When Grades Are Due...

I hate the week grades are due. It's always a crazy week; for some strange reason, everything that the school needs to get done or needs you to get done happens during that week. Scoliosis screening. Vision screening. Field trips for random clubs, groups, etc. Trainings for peer mediation. Trainings for SAFE Ambassadors. Half the stuff that's going on makes no sense to me... someone calls on my phone, and asks for a specific student. That student leaves, and comes back seemingly hours later, of course missing the entire lesson or the entire test. No one ever wants my kids when we're doing fluffy stuff, or review. Just new stuff or tests.

Plus, the kids go a little stir-crazy, maybe knowing grades are coming, but most likely just because the teachers are a little distracted, and therefore unable to totally focus, causing chaos.

I wanted my grades done a little early this time, so I worked hard last week to get all my grades into the computer, and all set to go. And it worked! Mostly. I still had to adjust some grades, and I still had to add a few more assignments here and there, and I still had to physically hit the little button in the grade program so it will port the grades over into the right spaces, but still... I got to leave almost on time today, which is a low-level miracle.

So while the kids were with me today, I attempted to give them assignments that would enable the kids to work alone, with just minor assistance from me, so that I could do the last little bit of my grade stuff. It's a great thing, watching them work all on their own, doing what they need to do. They got into their groups, got started on their work, and it worked beautifully. To start with.

But, alas, this did not work for long. They still had to ask 1,000,001 questions, mostly ridiculous questions, of the type that is really annoying when you're busy and almost humorous when you're not.

Oh, well. I did it, and I'm glad it's over.

Before I got them started on their group work, we did our third musical journal. It went just as wonderfully as it has before. I am really thrilled that I thought of this idea; a sneaky way to get them to write and not whine about writing.

Today's song was "Everything" by Michael Buble. They enjoyed it! Honestly, if you know what type of songs he sings, it really is a strange concept that 12-year-olds enjoy it... but they did. (He sings jazzy, old-style music, vaguely pop, I guess... very enjoyable).

So far, I only have done it with 2 of my 5 classes, so more on Monday, but they liked it, and they're my 'tough' kid class, so that's great.

Of course, there is always one or two who didn't enjoy it, but that's to be expected. The ones who didn't like it this time were both boys, and the reason they didn't like it? He said, "La, la, la, la" at the end. I'm not kidding. This is why they didn't like it.

The funniest part? The boys were not in the same class.

The decided it was a man singing passionately to his wife/girlfriend (I asked if he was singing to both, but they adamantly said one or the other), on a beach, stage, or in a coffee-house, and he just loves her to pieces.

Even the boys wrote things like love, beaches, etc. It's very endearing (and hilarious) to hear a little 6th grade boy talk about true love, and how much this guy loves his girl.

So on Monday I have the rest of my classes to look forward to sharing the song with. It'll be nice, since I'm dreading the release of Report Cards, as parents always go crazy, seeing their child has an F. It's amazing (at least to me) that they're surprised at report card time that their child is failing, since they were failing at progress report time. What did they think would happen? A magic fairy would come and make their child suddenly an ideal student, instead of one who turns in nothing?

Oh! Something else I'm dreading? Halloween. I like candy as much as the next person (maybe even a little more than the next person, to be perfectly honest), but the kids don't need more energy! The day after Halloween (and sometimes Easter) is a terrible day to be a teacher. They are wired, crazy, loopy, energy, and quick to get really, really feisty. There will be fights over the candy, which is not supposed to be on campus at all. (They're allowed to bring a few pieces in their lunch boxes, but they're not allowed to be munching on it throughout the day).

So with report cards and Halloween in the same week? This ought to be a lot of fun.

Help?