My week...the highlights....

Tuesday - Former student who is now in the chemistry class next door has a seizure and his new teacher did not know of his history.   Another student whose Mother is also a teacher at the school I am at chews me out b/c she wants her son moved from honors to standard level chemistry.

Wednesday - Faculty meeting where I am recognized for my National Board achievement. Coincidentally the superintendent and the head of high schools for the county is there. Get an email from my head principal about 10pm that the earlier mentioned teacher/mother wants a conference the following afternoon.

Thursday - No alarms went off. Woke up at 6:02am. I am usually awake by 4:45am and at school by 6. Receive several emails in response to gradesheets I sent home earlier in the week. Have conference with teacher/mother after school. She was late to the conference but did apologize for snapping at me earlier in the week. The world's greatest administrator was there with me and lead us through a very successful conference. I felt very relieved.

Oh, and I am working on learning my Jazzercise workshop set for becoming an instructor. My head continues to spin. I wonder what tomorrow will bring for me. 

Trying not to blame myself....

Maybe it is just my nature. Or maybe somewhere in some education class somewhere I was told it is my responsibility.....

It is exam time here. My students have a nine week exam and a semester exam w/i a week of each other. Today was the nine week exam. I am partially finished grading them but to combat the verbal comments of "It wasn't that bad" the grades are THAT BAD! I cannot figure out what else I could have done to help. I have seriously been teaching my little heart out. I have been "leaving it all in the classroom" (as opposed to the pep talk of leaving it all on the field...). I even gave them study guide material (which I said I wasn't b/c I felt the test study guides along with the tests which I went over in addition to all the papers I look for in the notebook collection wad plenty to study from. But I did it any way. Around the room I posted sample questions which mimic the exam questions. I may use a sodium instead of a calcium or other things like that but essentially I gave them the exam questions AND when they lift up the poster, the answer with the work! What else could I have done?  Sooooooo depressed.......

So nice to hear...

I had a student this past year that I really connected with. She found a love for Chemistry that wasn't there before b/c I helped her be successful and believe in herself in the content. She told another teacher (one whom she did not get along with ALL year - yep, heard about that too) that b/c of me she thinks she might want to be a chemistry teacher. That prompted this series of emails. I emailed her mother since she was exempt from exams and technically out for the summer.

Date: Thu, 4 Jun 2009
From: me
To: Mom
Subject: Student's Comment today

Please tell her what she said about me in Ms. So-and-So's class is one of the highest compliments a teacher can get (Ms. So-and-So shared it with me). Thank her for me too. I will definitely miss her and her exuberance next year.



From: Mom
To: Me
Subject: RE:Student's Comment today

Ms. Me,
Student is an energetic personality and she has many strong points. Thank you for complimenting her and encouraging her in your class and with outside issue as well. One thing that I know about her that has always proved to be true is her 'read' of teachers. She can spot an unorganized, non-leader in a heart-beat. Usually you have to weigh what your kids tell you about their teachers, but she is spot on and it isn't told to her...she reads them. I know she has only EVER spoken so highly of you, your teaching style, your techniques and your bar is high (like Ms. 5TimeNationalChampionsDanceTeacher - whom I also respect enormously). I know she has said many times how The School could use many more teachers like you with a passion for their subject and a talent for teaching it. Too bad we can't live in an ideal world. I am sure there would be more successful students if we could make that come true. :)

Thanks for always keeping up with me this year regarding Student. I will miss you, too...even though we never met (except for Open House).

Kindly,

Mom


It is things like this that make up for the long hours, little pay and endless amounts of paperwork.

No more students until August

Yea!

That is a MAJOR understatement. Sadly I am actually excited to start anew again in August. My syllabus (I 'think' I only have one prep next year- Chemistry)has been sent off to the copy center. I have also copied other pesky beginning-of-the-year-papers like the Lab safety contract, general lab procedures, etc. I feel pretty accomplished already and I haven't even turned in my grades yet.

With some student volunteers I took some pictures today of what they "think" the teacher sees and then what we know they are doing even though we may not directly see it (cell phone issues). We had some fun with it. One of the student asked "Are you going to show these as what not to do with your cell phone next year, Teacher?" My response was, "Who me?" They know me too well at this point. :)

End of the School Year Frustrations.....

I know times have changed and I understand that my friends and I were probably “cut of a different cloth” (my BFF was one of 3 valedictorians and I was friends with the others as well)……but seriously – how can you as a student sit through an entire class period and do absolutely NOTHING! I do appreciate that you respect me enough to follow my rules and the school rules (extreme kudos for not sleeping, not texting, not talking and not skipping – I guess you know that I will take the time to write you up and turn it in) but geez…..you’re just sitting. Breathing. No doodling or reading. Nothing. Just there. Using Oxygen. Creating CO2. Blinking. Staring.

How?

I get it some of it. You, the student, know you have failed for the year. No sense in trying now as you have to recover your class credit somewhere else any how (summer school, virtual school, retake it next year, etc.).

I have been places (workshops, meeting, etc.) and been bored to tears but I cannot just sit. I draw, make grocery lists, plan lessons, create birthday party ideas, etc. But to just sit in a high school class is beyond me. I have been teaching long enough to know that most likely as a teacher you are not walking into a classroom of dry sponges eager to absorb any and all new information and practice using it. Especially in difficult content areas (like say….any SCIENCE….where it is just as much about information processing skills like predicting, analyzing and quantifying as it is about knowing basic facts) but I just don’t understand. I can empathize but not comprehend.

(Cue flashback sequence) Back when I was in high school….. I did my work not because I really wanted to learn at that point but because it was what I was supposed to do. I did not have a strict parent nor was I threatened to get good grades. I thought my teachers would think of me poorly if I didn’t do my work. I would have disappointed them or maybe even hurt their feelings. I bet that is why I am taking this so tough. My feelings are hurt.  I also feel helpless. I have tried since day 1 to change some of their minds – motivate them, excite them, interest them and would only get a glimmer every now and then (which is why they are in the position they are in now not passing the course). How can I make it better?

I am really trying to let it go as it is out of my control (choices they made against my advising) but I can’t cop out like that in my mind. I can talk that talk but not walk the walk. I know I can’t change their minds, habits, work ethic now but I am thinking ahead to next year all ready. What can I do differently to promote learning? I want a fool proof (pun possibly intended) way of teaching.

*sigh*

I saw what I feel is a preview of a time to come for me. I had a parent teacher conference after school today with a parent who was at her wits end. Her DD either had A's or F's. Literally was choosing whether or not to do the work. Mom has had her to 2 different alternative type schools. On meds that she would not take. In therapy sessions where she would not talk. As a parent what do you do then? Seriously? Mom has taken the computer away and during the conference her cell phone, she had a hired driver (she says) for the student so she can come early to school and stay after for tutoring. She says her daughter has self esteem issues and she even sent her to fitness camp last summer. Student apparently is good in art. I felt bad for the daughter but how can I a lowly teacher help? Then I flashed forward to middle DD sitting in the hot seat and me as the mother. I still don't know the right course of action. I want to know how to help but how do you help some one who won't even 'try' to understand or merely bother to copy something off the front board? Guess this is one of the many reasons I still are stoopid.

Now I know....

the panic it is to be in the middle of a true bomb threat. It was one of my students! Really freaked out.

Two Students Arrested After Bomb Scare On Mid-Term Exam Day

-- There was a real bomb inside High School on Thursday, mid-term exam day, and two students were arrested. Instead of taking tests, all the students had to be evacuated. The bomb was a homemade device found inside the school. It was made out of a CO2 cartridge and some explosive powder.Three-thousand students were evacuated and police put the campus on lockdown as a precaution. Anxious students phoned or texted parents. Some had to wait outside the campus for 90 minutes until it was deemed safe.One worried mom decided to keep her daughter out of school for the rest of the week."The threat may be gone, but if they found one bomb in the school, there might be others. The kids don't know that," parent said.Police took two students into custody after a student spotted one with the device at 8:30am and told a teacher. Police located the student and found the device on him.Investigators said the two students arrested are 15-year-old and 16-year-old. They were charged with incendiary device possession, destructive device on school property or at school event and disturbing the peace/disturbing school function.Police call the device a "stinger," or small pipe bomb. In this case, it was a CO2 canister available at any hardware store, but this one had powder inside and a fuse."It did appear to have the capabilities of exploding. County EOD removed the device," explained Police Department.Students that Eyewitness News talked to said there's often joking chatter on campus about bombs from certain pranksters, but nothing serious until Thursday."I know all the kids and they would have done something stupid," student said."Are these guys troublemakers?" reporter asked her."Pretty much," she said.Thursday was the final day of 9th-week exams, but the students' motivation for bringing what looked like a working bomb onto campus is unknown for now.


So....it was an interesting day to say the least. Happy to be alive.