Report Cards are DONE

I’m done report cards two whole days before conferences. YAY! Don’t know how that happened. Usually I am scrambling to finish and get just the ones needed for each day copied in time. (We stopped using the NCR paper kind, and there are rumors of computer-based ones coming in the near future. One can dream…) [...]

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Seating Charts

Making a seating chart was always a bit of a pain, but now with Power Teaching it’s a huge pain in the you-know-what. Not only do you have to worry about who can’t sit near each other, you have to make each group have a mix of academic levels.
They taught us to make a deck [...]

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A Stalled Classroom Economy

I’m trying the Classroom Economy System that Asbestasican and Rafe Esquith use. To tackle it at first was more than a little daunting, but once they picked jobs and I figured out bonuses, it got much better. I didn’t do any kind of special event the first month, and I really think they would’ve been [...]

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Obdurate

SunSpray is Stateside this week, and we got together today for lunch. We seem too be having similar workplace experiences, including being told she is “negative”.
“Oh my God!” I said, slapping her on the arm. “You’re a boulder too!”
SunSpray said, “I know!!!” Then she told me how she was trying not to laugh when she [...]

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What I can’t say

I can’t say it to Principal Pretty, so I’ll say it here.
I passed out the stupid shirts. Once again I am disappointed by the lack of follow-through on school rules and student behavior. I am tired of being the bad guy for expecting my students to behave in an appropriate manner. The kids do [...]

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Under 30 = Spoiled

From Lee – this says it all!
If you are 30 or older you will think this is hilarious!!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning….. Uphill…. barefoot… [...]

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I am not a fucking waitress

Pardon my potty mouth, but this has been brewing since Friday. At 1:30 on Friday afternoon, Conchita’s parents dropped off a sheet cake for her birthday. At 1:30. In the middle of reading. Lunch was over at 12:50. And like Fashionista pointed out, it’s not like they didn’t know it was her birthday and they [...]

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The Teacher Salary Project

Mrs. Mimi posted a link to this site on Facebook. The Teacher Salary Project is a documentary-in-progress about teaching in America today. The trailer was quite provocative, and it made me think they need to read my blog.
But really, it’s not about money. It’s about respect – from students, parents and administrators, and the [...]

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Fifteen Days

I lasted fifteen days. I have never gotten sick so quickly. Usually it takes til the middle of October for my first sinus infection to kick in, but even then I don’t have to take off of work. I’m taking off tomorrow, and I have never written sub plans so fast. (I even considered photocopying [...]

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Read Alouds

I’ve been reading a book to my class called All About Sam by Lois Lowry. It is hysterical!! It follows a little boy, Sam, from birth. The thing is, he can already think and reason, but when he tries to speak it comes out, “WAAAHHHH!” It is SO much fun to read, and the kids [...]

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