I'm teaching them how...

The students in my GT Academy don't know it but the units of instruction I have been given for them just aren't really cutting the mustard. SO, the Media Specialist at my school made some recommendations for what we could do rather than me pulling my hair out and the kids hating me before the end of school. I'm not telling all of her ideas, because that would give it all away, but one of them was to teach the kids to create a blog or wiki, so I'm showing them on my Promethean Board how to do all this. They're sitting in the room, reading out loud, sounding quite ridiculous, but that is the life of a middle schooler, right? So I typed the first paragraph (above), then saved and showed them how to edit. TA DAAAAAAAAAAAA!

It's been a MONDAY...

Well friends, today was a Monday ALL DAY LONG! It started out seemingly innocent and quickly went downhill! Here are a few of the things that happened that made this day seem like four days all rolled into one:
We were given a deadline by which to have grades in our state-wide grading program for mid-term reports. This deadline was AFTER the first deadline, which we passed because our district had to update the program the day before our first deadline, thus disabling the program.

I facilitated MAP testing for all my students, which is a big deal. They did well, but it was stressful.

I am hosting lunch study hall this nine weeks in my classroom. Lunch study hall was supposed to be pretty big today due to a re-test by another teacher, but I was administering MAP tests and couldn't get back to my classroom, so my poor teammate ended up having kids come to his room.

We had a curriculum meeting with our principal and instructional coach during planning, which has been scheduled for several weeks now. I made a stupid mistake and scheduled a parent conference during that meeting time. :(

When the parent arrived for the conference, another parent, who had canceled a meeting on Friday, showed up too, thinking that she would reschedule the meeting on her own, which would've been fine if we had not had the other parent in a meeting at the same time.

The conference lasted a little longer than I thought it would, so when I got outside to walk my student across the highway, she was already walking herself.

This is JUST the beginning. I'm not anywhere close to done with stuff that's important. I'm tired and want to go to bed. BUT, the saving grace is that I have a lot of great students this year and I love my job...and Saluda Trail is the best place to teach in the world. Did I mention that I love my job?

Spring Break!!!

WOOOO HOOOOO!!!! We're on Spring Break this week. BOY, did we all need it. The kids were getting tired of each other, and the teachers...and the teachers were getting tired of the kids and of each other. Hahaha! I hope this will get us through the next seven weeks!

We really don't have too long left at all if you put it in perspective like this: We have about 3 weeks or a month until the PASS test then only three weeks until school's over after PASS. It seems so much shorter when I say it that way.

My own children have already been scheduled for at least two weeks of the summer, with my oldest planning a week of "Uncle Randy Camp" (learning to play guitar), Grandpa camp (spending a week with my f-i-l), and trying to plan a week of Aunt Becky camp (a week with my step-sister in Washington D.C.). He's gonna keep me in the road, I'm afraid.

My youngest is still too young for me to let her go for that many weeks...I know, I need to cut the apron strings, but she's still my baby. Ah well...there will be plenty of time for me to let her go later! ;-)

Half Done

The last day of the first semester is tomorrow. We are giving semester exams to our students this week, and my team will have their math exam tomorrow. This is very nerve wracking for me and the kids! They are nervous that they are going to bomb the exam and I am nervous that they will not remember what I've taught them this year!

They've already had their Language Arts exam, and we had some who have had the nerve to say things like "I got bored and just filled in bubbles!" With that kind of attitude, how can we expect them to do well?

We've had a lot of interruptions and problems this week, especially today. I've had three students cry to me already today, and my teammates (as well as myself) are feeling frustrated too, so sensitive students and frustrated teachers are not always a great combination. We have a teacher workday on Friday and a holiday on Monday...both of these are much needed breaks!!!

So when we come back on Tuesday we are starting a new semester...we're halfway done with this school year. This is shocking to me...in some ways, it seems like I just met this group of kids, but in other ways, it seems like I've been teaching for three years with this particular group of kids. I'm trying to come up with a really good, fun, "let's start again" activity for them to do on Tuesday. I am thinking about having them write a "goal letter." When they do this, they pretend they are at the end of the school year, and write reasons why "this has been the best school year ever." This activity always gives kids a little focus and something to work for.

I'm open to suggestions if anyone has a suggestion...we all need a fresh, clean start, don't you agree???