My accidental 4-day week

...

The title is a pun; I got into a car accident Tuesday (the 24th) that caused me to take that day off. Thus, an accidental 4-day week... Get it? (Feel free to groan.)

Anyway, this week has been pretty good. The kids have been fairly mellow, and I moved two "challenging" students to my "honors" class. (I use quotes for "honors" because it's not officially one, but almost ALL the students are advanced.)

We're getting ready for the dreaded AIMS test that will occur the next 3 weeks. (It's given in parts, the first of which will be writing.) I'm slightly nervous for my kids, since I'm not sure how they'll do...

Hmm... I've been pretty goofy with the kids for most of the week. Wednesday, I came back after my accident. I told each class (very animatedly, might I add) about my aforementioned accident. They were amused, and I had a blast telling the story. Thursday, I had not gotten much sleep the night prior, so I was pretty zany. Today, I came in after a good night's sleep AND a lot of caffeine, so I was hyper. I can't believe we only have 8.5 weeks left of class... It's going so fast!

If you're interested, the photos from my accident are posted below. Long story short, I rear-ended a car (at under 10 mph!!), my airbags deployed, my windshield was shattered, my bean burrito (breakfast) got splattered everywhere, and I escaped with very minimal injuries. Bleh. I also have to find a car now... If you have any ideas, let me know!! :) Now, I'm off to grade, lesson plan, make copies, then get my WEEKEND on! Cheers!


The passenger side airbag & resulting shattered windshield:






Both deployed airbags... with lovely bean burrito in between:






Another angle:






The ruined door frame:






Outside view:

Today's events, briefly

Here's the breakdown of today:

-arrived at school an hour before school started
-added significantly to lesson plan
-quickly learned that students do NOT know how to multiply/divide by powers of 10 (10, 100, 1,000, etc.)
-also learned that students do NOT know how to convert units of measure (e.g., feet to yards, inches to feet, etc.)
-had a decent morning
-got a lot done & relaxed a bit at lunch (though i forgot to bring food)
-after lunch: another girl fight... oy!
-had to watch 2 homerooms in fight's aftermath
-a math-challenged student of mine came in for extra help during my prep!! :)
-rest of day was mellow and enjoyable
-tonight: finishing this quarter's grades (they're due tomorrow)
-tonight: dinner w/ the new man, then my students' band concert!
-only 2 more teaching days left (Friday is a reward day)

yay!

Notes on cheating

(First, holy crap, it's been almost 2 months since I've last written!! Second, I can't believe 3rd quarter is almost over...)

So today at the start of the first class of the day, I look in my classroom to see one girl frantically copying the homework from another student. I called out her first and last name very loudly. She looked up, a deer in headlights. When I pretended to look away (and then look back), she continued copying! I asked another teacher (we were in the hallway, welcoming our classes) what he does if he catches students copying.

"I crumple it up, throw it away, read the student the riot act, then give him or her a zero."

Interesting. So I walked up to my student and whispered, very calmly, "My dear, what you're doing is considered cheating."

She looked at me, and we were both uncertain of how it was gonna play out.

"Open to the front of your agenda, where you have the Student Handbook. Find the section about cheating." I let her sweat for a while.

We then had to start District-mandated benchmark tests to mimic the assessment the State gives in the spring. While monitoring the class, I noticed the offender writing a list. In part, it read:

NOTES:
1.) If you're ever cheating, make sure the teacher doesn't see you.
2.) [I couldn't read it in my quick walk-bys.]
3.) The teacher will get mean.

P.S. It's not that bad.

--

The "It's not that bad" part got to me. So here's a moment where a student could decide it's OK to cheat. I decided not to let that happen, so I immediately wrote an office referral. I gave it to the offender after I had filled it out, and her face grew pale. Mission accomplished.

I've not yet heard back from the office, so we'll see what punisment they have for her...