:i would REALLY like a standard 5 day week, please
:i understand that this is kind of a weird thing to want
:but OH MY GOD if we don't have a day with a standard routine in it soon my kids may actually kill each other.
That pretty much says it, really. There are only so many interruptions of routine 7- and 8-year-olds can handle before they just totally fucking lose it. If we haven't gotten there already, we will be there soon.
Showing posts with label management. Show all posts
Showing posts with label management. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
Argh.
Classroom management is getting more and more difficult. The afternoons are just crazy. I've gotten some good advice from O, though (give them things to do IMMEDIATELY, minimize the written words) so we'll see if that helps.
had a fistfight after school today. as we were trying to get down the stairs. I turned around to get the girls in line and two of my boys were just ON each other. Punching, yelling, wrestling... it was all I could do to separate them. So now two of my seven-year-old children have a 90-minute detention tomorrow. Sigh.
I wish my aide were full-time. She leaves at noon every day to face the math block alone. It's just no fun. I'd love to do math groups, if only I had enough supervision... Blah. I'll see if I can work it out anyway.
I think I must be too tired to write -- I don't feel like I'm saying anything. (the reading teacher just yelled my name in the PD and scared me to death, but she was just using me as an example. Heh.) Hopefully I'll write something material soon.
had a fistfight after school today. as we were trying to get down the stairs. I turned around to get the girls in line and two of my boys were just ON each other. Punching, yelling, wrestling... it was all I could do to separate them. So now two of my seven-year-old children have a 90-minute detention tomorrow. Sigh.
I wish my aide were full-time. She leaves at noon every day to face the math block alone. It's just no fun. I'd love to do math groups, if only I had enough supervision... Blah. I'll see if I can work it out anyway.
I think I must be too tired to write -- I don't feel like I'm saying anything. (the reading teacher just yelled my name in the PD and scared me to death, but she was just using me as an example. Heh.) Hopefully I'll write something material soon.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Leveling
L was out on Friday, so we couldn't finish preparations for leveling*... so much for starting the new classroom with the new week. Ah well. It'll probably happen by Tuesday... and it'll give me that last day to finish my DRAs. I forgot when I was doing them that the "high" kids are just as important as the "low" kids... I may have to trade one boy back from L and give her a girl, because she's probably too high to be in my class. He's borderline (I/J reading level) but given the involvement of her mother and her mother's insistence that her daughter loves to read and went to the library frequently, I'm betting she's at least a K by now.
This is all massively frustrating. There are lots of things (introducing the job chart, organizing guided reading groups, putting name tags on the desks) that I don't want to really get into until I have a moderately stabilized classroom... and as I said last time or so, I'm sort of feeling like I wasted the first week of getting routines underway and getting the kids settled since we're going right back into upheaval. I guess I could think of it as an opportunity to try it again and see if I can do it better... but the problem is that the core curriculum goes into full force this week, and I don't have the extra time in the mornings anymore.
I was about right about numbers, though. I'm losing two Cs and two Ds off the bottom, and two Js off the top, and gaining six Is and six E-Fs. This will give me, according to my current plan, four teams of five and one team of six (this makes more sense than four teams of four and two teams of five for space reasons, much as I like smaller groups) with two desks left over. I will have to give up on my plan to have morning circle until I can get more rug pieces, because currently my rug is just too small. (What I will probably have to do is move the rug out from the wall a bit, and have them sitting on carpet squares all around its perimeter. They'll actually sit on the rug when they're in rows for lesson introduction or read aloud.)
We'll have to see how it goes... providing it ever actually fstarking happens. Bureaucracy can bite me.
*I never fully explained what this was, did I... It's got a couple of meanings. On the one hand, they're trying to keep the kids organized by reading level, so that no one has to cope with TOO much differentiation in the classroom. O will have the lowest kids (B-D, K-early 1 level), I'll have the mid-range kids (E-I/J, mid-to-late 1) and L will have the highs (J-P, 2nd-early 4th grade level). To answer Naomi, who asked me this a week ago by now, this differs from tracking in that the kids are re-evaluated and placed every year, so if they improve they'll be in a different class for third grade).
It also just means leveling the numbers. I have yet to have more than 20 kids in my classroom, despite the fact that my roll sheet says 25. L has had 28, with a roll sheet of 30, and O has actually had 30. So by the time we're done, L and I will have 26, and O will have 25. (some kids on the roll sheet don't actually go here anymore.)
So that's that.
This is all massively frustrating. There are lots of things (introducing the job chart, organizing guided reading groups, putting name tags on the desks) that I don't want to really get into until I have a moderately stabilized classroom... and as I said last time or so, I'm sort of feeling like I wasted the first week of getting routines underway and getting the kids settled since we're going right back into upheaval. I guess I could think of it as an opportunity to try it again and see if I can do it better... but the problem is that the core curriculum goes into full force this week, and I don't have the extra time in the mornings anymore.
I was about right about numbers, though. I'm losing two Cs and two Ds off the bottom, and two Js off the top, and gaining six Is and six E-Fs. This will give me, according to my current plan, four teams of five and one team of six (this makes more sense than four teams of four and two teams of five for space reasons, much as I like smaller groups) with two desks left over. I will have to give up on my plan to have morning circle until I can get more rug pieces, because currently my rug is just too small. (What I will probably have to do is move the rug out from the wall a bit, and have them sitting on carpet squares all around its perimeter. They'll actually sit on the rug when they're in rows for lesson introduction or read aloud.)
We'll have to see how it goes... providing it ever actually fstarking happens. Bureaucracy can bite me.
*I never fully explained what this was, did I... It's got a couple of meanings. On the one hand, they're trying to keep the kids organized by reading level, so that no one has to cope with TOO much differentiation in the classroom. O will have the lowest kids (B-D, K-early 1 level), I'll have the mid-range kids (E-I/J, mid-to-late 1) and L will have the highs (J-P, 2nd-early 4th grade level). To answer Naomi, who asked me this a week ago by now, this differs from tracking in that the kids are re-evaluated and placed every year, so if they improve they'll be in a different class for third grade).
It also just means leveling the numbers. I have yet to have more than 20 kids in my classroom, despite the fact that my roll sheet says 25. L has had 28, with a roll sheet of 30, and O has actually had 30. So by the time we're done, L and I will have 26, and O will have 25. (some kids on the roll sheet don't actually go here anymore.)
So that's that.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
My perspectives on grade-level work are somewhat skewed
...as anyone who went to school with me would know. I came up gifted and talented, 3rd through 12th grade. This can make it difficult for me to relate to learning differences, or even average learning curves.
All of which makes the current situation even more frustrating for me. I supposedly have the "middle" class, while O and L have the "low" and "high" classes respectively. These classes were arranged according to reading level. SDP measures reading level according to the Guided Reading scale, which uses the letters of the alphabet, A being an emergent Kindergarten reader and Z being somewhere in the vicinity of eighth grade.
The "appropriate" level range for second grade is J through M. Now, I was under no misapprehensions that all, or even most of my class would be starting the year at a level J. I was also prepared to deal with the fact that few or none of my students would have made any advances in reading since June,.
What I was not expecting was for them to have slipped two to three levels over the summer. One student who was apparently reading at an F last year is now reading at a C. Another supposedly F-level student is at a D. One of my new admits is reading at a C.
These are kindergarten levels, people. I haven't finished doing my DRAs yet, and honestly I'm a little afraid to. It's not like it matters for leveling purposes anyway (gotta keep those homogeneous groupings, don'cha know) since unless they've dropped more than three levels they're staying in my class... but I do need to know what I'm dealing with. If nothing else, I need to go back and redo my 100 book challenge book selections, since 1 blue and 2 blue are obviously beyond us at this point.
I do not know how to cope with this. Activities I plan as independent work are way beyond them. They can't write complete sentences. They can't spell. They don't all use vowels consistently (as in, at least one per word). I'm going to have to drastically scale back my ideas, and it's difficult and frustrating and not what I was hoping to be in for. I always have a tendency to aim high... which I suppose is laudable, but there's a difference between "aiming high" and "going totally over their heads." Argh.
There's also the question of the core curriculum. We have topics we are required to cover... but if they can't do the work, what good does it do us to give it to them? It's setting them up to fail and it's gonna make me crazy. The middle years learning support teacher has this problem a lot worse than I do... at least there's not THAT much they're already supposed to know by the second grade. She's dealing with eighth graders who can't add 3-digit numbers, and she's supposed to be teaching them geometry -- is required to, in fact, lest she be written up. It's not even the second full week of school and she's already got a look of resignation on her face that's heartbreaking.
The other fun part, of course, is that whole "leveling" thing I so cavalierly mentioned a few paragraphs ago... along with the new admits who keep appearing every day. We've lost a few kids too, to transfers and interstate relocation, but not nearly enough to give us a reasonable class size... Or to allow us to feel like we've got any kind of stability. And my class is going to change by at least a third once we finish DRAs, regardless of new admits, because of the whole homogeneous-grouping trends. Gotta keep the percentile ranges together, apparently... so I'll probably trade three to L, and four to O, and get back probably twelve kids in return. Kind of makes one wonder why they bother having the kids in class for the first few days. Can't we just have them come in, do a day of diagnostics (DRAs, basic math skills, writing sample) and THEN put them in a classroom? It makes me feel like I just wasted the two full days I spent on routines and classroom procedures, since half of them won't need it anymore and half my new class won't have any fstarking idea what's going on.
In other news, I got a warning about not being outside by 8:30 this morning. If I was late (of which I am not certain) it was by like a minute... but at the same time it's nice to know that there are administrative types actually doing their jobs. Just like they tell us about the kids: consistency in consequences makes for a safe learning environment. Funny how it works for grownups too.
How did it get to be 10:18? Jesus. No wonder I never get anything done. This has been quite a rambling journal entry... maybe one of these days I'll actually have time to sit down and organize my thoughts into headings, and write a separate journal entry for each one. For now, though, I need to write my emergency sub plans, so rambling is what you get.
All of which makes the current situation even more frustrating for me. I supposedly have the "middle" class, while O and L have the "low" and "high" classes respectively. These classes were arranged according to reading level. SDP measures reading level according to the Guided Reading scale, which uses the letters of the alphabet, A being an emergent Kindergarten reader and Z being somewhere in the vicinity of eighth grade.
The "appropriate" level range for second grade is J through M. Now, I was under no misapprehensions that all, or even most of my class would be starting the year at a level J. I was also prepared to deal with the fact that few or none of my students would have made any advances in reading since June,.
What I was not expecting was for them to have slipped two to three levels over the summer. One student who was apparently reading at an F last year is now reading at a C. Another supposedly F-level student is at a D. One of my new admits is reading at a C.
These are kindergarten levels, people. I haven't finished doing my DRAs yet, and honestly I'm a little afraid to. It's not like it matters for leveling purposes anyway (gotta keep those homogeneous groupings, don'cha know) since unless they've dropped more than three levels they're staying in my class... but I do need to know what I'm dealing with. If nothing else, I need to go back and redo my 100 book challenge book selections, since 1 blue and 2 blue are obviously beyond us at this point.
I do not know how to cope with this. Activities I plan as independent work are way beyond them. They can't write complete sentences. They can't spell. They don't all use vowels consistently (as in, at least one per word). I'm going to have to drastically scale back my ideas, and it's difficult and frustrating and not what I was hoping to be in for. I always have a tendency to aim high... which I suppose is laudable, but there's a difference between "aiming high" and "going totally over their heads." Argh.
There's also the question of the core curriculum. We have topics we are required to cover... but if they can't do the work, what good does it do us to give it to them? It's setting them up to fail and it's gonna make me crazy. The middle years learning support teacher has this problem a lot worse than I do... at least there's not THAT much they're already supposed to know by the second grade. She's dealing with eighth graders who can't add 3-digit numbers, and she's supposed to be teaching them geometry -- is required to, in fact, lest she be written up. It's not even the second full week of school and she's already got a look of resignation on her face that's heartbreaking.
The other fun part, of course, is that whole "leveling" thing I so cavalierly mentioned a few paragraphs ago... along with the new admits who keep appearing every day. We've lost a few kids too, to transfers and interstate relocation, but not nearly enough to give us a reasonable class size... Or to allow us to feel like we've got any kind of stability. And my class is going to change by at least a third once we finish DRAs, regardless of new admits, because of the whole homogeneous-grouping trends. Gotta keep the percentile ranges together, apparently... so I'll probably trade three to L, and four to O, and get back probably twelve kids in return. Kind of makes one wonder why they bother having the kids in class for the first few days. Can't we just have them come in, do a day of diagnostics (DRAs, basic math skills, writing sample) and THEN put them in a classroom? It makes me feel like I just wasted the two full days I spent on routines and classroom procedures, since half of them won't need it anymore and half my new class won't have any fstarking idea what's going on.
In other news, I got a warning about not being outside by 8:30 this morning. If I was late (of which I am not certain) it was by like a minute... but at the same time it's nice to know that there are administrative types actually doing their jobs. Just like they tell us about the kids: consistency in consequences makes for a safe learning environment. Funny how it works for grownups too.
How did it get to be 10:18? Jesus. No wonder I never get anything done. This has been quite a rambling journal entry... maybe one of these days I'll actually have time to sit down and organize my thoughts into headings, and write a separate journal entry for each one. For now, though, I need to write my emergency sub plans, so rambling is what you get.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Right.
Got my school laptop today, which is in itself a big step up from last year (when they could supposedly have given me one, except they never got any power cords, or if they did no one remembered to check and see if I actually wanted a laptop, or to check and see if I wanted or needed anything *cough* I mean hi). Since I'm just now starting the insurance claim on my stolen laptop, this is not only an advantage but almost literally lifesaving, since I can now do things like level books and find PDF worksheets and look up information in the core curriculum documents without having to lug the books home.
Second grade this year. This is exciting on all kinds of levels, not least because one of my all-time favorite teachers was my second grade teacher. I spent a lot of time in his classroom in college and after, both volunteering and subbing, so I find myself drawing a lot from him when I organize my classroom and plan my day.
The kids are interesting.. very active, very chatty. I'm supposed to have 25, but the most I've ever seen so far is 17. This, of course, will not last, since the other two second grade teachers have closer to 30. I have the mid-range kids, too, so as we get an idea of their levels, they'll be offloading onto me anyway. All I can do at this point is cross my fingers and pray that the eight that haven't shown up yet have moved away and that I won't suddenly have a class of 33. Because, ew.
I spent some time this summer rereading my classroom management books, which has done me some good, although in some respects the assumptions they make are just frustrating. The idea of a flexible curriculum, for example... or a 30 minute recess, or enough classroom space (or few enough students, take your pick) for a morning circle (as opposed to a morning set of rows on the rug). However, I am learning to adapt.
Starting the year from day one has really made a difference too -- even if I only had one and a half days' lead time (my bulletin boards are STILL not finished, argh). We're setting up routines, we're practicing signals, I'm getting to actually implement things like time out... things are not going perfectly, of course, but they're going. I don't feel as completely overwhelmed and apathetic as I did last year. Just as exhausted, but not having to force myself out of bed in the morning. This is a promising sign, I feel.
With that, it's 10:35, and I haven't finished sorting through the three massive boxes of Stuff that my father brought ume over the weekend. (hanging folders, craft supplies, pencils, pens, paper, notebooks... a veritable treasure trove of Teacher Things (tm). God, I feel so old.) Further bulletins... well, hopefully more regularly than last year.
Second grade this year. This is exciting on all kinds of levels, not least because one of my all-time favorite teachers was my second grade teacher. I spent a lot of time in his classroom in college and after, both volunteering and subbing, so I find myself drawing a lot from him when I organize my classroom and plan my day.
The kids are interesting.. very active, very chatty. I'm supposed to have 25, but the most I've ever seen so far is 17. This, of course, will not last, since the other two second grade teachers have closer to 30. I have the mid-range kids, too, so as we get an idea of their levels, they'll be offloading onto me anyway. All I can do at this point is cross my fingers and pray that the eight that haven't shown up yet have moved away and that I won't suddenly have a class of 33. Because, ew.
I spent some time this summer rereading my classroom management books, which has done me some good, although in some respects the assumptions they make are just frustrating. The idea of a flexible curriculum, for example... or a 30 minute recess, or enough classroom space (or few enough students, take your pick) for a morning circle (as opposed to a morning set of rows on the rug). However, I am learning to adapt.
Starting the year from day one has really made a difference too -- even if I only had one and a half days' lead time (my bulletin boards are STILL not finished, argh). We're setting up routines, we're practicing signals, I'm getting to actually implement things like time out... things are not going perfectly, of course, but they're going. I don't feel as completely overwhelmed and apathetic as I did last year. Just as exhausted, but not having to force myself out of bed in the morning. This is a promising sign, I feel.
With that, it's 10:35, and I haven't finished sorting through the three massive boxes of Stuff that my father brought ume over the weekend. (hanging folders, craft supplies, pencils, pens, paper, notebooks... a veritable treasure trove of Teacher Things (tm). God, I feel so old.) Further bulletins... well, hopefully more regularly than last year.
Monday, December 03, 2007
bleah.
I can feel myself getting meaner. Stretched thinner. More willing to yell. Afternoons are just impossible. I can't get them to sit quietly. I can't get them to listen. What's the line from Taylor Mali? "By 2:00 their blood sugar is so low they don't have the energy to do anything but beat each other up and scream." Two of my good girls got in an argument today -- or rather, one said something flippant which the other took personally -- and so I had two crying girls on top of the usual list of yelling girls, crazy boys, and general apathy and lunacy. I wonder what would happen if I started teaching math in the morning. I wonder if such a revolutionary course of action is permitted.
I can't seem to get the kids organized in any sort of effective way. The number of my kids that can't sit next to other kids (or will be obnoxious if they do) is ridiculous. The number who would prefer to sit alone makes up approximately the rest of the class. Everyone tells me to have them in groups, but I'd spend so much time stamping out brush fires if I did that I'd never get any teaching done. Maybe I just have to spend a while stamping out brush fires.
I get the feeling that I need to be more consistent about card-turning, or maybe just stricter. More of my kids should be sending notes home, maybe that would have an effect. (The funny thing is, all the strictness and yelling and arguments during the day doesn't stop them from giving me hugs and writing essays about how I am a wise person [prompt was to write about a wise person] and the best teacher ever. It almost makes me feel guilty for all the evil thoughts I think about them. Almost.)
I'm just so TIRED of all this. It's starting to spill over into the rest of my life as well. P and I had a lovely big argument over the weekend about approximately nothing. I'm not eating particularly well. I'm just so TIRED all the time.
(Incidentally, writing this one a zillion-year-old iMac at work is really obnoxious. I keep writing a sentence and a half, making a typo, and then having to wait two minutes for the text on the screen to catch up with what I've written. I miss my laptop. Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed soon.)
Spent two hours this afternoon making posters and things so that when the school district does its walk through next week we'll have all the appropriate things on the walls. Really makes me wish I had more wall space... or at least walls with paint that tape can adhere to. Where I am supposed to put all this crap I am sure I don't know.
But at any rate, I do not intend to spend any more time in this building today. Off to call Attitude Girl's mom, and then head home. Spinning, tea, and maybe an audiobook on my iPod. Sounds about right to me.
I can't seem to get the kids organized in any sort of effective way. The number of my kids that can't sit next to other kids (or will be obnoxious if they do) is ridiculous. The number who would prefer to sit alone makes up approximately the rest of the class. Everyone tells me to have them in groups, but I'd spend so much time stamping out brush fires if I did that I'd never get any teaching done. Maybe I just have to spend a while stamping out brush fires.
I get the feeling that I need to be more consistent about card-turning, or maybe just stricter. More of my kids should be sending notes home, maybe that would have an effect. (The funny thing is, all the strictness and yelling and arguments during the day doesn't stop them from giving me hugs and writing essays about how I am a wise person [prompt was to write about a wise person] and the best teacher ever. It almost makes me feel guilty for all the evil thoughts I think about them. Almost.)
I'm just so TIRED of all this. It's starting to spill over into the rest of my life as well. P and I had a lovely big argument over the weekend about approximately nothing. I'm not eating particularly well. I'm just so TIRED all the time.
(Incidentally, writing this one a zillion-year-old iMac at work is really obnoxious. I keep writing a sentence and a half, making a typo, and then having to wait two minutes for the text on the screen to catch up with what I've written. I miss my laptop. Hopefully I'll be able to get it fixed soon.)
Spent two hours this afternoon making posters and things so that when the school district does its walk through next week we'll have all the appropriate things on the walls. Really makes me wish I had more wall space... or at least walls with paint that tape can adhere to. Where I am supposed to put all this crap I am sure I don't know.
But at any rate, I do not intend to spend any more time in this building today. Off to call Attitude Girl's mom, and then head home. Spinning, tea, and maybe an audiobook on my iPod. Sounds about right to me.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
*breath*
(First off, hello to my parents, who requested a link.)
This week is so much better than last week. I don't think this has anything to do with the kids themselves -- one girl (the same one as usual) got suspended on Monday for the passing of graphic and violent notes, my two crazy boys (turn-into-mush boy and Pinball Machine Boy -- I think I'll start calling him Pinball in this context) are still completely nuts, and the rest of them are as obnoxious as ever. But Thanksgiving was restful and rejuvenating.
Even if I did scare a few of my relatives with my response to "so how's teaching going?" which was basically to smile brightly (not -quite- maniacally) and announce "I hate it! It's terrible!" Heh heh.
Been having two kids per day up this week to help me with various projects -- two on Monday to help cut out paper squares for math, and two each yesterday and today to clean out various closets. I am ALMOST finished getting the previous tenants' stuff out (I'm dealing with layers of detritus here. I almost feel like an archaeologist). Today I found a crate full of first-grade science textbooks, including the teacher's edition. Apparently they've been looking for it since September.
Instituted incentive pads on their desks, with a smily-face for each day ended on a green card (as opposed to the yellow warning card, the orange first-consequence card, and the red note-home card.) At five smilies, they get a small treat (piece of candy, pencil, eraser, etc.) and at a whole page full they get a big treat (fun lunch with me, free homework pass, some other things I've yet to think of.) It's kind of depressing how few kids wind up with a green card every day. It's also kind of depressing how much I have to bribe them to behave themselves. (Not that it works for all of them. Maybe once they see the incentive sheets in action?) On the bright side, this is a cumulative reward system, so everyone has the hope of getting it at least once, as opposed to Fun Friday, which some of my kids are basically never going to achieve. Sigh. I don't like school-wide behavior systems, or at least not this one.
Four phone calls home tonight. One to attempt to reschedule a conference, one to try to find a note home that the child did not return, one to make contact about a missed conference for Pinball Boy (hopefully next week) and one for turn-into-mush boy that I've been meaning to make for almost a week. Did not call Note Girl's mother, even though I meant to, because I forgot to bring her phone number home. I'll try to call her at lunch tomorrow.
Not at all sure what to do with Note Girl. She's very angry about a bunch of things, and I'm having trouble getting through. Hopefully they can get her into CATCH, which is a school-based therapy program. She needs to talk things out with SOMEONE.
Basically, I just wish my room were larger. If I could actually separate my students, there might be fewer disruptions. But as it stands, I can only get them maybe four feet from each other, which is nowhere near far enough. And enough of them have interactive problems that the calculus of room-arrangement is REALLY difficult.
Also, grades are due at the end of this week. I have nowhere NEAR enough done on that (nor do I have a whole heck of a lot of work, but I'll do what I can.) I also need to submit two writing samples by Friday afternoon. Guess what we'll be doing tomorrow and the next day...
Just realized that i left my phone at home and P is probably trying to call me. (on top of everything else, my computer is dead, again. This time, under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Sigh.) Off I go.
This week is so much better than last week. I don't think this has anything to do with the kids themselves -- one girl (the same one as usual) got suspended on Monday for the passing of graphic and violent notes, my two crazy boys (turn-into-mush boy and Pinball Machine Boy -- I think I'll start calling him Pinball in this context) are still completely nuts, and the rest of them are as obnoxious as ever. But Thanksgiving was restful and rejuvenating.
Even if I did scare a few of my relatives with my response to "so how's teaching going?" which was basically to smile brightly (not -quite- maniacally) and announce "I hate it! It's terrible!" Heh heh.
Been having two kids per day up this week to help me with various projects -- two on Monday to help cut out paper squares for math, and two each yesterday and today to clean out various closets. I am ALMOST finished getting the previous tenants' stuff out (I'm dealing with layers of detritus here. I almost feel like an archaeologist). Today I found a crate full of first-grade science textbooks, including the teacher's edition. Apparently they've been looking for it since September.
Instituted incentive pads on their desks, with a smily-face for each day ended on a green card (as opposed to the yellow warning card, the orange first-consequence card, and the red note-home card.) At five smilies, they get a small treat (piece of candy, pencil, eraser, etc.) and at a whole page full they get a big treat (fun lunch with me, free homework pass, some other things I've yet to think of.) It's kind of depressing how few kids wind up with a green card every day. It's also kind of depressing how much I have to bribe them to behave themselves. (Not that it works for all of them. Maybe once they see the incentive sheets in action?) On the bright side, this is a cumulative reward system, so everyone has the hope of getting it at least once, as opposed to Fun Friday, which some of my kids are basically never going to achieve. Sigh. I don't like school-wide behavior systems, or at least not this one.
Four phone calls home tonight. One to attempt to reschedule a conference, one to try to find a note home that the child did not return, one to make contact about a missed conference for Pinball Boy (hopefully next week) and one for turn-into-mush boy that I've been meaning to make for almost a week. Did not call Note Girl's mother, even though I meant to, because I forgot to bring her phone number home. I'll try to call her at lunch tomorrow.
Not at all sure what to do with Note Girl. She's very angry about a bunch of things, and I'm having trouble getting through. Hopefully they can get her into CATCH, which is a school-based therapy program. She needs to talk things out with SOMEONE.
Basically, I just wish my room were larger. If I could actually separate my students, there might be fewer disruptions. But as it stands, I can only get them maybe four feet from each other, which is nowhere near far enough. And enough of them have interactive problems that the calculus of room-arrangement is REALLY difficult.
Also, grades are due at the end of this week. I have nowhere NEAR enough done on that (nor do I have a whole heck of a lot of work, but I'll do what I can.) I also need to submit two writing samples by Friday afternoon. Guess what we'll be doing tomorrow and the next day...
Just realized that i left my phone at home and P is probably trying to call me. (on top of everything else, my computer is dead, again. This time, under somewhat suspicious circumstances. Sigh.) Off I go.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Utter Fstarking Lunacy+3-day weekend= almost sane again.
Friday was insane. Thursday was actually worse, being the instigator of the drama, but Friday was the aftermath, so while it wasn't as painful it was more involved and took longer.
Basically, I discovered a note in one of my students' desks that was incriminatingly sexual. (I'm not proud of how I discovered it. I can't let my anger impair my judgment like that.) Basically, Boy touched Girl inappropriately, Girl wrote him a note about it, and over its multiple back-and-forths wound up asking if he would like to "do it" to her.
ARGH.
Now, fortunately, the author of this note was not the girl in my class who actually has been a victim of sexual abuse (although she was sitting near him in my class for a while, so I am currently praying as hard as I can that Boy did not spread his efforts around). However, this only means that The Icing on the Cake has not been applied.
Of course, when I found this note (Thursday) the counselor was unavailable. I mentioned it to Upstairs Friendly Teacher (see previous note) who said that it would be OK to let it go until Friday, when Counselor would be available again, but to take care of it first thing in the morning. Obviously, I did -- I was not eager to have this thing burning a hole in my desk drawer any longer than necessary.
So, it got dealt with, over the course of the entire damn day. Boy flipped out, of course (I mean, he's eight) and was basically done for the rest of the day. Girl gets on my nerves anyway... Suffice to say, obnoxious day all around.
Best part was when the father of Boy shows up after school (innocuously -- looking for Boy's hat) and Counselor has gone home, so I get to go hunting for the principal and tell him what's up myself. Gah, gah, GAH.
Good part of Friday was math. They're doing a unit on measurement, and after having them do some seat work with their rulers on one-inch measurements, I allowed them to get up and walk around to do one-foot measurements. They had a good time, they didn't get in fights, and afterward we had a nice list of measurements. (I had to do the one-yard measurements, because we only have one yardstick. I think, upon reflection, that this is not necessarily a bad thing.) I wish I had more wall space for putting these things up in the classroom. My kingdom for a chart-paper holder. :P (More things for the DonorsChoose shopping list!) Hopefully the rest of the unit will provide more opportunities for moving around.
I need to incorporate more moving around into my lessons in general. It seems that they can focus on one thing but for so long while seated. Also need to start doing guided reading. I'd like to organize my morning literacy block like Mr. Byrd did -- four activities a day, in 20-minute segments -- so we'll see if I can work that out. Guided reading, journals, trophies, and somethingelsebutwhat? Grammar? Spelling?
Trying to get all my lesson plans for the week done today, between fending off a head cold and just generally wanting to go back to bed. At least it's a four-day week... and I'm almost done with literacy plans.
All I really want is one 8-hour day in which to go in to school and organize. Everyone else got those at the beginning of the year, why can't I have one?
Basically, I discovered a note in one of my students' desks that was incriminatingly sexual. (I'm not proud of how I discovered it. I can't let my anger impair my judgment like that.) Basically, Boy touched Girl inappropriately, Girl wrote him a note about it, and over its multiple back-and-forths wound up asking if he would like to "do it" to her.
ARGH.
Now, fortunately, the author of this note was not the girl in my class who actually has been a victim of sexual abuse (although she was sitting near him in my class for a while, so I am currently praying as hard as I can that Boy did not spread his efforts around). However, this only means that The Icing on the Cake has not been applied.
Of course, when I found this note (Thursday) the counselor was unavailable. I mentioned it to Upstairs Friendly Teacher (see previous note) who said that it would be OK to let it go until Friday, when Counselor would be available again, but to take care of it first thing in the morning. Obviously, I did -- I was not eager to have this thing burning a hole in my desk drawer any longer than necessary.
So, it got dealt with, over the course of the entire damn day. Boy flipped out, of course (I mean, he's eight) and was basically done for the rest of the day. Girl gets on my nerves anyway... Suffice to say, obnoxious day all around.
Best part was when the father of Boy shows up after school (innocuously -- looking for Boy's hat) and Counselor has gone home, so I get to go hunting for the principal and tell him what's up myself. Gah, gah, GAH.
Good part of Friday was math. They're doing a unit on measurement, and after having them do some seat work with their rulers on one-inch measurements, I allowed them to get up and walk around to do one-foot measurements. They had a good time, they didn't get in fights, and afterward we had a nice list of measurements. (I had to do the one-yard measurements, because we only have one yardstick. I think, upon reflection, that this is not necessarily a bad thing.) I wish I had more wall space for putting these things up in the classroom. My kingdom for a chart-paper holder. :P (More things for the DonorsChoose shopping list!) Hopefully the rest of the unit will provide more opportunities for moving around.
I need to incorporate more moving around into my lessons in general. It seems that they can focus on one thing but for so long while seated. Also need to start doing guided reading. I'd like to organize my morning literacy block like Mr. Byrd did -- four activities a day, in 20-minute segments -- so we'll see if I can work that out. Guided reading, journals, trophies, and somethingelsebutwhat? Grammar? Spelling?
Trying to get all my lesson plans for the week done today, between fending off a head cold and just generally wanting to go back to bed. At least it's a four-day week... and I'm almost done with literacy plans.
All I really want is one 8-hour day in which to go in to school and organize. Everyone else got those at the beginning of the year, why can't I have one?
Thursday, November 01, 2007
Forgot to do my paper journal today, so this will have to do double duty.
Day after Halloween was not as horrific as I'd been afraid. Dylan was out again (second time this week) and several of the kids were sluggish and/or not feeling terribly well, but all in all not a bad day.
I'm feeling badly about keeping them in their desks all day, but am unsure what to do about it at this juncture. They're not even settled down enough for working in pairs, as we demonstrated with the science experiment we tried to do today and Tuesday. Noisy, yelling, not sharing, out of their seats... Frustrating. I want to get their desks in groups, but I have no idea how to do it. So many of my kids are just explosive with each other. Maybe I just need to steel myself for sending home lots of notes for a couple of weeks, and put them wherever I can. It almost feels like setting them up for failure... but on the other hand, the current arrangement is not going to work forever. And they are going to have to learn to work with each other, or at least near each other.
I'm at a loss for what to do about K, the boy I was writing about yesterday. He seems to have some emotional problems, and I'm having trouble finding a balance between expecting more of him than he's capable of providing and letting him get away with things. Sometimes he can take correction gracefully, and sometimes he just shuts down, and I can't get him to say a word. Sometimes he won't even nod his head. Fortunately his old teacher is across the hall... but I can't keep calling her out of her classroom every time he shuts down on me. I need to talk to her in the morning and see if she has some ideas for managing him.
Going to DC this weekend for my dad's concert. taking the business-class train, so as to have space to spread out and do my lesson plans. Looking forward to getting them done over the weekend, so that I only have to tweak them during the week rather than writing the whole damn things every night. I didn't have any choice this week, but hopefully I'll never have to do it again. >_<
Day after Halloween was not as horrific as I'd been afraid. Dylan was out again (second time this week) and several of the kids were sluggish and/or not feeling terribly well, but all in all not a bad day.
I'm feeling badly about keeping them in their desks all day, but am unsure what to do about it at this juncture. They're not even settled down enough for working in pairs, as we demonstrated with the science experiment we tried to do today and Tuesday. Noisy, yelling, not sharing, out of their seats... Frustrating. I want to get their desks in groups, but I have no idea how to do it. So many of my kids are just explosive with each other. Maybe I just need to steel myself for sending home lots of notes for a couple of weeks, and put them wherever I can. It almost feels like setting them up for failure... but on the other hand, the current arrangement is not going to work forever. And they are going to have to learn to work with each other, or at least near each other.
I'm at a loss for what to do about K, the boy I was writing about yesterday. He seems to have some emotional problems, and I'm having trouble finding a balance between expecting more of him than he's capable of providing and letting him get away with things. Sometimes he can take correction gracefully, and sometimes he just shuts down, and I can't get him to say a word. Sometimes he won't even nod his head. Fortunately his old teacher is across the hall... but I can't keep calling her out of her classroom every time he shuts down on me. I need to talk to her in the morning and see if she has some ideas for managing him.
Going to DC this weekend for my dad's concert. taking the business-class train, so as to have space to spread out and do my lesson plans. Looking forward to getting them done over the weekend, so that I only have to tweak them during the week rather than writing the whole damn things every night. I didn't have any choice this week, but hopefully I'll never have to do it again. >_<
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