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.