Reading back through these posts I realized how much I/we all lean on each other for support, advice and just venting. We all made it and we all made it with each other. I sure hope these blogs stay up so that we can still call on each other as we continue on this journey and meet the inevitable roadblocks.
Thank you to each of you for your role in this year of my life and congrats to us all!
I just found the essay a kid turned in on Google. It wasnt even hard. He used the phrase “another important theme is the duality” I typed it in google, up popped his essay. I even warned them that I would check essays…How dumb do they really think we are. I have read 5 formal essays and at least 50 pages of informal writing from this kid, i know what he sounds like. This will be a fun one to clear up since the project is 20% of his grade.
I dont even feel bad. I warned them so many times “If you can find it online, I already found it online”
I have had the pleasure of teaching my class Romeo and Juliet, this was amazing for two reasons. 1. I love Shakespeare and 2. I really love this play. And now many of my kids think Shakespeare is cool and they really like this play. Making them love something that I love was like taking a new boyfriend home and having the family think he was just great. This was by far my favorite unit to teach because it was all mine and it was something that I am excited about. It has just proven to me that enthusiasm is contagious and I have to like what Im teaching if I hope my kids will like it.
I was able to get my kids to connect to Romeo and Juliet by making romeo an emo kid in tight jeans, eyeliner and a black hoodie. Its so true and they could totally relate. Then to put the craziness of the timeline into perspective I compared it to prom weekend. This whole story could have taken place in their high school and they got it!
And now I love Romeo and Juliet even more. I definitely will be teaching a lot of Shakespeare
Is anyone else feeling rather pessimistic about trying to get a job when school districts are cutting budgets, when teachers who were going to retire lost a large amount of that money and will still be working, when school are making classes larger, not smaller? Or is it just me?
Let me tell you, anything that starts with that phrase, is going to be personal. A letter from a parent that starts that way carries the feeling of “little girl dont get your feelings hurt but im going to do my best to scare you into giving my kid a better grade”. fortunately for me I didnt take it personally, unfortunately that didnt deter the parent from sure trying again and again and again. My mentor teacher just wrote the parent a letter (after I copied him the whole back and forth) and started with “first, I completely agree with Amanda.” that made me feel good. I know I am in the right and that I am handling the situation in the correct manner but having people in your corner makes it easier. I know parents come with the job and they dont scare me. I know that I have been fair and the parent is asking me to cut breaks that Im not willing to. I think it will be easier when I am just the teacher and not the student teacher but even if its not, knowing that I got through it the first time makes it easier. This has certainly not been an easy placement, I have had many experiences where other teachers have told me ‘it will never be worse than this” and im thankful I have had all of those experiences when I have my own classroom. This is just one more of them, and again I was told, “it will never be worse than this”. I know thats not true, but if its worse than this I know that I am not supposed to handle it on my own no matter how many years I have in the profession. If it is worse than this I get counselors and administrators and other teachers and Im okay with it. But I can handle this.
And I didnt take it personally.
Sounds funny. Its not. My student named me thus and killed me in a paper.
I have a student in my class who has an IEP and has been identified as having aspergers. He is very very high functioning. The only time he struggles is when he is mad at me, mad at his IA or doesnt like what we are doing. If he likes something he can write four pages, if he doesnt like something all of the sudden he has to have his alpha smart and cant write. Its infuriating. But I have been patient with him. The first three weeks of class he didnt have his IA in the room because he doesnt like her and likes to be independent. Ultimately however this privilege was short lived because of his behavior and I could not manage him and my 27 other students. We have had our frustrations, mostly him at me when I insist that he do something that he doesnt want to. A real conversation we have had “M___ why have you packed up, there are 40 minutes left in class and you have a paper to work on.” ” I just dont feel like doing it, I want to rest.” “M___, im sorry but that is not an option. You may not just sit here not working for half of class. You need to get out your notebook and start working and keep working until class is over and I say you may pack up” “At my old school I was respectful and my teachers just let me rest when I wanted” He was threatening me!!! needless to say, i continued to insist he work. The assignment in debate, an imaginative story about sasquatch. That was the only rule! it could be anything at all, it could be hunting big foot, it could be your brother who you call sasquatch, it could be your dog named sasquatch….
well i got his paper on friday. In it he made me a teacher named sasquatch. in the paper the teacher is boring and annoying and the students all hate the teacher. the teacher yells at the student and tries to suspend him. the student just mocks the teacher. the teacher gets more mad and yells. the student sues the teacher, wins and send the teacher to jail. The teacher says “I will haunt you and your family”. then the teacher wakes to find themself in hell with demons, fire, monsters and lava. Then the teacher is stabbed in the stomache, bleeding, choking on their blood and dies. Then luckly its a nightmare for the teacher. The boy hears about it and wishes that it was true.
what a little dear. honestly i want him out of my room. I have never once lost my patience with him, I devote disproportionately more of my time with this one student than any other to make him successful. When he is frustrated I talk to him, I give him as many opportunities to succeed as possible, i publicly praise him when he is successful. the only thing i do is make him work. his parents blame me for his attitude and this was before i received this paper. They feel that he only works for people he likes and I obviously have alienated him. I am never alone with this student to torture him, other teachers are equally or more frustrated then I am with his attitude and yet we all work hard for him. I have never told him anything negative other than that his attitude was not appropriate and if he did not change his attitude and his language (calling class and homework studpid) then he would be getting a referal but it was his choice.
If this paper was from any other student I would report them and ask for them out of my class. My mentor teacher read the paper and didnt think it was a big deal…am i wrong??
Today is the first day that im not looking forward to December 19th. I can’t wait to graduate and be a “real teacher” and get paid for what I do but Im not looking forward to leaving my classes. I have put a lot of time, effort and care into these kids and its going to be so anti climactic to leave mid-term. They are just finally at the point that I am really enjoying teaching them. I have spent the past 7 weeks teaching them how to think critically, how to read literature beyond the characters and into critical analysis. We had a real critique of a moment in a book the other day and I loved it. And now that they are “real students” i have to leave them and let some one else enjoy the great fruits of my hard work. Not to sound juvenile, but its not fair. Cant i just get paid to finish this class, the one i already know and like and want to see finish?
Hi guys,
I am frustrated and need some opinions. My two english nine classes are spending this nine weeks focusing intensively on writing. They are writing 6 essays in the nine weeks and each gets graded on a higher scale. Its not a bad system. Writing improves drastically and quickly. Here is the frustration. The writing all stays in a writing folder so the kids can’t take them home or have my feedback with them when they write. So I gave ALL of my students the same option. Bring your paper into me before the day before its due and Ill go over it with you and give you some general guidelines. Im not saying ill edit it and grade it. Ill give ideas like “you should spend some time re-working your introduction” “I am confused at this part” “Your conclusion leaves me hanging” “This paragraph probably needs to be organized better”. Just showing them areas to work on without saying how. I had a student come in, to take advantage of this offer and my mentor teacher, IN FRONT OF HIM, told me not to. He said its cheating because this is a graduation requirement and he has to do it on his own. Keep in mind parents can help, other teachers can help, the internet is right there in front of them while they are working on it. Im his teacher, I should be able to help him. I am not playing favorites, I made this offer to all 62 students. They are only suggestions, and this student is trying to improve. Is it just me or is that insane? Never mind that my mentor teacher constantly interrupts me in class in front of my students, corrects me, changes my directions…that is a whole different complaint. He told me to not help a student who got a paper done early to get help!
Thoughts????
Today was a day of tiny miracles that are needed to sustain the hard days. It was a teacher work day and I had 2 students come in to make up work and serve a detention. These two students are both getting F’s simply because they never turn in work and come to class maybe half of the time. They got detention for being tardy too many times and had yet to serve the detention. The detention was one day away from becoming a referral and we gave them the option of coming in on their day off to play catch up. With exactly one hour left in the day I had given up hope when they both walked in reeking of cigarettes. It was an oddly welcome stench.
They both worked hard, finished a missing paper (a HUGE part of their grades) and finished part of a missing workbook. They are both students that I genuinely enjoy and that could be very successful if they would just show up. I have tried telling them both that and I’m hoping for more small miracles in the next 3 weeks. It is possible for them both to pass freshman english IF they show up for the rest of classes and get papers turned in on time and I talked to them both about it today. If they can accomplish this much in one hour I hope they see what they can accomplish by just coming to class. We shall see…
I had my kids write essays on “something you believe in”. I told them it could be anything but that they had to defend it with 3 types of evidence outside of their personal experience. I gave them examples of history, literature, art, movies, plays, quotes…anything that shows that their belief is valid and worth considering that is outside of personal experience. Some kids really got it, many of them didnt. The hardest ones are when kids write about their belief in religion, or faith…they only use their own testimony as evidence. They did not write a good argumentative paper. But I am struggling with diplomatic ways to explain why their paper is not good. I feel like I am telling them that their beliefs aren’t good. I feel like they are all going to go home and tell their parents that Ms. B is satan because she gave them a C for believing in Jesus! Believe whatever you want kid, just use logic to tell me why!! I wish i was a math teacher right now. Its right, Its wrong. Because it is…I am not a bad person for telling you its wrong because a calculator proves it. Uggh…i love reading what they really think but its hard to grade them on this. I know I am right, but I can see a fight on Monday when I try to explain why…bring on the parents…
