Chocolate Dipped Ice Cream

Now I'm not a chocolate fiend like my wife or my dad, but I make an exception for the chocolate dipped ice cream cone, something that I've enjoyed for as long as I can remember. It's also one of the few times that I order the same thing just about every time I go to DQ, I love them that much, especially in the summer when it's 100º F by 9am in the summer.

Today my four year old son had to get some cavities filled and after last week's debacle I decided to reward him if he was brave with his very own chocolate dipped ice cream cone. So after he got his fillings done with minimal tears and after the 30 minute (40+ actually) waiting period I took him and my daughter to DQ for a treat. And as promised he got his very own chocolate dipped ice cream cone which he devoured in about 4 minutes flat! He also helped me eat my cone and some of my daughter's Arctic Blast. All in all it was a good time for everyone.

In other news, my job search is progressing, I have one more reference to get back from my student teaching and my official transcripts from NSC and my application is complete. Hopefully I will be able to schedule some interviews and maybe even get me one of those job thingys by the fall, but first the flipping legislature has to get it's collective head out my wallet and pass something that approaches a budget first. But hey what do I know?

Finally, I really need to finish the books I checked out from the library, but I've been lazy which is too bad because 1776 is a really interesting book and I've barely gotten past the first couple of chapters.

And don't forget the real reason we have Memorial Day because some really did give all.

Real Christianity

Yea, I chose that title completely on purpose. You see there are two kinds of Christians, those that talk a good game and those who actually do. Today our church went and did. There is an apartment complex that houses refugees from around the world. Most of them came here with only the clothes on their backs to start a new life here in Las Vegas.

Our church held a block party for these refugees and anyone else who happened to live there. We provided all sorts of things like toiletries...
















Free haircuts...

















Lots and lots of food... LOTS of food...





It was just too much for some folks to take in...




We also gave away clothing, silverware, glasses, a microwave oven, furniture, shoes, snow-cones and balloon animals and more. That table you saw earlier was empty within about 60 minutes. Aside from showing up, my family helped with the balloon animals, clean up and my son started to give the kids who lived there balloons, but since he can be shy he would leave them next to them while they were eating, stealth generosity if you will. When people start banging on Christians, just show them those photos, because this is what real Christians do, help those in need without making a big deal out of it. There was no news conference, no press releases just Christians doing what they do best.

Mr. Mom and more

So this week I've been playing Mr. Mom, running the kids here and there, running errands, that sort of thing. I've also been busy with applications and trying to figure out what I am going to do for the summer for work etc.

The real joy today was taking my kids to the dentist where my son decided to throw up in the sink and all over his shirt. Oh, joy. We managed to finish the examination but will have to go back next week for the fillings, and I have a limit of one vomit per day per office visit. Tuna fish the second time around is not very appetizing if you know what I mean.

CCSD finally got two of my references where they are supposed to go, I'm working on the third one as well but the folks at NSC can't seem to figure out how to answer the phone. My tax dollars at work I suppose. Oh, joy. The good news is that I got my final grades and I finished my time at NSC with a 3.70 which is a nice reward although a teaching job would go further towords paying the bills.

NASA is repairing the Hubble Telescope as you read this, or was depending on your time zone. Keep those brave men and women in your thoughts as they literally risk their lives so we can get even cooler pics of the cosmos than we already do.

Finally, Nancy Pelosi has done a wonderful job of making a fool of herself with the whole 'torture memo/hearing/waterboarding thing'. It's been amusing to watch the latest developments as her version and the truth continue to miss each other by that much. Nancy, maybe next time you should start with the truth and not with your version of it, but what do I know?

Finished!

I thought I would NEVER finish college and actually get a degree but here I am simply counting down the days until commencement Saturday night. To think that I went back to school for the 5th time in January of 2003 and now all that work has paid off. My last official assignment was to do a presentation today about my education and student teaching at Nevada State College. I was volentold to go first by Karlana and Kristi, presumably because mine would be so bad theirs would look great by comparison. That's my story and I'm sticking to it! It feels wierd not worrying about summer classes, registering for the fall semester or stressing about tuiton.

Tomorrow I am keeping my 4 year old at home and we're going to spend the day together. I see a lunch at McDonald's in the future. Now I need to update my resume, call the flipping district to see why the references never got sent and try to find a job. Hopefully the id10ts in Carson City will agree on a budget so the id10ts at the district will know how many openings there will be come this fall. Good thing I am getting reinstated for substitute teaching. I also got to visit the school I subbed at last spring that went from 6 weeks to the rest of the school year. I got to say hi to the teacher who taught next to me as well as the staff. All of whom recognized me and were happy to see me. The attendence lady was so excited that she jumped up and gave me a big hug! Too bad she couldn't get me a job.

50 book challenge

I have almost completed the 50 book challenge. Here is the list of all 42 books I have read so far.

If By Sea
All Quiet On The Western Front
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Lord of The Flies
The Trial
I am Scout
Big Mouth and Ugly Girl
Robinson Crusoe
War of the Worlds

Crime and Punishment
To Kill a Mockingbird
American Lion
What's so great about Christianity
Ike, an American legend
"What we carry"
"The making of a poem"
Shade's Children
Speak
Kidnapped
Elfstones of Shannara
Pool of Radiance
Pools of Darkness
Silent Sea

These three I'm counting as one book
The Bottle Imp
The Body Snatcher
Markheim

Ranger's Apprentice Book 1
Flight of The White Horse
Old man and the sea
My Grandfather's Son
Sharks over China
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Screwtape Letters
Catcher in the Rye
The Coldest Winter
Mere Christianity
Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Arrow
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
The Great Gatsby
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Grapes of Wrath

A change of pace

While watching "Jack's Big Music Show" with my son, I was pleasantly surprised by a group called "Nuttin But Stringz" that mixed violins with hip-hip. Normally I only half watch the show but something made me put down my book and pay attention. Boy was I glad I did. The first clip is the one from the show itself.




And yes this is the group from "America's Got Talent", here is the clip from their initial performance.



Enjoy!

You gotta be kidding right?

Last week I sent a letter to the school district to get reinstated as a substitute teacher for the remainder of the school year as I was no longer at my apprentice teaching position and my student teaching assignment would be ending in early May. Today I received a letter from the district stating that I would have to do a few things. First I would have to complete on-line training and then I would have to get finger printed (again), bring down a copy of my sub license and then I could sub for the remainder of the year.

Now the first thing that irritated me was the fact that I would have to pay $50 I don't have for the finger printing, even though they have my records for student teaching, and the thing that really pisses me off is the fact that I have to pay another $12 for the on-line training. I would understand doing this if I were new to subbing, but I subbed all last school year and was in the classroom all this year teaching as well! Can you say money grab? I knew you could!

Can you effing believe this? Bad enough I gotta pay the fifty clams for the finger prints, but then I have to pay for on-line substitute teaching training on top of that? Seriously?

This is not the change I was hoping for, that's for damn sure.

Almost done

I am down to my last two big projects and then my time at Nevada State College will come to an end. It's hard to believe that just 6 years ago I went back to school to become a teacher, and I am just one paper and one presentation away from reaching that goal. And then it's up to the jackasses in Carson City to get their crap together and pass some sort of budget so the school district knows how much money they have for teachers.

But hey at least I'll have a degree in May!

This really p***es me off...

I have not done much political posting lately with all the great stories to relate from the classroom but I had to talk about something that really has me pissed off.

No, not my students, they're great (just don't tell them that), it's the report released by the KGB er Department of Homeland Security dealing with Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment so now instead of dealing with the actual threats facing this country, the KGB, er DHS will be dealing with such threats:

"Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration." (pg. 2)

OK, so that's pretty much 90% of the conservatives in this country and includes everyone who participated in the 'tea parties' that took place today. And people thought that Bush was a dictator? In what flipping universe? Nothing that Bush did during his 8 years ever came close to this horse crap, and when they did issue reports like this they were very specific with group names and specific threats not this broad brushed jackbooted book burning Che loving hammer and sickle waving garbage.

And since I like to save the best for last, here is one more little gem for you to chew on.

"DHS/I&A will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months to ascertain with greater regional specificity the rise in rightwing extremist activity in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the political, economic, and social factors that drive rightwing extremist radicalization." (pg. 8)

Vast right wing conspiracy anyone? And we thought that died when Bill Clinton left office.

50 Book Challenge

Update #3 4/14/09: It's 38. I finished "The Trial" and "I Am Scout" today and forgot to add "Big Mouth and Ugly Girl" from last month. Only 12 more by July!

Update #2: It's 35, I finished Robinson Crusoe on Friday and I'm reading "The Trial" right now.
And Happy Easter everyone!

Update #1: It's 34 I finished War of the Worlds today and I'm half done with Robinson Crusoe...


So I have now finished 33 books out of the 50. Here is the list so far.

Crime and Punishment
To Kill a Mockingbird
American Lion

"What's so great about Christianity"
Ike, an American legend
"What we carry"
"The making of a poem"
Shade's Children
Speak
Kidnapped
Elfstones of Shannara
Pool of Radiance
Pools of Darkness
Silent Sea

These three I'm counting as one book
The Bottle Imp
The Body Snatcher
Markheim

Ranger's Apprentice Book 1
Flight of The White Horse
Old man and the sea
My Grandfather's Son
Sharks over China
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Screwtape Letters
Catcher in the Rye
The Coldest Winter
Mere Christianity
Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Arrow
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
The Great Gatsby
The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Grapes of Wrath

To Kill A Mockingbird

At my new school my cooperating teacher had just started To Kill A Mockingbird so after spring break, that's what I'll be teaching as well. I had forgotten how good that book was until I picked it up again and the movie is not bad either. I mention this because I decided on a whim to do the novel for my literary theory class because I just was not interested in redoing my paper on Ursula LeGuin.

I'm glad I switched because I found out a very interesting thing. Lawyers use Atticus Finch as a role model in their law schools, and that one professor wrote an article in the Michigan Law Review that asked some hard questions, which were answered by other professors and lawyers. One of those responses came from Ann Althouse who has an excellent blog of her own.

Funny how things just kinda work out sometimes. Today I'll do my prewriting and the rough draft(s) and then tomorrow I'll finish it up.

Oh, and spring break is next week.

YEE-HAW!

8th Graders

I really like teaching 8th graders. They're more mature than 7th graders and I've been able to give them more challenging lessons successfully than 7th graders. Plus, they're not 7th graders. Don't get me wrong, Ive had some great 7th grade students and classes, but they're just wacked out as a rule. It's all those hormones raging through their bodies, they discover the opposite sex in a big way. They're happy one second and mad the next. Grown up one minute and a 3rd grader the next. And don't get me started on the drama, er D-R-A-M-A. It makes Desperate Housewives look like Dora The Explorer. Spare me, please.

Now 6th graders are just too immature for me, they're too clingy and needy. Plus it takes them pretty much a whole quarter before they even get the hang of middle school, and generally speaking you can't challenge them with lessons like you can 8th graders. Thanks but no thanks.

I'll take 8th graders any day of the week. The hormones have settled down some and they have a better sense of self, not to mention they really want to get out of middle school, especially here in NV where middle school is 6th-8th grade.

Next week I am going to start doing some teaching in my English classes. We're doing "To Kill A Mockingbird" and it's going pretty well so far. We'll see if it lasts.

Finally I got my confirmation from NSC for graduation. After 6 long years, I'll finally have a four year degree. And if I get an A in my Lit Theory class, I'll graduate Magna Cum Laude. Go me.

Finally!

After literally a week, I'm finally back in a classroom. I'll be dealing strictly with 8th graders this time which I can deal with. But here is the ironic part. Two of my new students know two of my old students, in fact one of my new students is related to an old one. Wait until I tell my friend at the old school that one!

There is one thing that I really miss though, and that's the laptop. It sucks not being able to sit in bed and work while my better half is relaxing, and it really sucks having to share a computer with the family.

But hopefully I'll be able to afford my own laptop this year.

The Waiting Game

So it's been almost a week since I've been inside a classroom interacting with kids, and I'm really ready to start teaching again. This enforced vacation that I have been on is not relaxing in the least. However, my professor told me that he was merely waiting on news as to which teacher I'd be pestering, er torturing, er working with for the next several weeks. The school is about the same distance from my house as my previous school although I have to backtrack a little bit due to the location of daycare but it's not a huge deal. At least I'll be teaching again and not sitting around the house feeling sorry for myself.

Also can someone please explain why 'Crime & Punishment' is considered to be such a great novel?

Please?

A Fresh Start

So I thought that last week was a challenge, boy was I wrong. Monday morning I had a verbal confrontation with a student that turned ugly. This student butted in where he was not wanted and totally lost his temper when I told him to go away. Eventually he managed to push the big red button and I lost my temper as well. I had a meeting later with my principal about what happened and figured that it was resolved as did the principal.

Tuesday afternoon I get a call from the chancellor of the school telling me that she had heard of the incident and that until her investigation was complete I was banned from the campus. So I go from getting ready to graduate and lesson planning and all that to looking at a teacher career that was about to come to a screeching halt. To say I was shocked would be the understatement of the year. And it wasn't just me, my cooperating teacher and the principal were both shocked and in the case of the principal, really angry that the chancellor felt the need to investigate what had happened. I think he was also angry that she was usurping his authority in what he thought was a private, not to mention closed matter.

So Wednesday passed and I found out that my inquisition er interview would take place Thursday at 1pm, at which point I would be able to tell my side of the story, then finally learn my fate.

So after a 2nd sleepness night, I arrived at the school to tell my tale and attempt to save 6 years of work. I arrived at the school and flanked by my principal (who fought very hard for me) and my adviser from Nevada State College, I told my side of the story as honestly and accurately as possible. I explained what led up to the incident and as much of the incident as I could, because most of it was a blur.

After that was over, I got a call from my advisor who explained that my career was not in jepordy and that I would finish my 'student' teaching at another school. I put the '' around student because in reality I had been teaching there since the first day of school, and in no way shape or form was I a typical student teacher because I took over a class that had no teacher until a replacement could be found so my 8 weeks was more like a semester and a half, literally. The reason that I am going to switch schools is to give me a frest start. To say I was stressed would be another large understatment, try teaching two subjects, go to school and try to be a dad and husband all at once. So going to a school were I could just observe and help out is going to be nice, even if it will be unpaid. We do have a bit of money saved up so we should (with God's help) be OK until the summer.

So today after school I went to turn in my laptop, badge, key, etc and collect my belongings. I arrived right after school let out to talk to the chancellor and get my fingerprint reports and I got mobbed by my (sadly) former students. They all came to say goodbye and to wish me luck at my new school. The chacellor was very nice and told me what a hard decision it was for her to make and that if there was anything she could do for me to let her know. She then told me she could see how much I cared for the kids and that my next school would be lucky to have me.

I also got to see some of my colleges on the way to my room. The principal and some of my students (funny how I can't bring myself to say former) had boxed up my belongings to make it easier for me. Some of my students also wrote me letters saying how unfair it was that I was leaving because they were misbehaving. (Hopefully that lesson will stick, mess with the good teachers enough and they may leave for greener pastures!) One asked me for my lava lamp (It's at home) and reading them brought tears to my eyes. They'll go on the wall by my computer with the letters from previous teaching stops.

What I could not believe was how much stuff I brought home with me. 1 packback, 1 office depot bag and 4 paper boxes worrth of books, lessons, posters, coffee cups and more. And that was just from the middle of August to today! I did leave a few books for three students who need to be reminded to put the books away until they finish their work. A good problem for an English teacher!

I will find out early next week were my next school will be. I'm sad that I won't be able to finish the year where I was but I am thankful I can still teach. Which brings me to why I won't finish at the same school. There are two reasons actually. The first is that I'd be second guessing myself everytime I try to correct a student's misbehavior. After all I'd been suspended once, the second time I'd be done both there and as a teacher. Secondly, for the rest of the year I'd be 'the teacher who got suspended'. And when there are only 190 middle school students everyone would know who I was and it would seriously inhibit my ability to teach.

BBL

Too many balls in the air, to many things going wrong at the same time, to many stupid mistakes on my part, be back later.

Worst. Day. Ever.

Somebody remind me why the f*** I became a teacher would you? It's a good thing I have a co-teacher because I would have gotten myself fired today because of the way I was treated by my students. I tried from 8:00 to 8:07 to get my first class settled down so they could watch a movie and they refused so I said no movie. Then they got all indignant and asked for a class discussion, which went nowhere. They were telling ME that I had to be more respectful to THEM, as if I were the student and they were the teacher. I did my best to answer them, but of course they reverted to form and it was so bad the principal had to come and talk to them. I am so sick of getting rescued by my principal I could throw up.

Plus the kids actually got a treat today, they got to watch a movie to celebrate the end of the CRT tests and they screwed that one up as well. I was so mad that I literally had to leave the room for about 20 minutes and vent.

I refuse REFUSE to kiss the backside of a seventh grader just to get them to sit down and shut the hell up. Boy are they in a for a surprise on Monday.

131 million and counting....

That's how much non gaming money my city has lost in the last 90 days. As the Las Vegas Review Journal reports "Forget apology-seeking letters. Maybe Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman should send President Barak Obama a bill."

A couple of notes to the 'enlightened' one:

1. Spitting in the face of a state that voted for you in the last election, especially one that relies heavily on tourism and the convention trade is very very stupid, especially considering that the same state voted for Bush the last two elections. You're costing the state jobs and once the GOP rightfully pins the blame on you for this, good luck in 2012...

2. Conventions help both businesses and customers, not to mention the cities and states that host them. I should know, I've been on all three sides of the equation and it's a great way for companies to get new products and services in front of customers.

Of course I'm sure it's much easier blaming Rush Limbaugh for your issues than looking in the mirror, but you may want to think about things like this before you speak without your teleprompter.

CRTs: AKA Uber High Stakes Tests

The CRTs (Criterion Referenced Tests) are what the Silver State uses to see if the schools are making AYP (adequate yearly progress) in regards to NCLB (No Child Left Behind). Today was our first of 4 days (6 for the 8th graders) of fun testing. Today and tomorrow are the math tests, Wednesday and Thursday are the English tests and next Monday and Tuesday are the science tests.

Now the nice thing was that our students didn't seem super stressed by them, probably because they've already taken so many tests similar to this one, and because although we've told them the CRTs were coming, we as a staff didn't freak out about the tests and this was passed on to our students. We did have them review one from 2006 so they would be used to the wording, and we did make sure our lessons applied to the standards the CRTs were going to be testing, but freaking out was not in the plans.

I have mixed feelings about NCLB. I like the fact that schools are accountable for all of their students regardless of grade or ability, but I don't like the all or nothing tone of the law, nor do I like the fact that eventually all schools will fail to make AYP, especially once you get a vast majority of your students making AYP, because there is no way 100% of your students will make AYP no matter how much the school rocks. Imagine being in a school were you have 75% or more of your students making AYP and yet getting put on the watch list because you didn't improve from the year before or that your scores went down a bit. And spare me the righteous BS about educating everyone. That assumes (a BIG assumption) that your students are ready and capable of learning, and that (an even bigger assumption) those parents are on board with you as well. I'm all for accountability but at some point reason has to prevail, but like so many other things the federal government does, reason never entered the equation.

I'll keep you posted on the rest of the week. Maybe I'll be able to finish my unit on Letter From a Birmingham Jail, now that the copier has toner AND staples. I swear the kids eat the handouts when I'm not looking. No wonder their backpacks weigh 800 pounds...

Calling home

It's one of my least favorite things to do as a teacher. I really dread the thought of ruining some kids week, but at the same time these same kids need to know that I am in charge and that when you don't do as I ask that consequences follow. So yesterday and today I made phone calls, lots of them. I hate to admit it but some of them are LONG overdue but hopefully the kids will show up on Monday with a better attitude, because I am sick and tired of the whole 'persecution complex' where the student thinks that they're somehow being persecuted because I asked them to face the front (gasp), tuck in their shirts (the horror!), and actually stop talking (OMG!) so I can conduct a lesson.

Now it was not all bad, I did get to make a few of the 'good calls' where I got to tell a parent how hard their kid was working on their behavior, or their missing work, or both. Those calls I love and I wish I could make them more often, my fear is that the kids will start to backslide and I'll have to get their TVs pulled from their room, their cell phones yanked and the switch pulled off the tree.

I just wish some of these kids were a bit faster on the uptake...

Making Changes

One thing that teachers do is to make changes to lessons that don't work. Yesterday I started the unit on "Letter From A Birmingham Jail" and it went over like a lead balloon. The students complained about the letter and said this was better suited for history than for English. So today before we continued the lesson I played a short video on the civil rights crusade from the 60's and got the desired result.




Once the students saw the photos and heard the eye witnesses, it was much easier to focus their attention on the task at hand. I knew I had them when I asked for a volunteer to read and had a plethora of volunteers. since the letter is 17 double spaced pages, everyone will get a chance to read.

We also do biographies on a daily basis of famous people. Today I did BB King and on a hunch found this video of "The Thrill is Gone" and played that for the students before they did the assignment. So today I was 2 for 2, not bad considering I have a nasty cold right now.

She Unnames Them

"She Unnames Them" is a fascinating short story from Ursula K. Le Guin. I read it last year for my American Literature class and thought it would be interesting to see how middle and high school students would react to such an interesting and open ended story, and today was my chance. We had just finished up the short story "A Jury of Her Peers", and I wanted to do a shorter story that was not like anything that my students had read before. I knew that the students would struggle a bit with the story because of the complexity of the text coupled with the Biblical and poetic references but I had confidence that they could work their way through the text and get something from it.

I taught the lesson to three different classes and got three totally different responses. My 1st block (7th graders) were very much into the story and seemed to enjoy it even though it was not an easy read. When I told them that they just did college level work they applauded themselves and I think it boosted some self esteem even if they would never admit it to anyone, especially to their teacher. I even had a student ask if the story was making fun of the Bible and had to assure them that it was not, it was merely asking a question about what would happen if...

My 8th graders (2nd block) were not so open to the story, but they did get through it for the most part and some of them seemed to enjoy the story as well. Interestingly enough, they laughed at the word ass (donkey) while the previous class didn't blink, although one student asked if they could write the word in an answer. I said yes they could.

Then there was my last class of 7th graders. They had no intention of doing any school work and I finally told them to read the story and answer the questions themselves. For the near term, they get the little kid treatment until they prove they can handle a class discussion and are willing to do some actual work. If I felt any better I'd be calling parents right now but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I feel like crap and have a paper to write...

Oh, and my math class really impressed me with their chapter test. Nobody failed and 7 of my 16 students had an A. Very good news for all involved.

One last thing, we start "A Letter From A Birmingham Jail" tomorrow. I'll keep all 12.1 of you informed of how it goes. We start with the clergy statement that prompted the letter and go from there.

Interesting

We're in the middle of the CRT (high stakes test) review for my math class and I am plesantly surprised by how the students are doing. For the 'do now' I've been having them do simple algebra problems ( X+3=15) to refresh their memories and they still remember how to do one step equations. This is cool because I have not really taught this in over a month, maybe longer and to see them remember how to do it means that I actually did teach them something. They're also doing pretty well with getting data from graphs and using it, but it's a skill that is hard to explain and it's just easier to have them do it than explain it to them.

The other nice thing is that the class grades are starting to go up, hopefully this will continue, but we'll see...

Fist Fight!

So now I have truly arrived, I got to break up my first fist fight after school today. I was walking to my car and just happened to look over at the play area and noticed two 8th grade girls about 5 feet from each other. Something was said and the next thing you know they're fighting and I'm jumping over the concrete wall to separate them. Fortunately for me the Principal's secretary was walking by and we were able to get them separated and to the office where their parents were called and they are now facing suspensions for their poor choices. This is the same day where I sent two students to the office for texting in class and one more for playing their i-Pod not once but twice in class. I have one more student who will probably suffer the same fate tomorrow because I didn't catch her texting today.

The other news is that unlike the Hindenburg lesson I taught two weeks ago, today my professor was picking nits when he came to observe me in the classroom. We started the short story "A Jury of Her Peers" which the 7th graders really started to enjoy. Hopefully this will continue as we get deeper into the story. We'll see but the signs are promising.

A Good Administrator

Is worth their weight in gold. Just about any teacher will tell you that as the administration goes, so goes the school. We're very lucky to have an excellent principal at the middle school who cares equally about the welfare of his staff and his students.

He has been helping me the last few days with the issues I've been having with classroom management. Today he sat in class and watched me operate as well as helping students understand the concepts I was trying to teach. He gave me some notes as well as advice to consequences with students who'd rather talk then learn. I can see that I didn't have clear consequences and that I have not been apply them consistently and that has wrought the destruction of a learning environment.

He's also allowing me to visit other classrooms to see how they do things with lessons, planning and management. My co-teacher is totally on board with this as well so I won't have to worry about leaving her in the lurch while I visit other rooms.

I am blessed to have a principal who is willing to take time out of his busy schedule to help me out with my classes, although I feel like I am a worse teacher today than I was in August. Right now I have no confidence in my management abilities and it's causing chaos in the classroom.

Tomorrow is another day and hopefully I can get things under control...

If a picture is worth a 1000 words....

Then this video will tell you all you need to know about how my week went. I got observed this week and I didn't tell the students I was going to have a visitor so my professor got to see my students as they really are. My cooperating teacher was out for three days and didn't give me any lesson plans so I was making up as I went along, which got me into more trouble with the professor.
It was so bad that I really started to wonder why the **** I became a teacher in the first place and I said as much to my principal who promptly scheduled a meeting with me to help me out. He wants me to spend some time observing other classrooms to see how they handle things and he is going to sit in a couple of my math classes (I teach math and English) to send a message about how they should behave. He also gave me some ideas to make the classes more fun. We'll see how this week goes...

Letter from a Birmingham Jail

Due to the short week, I have not finished the poetry unit with my students yet. That'll happen next week. In the meantime we've been working with the students on their writing and I've been working on a new unit dealing with Dr. King's "Letter From A Birmingham Jail", which I think is his most impressive work, including his speeches. Despite the fact that most of my students are black, very few know that he wrote a letter from jail, much less the content or even what prompted him to write it in the first place. I plan on fixing that lack of knowledge with this lesson. Now the letter is a long one, nine pages to be exact and it's a complex piece of literature, full of Biblical references and other imagery that take time to process properly.

At first this was going to be a four day lesson. The first day we were going to read the public statement written by Birmingham Clergy telling Dr. King that his activities were well intentioned but the wrong answer for the question of racial equality in Birmingham. It was this statement that prompted Dr. King to write his famous letter. The next three days we were going to go over the letter in three page chunks, answering questions and creating posters or power points about the letter and what it meant to them personally.

So I had finished the statement and the activities for the first 2/3 of the letter, and I wanted to get a second opinion on my questions that the students would answer so I gave it to my co-teacher to get her opinion. She was impressed with the questions which made my day and the pointed out that I was going waaaaaay to fast and that there was no way I could cover the material in just 4 days, now that didn't ruin my day but it did bring me back to earth.

Armed with this reality check I started to redo the lesson and my short unit is now two full weeks long. Now my plan is to do a page a day and mix in some group work along with answering questions and writing essays. The nice thing is that I don't have to start over, just slow the heck down. My goal for the unit is to give the students a real (as opposed to "I have a dream") insight into how Dr. King thought and why he took the actions he did, as well as give them real insight into the multitude of opposition that he faced from both blacks and whites.


Of course having a good lesson plan only goes so far. It'll be interesting to see how they react to the lesson and the work that is going to go along with truly understanding the letter and the author.

Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it.

Slow Start

I apologize for the light blogging. To be honest I have had a hard time getting back into the groove of teaching and everything that goes along with it. I didn't even feel like I was doing anything worthwhile until Wednesday even though the poetry units are going better than I had hoped. I have kids participating who never participate in a good way. The unit plan is not going as smoothly as I want but since this is my first go round with teaching poetry I'm pretty satisfied.

We had an interesting assembly Friday at the school. The principal had been hearing our students call each other nigger (or is it nigga?) while in the halls, at practice or in class and decided that something needed to be said. Keep in mind that the student population is 98 or 99% black so this is not an unusual occurrence. I've heard it myself a time or two and have let the students know how much I despise that word. So the principal starts talking about the use of the word and then says it himself, oh did I mention that he's white? Now he said it to show how ugly the word is and why it's not acceptable to use it on campus. Then three teachers, all of whom are black, all tell about how ugly that word is. One of our teachers was at the University of Alabama when the Governor made his famous segregation now and forever speech. The other who teaches history, told the students the real history of the word and how the meaning of that word can never be changed. He was so passionate that he had students and teachers misty eyed.

I of course had to throw in my two cents after the assembly and explained how the choices that they make impact their community. I tried to explain to them the damage that 'gansta' rap does to their community and that every time they buy that CD or see that video or go to that concert they are reinforcing all the stereotypes about blacks as thugs etc. I made a point of showing how women are treated in lyrics and videos and asked them if they wanted their mom's sister's cousin's etc called bitches, whores and sluts. I asked them if they wanted the ladies in their lives to be treated as an object to be used and discarded. I don't know if I changed any minds, but I do know that I made them think.

Finally, my student teaching 'starts' this semester. So I suppose all last semester was just 16 weeks of batting practice? The good thing is this is my last semester of school at Nevada State College. I plan on taking a couple of years off before I start working on my masters. I've been in school every semester (spring, summer and fall) since 2003 and I really need a break.

Holidays

They ended all right! Today was the first day of school after a badly needed two week break. For myself and Karlana it never seemed like it would get here because we were not only teaching full time but we were also full time college students. I had 4 classes and she had 5. To say we were badly in need of a break would be an under statment of gigantic proportions.

I was able to not only relax and recharge, but to do some serious reading as well. I finished three books over the break. Ike, What's so Great About Christianity, and The Haunted Mesa. And I started American Lion, a biography on Andrew Jackson. I also picked up several books at the used bookstore, many of them were for my students, but I did get a collection of poems by Emily Dickinson as well as a couple of Ray Bradbury books.

I didn't even crack my laptop until Sunday night when I finished my poetry unit for the 7th graders, so I stretched out my vacation as long as possible. I don't start my final semester until the end of the month so I still have a couple more college free weeks, which will be nice.

A bit of Christmas Cheer

I read this to my daughter and now to my son every year during the holidays. I actually have the first 12 lines memorized I've read it so many times. May you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah!

THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

by Clement Clarke Moore

or Henry Livingston


'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,

In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;

And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,

Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the window I flew like a flash,

Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow

Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,

And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen!

On, Comet! on Cupid! on, Donder and Blitzen!

To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!

Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,

When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,

So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.

As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,

Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,

And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;

A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,

And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,

And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;

He had a broad face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."

50 Book Challenge Update

For those of you who may not remember, (or care) I took the 50 book challenge from Shelfari. The idea is to read 50 books in twelve months. I have not posted on this in a while so I thought this would be a good time to give all of you the 411 on my reading.

Here is the finished list so far.

Old man and the sea
My Grandfather's Son
Sharks over China
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Screwtape Letters
Catcher in the Rye
The Coldest Winter
Mere Christianity
Count of Monte Cristo
The Black Arrow
Dragonflight
Dragonquest
The White Dragon
The Great Gatsby
The Black Arrow
Picture of Dorian Gray
Flight of the White Horse
The Bottle Imp
The Body Snatcher
Markheim (I am going to count them as 1 book)
Ranger's Apprentice book 1
Pools of Darkness
Pool of Radience
Shades Children
What We Carry
The Making of a Poem


So I've now read 26 books since July. I'm reading three books right now as well. "The Reagan Diaries", "Enter Three Witches" and a book on Haiku poetry.

I've also asked for three books for Christmas as well as a gift certificate to the used bookstore by my house, AND the super cool prep school gave me a $20 gift card to Barnes and Noble, so I will have plenty to read for the rest of this year and the first part of 2009.

Scribefire

Normally I don't plug products, even free ones but this is pretty cool. If you use Firefox and you blog, then you should check out Scribefire. It allows you to update your blog without having to actually log into it. Very handy if your employer decides to block blogs. In addition it will allow you to add youtube content, manage your ads and more.

In addition, my daughter just finished a 30 hour fast to combat hunger around the world. They did all sorts of things including feeding the homeless this morning. She said that she didn't notice she was hungry until about 3pm (27 hours in) and that the last few minutes when they could smell the food were the hardest. Needless to say we're very proud of her.

And I'm catching a cold... ick!

Poetry Units

So I finished creating the unit for my 8th graders to start when they come back from their vacation, and I'm currently working on one for the 7th graders. I'm using the same basic plan as the one for the 8th grade but with different poems and forms, so that when I teach the 8th grade unit next year, I won't have to hear the "We did this poem last year" complaint.

I just finished doing the lesson for the ode and thought I would throw in a Haiku to remind the students to use complete sentences since we do Haikus the day before.

A good grade at stake

Complete sentences were used,

No red ink needed!

I wonder how many of my students will realized that it's a haiku reminding them to use complete sentences!

Better than I thgouht

Well, I just got my last grade for the fall semester at the three colleges I attended. And yes I did type the number three... don't ask. And I did better than I thought I would considering I was teaching full time and going to school full time.

I received A's in my teaching methods class and my English literature class, a B+ in my journalism class and a B in my speech class. The nice part is that now I can concentrate on teaching and the two week poetry unit I am creating for my 8th graders, which will become a 1 week poetry unit for the 7th graders.

Finished!

Actually I was done last night, but you get the idea. I survived teaching 2 subjects and taking four classes. The big surprise was that I not only got an A in my Brit Lit class, but an A+ on my final paper. Now I figured I had written a pretty good paper but A+? Really? Either the paper is that good or the other students wrote really bad papers. Either way, I'll take the A and run with it. I also got an A in my teaching methods class. As for the other two classes I probably got C's in both of them, but I can live with that, although it will suck to break my streak of no C's at Nevada State College.

Now I can concentrate on teaching until the 20th of January when the circus starts again. The difference is that it's only two classes along with student teaching. Since I've been teaching all year, I'm not super nervous about 'student' teaching, I just need to make sure I dot the i's and cross the t's so I get my diploma in the spring.

Almost done!

I apologize for the light blogging but it's been really busy for me. Not only do I have the usual teaching and domestic thing going, but it's finals time for this desert rat. In the last two weeks I've had my final speech, my final project, my final paper and final articles for my college classes. I think I finally out procrastinated Karlana by working on my final paper during my daughter's birthday party.
The nice thing is now I can concentrate on my teaching for the next several weeks until the spring semester starts at the end of January. This means that I can redo seating charts, get caught up on my grading, lesson plans, thinking skills sheets and long range plans.

Inspiration and more

The principal came in today to observe me in the classroom. Now there was not much direct instruction going on because the students were writing an essay so he'll be back next Thursday to conclude his observations and then give me the news. Now it was on purpose that the kids were doing an essay. Not so much because I was afraid to teach in front of him, but because this class has been out of control since August and they have not changed even with TWO teachers in the room.

So yesterday I finally had a "Come to Jesus" talk with them and I gave them this assignment. "You will go home and think about what kind of class you want this to be. You can A: change your behavior and we can have some fun and interesting projects, or B: It will be nothing but worksheets and if you open your mouth, you're gone. You as a class tell me which way this is going to go, because it's up to you, not the instructors."

So today when they come in, I have them vote and they decided that they didn't like the enviornment and wanted to change how they behaved in class. Now you and I know that words are cheap and that actions matter. So I let the matter drop until the second half of the class when I gave them their writing assignment where they had do not only tell me what they did to turn the classroom into a grease fire, but what actions they personally were going to take to correct the situation. I made sure they knew that this was about them and their actions and not what they thought someone else needs to do. I'll be reading them this weekend and making comments and giving them a grade.

Next week should be interesting when I hold them to their words. That and I'll be teaching the unit that I blogged about earlier. It's very ambitious and will either be really cool or the Hindenburg part II. It will certainly be interesting to see how they respond to the meeting and if they were serious about their decisions and essays, because I sure as hell am.

Reviews

So tomorrow I get my first real observation by the principal. I've been observed by the NSC adviser before but those weren't real observations like the kind your job hangs on as a teacher. To say I'm a bit nervous is an understatement of monumental proportions, especially since the period he will be here is the 8th grade class, who tend to act like a bunch of 5 year olds on a sugar high. Let's not even mention the fact that tomorrow is the day before a four day weekend so their minds will be on everything BUT school and that this week's lessons are fairly simplistic due to the short week.

Hopefully it will go well, I would have preferred next week when we have a really cool set of lessons set up where the kids will be reacting to different kinds of prompts (visual, written, auditory) and then writing about them.

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Thanksgiving.

13 favorite movies... more or less

Saw this on another blog (Churcheria). She listed 13 movies she never gets tired of, so I thought I would do the same thing just for fun. I can complain about my students later!

This is not in any particular order and technically it's more than 13 but it's my list so there!

1. Star Wars: The original one from 1977. Saw it in the movie theater when I was 10. I've probably seen it at least 100 times since then. A classic in every sense.

2. The Matrix: What science fiction movies should be and aren't. Great story, seamless effects and a great cast.

3. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm: The first of several animated movies. It had a great plot, great animation and some great one liners. Mark Hamill is the Joker in this one.

4. Akira: A one of a kind anime movie from Japan. I still don't get the ending but it does not matter. And this was done before all the GC animation as well.

5. Ghost in The Shell: Another great movie. The anime version of what science fiction should be. It spawned a very good sequel and a great series to boot.

6. The Patriot: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, a great villain and solid plot.

7. The Fellowship of the Ring Trilogy: As good an adaptation of the books as you could do... ever.

8. Fantasia (Both): An incredible mix of music and animation. The first one was way ahead of it's time, and the second one was a great sequel to the first.

9. Any John Wayne western: If I had to pick 2 it'd be "Rio Bravo" and "The Shootist"

10. Rocky I: "Adrian!" I saw this one at the drive in and loved it instantly. The only other one in the series that was as good was the last one.

11. Freedom Writers: Man I hope I can make that kind of difference with my students one day!

12. Spirited Away: I like anime... get over it. Seriously it has a great story and characters you can really care about. I'd use this in the classroom if I could come up with a lesson plan that works.

13: King Kong: The original. I know it's dated, but the action scenes still get me on the edge of my seat and King Kong is a tragic figure that endures.

Unit plans

One of the hardest things that I do is to come up with unit plans either for the future or retroactively. I'm pretty good with weekly math plans, but math is easier to plan for than English because it's more straightforward and logical. English is comprised of so many different aspects that coming up with a coordinated unit is more challenging that it seems.

Now I can usually come up with a single lesson pretty easily for both regular and block classes, but this is a bird of a different feather because everything has to be coordinated from day to day.

The first challenge was simply to come up with a unit to teach. I know that it's a target rich environment in many ways but it needs to fit into what was done and what needs to be done, not to mention fit into the schedule and keep the test scores up. It took me over a week just to come up with a unit where the students will react both verbally and in writing to several kinds of prompts, from political cartoons to pictures, a speech, poems (they will read and hear them) and finally a short story (one I swore I'd never teach).

Then I had to lay the plan out day by day and make sure I had 50+ minutes of potential learning built in. That got harder as the week went on, much harder which is why I used that short story I was never going to do because the idea tank was E-M-P-T-Y... but heck why reinvent the wheel?

It's pretty much done I just need to attach the materials by Tuesday and post it online for my class and then teach it the week after Thanksgiving. No big deal right?

On the plus side I was able to track down some short stories I had been looking for online. they were "The Yellow Wallpaper", "She Un-names Them" and "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas". The last of the three had become a quest of mine because it's a great story to illustrate scapegoating in literature, plus not every teacher in the Western Hemisphere uses it.

Oh and the poems I'll use? "We Real Cool" and "Dust"

And the short story? "Eleven"

And Karlana, you can stop laughing...

You learn something new...

A few weeks ago, the students and staff at the super cool prep school, had their pictures taken, the students for the yearbook and family memories and the staff for the yearbook. After all, who better to do a Captain Morgan to than the teacher who gave you hell for a year or two?

So today I check my normally empty mailbox and was shocked to see something other than dust bunnies occupying that slot, the very photos I had taken no more than a month ago! Now I was surprised and a bit bemused. The last face I expected to see in one of those photo envelopes was my own.

My wife is thrilled to death of course, (I'm not sure I want to get her eyes checked, she may not like what she sees with glasses or contacts!) as are my kids. My wife is not only going to bring a photo to work, she wants to send a pic to the parents along with the pictures of the kids.

And hell no, I'm not putting them up here! The last thing I want to do is to scare off my last 12.3 readers!

So my question to the other teachers is this... Do all schools do this or just this one?

Book Meme

I forgot who I stole this from because I started it last week and just now finished this meme...

Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
Paperback, they're cheaper and I am very broke. But if money is not an issue, then hardback.
Usually if I shop at the used bookstore (proof there is a God) then I'll get the hardback because the price is the same.


Bookmark or dog-ear?
If I have a bookmark I use it, otherwise I dog-ear. Not nice I know, but I'm just bad about that.


Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random?
By author, and then by series. (Shannara, LOTR, etc.) But that usually does not last very long and then it descends into chaos. So I guess the answer is yes!


Keep, throw away or sell?
Keep, I read books more than once, and I put them in my classroom for students. Book-a-holic be me!


Keep dust jacket or toss it?
Book jackets make great bookmarks, nuff said, plus the artwork is usually pretty cool on the dust jacket.


Last book you bought?
I bought ten, here are a few of them...
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Robinson Crusoe
The Elfstones of Shanarra


Last book someone bought for you?
My wife got me "The Reagan Diaries"


What are some of the books on your to-buy list?
More classics, some Louis L'Amour, a couple of Terry Brooks Shanarra books, the list is endless.


Collection (short stories, same author) or anthology (short stories, different authors)?
Yes! I have both and enjoy them. They are good when don't have much time to read.


Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, or the velvety embrace of Death?
To be honest I have not read HP or LS, but I'll start on HP first.


Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
Do I have to choose? Because more than once I've started reading when the sun came up and stopped when it went down...


The books you need to go with other books on your shelves?
Some of the books I need will fill in holes in my library where I have a series that I don't have every book to anymore.


Do you read anywhere and anytime you can or do you have a set reading time and/or place?
I read when I can depending on time more than anything else.


Do you have seasonal reading habits?
I read more when school is not in session because I have more time. But as far as topics go, anytime is a good time...


Do you read one book at a time or do you have two or more books going at once?
I usually read one book at a time but not always.


What are your pet peeves about the way people treat books?
I don't like it when they trash them on purpose, but my biggest peeve is when people give up on a book after 20 pages...


Name one book you surprised yourself by liking.
Ella Minnow Pea, I was not looking forward to reading it and ended up liking it.


How often do you read a book and not review it on your blog?
Just how much free time do you think I have anyway? I don't do book reviews on my blog.


What are your reasons for not blogging about a book?
No time and no interest in doing that, at least for now.

Congratulations

Congratulations to the Obama campaign. They have now broken the color barrier for the highest office in the land. I am writing this as someone who voted for John McCain so you will have to forgive my lack of enthusiasm for his election. However, the American people have spoken and I will respect that decision.


President Obama it is.

But, I will cut him no slack for the next four years, and if you don't like how he governs, don't look at me. I voted for the other guy...

Be careful what you wish for

I have coworkers who are incredibly excited about the prospect of Obama winning. Some of them have been wearing Obama t-shirts and buttons to school and have been well very sure of themselves. Either they are also socialists, or they really don't know who they are voting for. It finally drove me to staple a McCain/Palin sticker to my wall. It'll stay up until Wednesday win or lose. Not surprisingly, I am one of the token conservatives at the school where I work. I cringed when I saw the Obama shirts and buttons and I wondered more than once what would have happened if I had worn a McCain shirt? I did have a McCain screen saver that would flash up on the LCD when I had my laptop hooked up to it, and I left it up there just to be a Palin er pain.

But I think that people who support Obama will soon find out that they've been sold a bill of goods in short order. Do they know that all Obama has to in order to raise taxes is let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010. Then on Jan 1, 2011 everyone's taxes go up and I mean EVERYONES! The poor, the middle class, and the ever expanding 'rich'. And the AMT? Watch that exception go by the wayside as well and boom 20 some odd million people get nailed with higher taxes.

And Joe Biden is right, Obama would get tested and quickly because our enemies view Obama as a weak leader and will jump at the chance for another big attack at the 'Great Satan'. Russia will continue to more closely resemble the old USSR than a real democracy. Don't be surprised to see more Russian military intervention in the old Soviet bloc because Putin knows that Obama won't do squat about it.

I keep seeing the old Cox commercial where the digital Max does not know the microphone on a camera is on and the words 'BUYERS REMORSE' echo through the store.

Buyers Remorse indeed.

Don't say you weren't warned.

Changes

Well, the new math teacher starts on Monday. Which is really good for her and the kids, and in many ways it's good for me as well. I get to really start teaching English and the Mrs. W., who I will be working with has 30 years of knowledge and experience that I can learn from. Plus, we compliment each other well. She knows the content inside and out, not to mention the pedagogy etc., but she admits that she does not take risks with her lessons very often. I am pretty much the opposite. I know that my content knowledge does not match hers, nor can I match her time in the classroom. However, my lessons are nothing if not ambitious and I take huge risks with them knowing the potential payoff is worth the chance that the lesson crashes and burns. Finally, for whatever reason, the female students don't try to play me like they do with Mrs. W., in the classroom and I already have a reputation of being a real hard ass with the students. Boy are her 8th graders in for a shock!

But (you knew that was coming) there are a couple of negatives. First, I won't be teaching any of my old students. Even though I will still teach a section of math, it will be course I (6th grade) and not course II (7th grade) and the class I am picking up is seventh graders who are behind in math and some of them and I don't see eye to eye. Secondly, I am going to lose my laptop computer. The IT department does not have any spares and thus, the intern makes the sacrifice. So this weekend, I'll be removing all the personal things from the laptop and then next week I can give it to IT so that they can re image it for the new teacher. Hopefully I can access my grade book from the computer lab so I can enter grades, if not then I'll have to do that by hand as well.

I realize that as the person who's not even on the totem pole that this may happen, it's still gonna suck not have a laptop computer.

Thank you!

I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post about patriotism. I didn't use everything but I found it to be fun and educational to read about your views. I'll be turning the new article tonight in class and hopefully I'll get a better grade than what I started with.

On the teaching front it looks like they finally have a teacher to replace me for math (YAY!). This means that I can actually start teaching English for 6 periods and just have one math class to deal with. I kept one class for two reasons. First, it means that the principal can stop teaching one section of math and spend more time on his first job, and I'll still get paid more for teaching because they apprentice pay sucks. And I do like my students even when they drive me batty.

And I actually gave the kids a break today in class. We spent the last 25 minutes watching "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". Tomorrow is parent teacher conference day and the 31st is Nevada Day, so there is no school. All the kids (even the 8th graders) enjoyed it and I think I'll do the same for Thanksgiving.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

Patriotism

So what is patriotism? Is it a bumper sticker? A flag in a cup? A lapel pin? The reason I am asking is that I need to rewrite a story for my journalism class and I need your thoughts. Let me know what you think when you see things like

1. A small flag in a pencil cup

2. An Obama/Biden sticker

3. A McCain/Palin sticker

4. Flag Lapel Pins

5. A support our troops magnet/sticker on a car.

6. The symbol for the GOP (Elephant)

7. The symbol for the democrats (donkey)

Be as brief or verbose as you wish.


Thanks to all 12.2 people who watch and read my blog...

End O' Quarter

Well the quarter ends on Monday and the results are decidedly mixed. I have one class where 15 of the 16 kids are passing with a C minimum and then the other two are not doing so well. The 6th graders I can at least understand. They're doing 7th grade math and some of them still have not figured out that you have to spend more than 10 minutes on the homework and actually turn it in to get a good grade.

The 8th graders simply talk to much and work too little. It was so bad that the principal had to come in and tell them that if I send them to him that they get suspended. Not that it's going to help any, at this point I am going to have to sacrifice a couple of them so they get the point.

The one other thing I don't like is the fact that the district does not do any plus or minus. So an 80% is the same as an 89% when in fact they are two different things. I really wish they would do pluses and minuses for official grades.

The good news is that I am getting an A in two of my classes, the bad news is that I am getting a C in the other two. Looks like I better kick it up a notch.

2nd quarter letter

UPDATE #1... I found some errors and corrected them on my original and here...

This is the letter that is going to be sent to all the parents on Tuesday, which is the first day of the new quarter. I hope this will alleviate some of the problems that I am having with my students. Notice how many times I put my phone number on the letter to make sure they can get a hold of me with any questions. Feel free to carp, criticize, suggest or otherwise let me know what I can do to improve this. If you would like to borrow this for your own use, feel free.

Dear Parents,

Well, we have survived the first quarter and generally your children have done fairly well in my math classes. However, there are some things that need to be cleared up for the 2^nd quarter so that we don’t repeat the mistakes of the first nine weeks.

The first issue I need to address is one of coming to class prepared. For the last few weeks far too many students are not showing up with basic items such as pencils, paper, red correcting pens or even their math textbook. They must have the following supplies with them when they come to math class: 2-3 pencils, a red pen to correct with, their textbook, binder paper and a good attitude.

The next issue I need to address is the effort or lack thereof given by the students. If your child did not earn the kind of grade that you were expecting, it was probably due to one of the following things: not turning in homework, too much talking, not taking their time or a combination of the three. It’s imperative that your child give this class their best effort or their grade will not be where it should be.

The most likely cause of poor grades is that students decided not to turn in their homework. On average the students had 45 assignments that were either homework or class work that had to be completed at home. If a student misses one or two assignments it generally does not hurt their grade much, BUT when the number of missing assignments is more than five or six it can literally cost them one full grade, and if the student is missing more than ten assignments, it’s almost impossible to pass the quarter or semester. If your child tells you they have no homework from me, it’s probably not true. The ONLY time they would not have homework is the day of a test or quiz. This includes Fridays as well. In high school and in college, they will have homework nearly every day and they need to get used to doing homework on the weekends. If you have a question please call me at 555-1212.

Late work is a huge problem and in an effort to alleviate this, the following policy will be in place for the remainder of the semester. If a student does not turn in an assignment on time, they will receive a 10% penalty for every day it is late until the 5^th day. At that point the best they can do is 50% on their assignment. Once we have finished a chapter, any missing assignments from that chapter will become and remain ZEROS in the grade book. If your child is absent for any reason it is their responsibility to get the assignment(s) and turn them in. They will have three days to turn it in or it will be considered late and the penalties will ensue. If you have any questions, please call me at 555-1212.

The next most likely cause is that they have decided that math class is their time for socializing and not for learning the material they need to pass this class. I do not tolerate talking in my class and if your child decided to test me on this expect to get a phone call home letting you know your child is disrupting my class. If they get a phone call home they will also get detention during the morning break between 2^nd and 3^rd period for a minimum of two days. If they don’t show up expect another phone call home and more detention. If you never had a chance to give me your contact information please fill out the form attached to the letter and have your child return it to me. If you have questions please call me at 555-1212.

It may also be that your child is rushing through their homework in an effort to get as much play time as possible. It’s not possible to do my homework in only 10-15 minutes. At minimum, it should take my students 30-45 minutes to complete assignments at home. I do give them time (when possible) to complete their homework in class, so it may be that they have done most of the work already. If you have any questions, please call me at 555-1212.

My students also have the opportunity to fix mistakes on their assignments and exams. They get full credit for homework or class work that they fix. If for example, they get a score of 10/20 on an assignment and then correctly redo seven of the ten questions, I will change their grade accordingly from a 10 to a 17. For multiplication sheets then can get one point back and on exams, they can get half of the missed points back. This is the best way for your student to improve their grade in my class. I do this because I want them to understand the material and doing it a second time will help them now and next year in their pre-algebra class. If you have any questions, please call me at 555-1212.

Don’t forget that AACPA has free tutoring in the great room starting at 3:45pm and continuing until 5:15pm Monday through Thursday. It’s free and if your child has less than a 75% (C) in any class, I strongly encourage you to participate. You can have them come once a week or everyday. If you have any questions, please call me at 555-1212.

By now I’m sure you’ve noticed that I’ve mentioned my phone number several times (555-1212). Please call me with any questions or concerns you have. If you get my voicemail please leave me a message with a call back number (or two) so I can return your call. I cannot be successful in the classroom without your support. If you prefer using e-mail, feel free You are also welcome to stop by my classroom at any time. The only day I cannot stay late is on Tuesdays because I have to be in downtown Henderson at 5pm. Most other days of the week I am here until at least 5pm and I would be happy to spend a few minutes chatting with you.

I would appreciate it if you would sign the form attached and return it to me. If you are not sure if I have your contact information OR if it’s changed, please fill out the contact information again. If the first page has a star on the front, I don’t have your contact information on file and need to have it so I can contact you regarding your child's progress in my math class.

If you have any questions, please call me at 555-1212 or e-mail me, I look forward to a new quarter and continued math success.

Obviously I changed the phone number to protect myself and I took out my email address for the same reason. I also attached in the real letter a signature/contact information sheet for the kids who didn't get the initial contact information signed. I am also going to make getting this new letter signed worth a large amount of points so that if they don't it's really going to hurt them, and conversely it will reward the students who do things the right way. 10 points don't seem to do the trick, so I was thinking of 25 points or more. I also hope that this will help with the late work issue all teachers face.

Burn out

That is what I am headed for right now. Four classes, full time teaching and the whole husband dad thing is really taking its toll on me right now. I'm once again behind in two of my classes and barely caught up in the other two. And on top of my regular teaching, I have to write all of the long range plans for last quarter, come up with the bank of questions for the NWEA tests and finish grading everything because the 1st quarter ends on October 20th.

My principal and I are hoping to get some of the sections I am teaching taken off of me so I can actually start teaching English. I will continue to teach one class and then go observe English teachers to see how they do things. I still have not found out about my student teaching or graduation yet, so hopefully those will go OK as well.

Back to the salt mines go I...

Lotion Bomb

That's what my car was a victim of this week. When I went to my car during my prep to get my things ready for my speech it was fine. I go back at 5pm and the back of my car was decorated with lotion, covering the right taillight and the wheel. I didn't have time to do anything more than clean off the worst of it and get to my speech class. I did email all three principals to let them know what happened. My principal told me to wash my car and give him the receipt and he'll pay me back. The facilities guy is also going to look at the security tape to see if they can find out who did it. I'm mad, but I'm even more disappointed. I would expect this at a school where the neighborhood is rough, but not at this school.

In other news my college classes are driving me nuts. It's getting harder and harder to keep all these balls in the air at one time. They still have not found a new math teacher yet either so I'm still doing full time teacher/full time student thing. I also had to call parents last night, lots of parents. Literally half my seventh graders, some eighth graders, and a couple of sixth graders are going to have a rough go of it with their parents. But there is no other way to get rid of the chatterbox virus that is racing through the middle school.

Anyway, back to the salt mines.

Tired

And sore! That's what happens when your tree sheds a several hundred pound branch in a short but nasty storm. So instead of trying to get ahead with my grading and school and all that, I was chopping and cutting so that my wife and I could start cleaning up the mess. Mind you the branch was about 12 inches at its thickest and was probably 20 feet long, not to mention all the smaller branches so it took me about 45 minutes just to get the branch off the wall (not to mention the neighbor's yard) and into my yard. Then it took my wife and I another hour or so to clear about half the branches and bag them up. At least we had a good weekend before then. We saw 3:10 to Yuma, which was an excellent movie and then watched the new Knight Rider which has some potential.

Well back to researching anonymous medieval lyrics for my paper due Friday, rounding up supplies for my demonstration speech, and finishing my re-write for my COM-250 class.