A Whole New Year!

Well, it's a brand new year! How exciting.

Well, it should be exciting. And it is, mostly... but also challenging.

I have been very busy recently, and haven't really had a chance to get anything posted, but everything should be calming down soon... hopefully.

Well, a quick update on what's been going on:

• The first day back from break, we had a parent conference scheduled. We all thought that this was insane, and that we had a lot of work to do to get ready for a new year, and getting back into the groove, but we all met in the designated place... and the parents never came. It's not like we asked for the conference... they did. The child is getting all As and Bs, and while she could easily have straight As, it's just because she's being way too social. My whole team was irritated (since you have to wait, because if they show up, pretty much no matter how late, you have to meet with them.) They rescheduled the conference (never mentioning the one they just missed) for a few days later, then sent us all emails saying how sorry they were since they had to cancel the meeting. I was thinking to myself, "You're sorry for telling me in advance you're not coming, but you're not sorry for just not showing up?"
• One of my students, Trouble, may be going to an alternative school, which hopefully will get him the help he needs and give him the structure he needs.
• Another student, Stubborn, is being removed from my class and put into a special language class, since he needs so much low-level help... this might be good for him, but maybe not, since he seems to have bonded with me...
• We are now entering the push towards the standardized tests that are coming relatively soon... I feel crazed already. I need to get them to understand informational text, plus cause/effect, comparison/contrast, strong vs. weak argument, and fact vs. opinion, and not forget everything else we've done all year. Help!
• The kids came back totally mellow from the break... which is almost unheard of, at least with middle school kids. They must have been extremely busy, and are glad to get back to the slow pace of school...?
• The mouse is doing well, and she has grown an amazing amount since I got her... the kids were amazed. She is also fat (thanks mom, for taking such good care of her...) and doesn't like to eat her mouse food, as it's boring. She'll get over that really quickly, though, or starve. The science teacher on my team wants to give her a temporary mouse friend, so we can have mouse babies... but we'll see about that.

I think that's all the major stuff that happened this first week back... hopefully all will remain calm, and the kids will just learn everything just like they're supposed to do...

Well, I can hope, right?

Holiday Presents... Plus Updates on Stubborn and Trouble

When it's almost time for the holiday break, I start thinking of things that I could get for my students as a little gift, just a little something so they know that I care.

For an elementary teacher, it is slightly easier, I feel, since they have younger students who are happier with less expensive things, plus there are far fewer of them. Their class sizes go from about 14-25 generally, though of course there are classes that have a lot more. So it's easier to spend $1 on each student, or even up to about $3, perhaps.

I have somewhere between 100-150 students. Spending $1 each is crazy, and something I just cannot afford.

So I wrestle with wanting to get them something, and the practicality of it.

My first year, I bought each of the kids a candy cane and a pencil that had red or green glitter all over it, and tied them together with pretty ribbons, and curled the ribbon. Very cute, and it was something they could enjoy, since every single middle school student loses their pencil. (Sometimes, twice a day).

This caused a little heartache directly after the holidays, since the students were thrilled with the glittery pencils (they were really cute) and since they were all identical, it was hard to know which pencil belonged with which kid. So there was top of their voice yelling matches about pencil thieving.

So, after that craziness, I might have learned my lesson, and chosen something different for the next year. But of course, I didn't. I did the same thing, but could only find some of the red or green glitter pencils, so I had to substitute them with red AND green glitter pencils.

The children, every single one of them, decide immediately upon seeing the pencils, which one they MUST HAVE OR DIE.

And they fight over which one they actually get. I am a strong proponent of you'll like what you get and be grateful for it, but you are allowed to trade if it is quiet and fair and everyone is happy at the end. 6th graders, full of sugar, looking forward to their holiday plans, are seldom quiet.

So that was fun.

This year I decided something new was in order, so I found some cute gift bags that were 30 for $1, then found mechanical pencils that were relatively cheap, (you can buy them in bulk and save quite a bit, I've found), and then got a big bag of Starbursts, Dum-Dum lollipops, and holiday mints.

So, I then packaged all them in the little baggies, using my best friend as cheap (okay, free) labor to tie the bags neatly.

It was quite a long task, let me tell you, and I think if I had not been watching television while I was doing it, I would have gone mad.

The nice thing, though, was the kids really seemed to appreciate them.

And I found out that a large bag of Dum-Dum pops contains 300 lollipops. So next time I need a lot of candy for a low price, I know where to go. No wonder Halloween candy is almost always about 40% of the little things... they're cheap!

After I gave out my gifts, the students gave me mine at the end of the week. My first year teaching, I got so much stuff, it was insane. Gift cards, candy, coffee, jewelry (mostly made by my students, but hey, it was mostly pretty), and candles. I was overwhelmed, and very thankful. The parents mostly included notes that told me how much they appreciated me. I was thrilled to know I was making a difference, plus I got some nice stuff!

Last year I didn't get very much at all. Maybe 5 gifts total, but last year was a really rough year with really rough kids. (The 7th grade teachers this year are now dealing with the same stuff as we did last year...)

This year I got a nice amount of lovely things. Cookies, candy, gift cards...

I think the favorite thing I got was a huge tray of cookies that my student had made and decorated. Sugar cookies, gingerbread men, very traditional. Very cute. And very, very good.

Now, moving on to some of my students I have written about before...

Trouble is really in trouble now... he was in and out of school right before the break, since he was constantly getting referrals and then getting sent home as his consequence. Well, now, instead of this continuing all the rest of this year, then next year, until he eventually drove us all mad, they are sending him to one of the alternative schools in our area. This will help him catch up with what he has missed, since he is really low, plus give him a very strict structure, so he can't get into too much trouble. The hope is, scare him now, and he'll be fine for the rest of school. I really do hope it works for him. He's so young to be behaving this way.

Stubborn is still stubborn, of course. He had been doing much better recently (at least in my class!) and had been doing some of his work.

The day I was giving out the bags to the students, he had a bad day. We were taking down notes from a PowerPoint slideshow I had created to teach Main Idea/Supporting Detail (tons of fun, let me tell you!) and he was mostly working on the notes. I did notice him messing around with his pen, though, and I was keeping an eye on him, because it's best to stop him early on in his distraction and get him right back on track.

I notice his pen doubled as a flashlight and laser pointer.

I hate laser pointers. They cause lots of problems.

So, I watched him shine the laser light into his eye instead of doing the notes. So I ask him to bring me the pen. He quickly tries to get his hands on a different pen, but I was too smart for him.

"Bring me the one in your hand now," I tell him.

He does, and I try it for myself. I tell him he doesn't need it, and he tells me he doesn't use the light or the pointer. I said, good, because then you really don't need it.

"But I need it to WRITE!" he informs me.

So I pop the top off (which has the light and pointer) and give him the bottom, pen part.

Then he shows me his paper, and tells me the pen doesn't really work (which it had been, but just had run out of ink). I said, great! Now you can borrow a pencil from me, and I gave him one of mine. He sat down and sulked. I threw the pen away. This made him really, really mad.

I found a pen I didn't need, and gave it to him, since he apparently needed a pen. He immediately knocked it to the floor.

This irritated me immensely.

"Pick it up, now!" I told him, and other things adding up to how dare you be so rude, etc, etc.

He just sat there, echoing his name.

I told him unless he picked it up right now, I was calling for the administrator to come and get him out of my classroom.

He sat there for a few more seconds, then picked it up.

I then ignored him, since I didn't want to antagonize him, but I also didn't want to acknowledge him while he was behaving so poorly.

When it was time to leave, I was giving the bags out, and he brought me back my pencil. I said he could keep it, if he didn't have another one. When I tried to hand him the bag, he said, "No thank you, I don't deserve it."

How sweet was that!

"You're right, you don't, at least not today, but I want you to have it anyway. And thank you for knowing that your behavior was not okay."

Anyway. A very stressful time, survived.

I am so glad for the break.

Now, it's time to get all their stuff graded that I have been avoiding.

Oh, joy

Small Favors...

So, after my terrible day of the previous week, I have had a few very calm days, despite there still obviously being something in the water. Instead of just my students being crazy and getting in trouble, it's now all the students.

I guess I feel better, knowing it's not just me.

My calm days mostly come from the fact that the misbehaving students received ISS (in school suspension) for their misbehavior, so they were not in my room. Not only were those two out, several other students from my team were also in ISS for various reasons (thankfully none that had anything to do with me or my class).

Now, on a normal day, one or two or three students will be in ISS. We know how many and which kids are in there each day because the supervising teacher (I really would not want her job) emails all the teachers a list first thing in the morning, so we can know who is there. (If it's one of our students, we're supposed to send work down to them, so they're not just sitting and staring at the wall all day.) Then, she emails us whenever a new student enters ISS, almost an on-the-spot news-reporting about which students are misbehaving that day. Normally, one student may enter ISS during the day, occasionally two. Today, six students entered it.

I am telling you. Something is definitely in the water.

It's almost fun getting the emails, I think just because it's a throwback to the days when you were young, and said things like "Ohhhhhh... who's in trouble!" in a sing-song voice. The best part is when you see a name on the list you recognize... followed by "7th grade" or "8th grade." Because that means that while they were my problem last year, they are not my problem this year. I'm already looking forward to those emails next year.

Trouble has been in trouble almost constantly lately. His mother says we're responding to him the wrong way. She says we don't understand him. While that may be true, it seems a bit suspicious to me that he's not getting along in any of his classes, with any of his teachers. At least one of the teachers should be relating to him if it was us causing the problem. He has 7 different teachers! I do worry about him, but he is just not making it easy to help him.

And Stubborn has killed two more spiders for me (boy, he's helpful when he wants to be.) For some reason, he has recently bonded with me, which I guess is a good thing. He shows me all his work, and wants to tell me all about it, and about what he's doing this weekend, etc, etc. He shows me his Geography project (which I still have no idea what it was he was showing me, but he did get a C so I'm proud. I guess.) It's very sweet, and I am really glad he's attached himself to me, because he is doing much better in class, but sometimes, it's really hard to listen and give him my full attention. I don't want to discourage him, so I'm trying really hard to listen.

So anyway... I am just grateful for small blessings, like having a peaceful day, free of the trouble students. I know they'll be back soon, and I also know I'll be back to trying to find out what works for them, because I truly do want to help them, and I also want to be one of those success stories you hear about. But until then... I'll relish the peace.

More Musical Fun - The Return of Trouble - SS is a High Level Student?!

The kids have all been begging to do another one since we first did musical journals, and yesterday I finally gave in (or at least they saw it that way... I had it planned out in advance).

This time, I wanted to do something that was completely different than the Josh Groban song we did before, both to give the kids who didn't like it a chance to enjoy the song, and also to just vary the type of music I play for them. Again, I'm teaching them many important things this activity, such as writing, analyzing mood, tone, etc, the ability to write short and long analysis of a given piece of text or multimedia, and many other high-falutin' stuff. Mostly, though, it's fun for me, and gives the kids a no-pressure way to work on their writing skills, which frankly stink.

So this time, I played "Must Have Done Something Right," by Relient K. This is a cutesy song, high energy, in which a guy is thinking about his girlfriend and how happy he is, and how she is way out of his league, but they're both still happy. The kids really enjoyed it, and seemed to identify with it more than the last song, which only makes sense. Some of the comments included silly things, like "I love it because I can understand it because it's in English this time," "I like it because my cousin likes it and it reminds me of her," and "I didn't like it because he repeated himself too many times." (I did remind that particular student of a lovely thing entitled a "chorus," but he didn't seem to get it...)

Of course, the second it was over, they begged for another one. They really have no sense of delayed gratification. Oh, well... by the time they leave me, that'll be much improved!

Now, one of my students I mentioned earlier, Trouble, really is in trouble. He spent 2 days in ISS (in school suspension) for property destruction and other things that were a bit worse. I worry about that boy. We had a parent conference, but mom never showed up, so we're not sure what the support is like at home. He has actually turned in work for me, though, so that's an amazing difference. I think mom wasn't happy with progress report grades, so maybe she has kept an eye on him. Whatever it is, I hope it works, and I hope he returns from ISS in a much more school-oriented state of mind.

And remember our little darling SS? The one I lamented over her wardrobe choices? Well, she still wears things I wouldn't allow my 12-year-old wear, but she's coming to school with a lot more clothing on lately (mostly because I have her 1st thing in the morning, and I check her as she comes in and send her down for dress code violation if it's needful, and they make her wear huge old nasty t-shirts or stuff from the lost and found... effective deterrent for many of the kids.)

We're also working on her attitude, because she can be quite a little spitfire. She's really quick to jump from doing something I'd like her to stop (like talking instead of working) and intense anger. I really like her, and I am worried about her, so I try to work especially hard to develop a relationship and show her how to react without losing her temper. She's doing better, but it is a slow process.

I did find out something today about her, though, that shocked me, and will make her life much more uncomfortable. I thought she was low... I mean, I thought she wasn't reading on grade level, because she is in my class of kids who need remediation. Well, it turns out that she is not only on grade level, she received a 0% on one part of our standardized test. So for her to have still scored on grade level, the her performance on the rest of the test had to be really, really high. She is so busted! I was working with her, coddling her, thinking it was the best she could do... no more! I am going to have a little chat with her, and tell her that, while I love her, she is going to be working much harder for me, since she obviously can do it.

This ought to be a fun conversation!

Memorable Kids

I love my job, as I've mentioned, and I am really enjoying the kids this year. I have the ones I really love, but I also have the ones I just don't really care for. This is always the case, because you just aren't going to like everyone you meet. It's impossible.

But there are some kids you will remember forever, just because of the same reasons you love them or they drive you crazy.

Last year I had a student who was from a southern state, and had an adorable accent. He was very polite (always "yes, ma'am") and very helpful. He was also extremely intelligent, and just a wonder to work with.

I miss him.

This year I have several kids like him, in the intelligence arena. One of my boys this year has the highest score on our state's standardized tests that I have ever seen... plus the things he comes up with are amazing. I can't wait to see what he'll do when he's grown up.

Another student, this time a girl, is also extremely insightful, and really good at analyzing text. I love asking those deep questions in her class, because she'll sit there awhile and think, then raise her hand, and I know she'll always have something helpful to add. Several times she's added stuff that I hadn't even thought of.

It's a blessing to work with these kids.

Then there are the other ones, the ones who keep me on my toes.

Like the gentleman who thought it was okay to burp as loudly as he could, in the middle of my class, while I was teaching. Um, no. I calmly asked who was responsible, then kicked him out until I could talk with him. I told him about how girls will not be interested in a man who cannot control himself, etc. Hopefully it helps. I think that kicking him out scared him, so I'm sure he won't do that again, at least in my classroom.

Then like our own dear Stubborn, who became the very 1st student on our team*(see below to read about teams) to get detention. Thankfully not in my class, but still. It did make me happy to have another reminder it wasn't just me having some struggles with him.

Or how about another one of my kids, who simply refuses to stop talking. It almost is beyond belief, and seems like he physically cannot stop. We have been discussing him at our team meetings, and we the teachers are going to attempt an "intervention" to let him know that his behavior must improve, or there will have to be consequences.

Anyway, they do keep things interesting. And the long and the short of it is I am really enjoying this year, and will continue to do so, even with the knuckle-headed ones causing stress. After all, if everything was perfect, it'd be boring. (Of course, in just two weeks, it will be time for progress reports, so it will get a lot more interesting, with parent conferences, emails, phone calls, and more.... oh the joy!)


*Teams. I forget that not everyone knows about middle school teams, so I wanted to give you a brief overview. Essentially, teams are groupings of kids who all have the same teachers, and each team has a name (like the school where I did my Internship had teams like Appaloosas, Paso Finos, Palominos, and other horse breeds because their school mascot was Mustangs). It allows for the teachers to get to know the kids really well, and to discuss their progress with other teachers so we can figure out what works best for each of the kids. It also allows the parents the chance to easily meet with all of their child's teachers, because they just ask for the team by name. It's really nice for everyone, because it's just a nice way to ease the kids from elementary school on their way to high school.

Children Today...

Okay, I know the times are changing; I know this. But still... how have we managed to take our little, innocent girls and turn them into girls that may still be little but are are far from innocent?

Some of my students this year look way, way, way older than they really are. The girls mostly, because the boys still look like babies, generally.

One girl in particular, we'll call her SS (for short skirt) wears the tiniest skirts I have ever seen. She must constantly adjust them, just to stay clothed at all. Plus, she wears really, really tight clothing and is very... developed... for her age, so it is not the same as a tight t-shirt on one of the girls who still has a little girl's body.

It's just not the same.

I simply do not know how her mother lets her out of the house like that. If you didn't know she was only 12, I'd peg her as at least 16, maybe older. She is just that developed. Plus, she acts much older than her age, maybe because she does look so much older.

This makes me sad, because she is a sweet girl, mostly, but she's dressing like something that has nothing to do with sweet.

Really, really sad.

I have another girl (the one who had gum the first day) who also wears tiny clothing, and is also somewhat more developed than your average 12 year old, but she still doesn't project that same air of asking for trouble.

It really does make me sad.

On a somewhat happier note, Stubborn (I told you you'd hear about him again; who knew it'd be this soon!) got in trouble in another class for the same issues I was dealing with. It's nice to know I'm not alone in this!

The best part, though, was that he was somewhat helpful the other morning... I had a spider in my classroom (I am terrified of spiders) and I wanted it dead. Amid cries of "Save the spider!" "Don't kill it!" "Noooooo!" and girls screaming, Stubborn just walked up and squished it with his fingers.

Ah... I knew if I kept him around he'd be helpful.

No, seriously! I really did say he'd be helpful someday!

Really.

When Children Get Stubborn

Today I had my first official grappling with a student, over whether or not he would behave.

I did win, but it was almost a toss-up for awhile. He was amazingly stubborn! It's not unusual for kids to suddenly dig in their heels and say "No!" for no real reason, but considering it's only the first week, it's a little unexpected.

All I wanted him to do was write a paper. Just one page, as a diagnostic to show how well they write. As teachers, we're supposed to keep track of them improving, and create entire, gorgeous, and beautifully organized portfolios that we can whip out at a moment's notice, and prove the child has been given many opportunities to improve.

I need that bit of writing, just as a baseline. He could write about anything. His summer. His dog. His brother. He could make it up! I just wanted to see if he could use proper grammar, punctuation, maybe spell most words correctly.

But for some reason, he decided that he just didn't want to do it, so he just sat there. The students were given about 40 minutes, and he just sat there, after writing about 1/2 a paragraph.

I noticed his lack of words on the page, and told him that he would not be leaving my room until he had a full page, and if he was late for his next class, he would receive whatever consequence that teacher inflicted, since he had wasted his time in class.

I figured (since he still had a good 15 minutes left when I noticed he wasn't working) that he would rush to finish.

Nope.

I think he was planning to sneak out my door, because he had packed everything way before I was ready to dismiss. He sits closest to my door, and he was looking shifty and had his backpack on.

I guess he'd had teachers in the past not following through on consequences, but as every good teacher (and parent!) knows you have to follow through, or it's just a waste of time, energy, and frustration.

So as I got ready to dismiss and had all the other students turn in their work, I told him to go ahead and take his paper back out, and move to the computers, to finish up. He just stared at me, completely shocked. Then he picked up his backpack and slammed it down at the computers. (Normally, I'd address this, but you do have to pick your battles, and I am more concerned with making sure he understands that not working is not acceptable.)

He continued to sit, not writing for a few minutes.

As the next class came in, I made sure to let him know that if he continued to sit there, not writing, he would not be allowed to go to lunch on time, and would have to return to me after lunch, too, until he was finished.

The new class stared at him, which I think made him very uncomfortable, because he put his head down and started writing. Finally. Nothing like a little peer humiliation to motivate you.

He finally finished about 25 minutes after the next class started, and went to Geography, 25 minutes late. Apparently he also went in with attitude, because he was mad at me. So he gets in trouble in the next class for attitude.

So, in short, we'll just go ahead and christen this student Stubborn. I'm sure we'll be hearing about him again... considering it's only the first week, and we're already having battles.

Well, with the return of battles of wills, I feel like the school year has really started.

Ah, the joys of adolescence.