Mysterious Teaching

I didn't get one. AAaannnnnnndddDDD!!! You Don't Listen!

2010-03-18T20:24:00Z

Here it is Thursday and we have worked on the reading packet since Monday. Today, a student says, "I don't think you gave me one." What? Weren't you here on Monday? Of course I gave you one. We have been working on them all week. I don't make extras anymore because of the paper and money shortage. So they are responsible for making sure they don't lose them. I have been repeating this all year. All I can say is..."I'm sorry. I hope you find it because it contains your grades for everything in Language Arts for this story. That is an awful lot of grades." Then there are the non-listeners. These are some very smart kids. However, they don't listen to directions because they have already finished the assignment. Therefore, they did it wrong because I changed the directions. I said, "Did everyone understand what I just said? Repeat what you are to do. Okay. Any Questions? You may begin." The non-listeners are already done and I am to the point that I am just taking points off and marking things wrong because they didn't pay attention. Finally, there are the kids who didn't do the assignment on the day we went over it and practiced it and then assigned it. They want one-on-one instruction so they wait several days until it is due and then they want to hurry and have me teach it to them again. Sorry. You should have paid attention the first time. Do I sound crabby? Perhaps I am.

Turn Around! Be Quiet! Stop Acting like that!

2010-03-01T21:17:00Z

This is for the little girl who everyone in the class shuns. She is sassy, bossy, filled with princess attitudes and if the truth be told? I can't stand her most of the time. She tattles and then when someone tattles on her, she says they are all mean to her. Every single time we write a paragraph or story, she writes about how everyone is mean to her. Then she sucks up and says except the teacher. Ha! I know I am mean to her! (see above). Even when the prompt is about something else entirely, she turns it into "poor little me" somehow. I have talked to the parents. They think it's cute and funny. Maybe that gives you an idea why she continues with this business. It really isn't cute. It is my problem. She is disliked by everyone. She can't make and keep friends. Her Mom interferes when she gets in arguments in the neighborhood, so she doesn't know how to solve her own problems. She also hurries and hurries to do her work so she is the first one done. It is sloppy and she has at least half of them wrong or unreadable. I make her do it over and I get the same results. An assignment that should take even the best of them about 20 minutes, takes her 5. Then she wants to know what she can do now, or she starts bothering the kids around her. I tell her to check her work and fix her writing, but she just says she is done. Where do they get this attitude. As you can imagine, her 6 traits writing grade is awful. She just shrugs and says it is ok. I know the attitudes of youths have changed over the years. Heck, they have changed since I started teaching 23 years ago. I just am not thrilled wiwth the results.

They're not falling through the cracks...We're shoving them into potholes!

2010-02-18T21:16:00Z

I am having an interesting go-round with the Special Ed Department. I have been going through the process for 4 months. Then, they hire a new psychologist and everything changed. During this process, we have had to use 3 different rubrics to write interventions. Not because each step is different, but because every time I went into a meeting, the rules had changed. First, I was to pick ONLY one trait and write 3-5 interventions I would do. Are you kidding? one trait? This little girl is practically at first grade level in everything and she is in 4th grade! One? Well, I picked one and we wrote the interventions I would use. Nada. So, we had meeting number 2. Oops! we are no longer using that set of rubrics, here is a 1 1/2 inch thick giant book that is full of the proper interventions you need. We need 15 for each area of concern. Are you kidding me? 15? And they should be written very general. Use the book. How am I supposed to do 15 interventions in each of the areas of her academic life and keep track of it? I have 27 other students to attend to and many of them are needing special help too. What do I do? Well, I plugged away and went to the 3rd meeting. OK, she is ready for testing. Send it to the psychologist. Well, we got it back and a lecture that the interventions we tried were not s-p-e-c-i-f-i-c enough and we are to re-do them and start again. Document. Document. Document. Remember, the year is almost over and time for getting them tested is coming to a close. Not me! I quit. I tore up the paperwork and said since the year is almost over now I would just continue doing what I have been doing for the kid and that would be that. Who are they kidding? They don't want students in SpEd and they appear to be doing anything they can to eliminate them. (We ain't got no stinkin' SpEd kids in our school. We is all smarter than a card board box. We are NCLB! for goodness sakes.) They aren't just losing these kids down the cracks, they are shoving them into giant potholes by making it so difficult to get a child tested that they end up running out of time and never get tested. No more for me.

Spelling Counts!

2010-02-04T20:00:00Z

I have this sign up in my room in front of the dictionaries. Spelling Counts! In the years I have been teaching, students have become lazier spellers. Well, to be honest, it isn't just children. Society is becoming a lazy speller. They use all this short-cut stuff like "luv" and people, especially children, think that is the correct way to spell a word. I imagine texting has made this problem worse. Can't we go back to writing the words correctly? I have a student who asked me why I kept insisting that she correct her spelling. After all, I know what I mean and so do you. You can tell what I mean by the texting clues. (I believe she meant context clues) (I don't think they hear very well either) I was taught, and I teach it that way, that if the word is spelled wrong and it is a) on the page b) a spelling word this year) or c) a word used all the time, that it must be spelled correctly all the time. My kids can spell it different every single time they spell it. Even if it is on the same page. My favorites? wat (what) wen (when) (I believe a wen is an oozing sore) wit (with) (however it isn't funny at all) Whant (want) were (where) where (were). I love reading these the way the students wrote them. They get mad when I laugh because, You know what I meant! But it is too good to pass .

WHAT IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?

2010-02-04T18:04:00Z

I am daily flabberghasted by parents. A parent yelled at me because SHE was breaking the law and didn't want to be told about it. She thought the law didn't apply to her and when she started yelling at me, I finally yelled right back. She went into the office and reported me to the principal. He told her she was lucky I didn't just call the police and have her written a ticket. She was parked in a bus zone and I had another bus coming. She just wanted to pick up her daughter in the office. I told her she needed to park in the parking lot and come to the office. She started yelling that she was already there and wanted to pick up her daughter. I told her she had to move the SUV because another bus was on the way in. She started yelling and I yelled "Just get in your truck and move it." I didn't get in trouble but I shouldn't have yelled. However, with the bus engines running, it was the only way to be heard when she wouldn't listen to me. By the way, the bus pulled in as she was pulling out. What is wrong with people? There is a teacher in our district who doesn't want to raise her own son. She wants the school to be held responsible for her son because she doesn't have time to raise him. We are suppose to make sure he does his work in class so he doesn't have homework. We are suppose to give him a uniform if he comes to school in regular clothes, we are suppose to discipline him when he is naughty. I am suppose to catch him when he ditches after-school and tries to get on the bus and go home to an empty house. It is the school's fault if he gets in trouble because he ditched after-school, went home, and didn't do any homework because we should have made sure he did it at school. What about assigned homework? Well, he doesn't have to do that because it isn't real work, it is just busy work. Since you, as a teacher, spend more time with the child than the parent, is it not right that we take the lead roll as parent? Heck no! I am a teacher. I have already raised my own children. I don't want to raise theirs. I want the parents to be responsible for their own children. We teach them to brush their teeth, not to use drugs, manners, character, and who knows what all else. Isn't it time that parents were the parents?

Gun! on campus??

2010-01-28T17:42:00Z

We are an elementary school, for heaven's sake! How does an elementary student get his hands on a gun? It was a pellet gun that looked like a real live weapon. And, it is a real live weapon. Kids get hurt every year with those things. This kid brought it to school and shot it off in the middle of a school-wide assembly! Every kid in the school was there. Every teacher, many parents, community members were all in attendance for the special awards. He shot it off in a room full of people! Children for goodness sakes! Unbelievable! Who is this thug? A fourth grader who has been in our school for only a couple of weeks. He ain't in our school anymore. In fact, the police came and arrested him. What was he thinking? Was he thinking? The gun looked so real, the officers said they would have fired on him if he had pointed it at them. The kid knew enough to hide it. He hid it in the nurses bathroom before the police got there. However, officers of the law are not as dumb as a 4th grader. In fact, they aren't dumb at all. They are very smart. This kid has had some real attitude problems in the few weeks he has been among us. He picks fights and uses bad language. When the officers told him they needed to search him, he was as cocky as a bantam. He told them to go right ahead, he didn't have nuthin to hide. He had already hid it before they got there. Did he think they wouldn't ask if he went somewhere between the assembly and the office? How does a 4th grader come up with things like this? Shouldn't the parents be arrested too and held responsible? Obviously something is missing at home. Kids learn this behavior from somewhere. I am very upset over this. It is a bad example to set for our small group of troubled youth. Holy Cow!

LOST!!!

2010-01-28T16:59:00Z

One obnoxious, lazy, time-wasting student. His Mom is a teacher but there is absolutely no follow up from that end. Letters are never answered, (I suspect never received), no homework time is done but plenty of game time and sports time. Lots of threats, no follow-though. Mom can't stand me because I email her constantly about her son. After all, it is my problem, right? He is a good boy at home. (he has absolutely no responsibilities) I never give him homework, (I do, he just doesn't do it and lies to his mom about having any.) SOOoooo...She moved him out of my room and into the room of his best friend. Now, it is someone elses problem. AWwwwwwwwww... Yippee! I can't be sad at all. My room is quieter and there are way less distractions now. I can't believe the difference. My class can't believe the difference either. How can I be sad about this? He is still in my reading group. (the lowest group) I still catch him out of uniform all the time (I send him to change at the office) He is still a constant thorn in my side at the buses. (He is supposed to stay for after school and constantly ditches and goes home alone) However, he is not my problem any more. I already knew there was a God but now I have been blessed.

Ow! Ow! Ow!

2010-01-20T16:29:00Z

This is a blog about students who get hurt. I have one student who comes in hurt every single day . I have documented it. He isn't being abused at home (...although there are times when I personally feel like doing that,) no, this child hurts himself! He trips on the playground, literally walks into corners, falls out of his chair, plays football, soccer, basketball,...it doesn't matter what it is, even music, he hurts himself. I don't know if he does it on purpose or what. I sent him to the nurse every day for the first quarter and then I began to hold it back. I told him if he wasn't bleeding, barfing or broken, I wasn't sending him. This child complains about everything. As soon as I give an assignment, he needs to go to the nurse. He hurt himself last night when he tripped going down the stairs. He jammed his thumb when he was trying to open the broken door to his room with a pair of pliers. He ran into the wall on the playground because someone threw a pass too far and he had to run at the wall to catch it. He always gets hurt. He always complains and he always whines. I ahve seen him fall out of his chair on purpose and tell me he is hurt. You would think he would get tired of hurting all the time. He doesn't. He is getting tired of me telling him how sorry I am but it isn't broken so go sit down. So, now he is beginning the whine thing. I am about to lose my grip and ask him to be placed in a different class even though his mom requested me. Why doesn't she do something? She is a teacher and he is the biggest pain in my classroom. Because he whines at home, she does not make him do his homework. It is too hard for her to take. So there are no consequences about making him do his work. She wants him tested for SpEd. We are going through the process but I am pretty sure he won't qualify. He is just a spoiled brat.

Not even the parents

2010-01-13T15:17:00Z

What are we, as a country, doing to our children? I have had two student leave this week because of housing problems! People are being evicted or leases are not being renewed so the owners can foreclose? I am losing another student now. This time, it is a student with severe behavior problems when he is not medicated. I have had to tolerate a load of crap and now he is on medication, he is totally different. I invest in these children. Maybe I shouldn't but I love kids. A Lot! This little boy is settled in school, getting his medication, receiving love from every direction, and now they are moving because the owner wants to get out from under. He is finally successful in school and now they are moving again. That isn't the worst part...The kids will live with their uncle for a while and Mom and Dad will be homeless and living beside the canal. They have no place else to go. I explained that there are services that can help them but she just wants to go back to California. She knows her way around the system there better than here. This is a child who has been thrown out of 7 schools so far! He has even been sent to a special behavior school before. I worked very hard on his behavior and education. He is succeeding. Will we lose all that now? Will the new teacher care as much as me? I know there are teachers who care...I see it all the time. But, they didn't care enough to help him in those other schools. They just threw him out. He wasn't on medication when he came to my class. It took 2 full months to get him there. Will California respect that decision? Will they continue the meds? He had already gone up an entire reading group and is on his way to benchmark. This was a severely intensive child before. I can't believe I am losing him. I can't believe that people think more or making a buck than the fact that they are putting people out of their home. Maybe this isn't the entire story because I wasn't there. But, I don't want to keep losing students. I feel they are mine for the year and people shouldn't interfere in that. Not even the parents.

Books are my friends

2009-12-29T18:27:00Z

We are a reading family. My children rant and rave at me because I don't read the same literature they read. I have my personal favorites and through the years, I have read them over and over. I enjoy finding things that I didn't get the first time. I am also getting old and don't always remember how the story progressed or ended. Even if I do, I enjoy visiting with my old friends again. My kids think I should be expanding my horizons and read non-fiction and huge novels and the stuff they read. Me? I enjoy children's literature and young adult fiction. I am also into mysteries and science fiction. I read to relax and reduce the stress in my life. I read for the pure pleasure of the story and I enjoy series so I can visit my friends over and over. I am not into reading non-fiction that freaks me out, causes me distress or makes me uncomfortable. That may be real life, but I prefer my gentler life. I don't live in a fairy world but I wouldn't mind visiting it over and over. I don't like war and lots of killing and yet, I don't mind watching the medical examiner stuff on tv. If books are too graphic, I don't like them either. I guess I am really a marshmallow. Books are how I travel. Books are how I pretend. Books are my friends. Let them read the stuff they read and they should leave me alone and let me read what I read. Besides, I have guided students onto some really exciting series in the past because I was so enthusiastic about it. I say Yea to all people who read and I don't judge what you read so don't judge what I read.

aaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!

2009-12-15T21:30:00Z

Isn't it vacation yet? I have kids stealing things off my desk. I have non-stop talking! AAAAHHHHH! I am so tired of the wrongly placed energy that I am ready to lob off the heads of any student who comes near me. I truly do understand why they are so excited. The Christmas Program and Carnival are tonight. All they can think of is what they are getting and getting and getting. We even did a letter to Santa asking him what they can do for others. I still had a few that didn't get the assignment and asked for expensive things for themselves. Isn't there some way we can change this thinking? Can't parents teach their children to give instead of get? I know my daughter has her children go through their toys and pick out "nice" things to give to poor children who might not receive anything else. They always weed through their things including clothes and give them to the needy, not just at Christmas. I am leaving to see my children on Saturday. I can't wait.

What a dreadful weekend!

2009-12-07T18:10:00Z

To start with, my sister was here visiting from out of town and it was go, go, go! Then I got a call from my best friend and her nephew, whom I have know for 7 years, was at a party and someone had a gun and he was shot through the head. DOA. I cried. He was such a sweety. I got to school this morning and discovered my fellow teacher's wife died yesterday. She took some medicine and it made her drowsy and she fell asleep in the bath and slid under. He is devastated. Me too for him. I am absolutely a mess today. I can't seem to keep my mind on teaching. Yet, with only two weeks left in the quarter, I need to get some work done. I just can't seem to care.

Multiple Problems, over and over

2009-12-04T21:26:00Z

We are working on multiplying by 2 digits. I am exhausted. I gave them 5 problems. When they were done, they brought them to me for instant grading and if they got any wrong, they got them back to correct immediatly. Well, it took the entire afternoon. 2 1/2 hours! I had 8 that never did get them all correct. I even tutored them one-on-one. Are we trying to get them to work above their readiness? I can do the same thing over and over and they just look blank. Some of them can do their tables and they can't go beyond that. I gave the Studyhall teachers a huge pile of practice sheets because they tell them they have nothing to do. They tell them I don't give homework. Balogna! Their parents are pulling them out of afterschool because they think it is a waste of time. It isn't. The communication is lacking between the teachers and tutors. I am tired. I am going home.

Bad Teacher! Bad, Bad Teacher!

2009-12-03T21:00:00Z

We were supposed to do a science experiment today that takes overnight. However, the teacher (that would be me) has a a lot going on in her personal life and forgot to bring the microwaveable measuring cup. The kids told me to just use my coffee cup...27 times...to heat up the water. Now, that is ridiculous. I didn't mean to forget the cup but my sister called last night from the other side of the US and she if flying in tonight and I have been demanded of to be there. So, I got a little flustered. I forgot the science experiment. That means we can't do it until next week. I am sooooo sorry I have a life outside of school that interferes with my school life. Why the heck am I using my own equipment anyway? Why doesn't the school have stuff for us to use? I am in deep doo doo with the kids. Funny, they don't seem to mind when they forget their homework.

How come I can't do the fun activity?

2009-12-01T19:24:00Z

You never let me do the fun stuff! Why don't I get to do it? It is not my fault you are so mean. What do you mean if my work isn't finished I can't do the craft. Some of my favorite comments from naughty students. You see. I lay it out at the beginning of the year. If you act out, if you don't get your work done at school, if you disrupt class, or if you just plain refuse to work, you will not get to do the next craft or fun activity. I keep a list on the board. They can't possibly be surprised. They can see their name. However, I always get these comments. Today, I reminded them that if they didn't do a short spelling assignment, they couldn't help make decorations for the Christmas Program. Three of them goofed around and didn't get it done. Then boy did I hear the complaining about not getting to do the decorations. Me: Did you have the work done and turned in on time? MR: No, but I am done now. Me: It doesn't count because you messed around and didn't finish on time. MR: But that's not fair. I can finish it really fast. Me: I thought you said you were done. MR: I am. I just didn't do the paragraph. Me: Then you aren't finished. MR: Yes I am. I don't want to do the paragraph. Me; Wheww! Then you aren't finished. MR: Why are you so mean to me? I am so tired of the Princesses and Princes that think the rules should be changed for them. They did not get to do the decorations. But, I had to listen to the whining the entire time.