Jumpin' Off the Edge

Exhausted A never-ending ‘to do’ list swirling in my head          PEPs                PDP                                     Self-Assessment                          Emergency Lesson Plans    AIMS                                  Phone calls to parents             Soccer Practice                  ...

“You have to move to Benson, Mandie. They have Mule Days. 3,000 people in the town, but 60,000 during Mule Days,” Jamie in his infinite wisdom and a little help from Google informed me. The students have been talking about it since the first day of school. I was asked, “You going to Mule Days?” at least three times a day. Each day would bring a different student coming into class stating they had purchased their boots, found a camping site, would be taking their horses, etc. One boy stated he hoped I liked rednecks because it was a large gathering of them. I like all color necks; however, he wasn’t kidding about all the red ones that would be in town for the weekend. The big event began on Thursday. In spite of this, all week long people and horses had been coming into town. Schools in Benson were let out early on Thursday with no school on Friday. Nine students out of my normal twenty-five were absent on Thursday while many more left early. Parents came to pick up their child...

I am caught in a blizzard of paperwork. At school I need to fill in the blanks for the goals I am setting for the year. But, first, I need to complete a self-evaluation of where I am as a teacher currently. Not to mention the student forms to set up a plan for them to improve awaiting my attention. Some time while completing all these forms (we can’t forget the lesson plans), I need to find the time to transfer all my grades. The state of North Carolina in their infinite wisdom, has changed the name of all the Language Arts and Math courses. It means nothing when it comes to teaching. However, because the state runs the education throughout the state, all classes need to have the same course number in the computer. Apparently, someone in the department of education has been out of teaching for a while and thought three days before progress reports go out would be the best time to change everything over. In the meantime, school board members are asking about web pages and why they...

I know I am where I am meant to be. Throughout the day today students, teachers, and parents approached me about who I am as a teacher. All had positive things to say.  Eavesdrop on their comments and my thoughts. “Mrs. Victor, you are my favorite teacher and I don’t even have you. I asked to be in your class, but I am too smart.”  ~ Random Student It is all about building relationships. Every morning I am out in the hallway welcoming students. Sometimes even singing to them. I have made it my goal to get to know the names of all the students who have a homeroom in my wing. “Your class is my favorite, Mrs. Victor! The time flies by in here.” ~ Student Hands-on activities and making it fun are the keys to making time go flying by. Not only for the students, but for me as well. “Mrs. Victor, I wanted to let you, your class is my daughter’s favorite class. She likes the activities you do and the way you have them reading and writing all the time.” ~ Teacher and Parent Th...

empty places empty spaces taking the time to miss loved ones phone calls a text an email words written in sand “I Love You” the day continues as I put away the memories of loved ones far away reaching out to embrace all I have close to me Patti windows open, music blaring voices raised in song while cruising down the road the Atlantic so close beach sand between my toes the music of the waves lulling me to sleep the day continues as I dream of the blessings of everything new and so near reflecting on the start of all I gained time with my brother Jamie who took me road trippin’ from GA to NC awaiting me no place to live no mode of transportation knowing it would work out a smiling face at McDonalds taking me to a Cadillac on hold just for me SOLD further down the road a house on hold just for me ready to move in the next day a stranger-soon-to-be-colleague opening her house to me until I had one of my own soon the smiling faces of students laughter filling my classroom I becam...

“Mrs. Victor, I hope you enjoyed your lunch because there is a parent in the office that would like to see you. I have been told to cover your class for as long as it takes.” Immediately, thoughts of ‘What have I done to upset a parent?’ invaded my mind. It was a choice for the students about whether to clean the gum or not. I haven’t yet read a book with anything controversial in it. Uh-oh. I have been creating a ‘grafetti wall’ about gangs with my 8 th graders. Walking into the office I saw the assistant principal speaking with a woman on the big side, bleached blonde hair ready for another treatment, tattoos on her neck, arm, and hand. “Is this the soccer coach?” I hadn’t even thought about the possibilities with soccer! “Hi, I’m Mrs. Victor.” In the fleeting moment it took me to introduce myself, I mentally ran through the soccer season. “I am __’s mother. My son will not be coming to soccer practice tonight. I have a few questions for you.” Guiding her into the conference...

One of my favorite times to teach is when something important to the kids comes along. It has been my understanding since school began that there was a ‘no gum’ policy. Because I always follow the rules, each day I would ask several students spit their gum in the trash. (Personally, I could care less if they are chewing gum.) This morning it was announced that each teacher would set their own policy when it came to gum chewing. “Mrs. Victor, can we chew gum in your class?” was asked in every one of my classes today. By the time the 8 th graders came along, I was ready. I had them turn over their chairs and look at all the gum underneath. I told them I wasn’t cool with more gum being chewed in my class as I already had enough bubblegum sculptures on the bottom of the chairs and tables. They came up with the idea to clean it off. For the next ten minutes, those who chose, scraped gum off the bottom of chairs and tables. (I am willing to bet, some of these same students were also res...

Maybe it was the activities that required talking. Or maybe the fact that Mule Days are right around the corner. Whatever it was, Room 607 was a bit on the nosy side today.   My 7 th graders groaned when they saw the textbooks on their desks. Little did they know, we would be doing a drama activity to go along with one of the stories in the book. Students hung on to every word as I read. Eager to know what was going to happen next. Curious about what their crazy teacher would have them do to show their understanding. Had a stranger walked into the room during one of our dramas, he or she might have heard me ‘talking country’ as the radio host on a talk show program. They might have seen the students taking on the persona from characters in the story. Whatever was going on, it was apparent students were engaged with the story. And yet, the fear of testing began to sneak in. In the past, when the stakes have not been so high, I have taught in this same way and my students have d...

Yesterday was 9/11. Throughout the day people posted status updates that have to do with remembrance. All were respectful, somber, and full of the memory of that horrible day. Yet, they were also different. Some focused on remembering people who died on that awful day, while others took it one step further and reminded us we were all affected. The one that grabbed my attention and my thoughts was written by my friend, Wes Stover. “ The only way to heal the still gaping and bleeding nine year old wound of this day is forgiveness, reason, love and peace.” Throughout the day, I kept thinking of what he had written and how forgiveness, reason, love, and peace can change the way we view the world around us. Now to figure out how to share that lesson with my students…. Yesterday in class, we were talking about problems in their world both close to home and in the world at large. (We were brainstorming topics for a problem/solution essay.) One of the boys piped up, “Obama is ruining o...

“Mrs. Victor, I just forwarded an e-mail to you from the coach of last night’s soccer game. Be sure to read it when you have a minute and read it to your team at practice. I am going to read it over the announcements this morning,” the principal informed me. Before I had time to check my e-mail, it was time for the announcements. “Students, I would like to congratulate the volleyball team for their win yesterday. Their coach says she is very proud of them for doing such a good job. The soccer team also played. Before I tell you their score, I would like to read a letter to you that I received from the coach of the other team: ‘I wanted to take a moment to thank you and your boy's soccer coach for a pleasant, competitive experience in our game this evening.  It isn't often that we have an experience like todays, as sports these days seem to be so cutthroat and competitive.  Your team displayed a very positive sportsmanship even when they were not ahead in the game.  On ...

I continue to love my job – especially the students I work with! Each day brings new adventures and insights. I have been concerned about the students who leave my 7 th grade class halfway through class. Today I talked to the person in charge of special education for the school. In the past these same students would be in a self-contained classroom for all of their academics. It is my understanding that the state of North Carolina passed a new law stating something about special education teachers needing to be certified or highly qualified not only in special education, but also the subject matter they teach. Not only that, special education students need to be exposed to the reading and math curriculum. This is where I have difficulty understanding it all. If the student is reading on a second grade reading level and I am teaching a 7 th grade class on grade level, what does that mean for the student? Or the teacher for that matter? For me , it means I will be doing lots of lit...

    I must be doing something right. Today when I told my 8 th graders it was time to go to lunch the response was, “Already? We just got here! We need to make this class longer, Mrs. I am going to go talk to Mrs. ___. I am going to ask her to give us more time with you.” The rest of the class yelled out in agreement. These are the same kids that walked into my classroom on the first day of school and told me they did not like to read and write. Today in class we were doing a round-robin activity about writing topics. Brainstorming was done on a big piece of newsprint. Students could draw or write a topic on the paper. The EC teacher in with me was surprised I was letting them draw and not use words. As she saw the process unfold (we started with drawing and the second time around was all words), she saw the potential in the activity.   Students were engaged and doing what writers do – talking about their ideas. Tomorrow they get their composition books to tell the...

I love North Carolina! The weather is great. The grass is green. And the ocean is right down the road! Who could ask for a better weekend activity? The day dawned bright and early after staying up much later than I should have socializing (cyberly, of course). Knowing the rolling water was waiting for us, Patti and I quickly packed our lunches and were on our way. I am proud (and a little impressed with myself) to say that I did not need the GPS at all! I found the beach on my own. In days past, I would have stayed on the blanket and soaked up the sun. Don’t get me wrong, I did that today as well. However, I also spent quite a bit of time in the surf challenging the waves with Patti. The friendly competition between waves and the Victor girls began. Round 1: The waves gently roll in bringing the tide with it. The Victor girls anticipate most moves thrown their way.   The younger one could be heard saying, “This is so fun!” While the elder spoke about the chill she got when th...

Books. It has come down to the plain and simple need for books. My books would be best, but if that is not possible, I need to find some others. I need books on hunting and fishing. Skateboarding and biking. Princesses and love. I need scary stories, sports stories, and ghost stories. Unfortunately, there are not many to be found in our school library. I took the kids to the library today. I work hard to be able to match a student with a book they might like. I had so many ideas for books for each of them!! Yet, when looking on the shelf, they were nowhere to be found. One of the girls said something about “not having any poetry books for black kids in our school.” I immediately asked if she liked Alicia Keyes, a black pop singer. Her eyes lit up and she said, “YES!” Somewhere in Colorado or Missouri is my book of poetry written by Alicia Keyes. In those boxes one would also find books on hunting, fishing, X-Games, princesses, ghosts, and a plethora of other topics my students are ...

  If you had asked me a month ago if I would enjoy coaching soccer, I would have laughed at you. (As many people have laughed about the idea of me coaching soccer.) However, I am having an absolute blast coaching. Come to find out, I am pretty good at it. We haven’t played a game and I have no idea if we will win or lose. The majority of these boys are good. As the football coach told me, “Most of these boys are from Mexico. They have been playing their whole lives.” In the beginning, these boys wanted to show me how good they were. It was all about impressing the coach. In the last two weeks, it has become so much more. I may not know much about coaching, but I do know what it takes to make a successful team – communication and teamwork. They listened and applied the knowledge from a novice coach to their game. I smiled on the sidelines as I heard the encouragement and instruction they were giving and accepting from one another. It was then I knew I would not be choosing the t...