|
|
-
I am looking around my room and listening to all the chattering. But, this is good chattering. These are students who are on task doing the work they need to do. What an amazing thing to see them working and still able to communicate and get along. Learning can and will happen in a noisy classroom. I sometimes want a quiet class but I can usually get enough quiet at home.
|
|
|
-
Well, I have read the book, ordered The CAFE book and read it too. I am stoked. I have to use the school curriculum but I can use it in the Daily Five. I am so excited. 25 years of teaching and I still get excited about teaching. Go figure. I am already setting my schedule up. It will be flexible so I can change it up as the specials schedule gets planned. I am gathering materials for the Best Fit boxes. I won a $50.00 gift card and will buy the boxes with it. I have tons of books and children's educational magazines to use in the boxes. I am planning to use some Science and Social Studies as well. We have leveled readers for all of our texts. My only problem will be staying positive with my team. They are driving me crazy and I think it is because I am so tired from the struggles all year. Everyone think positive thoughts for me. L
|
|
|
-
One of my team teachers was trying to explain what it was. As she talked, all I could think of was Good God NO! How in the world would you have time to do all of that and still teach the skills. Weeeellll, she isn't a very good explainer. I got in touch with another friend and she filled me in on what it is and how it is going in her class. Now, I have purchased The Daily Five book as well as it's companion The CAFE Book. I am totally excited. I am going to join the web site too. It does include all the teaching time, skills, fluency, phonics...everything. It is supposed to be almost the way I taught back 25 years ago. When students learned to read by READING! I can't wait. I will be blogging next year as I learn the process and work with the students. Someone asked (as a joke) if the daily 5 was the 5 students you picked ramdomly to spank every day. I said I didn't have 5 kids to spank anymore. I only have one. Can I spank him 5 times a day?
|
-
I am sitting in a detention/study hall room for Field Day. My class is over full. I don't get it. I am watching these kids who are supposed to be doing work and they are just staring into space. They aren't doing the work, even when I walk by and remind them. We seem to be having more and more of these kinds of kids. Kids who don't or can't focus. Kids who just don't care. Kids who can't get their work done no matter what incentive is tried. Right now my room is full of these kids. (mostly but not all boys) I am concerned. I have tried about 100 different things to motivate some of my own class and they just don't care. The parents have all kinds of excuses about why their students don't work. Mostly it is the teacher's fault. But, it isn't. In the old days they would have paddled these kids. I am not a proponent of spanking but I wonder if it worked sometimes. Something has to work. These kids are missing out on their education and don't seem to care. Their parents don't seem to care either. Why? I can understand the ones who get into trouble and get sent INTO the detention room. What I don't understand are the ones who never make it to Field Day in the first place. What are they thinking that they can't even do enough work to go to the most fun day of our school year? These are all athletic boys who love to play outside. Can someont please tell me what is happening and how to change my technique to accomodate these kinds of kids?
|
-
This quarter I assigned my class Model Solar Systems. I accidentially assigned it for State Testing week, so, I sent another letter home and told them it would be due next week. Three kids showed up with them today. I have to store them in another room because we can't have any models or anything in our classrooms. It turns out that none of the parents read the note which was stapled on the front of their progress report. I am tired of sending things home to have them be ignored. Then, these are the parents who call the principal or the District and complain that I am not communicating with them. This includes our secretary whom I talk to every single day. We have our grade books on line. Parents can 'vue' their children's grades. Why do I bother sending home progress reports anymore. I don't get them back signed. In fact, many of the parents don't even read them or they would know what is going on. Retirement is looking better and better to me these days.
|
-
I think someone is hitting our parents with a stupid stick. I can't believe the junk that is coming out of their mouths. One parent thinks our PTO is doing the dirty. They have allowed student to pay a dollar on Friday's to dress down. We wear uniforms. (I say that loosely. It is more of a dress code because it is so lax.) Her neighbor had her child wear a coat and hide the clothes she was wearing so she didn't have to pay the dollar. The child was in designer clothes. Since this child and her mom got away with it, this mom thinks that the PTO should return all the money that the kids have paid since the beginning of the year. Also, the teachers should give back the $100 that PTO gave them to spend on their classes. They should be spending their money giving the kids Pizza parties and movies and ice cream. Really?? Are you kidding me? I am pretty sure she was hit with a stupid stick. There is a lot more to this story but "stupid" pretty well says it. We also have parents who ignore the safety rules and want to walk their kids in front of the buses and in the car pool zones. After all, they don't have to follow the rules. They can drive right up through the bus only zone because the rules aren't for them. They are only going to be there for a few minutes. (That IS what the car pool lanes are for.) What in heavens name are they teaching their children... That they don't have to follow the rules. Rules are for other people, not them. We have safety zones for a reason. If something happens to a child, we are responsible. We have worked out a system that keeps all of our children safe. These parents don't care. They want to do what they want to do and no one should be telling them otherwise. I have been screamed at, cussed out, flipped off and almost run over because they want to ignore the rules. If I was almost hit by a car who refused to follow the rules, and I am an adult, what could happen to the children? That stupid stick is really working hard in our neighborhood.
|
-
I have really been struggling this year. I seem to have an inordinate amount of students who don't do their work. They don't do it in class. They don't do it at home. They just don't do it. And the parents don't respond to notes home. I have a new student who justs sits there and does nothing. He plays around and plays in his desk. After a half hour of the class working on vocabulary, I discovered he hadn't written one single word. I gave him two choices and told him to make a decision. He could do his work, or he could go see the principal. I told him to make his decision fast but because I was getting impatient. I don't know how long it will work, but at the moment, he is working. What has changed in our schools that sudents think they do not have to listen to the teacher or do their work? I have several students with this attitude. I just don't get it. If you read my blog, you know of one student that has this attitude. I have been battling him and his mom all year. Apparently, it is the school that has let him down. Not mom, (who came tipsy to the meeting last night). When do we start identifying their behavior problems? There is a student who has had problems since kindergarten and there is no paperwork to show it. It is just that every teacher in school dreads the possibility of having him and knows what has happened. Why isn't it being documented? Where are we supposed to put this documentation? Shouldn't there be a record just like SpEd that shows out-of-line behavior? I am not talking about ED, I am just talking about bad behavior. I hate when parents blame us for their students problems. But, if we aren't documenting it, we can't prove it isn't our fault.
|
-
I know all the statistics about retention. You don't have to send me anything. However, when do we hold them accountable? When do we finally say, well, you should have done your work in class... Why do we NOT retain them if they are not contributing to their own education? Why aren't they willing to learn? How have we, as a society, gone so far into the mire of research that we don't even use common sense anymore. We let people, who have never taught in an elementary school, tell us what is right and wrong? Who ARE these people? I need to retain a student this year. It doesn't happen often but it does happen occasionally. I believe this is my second retention in 25 years. I need to retain him because he is manipulating the heck out of everyone! He refuses to do his math or writing. I mean, he absolutely refuses. He has had really adequate grades all these years. I know he has been a behavior problem. He is not ED either. He is just coniving and manipulating. He wants what he wants and no one else matters. His Mom is having a fit because I am retaining him. Now we are testing him for learning disabilities. Really? He has learned all these years with good grades. NOW he is disabled? This child has had behavior issues since kinder. I have heard all the stories all these years. I knew I would end up with him when we changed principals. I did. The difference this year is that I am trying to hold him accountable. I am trying to make sure he knows that he isn't in control. His mom has fought with me the whole way. I even avoid her whenever I can now. I am going to have to retain him. She is probably going to put him in a different school too. Still, his record will follow him. At least I have backing from the top on this. Just not from the resource or Phych people. (Oooh, poor baby, she is so mean.)
|
-
It was just on the news this past weekend that sugar in all its forms it toxic to human bodies. Especially in the amounts that we eat them. I must say, I agree. I look at these chubby kids drinking back sport drinks like lemonade and wonder what is happening to their bodies. I know the dyes in them can't be good for them. I know the electrolytes added for extreme heat, aren't good to drink all the time. I don't understand the concept of a sport drink that everyone drinks. Obviously the chubby kids aren't into sports. I am talking about my class. I know who and who does not play games outside. What are we doing to our children? Stevia is the only sweetener that is natural and apparantly safe. It is definitly the only one that doesn't raise your glycemic index. Even artificial sweeteners make your brain react like it is on sugar. I am trying to shut myself off of sugar. I never realized how hard it was going to be. I crave chocolate. It makes me feel like living when the day makes me want to give up. Do they have any chocolate with stevia?
|
-
We were really excited. We won a pizza party and all the trimmings. We had pizza, chips, cookies... The kids acted like they were raised in a pig trough. They tried to eat the most pizza. I don't know if it was a competition or just plain greedy. Anyway, then they were nauseous. They were in the bathroom gagging and pretending to throw up. Of course I have a ring leader. The one who tells everyone she is going to cut herself. (Yes, it has been reported and her parents told.) She has an older sister who does this kind of thing. The others all follow. Anyway, it was a huge drama. Even the principal got involved. I told them after lunch recess that if we ever win anything again, I was going to give it to a different class. I was totally disturbed by their behavior. Apparently when I went into the cafeteria to get the trash bag, they all ran and grabbed whatever food there was left. Their parents should be ashamed of them. I was.
|
-
I have a student who "doesn't get it". I have to re-teach every single thing we do just special for him. I started the Sped process in October. Due to several glitches, he is finally getting tested. However, I just can't face teaching him division today. Again. And again. And again... He will sort of get it for one problem. Then want the exact same help for the next. I just can't do it today. He has had one-on-one, small group, peer tutoring, after school tutoring and the list goes on. He either can't understand math at all, or he is refusing to try. His IQ is normal. I sure hope they find out what it is because he needs help that apparently I can't give him. Heaven help him have a learning disability so I don't have to permanently do away with myself.
|
-
I gave my students the lecture..." The end of school is near..." Will you pass or will you fail? I still have a few, (more than 4) students who think school is a recreation time. When I am teaching, they are dreaming. Then they come and want one-on-one help. I am fed up. If you can't do it by now, you will probably need to be retained. Good grief! I spent almost 5 months on multiplication and division. You did not bother to learn your tables either last year or this year. I am done! You can't go on to 5th grade if you can't do the work. They already have their work cut out for them. This class just doesn't want to work. I have been hearing about this group since kindergarten. I thought it was next years kids they were talking about. But, no, it is this group. They have been notorious since Kinder. Whoa ! Mama! Does anyone have any ideas on how to change my teaching to engage these un-engageable kids?
|
-
How many times do you teach something? I seem to be teaching the same things over and over and the next time we do it, they don't remember how. It isn't like I don't give enough practice. I do. We do it over and over and over. But, eventually you have to move on. Then I come back for a review before the big test, and most of them think we have never done this before. What on earth am I talking about? We have done ordered pairs and graphing four, I mean FOUR times this year. I brought it out again yesterday and I only had 3 students who remembered anything about it. I really am beginning to think scientists need to come up with a way to cut open their heads so we can pour the information in. How else will they remember it?
|
-
I am not sure it worked very well. I only had a 8 students who increased their scores. Out of 25, that's bad. I know I have to revise my teaching style for next year because this isn't working. Someone said we should go back to classical teaching. How do we do that in a public school where we are expected to do all these new innovations? Besides I am already basically a classical teacher. The problem is, the kids aren't classical learners. They are dependent learners. They wait until you spoon-feed them the information. I have them write down every questions that is going to be on a test with the correct answers. They still fail the test. I don't know how I am going to fix that next year but I am going to figure something out. They have to eventually take responsibility for their learning. The parents should too. However, our parents say things like, "Why should they do homework. It is your job to teach them, not ours" Or my personal favorite, "They have too many activities after school to have time for homework." Even our secretary doesn't make her son do homework. She says the battle of wills just isn't worth it. Only now that I am trying to retain him, she is having a fit. She has hired a math tutor to "fix" this. Good Luck! He will have a year to make up in the next month because he has done NO math all year. Our state testing is coming and she thinks that if he passes then I will pass him. However, that is false thinking since we won't get the scores until the end of the summer and they don't have anything to do with grades. The poor kid is a spoiled brat and needs another year to catch up and grow up. I am not sure how this is going to end but I am certainly not going to pass him. He and his mom have manipulated me, or tried to all year and I don't fall for it. Don't make me the bad guy. I'm not. The mom is.
|
-
I hear a theme every day. The children aren't thinking for themselves. Why not? What is going on that children aren't thinking for themselves? Is it watching TV? Computer games? What is going on that children no longer focus on learning. Is it perhaps a genetic mutation that this is happening? Or are teaching methods today no longer effective. I know in my class, I am struggling trying to get children interested in learning. They still haven't learned their multiplication tables. We are in the 4th quarter and they just don't care. They didn't learn them in 4rd grade where they were supposed to learn them and they haven't learned them this year. I just don't get it.
I have tried rewards and praise and threats and I still can't get them to care. I have given F's only to have the parents complain about my teaching but they don't help their student learn them at home.
What can we do as teachers to change everyone's thinking? Or do we need to change our thinking and teaching methods. We need to get parents and students to understand the importance of learning. I have tried and tried to teach my kids how to study. But, if I don't study with them, they don't do it. Their parents are not helping them.
I just have to come up with a better idea for next year. I know that we have some really tough kids coming up again. I take classes, I listen to other teachers, I take workshops and in services to make my teaching more effective. It isn't working.
I am so tired. |
|
|
|
|