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.

All Summer In a Day

Today I was able to teach English for a change. No, they have not yet hired a math teacher at the super cool prep school, but one of the English teachers, Mrs. W., was nice enough to let me teach her 7th grade reading and writing class for the week.

I had written a lesson for the short story "All Summer In a Day" by Ray Bradbury that involved reading the story and then writing a new ending, picking up where the story left off. The kids were introduced to the lesson and began writing their endings today and I learned a very important lesson.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE PAGES IN THE CORRECT ORDER WHEN YOU MAKE COPIES!

Duh...

I figured this gem out during the lesson and had to do some quick adjusting on the fly to make sure they story made sense. You'd think that I would be able to count from 63-67 but nooooooo!
Once that had been resolved and the questions answered, the kids began to write their new endings. They ranged from well, anemic to really cool.

Having them revise their endings is going to be a great experience for both teacher and students. Tomorrow I plan to make copies of the self revision form and I need to modify it for having another student read and make suggestions on the endings.

The other thing I forgot to do was to have the pre-writing activity up on the board ahead of time. Because of this there was some lost time in the classroom. Silly me, next time I'll know better... I hope! At least Mrs. W., kept the activity on the board for tomorrow when she teaches the same lesson to her other ELA classes.

If this works, Mrs. W., will let me teach more lessons during my prep periods.

This may sound like the height of arrogance, but if you want a copy of the lesson, let me know and I would be happy to share it with you. Why reinvent the wheel?

Crazy

That's what the last week has been. Now that the honeymoon has ended so to speak the kids have decided that the rules no longer apply to them. Two fights, kids stealing, shooting teachers with rubber bands, and swiping pencil cases all occurred in the last week. This with about 150 middle school students. Lucky for us the principal is good at making the punishment fit the crimes and several students have not been to school for a few days if you catch my drift.

I had to rearrange the seating arrangement in my room because of the talking and the fact I could not move around the room easily. I like how it works, I could care less if the kids do. In addition I started a morning break detention list that currently has about 7 names on it. If this does not straighten out some of them, then I guess I'll start going lunch or after school detention for the little darlings.

And I still have my four college classes to deal with, including coming up with a lesson plan for a poem or short story that has an open ending or meaning.

I must be nuts to willingly do this.

The race that wasn't...

My son and I were supposed to be watching the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race tonight but that didn't happen thanks to a dead battery in between qualifying and the race itself. So instead of watching trucks tear around the track at 170 mph we were at Pep Boys getting a new battery for the minivan so my wife would not have to deal with a dying battery this week. That being said my son and I had a great time. We got to see the crews work on the trucks in the Neon Garage, where he got a 5x7 card from one team and lug nuts off the trucks from a couple of others. He had the biggest grin on his face while watching the controlled chaos of the pit crews in action. We also spent time with our friends Fran and Rich who got us the passes for the garage as a birthday present for my son. Next year I get him better ear protection because the ear plugs I bought were not nearly enough for his sensitive ears. I'm pretty deaf er immune due to my rock and roll listening past.

Hopefully next year we'll be able to watch the race as well as all the other activities...

Sacrifices

Update #1 9/16/08: Slow learners this lot, not only did two more from 5th period get the heave-ho, two kids from 1st period also got the boot. That's four in one day, a record of sorts...

That's what I've been doing for the last couple of days, or more precisely my students have become. My lovely 8th graders still have have the terminal chatterbox syndrome and can't seem to find a cure, so it's up to me to keep them quiet. So starting yesterday I've started removing students from my room.

Thursday I sent two two gentlemen to the office, and today I sent two more talkers to face the music. So I'm hoping that on Monday they will get the hint and stay quiet. But if they don't I will continue to remove the talkers from the room until either nobody talks or nobody is left.

I'll take door #2, they won't be able to help themselves. They just talk to much.

A day in the life

If you were ever curious about what 24 hours of my life is like, look no further, and it's only 100 words too!

I stumble out of bed, head swimming with thoughts of students, college and family. A shower, coffee and breakfast later I’m dropping off my son and I start my day teaching middle school. Exhausted, I get into my car and drive home long enough to see my daughter and then head off to college. I come home; enjoy dinner and a cold frothy beverage while trying to juggle homework, lesson planning and family time before I fall into bed for another sleepless night worrying about my students, classes and family only to do it all over again tomorrow.

A Tale of Two Days

I'm not sure I could have had two days that were so different from each other. Wednesday was pretty much a grease fire from the word go. My good shirt had a food stain on it so I had to wear my other dress shirt with the starched collar. I left my lunch at home so all I had eaten from 6am until 6pm was a couple of handfuls of peanuts. I got punished for doing the right thing and allowing the assistant principal to switch rooms with me so she could use the smart board 1st and 2nd period. Her room had a slight ant problem and the 6th graders got nothing done, and one of my 7th graders decided it was OK to kick a pen across the room nearly hitting several students and yours truly. Then to top it all off I left my power cord for my laptop at school so I could not get much done aside from enter a few grades. Did I mention that I paid for my class at UNLV at the bargain price of $1000? Something tells me I need to go back and find out why it was so flipping much money!

Thursday was the polar opposite of Wednesday. The kids were well behaved, the lessons went smoothly and open house went pretty well. I got to meet many of my student's parents and explain to them how I did things. Funny thing is that nobody complained about the no-name and it's in the trash policy either. My taco dip was a big success and everyone enjoyed themselves. I didn't get home until 8:30 but it was worth it. Not bad for my first open house!

In MY Classroom

I did this as an assignment for my teaching methods class. I thought it would be worth sharing with everyone here. Try not to fall asleep...

When I get my own room it won’t be like any other English classroom. Yes, there will be posters about literacy and even the parts of speech. And maybe even an author or two. But the walls will be filled with student work and more. There will be maps of the world, posters of great leaders, art by the great masters and more. Why? Because English is more than just two of the three ‘r’s, it’s the language of business, travel and more.

In MY class current events and history will be read discussed and written about. Street racing, foreign policy, movie reviews, animation and fashion will all have a place in my curriculum. Why? Because English is more than the parts of speech, grammar and high stakes tests, it’s about what makes us tick and what ticks us off. When the students care about the subject, their reading and writing will be the stuff of legends, at least for my students and me.

In MY class, the standards will be high and excuses will be left at the door. I’ll demand more from my students than just being on time and staying on task. They’ll have to hand in their work on time or suffer the consequences of a goose egg in the grade book. They’ll always remember to put their name on their work so that it does not end up in the trash. Why? Because in the REAL world, missing a deadline can cost you your job and your employer thousands or even millions of dollars, actions always have consequences and the sooner my kids students understand this, the better off they’ll be as adults.

In MY class, my students will take chances with their writing. They’ll sleep with their thesaurus and be comfortable pushing if not ignoring the envelope. Their writing will be a destination and not a grade. Writing to a prompt will be second nature to them because there is ALWAYS an angle that they can use to make the subject and their writing more interesting. Why? Because writing is more than POS, LOL and WTF? Its images written with words that teach entertain and irritate us to where we think about it long after we’ve read it.

And that’s what MY class will be like. Why? Because I give a damn, that’s why.

A new winner

Have you ever been wrong about a class? You know, you get a group of kids in your classroom and your initial impression is off by oh 180º degrees or so, or is it just me?

I hope I'm not the only teacher who got fooled, you see I have a new muse, er problem class and it's my 8th graders, the one group that should know better. I mean they've done middle school for 2 years now and should have the best idea of how to get themselves to 9th grade but they act like 7th graders on a sugar high. I gave one id10t a zero on a quiz and sent him to the principal's office for talking during a test. He was done and even though there was 1 student still taking the test decided that I didn't really mean no talking. Yea, and now he gets a zero and dealt with the principal. I really love working for him, he truly rocks. He knows when to show a bit of mercy and when to step on throats. He's always approachable and well let's say were lucky to have him.

Now in addition to grading the quizzes, I need to rearrange my seating again and to just start kicking the blabber mouths out of my room, no matter how much I like them. I'm very disappointed in their behavior, in the space of 4 days they went from my best class to my worst class, they make my 7th graders look like angels.

6th Graders

Ugh,
I love em, but they're killing me right now. Every day it's the same routine. We grade assignments in class and they never pay attention to the answers. You'd think after 4 days in a row they'd have some sort of clue but I end up repeating the answers again and again and again and again and and and and.....

What is so hard about it anyways? 7th graders can handle it, and most times they can't sit still for more than .0000002 seconds at a time and 8th graders can (and do) grade in their sleep. I find myself repeating the same instructions over and over again, more often that I do for the 7th graders, mind you these are supposed to be the smart 6th graders. What up with that yo? The course I teach is for normal (if they exist) 7th graders, so I should be dealing with the cream of the crop.

In other news, the troublemakers in 4th period all left. (that sound you heard was a champagne bottle popping) Some of the 7th graders in pre-algebra couldn't handle it and had to get moved to my class. This put me way over the maximum level allowed by the school, so the principal who normally only taught them for one period now teaches them for the whole block. Mr. P said that they did really well for him. I think it's because they're used to him and now their block is not disrupted my moving to my room with kids who do better in math than they did. His kids are the ones who struggle with math, like my 8th graders. But unlike my 8th graders, his kids did not comport themselves well in my classroom. I will miss some of them, and I'll miss others like I miss the intestinal flu.

Oh, and our open house for the super cool prep school is a week from Friday. My wife is excited because now I have to clean and organize my room for the open house. She spent 20 minutes telling me how cool the school is and 10 minutes ragging on me because my room is still not organized. I guess all her teachers in school were neat freaks or something.

Finally I had to write the professor who teaches the online course that I am trying to get into, because it's full and I need his permission to enroll. Hopefully he'll take pity on me knowing that some of his students will drop the class soon and then it won't be so crowded. If not then I don't student teach next spring. At least the people in the English department at UNLV were VERY helpful and were willing to point me in the right direction. Kudos to them for their help.

Write up!

Well, apparently not all students realize that I don't make empty threats. This morning I had a fine young man get himself sent to the principal's office for acting like an id10t. This fine gentleman started the day with a lousy attitude, stemming from the fact that I talked to him about missing our Friday appointment and from his illegible homework. When I caught him slouching in his seat at a 40º angle to his desk, I told him to sit properly. That didn't um sit well with him and he proceeded to make a huge production out of it, right until he slammed his chair into position. At which point I tossed him out and then hand delivered the write up to the office.

Tomorrow morning this fine young man, the principal and I are going to have a heart to heart chat about his behavior in my class. A process that will be repeated in my 4th period class now that I know who the chatterboxes are. This is the same class that has 15 out of my 23 students failing right now. Funny how the chattiest class has the worst grades. I guess it's hard to talk and follow instructions at the same time. New seating charts anyone?

In other news I have to drive down to UNLV and take care of the prerequisite in person. Like I have nothing better to do that drive all over the flizzing valley.

Ugh

F***ed!

That sums it up in one word. I went to check my schedule for the fall semester at both NSC and CCSN so I could let my principal know what day I could not stay late when I noticed something strange. I had somehow gone from two classes at CCSN to just one. My Brit Lit class was nowhere to be found, and I never got any notice from the college about any schedule changes. I know they have my email because they sent me my receipt when I paid for the two classes. I then checked my balance and my worst fears were realized. They now owe me the money for the canceled class.

The first thing I did was to recheck the available classes at CCSN to see if it was just a glitch, nope, no glitch. I then checked NSC just in cased, no luck there either. Finally I checked UNLV and found that there were 2 internet classes open for Brit Lit. Of course I had to register ($30) for UNLV and now I have to wait a couple of days (which I don't have) for my application to go through before I can even try to register for them.

I guess I could try the community college in Reno if it comes down to it but the timing could not have been worse. It's bad enough I got hosed on my lit theory class, now I gotta deal with this crap as well?

Did I forget to mention that the fall semester starts on Monday, August 25th?

1st day is done!

I survived my first day at the Super Cool Prep School. There are still a few kinks to be worked out, like getting the bells for the middle school and high school to work properly, but over all no real complaints. I also found out which period was going to be the source of many blog posts, er my challenging class.

And the winner is... 4th period!

Here is how it works. Periods 1,3, & 5 are regular math classes and the even periods are math application classes, where we work on things that will improve their problem solving skills. For 3rd period I have only 8 students, which is wonderful. Life gets even when the kids from the other (principal's) 3rd period class shows up for math apps. Suddenly they get chatty and don't want to pay attention. Add in that lunch is next and you get the idea. Tomorrow, I start stepping on necks and calling parents. Plus I am going to talk to the principal and ask him if they are as chatty in his class as they are in mine. Hopefully he'll talk to them about it!

Anyway, I gotta get back to my lesson planning and dinner preparation...