There’s a bunch of posts I started but never published. I want to put them in the right order, so I’ll list them here. Enjoy!

Grading Tests on November 15, 2009

Seating Charts on November 14, 2009

Obdurate on October 28, 2009 (Though this one was done, so why didn’t I post it?)

Brrrrrrrr on October 23, 2009

The Speech Teacher and I had an interesting conversation today about Facebook. She’s worried someone’s going to hack into our FB pages and get us fired. She saw a commercial for a news report about it (but then forgot to watch). She’s talked to other people who say that even if we make our profiles private, people can get in and see everything, and that employers are hiring hackers to do this. I said I don’t understand how they would do it, but that I also don’t understand how every time someone does something scandalous, the news shows their Facebook page – unless they didn’t make it private, how does the News get access to it? Anyway, I just saw the promo for this report on my TiVo’d episode of Criminal Minds, and a guy is claiming he can prove he was fired for something he wrote on Facebook. I will have to look online to watch it for more details.

SpeechTeach brings up a good point about what are we allowed to say and what would schools be allowed to consider objectionable. Now, I should tell you she is a very outspoken woman and a laugh-riot. At least once a week we can be found busting a gut in the copy room from laughing so hard at ridiculous school stories. (I know she would LOVE this blog, but I don’t know her well enough to share. She does love my FB comments though, and was threatening to start a fan page for me. I said, “I can’t take the pressure!”) She is Old School like me, so we are frequently kvetching about lack of parental responsibility or leadership at school and just stupid things kids and people do. So she is now worried that her blunt comments about current events or things happening in her life could get her in trouble at school. I said No because she’s talking about her private life and her opinion. Then she asked about the pictures I put up of the desks I dumped at school. I paused, then said No because I didn’t use names, and there are no identifying nametags or papers to tell who it is. Yeah, I’m making fun of them, but who? No one knows. They can’t fire us because we have differing opinions or a different world view. As long as we’re not being unprofessional or unethical, they can’t fire us for voicing an opinion even if they disagree with us.

Teaching is (probably) the only profession that still has a morality clause. But what is immoral? Racy pictures or bawdy talk, absolutely. Stating my opinion about current events or politics? Absolutely not.

Had my first six conferences today, and they went swimmingly well. I am not accustomed to receiving compliments. (And not just because of last year.) Professor’s mom is thrilled about the penpals with SunSpray’s students. Historian’s mom went on and on about how much they both loved the Veterans’ Day project. (They had to interview/research someone in their family or friends who had been in the military and make a poster about them.) Bookworm’s parents were happy I let them read so much because she loves to read. (She’s read 15 novels already, or at least that’s what I was able to give her credit for on her report card because her mom said she doesn’t always remember to write it in her log.) Even my most hyper student’s mom was all smiles (because he is personable and brilliant) because he is off the wall at home too, so she’s taking him to the doctor before she chokes him. (Her words, not mine. ) I am definitely not used to all this happiness and positivity!

Six down, nineteen to go!

I think they’re all getting their periods.

Even the boys.

They were some cranky children today! Snow White was sniping at Asthmatic who gave it right back, and all over stupid stuff like, “You’re not writing fast enough!” during math groups. Gentle Giant stormed out of gym because he thought he was going to get in trouble for bumping into MiniMe, and he bawled like a baby when I saw him in the office and asked what happened.

And it’s a half day! I’m exhausted.

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…) And, they were a little harder to do this time if kids weren’t proficient. (We stopped using percents tied to traditional letter grades and use Proficient or not.) For the past two years if a kid wasn’t proficient, we said they were “working toward proficiency” and gave them a level of 2 (close), 1 (less close), or 0 (no clue). It was annoying and a total judgment call, but it was okay. Now we have to give Basic or Below Basic like the PSSA, and it seems more harsh. It may be just me because to me Basic is like an F. (So I guess Below Basic is an F minus?) Even if it could be considered like a D, it’s just too low or something; it doesn’t mean “close” like a W2 did. And, with 4 grades again, we’re back to the A-B-C-D mentality anyway. (Because there are no F’s – no F’s, no failing, no repeating, no consequences…) I’m going to have to study the descriptors we got for B (partial understanding) and BB (very little understanding) so I can explain it right.

I would really love to just go to a percent as a grade, and then it can mean whatever you want. If a 79 is acceptable in your house, great; if it’s not acceptable in another house, fine. Do with it what you will. Though I guess that is already part of the problem – some parents don’t see anything wrong with being Basic or getting a C and being “average”. But according to the state, Basic is NOT okay. (And when their cutoff for Basic is 59%, I agree. Though I think 60% for Proficient is disgraceful.)

Because here’s what’s going to happen: either parents are going to be upset by the B’s, or they’re going to look at them and think, “Great!” like an A-B-C-D kind of B. (That’s why I write “B asic” on their tests, so they don’t get all excited by a B on a 70% correct test.)

And don’t get me started on the Special Ed kids who get Below Basic on everything because I have to assess them on a fifth grade level even though their brains are working as hard as they can on a first grade level. (Most of them are working as hard as they can, anyway.)

Bring on the parents!

I have to be in the right mood to grade tests.  When I don’t want to, I don’t, and just put it off.  Then one day, like today, I’ll sit and grade for hours.  I get in a zone and don’t seem to mind.  Surely it would be better to do them a little at a time so I don’t have to grade all this?

6.25 hours worth of reading, spelling and math tests

Today I spent 5 hours grading tests, and two Sundays ago it was over 6 hours. Eek! At least I’ll be ready for conferences. 

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 of index cards with the students’ names on each one and order them from highest to lowest. Then you lay them out on a desk to make the groups so there will be one high-level student (I need to stop saying “high” because that just sounds bad ), two middles, and one below-level. I did it that way the first time, but I find it just as easy to make a chart: first I divvy out the smart kids, one in each group; then I go through a mental list and add the middle kids to each group. Since I have IEP students this year, I put one in each group. (This time, since Conchita has been so uncooperative in her group, I made her the fifth person so the others can still have four people to do the math.) It does work, and usually there are at least two smart kids who can help the others if they get stuck.

(Don’t get me started on the whole “Why are kids teaching other kids because that’s MY responsibility” rant.)

After I make the groups I have to decide what kind of floor plan to use. I really love a U-shape, but we’ve had that since the beginning of school, and it’s become more like a modified H. I noticed the kids in the back part of the H weren’t paying great attention (partly because they don’t face the board) so I racked my brain for something else besides just rows. (I REFUSE to do tables. All they do is talk. And they prove me right every time we get into the math groups and leave the desks pushed together because we need to leave for specials – it takes twice as long as normal to get quiet so we can line up and leave.) What I came up with is sort of rows, but they’re sitting in pairs. (These will be their reading partners.) so there are six kids going across the room (three sets of two), and four rows. To make the math groups, Rows One and Three stand up and push their desks back to make a table with the pair behind them. I’ve been doing that (moving the desks) since last year, and it works really well.

What I really hate is when more problems pop up by putting the groups onto the floor plan. Like it’s not a hassle enough to make the groups, but now when I put the groups next to each other, the kids who can’t be together come into play again. It’s so annoying. I wish they would grow up and #1 behave around kids they don’t like and/or #2 learn to control themselves around their friends and not talk all the time.

Mostly they were excited by the new seats, but there were a few groans. I can’t even begin to explain to them why I can’t change their seat on a whim – too much thought went into that choice, Snow White! These will have to do until the end of January.

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 content to just have the checkbooks and buy their desks.

But I couldn’t do that to them, so I had my first auction on Monday. I had six items to auction off (I figured 1:4 was a good ratio) and they were a little excited. I stole Asbestasican’s idea of a Mystery Bag which they were going nuts over. I explained how the auction would work, and reminded them about also trying to buy their desks. It was cute to hear Indigo say, “I’m only going to spend tickets.” and not dip into their checkbook money, and the kids around her all went, “Yeah!” like, Great Idea! It went well, except for them thinking that the Mystery Bag of Blow-Pops were just plain lollipops (HELLO?); I thought they would be SO psyched when Asthmatic opened it (after paying 440 tickets), but instead it was like having to explain a joke. Oh well.

The only problem is with Conchita, my very low special ed student who just does not get it. I think she CANnot get it. Not only does she not do ANYthing to earn bonuses (even just trying homework – which is modified, or reading books on her level for her reading log), she is like $400 in the hole and was trying to make bids during the auction. She kept putting her hand up; I tried to ignore it til she got this dopey excited look on her face, and I had to say, “Put your hand down, YOU DON’T HAVE ANY MONEY.” She knows she doesn’t have any tickets, but she keeps saying, “I’ll just write a check.” She truly Does. Not. Get. It. And I have no idea how to modify it for her, unless I give her ten tickets every time she says my name (why do some people do that, use your name in every sentence they say to you? I hate it) or every time she throws a fit for insisting she’s right when she’s wrong (like pointing to 24 on a multiplication grid and insisting it’s the answer to 8×4 because she says the 3 is a 4). I really just don’t know what to do.

Kids can earn bonuses for following class rules and for academic things. (I’ve tried explaining to Conchita that if she would just read for 30 minutes every day, she could earn an extra $100 a week! That’s $400 a month, and then it wouldn’t matter that she can’t pass her modified tests.) Fines are for not doing homework or not following the rules. I had been carrying forward fines from week to week, but I really wanted them paid off at payday; this has happened for all but two kids. One is Conchita who owes $157 for (two weeks of) October, and she’s $252 overdrawn because her banker accepted her rent check without balancing her sheet. (And she hadn’t written down any debits! I had to totally redo her sheet. she can’t even copy off of the board.)

What am I going to do with her? (Besides send her back to the school she came from – they supposedly sent her to us to get “more support”, except she really belongs in the Life Skills class, which is at their school! And if we’re all doing inclusion, why wouldn’t she get the right kind of support there??)

Literally. I smell. Just not bad.

You know how we joked about dousing ourselves in Lysol? I think I accidentally did. I bought the last two cans of scented Lysol last night at Target, but they were not my orange citrus cans. I sprayed the usual places this morning. And everywhere I went today I smelled “Early Morning Breeze”. I was not enjoying it. When I smelled it in the computer lab, and then in my car after school, I knew it was me.

And now twelve hours later, I still can’t get away from it! I changed my clothes, washed my face, and I can still smell it. It must be in my hair. (Where’s the “ick” emoticon? ) I’m going to have to return it because I can’t stand it. The citrus one is a thousand times better. Though anything is better than unscented Lysol!

Teachers were standing in line to get the Swine Flu shot, but when they got to the front of the line, they were turned away. They were afraid of running out. So after all the memos and emails and letters home and permission slips returned, they didn’t know how many people were going to show up???

Two ideas:

1. Add 15,000 students + 500 teachers + how ever many staff = how many shots to bring.

OR

2. Only give it to people who returned the paper. Let that be the natural, logical consequence for not following directions, or not cleaning out your kid’s backpack, or not looking in the “Keep at Home” side of my weekly grading folder.

Needless to say, I did not even attempt to go over. I called my doctor and got my name on his list instead.

Addendum: 7:15 p.m.
Scratch that. I left the book fair when I heard from a parent that there was no wait. Then when I asked a teacher to switch reading times with me, she said another teacher got it because she mentioned she has asthma. My allergist said I have it “a little bit” (really?), so I went with that. When I got there, the first guy tried to turn me away, even after mentioning allergies and asthma. I said, “Wait a minute, a teacher from my school was just here and she got it! She has asthma, and I do, too!” Thank goodness I knew that, because he went to go find someone in charge. That guy tried to tell me no, too, til I said the same thing about the other teacher, and after the third mention of “asthma”, he said, “Oh! You’re asthmatic! Then you’re high risk. Go right over there.” Geez, Louise!

Five minutes later I was outta there. And my paranoid self thought the whole thing looked like a scene right out of The X-Files…