Reading Miss Teacha’s resume makes me want to update mine. Mine is long a drawn out.
It is definitely a Monday, I feel very slow and worn out today.
I went to the Dr and I have a throat infection that is sapping my energy.
My kids are talking about the Superbowl, the commercials, and the halftime show. They do not know who The Who is, and want to know why they got chosen to play, and not someone that they listen to.
To Miss Teacha: After school on Mondays and Thursdays I host a 21st Century Grant program. We have many different things under this grant and I teach a Jewelry making class and then a Fun and Games where the kids come in an play board games such as Life, Chess, Battleship, Checkers, Jinga, Uno and others. They love coming in with their friends and having a good time. Snacks are provided and sometimes I play the games with them as well.
I finally got caught up on my grading. It took a couple of hours yesterday, but I got it done. Now if I could just stay that way.
It has been a busy week or so. I keep getting behind in my grading and now I am having to catch up. Finally got my evaluation back and it was great. I am so happy with it so far. I have an afterschool jewelry class on Mondays and Fun and Games on Thursdays. The kids like them. I gave a vocabulary quiz today and it should have taken fifteen minutes max and it took them forty minutes. Why won’t they study. I gave them advanced notice too. It is so ridiculous.
How do you make up for the mistakes you made in your life when the mistake hurt someone else and you did not realize it until recently? Maybe I turned a deaf ear to it then, or just did not think of it in the light of the person I hurt, thinking that since it was no big deal to me it should be then same for them, but that was not the case. I hurt them, not deliberately and I sincerely apologize and wish I could tell them. They do not read this, so that does not help. But I was young and stupid once a long time ago.
Today I found an old friend on Facebook, I have not spoken to her in over fifteen years. It is so cool to be able to find friends and get back in touch with them. I hope we will continue to talk and become friends again.
My new classes are going well. New kids are better than last semester so far. I am not going home with a headache which is good. I did get called into the Principal’s office because I had seven kids decide to blow off their benchmark and failed it, making my pass rate for it lower than the other teacher’s. When I asked each one of them why? they said it was not the TAKS and it did not matter so why should they bother. How sad is that. I went to my meeting with the things I was doing to improve the scores and the reasons for the low scores and we talked about strategies to make them better. I am doing lots of Testing strategies, using TAKS questions and pulling them apart, vocabulary and games to help them do better. It was a good meeting. I think it was helpful as well, although I always feel like a kid when I have to go into the Principal’s office and I am in trouble.
What is it with students thinking it is okay to cuss and text in school? There are words I do not mind, but the F bomb is one I do. Where do they get off thinking it is okay to say it in school? Especially a tenth grader? At my house my nineteen year old would get his mouth washed out with soap for saying it. It does not make them look or sound cool, as a matter of fact it makes them look very uneducated, but then if you heard this young person speak you would know the parents and this person are not into being educated. Very loud, brash, and cannot speak using proper English. On top of it all they are so mean to their friends, they yell and scream at each other, call them horrible names and treat them like dirt. I am so appalled.
I rearranged my room yesterday and I think I am satisfied with it, I have my chairs in three groups to keep the talking down and my desk catercorner to the door. I have a space in the middle for the projector and for me to walk when we do class discussions or notes. I am ready for the new semester now, I just need to get some things organized, which I am doing on Tuesday: IEP Notebook, making copies, redoing my syllabus, and making seating charts. Then I will be totally ready.
Two Half day left and that is it. I will not see any of the kids that have been giving me problems. Now if only HP did not jinx me, she said I will have a worse class for the 2nd semester. I am crossing my fingers. It can only get better, hopefully not worse. I think I am going to change the format for Sociology, do more labs and things like that. I am going to work on it Tuesday, and I am going to rearrange my room for the new semester as well. That will help as well, a fresh start, new kids, you know the works.
Yes, Today is the last A day I had with my full fourth period! I am doing the happy dance right now!! It is so over! Now hopefully I won’t have another one like it this year.
