Caring and Collaborative

Another one of those teacher 1/2 days. We started with a staff meeting. Caring and collaborative is sort of the school catch-phrase for how we are to work together as a staff. the staff meeting started with sort of an enforced form of being caring and collaborative members of the school/community. A couple of the United Way folk spent the first fifteen minutes of the staff meeting encouraging us all to give more than we did last time. Admittedly this appeal does not get me feeling at all jazzed and warm and fuzzy. I prefer my giving to be directed in a way that I know that I agree with rather than some blanket organization that has its own people make that decision. This is not to say that i am against the idea of the United Way (supporting a lot of good organizations), it's just that I want more of the control....and yes I AM a bit of a control freak on the things i can control. Then the meeting moved on to Thank Yous. Our principal did this last year, so at least I knew what was going on. Various people gave a verbal thank you to someone on the staff. The principal provided candy for the recipients. Another way to show what a caring and collaborative group we are.
I sometimes question myself..."Am i being caring? Do I collaborate?" I think one of my biggest struggles is that I am used to relying on what I can do, that I don't/won't ask for help. I have a colleague who knows some of the financial struggles last year posed and has offered from time to time to float a loan. (If you didn't know, teachers here get paid once a month so sometimes payday is pretty far off). I haven't taken her up on the offer because of that self-reliance streak that say, "only from family."

So I wonder by not allowing someone else to be caring, am I being collaborative?

And another day of meetings

I'm not exactly sure which it was today, a waiver day, and in-service, or maybe something else; but for once i found the meeting more interesting than usual. Instead of going to one more ELL meeting (and some of those can be well, let's just say on the somnabulistic side), i chose to meet with the social studies people.

Let me say this first, i haven't had a social studies class for almost six years, so most of the teaching has been pure joy and generally my planning is not a paper thing. Can't write a rough draft 'til after I'm finished, so planning is often backwards for me. I see exactly what i want to teach and then can write it down. We were a very small group (influenced I think by the no child left behind act, many of the teachers who could be teaching social studies are sticking to reading and writing so once again have left behind most of what was once fun about learning...and although Bush may emphasize citizenship, without a model all the readin', and ritin', and rithmatic, can be dull, but i digress). Just some of the sixth, one of the seventh, and a few of the eight grade teachers met to discuss not only what we are doing individually, but also looking at how we were linking to state and district learning requirements.

Since my ELL social studies group has all grade levels, i really did want to hear what other teachers were doing to see if what was in/on my mind fell in with what others were doing. Happy to say that, "Yes, it did. " And now on the front seat of my car is my curriculum. Or the beginning of it. I might even type it up and tweak it a little over the weekend. And i am even a little ahead of schedule is some ways. Coming up in a couple weeks, the school is celebrating "Citizenship Week." I can honestly say the my group has already been discussing what it means to be a citizen. And for a room of mostly non-citizens of this county not an easy topic to grasp. That same week, i will again be observed by the principal (yippee!).

On a family note, remembering Mom and smart, sarcastic, opinionated...i think we all have had at least one of those qualities bite us on the butt....

October and it gets busier and busier

In the last week i have taught my regular classes and subbed for someone in the afternoon everyday since last Thursday. I'm not really complaining, don't get me wrong, i love teaching little 6th graders about sea-floor spreading and the mid ocean ridges. It's just getting a little tiring when you couple it together with meetings (teacher book club - Tuesday, team meeting Wednesday, MYD meeting -Monday, and volunteering once a week at one of the sports events-usually Wednesday). There are days that I get to school at 6:45 just to get ready for classes that start at 8:20. I can't prep after school since there is someone else in the classroom I share. The computer that I am supposed to use doesn't recognize me and the work order is on back order. it's just a little overwhelming this week. No, I'm not complaining and you can't make me say that i am!
And now for something completely different (thank you Monty Python)... One of my co-workers is doing a canned food book drive. Sounds weird doesn't it. My co-worker is part of a service project for a food bank and is looking for gently used books suitable for children between the ages of six months and 16 years. We can feed the child but sometime we forget that kids need the books that will spark their imaginations. My school district is pretty evenly split in the rich side water side and the poor side highway side. We may not be literally on the other side of the railroad tracks, but what our kids have is pretty sad. So when your thinking about how to create more space in you own homes, if you have a book or two that your own kids have out grown (but not wore out) let me know and I'll find a time to visit and pick them up.

bless someone with the joy you have received

this is not a drill..... Lockdown

At eight something this morning my school went into lock down. The students go sit on the floor out of line of sight, the lights go off, and everyone goes quiet. I cover up the door window, check the hall for wanderers and lock the door. after about ten minutes the check in call comes and I report that I pulled a student into my room from the hall. Ten minutes later we get the resume class activities but keep doors locked and windows covered.
It seems that someone across the street in the apartments there was wielding a knife....some sort of domestic squabble. The police were called and finally someone was hauled off. One of my students coming to school VERY late had to sit in a police car during the lock down. My students were great about doing what they were told quickly and quietly.

life is not a drill

Five themes and other things

Today in my ELL Social Studies class I gave the students short oral quiz about the five themes of geography. F or the past week we have been defining and creating examples of the five themes (location, place, human/environmental interactions, movement, and regions). Some days were easier than others...the interactions day probably the hardest. So after going through regions (I cut up a map of the United States and then laminated the pieces) and that we can divide the earth into governmental, landforms, or directional regions; I I asked them about the different themes. They all seemed ready for the real quiz tomorrow. I don't expect their writing style to be very high, but since they have been learning note taking, maybe they will be fine on the written quiz.

My 8th graders are working on Point of View. They have a scenario and a character and must describe what happened in an accident in the first person point of view. Tomorrow all the different characters from the scenario will get together in a group to figure out what happened.The 7th graders had a free write today. Something I will be practicing with them every day. And then we will skim through the first couple of units in the text since some of them have already done units 1-3.

As for me....another busy weekend. I participated in a Radio Programming advisory panal ($50 for two hours!). Then went to the gym and worked out with my sister who was visiting (Happy Birthday, again) then more family stuff with brothers and sisters. I started to yawn by 7:00 and when i got home was falling asleep before 9:00. The typical teacher work day is still in effect for me on the weekends.

Lastly, a friend sent me this in one of those forwarding things (and no you do NOT have to send it on to twelve people while chanting)

St. Theresa's Prayer:

May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.
Amen to that

Sit Tall!

So the "first week" of school is done and finally today i felt like I was teaching. My social studies class was looking into creating a definition of the word "citizen" and my other two classes were creating their own guiding principles for the class. My shortest 8th grade student thought a good class expectation would be "sit tall." After thinking about it we kept the rule. Sit tall like stand tall can be be proud of who you are and what you contribute to the class. You may be the joker, the athlete, the gamer, or the smart kid but each one of them can be proud of who they are. This 8th grade group are some of the same students who caused me a lot of stress as 7th graders, but we're all going to be sitting tall, me included.

blessed are those who are small but can sit tall.....

Day 1 and 179 to go...

School started today! Actually there wasn't a whole lot going on, going over school rules and the expectations and making positive choices. I have one class that will be a little challenging (some of the same students who provided interesting challenges last year) but the team that I am working with are in agreement about how we honor the school-wide discipline program.
My other two classes will be good not just because they are small, but because the curriculum will be fun for me.
I get to actually teach a social studies class! Yay! We'll start with the five themes of geography (location, place, human/environmental interactions, movement, regions) and then move on to a linked curriculum to grade level.
And my day ends at 12:30, how sweet is that?

School starts in 10 days

For any of you who have checked in and found me wanting for a while, I'm back. Last year ended with me having my gall bladder removed the last week of school and then summer school started the following week.

I had a good group for summer school...high school students so a bit different from what I usually do. We used the book Hatchet by Gary Paulsen as out main reading text. We had regular quizzes and focused on vocabulary and writing. We Worked on Topic development in "coming to America" and I had the students work in writer's notebooks almost everyday. Not assigned writing but sort of. Each Monday the students would spend about ten minutes coming up with a list of possible topics..."things that bug me..." ; "my favorite places.." "Problems in the world." and then each day they could write about a new topic or continue with a topic they had already started. During the last two weeks I asked them to pick one topic to re-write edit and type up. I enjoyed learning about one boy's joining a salsa dance club and another student explaining how Korea united during the world cup to support the Korean team.
The students said at the end of the summer that they enjoyed the book more than the video! Yay!

last week we had the ELL meeting and this upcoming week starts the in-service teacher days. O and my work schedule has gotten longer ...from a .4 to a .6 contract if we have a contract. It's contract renegotiation time between the union and the district so I'm still waiting.

TESTING IS OVER!!!!!

Finally my schedule is back to as close to "normal" as I can make it. The ELL Language Proficiency test...Over. The state assessment test (as I like to think of it the no child left behind..ha!)....over! I had students of all grade levels asking me how the WASL will affect their grade and what would happen if they don't pass. They're middle schooler for crying out loud. I kept reassuring them with the "don't worry about it because the only one test you have to pass doesn't happen until your in 10th grade" mantra. But still they worried. I provided them with jelly beans and cookies during the test break so they could make it through to lunch (at almost 1:00). They wanted the coffee and espresso tasting ones the most (hmmmm, wonder if the environment is affecting them?) My sixth graders probably had it the easiest...they only had to test on reading and math. The other test days they were working on finishing the Africa project. I am so proud of them...some of the projects are really well done. I think the "no stick figures" in the drawings helped the projects look better than they would have done. I'm going to laminate some for the hallway. If I can I will put a copy of one online.

And the sun has returned, I put out a couple tomatoes and my azaleas are in bloom and all is right in my world for today.

blessed by peace and finally enough sleep!

"Lost Boys" and Biographies

That's what's on the menu for class this week. I'm finding the lost boys pretty interesting and have decided to expand the lesson with my class to include a little country research, flag, and drawing. The students of course will do most of the work. They have already read and excerpt from the text and written the summary, tomorrow they will work on their drawing and I will assign countries for them to research....limited to Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya.

As for the biographies, my 7th graders are going to choose someone they think is successful (I gave them this caveat, the biography must be in our school library!) and research the person, what makes them successful, and write a 5 paragraph report on the person. We have already read brief biographies in the text on Frida Kahlo, Mae Jemison, Christopher Reeve, Tim Berners-Lee, Maya Lin and Naomi Shihab-Nye. The students have practice interviewing and writing research style questions. Tomorrow they will get the rubric for the assignment.

I'm sure there will be a lot of questions....so time for me to study.

blessings among the chaos!

lather, rinse, repeat...

last week was a little underwhelming but incredibly packed with students. I mentioned the state based language proficiency test for ELL.....? every morning but one i was testing at one of the high schools for the "speaking" part of the test. For me that means reading a lot of direction aloud and then evaluating the students pronunciation, comprehension, and responses. With the higher level transition students there is almost a conversation going on, with the newcomers...sometimes even the repetition is painful. I think I can recite from memory the script used by the proctors.
This week I am subbing full days since my district takes the "mid-winter" break. I don't need this break, the high schoolers have just started a new semester (so they don't need it either) and soon everyone will be taking the "no child left behind" inspired state assessment of student learning. What joy that will be. So today i was with 9th grade students, tomorrow with seventh grade, Thursday and Friday not yet set.
On a more personal note, I went to see Taiko with my nephew, Finn, a couple of Sundays ago. It was a kids based performances so fun to learn about the drums while listening to the music. Afterwards, we had a family birthday party. Actually, I think that was the first time since November that the parts of my family that live on this side of the state got together.
Still working out, I'm noticing that there is a little more room in the hips of my pants and a lot more energy for me on the cardio days.

wicked tired

......as in no rest for the wicked. The day started around five and I just got home. I subbed math this morning then had my classes, then lots of correcting. Doesn't sound like much, but in the between times i was writing up the lesson plan for my level three group. Sort of a cross between one of those survival games and decision making. They had a list of some 25 different things and had to decide which fifteen they should take on a camping trip in the mountains and why.

i let them work in pairs to decide but the harder part was actually writing down why you wanted to take the sleeping bag but not the binoculars. Tomorrow we will discuss the choices they made and why, then talk about the excerpted novel "My Side of the Mountain". I read this book when I was in 4th or 5th grade, it's sort of a Walden's Pond for kids.

now to tackle the shopping and the laundry I need to do

....I hope you find blessings in doing all you need to do for each day.

nothing special...

Feeling better, the bio- kids are mid way through reading and info gathering. Monday they get to research on the web, Tuesday they will be looking at a biography and we'll be talking about "topic sentences" and concluding sentences. Neither of which they are very good at yet.
the Natural world class wrote a quick and dirty paragraph on their chosen animal. After grading it, I will give back and we'll talk about using the same animal to write a poem. ...this loosely based on the unit they are in. My tutoring group has increased from the one student on January second to four students ending the month.
The ELL team is talking about the state English language proficiency test...this is not the same as the state assessment of student learning. There is some tension about the scoring and record keeping....i am trying to stay out of the middle but I may be dragged in.going to hear/see the Portland Taiko group later today with my nephew and then meeting other family members for dinner. We are not super bowling.
Trying to figure out my taxes but still waiting on a few forms....

.....blessed by everything and nothing in particular

and the cough came back the very next day.....

the hacking left and then returned with a vengeance last night.

Today at lunch was the mix it up lunch. Students were encouraged to sit at lunch tables according to birth month. There were some questions for topics and a few teachers to help the students to talk to one another. After school was an all school dance...also to encourage students to talk, meet and even to dance with someone new.

I couldn't go...I do not want to spread any potential germs....

challenged by rachel

I went in early today to participate in the Rachel's challenge assembly. Rachel's brother, Craig, who was also a student at Columbine when the shooting happened was the speaker. We saw the presentation and listened to the challenges to start making a change, today. Later in class the students took a couple of surveys about the perceived attitudes and prejudices within our school. My student were almost split down the middle on whether they thought our school was welcoming without prejudice. Sad commentary, since according to our principal, our school is one of the better ones in the district in terms of trying to make positive differences.

Two of the statements Rachel wrote in her diary that affect me the most:

"I won't be labeled as average"
and
"Don't let your character change color with your environment."

two of my students later asked if they could write their Biography report on Rachel

may you be a blessing in every color.........

a full week? what's that?

I'm looking forward to a full week of teaching next week. I can't remember when i last taught for five full days. Between the snowy/icy days were holidays and pre-scheduled half days. There are some students who don't seem to get that school missed now just gets tacked on in June (or July...we are already up to the last week in June on the new revised schedule). All in all this "week" has been pretty good. My classes are all engaged in their new units and the ELL team is coordinating for the student Language assessment happening in the spring.
next week is a good one in that we are having the "Rachel's Challenge" group in for an assembly and the "mix it up" lunch. Both of these are to encourage changes is the heart of the students to acceptance and less clique-ishness. Rachel is the first student who was killed in the Columbine shooting. If you want more info fo to www.rachelschallenge.com . I have seen high schoolers having a positive reaction to this presentation.
I scored the last home game for the girls' v-ball game yesterday, 8th graders went out with their first home win! Tight game all around no blow outs but strong serves from a few of our girls.
Caught a cold...just tired and a hacky cough that I'm working on. I think I'll be okay for the gym tomorrow. My throat just too dry to go in today. This weekend will be busy with getting a bunch of little thing done.

excuse me while i cough.......

Not Again

yes, another snow day for my district....getting old. However the neighboring district that I sub for was still operating (and on time) so i worked a fell day in 7th grade science class. They were making poster of a cell analogy. A plant cell is like a school. The principal is like the nucleus and controls everything, the building is like the cell wall, the hallways like the endoplastic reticulum and on. The students made up their own comparative analogy and then had to draw it out and explain. I think it's a pretty cool assignment.....too bad I don't have a cell science section,

Another snow day

Okay the nature walk didn't pan out...getting too cold and some snow just wasn't worth the possible complaints and mess. Instead we went on line at http://nationalgeographic.com and enchanted learning.com to study habitats and ecosystems. Each student was given a card with the habitat on it sent to the site in the computer lab and then had to write notes about that habitat on the back of the card. you either did the assignment or you goofed (can you guess that some chose to goof!). Today, or rather tomorrow since today is a no school-snow day (again!), we'll be adding information to a big class chart of habitat information.

The trainer called me to ask if I could work out earlier yesterday evening...after a quick 1/2 mile (about 5 minutes) on the elliptical I started lunges. I admit it lunges are not my thing so I wanted to get them over with. down the "lunge-walkway" I went. At the end got water and the first one on the way back something in my right quad goes, "pop, pop, pop." I did not swear since i was right outside the kids' room (and I don't swear that much in public, anyway). Some sort of muscle pull. So i ended up not doing the leg and back work out though still did the back, biceps, abs that was very similar to Tuesday's routine. ughhh!

please, please, please let there be school tomorrow.

new units and the scale of things

I have started new units in all my classes. the 7th graders are working in the natural world while I am being more consistant in my classroom management and discipline. the result...I had more turned in homework, on time, last week than I had had in the past. We may be going on a quick nature walk today if the weather is okay. try to see an ecosystem or a community around the school. if not we'll finish previewing a the readings and get started.

The mixed level will be doing a unit on challenges and extraordinary people. mostly we'll just be previewing the chapter and talking about people who have influenced us. With maybe a tie in to Dr. Martin Luther King.

My work out this morning, brutal. Abs (crunches and something called planks), biceps and back done in the circuit training mode. Sweating bullets. i weighed in on the gym scale, and it's less than my home scale (I will be official at home).

more storms expected tonight.....hoping you are blessed with shelter and warmth....

this and that and the new year begins

The "winter holiday" is over and we are back in session. I have a semi-new class of one student. Yes, that's right one. According to the ELL guidelines we can't have more than 30 students in an ELL class so even though one of my students moved..two new students started in on Tuesday. One of the other ones was transferred to another core class and now is "tutored" by me for 1/2 hour every day.This also allows the school the leisure of having a place to put any other "new" students should they move into our district.

What is it with me an quotation marks, today?....you would think that I have been teaching them but I haven't. One group is starting a new unit dealing with the natural world (everything in the natural world is connected) while the other group is doing narrative writing. The natural world group are starting in on latin and greek root words. We spent most of today with vorare (to eat) with the additions of omni-; herba-; and carne-. Tomorrow we'll look a little at classifying some animals by there grouping.

On a personal note. Christmas was a rush of driving to visit my sister (310 miles one way), baby-sitting my god-daughters, and dog-sitting. Along the way still managed to go to the gym or work out nine of the days of the vacation. So no weight gain...Yay!

we have been blesssed by the light of the world.....