Ms. P: When you are in the U.S. there is almost always a sign when you cross into another state that says you are there.

Student 4: So, like, um....I have a question. ::blank stare::

Ms. P: So, like, um....ask it.

Student 4: Well, like, if you're in Mexico and then, um you're in the U.S. is it just like a thing that says 'border'

Ms. P: Yes there is a big red line, that we draw on the ground with permanent marker so that everyone knows were EVERY SINGLE BORDER IN THE WORLD IS!

For the record, I didn't say that last part out loud. And you think this is good? Wait for it....

::Ms. P pulls down the map of the U.S. in the front of the room.::

Ms. P: Ok, let's bring this closer to home so that maybe we can understand it better. We live almost right on the border of Nebraska and Iowa. Part of the borders of Iowa are natural. See how it is surrounded by the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers? (students nod in agreement) Ok, when Iowa became a state they decided that these 2 rivers would be the eastern and western boundaries. Now, there was a big debate about where the northern and southern borders would be. Some old, pale, males (old white guys...you know, the ones who used to write history) thought that it should go all the way up here into present-day Minnesota. But they argued a little bit and then finally decided that they would draw these 2 almost-straight lines and just decided that's where the border was. Is everyone with me? (they nod...) Ok, that is where the man-made borders come in handy. Today, if you drive on the interstate and cross into another state you see a sign. That was not always the case. The border of Mexico ::points to the Rio Grande:: is partially made up of a natural border. It was partially decided by old, pale, males after fighting a war and signing treaties. There is a fence on part of it, yes.

.....After all of this I think that I have successfully established what a border is, and that although on a political map the are drawn on (in black or red or whatever color) that in reality, there are not LINES IN THE DIRT that show a border.

Student 5: So, um, like..when you're in Nebraska, like here in Omaha, down by the river there is this thing...that juts up...and like one side of it is on this side and one side of it is in Iowa, and, like, it goes over the river...

Student 6: A BRIDGE? (thank you, Student 6...Student 5, what the heck??? seriously??)

Student 5: Yeah, like, you walk to one side of it and it says "Welcome to Iowa" and then, like, you turn around and it says "Welcome to Nebraska." I don't get it.

::insert Ms. P losing HER FREAKING MIND!!::

This is as far as we got in 5th hour. We were supposed to have started the map of SW Asia by the end of class. Yeah, right.

Right before the bell rang, after we finished the talk about the borders of Nebraska and Iowa I got this from in the crowd...

Student 7: IS THAT REALLY THE SHAPE OF NEBRASKA?

Yes, it has been the shape of Nebraska since 1867 when Nebraska became a state. Are you telling me that in 7 years of school you have never been shown a map of the state of Nebraska?

Such is the state of social studies education. I told my CT on Friday, and another SS teacher today that it saddens me that SS education is so ignored in the U.S. However, the day that I will become concerned is the day when everyone else is concerned. What do you mean, you might be wondering.

Let me explain. The day that the rest of the country starts to realize that our youth need a better understanding of history, government, geography, and civic responsibility is the day that we are all doomed. That, my friends, is the day that we see the students of today voting for elected officials who can't tell the difference between their ass and the dark side of the moon. Then, and only then, will the rest of the nation realize they made a big mistake.

Anyone who studies history can already see the trend happening. Don't let anyone fool you. Histories repeat themselves. Oh, they might come repackaged in a new way and with shiny, frilly semantics to cover up their true meaning...but they come back.

My CT asked me if I had seen the movie Idiocracy. I have. She said, (this was after my first week or so of teaching) "That movie is funny, unless you're a teacher. Then you realize it's reality."

If you haven't seen it, google it.

another one bites the dust

Things that happened this week:

1) One student back from ISS, one still serving time in ISS, and Friday afternoon a note in our mailbox letting us know one more student will be serving time in ISS starting Monday. These are all 7th graders. Hormones, ugh!

2) Thursday afternoon in 8th hour (8th graders) I looked at one of the boys in the class and found myself thinking "I would really love to slap you in the face." Mind you, I would never actually slap a student. (You're right, I would never get my teaching license) However, it was my first reaction to his full of himself, better than you, don't give a rip about anyone attitude.

NEWSFLASH: You are not "hot shit." You are a 13 year old, hormonal, pimple-y, pretentious pre-teen.

3) A student brought a praying mantis to class. Some teachers get flowers or maybe an apple. I get a BUG. Now, you might have thought to yourself, "I'm confused, I thought you taught social studies." If that ran through your mind let me assure you that you are correct! The day before when we had been talking about the 5 themes of Geography, this student had informed me about a set of caterpillars she had at home that had turned into cocoons. Now, she said something about bringing them and I kind of said I didn't think it was a good idea, blah blah. Mostly because I had NO idea how she was relating this to the theme of Human-Environment Interaction. Yes, I realize that caterpillars are part of the environment. But that's not exactly the direction I was going with the whole interaction part.

Anyways, I let it go, thinking that she could in no way be serious. Oh how wrong I was. Friday morning before school started the door to the room opened. There stood the science teacher on our team with the innocent little 7th grader.

He had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face.

"Ms. Peterson, I brought you a praying mantis." ::insert Ms. Peterson staring dumbly back at said student, glancing at the science teacher, and back to said student with a confused grin on my face::

"Um...ok..."

"For the 5 Themes of Geography, remember?" ::Realization sets in. My CT is standing there utterly dumbfounded...she had missed out on the caterpillar conversation the day before::

"Oh, right. I thought you were bringing caterpillars?"

"Yeah, but I found this praying mantis. It's a female. But be careful if she gets mad she might spray poison at you." ::What. The. Heck??::

"Ok. Well, we'll just leave it in here until 4th hour." ::Door closes::

I just got brought a praying mantis. My CT is even more confused than I am, until I tell her the story of the day before. I am laughing beyond measure at this point, trying to figure out what the heck we are going to do with this bug. It is staring ominously at us both. We want to let it go, but decide we need to wait until after 4th hour.

"How in the world does she know its a female?" is all my CT can manage to ask. Why in the world did she bring it to school in a plastic lunch container? is all I can think.

We proceed to head downstairs for supervision duty and see the science teacher in the hall and ask him about it. He still has the most hilarious grin on his face, as we all do.

"She said her dad found it at work."

"Where does her dad work?"

"He works at Creighton. He's a lunch lady."

I've entirely lost it at this point. I am just at a loss for words and am laughing so hard that I can't contain it. I'm imagining this girl (quite the character, as you can see) telling Mr. E that her dad is a lunch lady. Not a cafeteria worker, no, a lunch lady.

TGIF.

Said student comes running down the hall before third hour to get the bug. She wants to take it to science class. It fits better there, anyways. So long, little praying mantis. It was fun while it lasted.

Being a teacher helps you appreciate the phrase "Thank God it's Friday," I can say that for certain. Not that the weekend brings much relief. Yes, I am not surrounded by 7th and 8th graders. But I will be spending the weekend (which only consists of the rest of today and tomorrow) lesson planning (hopefully getting the whole next week done) and finishing the first part of my TWS that should be done by this week.

My supervisor in coming for my first observation first thing Monday morning, so I need to at least have that lesson plan done. I don't mind being observed, as every field experience I have done I've been observed by my CT. Not to mention I have been observed already by my academic adviser. However, I think everyone gets a bit nervous for observations. Especially because she is coming during the first class of the day and they are my guinea pigs.

At least they are well behaved. (Knock on wood)

the student success center

Total count for the week: 2 girls serving time in in-school suspension. Shh..don't tell the administration I called it ISS, we're supposed to call it the Student Success Center. Whatever, it's punishment. They deserve to be miserable.

We found out that girl #2 was serving time this morning. Had a nice discussion about her, and we (my CT and the lady who travels with students to some of their classes if they have a behavior disorder) all agree about her. She has a lot going for her-- so far she seems pretty intelligent, she is well mannered when she wants to be, and she is gorgeous. She just does not know how to treat other people. For one, if they say anything towards her she responds in an even worse way. She gets violent easily (I haven't seen any punches thrown, but just petty things like slapping someone's arm, pulling a chair out from under them...you can see it going down an ugly path quickly). I really want her to turn herself around because this is the most critical time in her life. If you can get her down the right path in 7th grade then chances are better that she won't go down the wrong path in HS and after. I have a lot of hope for her, just not sure how to go about getting her to pull her head out of her rear end.

In 8th grade we showed the History Channel series America: The Story of Us yesterday and today and did an activity called "Video Graffiti" with them. They seemed to enjoy the activity (which was awesome since my CT discovered and planned it about 20 minutes before we showed the video, haha!). They loved the series. We only showed the first episode, as it was a great way to give them an overview of early American history (the stuff we aren't supposed to cover). It is awesome to see them realize that the story of the United States really is riveting. At the end of the first episode they were begging for us to show them the next one. Part of me thinks that is sad, because it left them on the edge of their seat with a cliffhanger and they should KNOW how the story ends but probably do not. The other part of me just thinks it is awesome because the series is showing them that history can be exciting. It is first and foremost a story after all.

We are still trying to figure out this "trend grading" thing, along with most everyone else in the building we have talked to. It is kind of scary to keep handing out assignments without really knowing how they will go in the gradebook--or if they even do go in the gradebook--or if we should put them in the gradebook but not have them count for anything. I'm just going to keep teaching and learning. It's quite the paradox. But teaching is nothing more than a learning curve I am finding.

forming a habit

It is late (not really, but it's 10:00 PM which is basically my new bed time). I was going to skip posting for the day, but I want to form a habit. Week two is too soon to stop posting. My night has been spent mostly by procrastinating and a little bit on making a PowerPoint for the start of class tomorrow. Basically a lazy night but that is OK by me. It really is an adjustment to get used to being in front of a class all day. I never truly believed that being a teacher could be as tiring as it is.

It's exhausting and there is so much more that goes into it than just teaching. Which is sad, but true. It is even more pronounced right now with the change in the grading system. Things are so much more intricate and require so much more planning. This is what drives new teachers out of the profession.

Today was a tiring day. I had made progress in fifth hour yesterday and today wasn't terrible until after lunch. Then they got to me. We meet with our team a few days a week and will talk about students we are having issues with, ways to deal with them, etc. Let's just say that our counselor gave us a list of 3 students that we had mentioned and listed everything she knew about them, effective methods of dealing with them, learning levels, etc. All three of them are in 5th hour. Plus at least 2 that we did not mention that cause problems (one of whom is in ISS already). So while other teachers get these students spread out in their classes, we are lucky enough to have them all together.

I think there are at least 5 IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) in this one class. That means they have some kind of special ed needs, ranging from a slight reading disability (so they might just need a little extra time) to a student who reads at a 2nd grade level. IEPs in the class also encompass students with behavior disorders (read:they are loud, disruptive, do not work well with others, social disorders, or sometimes become violent).

So that is my challenge. It is tiring but the good days are really rewarding and make me feel like I have accomplished something (even if I haven't). Like today, despite their utterly pissing me off after lunch I could tell that the actual intelligence level of a lot of the kids in the class is at least average if not high. They bring great opinions, ideas, and conversation to the discussion but they don't know when to be quiet. In writing this sounds petty, but trust me if you were to experience it you would be as frustrated as I am!

I'm channeling Scarlett O'Hara tonight and think that I will just worry about it tomorrow.

rollercoaster

I taught every single class period today. We got off to a bit of a rocky start in 2nd hour as I forgot to go over the worksheets from the day before at the beginning of class, but all's well that ends well. Thankfully 2nd hour is relatively well mannered (mostly because they haven't had time to wake up yet, I think). Overall it went well. The classes were participatory which was phenomenal. 4th hour didn't get near as far as we should have and so we will have some ground to make up tomorrow. They got a bit sidetracked during discussion, which was my fault for not bringing them back to where we needed to be. It is just too hard to turn down all of those enthusiastic hands in the air!

We talked about how the movement of people from place to place can impact us here in Nebraska. Naturally we talked about individuals bringing H1N1 to the U.S. from Mexico and how the mislabeling of it as "Swine Flu" negatively impacted the hog market, which effects farmers in Iowa and Nebraska, which in turn effects the economy, their parents jobs, etc. And they led the conversation. Each class talked about a different aspect of how things that happen in a different country have direct implications here in the middle of the country. It was great! (insert: "woman, you're a nerd" here)

5th hour was awesome today! Great discussion, great behavior, and it left me feeling good about the first half of the day. One of the girls who is usually pretty loud and disruptive showed her true colors today---she has a great head on her shoulders and is actually pretty intelligent. I just need to figure out how to get her to harness all of her energy toward her education. Some kids have never been told that you should be proud of being smart.

I do feel, however, that my optimism may be short lived. One of the loud leaders in the class was gone today. I feel like his absence helped the class to remain at a really manageable level. Cross your fingers that an email home to his mother will help the situation a little bit. When we met her at the orientation night she seemed like an involved parent; always a plus.

8th grade wasn't too in depth. They had class time to work on their projects that are due on Friday, so there wasn't too much actual teaching involved. Just a bit at the beginning. 6th hour is a bunch of hooligans so they took a bit more to get going. They are an extremely opinionated group of kids--which is awesome-- but they are also loud, shout out answers instead of raising their hands, a bit disrespectful towards other classmates, and generally just unruly. So their negatives and positives balance each other out. My CT and I just need to start cracking down on discussion and making sure that it moves in the correct direction, which it doesn't always do.

Overall, it was a good day. I'm excited to go back tomorrow. I'll probably teach all of the 7th grade classes again as I have started to plan a lot of what we are doing (based off of already made lesson plans). One girl may be in ISS already. We aren't too sure. She got in a fight yesterday at lunch and 'word on the street' is that she may have gotten in another one today. Get a grip, girl!

Oh the joys of public education.

"Teachers are people who start things they never see finished, and for which they never get thanks until it is too late. " -Max Forman

monday, monday

The weekend did go very quickly, although it wasn't near as tiring as last weekend. Last weekend it was go, go, go as I had to go back to Iowa for a birthday party and a bachelorette party. It was nice to be able to sit around the house and be a bum for two days, but I found myself bored at the same time. That might have been because I procrastinated a little. Not that anything necessarily had to be done, but I had things I definitely could have done.

As we speak, I am taking a break from lesson planning. I seem to be on the accelerated plan for student teaching. I have not really started "my" portion of the lesson planning (the unit that is for my TWS), but as I have generally been teaching all of the 7th grade classes I have just decided to start planning most of what we are doing in there. It is nothing too major, for the most part I just follow what my CT has done in the past and am, as we speak, modifying it just a bit.

I am having difficulty trying to decide if I want to keep it how she has done it in the past---delving into 5 themes of geography and going through them all at once--- or changing it a bit and incorporating it into the beginning of the SW Asia/N Africa unit. Maybe a little of both? That is why I am here, blogging, instead of continuing to lesson plan. Tomorrow is figured out, that's all that matters. I've got an awesome rap video to show from TeacherTube (yes, I realize that sounds extremely nerdy).

I taught all 3 classes of 7th graders today. 4th and 5th hour again were a bear. Not the pits of hell, but also not great either. One girl didn't show back up from lunch to 5th hour--turns out she was in the office for getting in a fight during lunch. AWESOME. I think I am devising a way to shut them up without always having to raise my voice (although I'm not necessarily convinced that raising my voice isn't the best way to do it). Eh, trial and error.

My CT and I are struggling a bit with the 8th grade curriculum. For one, it is not finished yet. You might be thinking "How many ways can you teach U.S. History? Doesn't it always start the same way?" The problem lies in the fact that the curriculum is not finished yet, and so we do not know what the first district-wide exam is supposed to be over. Simply put, we don't know how far we need to get by the end of the first quarter (middle/end of October). All we know is that it has something to do with the Constitution. Strictly speaking, we aren't supposed to start before the Articles of Confederation and we aren't even supposed to teach the Revolution really at all. It is here that I (and my CT) throw up a big red flag.

No big deal, the revolution which produced the most free county in the world doesn't matter much at all. How in the name of all that is holy do you expect me to teach 8th graders (who haven't had a lick of U.S. History since 5th grade) the importance of the Articles and the Constitution without teaching taxation and the Declaration of Independence? Not to mention that discussing the roles that the different colonies played economically (manufacturing vs. agriculture) effects the entire story of the U.S. (think Civil War and beyond). It is hard for me to wrap my head around. This curriculum is clearly written by individuals who see history as a culmination of a bunch of facts. What an antiquated view of history.

One of the most important parts of telling the story of any nation, event, or people, is to decide the starting point. It can change the way the entire story unfolds before your eyes. Where do we start?

decompressing

It is the end of week one. I want a beer. I truly feel like it is the end of week two, but not because I had a miserable week one by any means. It was eye opening. It was a learning experience. It was exhausting. It was trying. It was fun. And..it ended on a good note. I have learned, however, that "good notes" in teaching rarely come without having been through the valley of the shadow of death first.

I admit, that might be a little extreme. There was no drastic melt downs, nobody was sent to the big man's office (yet...), and I came out mostly unscathed. Heck, I think a few people might actually like me. I have continued to teach 2 out of the 3 7th grade classes, and I think that I might try and teach all three at some point next week. It's not quite time for me to "take over" yet, but I really love being in front of the class and even if I do not fully plan all of the lessons I want to try and teach all of them on my own.

5th hour continued to drive me up the freaking wall today. It doesn't help that the class is split because it is during lunch. There are 4 lunches, ours is the third. What this means is that we have about 25-30 minutes of class, break for a 30 minute lunch, and then come back to wrap up with about 10-15 minutes of class. It is INSANE. It doesn't help that this is our largest class of the day, it is at either 27 or 28 now, and it is full of nutcases. Seriously. Sleeping boy (who has been participatory in class the past two days--yay!--although a bit odd), a very quirky girl (need to see her IEP to figure out what's going on there), about 4 or 5 students that are extremely loud and disruptive (one of whom a member of our team said has already been showing violent tendencies outside after lunch), and a couple that have absolutely refused to participate in class.

The loud, disruptive ones are also rude (to me and other students) and generally derogatory. Add on top of this that they are 7th graders and cannot follow directions and you have a big hot mess. Truly, I feel most sorry for the kids who are silently begging me with their eyes to get the hooligans to shut up already!!

In the 7th grade classes in general today I was reiterating the idea that everyone needed to learn how to follow directions (a life skill that they should have learned in freaking kindergarten). Yesterday we started a scavenger hunt around the room. The purpose was two-fold; 1) find places in the room of importance (i.e. the filing cabinet that they use to turn homework in), and 2) to copy down fundamental geography terms that we will be discussing in class.

Directions: 1) start at your designated number. 2) write the word and definition. 3) stay in your spot until the bell rings. 3) when the bell rings, move to the next spot in numerical order (if you are at #4, go to #5....yet again, I learned to count when I was...heck I don't even know. But at least in kinder).

Sounds simple, right? El wrongo!!! I have said those directions so many times I think I might be muttering them in my sleep. Somehow we still manage to wind up with traffic jams of students all in one area, students wandering around the room when they feel like it, students coming up to me saying they missed one or their number is off. LISTEN TO THE DIRECTIONS YOU POOR, PATHETIC 7TH GRADER!

5th hour was the worst at this. Add in the above mentioned collection of students all in one class and you have a massive headache. 2 days in a row. Yesterday I felt like I yelled at them all day. The first half of today's class was no different. I said to my CT that they would "learn how to follow directions if it killed me." She laughed a bit and said to be sure to tell her what kind of flowers I wanted sent. Mom, I may not make it to November (P.S. I told her to send a peace lily because they are really hard to kill--you're welcome).

I had a breather and a moment to vent--she lamented my frustration and reassured me I was doing a really good job with them--and after lunch they yet again failed to behave properly in the hallway on the way back to the classroom. Sorry, little sevies, but that means we have to line up like grade schoolers in order to go to and from lunch now. Way to go loud little boy in the front row. You and your rude little friend have caused the entire class to be treated like children.

But, aha! It is calm, strict Ms. P to the rescue. Another short lecture about the importance of following directions. The announcement that from now on we will have to line up, row by row, to go to the cafeteria (this got some groans---yessss!). We will return to the room and start over if necessary (more groans..yesss!). And then...the real doozy. I do not accept derogatory language in my classroom (insert various examples of derogatory language here). Class, consider this your first warning. Any derogatory language from this point on will result in a "time out" or a "house call" from the principal. BAM. They're down for the count.

Guess what? This student teacher won round one. They were absolute ANGELS the rest of class. AND those students who were pissing me off before? Some of the most participatory in discussion. They volunteered to read the definitions out loud, gave examples of some, and get this---I discovered that most of the class at least knows the 7 continents and 4 oceans even if they can't correctly label them. It felt like a small victory.

Then I went on to teach 2 8th grade classes. Not near as exciting behavior wise (although 6th hour will be a challenge--I didn't teach them today), but we are doing some fun discussion right now about rights, responsibilities, social contracts, and the like. They are participatory which is really exciting for any SS teacher. A dull class without any opinions would make for a very long semester in my classes.

The 7th graders are my mountain to climb right now. Especially 5th hour. I felt like I made some progress today and ended on a good note. Sadly it is Friday and it will probably all be lost over the weekend. My CT enjoys my enthusiasm and "rose colored glasses." They aren't entirely rose colored, I can guarantee that. But I can't give up. Not yet at least.

OH..news of the day. There was a gun that went off on a bus that came from the high school up the road from my school. 2 HSers arrested. Lots of my students will go to that HS when they are done here. I graduated with 118 people, and if anyone brought a gun to school it was because they forgot to take it out of the bed of their truck after hunting the previous weekend. You could say I'm having an experience. Still loving it though.

Now off to relax the rest of the night and decompress this weekend.

Disclaimer: No 7th graders were harmed in the making of this post.

short and sweet

I am trying to get a good start on my TWS in order to form a habit. I do not want it to be October 18 with nothing completed, because it is a bear. Not to mention, the faster it gets completed the more fun student teaching will be because the major part of it is over.

If you really want to know just what the TWS is, you can go here:
http://www.uni.edu/stdteach/TWS/TWS%20Information.htm

Let's just say that it is not the actual content of the education classes at UNI that make it such a great education school. It is the amount of time that prospective teachers spend in the classroom prior to student teaching combined with the unspeakable TWS that they require of their student teachers in order to receive a diploma. It is pretty intense---I was describing it to the other SS teachers at my school and their mouths were on the floor. Each said something along the lines of, "Mine was nothing like that, I just taught the lessons that my CT had planned," or, "There is no way in hell I would do that." Chalk one up to UNI! That must be why there are mass amounts of UNI grads working for this school district. Word on the street is there are a few people that interview teacher candidates that absolutely love UNI grads.

Speaking of loving UNI teachers, this morning on the way in from supervision duty the principal stopped by. He had been by our classroom yesterday and seen me in front of the class. He mentioned how impressed he was that I was in front of the students already taking over some responsibilities. So bonus for me. Now I need to start planning my unit so I can decide which lessons I want to ask him to come observe. Definitely need those letters of recommendation.

Overall today went well. I taught 2 of the 7th grade classes and got a bit annoyed after I felt like all I did was yell at 5th hour to be quite, sit down, pay attention, be quiet, be respectful, blah, blah, blah. On the plus side, I'm hoping that by being firm with them they will soon realize that I do not take crap from anybody. I like to have fun, but you have got to learn to SHUT UP!

So that was my day, in a nutshell. I topped it off by spending time after school in the non-air conditioned gym judging 8th graders who were trying out for the volleyball team. I won't say it was fun, necessarily, but I'm glad I did it. Round 2 tomorrow with the 7th grade hooligans.

I leave you with a paragraph long quote that I got from my ST coordinator. At orientation she handed us a list of quotes and asked us to choose our favorite and share with the group why we liked it the most. Everyone else chose ones like "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then is not an act, but a habit." (That's from Aristotle, if you're wondering). I, however, chose the long, somewhat obscure one. I think it spoke to me after spending all summer engrossed in the very individual histories of middle America.

"Some will say our hope lies in a nation; others, in a person. I believe rather that it is awakened, revived, nourished by millions of solitary individuals whose deeds and works every day negate frontiers and the crudest implication of history. As a result, there shines forth fleetingly the ever threatened truth that each and every person, on the foundation of his own sufferings and joys, build for all." ----Camus

where do we live?

I am exhausted. I took a nap, woke up at 7, did some work, and am ready for bed again. To think that I rarely went to bed before midnight a year ago. My youth is quickly fading away.

I taught 3 classes today. I'm not teaching my own plans yet, it is a transition period. But it feels really good to be up in front of a class again, regardless. I can't imagine how exhausted I will be when I'm doing all of the lesson planning, but I'm excited to try some new things and teach some material that I haven't had an opportunity to teach before. This is the first 7th grade experience I have had and it is a World Cultures class. The first quarter is SW Asia and North Africa---better known to most of the world as the Middle East. So, yes, I will be teaching 7th graders about the Arab-Israeli conflict for their first district wide test that is required at the end of the quarter. Your best wishes are appreciated.

We had a team meeting this morning with the other teachers that are part of our team (cross-curriculum team). It is a chance for us to discuss what our plans are for that week, students that might be having behavior issues/homework issues/etc. My CT and I brought up the student that has been falling asleep in class already. I had become curious and checked to see where he lived (my CT had told me about this "Learning Community" where students from the 2 adjoining counties are free to enroll at any school and the transportation is provided by the district), and it turns out he lives a good distance away from the school. Traffic+distance=early morning=red flag.

It turns out one of the other teachers had had some issues with this student refusing to participate in class, and even the counselor had been bugged by this student about wanting to be placed in Algebra when he didn't score near high enough on his placement exam. Needless to say, when I was teaching fifth hour today I kept my eye on him. I was excited to see that he participated and offered up a great input into the conversation about the homework they had done for today. Patience, young grasshopper. (I am almost certain my students wouldn't get this reference either...)

SO that was the UP side to today. The not-so-UP side from today was seeing the results of the pre-test the 7th graders took. Someone labeled the USA in Africa. Oh, and did you know that Great Britain is actually the present day state of Saudi Arabia? Oh, and by the way big sis (if you're reading this), I'm not sure where you live. It could be India, Iraq, Japan, South Korea, Australia, or maybe even Russia. Basic geography skills here we come! I guess the Israelis and Palestinians will have to wait until the 7th graders know that Israel is not, in fact, located in the country of Greece or Chad or Germany. One girl raised her hand and asked me what a hemisphere was.

On the plus side, it is a blank slate. There are no misconceptions to tear down. Heck, I'm sure there are people who graduated high school that wouldn't correctly label the 7 continents. Sad, but true. Seriously, think about some of the people that you know. The Real World is on TV in the background as I type, and I'm fairly certain at least 3 of the roommates are clueless as to which way is east.

Overall, I had a great day. Even though the pre tests were ugly, they were necessary. And it tells us that the place we had decided to start the quarter is exactly where we need to start. I know that some of these students probably do not have access to a map at home and are not mentally stimulated as they should be at home, either. That saddens me. What saddens me more is that social studies has become so neglected in the public education system that students can get to the 7th grade (not too long ago they only had one year of compulsory education left) without being able to at least correctly label 7 continents. Some of them couldn't even label the United States of America. The only excuse for that is if maybe they are brand new to this country (in which case they would be in a special class, not in mine full time). That is sad.

I truly believe that no matter what career or profession someone chooses to go into, a basic understanding of geography, government, and history is essential to functioning in an increasingly global society.

I will step off of my soapbox now. Mostly because it is close to bed time.

"Well behaved women rarely make history." ---Laurel Thatcher Ulrich

the few, the proud, the hawk fans

I started spending some time in front of my classes today, Day2, of this crazy journey. They need to know that I am actually a teacher after all, and not just some crazy lady that hangs out and greets them at the door. It is still a little boring--finishing up rules and regulations.

No I do NOT have a pencil you can borrow. It's called responsibility. Mine is to make sure you learn everything that is important about the world. Yours is to bring a pen/pencil to class. We'll duke it out later in the semester and see who wins.

The day went well overall, except the whole "woops, we forgot to give the handouts to 8th hour," fiasco. Hey, we were all zombies by then anyways. Also, the same kid fell asleep again in 5th hour. Seriously, dude, classes are only 30 minutes right now. And we aren't even talking about real stuff yet. Wake up and smell the musty chalk board for a while. (you heard me, chalk board.) Math teachers get SmartBoards, we get chalk boards. Just because I teach history does not mean that I need to have the school supplies of a 19th Century one room school house. That's alright, we do more with less. The lifeblood of democracy. Protecting America from dictatorships one social studies student at a time.

Remind me of my optimism in a month or so, please.

One of the other teachers approached me after school and asked if I wanted to come watch volleyball tryouts for the next three days and help make cuts. So that's exciting! Yay for seeing students outside of class and getting involved (at least, that's what I'm told). But really, I'm excited to get back into athletics even if I am not coaching. I only vaguely remember how terrible at volleyball I was in 7th grade so I am interested to see the skill level of these girls.

It rained all day here, so this morning when we had supervision duty before school I had my first chance to talk with one of our Assistant Principals. He is a new administrator this year and he serves also as the AD for our school. I noticed he had an Iowa Hawkeyes tie on and could not resist the opportunity to make friends with a fellow Hawk fan amongst these loonies who drink the Big Red Koolaid. Not to mention his sister goes to the same school I do, and so did his mom. Have to love those connections.

I've just finished up fixing the seating charts so they are not destroyed anymore. No changes were made in order to protect the sanity of those vulnerable little 7th graders. Although, they are taking a pre test tomorrow and I'm concerned some of them might freak out and not know what a compass rose is. Lord help us.

OH-- I almost forgot. I never understood how seemingly young teachers could lament that they felt "so old." Let me tell you what, I understand!!! Our "homeroom" class has been abnormally long the past two days, and when you have 8th graders they only need one day to figure out how to open their locker. So instead we played the game TABOO today. I was being the word-referee and one of the girls had to pass on a word that she could not describe because she said she didn't know what it was. What is the word, you ask?? COMPACT DISC. Yes, she did not know that a compact disc was a CD. Seriously dude? Do you even own a CD?

Also, when one of the boys freaked out because they lost to the girls (full-of-themselves 8th grade boys hate this, by the way) I said "woosaa" and rubbed my ears. Clearly, a reference to the movie Bad Boys. He stared at me with this blank stare. When I said "Bad Boys? Hellooo?" My CT informed me that the movie was probably too old for them to know.

The generation gap has already hit. I am only 22.

"Each time history repeats itself, the price goes up." --Ronald Wright

first days

The end of the summer found me even more bittersweet than usual to start school. I was sad to be leaving a job that I absolutely loved, and yet excited to start an entirely new journey in life---student teaching. When classes ended in May I was excited to student teach, but my excitement had waned slowly all summer as I had gotten increasingly wrapped up in "living history." So when Tuesday the 10th rolled around and I showed up for my first ever day of teacher in services, I was on the mediocre side of excited you could say. Not to mention that even though I had been waking up at 6:45 AM all summer, being at school by 7:30 AM was rough.

Hello, future! Nice to meet you, I promise I'm excited but give me a couple of hours and a few cups of coffee.

Ha! A couple of hours... you silly girl! By 7:45 I was sitting in a middle school gymnasium with my CT listening to a welcome back speech from the principal who went straight into discussing a new grading curriculum (that only a handful of veteran teachers understood in the slightest). Many of them were having it explained to them for maybe the second time, some of them the first.

Future? Is that you? Is this what you will look like?

After lunch (which came an hour early for a girl had grown accustomed to eating a large dinner at noon during the summer), I learned that not only was the traditional grading system I had known and used all of my life being tossed into Boston Harbor right along with the tea, but the district was completely revamping the Social Studies curriculum. Ok, I thought, I didn't know the original curriculum so this shouldn't be a big deal!

Future? Is that you? Wait....it's never that easy?

Silly girl! The 8th grade curriculum isn't completed yet! That's ok, it's Tuesday and school doesn't start until Monday. We'll be fine, right?

And so began my first day. The rest of the week was filled with district curriculum meetings, staff meetings, and general planning. I had worked in the heat and done labor all summer, but I was more tired every day last week than I had been the past three months. In services are tiring business, I tell you! I left school every day last week thinking, THIS IS MY FUTURE!

Today was the first day for students. We had schedule changes that messed up carefully planned seating arrangements, lost students, stuck lockers, freaked out 7th graders, and one boy that already fell asleep and almost missed lunch. I still don't fully understand how I am supposed to grade my students, am not sure how I feel about parts of the curriculum, love other parts of it, and can already pin point certain students who might be a bit challenging.

I'll be entirely honest with you, I left school today thinking...THIS IS MY FUTURE! And so far, I have loved every minute of it. Headaches and all.

"Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." -----Mark Twain