So Fall Break starts Friday when the kids leave, and I think I'm more excited than they are! :)
Grades are due tonight by midnight, but I haven't told the kids this. (I've said, "Grades are due this week, so work extra hard!") Muwahahaha. The next 3 days, we'll just be doing review and perhaps the pre-test for next quarter. Luckily this week, the kids get out at 2:15 on Thursday AND Friday (an hour and a half early)! On Friday, we have what's called "Top Dawg Day," which is pretty much an all-day celebration for the kids who stayed out of trouble all quarter. Yay. I made the potential mistake of offering to chaperone the dance for 2.5 hours. Uh oh. We'll see how that goes!
As an aside, I've FINALLY posted some student work in the hallway, and I photographed it. I'll post it here as soon as I get the photos uploaded from my camera to the computer. The projects I put up turned out really well; I'm proud of my students.
It seems all the teachers are hanging on 'til the end of the week. We're as "done" as the kids are! Ha... I just can't believe how fast the first quarter has gone. Crazy.
For now, I mentally prepare myself for my last class of the day, then tutoring, then a few hours of wrapping up the quarter's grades. Cheers.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
A cruel irony
So, as life would have it, everything's come full circle in the personal life. The first year I taught, I was seeing a guy named Noah. Within a month of school starting, we broke up and I was pretty upset (we'd dated for nearly a year). This second time around teaching, I was again dating (another!) guy named Noah. A little more than a month after school started, he broke up with me. (This was just 3 days ago.) Bizarre, huh?
Anyway, the title of today's entry comes from one of my all-time favorite movies: "The Emperor's New Groove." Heh. So yesterday in my dreaded 5th hour class, the students actually did enough work to earn both a game AND 10 minutes of "video clip" time today. Our game went fairly well, and almost all the students actively participated. The last 10 minutes of class were devoted to watching "The Emperor's New Groove." When I heard the line, "It's called a cruel irony..." I thought, "What an appropriate title for today's blog!"
Also, due to the aforementioned breakup, I took my first personal day this year. I had really hoped to hold out until after fall break (in early October), but I was pretty devastated on Wednesday and decided to take the day off. I'm glad I did; I was in no condition to teach. The day was spent instead with good friends and physical activity (including going to the batting cages!).
I had my first "formal" observation this Monday (before the breakup, fortunately)... and today I had the post conference for it. The principal had NO critiques; I was astonished. I asked what I could do better, and she had suggestions that didn't pertain at all to classroom stuff (it was just general professional development advice). Not too shabby!
Anyway, my last class starts in about 10 minutes, and they're a good group, so it should be a decent end to what turned out to be a not-so-decent week. After class, I'll probably spend 2 hours here grading the studets' latest projects. It's cool, though; immersing myself in work is probably the best thing I can do at this point.
Until later, readers, have a lovely weekend! Cheers.
Anyway, the title of today's entry comes from one of my all-time favorite movies: "The Emperor's New Groove." Heh. So yesterday in my dreaded 5th hour class, the students actually did enough work to earn both a game AND 10 minutes of "video clip" time today. Our game went fairly well, and almost all the students actively participated. The last 10 minutes of class were devoted to watching "The Emperor's New Groove." When I heard the line, "It's called a cruel irony..." I thought, "What an appropriate title for today's blog!"
Also, due to the aforementioned breakup, I took my first personal day this year. I had really hoped to hold out until after fall break (in early October), but I was pretty devastated on Wednesday and decided to take the day off. I'm glad I did; I was in no condition to teach. The day was spent instead with good friends and physical activity (including going to the batting cages!).
I had my first "formal" observation this Monday (before the breakup, fortunately)... and today I had the post conference for it. The principal had NO critiques; I was astonished. I asked what I could do better, and she had suggestions that didn't pertain at all to classroom stuff (it was just general professional development advice). Not too shabby!
Anyway, my last class starts in about 10 minutes, and they're a good group, so it should be a decent end to what turned out to be a not-so-decent week. After class, I'll probably spend 2 hours here grading the studets' latest projects. It's cool, though; immersing myself in work is probably the best thing I can do at this point.
Until later, readers, have a lovely weekend! Cheers.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Some photos...
... more to follow. My classroom's looking like a classroom now! AND the kids have textbooks. Score. Enjoy, and happy weekend! :)
Ze board of awesomeness. (We have to structure them somewhat like this anyway.)
An AMAZING project... our first one of three so far!
Where the kids' classwork (top) and homework (bottom) goes.
Ze wall where each student made a card to represent him/herself.
Ze board of awesomeness. (We have to structure them somewhat like this anyway.)
An AMAZING project... our first one of three so far!
Where the kids' classwork (top) and homework (bottom) goes.
Ze wall where each student made a card to represent him/herself.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Patriot Day
So today, September 11, is apparently now called Patriot Day. For someone who's not very patriotic, it's sometiems a hard pill to swallow. Oh, vell.
In the first three classes, I took a moment of silence for the victims of the attacks. The classes were fairly somber at first, and it was awkward transitioning from death to fractions. However, once we got back in "the flow," all was well. The principal again stopped in unexpectedly to observe, and it was again completely fine. (Thank God she doesn't come in 5th period!! That class is a nightmare.)
Anyway, the day was pretty quick, though I feel math is maybe starting to get a little boring for the kids. I still like it, but now that the newness of having books has worn off... I think the kids are getting a little restless. What to do, what to do...
Also, my 5th period class was pretty ugly again today. I made a 10-problem review for them, and asked that they work on it individually. (To me, this means quietly.) But no... they kept talking or messing with each other. Completely obnoxious. I haven't sent anyone to our "responsible thinking classroom" (like a time out in another room and parents are called), but I'm going to soon, I think. One of my troublemakers was out yesterday, and the class was nearly flawless. He was back today, though... uggggggggh. Anyway, after the work, I had the students do the following:
Write 5 sentences about thoughts you have about September 11th.
Write 5 things you’re thankful for in your life.
Write some things you DO and DO NOT like about our country.
Write 3 problems you’d like to fix in the world.
I wanted to somehow discuss the elephant in the room, so I thought it would be interesting to hear what the students had to say. What should've been a fairly smooth, brief activity was chaos instead. I cannot wait until this class is over (at the end of the quarter, I'm told). My suspision is that the kids can't wait, either.
Anyway, this was my first pseudo-rocky day in a while. It kinda sucked- I came in all chipper and ready for a good day... and now I've ended on a fairly negative note.
Luckily we have more conferences in about 15 minutes. That should help make today wrap up nicely.
In the first three classes, I took a moment of silence for the victims of the attacks. The classes were fairly somber at first, and it was awkward transitioning from death to fractions. However, once we got back in "the flow," all was well. The principal again stopped in unexpectedly to observe, and it was again completely fine. (Thank God she doesn't come in 5th period!! That class is a nightmare.)
Anyway, the day was pretty quick, though I feel math is maybe starting to get a little boring for the kids. I still like it, but now that the newness of having books has worn off... I think the kids are getting a little restless. What to do, what to do...
Also, my 5th period class was pretty ugly again today. I made a 10-problem review for them, and asked that they work on it individually. (To me, this means quietly.) But no... they kept talking or messing with each other. Completely obnoxious. I haven't sent anyone to our "responsible thinking classroom" (like a time out in another room and parents are called), but I'm going to soon, I think. One of my troublemakers was out yesterday, and the class was nearly flawless. He was back today, though... uggggggggh. Anyway, after the work, I had the students do the following:
Write 5 sentences about thoughts you have about September 11th.
Write 5 things you’re thankful for in your life.
Write some things you DO and DO NOT like about our country.
Write 3 problems you’d like to fix in the world.
I wanted to somehow discuss the elephant in the room, so I thought it would be interesting to hear what the students had to say. What should've been a fairly smooth, brief activity was chaos instead. I cannot wait until this class is over (at the end of the quarter, I'm told). My suspision is that the kids can't wait, either.
Anyway, this was my first pseudo-rocky day in a while. It kinda sucked- I came in all chipper and ready for a good day... and now I've ended on a fairly negative note.
Luckily we have more conferences in about 15 minutes. That should help make today wrap up nicely.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Parent-teacher conferences: Halfway done!
So I *only* spent 12 hours at school today, but it was good overall.
Tonight from 5-7:15pm we had parent-teacher conferences. These were student-led, so the bulk of the talking was between students & their parents/guardians. The 4 core teachers (myself, and the teachers of social studies, science, and language arts) hung around in the (enormous) science room and fielded questions from anyone who requested a chat. It was mellow & relatively enjoyable. I'm really a big fan of conferences. I can get pretty creative about complimenting even the most challenging of students. :)
I'm also a little freaked out by the fact that the kids seem to like working out of a math textbook! Weird! We got textbooks on Monday, so we've used 'em the past 3 days, and the kids are enjoying them. It definitely makes teaching easier! (My counterpart doesn't use textbooks in his class.)
Anyway, just thought I'd update, since I don't much anymore these days. Things are just SOOOO hectic and fast-paced that it's hard to stay on top of it all!
However, let me say this: I really enjoy teaching ONE subject for 6th graders so far. I'm glad I'm working with this age group and I'm very much liking the content area. Math has always been my favorite subject to teach (though social studies is a close second!). Good times. I am also enjoying the energy and wit I get from the students. They're pretty dang funny sometimes.
So there. A 12-hour day passes with no complaints! :) Ciao for now, and thanks for reading.
Tonight from 5-7:15pm we had parent-teacher conferences. These were student-led, so the bulk of the talking was between students & their parents/guardians. The 4 core teachers (myself, and the teachers of social studies, science, and language arts) hung around in the (enormous) science room and fielded questions from anyone who requested a chat. It was mellow & relatively enjoyable. I'm really a big fan of conferences. I can get pretty creative about complimenting even the most challenging of students. :)
I'm also a little freaked out by the fact that the kids seem to like working out of a math textbook! Weird! We got textbooks on Monday, so we've used 'em the past 3 days, and the kids are enjoying them. It definitely makes teaching easier! (My counterpart doesn't use textbooks in his class.)
Anyway, just thought I'd update, since I don't much anymore these days. Things are just SOOOO hectic and fast-paced that it's hard to stay on top of it all!
However, let me say this: I really enjoy teaching ONE subject for 6th graders so far. I'm glad I'm working with this age group and I'm very much liking the content area. Math has always been my favorite subject to teach (though social studies is a close second!). Good times. I am also enjoying the energy and wit I get from the students. They're pretty dang funny sometimes.
So there. A 12-hour day passes with no complaints! :) Ciao for now, and thanks for reading.
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