Crunch Time!

Tomorrow we begin our Plus-30-minutes days of punishment. (You know what I mean--we've had so many snow days that they've added 30 minutes to our days until after our state testing.) It has been decreed that these 30 extra minutes will be devoted to Math, and one of the specials teachers or educational assistants has been assigned to every class during that time. I'll have my usual SpEd aide--she's fantastic and easily wins the award (if we gave one) for being the hardest working person in our building.

What will I do with this bonus time? CATCH UP.

I'm so far behind our math curriculum map that it's shaming. Especially since I helped make the darned thing.

It's not like I didn't know it would be impossible to stay with the map. Our standards have increased in rigor, and just by adding up the lessons that had to be taught, I knew we were screwed. But my princiPal doesn't seem to understand. I sense this because she's asked me many, many times why we, as a grade level, are so far behind where the map says we should be. She always gets the same answer(it's not possible!), but she's not happy about it.

I say she should ask the district math curriculum coordinator. It's her fault that we're not able to maintain the pace--she made us trim days off of units to add more days for review before the state test. What a dummy. I still don't understand the reasoning--trimming the days off didn't change the fact that those lessons needed to be taught.

Anyway, it's crunch time. I'll probably dream in mathematical symbols.

Frustration Reared Its Ugly Head

This is the first week we have a hope for a 5-day week in at least a month, and my students have forgotten that the purpose of school is to learn. They are at school to socialize. I've spent part of my precious instructional time in every subject correcting and admonishing students. They turn around. They leave their seats to wander. They talk. They pass notes. All of these behaviors while I'm teaching! Do they not know me at all????

So today they got the full tirade. For a full 10 minutes I lectured them on the purpose of school and their job as students. I spoke eloquently (and emphatically) about coming to school to learn versus coming to school to just be there. I told them that if they still can't simplify a fraction, the fault is theirs, not mine because I HAVE TAUGHT IT OVER AND OVER AND THEY HAVEN'T LEARNED IT BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO WANT TO LEARN AND PAYING ATTENTION IS WHAT PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEARN DO. I also promised failing grades to students who weren't learning what had been taught because I'm doing my very best and I expect them to do their very best, too. I don't think I've ever been as frustrated with a group of students.

I hope this helps. They sure did sit up straight and start paying attention.

A Good Day

I enjoyed today because it is one of the days I look forward to all year long. I'm idiotically happy whenever I get to teach students how to convert mixed numbers to improper fractions. I still remember how much fun I thought this was when I learned how to do it in junior high school. Yep, I didn't learn much of anything about fractions until junior high and until after seveth grade. My classmates and I were the victims of New Math.

I was okay with New Math for the first 2 years I had it. We did a LOT of set theory, and I do think it has made me a greater thinker than I would have been without it. Maybe I'm just smart and it hit me where I had a talent, but it made sense and wasn't at all painful. Then seventh grade came and HOLY HECK.

I've blocked out most of my seventh grade memories, but I'll always remember how desperate I felt. All of my teachers were secondary teachers--no more gentle souls tottering around in sensible shoes. My teachers were men (!) and aggressive young women's libbers. They were subject-area teachers and didn't seem to notice that seventh graders were 12 years old, not 17, and not ready to write essays. No one had taught us how to write essays and research papers and we were suddenly expected to--complete with footnotes, typewritten on my dad's old Remington, with ibids and ob sets. (Forgive me, Latin-teaching daughter. It's been more than 40 years. I'm sure I messed that up.) The entire experience was unnerving, but the math was horrendous.

We had to learn Math In Other Bases. If you can't wrap your head around why this was a problem, let me give you an example. In base 2, 1 + 1 equals 10. It made absolutely no sense to me, nor did base 5 (4 + 4 = 13. Really.) I couldn't have been more gobsmacked. I developed an aversion to math, limped through high school and graduated with 1.5 math credits. (If you wanted to get a diploma without doing much work, the 70s were a wonderful time! Even my dumb ole brother graduated. In fact, he graduated a year early by taking senior English at summer school after his junior year.)

Back to the math--why is it now my favorite subject to teach? I went back to college when I was 36 and had to take the required teacher math courses. Angst time! However, maybe 36 is the magic developmentally-ready-for-math-age, because I excelled. It all made sense, including the chapter on math in other bases. Emboldened by my success, I took even more math courses and found a favorite professor who cheered when I would solve problems in a creative way.

And, because I struggled so mightily with math when I was 12, now I have sympathy for my students. Some math (long divison, for example) is just hard. Buck up and learn to do it, and I'll be here to help you all that I can. But some math is so easy that it's fun to do, like converting mixed numbers to improper fractions. You multiply to the left and add to the right--we step to the left and slide to the right as we say it. At least I do. And today, everyone was riding along with me on my high, and everyone--every single one--was able to do it by the end of the lesson. Some won't have it tomorrow, but they'll pick it up again and feel happy that they've learned they can be competent about math.

Maybe tomorrow I'll tell about my colleague who told my Title 1 math students today that she's a better math teacher than I. ("It's not true!" Braided Boy said. "I never understand anything she's talking about and you explain things to us.") Or maybe I'll let it go and just consider the source.

Snow Days

We've had 8 snow days, including the one yesterday that was supposed to be a make-up day for one of the other snow days. So, actually, we've had 7 snow days and one snow holiday. Three days are "forgiven" because our school days are thirty minutes longer than the state requires. (This actually adds up to way more than 3 days, but 3 days is all they'll give us. They have a "don't ask because we won't tell" policy about this. Of course, "they" is the powers that be.)

So we now have 4 days to make up. And TESTING is JUST AROUND THE CORNER. You can practically SEE IT COMING.

Really, we're all stressed. Our curriculum map is in tatters. I'm so behind in math that I doubt I'll ever catch up and heaven forbid that I don't teach each and every SPI to mastery because my butt is now on the line (see previous post where government screwed teachers by tying evaluations to test scores).

The solution? Not four Saturdays. Not extra days at the end of the year for students because that would be past the almighty TEST DATE. We're going to add 30 more minutes to each school day.

Yikes.

I like this idea and I don't like this idea. I'm afraid my class won't want to have an extra 30 minutes of structured math time (because that's what it has to be--I can show a video and take care of Social Studies, but I can't get them to where they need to be in math without a lot of time on task.)

It's going to mean more planning--dedicated lesson plans for those daily 30 minutes. It's going to require some additional resources. It's going to require that third Diet Mt. Dew. Be still, my caffeinated heart.

I have about 2 weeks to get ready. On your mark, get set, GO!

A Long Day

My husband woke me at 5 o'clock to a dark and somewhat cool house. The power was off, and he was leaving for work. He knew there was no way on earth that I would ever wake up without my alarm clock. Unfortunately, 5 o'clock is about an hour too early. And I hadn't gotten much sleep--less than 5 hours, in fact.

I tried to read by candlelight, but that didn't work. (How did Lincoln--happy birthday, Abe!--do it?) Son and I ate pop-tarts and watched a saved Magic School Bus episode on my laptop, before I took him to school and went to work.

At 9:30, I got a Connect Ed call. His high school was still without power and students were being sent home. My husband also received the call, and took off work to go home. He didn't want him to be alone at home if there was no power. They both arrived home at nearly the same time and ten minutes later the power came back on. They had a great afternoon--son playing on his laptop, husband napping on his couch.

And I? I had to answer the question, "When is the field trip?" eighty-seven jillion times because today was the day of our field trip to the dentist's office. When I wasn't doing that, I was answering the question, "When can we pass out our valentines?" Fun, fun, fun!

Actually, I enjoyed the field trip, except for the part when Rotney told everyone that the pink capsules were made from blood so it would make their teeth look bloody. Yuck. Incredibly, some fourth graders will believe anything, if for no reason than the utter grossness of it. When the trip was finally over, they were all very excited to receive free toothbrushes and other dental products, so excited that some readily popped the toothbrush into their mouths to chew on them. I guess that didn't pay close enough attention to the toothbrushing demonstration. . .

Additionally, I gave them the free T-shirts I received last summer from the author of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Since everyone immediately donned them, I'm going to extrapolate that they liked them. I thought that since the movie is coming out this week end, they might appreciate them. :)

And the six students who brought valentines to give out made everyone happy. We're not supposed to have a valentines party; they're only allowed to give out cards. Happily, several of the cards had candy attached to them.

A fun time was had by all. :)

Back to School

I guess we're going back to school tomorrow. There's still 3-plus inches of snow on the ground, but the city roads are clear. I guess the county roads are, too, since we didn't get the ConnectEd message canceling school.

It's tough to teach every other other day. Last week, we were in school Wednesday through Friday, having missed the previous three school days. My normally well-behaved class was absolutely bonkers for those three days of school. Too much time off and not enough time-on-task.

Monday came, and my class was back! Working. Not talking incessantly. Ready for the day. So, of course, we had an early release day. Totally pointless and a waste of instructional time.

And then we had two more snow days.

Tomorrow I'll be right back where I was a week ago, trying to corral an absolutely bonkers class.

Seriously, will this be taken into account when my test scores bomb because I wasn't able to teach how to add fractions with unlike denominators? I've been introducing fractions for the past 2 weeks and I've yet to get to lesson three!

I love snow days. I hate snow days.

More snow is predicted for next week.

Adventures in Pencil Integration

From the blog sidebar: "The year is 1897 and Tom Johnson works for a small school district. This is the story of the journey to move into the twentieth century with paper and pencil integration initiatives.

Yes, this is entirely fictional and any relation to "real life" is entirely coincidental."

If you're a tech-savvy person who doesn't like working with people who are actually fearful of on-line grade books, this is the blog for you. The premise: slates are becoming passe'. Adventurous teachers are moving forward (with some trepidation) to using paper and pencils. Students are introduced to "plogs" (pencil-logs). Teachers fret over whether students are responsible enough to wisely use the technology--what if they start drawing???

Go to the beginning of the blog (around the first of the year) and enjoy this fine bit of satire. The author, John Spenser, also maintains Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher. Both are good reads and regularly up-dated.

Snow Day Today and Tomorrow

Thank goodness for the snow days--I'm sick with a cold--snotty, coughy, feverish, and achy--nice not to have to use a sick day today. I had to take a 3 hour nap this afternoon, and those just aren't allowed at school. :) However, I'm sad about the snow days, too.

We did go yesterday (Monday), and Sweetie Boy told me that this would be his last week at school. I'm so bummed! Sweetie Boy has made so much progress this year, proving that he's not unintelligent, just uneducated.

I wish him the best, and I'm sorry this week is hastening away with snow days. I'd like to enjoy the few remaining days with Sweetie Boy.

I don't think this post is as sensical as I would like. Let's blame the meds.

Pencil Problem seems Solved!

I bought a bunch of pink pencils--bright, bright pink ones. I showed them to the class, and asked that no one else buy pink pencils like mine. I also told them that I could not afford to give them any more pencils. They are welcome to borrow a pencil for the day. I explained that "borrow" means to use for a while and then return to the lender in good condition. They evidently listened, because I still have all of the pencils. I do have to (usually) ask for their return at the end of the day, but I'm willing to do that. No one minds returning them, and I get an unsolicited "thank you" from most students.

This may be the best pencil idea I've ever had!

It's sad, the things that make teachers happy. ;)

I didn't watch the Superbowl

The Superbowl was on, but the TV was behind me as I worked on my lesson plans at the kitchen table. Consequently, I didn't watch any of it. I worked for hours--rewriting the science test, making a study guide for each science lesson, and making a chart for math. I'm getting a cold and my eyes are itchy and blurry. After staring at my laptop screen all afternoon and evening, I must now be legally blind. I am typing this with my eyes closed, only opening them to check for squiggly red lines.

Thanks for listening to my whine. Here's your cheese. :)

It's Just Wrong When Friday is the Busiest Day of the Week!

Friday's are normally a little hectic--it seems there's always at least 2 tests on Fridays. But there needn't be an IEP meeting with Rotney's family and an incident in the boys' restroom and 3 tests on Friday. That's just mean.

Just before lunch, Moses flew into the boys' restroom and forcefully slammed a boy into the sink. Boy was crying, Moses was saying, "It's okay. It was just an accident," in a manner that indicated he really thought it was okay he had nearly broken the sobbing boy's ribs because It Was Just An Accident. Arrgh.

This comment is about as welcome to my ears as "I was just kidding". It's always said after an unkind remark has been made. Saying "I was just kidding" doesn't make it better. Saying, "It was just an accident" doesn't make it better.

Moses is an Aspie, so it approaches being acceptable that he made the remark. I still held him responsible, though, even if I didn't punish him. I don't think he grokked my explanation of why it wasn't okay, but at least he heard it.

The meeting with Rotney's family went fairly well. I think one member of the family realizes that the other was in the wrong for acquiring a copy of the basal test book, and that Rotney has not been done any favors being taught to memorize everything and not think about anything. We've added more support services. They were appreciative, if not still a little demanding. Whatever. I don't want to put up with another knockdown, slap down meeting with them. Life's too short and we're on the downward turn of this school year.

My friend was released from the hospital today. She did have a mini-stroke, caused by a very small, inoperable aneurysm (that's a ridiculously hard word to spell!) in her brain. They will monitor it, checking every 6 months or so to see if it's increasing in size. It must be worrying--she must feel like a ticking bomb. She will be back at work on Monday; the doctors said she should return to her routine life as soon as possible. Keep your fingers crossed for her!

Best Friend Update

They're still not certain why my friend had her episode yesterday. For now, they're calling it a mini stroke. She's still in the hospital and tests are still being done.

She's someone who totally gets me, and I need her to be there to interpret my actions to the ones who don't. :)

Gosh, I miss her!

My Best Friend

I've written on here before about my best friend at work. She's the Special Ed teacher assigned to my inclusion class. We're both avid readers with similar tastes and we're always giving each other books (Okay--she gives me books; I lend her books. It works for us.) I'm her shoulder; she's mine.

Today she was taken from her home in an ambulance. She woke up, got dressed, and walked into the living room and started speaking gibberish to her daughter. Her daughter checked her pulse and blood pressure and both were sky high. My friend has no memory of this--she only remembers waking up in the hospital. She called me from the hospital, speaking with slurred speech and making little sense at times. At other times, she made sense, but the slurred speech was always there.

They think she's had a stroke, but they're not sure. She's been sent from our community hospital to a large teaching hospital about an hour away for more tests.

I'm so worried about her. She's 61 years old. She wanted to teach another year or two before she retired. She may not have that option anymore.

I get to work tomorrow!

Finally, after seven days (in case you've lost count--2 sick leave days, 3 snow days, and a weekend) I get to be a teacher again. The roads are clear, the parking lots and school driveways (incredibly, that kept us out today) are clear, and everyone is sick of being at home.

I've worn out the internets the past few days. One of the teacher boards I frequent had a post by a teacher that made me laugh. Maybe everyone who says we need to overhaul education has come across a teacher who expresses herself this way:

I used to spiratically jump on here and participate but haven't in a while.

Is anyone else picturing this teacher on a mini-trampoline, jumping and doing three-sixties as she participates? Clearly she meant "sporadically". It's frightening to think that to her ear "spiratically" sounded the same.

Maybe she's a closet pirate freak.

Maybe she does jump on a trampoline.

Or maybe she's one of those teachers who took the Praxis test half a dozen times, finally passing on her last possible attempt.

Those teachers are out there. They think they can teach primary grades because "First grade is so easy!"

They make me hang my head in shame.

The Truth and Nothing But the Truth

I hate grading papers.

Hate it.

Thanks for listening.

Robert Jordan

I've been reading his series of 12 books steadily since Christmas, and I've yet to finish the fifth one. I feel like a reading failure since I normally take 2 or 3 days to finish most books.

However, most books aren't thousand-pagers. The fonts are small, too.

The main plot line has now split into three separate plots; it's dense and confusing reading. I frequently have to check the glossary to remember who someone is and how to say a particular proper noun (name, place, or thing).

In the fifth book, one Very Important Character hasn't been mentioned at all. I guess he'll get page space in book 6.

Accidentally reading the first 30 or so pages of the sixth book and learning of a key character's death has made me attuned to any nuance of foreshadowing about this character. I'm probably reading too much into most of it.

I'm enjoying the read, but it will be the end of March before I finish this series. I'm just not used to anything taking that long to read.

And it's seriously going to encroach on my rereading of the Dresden Files series, prepping for the next book release in April. I've got about a dozen of those to read, too.

My eyes hurt, but I'm captivated by the thought of being an Aes Sedai, so I'll plug along.

It's been a long time

Today marks the sixth consecutive day I have been out of school. I was out on sick leave on Wednesday and Thursday (my mother had cataract surgery). We had a snow day on Friday and another snow day today. I hope we go to school tomorrow because I won't remember my students names if I stay out much longer.