It Can't Get Any Worse

These are word we can never say at our school, because, unfortunately, they absolutely can get worse, and more often than not, they do. 


I have no answers and can not handle any more questions. I can make statements.


CST review for 4 weeks is stupid and not who I am as a teacher.
My students are burned out.
They happily ate oranges today. I happily cut and served the oranges.
I need to bring more oranges (or other items) tomorrow too.
We had fun in computer lab this week. (mostly)
Faculty meetings are not my strong suit.
I love a lot of the teachers I work with.
I have an awesome plan for next year.
I am going to be department chair next year.
I am finally losing a bit more weight.
Blueberry Banana Oatmeal is a revelation.
Friday is going to be Figurative Language Day in my classroom.
D is incredibly noisy, but has the most infectious laugh!
Yoda has all the wisdom I need to motivate my students.
Drama class is almost awesome.
I am a good teacher.
I am an extremely hard worker.
People like me. Some even respect me. 
My mom makes the best chicken soup and she makes it without noodles for me.
Markham has some pretty fantastic murals created by our City Year staff.
City Year is AWESOME.


Do you think they will eat celery and peanut butter?


Onward towards Thursday. 3 more days until CSTs.


I <3 my job.

What I wasn't expecting

I found the following in my draft folder and it has been over two years since I posted anything here.

Teaching during this time of year can be extra exhausting and challenging and yet so rewarding.

My students have been acting crazy. They have spring fever! And I am so so tired and the week was busy with grades and meetings and weird schedules. So, yesterday I decided to show a bit more of West Side Story and use it to review plot, characterization, recurring themes, etc. We came to the part where Maria is singing "I feel pretty . . ." She gets to the part where she says 'gay" and every period snickered and I reminded them of what gay means in our classroom. But when it happened in 5th period the least likely child did it for me. ". . . and gay" is sung, the class snickers and this boy who is always bored and who acts out and I am surprised he has heard anything I have said all year speaks, "geez, grow up, she just means she is happy and there is nothing wrong with being gay!"

At that moment a smile found its way to my face and I thanked him. It was so priceless.

Today we were working on creating arguments for issues in the world as part of our persuasive unit. They really seemed to want to talk so I introduced them to debate. I explained they had to be active listeners and speak when it was there turn and I would only ask clarifying questions. They chose the topics. When we discussed immigration one of my least productive students announced she had watched the news about the Arizona immigration law and she wanted to understand it better.

Okay so that is the end of that day back in April of 2010. And now it is 2012 and I am still exhausted. CSTs start a week from Tuesday. I feel done and oddly enough I went looking for my blog in order to clear my head and also get back in the game tomorrow morning.

I did have the realization last week that this is not the way I had decided to teach. Reviewing for CST for 4 weeks is ridiculous. Of course, the moved the date back after we already started. Now I am faced with keeping my students ready, relaxed and rigorous. Tomorrow will be about goal setting for each of them, plus independent reading, sentence correction, and dealing with informational texts. UGH it sounds as boring as it is. I better did deeper and think of something to get them thinking.

Listening to Students

Everyday my students come in the classroom and work on their "Do Now" activity. (For teachers, that is a warm-up, dispatch, etc activity) I am moving my students into the Persuasive Unit and asked them to list two ideas/things that would make school/classes more interesting and then write two paragraphs.

I am glad I waited until now to give them this prompt. They were very thoughtful and had some amazing ideas. One was to make a game out of our vocabulary that allowed them to get out of their seats. So the next day I used their specific idea. Crossword Puzzles handed out to them with no clues. The clues were posted all around the room. They had to solve the puzzle first. Then the clues were the actual definitions which they then copied into their journals. Most of them appreciated the effort and they appreciated that I listen to them.

Tomorrow is idea number 2 -- allowing them to teach mini lessons to the class. So tomorrow we will be reviewing some grammar and on Tuesday a student will teach a lesson to follow up on the review. Hopefully this will work out.

Another suggestion was to read something (a book) that they understood! We just finished Romeo and Juliet and they had to work hard to understand the story as they read it. So, now I am in a quandary. I need a book for all of us to read and I have one in mind The Wednesday Wars, but I would love other suggestions, so if you have any please let me know.

All in all I am enjoying listening to their ideas and attempting to follow through with them.

When your mind is going in too many direction

You can be sure you are a 7th Grade teacher.

Here it is, a Saturday night, and I am thinking about how I am going to deal with my 3rd period class on Monday. My mind then switches to the next unit I will start teaching in 8 weeks. Then I am on to figuring out how I am going to find a high school job next year.

This last thought took me to the application for Fremont HS. I filled it out, except for addresses to my last two jobs and accidentally erased the whole application. I will have to redo it later.

Now I am on to which Academy I would want to teach in and how I would approach the curriculum for each of the academies. Which is overriding my brain and taking me to BTSA.

I really need to fill in the inane forms that will allow me to have a life time credential as long as I pay a fee every so often. This leads me to the idea that it makes no sense that I will not be required to continue my education as an educator. This makes me crazy.

This takes me to the Harvard website to see about applying for their newest Doctorate in Education. Yes, I am too late for the fall, but what about 2011? Harvard only takes 25 students into this program, but they pay your way including a stipend for living. This makes me think I could do it -- at some point. But how do I get in if I lose my job again.

And now I am back to what am I going to do with my students for the next two weeks. Oh, and I need to buy my Homeroom class some food to eat before they take their CST writing test on Tuesday.

I apparently am manic at the very least. And now I am wondering if anything I do makes a difference of any kind. This of course leads me to figuring out what I can do to teach them better, make them like to read and how to make them better writers.

Okay, exhausted. If only every night wasn't like this. Of course, then, I wouldn't be me if this wasn't my daily process.

Last Day of the Semester

So, their grades are in and they surprised me. Many Ds and Fs are now Bs and Cs. Only the very few are still failing. They actually (for the most part) did the make-up assignments and turned them in. That shows me they can take responsibility.

Now, grades are due today (I have turned mine in) and they had an assignment due yesterday. It was a bit of mad dash at the end and I planned accordingly. They earned a film during their Periodic Assessment, but I still wanted the film to be meaningful. I thought and thought and then went to the cupboard. Ah Ha! Freedom Writers. But still I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out.

It has turned out fine. They are enthralled and connected and quiet. In fact there is a group from my morning classes in my room right now to watch the conclusion at lunch. It feels good to watch them at their best and it gives me the feeling of hope I need to start anew on Monday.

And Monday will be an awesome day. We start the process of experiencing Romeo & Juliet and Shakespeare. I have already caught them in my spell by telling them they will be creating Shakespearean Insults. they also know they get to insult one another using their creations. They know it is about gangs, sword fights, drugs, love and death. They are excited. I AM EXCITED.

Maybe I should set up movie time in my classroom at lunch for them. It is so important to experience them when you are not expecting anything from them. Then they are lovely and funny and loving. The attitudes fade away.

It is turning out to be a very good last day of the semester. I am sure I will sleep deep tonight. Tomorrow I will be in my classroom cleaning and setting up for a whole new beginning. It is as if Spring has come early.

They are driving me to be insane

UGH, they are just ridiculous. They follow no direction. They are completely irritating. And I really wish I was any where else except in accounting. So I guess I am okay.

Teaching, Learning, Testing,

I am in the process of giving my students a standardized test on their Expository Unit. This unit has many challenges. The greatest challenge being a 3 week break in the middle of it. The second greatest challenge is administering the test before the unit is actually complete. It is a bit overwhelming at times, but I am pretty sure they have learned something during this.

I was going over evidence needing to be accurate, adequate and appropriate and they were having a difficult time with the whole concept. So, here is the example I gave:

Assertion: Kobe Bryant is the greatest basketball player in history.

Evidence: He is tall. He lives in Los Angeles. He plays for the Lakers.

The first response I heard was: "He's not tall!"

Seriously, that was the response. Then they went on to say he's not the greatest, blah blah blah.

So, it didn't exactly work. The worst part is I thought I could make it work and tried the same example in all 5 classes. I am a dork! I did try to improve my set up for the example to them, but I heard in all 5 classes: "He's not tall!" "Kobe don't have no game!" "Who Kobe Bryant?"

I've been thinking about it for a few days an the tall thing keeps coming back to me. I had to look it up. Kobe Bryant is 6'6" tall. How is that not tall? Why do they think he isn't tall? I guess because when they see him on TV they see him next to people who are taller than him. They don't see him next to people their height. THen I think why haven't most of them been to a game? It is only 5 or 6 stops off the blue line from where they live.

Then I think, "my students need real life experiences!" I need to add some in to next semester for them. That may be the most important thing I expose them to in my class.

Any ideas, let me know.