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.