Jumpin' Off the Edge

It has been much too long since I have last written. Students have been on my mind consistently. The reaching out to me continues. I must give at least 20 hugs a day – only a small fraction of them to my students. Most students seek me out. My heart breaks when I see two of my students sitting in the office waiting to be suspended 10 days for fighting. (That makes four students out of one class.) Other teachers frequently ask if I am given attitude by particular students. I don’t. I question why I see the same kids over and over in in-school suspension. Clearly, it is not changing their behavior. We are spending so much time teaching how to take the EOG and structuring every aspect of their time at school that we are forgetting to teach them to problem solve. I begin to question if maybe it is time to delve into problem solving. An inquiry unit. Now, to come up with the question and the reading material to accompany it. While I struggle with how to best teach problem solving, I

In double overtime we pull it out and win the game, 3-2. I am so proud of my team. When they realized the other team had only ten players, they voted that we would play with only ten as well. I asked for a starter to volunteer and sit out. One did. No complaints. As the soccer season continues, coaching the games gets more difficult. It takes twice the time it did in the beginning of the season to come up with the starting line-up. Back in August, it was very apparent who the strong players were. Six weeks later, they have all improved so much I have so many choices of where to put people! It is my philosophy that all players should have some game time. I have never had a complaint from either the players or the parents one way or the other about playing time. I still wonder what to do about the player who breaks out into tears at least once during practice feigning someone stepped on him or he has a cramp in his leg. However, today during the game, he got a ball in the face an

When I decided to give up my planning period to work with a first year teacher in his classroom, I set a goal to reflect upon it daily. My reflection falls within 24 hours, but is a bit shy of being as early as I would like it to be.   So here I sit writing a quick reflection before heading off to school for another day to reflect upon. My 3 rd block class is made up of 8 th graders. Not sure what was going on with them today, but they were wound up tight. Maybe it was the new desk arrangement. Maybe it was the anticipation of the music. Maybe it was being in my class. Whatever it was, several of them had a difficult time settling down. Even so, I am happy to report that they got into the lesson. I greet students every morning as they come down the hall. Sometimes I am singing. This morning I happened to be signing ‘Not Afraid’ by Eminem. One of them asked me, “You listen to that, miss?” Well, not only do I listen to it, it is my ringtone. A few had to pick their jaws up off

Super busy weekend! The majority of it spent on schoolwork. It began Friday night. I never left school until after 6. From the time school let out until I left, I was networking with other teachers, tutoring a child, and correcting papers. When I packed my bag to head home, the majority of the papers came with me – uncorrected. Here it is late Sunday night and they still sit in my bag – uncorrected. Saturday came bright and early; although, it took me awhile to get out of bed. I enjoyed the crisp, fall morning under the covers reading a book I was planning to use for my 8 th grade class. (I have since changed my mind.) After taking Patti to a friend’s house, I received a phone call from a colleague. He is a first year teacher. He has one of ‘those classes’ that tries the patience of even the best teachers. Many of these students are staying back due to not passing the EOGs. Some of them are gang-bangers or wanna-bees. Some are good students, but struggle desperately with readin

After the excitement of the learning And the exhaustion that follows, After the performance for the principal And the observation is over, After the bustle of the school day And the echo of the students has left my head, After networking with teachers And the anticipation of our plans, After tutoring a student in need of me And staying late on a Friday night After correcting mountains of assignments And finding the improvement in all, After setting up appointments And picking up prescriptions, After walking the dog And hoping the chewing will stop, After cooking supper And helping with homework, After the workout is done And the muscles are aching I take the time to let the quiet and stillness overtake me. It is then the emptiness sets in. The void of The perfect pitch of Oksana singing through life The rational voice of Tony as my intensity builds The stories of a school day The feel of their arms wrapped around me The company of my soul mate The heat of my husband as

I was floored again today! Students can produce such wonderful projects when given the opportunity. In one of my 7 th grade classes, we recently finished reading The Giver . As an assessment for what they learned from the book, I had them come up with a way to present what thought a perfect community would look like while comparing/contrasting it to the book in some way. Students worked in groups of their choosing.   The projects included power point presentations, a model, a lego model society, and a video. All but one group presented their project on Monday. Today, we were finally able to see the last project. It was well worth the wait. The students took a video camera around the school asking students and the principals about their idea of the perfect community. They edited it together with music and a skit they wrote to create a video. Those kids nailed it! I would like to be able to describe it to you, but there is no way I would do it justice. Therefore, I am working on

Johnny was found guilty of unintentional homicide. Many took the stand in his defense, but it wasn’t enough. Going inside a burning church and sacrificing his life for those he brought to safety could not get him out of the consequences for killing Bob. I love my 8 th grade class! As part of the end-of-book assessment for The Outsiders , each student portrayed a character (or lawyer) from the book and participated in a mock trial. The judge (our principal) kept them all on track during the hearing. They came in to school today dressed for court – nice shirts and ties, skirts, and smiles on their faces. They were ready for what the day would bring. After practicing with them a bit on Friday, I was a bit nervous about what the ‘real thing’ would bring. Several students did not know their character well enough to give even the basic details of the story. They had a hard time settling down and listening to what was being said. Upon entering the courtroom today (Media Center), that

I cannot say it enough. I hate high-stakes testing. I hate what it does to teachers. I hate what it does to students. I hate what it does to the schedule. I hate the control it has over public schools in North Carolina. I am speaking specifically of the End-Of-Grade tests, better known as the EOGs. Starting next week, every Tuesday the first two hours of school will be CE time - not Current Events, rather Curriculum Enhancement. We will each have a group of students for two hours each week that we will teach how to do well on the test. The rest of the day will consist of shortened classes. At the end of each quarter, a full day is set aside for quarter assessments. Think of them as mini EOGs. Along with the quarter assessments, the 7 th grade students have four writing prompts during the year.   All well and good, but I am not allowed to score them until I complete a class on how to score them. The class is done through a moodle that takes 8-10 hours to complete. It does not m

For the past week, Patti has been bugging me to let her get a dog. Not just any dog, but a friend’s dog who needed a home. After talking with Tony (and a few family members and friends), we told her no. We have no idea what next year will bring for us. A couple of days ago, Patti spent the night at the friend’s house. When I picked her up, I was told the landlord had talked to them about the dog. I am not sure if it was the delirium I was in after napping most of the day or the look in the dog’s eyes. Whatever it was, I found myself saying that we would do foster care for her until a more permanent home was found. Beatrice immediately made herself at home at our house. So much so that I was almost pushed out of bed. Patti immediately called Tony and told him about our arrangement. He was good with it. (Patti was hoping he would come down at Thanksgiving and fall in love with Beatrice the way we have.) We shall see what happens, in the meantime, we are enjoying her. As a result,