Tragic News in Connecticut

I was in the lab dissecting pigs with my anatomy kids when we heard of the news in CT.  As shocked as I was, as we all were, it allowed a perfect opportunity to reiterate the importance of lock down drills.  At my school, the kids think that a lock down drill is a joke.  Instead of huddling in a corner out of sight and remaining quiet, they walk around, talk, ask to go to the bathroom.  This tragedy provided an opening.

For some reason, when the kids get upset, it helps me become calmer.  I quieted them down and agreed that it was a horrible thing that happened.  Then I began discussing how they never know when the lock down drills will become necessary. One day, one of these drills might be the real thing.  Finally, we got back to our dissection, but the mood was very somber.  I think maybe the kids were imagining those children's faces in their specimens.  What a day to dissect stuff.  I think next week, for the two days we are there, I will make ice cream with them.  After their test, of course.  

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the students, teachers, administrators and parents who were involved in the shooting.  Special prayers for the shooter's father.  How do you handle knowing your child was responsible for something like that?  My son is 21 and it really makes me think about how much I don't know him.  Would he ever do anything like that?  I assure myself that he wouldn't, but then think about how the shooter's mom was a teacher and how she was divorced.  Can't help but compare, you know?

I promise my next blog will be a happier subject.  I'll show you how to make all natural ice cream with a baggie, milk, sugar, vanilla, salt and ice. Yummy!

Homecoming Week....Oh Boy!

What a crazy week.  I have most of my students out of class to work on floats, doors, hallways, the dance, etc.  The few remaining I can't get anything out of.  They had mid-term exams last week, so today, we went over the test and talked about the answers.  I had promised them that if they behaved for the sub, they would have a free day.  That day was today.  Tomorrow, we are having the PLAN test, so all classes are in homeroom until 11:30am, so I will only have one actual class tomorrow.  On Wednesday, I have a Science in Motion teacher coming to do an experiment with the kids, but the kids won't know what it's about because we haven't even started learning about it.  On top of that, this particular lesson will take another week to cover, so I'll end up 3 weeks behind schedule instead of 2.  Welcome to high school!

HudsonAlpha is the Greatest!

Just completed a 2 day workshop with the HudsonAlpha Group.  It was called the GREAT workshop.  Stands for Genetic Resources Empowering Alabama Teachers.  I had not realized that a lot of what I have been teaching was wrong.  I spent two days at Auburn University (which, for an Alabama fan is rough!)  However, the town and university staff were so wonderful.  I have never met a nicer bunch of people.  After two days of intense genetic study, we were given a tub filled with great classroom ideas and a flash drive with all the powerpoint slides and links.  All in all, a wonderful time.

I had to be out for two days, so the deal was that if I don't receive a note about any of the students then tomorrow they can watch "Lie to Me" episodes for the entire class.  (We have mid-term exams today and tomorrow, so I can't really start anything new on a Friday after mid-terms anyway).  Hopefully, all went well and the kids did their work and behaved.  I didn't get a call during the conference, so I'm assuming all was well.  Keep your fingers crossed, just in case.

A crazy 24 hours!

Okay, it all started yesterday.  Car duty was insane, followed by two mice in my room.  Whew!  Went to bed last night around 10:30pm.  Woke up and looked at the clock - 11:57.  I don't usually wake up in the night, so I figured it was one of those times when your immune system is fixing itself.  So, I go back to sleep. I wake up again and look at the clock - 3:10.  I close my eyes and in the back of my mind, I realize that when I looked at the clock, it was daylight.  I open my eyes again and look at the clock again.  3:10 and daylight.  I find my cell phone and check the time - 7:10am.  My atomic battery operated clock is wrong!  So, I jump up, cursing, and throw on clothes and makeup and haul butt to work and got there by 7:23am.  Record time, eh?  I get into my room and since I didn't get breakfast, I tell myself I'll be fine after a cup of coffee.  I go to make coffee and no coffee.  At this point, I'm grabbing my hair and stifling a scream.  Luckily, I found coffee in the library and my students didn't have to suffer.  I saw the same mouse again today after school, at about the same time as yesterday.  I put a new trap down, but he hasn't gotten stuck in it.  A man came into my room with a clipboard.  He told me I had four lights out.  I told him I knew that, seeing as I was in this room everyday.  I told him I also had 3 water leaks, but he said he wasn't fixing anything.  Not sure if he is going to replace the lights or not.  Not really sure why he was in there if they aren't replacing things.  Anyway, actually got out of there at 4pm and tonight I'm setting my phone alarm.  I'm also having my son set his phone alarm...just in case.

Geez! Car pickup is getting dangerous!

Things at school were fine today, considering the kids just got back from a three day weekend and this is a short week.  However, when I went to do my car pickup duty, things were nuts!  I almost got run over by a parent driving about 40 mph in the parking lot!  Then had a lady turn the wrong way down the one way street after I stood in front of her car the motioned for her to go the other way.  A little gray haired lady in a white car passed the bus as it was loading - at the school! And another woman decided to pass all the parents who were picking their kids up and almost hit another parent's car.  I'm gonna buy one of those bright orange vests that hunters wear tomorrow...

At least I'm not the worst teacher there.

I admit that I have my issues as a teacher.  Students complain that my tests are too hard, I go to fast for them and my handwriting is atrocious.  However, today gave me a fresh perspective that made me feel as if I'm doing just fine as a teacher.  During my planning, another teacher used my room to teach a dual-enrollment biology class.  Apparently, her students had done poorly on a diffusion test.  What made me feel so good about that, aside from the fact that her students complained her test was too hard, was the fact that my kids studied diffusion two weeks ago, so my average kids are further along than her college kids.  Another moment happened when another science teacher (the favorite of the administration who will be teaching all the biology next year because he coaches) took his kids to the laboratory today (for the very first time this year) and he was teaching them about the microscope, which puts his kids about 5 weeks behind mine and about 11 labs behind.  Then, I went to the history teacher's room since my room was occupied during planning and laughed until tears flowed as another teacher was telling the history teacher that almost every word she says get tweeted by her students.  She also had a student yesterday tell another student to "shut the F**k up", then had them repeat it today to the same student.  She had two girls start fighting in class and I heard them in the hallway as she was trying to get them to the office.  Then, as a final feather in my cap, as I was going to the bathroom later in the afternoon, I saw a bunch of students outside a room yelling and cutting up. I went into the room to see who was letting students out in the hallway during class and there was no teacher in the room.  I got them seated and quiet, then found out it was microscope guy's class.  Of course, there is bad with every good.  I got so caught up in making out tests for tomorrow that I completely forgot to go to car duty today.  And then, as I was leaving, the administration was looking for a student who didn't get on her bus and had not made it home.  So, I'm feeling guilty about leaving the other teacher to handle all the car riders without me and worried about the 9th grader who didn't get home.  Hopefully, that will have a happy ending.

I forgot the whipping cream!

I completely forgot to buy the heavy whipping cream so the kids could make butter.  What does butter have to do with cellular respiration, you ask?  Nothing really, but they were learning about fermentation, which got us on milk, cheese, cottage cheese and yogurt, which got me talking about making butter from scratch, so then the kids wanted to do it.  I told them if they brought in the supplies, I would do it.  They brought the marbles and someone brought a tiny container of whipping cream.  I told them I would buy the whipping cream this weekend and we would make it on Monday.  Except I forgot about it.  So, today, they were all excited about making butter.  However, after school, I bought two quarts of whipping cream ($11.00!), so tomorrow I will let them make butter.  I'm even going to take some crackers, so they can eat their butter on crackers and enjoy it.  Am I the best teacher or what?

Lost it with my last class

Today was going fine until my final class.  My blood sugar must have been low or high or something because I snapped at them today.  I called them "needy" and told them they were behind my other classes.  They were rowdy today for some reason.  There are so many in that class who have behavior issues.  I've got the smart mouthed chubby black girl in one corner, the stupid blonde giggler in another corner, the white stud boy who has to comment about everything (because he knows everything) and the skinny black boy with his underwear sticking out and his pants down to his knees instigating all sorts of things, but panicking and begging when threatened with a write up.  I couldn't turn around to write on the board without something happening.  Bunch of brats!  Tomorrow will be better though.  I'm issuing textbooks to them and we are going to start reading out of the book and answering chapter review questions.  I may even throw in homework a couple nights a week.  They whine that they need a study guide and they don't understand that arrows mean something is connected and I should write down every word I say on the board.  They are gonna write so much tomorrow that their little fingers will bleed!  I will have my revenge! Mwahahaha!!!!

Getting ready for progress reports

Not a bad Monday.  Didn't write anyone up.  Almost did tho.  One kid who wears his pants around his knees.  I asked him to pull them up and he didn't.  So, I took the write up and started filling it out.  He begged me not to.  I told him if I see him sagging tomorrow, I would write him up.  This was his last warning on the subject.  Personally, I don't care about sagging pants, but the principal absolutely hates it.  He told us not to warn them anymore, just write them up.

Everyone passed the test from Friday, so, as promised, we got to watch Lie to Me on Netflix.  They loved it.  My 4th block didn't get to watch it because the internet was down, so I'll let them watch it tomorrow.  Have a faculty meeting after school tomorrow followed by a school improvement meeting and, finally, I have to go through my lab and do an informal inventory.  Gonna be a loooonnnnngggg day tomorrow.

Crazy wild day today

Somebody's moon must be in somebody else's house today because the kids are out of control.  Four fights today.  Luckily, none in my classes.  I did have one in my lab.  Believe it or not, a boy beat up a girl in the science lab today.  One of our coaches is in intensive care with blood clots in his heart after leaving school yesterday with chest pains.  In two out of my three classes, I had students start mouthing off to each other.  I intervened immediately, so the episodes didn't escalate.  Still, by the time I finished car duty, I was completely worn out.  And I'm a little worried because the coach with blood clots is around my age.  Needless to say, it has encouraged me to get myself in shape and start taking better care of myself.

It's always better after a write up

Today was much better.  It always is after I write up a student.  Since I wrote up two yesterday, the remaining kiddies were wonderful today. LOL.  Tomorrow we will blow up a gummi bear (if I can find some potassium chlorate).  So, I'm expecting tomorrow to go well also. :-)

Two write ups in one day.

I have got to figure something out about my last two classes.  They are too loud, too rowdy and too rude to each other.  In my second block, I had a student come into class late. (This is her fourth tardy in less than a month).  She walks over to a student and says "get out of my seat."  I tell her that is not her seat, as I have not assigned seats.  She will just have to find another place to sit.  She gets mad, but goes to another seat.  A couple minutes later, she raises her hand.  "Can I go to the office?"  I ask her what for?  She replies, "To call my mom."  I ask her why she needs to call her mom and she replies, "No reason."  I tell her then no.  She gets up and walks out of my class.  I write her up.  Then, the very next class period I have a student who was homebound last year because of his behavior.  He is failing every class and I really think the only reason he shows up at all is just to start trouble.  He was throwing pencils and making comments.  I move him to another desk on the opposite wall.  He goes over, then gets up and walks around.  I tell him to sit back down, so I can continue class.  He sits down.  Then he gets up again and walks over to a student to get sunflower seeds.  I tell him he will get written up if he gets up again.  He jumps up again with a big smile.  I get the write up form.  He picks up a sponge off my desk and throws it at another student.  I write him up.  Finally the bell rings.  I do car duty until 3:30 and then have a school improvement meeting until 4:30.  I still haven't graded the paper plate cells the kids did last week, but by this time, I'm exhausted.  I went home and pigged out on crap food.  And I wonder why I'm so tired all the time.

At least THEY think they're getting smarter!

We went over their tests today.  Now, I agree that they did better, but considering we spent two weeks on cell parts, they took two tests and it was open notes, I'm still a little upset that 11 failed it.  But, I praised them on the improvement on the grades and went over every question from the test.  As I went over it, I mentioned the "thinking" questions that they answered correctly.  I told them that they were doing so much better at the thinking and not memorizing.  Then we went into photosynthesis and the scientists behind it.  The kids asked questions, made sure they wrote it down and discussed things in more detail.  All in all, a nice day, for a Monday.

I just don't know about these kids.

Okay, I spent another week talking about cell parts.  The kids rewrote definitions for each part, watched 2 movies about cells, heard two songs about cells and actually created a "cell" with paper plates and yarn and gumdrops.  ($60 worth).  Had the second cell parts test.  It was better than before, but still had about 10 fail the test.  This was an open notes test, by the way.  I tried to explain that the tests will get harder as we go, but they just don't seem to understand that they are going to have to do some work.  After spending over 30 minutes with them whining about needing a study guide and how the test questions should be worded exactly like the study guide... I felt like screaming.  I  told them that learning how to think is painful when all they've ever done is memorized stuff for a test.  I explained that they were creating their own study guide by taking notes and they chose how much information to put in their study guides.  I told them I would not make the test questions the same as what they wrote down because I wanted to know that they "knew" what they were answering instead of what they memorized.  One student exclaimed that they had memorized the alphabet and still knew it to this day.  I countered with the fact that knowing the alphabet doesn't mean you can read or write. You have to LEARN those things.  And when you read, the words aren't always in the same order.  That shut them up.

Okay, getting ready to try testing them again.

They've had their GRACE test and still some failed it.  I've had them rewrite their vocabulary.  They have been in the lab doing osmosis and diffusion experiments.  Today, they reviewed osmosis, diffusion, active and passive transport and watched movies on cell parts and actual video of cells moving and dividing.  They even heard a new cell song that I thought was much better than the rap song.  Tomorrow, I'm planning on going over the questions from their last test and discussing what the questions are asking and what key words should pop out at them before they look for the answer.  When we have done that, I'm letting them create a cell with paper plates, pipe cleaner, beads, plastic wrap and beans and yarn.  I'm going to have them go into the lab with nothing except a pencil.  They will have to create a cell from memory.  Every ten minutes I will put on the board an organelle to help them.  They will have to label each part of it.  I spent $66.00 on pipe cleaner, paper plates, yarn, thread (DNA), beans, plastic wrap, etc., so the little buggers better like it!  If they don't pass the test on Friday, I'm gonna scream!

Geez, sometimes I wonder about these kids

Okay, the kids aren't doing very well on my tests, even though I let them use their notes.  This time, I outsmarted them.  I had each student submit 5 questions - either true/false or multiple choice - and I made the test out of their questions.  As they turned in their questions, I read each question and the correct answer.  On Friday, I gave them their test  and most kids failed it.  So, today, feeling generous, I allowed them "Grace".  I went over every question on their Friday test and the answer, I gave them another cell drawing and we labeled it again.  I left the terms on the board and I had them get out a piece of paper and number to 20.  I then orally read the first 20 questions from their Friday test and "emphasized" the correct answer.  I kid you not, I had three kids fail it!  I'm beginning to think that they are choosing ignorance over intelligence.  I'm baffled.  How do you motivate kids to learn something new if they don't want to learn something new?  Tomorrow I'm giving them a 7th grade worksheet that has them matching the correct cell organelle with its definition.  Then, we are going to add osmosis and diffusion and do an experiment with potatoes and water.  Thank goodness I have an old 7th grade life science book from years ago to use.

Sometimes it's just futile

Okay.  The kids haven't been doing as well as I had hoped on their tests.  Especially since I let them use their notes and don't score below a 50.  So, this time, I asked each student to make up 5 test questions to be put on the test and I made their test from the questions submitted.  Not only that, I also gave them an additional 5 points for their 5 questions.  Today, I gave them "their" test.  Over all three classes, there was 1 A, 0 B's, 3 C's, 8 D's and almost 30 F's.  And it's not like I gave them a lot to learn.  We studied two scientists (Robert Hooke and Anton Van Leeuwenhoek) and the major parts of the cell (cell membrane, nucleus, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi complex, cell wall, vacuole, lysosome) and some prefixes and suffixes that would help them understand the cell organelles jobs (cyt, endo, hyper, hypo, hydro, inter, mit, phag, pino, and som).  I even read the questions out loud to the kids as they were turned in and discussed the answers.  After pulling handfuls of hair out of my head while grading these tests, I decided that on Monday, I will grant them "mercy".  I will go over every single question on the test and the correct answer.  Then I will calmly go and get their tests and hand them out.  I will then allow them 30 minutes (which will really be about 40) to correct their papers to be regraded.  It will put me a day behind my schedule for covering all the material, but I can't have them try to keep up when they have no clue what they are studying.  Part of me hates doing this because I feel like I am contributing to their "helplessness" and am encouraging them to not do well on tests.  But part of me is hopeful that they really are not understanding what we're doing and will feel smarter when they have a better grade.  I don't know.  It's kind of a rock and a hard place.  Oh well, it might turn out for the best and the kids might start realizing how to think about the tests, or it might blow up in my face and they remain dumb as sticks and never make an effort again because they'll know they don't have to.  Only time will tell.

They kept the books...little brats!

I have to say that for the Tuesday after a long weekend, the kids were pretty good.  I only had one incident and it was fairly minor, considering.  Had a student reading a magazine when she was supposed to be writing notes.  I took the magazine.  She said, "That's okay. I'll just get it back in a minute."  I told her she might not. She said, "That's my momma's magazine and I WILL get it at the end of class."  Of course, this just pissed me off.  I told her that her mom could stop by and pick it up.  I would love to talk to her.  She said her mom couldn't pick it up.  I told her that was just too bad then.  As of 6pm tonight, I still have the magazine.  I'm thinking of not giving it back to her tomorrow, either.  Does this make me a bad teacher?

Weekend wardrobe and Monday off!

I bought my school "wardrobe", which consists of five or six loose fitting shirts that cover my bottom and some really cool, kick-butt combat granny boots!  I haven't been able to find my old pair.  Must have lost them in the move.  But, luckily, I found these puppies for $35.

So, Tuesday should be a cool day.  Gave another open note test on Friday.  Out of 75 students, 3 got an A. 11 failed it.  It was 50 questions, so you could miss 5 and still have an A.  You had to miss more than 24 to fail it. I'm hoping and praying that the reason for the bad grades is because they either don't take good notes, or don't know how to find information from their notes.  I'm trying really hard not to think they are just idiots.

Well, I issued books.

Yep. It happened today.  I hate issuing books.  They are heavy and burdensome.  The kids lose them.  But, I had no choice.  I took my second class into the lab yesterday.  Everything was fine, except that one child was talking non-stop to his neighbor.  I did the usual series of things to get him quiet.  Finally, I asked him to change to another table so I could finish giving instructions to the class.  He refused.  I explained that he needed to move or he would get written up.  He still refused.  I went back into my classroom to get a write up sheet.  When I came back, two girls on either side of the lab were threatening each other because someone called someone ignorant.  I took the entire class back into the classroom and issued books.  While in the process of that, another student (the one who missed the pep rally Friday) did the same thing.  Kept talking and refused to move.  I wrote him up and sent him on to the office.  The first student I decided to call his mom.  Finally, the bell rings.  I go to car duty.  Afterwards, I get his mom's number and go to the office to call.  Disconnected.  I go back to his file and write down all numbers available for him.  I call his dad's number.  Disconnected.  I finally get hold of an aunt, who gives me the number I can reach them at.  Disconnected.   Today, I'll get in touch with his special ed teacher.  Yea, another one who is "special ed" because he can't control his behavior.

What is it with girls?

I was having a wonderful day today.  My first class is so great.  They sit quietly, ask questions, participate and act like they are so interested in anatomy.  The next class, my biology class, can't stop talking, texting, walking around, and asking to go to the bathroom.  And, of course, that's the class my principal decides to walk in on and check out.  The class after that acted the same way.  I finally threatened to work them bell to bell if they didn't get seated, quiet and under control.  I had one of my IEP kids (the same one I had the bathroom issue with) talking constantly with her neighbor while I was trying to talk.  I kept sending general hints (Okay, everyone stop talking and listen to this, Let's get quiet).  Finally, I just stopped talking and looked her way.  One of my good students turned around to her and said, "Will you just shut up?"  This upset my IEP kid and she turned into a drama queen.  "I don't have to take that!  You can't talk to me like that! I need to go to the counselor cause she done upset me!"  I told her she didn't need to go to the counselor, she needed to get quiet and pay attention.  She kept on with "I'll kick her butt, etc."  I told her she didn't need to be mad at the student to told her to get quiet.  That she should be upset with herself for disrupting the class so much that someone else had to say something.  She kept on and I finally said if she really had no control over her behavior that she had to go somewhere because someone asked her to get quiet...She interrupted me to say she could control her behavior.  (Which was just what I needed), So I told her to get it under control then.  Things calmed down and luckily the bell rang.  Whew!  Don't you just love the drama?!

Well, for a Monday it wasn't so bad

I've figured out which class is my challenge.  The funny thing is that the challenging class isn't my lowest level class.  Usually, the worst behavior students are in the lowest classes.  And most of my IEPs are in that class, but my hard to control class is my regular class.  It is also my largest class.  Big surprise.    And it's not that they are evil or horrible, they are just unfocused.  They are up and down and talking all the time.  I find myself almost shouting to be heard over their talking.  I had a lab for them to do today, but had decided against it, since the lab is cluttered with PE equipment and I can't guarantee they will behave and not tear up stuff.  However, sucker that I am, I let them go in and look at newspaper under the microscope.  Shockingly, they were very well behaved.  One student told me going into the lab that he had taken this class last year and the old teacher had never let them come into the lab.  Made me feel good that I took them.  The only real problem that I had was with a girl who was mad that I wouldn't let her go to the bathroom.  Now, mind you, I had told the kids everyday last week that they could go before or after class, but that I did not want to have to stop teaching to go write up a pass to the bathroom.  She was aware of this.  I had let her go on Friday and had reminded her personally to go before class.  I even remind them when they walk in the door between bells to go to the bathroom if they need to.  So, she walks into the lab and stands in the middle of the room.  I tell her to find a workstation and get busy.  She stands there.  I again tell her she needs to hurry or she won't have time to finish the worksheet.  She says she can't walk to the workstation because she has to pee so bad she will wet herself if she walks over there.  Then, she says it is in her IEP that she can go to the bathroom whenever she wants because she has a small bladder.  I tell her that if that is true, I'll let her go to the bathroom today, but if she's lying to me, she won't leave my room again.  She goes to the bathroom, comes back and stands in the middle of the room.  I walk over to her and tell her that she needs to talk to me after class about a schedule change.  She asks why.  I tell her that she has a zero for today for not doing her work and if she is planning on doing this everyday, she needs to be in someone's class that will give her bookwork or some other way to do the class because I do not want her to fail this class.  She storms out saying she will talk to the counselor.  I later checked her IEP.  She has no learning disability, she has a behavior issue.  She doesn't know how to behave.  Apparently, she scored normally in all subjects, but if she doesn't like someone, she will bully them, make fun of them, and sometimes blow up.  To me, giving someone and IEP for being a bully is a bit ridiculous, but I'm not in charge.  If I were in charge, I would put kids like her in a boot camp type arrangement to teach them self discipline and teamwork.  I really hate that I'm not in charge.  However, if that's the worst thing to deal with all day, then I count today as a great day.  Of course, I'll probably have her grandmother or whoever keeps her screaming at me tomorrow.  Such is life.

Survived the first week. 18 to go.

All in all, the kids aren't that bad.  Although I'm a little depressed at their test scores.  I gave them a 63 question test on lab safety, scientific method and measurement (all review, mind you!), and only had 3 A's.  And that's with each question only counting one point!  They could miss 10 questions and still get an A.  Had more D's than A's.  I had one student who got a zero.  After posting the rules for taking a test (stay seated, no talking and no cheating) he gets up and comes to my desk.  I tell him he must sit down and raise his hand and I will come to him.  He says he can't do that.  I tell him he must or he will get a zero.  He says he doesn't care, so I open the grade book and give him a zero.  Then he says "Now, that just ain't right."  I take him outside into the hallway and explain about the rules.  He says he wasn't bothering anyone.  I tell him that if everyone who has finished their test started walking around it would bother the other kids and I can't let him walk around and not the others, it wouldn't be fair.  Then he wants to go to the office.  I told him he can go back in and sit down until everyone finishes or I can write him up and he can go to the office.  He goes back in and sits down.  Found out, he just got out of trouble and has only been allowed back this week.  They told me not to worry, he'll only last about another week and he will be sent off again.  That bothers me, because he wasn't loud or angry about anything.  Part of me wants to talk to him and try to motivate him to continue in school and graduate, but part of me feels everyone has already tried to help him and he's probably sick of everyone bugging him about school.  I guess either way I'll feel terrible.  I should keep my big mouth shut and let him make his own mistakes....but I'll probably talk to him.  I'm an idiot.

Paperwork! Paperwork!

Well, I've gotten my syllabus printed out, along with my classroom procedures.  Still no lesson plans, but working on that today.  It should be an interesting first day.  The new school building is being built on the old school's parking lot, which means, no parking for anyone.  I'll have to arrive at school at 6am to get parking. Great.  Then, I have five different forms I have to pass out to my first block kids.  Free and reduced lunch form, Code of conduct, stuff like that.  I have to go over some of the school rules from the Code of conduct with them.  Then, I have to give them my syllabus and go over that, followed by my classroom procedures and go over that.  Then I'm handing them the laboratory safety contract.  We will go over that entire sheet (front and back) and discuss it.  I'm betting that will take up the entire 93 minutes of first block.  Not to mention calling roll and ensuring everyone is in the correct class.  Second and fourth block will be a bit trickier.  However, since they are both biology classes, I will go over syllabus, rules, lab safety and then follow with an experiment I like to do the first day called "Red Drop".  Second block will also be given the lunch schedule (which I'm not even sure about yet) and fourth block will go over bus schedule.  During my 93 minute planning, I'll work on lessons for the rest of the week.  I love the teachers and staff at this school.  I'm hoping the kids will be good also.  Would be really nice to settle here.  I think working a block schedule will be better for me, because usually, by Christmas, I'm fed up with a class.  This way, after Christmas, I'll get a new class and start over.  Unless, of course, the worst ones fail and I'm stuck with them another semester.  (Which is probably what will happen).  Hmm....

The week in review

All in all, not a bad week.  Other than the leaking roofs and the fact that I lost my license, social security card and a voided check after attending a human resource meeting.  It was my own fault tho.  I should have put them away when I left, but I just held onto them with the rest of the paper work I was given.  So, I'm hoping now that it is either in the car of the teacher I rode with or in my classroom.  I've looked in the paperwork, my purse and my car.  On a positive note, I got my desk fixed, so it won't fall on me again.  I also found a white board that I had drilled over the chalk board.  I have textbooks now, but still no teacher edition of the anatomy book.  Looks like I'll have to wing it on that class.  Today, I'm planning on aligning all the curriculum standards into an 18 week lesson plan for both classes.  Tomorrow I will start plundering in the lab to see what I need to order so my kids can do some cool experiments.  I'll try to post photos of my room soon.

Started the new job

Went in to work today to get my room ready.  It was very stormy today.  Noticed that there was a puddle of water on my floor.  A big ceiling leak above it.  Went to my lab to get some paper towels and a bucket and had a HUGE water leak in there.  Ended up with three leaks in my classroom and one in the lab.  Oh, and since we are moving into a new building next year, they aren't fixing anything.  What a great start to the new year.

Got a tablet today to teach with

In my classroom (I'm going to take a picture of it tomorrow for you to see), I will be using a chalkboard, my desk is missing legs and has the bottom part of a secretary's chair to hold it up.  Every time I open a drawer, it wobbles forward.  But, also have a smartboard, and tablet, so I can walk around the room as I teach instead of having to stay at the computer.  Interesting mix of old and new.  We learned how to work the new smartboards, but not how to work the tablets in a classroom setting.  So, I am playing on it now.  Actually, my son is programming everything into it that I will need:  Facebook, Netflix, Temple Run, Glow Hockey and Nook. Hey, teachers have to have a little fun too! :-)  Oh, and for a quick pic of my new apartment...

Finally moved!

I am officially a resident of this town.  Still unpacking, but plan to get to the school and set things up on Monday.  I'll post pictures of my classroom.  I actually have a chalkboard!  Haven't had one of those in over 7 years.  Still haven't seen my lab, so hoping to do that on Monday, also.  Attended an orientation on Monday that was just training us on the new technology that we won't be able to use until next year.  Figures, eh?  Have another of the same training on the 19th.  I'm still searching for student desks or tables.  Hoping they have me some when I go in on Monday.  On the plus side, they waxed my floor.  :-)

Saw my new classroom!

Just got back from seeing my new classroom.  It is in the old building.  New school won't be finished until March, so it is an old room.  Haven't seen a blackboard in years, but now I actually have one.  There are two student tables and no desks.  On the plus side, my teacher chair is amazing!  I hope no one takes it before I get back there.  I found an apartment a mile from the school, so will be moving on Wednesday.  Once settled in, I'll be working on my classroom and lesson plans for the year.  I did find out that I will only have three classes and a 93 minute planning period.  Looking like this might be the best job I ever had.  Or I might just be over enthusiastic.  I'll keep you posted.

Reschedule visit to New Town

Having to push back my house hunting visit until next week due to a surgery in the family.  I can already see what is going to happen.  It will be the very last minute before I get a place to live and get moved in, then I'll be hustling to get lesson plans and experiments set up and will begin the year stressed and exhausted.  AARRRRGGGHHHH!  Gonna have to juggle things better.

Received my letter!

Well, I'm officially hired.  Received my contract letter yesterday to sign and return.  Will be heading down to look for a place to live on Monday.  I will also print out the state curriculum for biology and start looking for experiments to match the standards.  Hopefully, in July, I will be preparing lessons and prettying up my classroom.  And you thought teachers got the whole summer off!  Sometimes I think I work harder in the summer than any other time!

Looks like biology for next year

Finally got the confirmation phone call.  So will officially be teaching biology next year for 9th and 10th grades.  This should be interesting.  I've never had 93 minute classes before.  Supposed to attend the science  training for two weeks so I can get supplies delivered to my class, but haven't heard about it yet.  Not sure if I should start planning my lessons or if I should wait until the training so I know what supplies I will have.  Oh well, either way I'm going to have to get moved, so I guess I should concentrate on that first!

New job!

Got an offer from the first interview I had.  Great news.  Even better, I will only be teaching one subject instead of five.  That means one lesson plan a day, the same experiment so I don't have to keep moving things around, and 93 minute classes, so I will have time to clean up between classes.  On top of which, the beach will only be a couple of hours away!  Now, I need to attend the science workshops to get supplies for this coming year.  Hopefully I will be able to find a sailboat to live on and I can get off-grid.  Things just keep getting better!

Another good interview

Went to another interview today.  It was for an alternative school.  Not sure I want the job, but I really like the principal.  She had a no-nonsense approach to running the school.  Small class size also impressed me.  She will let me know by Friday also.  Got home and had a phone call from another school.  Will call them back tomorrow to schedule an interview.  Hope to get an offer soon.

Interviews have started

Been a pretty good week.  Had an interview yesterday that went well.  A school in south Alabama has a biology teacher opening. They have a biology lab and a chemistry lab.  I would rather teach chemistry, but biology is fun also.  If I get the job, I will have all summer to prepare some very cool activities and read the textbook so I appear to be the foremost expert in biology before the kids figure out I'm a fraud.  On my way home yesterday, I received two more interview opportunities.  Will go to one tomorrow and one on Monday.  Supposed to find out on Friday about yesterday's job.  Hope they call and offer me the position.  I hate interviewing!  Well, going online to apply for some more jobs.  Say a prayer!

Interview scheduled - Yippee!

Had a phone call this morning for an interview on Monday.  I drove over four hours yesterday, arrived here late last night and unloaded, now I have to drive back down south even farther than I was, but, hopefully all will go well and I will be set up for next year.  Everyone, say a prayer!

Graduation night

The final final exam was today.  Interestingly, one student, who will get the dubious honor of being Fred 13, cheated on her final exam.  She would never have gotten caught if it weren't for the fact that by the time I handed out 8 exams, she was finished answering 30 chemistry problems. I told her that she would have to take another exam or get a zero since she didn't have time to answer 30 problems in less than five minutes.  She assured me that she just guessed at them all.  She's never without a lie on her tongue.  I caught her with her cell phone during a test earlier in the year and she lied to the principal about it and got off the hook.  She again ran to the principal.  I refused to budge on this.  Principal told her to just take it again.  I mixed the questions up and handed it to her.  She refused to do it.  Then she started whining about how she didn't feel she should have to do this and she didn't know why I was making her do this.  I told her that I believed her to be a cheater and I knew she was a liar and she had to prove me wrong.  She got mad and said she was going to tell her mother what I said about her.  She left and I gave her a zero.  On a high note, graduation went very smoothly and only lasted 40 minutes!  Now, I'm looking forward to a relaxing three day weekend so I can job hunt! :-)

It wasn't as bad as all that

Well, all the dread and agony I had felt over dealing with this class for three hours was a big waste of energy.  They were downright decent and respectful.  Of course, there were only six of them. Supposed to be 8, but two were no shows.   Freds 1 through 3 were half of that group.  Fred 1 decided at the last minute to skip the final and have a D for the year, so that certainly cheered me up.  They were so quiet at lunch that I didn't even know where they were sitting - so unlike yesterday, when I had to go to their table twice over them banging on the table and wrapping too loud.  After their exam, they watched Rango.  Well, four of them watched Rango, one girl laid in the floor and slept.  Last eight students tomorrow morning for their exam, then all I have to do is clean out my room and the lab, turn in all papers, keys, etc., and head back north to look for work.  I really hope I can find a school that I love next year.  I'm so sick of moving!

Oh goody, just me and the monsters

Well, sophomores finished exams today.  I had two who blew the final and failed for the semester. I'm making them both re-take the final.  Maybe it was too hard.  After all, it was open book, and I did have them write down the page numbers to find answers, and they only had two hours to find 37 answers.  Not sure how much more I can "accommodate" those two.  But, I can't let them fail, so I guess I can give them their old test back and have them correct the ones they missed...while I stand over them and make buzzer noises if they mark it wrong again.  Tomorrow's the day I dread.  The only class I have to test tomorrow is that lovely one I'm always going on about. And, of course, the only nice kids in that class exempted the final, so the monsters will be the only ones there.  Oh, and just to make sure I suffer thoroughly, I have them for three hours!  Oh yes, I get to take them to lunch.  Hope I don't hurl.  I know, two tests to go, then payday, pack and run for my life!

Seniors done, sophomores next...

Seniors took their finals today.  Had a couple who didn't show up for their final.  Too bad for them.  Funny thing was, we went over every single question that was on their final.  I even had them look up the answer in the book and write down the page number.  Then I let them use their books. Believe it or not, one person made a hundred, and four failed the exam.  Go figure.  Maybe the sophomores will do better tomorrow.  I did the same thing for them.

Another lovely parent meeting

You remember Fred 4, right?  The one who hates me?  The one I wrote up a couple of weeks ago?  Today, F4's mom sends me an email wanting to meet with me before final exams (which are Wednesday).  I agree to meet with her this afternoon.  Now, I already knew what she was going to ask.  I knew she would try to get me to drop the write-up so her child wouldn't have to take exams.  But, I think it is so pathetic that a parent cares more about her child's GPA than about her child's character.  Basically, she asked if I would take back the write-up.  I told her no.  Then she says that the reason she is asking is because her child has never had to take a final exam before.  I told her I was sure F4 would have no problem passing the final.  Then she tells me that she's worried it might bring down her GPA.  I then explained what happened when F4 got written up and what has been happening everyday since about Thanksgiving.  Apparently, the rudeness, smart mouth, bad attitude aren't any concern to mom.  She's not even worried about her child passing.  She's just worried about keeping that high A. Finally, after realizing I was not going to change the rules for her, she says that her daughter asked her to come in and try.  I think if my son treated his teacher the way F4 treats me, the first thing I would have done before begging for exemption would be to have my son apologize to his teacher, then try to wriggle out of final exams.  It was all I could do not to just stand up and shout "Oh my God, people!" and walk out of the meeting.  I know, I know, just a few days left.  Tomorrow seniors take exams and Wednesday everyone else does.  Get me through the week, Lord!

OMG! How much longer till summer?

Field Day was a success, pretty much.  We only had three issues:  a fight, a kid with tobacco and one with alcohol.  There were some kids playing dice in the boy's bathroom, but I couldn't get in there to catch them.  I almost got out of having to get in the dunking booth, but some students, apparently, were saving all their tickets for when I went in.  So, after listening to them moan about how unfair it was that I wasn't getting in, I got in. The water looked like they got it out of the river, complete with smell.  I REALLY didn't want to go in.  The seat didn't drop all the way, so when you went in, you got caught on the edge of the seat which snagged your leg.  All I could think about was that person who got the flesh-eating bacteria in the water in Georgia.  Luckily, out of the twenty or so who wanted to dunk me, only about six succeeded.  One kid - not even one of my students - ran up and just pushed the target, dunking me.  The kid got three days after school detention and didn't even know me!  My reputation must be spreading like wildfire.  Afterward, I went to change and when I got back they were all in the cafeteria eating lunch. I don't know where all the teachers went, though, because there was only one teacher in the cafeteria when I got there.  After lunch, the talent show began.  You know, it is amazing that some of the kids you think have absolutely nothing going for them, end up being the most talented.  I heard some kids sing better than anything I've heard before.  A group of kids did a play about temptation that gave me goose bumps.  Of course, right after that, a student ran into the bathroom.  After a while of her not coming out, I went in.  Apparently, the play made her suicidal.  I let her tell me her story, then discussed the fact that what she was going through right now was only temporary, and in a few years, she will be able to stand on her own and pick her life.  She could do anything:  travel the world, heal the sick, create a new website.  I told her that the guilt she feels for what her dad is doing is useless.  It won't change his behavior and she has to realize that, as hard as it is to face, we can't help those who don't want help.  Sometimes all we can do is advise and then stand back and watch them screw up anyway.  Feeling guilty for what someone else does is counter-productive. I told her that instead, she should focus on her future.  Look up the college she wants to go to online and see what courses they offer.  Determine what classes she should take next year to help her be prepared for the classes she will have to take in college.  I think it helped, but when I noticed where she had stuck a pencil point into her wrist, I took her to the guidance counselor.  She did tell me that she was glad I had come in to check on her and not someone else.  Maybe I helped.  Got home around 4ish, exhausted and sunburned.  Thank goodness it's Friday!

Field Day tomorrow

Not too bad a day, considering.  My seniors had review today, which is completely unnecessary since the final is open book, but I spent about fifteen minutes reviewing every question on the exam before watching a NOVA movie about how smart animals are.  The kids seemed to enjoy the movie, and the ones who usually start trouble slept through it.  I stayed about an hour after school to check on which seniors exempted.  Got those marked in my grade book and will give to their homeroom teachers tomorrow morning.  The Field Day festivities begin promptly at 8am tomorrow.  From 8am until 12pm, we will be having the powderpuff football game.  For those of you unfamiliar with that, it is where the girls play football and the boys cheer.  I think the game will probably be over by around 10am.  My group of teachers are setting up a dunking booth.  It will start at 10:30am.  I'm scheduled to be in it around 11:30am.  At 12:00pm, all students will have lunch until 1pm, then from 1 until 3, we will have the talent show.  I will then go back to my classroom to make copies of tests for next Tuesday.  I will also figure out exemptions for my 10th and 11th graders.  Might even go ahead and make their tests out also.  I'm still a little peeved that the worst class I have will be the one that I have to keep for three hours during finals.  Oh well, it's practically over.  I'm packing my house up and packing my classroom up.  All that's left is exams and clean up.  This is the easy part.  YIPPEE!

This place is a soap opera

Interesting day.  I can say that because this time it wasn't me dealing with the drama.  Another teacher had a run-in with a couple of students.  It was serious enough that the teacher may not return next year.  Not because of the students, but because he got mad enough to quit.  Glad I'm not the only one thinking about that.  In another incident, we have a student (not one of mine), outrageous enough that he gets the dubious Fred 12 honor.  He has been making his teachers crazy since he arrived here.  Very flamboyant and outspoken.  I heard he even wrote something in the newspaper about how mistreated he is at school by the teachers.  He was making comments all day about getting students to attend the board meeting this week. He asked a teacher if they were attending and the teacher said no.  He then stated that he thought it should be mandatory that teachers attend.  Then he mentioned that our principal wasn't going to like what was decided at this week's meeting.  That he had already spoken to four of the board members and knew something about the fight policy and cell phone use.  I had a run-in with him earlier this semester when he was coming into the building through a door I and a student were exiting.  He almost knocked us down without as much as an I'm sorry.  I mentioned to the student that he didn't have manners.  He came back out the door and confronted me about what I said.  He stated, cockily that he did so have manners.  I replied that if he really had manners, he wouldn't have to tell people that he had manners.  He's been in so much trouble at the school, I don't know why he hasn't been sent off.  One of the few things I'm grateful for at this school is the fact that I don't have to deal with him daily.  Of course, if I go back next year, I will most likely have him.  Another reason to job hunt.  I hear they're hiring truck drivers.

One day and seven classes to go

It started out pretty good today.  I'm trying to cover as much as I can in biology since I'm not going to have time to cover the animal kingdom like I would like to.  So, I figured the best way to cover echinoderms and arachnids was to watch videos.  We watched a very cool movie on National Geographic about people eating tarantulas.  I took up textbooks and only have about 4 students who owe me books.  These books are so old that I don't think they will have to pay for them if we don't find them.  I made out my physics and zoology final exams today.  Since I was in such a good mood when I made them out, I even put the page numbers that the answers are on beside most of the questions.  Can you tell that I really don't want to fail a senior?  Anyway, I did have a write up today.  One of my students, Fred 11, wanted to go to another teacher's room.  I told him he would have to wait until the end of class and he got upset.  He turned around and said, "F*ck this sh*t!" and slammed his book down on the desk.  Funny thing, when I took him to the office, he swore he didn't say that.  He claimed he said "Screw it."  I told him I heard him.  He still denied it.  Principal is now trying to get witnesses who heard him say it.  Some people would think it would upset me that he lied, but I figure if it were me, I'd probably lie my pants off to stay out of trouble.  Especially when it means I wouldn't be exempt for finals.  Twelve classes to go.  That's right.  I no longer track time by days, it is down to classes.  Woop!

Final class week. Then exams, Then Summer!

Yes, I'm counting.  Three days of classes, Field Day, Exams for seniors, Exams for everyone else, Clean up and summer!  I am an interim teacher at this school.  My job has posted online.  I have not re-applied for it.  I think I'm going to apply for every other science teacher job out there first.  This town is just too small and too narrow minded for me.  I know that small towns are known for that, I just didn't think of it when I moved down here.  Mainly, I was thinking of the low crime rate.  I miss restaurants and theaters, zoos and museums, and alcohol.  I never really drank that much, mostly when I eat mexican food and watch Alabama football, but man do I miss it!  Mainly, I miss friends.  The only people I know here are teachers and I only know a few of them. None of them live in this town, they live in the bigger city up the road.  One of my students today told me that he heard I would be moving to the lower grades next year.  I asked who told him something like that.  He said he couldn't say.  I told him I heard he was going to fail 11th grade.  He yelled "That's a lie!"  I said, "Oh.  We must have talked to the same person."  Well, I thought it was funny.

The kids are okay, but God I hate the parents!

Had a phone call from a parent today.  The call went something like this:

ME:  Hello Mrs. <parent>.  I received a note to call you ASAP.  Is anything wrong?

PARENT: You're d*mn right there is!  I want to talk to you about the incident with my daughter!

ME:  I didn't realized there was an incident with your daughter.

PARENT:  I'm about to talk to the principal about you, telling my daughter she's stupid!

ME:  I called your daughter stupid?

PARENT:  H*ll yes you did!

ME:  I went up to your daughter and told her she was stupid?

PARENT:  No.  You said it to everybody.

ME:  I told the whole class they were stupid?

PARENT:  No!

ME:  I told the whole class your daughter was stupid?

PARENT:  No!

ME:  So, I didn't call your daughter stupid?

PARENT:  Yes you did!

ME:  I'm confused.  What exactly did I say to your daughter?

PARENT:  You said her 103 grade in math didn't matter!

ME:  Oh.  Well, yes, I did say that.

PARENT:  I'm going to Montgomery and telling them to fire you!

ME:  The grade doesn't matter.  What matters is what she's learned.

PARENT:  Don't you dare say that!  She worked hard for that grade!

ME:  When she gets a job, nobody will care that she got a 103 in math.  They will care that she can add and subtract.  That's what I was telling your daughter.

PARENT:  Well, I've had enough of you calling these kids stupid!  I'm gonna make sure you never come back here again!

ME: Would you like to hear the whole conversation I had with the students?

PARENT:  NO!

ME:  Well, are you finished?

PARENT:  YES!

Click

Summer can't get here fast enough!

Five classroom days to go!!!!

Well, I didn't write anyone up today, so that was a good thing.  However, I did have a drama queen incident.  You remember my favorite class, right?  That lovely sixth period class that got a test today.  Well, Fred 2, was sitting behind a girl (it's never a good idea to let him sit behind girls) and he was pulling her hair back into a ponytail.  She was trying to get her hair out of his hands.  I needed to space them out for the test, so I just asked him to move to another desk away from everyone.  He wouldn't move.  I also picked out a couple more students to move so they wouldn't be all huddled together during the test.  He finally moved, but then started talking and moving around.  He kept going on and on about being moved.  I finally sent him to the hallway so the others could start their test.  When I got out in the hallway, I sent him across the hall to complete his test.  I then returned to my class and got them started.  A few minutes later, he starts pounding on my door, scaring everyone.  I open the door and he shoves his test at me.  He didn't answer any of the questions.  I called his mom (remember, she's on speed dial now) and told her the situation.  She spoke with him and then he returned to the room across the hall.

Another interesting incident:  I had a couple of students, Freds 9 and 10, who I had to report today.  Fred 9 kicked a bunch of desks over in class today.  I took him to the hallway to find out why and he said that Fred 10 made him mad.  He was sick of her trying to give him drugs.  I asked if she was trying to give him drugs in class and he said she told him she had something in her purse that would calm him down.  I immediately told the principal. We'll see tomorrow if anything came of it.  I'm guessing the only thing that will happen is that Fred 9 will be mad at me for getting him in trouble with Fred 10.

Tomorrow is Friday.  I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  Next week we only have four days of classes, then our field day next Friday.  The following week is finals, then a week of packing and turning in all our stuff.  I did hear today that this county is cutting $225,000 from the budget, so still looking for work for next year.  Say a prayer for me!

And yet another write up

Ok.  I'm getting tired of writing kids up.  Today, I had a student open a bag of potato chips and start eating them - loudly - in my class.  I looked over at her and said, very nicely, "Put them away."  She replied, "No. I don't care if you write me up.  I'm hungry."  So, I took her outside to the office and explained that all she had to do was put them away and she wouldn't be written up.  Then I offered if she threw them away, I would tear up the write up. She said, "I paid $2 for these chips!  I ain't throwing them away!"  So, I left her there.  I don't know.  Is it me?  Rest of the day went pretty well.  There was a bunch of cookies and cakes in the teacher's lounge for Teacher Appreciation Week.  So, I had cake and cookies for lunch.  They do that on purpose so teachers won't walk out this close to the end of school.  Hey, it's laid out right, ain't it?  I'm even going to take my biology kids to the lab tomorrow to study the pulse rate of lumbriculus.  My lovely 6th period darlings have a test.  Almost poetic, don't you think?

Another Write Up

I don't know if the students are behaving worse or if my patience is at its limit, but had to write another student up today.  My advanced seniors are doing a Powerpoint project.  Three students present their project on the Electromagnetic Spectrum and all the rest of the class gets a free 100 daily grade just for sitting there listening.  Had one student laying her head down, presumably taking a nap.  I went over to her to get her to stand up, because I think it is terribly rude to the students presenting.  She refused to stand up and claimed she was writing something.  Since there was nothing to write about in the class today, I reached for it assuming it was a note to a friend.  She jerked it away.  I asked what she was writing and she yelled, "It's none of your business!"  That was it.  I took her outside and wrote her up for distracting the class.  Then, my sixth period class, you know, my favorite one - puke.  They were in a loud, entertaining mood today.  I'm giving them a test on Friday, just because I don't like them.  Hope the little brats took good notes, because this stuff isn't in their books. We'll see who has the last laugh!  Bwahahahaha!

Told you Fred4 would try!

I was waiting for it and it happened, just as I predicted.  Fred 4, who I wrote up last week, showed up during my planning period with my write-up in her hand.  She claimed the principal wanted to know if I would dismiss the write-up.  I told her to inform the principal that I would not.  Then she asked why not.  I informed her that I dismissed the last write-up I did on her and when I did that she had promised to behave.  Since that day she has done nothing but tell the entire class how much she hates me and how much she hates the class.  She has come into my room everyday determined to hurt my feelings and belittle me.  So, I told her I would not let this slide.  Then, she puts her hand on her hip and says "What do I have to do?"  I told her she had to take the write-up back to the principal. Then the waterworks started. However, she did that last time too.  I told her nothing will get the write-up dismissed.  She has three days of after-school detention.  So, boohooing all the way out of my room, she returned to the office.  I know, you feel sorry for her.  But, if you had been dealing with her all year in my class, you would only feel bad that she got after school detention instead of in school suspension.  At least then I would have gotten a few days without the "I HATE YOU" glare.  Oh well, eight days to go.

The job hunt begins

I always hate interim jobs because at the end of the year, you have to start applying all over the place again.  Thank goodness it's all online now.  Saves me the time of filling out all those applications.  The mock wedding is tonight, but I have decided to job hunt instead of going.  Plus, it costs $5 and I get to see it for free on Monday when I take my class.  On the plus side of today, ....hmm...well...I got nothing.  Oh!  I lost a pound!

Storm at 3

Weird thing happened yesterday.  I was introducing some of my classes to the story of Otzi the iceman.  We were watching a BBC documentary on the story of his discovery and apparent murder.  When I got home last night and pulled up my AOL mail, there on the news was Otzi.  Apparently, yesterday scientists found a red blood cell that looked brand new in his body.  I told my students as we watched the finale today.  Then, just for fun I told them that I think AOL is watching what I download to determine what their news will be about.  I think I actually had a couple kids convinced that I was that important.  Clever, aren't I?  Then, right at dismissal time a freak storm came through with thunder and lightning loud and bright enough to make a God-fearing man pee in his pants.  Power went out throughout the school followed immediately by the terrified screams of the students (and a few teachers).  An exciting end to a fairly good day.  Tomorrow should be better.  That class.  You know the one.  The one with most of my Freds.  Yea, that one.  Well, most of my Freds will be attending the elementary school's field day all day.  So, I should have a wonderful day tomorrow!  And...only ten days to go!

Progress Reports Go Out

Progress reports went out this morning.  Fred4, the one who hates me, remarked that my class was her lowest grade.  Then, of course, she went on to comment rather loudly about everything she could. Every time someone made a comment or asked me a question, she would yell out either the answer or the fact that I had not answered the question.  Finally, after about the third time she said that I wouldn't answer questions, I commented that I didn't need to because she seems to have all the answers and keeps sticking her nose in everybody's business.  That may have pissed her off, because then she really got wound up.  I finally had had enough and pulled out a write up slip and wrote her up.  After that, she got quiet and got busy.  I waited for the bell to ring, the took her to the office.  Very sad, only 11 days until exams and she would have exempted if she hadn't gotten in trouble.  I'm betting tomorrow she will be apologizing in an effort to get me to drop the write up.  Unfortunately for her, it ain't gonna happen.  Then, had to work the ballgame again today and got to my car only to find a flat tire.  I would suspect Fred4, but she wasn't out of school yet.

Oh Great. I get to work the ballgame.

Well, I got roped into working the ticket booth at the softball game.  I was told there would be two games.  Since our field doesn't have any lights, we have to start early.  I left at 2pm, during my planning period and headed to the field.  Ended up sitting in the hot sun taking tickets until around 7pm.  It was an area tournament. That means we had four games.  Three more tomorrow and I will get to work that also.  I think I'll wear shorts and a tank top tomorrow and try to get some sun.  The only thing that isn't pasty white on me now is my nose, which has taken on a nice reddish tint.  Got home to my 82 degree house.  My air isn't working.  I flipped all the breakers and am hoping it will kick on.  I think it was cooler at the game! Whew!

Welcome back kiddies!

Well, the first day back wasn't as bad as I had expected.  I even let my physics class play with open pipe resonators. (Little plastic tubes that you swing in a circle to make noise).  My fifth period chemistry class went on a field trip so I only had two students.  I guess a week of boredom at home has made them anxious to get back to school to visit with their friends.  I"m saying a prayer that it keeps up like this.

Now the fun begins...

Oh boy.  Spring break is almost over and the kids have three weeks of school left.  Actually, two weeks and four days since the last Friday is Field Day, so no classes.  It will be interesting to see if they are anxious to be back at school or if they are ready for summer to be here.  I'm hoping this next week they will be calm.  I have not been observed by the principal yet this year.  I am supposed to get evaluated twice a year.  I'm betting she will wait until close to the last day of school when the kids are completely unmanageable to observe me.  I have that kind of luck.  Well, wish me luck!

4/20 Finally a break!

Amazingly not too bad a day.  Most of my 11th graders were on a field trip, 10th graders had to dissect a flower and 12th graders took a vocabulary quiz today.  (Tip for new teachers:  Always give a test on the day before a long holiday break just to keep the kids from becoming impossible to deal with.)  Actually made it out of there before 4pm, which was great because I'm starting my spring break by heading north to my family and friends.  Talk to you all in about nine days!

4/19 Friday Eve!!!

So, test tomorrow for some classes.  I had them doing the end of chapter review questions (1-22) and they start whining, "We never learned this!"  I told them we had read the entire chapter and done the vocabulary.  They exclaimed, "We can't learn that way!"  I felt like saying, "I can't grab your hand and force you to write the vocabulary and I can't grab your head and slam it into the book and force the information into your head." But I held back. Then they started, "We don't have enough notes for this open note test."  I informed them that they were welcome to take their books home and write all the notes they wanted to write before the test tomorrow. That shut them up.  Victory!  In the words of another teacher at my school..."You can't fix stupid." Just got to get through tomorrow, then nine whole days before I have to be back!  Woohoo!

4/18 Fred 8's gonna be a writer!

My "lab rat", the student who helps me in the lab, has just submitted an article to examiner.com.  I'm so excited that he had the discipline to write an article and the courage to submit it.  I've been writing for them for about a year now and have gotten a lot of satisfaction out of it, albeit not a lot of money.  I hope this will put him on a path to a bright future!  All the other kids were horrible today, except for my physics class.  We watched an earthquake movie in lieu of wave problems, so they were model students.  Nothing like the threat of math problems to get a bunch of seniors to sit quietly and behave.  I'm figuring these guys out a little at a time!

4/17 Three days until Spring Break

Some days I can't find a single student that I like.  I know it's getting close to the end of the year.  And I know that the kids are just acting like kids do when it's this close to summer vacation.  But, man!  I had one student today who came screaming to me because she made a 69 on a test.  An OPEN BOOK test.  An OPEN BOOK test that they took on Friday and did so poorly on that I gave it back to them to do on Monday to correct any wrong answers!  She's never made a 69.  And I guarantee that her mom will call the school tomorrow screaming just like she did today.
It just seems like these students whine about not knowing anything, then whine when they are expected to learn something.  Lazy I can deal with.  Dumb I can deal with.  But lazy, dumb and whiny make me want to pull my hair out!  God, I hope I can make it through the last eighteen days without telling them what I really think of them!

4/16 After Prom- Before Spring Break. Rock. Hard Place.

I feel like I've survived walking through a hornet's nest.  Between all the excitement about Prom last Saturday (yes, I did have to work it) and spring break coming up next week, it was all I could do to get the kids to get quiet and pay attention to their lessons.  On top of that, someone in the teacher next door's classroom turned the thermostat to heat.  Lucky me, his thermostat controls the temperature for both of our rooms.  I began sweating and had a momentary fear that I was having a hot flash.  I was supposed to take my zoology kids to dissect frogs today (ok, it was supposed to be last week), but I couldn't get them settled down enough to get them to the lab.  No way was I going to hand them scalpels and probes!  Hopefully, tomorrow they will be in control enough to get these frogs cut open.  If not, we are moving on.  I still have to cover reptiles, birds and mammals by the end of May.  This is one of the few times I actually closed my door after my last class and said "Whew!"  I have a nagging fear that this is just the beginning of things to come this week.

4/13 Prom Weekend

Sometimes it's good to teach the higher grades.  All the junior and senior girls and most of the junior and senior guys checked out early to prepare for prom tomorrow.  I had about three classes that had enough students to do anything in.  Two of those had a test and the rest either watched a science movie or just hung out.  I am doing a favor for another teacher and working prom for him.  So now I have to get dressed up tomorrow and stand in the parking lot from 2:30pm until whenever they let me go home.  Just ruins my Saturday.  Oh well, he owes me now and I have morning bus duty coming up.  Hehehehehe.....

The only bad luck so far on this Friday the 13th was that my little plastic desk chair broke today.  Luckily, I had just gotten out of it before it broke.

4/12 I'm a pushover for a guy in a wheelchair

Well, my blow up and write up of Fred 7 didn't last long.  He stopped by this morning before school began to explain that he was not "throwing" the desk. He explained that he was just trying to get it over some backpacks in the floor.  Now, in the back of my mind, I know he threw it on purpose just because everyone else was making noise.  However, he looked so contrite in his wheelchair, and he is usually a very well-behaved young man in class.  So, considering I've given my other write ups numerous warnings before writing them up, I decided to repeal his write up.  Only problem was, every time I went to the principal to get it, she was gone.  Hope I can get it tomorrow morning before he has to go to ISS.

4/11 Holy Crap! We're out of Coffee!

I kinda figured it would be a rough day when I arrived at work and there was only one pot of decaf coffee and no regular coffee.  To make matters worse, the decaf ran out after I had only had one cup. I handled it with amazing calmness...until 6th period.  That is the class of athletes.  The one class where the kids are hard to get on task and who a few of you have already been introduced to (Freds 1,2,3).  Needless to say, they came in like Banshees.  One student, who broke his leg and is in a wheelchair, came hopping in while someone else came flying in behind him in his wheelchair, crashing into the desks and making all kinds of racket.  Then, the students started moving desks around, loudly.  I told them to keep the desks in a straight line.  After a couple more loud bangs of desks into each other, I yelled for everyone to get seated and quiet.  My broken leg kid, Fred7, picked up a desk and tossed it out of his way.  When it crashed onto the concrete floor, I had had enough.  I sent him to the office and wrote him up for throwing the desk across the room.  I wanted to write up a few more, but I had to actually start teaching at some point.  Hopefully tomorrow, the coffee pot will be full.  If  not, I may go home sick.

4/10 Field trip for seniors

I was so excited that the seniors were going to a job fair today.  Not only would it give me a couple hours to play catch up with grading papers, but the students would be able to see what's out there job-wise.  Turns out there's not much out there.  Students told me that it was mostly Mary Kay and Avon, but they got some really cool cups and toys.  My two hours to play catch up fell through when I found out I had to cover the classes of the teacher going on the field trip.  Figures.  Didn't know what to do with them, so we watched Rango...again.  That movie is getting so old.  And I still don't know how it ends!

4/9 Countdown to Spring Break.

Well, the Easter holiday is behind us and the students and teachers returned to school today.  Apparently, it was senior skip day, so I only had four students in one senior class and six in another...and one checked out during class.  Lesson plans shot for those guys, so we watched Rango.  Thought about creating a really hard test and telling them tomorrow that they missed it and need to make it up.  Haven't decided if I will get them or not.  Well, in the lab, the mouse is gone and I still haven't gotten in there to clean.  Had to post grades, enter lesson plans into computer and type up an incident report about the lab fiasco.  Didn't get out of there until after 5pm.  Hopefully, tomorrow I will get the lab cleaned up.  Still have to set it up for frog dissections.  The only thing is...all I can think about is one week and four days until Spring Break.  And I know the kids are doing the same thing.  It's bad enough when the kids don't feel like doing anything, but when I don't want to do anything either, it's hard to stay focused.  I just hope I can hold out!

4/5 Stormy Weather Expected

With Spring Break and Summer coming up so soon, it's always difficult to keep the students engaged in learning.  The warm weather hasn't helped much, either.  Of course, when you throw in a long weekend with Friday off, the natives get downright restless.  Well, either that or sleepy.  I trudged on, until the school got a little panicked with the weather situation.  Apparently, the Texas storms that had such bad tornadoes, are heading this way.  The principal turned off the bells and then sent everyone to lunch about an hour early.  Students got very excited thinking they were leaving early - but, surprise! - we left at the regular time.  Looks like the jokes on the students this time!  LOL

4/4 Doughnuts are here!

I am so sick of having these doughnut sales for a fundraiser.  I think this is the third one we've had this year.  I can't buy them because I keep preaching about the importance of eating healthy and how junk food is poison.  Lucky for me that enough people around school do buy them...and share them with me. :-)  Of course, it makes it very difficult for me to explain to the students why, if I'm eating so darn healthy, I can't seem to lose all this weight.  (I usually just tell them that I'm staying this weight on purpose.)  Think they believe it?  Hopefully, all doughnuts will be gone by tomorrow.

4/3 Chemistry Olympiad results

I'm still in a state of shock, so forgive me if I ramble.  A couple of weeks ago, I gave my chemistry and physics students the chemistry Olympiad pre-test.  I honestly didn't think they had a shot of making it past the preliminary stage, but I did want to see just how far behind we were compared with the rest of the nation.  Plus, it gave me a day of not having to do lesson plans.
Well, today the results are in and TWO of my students (Freds 5 and 6) have been invited to compete in the National Chemistry Olympiad!  The funny thing is:  the smartest student in school was the main reason I agreed to give the test.  I figured that he had a shot at making it, or at least of getting a scholarship out of it.  He was not one of the students invited.  I'm still puzzled by that.  But, what's even more amazing is that only ten students in the whole state get to compete in the national level and two of them came from my school!  Here, I thought we were so far behind the rest of the world, but apparently we are doing just fine...or it could be my amazing teaching ability has increased their intellect in science.  Yea, I think I'll give them that "you would be nothing without me!" speech so that if one of them wins, they will feel inclined to thank their favorite teacher.  (NOTE TO SELF: You are the best science teacher ever!)  This might be the only opportunity I have to say that. LOL

4/2 Fred4 Doesn't Like Me.

Have you ever had to be around someone who just absolutely hates you?  And they go out of their way to let you know it?  I have a student like that.  Last semester, I almost wrote her up for some drama she tried to pull when I wouldn't let her go to another teacher's room for a novel she had left.  I got her out into the hallway and she burst into tears.  I talked to her a moment and gave her another chance.  However, ever since that incident, she has taken every opportunity available to make little digs and comments to try to hurt my feelings or make me feel bad.  I assume that she was so humiliated when I called her to the hallway that she hasn't gotten over it.  The fact that she did it to herself, doesn't seem to register.  Anyway, I usually ignore it and move on.  Which is what I did today.

  Our word of the week is compassion.  Each teacher is supposed to have a mini-lesson on it.  I put up quotes from famous people and discuss them.  Today's quote went something like "People who don't feel compassion do so because they don't like themselves.  If they make friends with themselves, then compassion would flow out of their heart and mind."  Something like that.  I asked the class if they agreed with the saying.  Fred4 chimed in that she did not agree with the quote because if she didn't like, oh for example, me (snickers can be heard around the room), she would still like herself just fine.  I started to corner her as to why she wouldn't like me (hypothetically, of course), but didn't want to put her on the spot, so I replied something about how people who like themselves would typically feel bad when they hurt others and how usually when people are mean to others, they are simply reflecting what they are feeling inside.  Then, because I didn't want her to think I was speaking to her personally, I continued on with our lesson.

Every year, you get at least one student who thinks she is allowed to do whatever she wants, and when she is told no, she becomes impossible to be around.  Fred4 is mine.  Luckily, she learned what I will do when pushed and hasn't crossed that line again, but it still makes me feel sad that she is only nice when it suits her.  I feel very sorry for her when she gets out in the real world and realizes that she is not queen there either.

On a happier note, only two weeks and three days until spring break!

First Week Issues

Just to update you on why so many posts were on the same day.  I used an old gmail account and didn't know the password.  When I tried to get the password sent, it was sent to an old phone number that I no longer have.  I had given up hope of ever figuring out the password, so had started a new blog site.  Weirdly enough, I bought a new netbook so I can blog wherever I go and discovered the password, so I copied everything from the other blog.  And I wrote down the account name and password.  Hopefully, I won't lose the piece of paper I wrote it down on.

March 30th, Finally Friday!

Friday!  Finally!  For some reason, this week has dragged by.  Pretty good day with kids.  Reptile lady came with snakes, so I got an extra hour break when everyone went to see the show.  Got a lot of papers graded and straightened up a little in the room.  Also got my lumbriculus water changed.  All in all, a pretty good Friday.  Next week we get out for Good Friday, then three weeks until spring break.  After that, three weeks until the end of school.  I'm counting it down!  Hope everyone has a great weekend!  Talk again on Monday.

March 29th, 7am Parent Meeting

Had my parent meeting this morning about Fred2's behavior.  He is the student who breaks into song at the top of his lungs just when I get everyone quiet.  The one who shoves all the desks behind him back causing chaos to the students sitting in those desks.  The one who I send out into the hallway just so I can complete the lesson without having to stop to deal with him every thirty seconds, then when he gets out there he keeps sticking his head in the window and tapping to get everyone's attention.  I LOVE his mother!  I think you will too.  This is what she told me.  "Let me just say that I am a mother who cares!  And I know how Fred2 can be.  You can't beat him here, but I can.  He knows he better treat you how he treats me.  I don't care how big he gets.  I don't care how wide he gets. (He is well over 6 feet and at least twice as heavy as she is.)  He knows I will punish him.  Here are my numbers.  If you have ANY more trouble out of him, just call me.  I will handle it right away."  All the while, Fred2 stood beside her without making a sound or moving an inch.  I immediately put her number in my speed dial.  Next time I have problems with him, I'll simply call her number, hand him the phone and just keep teaching.  She was amazing!

Of course, talk today centered around my student who was sent to the hospital yesterday.  The stories were so interesting.  I refused to talk about the incident to the students (mainly because I want to see how Fred3 handles it when he comes back).  But I heard so many stories today.  "He blew up the lab.  That's how come we can't go in there anymore."  and "He blew himself up!  He won't be back to school this year."  Won't they be surprised when he shows up tomorrow.  I'm thinking of calling him tonight and telling him to wrap his face up just to freak them out, but I don't want what happened to become a joke.  I want them all to understand just how serious the incident was.  It was just pure luck that I happened to be facing him when he mixed the chemicals together.  Had I been at another workstation with my back turned, who knows what might have happened.  I know they think I was being a bit overzealous by insisting that he go to the doctor to get checked out, when he only mixed a very small amount, but he is the type of guy who will pretend to be fine even when he isn't and I would not have been able to live with myself if he had any serious side effects from his experience.    There's even a good side.  Now the students will see why I stress safety first in the lab and the importance of following directions.  Even if no one else learned that lesson, I know for a fact that Fred3 understands it now.

I did tell the students that we would not go back into the lab for a while because their safety is my primary responsibility and I just don't feel that I can keep them safe in there.  (I will be so paranoid when we do get back in the lab, trying to keep an eye on every single student every single second.  Right now, my nerves can't handle that.)

Ended up having to work a baseball game, so got to leave school early to get to the game.  Our ballpark does not have lights, so our games have to be played early.  I really hate that small town schools are so desperate for supplies.  Ended up getting home at around 5ish.  Tired and hungry.  Be well, BlogBuddies!  Happy Friday Eve to you all!  Talk to you tomorrow.

March 28th, I Spoke Too Soon...

Well, I should have known things were going too well.   The parent meeting from this morning got rescheduled until tomorrow. They forgot to tell me.  I showed up for it and no one else was there.  It was ok though, because it gave me a chance to catch up on lesson plans before heading to the cafeteria for duty.  Things were going fine until my last class of the day.  You know the one.  The one with the Freds.  On the plus side, nobody died (and whatever Fred3 mixed together to create the toxic gas, he could sell to the military for millions!).  On the negative side, Fred3 decided he didn't need to follow instructions while combining exothermic reactions and decided to mix ALL the ingredients together.  He's spending the night in the hospital (just for observation). Fortunately, no one else was injured.  I spent the remainder of the day cleaning up his mess, trying to ventilate and remove the substance; trying to keep the rest of the class calm and away from the fumes; sending Fred3 outside for fresh air, then to the nurse; getting the kids back to the room in time for the bell to ring,  looking up what possible substance he could have created and inhaled and get it to the nurse.  Needless to say, by the time school was out I was a mixture of stress, worry and hopelessness all rolled into one. As soon as I could after school, I rushed to the hospital and checked on his status.  He was enjoying his moment in the spotlight with students visiting him and teachers and staff checking in with him.  Plus he gets out of school tomorrow.  Lucky for me, the other two Freds were well behaved.

Back in the Lab

Unusually nice day today.  Not only was the weather excellent (especially for March), but students were awesome.  Still have cafeteria duty.  But actually got to do experiments with both chemistry classes.  Mainly because my problem children in one class have both gotten into trouble and parents were contacted.  Fred1 had another teacher call his dad yesterday and Fred2 got written up by me (for the 3rd time) and I have a 7am meeting with his mother tomorrow.  Needless to say, both of them were model students today.  I have never met Fred2's mom, so I hope everything goes well tomorrow.  If not, I'll have a lot to talk about on my blog, eh?  Anyway, I was so pleased with today's experiments that after school and after the ball game, I raced to Wal-Mart to get some more experiment supplies ($36 worth) so that we can continue to do experiments tomorrow. Hopefully, no one will blow up the lab!

Monday After Grad Exams

Well, it's the first day back after last week's graduation exams.  I approached this day with dread.  Usually, after graduation exams, students don't think they have to do anything else the rest of the year.  It is up to the teacher to make sure the students understand that they are expected to complete work and pay attention until the final bell rings on the last day.  Of course, after the past week of exams, I couldn't even remember what we had studied two weeks ago.  I made it to school at 7:10 ready to catch up, only to find out that I have cafeteria duty from 7:15 until 7:45.  Great.  No food fights, so not too bad.  However, I didn't get to my classroom until school had started, so no time to prepare.  Luckily, the kids were so sleepy, no one noticed that I'm just reading out of the book.

 My classes were pretty good today, in a drowsy sort of way, but I discovered that I had to watch the 7th grade class during my planning (last class of the day).  The 7th graders are monsters. Everyday, I read about all the 7th graders in ISS or ASD in my email.  They have a bad reputation.  I was hoping to spend my planning period coming up with some endothermic experiments that my chemistry kids could do tomorrow, but must babysit instead.  I know that in order to keep them in line, I'll have to have some work for them to do.  Just one problem:  I don't know what class they are in.  I ask the teacher who is sending them to me and he says "health".  Good.  I can do a health class.  I go online and print up the seven levels of health and figure I can discuss that with them for fifty minutes.  For the most part, it worked.

 I had to make one student go into the hall and stand because she couldn't stop laughing out loud every couple of minutes.

 Another had to turn over her sunglasses to me because she couldn't keep them on her head instead of her eyes.  And yet another was using a cell phone, very stealthily, she thought.  I tried twice to give her an opportunity to put it away.  Finally, I just went over to her and told her to put it away.  Then I used her as the perfect example of someone with a relaxed value system (spiritual health) and explained that she most likely didn't feel it was important to follow the rules at school, possibly because at home, her family doesn't put too much emphasis into the importance of rules.  It worked brilliantly.  She became flustered and started denying that she was like that.  I simply smiled while all eyes were on her and walked around as if I hadn't heard her.

 The bell rang right after that so the kids took off. Teacher, one;  7th graders, zero.  I rock!

Why is everyone anonymous?

Before I start posting tomorrow, let me explain how I will be doing things.  First of all, I am remaining anonymous because I plan to be perfectly honest about what goes on in my classes and I don't want anyone I work for suing or firing me over it.  I plan to not only tell what goes on, but also to express how I feel about it, so the language may not always be G rated.  All of my students and other teachers, administrators, etc., will be called Fred (Fred1, Fred2...), however, Fred1 will always be the same person, so if you like Fred1 you will be able to follow his or her antics throughout the year.  You will see a lot of the same Freds throughout the course of this blog!  I will be stating the "office politics" that go on at my school and many other things that the school probably doesn't want the public knowing.  In that same vein, I will cover not only the bad, but also the good.  Most days are fairly good, with only a sprinkling of, er, character, shall we say?  I hope you enjoy this blog and I hope to see your ideas, comments or questions!  Thanks for reading!

School from a teacher's perspective

I'm starting this blog to give everyone an idea about what goes on in the life of a teacher today.  I am a high school teacher and I have decided to share my days on this blog.  Each day after school, I will tell all the good and bad stories that have happened in my classes.  I would love to hear comments from other teachers, students and parents.  Let's see if my classroom is unique, or if students all over the country are behaving the same way.  Get ready!