surprise day off!

My school is closed today due to having no power thanks to a massive amount of rain. It's a good thing I'm home, too, since the doors to our front porch really like to let in all the rain. I've gone through almost 5 towels now. Oy.

Anyway, I've hit one of the times in the year that I hate. It's the first time in the year that the kids stop being your great new students and you start seeing their bad side. It's also the first time I start to doubt myself as a teacher because grades start sliding downward. Kids start getting sick of school, start disappearing more, and I start getting more annoyed.

Thankfully this week hasn't been too bad. Usually by this time in the school year, my initial motivation has really disappeared and I get behind, causing me lots of stress. I've been pretty consistently productive, even today when I had no school! This is a good feeling.

My 10th graders are really something else. Their personalities are really starting to show up to class, in a good way. There were many times I laughed really hard this week at something they said or did (not at them, but with them, mind you...). I can't really remember exactly why or can't quite put any of those examples into words--they are more the kind of moments that make me wish I had a video camera on to capture. You-had-to-be-there kind of moments. Retelling them and trying to explain to you wouldn't be the same, unfortunately.

There is one thing that sticks out from this week. As you may know, every year I've taught, I've had at least one pregnant student or student parent. It's my curse. I joked with Math Teacher Next Door about how I should warn any female student I get next year. I have two rumored pregnancies this year, in the same class. I overheard one conversation (I wasn't trying to eavesdrop, they were right next to my desk) where the PG girl was answering questions of one of her classmates. Her classmate asked her "How does your BF feel? Does he want it?" PG says, "He did at first, but now... no. What does he care? His life doesn't have to change. It's my life that's the one that will change." I broke in and said "Ain't that the truth." She kind of laughed, which is the reaction I was hoping for. On the one hand, it's sad that her boyfriend isn't supportive. On the other, I was glad that she realized exactly what she was getting into, had no delusions about what would happen, and wasn't letting him slide by with that attitude. I hope everything goes smoothly for her, she is really sweet.

Who else but 7th period?

Dear 7th period,

My last period of the day has always been the most interesting. I seem to get a mix of the smartest, brightest and most rambunctious kids all in one class of 26-28. Your class has definitely been the most tame (even though you don't think so) and the most advanced. You all pretty much have personality and get along, which I like.

Today, for example, we read about Theseus. I figured you would not be into it at all, like most normal teenagers, but you surprised me again! You came up with History channel references, knew a lot about ancient Greece and really, really enjoyed when I called the Minotaur the "bastard child" of Minos' wife (not to mention when I called Gwynevere from Sir Lancelot's tale last time an adulterous whore). I'm glad my tests to make sure you're still awake are successful. Not to mention how much you enjoyed reading about Theseus torturing bandits the way they tortured other people. Oh, and I love how Troublemaker always acts out the stories, like today's reenactment of Theseus drawing out his sword to prove he was Aegeus's son (with perfect sound effects!). And it was so cute how y'all got quiet when Michael--our British kid for today--read the last paragraph of the selection because you wanted to hear him speak.

Remember how when we were done with work, you were supposed to work on your outlines, but instead danced to Thriller? I honestly didn't mind because you did so well with the story and asked a lot of questions about your writing assignments (and I also know that 90% of you will work on your own to complete it, the other 10% won't do it or will use the class time to complete some of it). Plus, it was great to see all of you laugh and have a good time together.

Basically, I really enjoy your class (even though I'd never tell you that during the school year). I look forward to it, even on your chattiest of days because you make me laugh and keep the class interesting.

Thanks for not being boring or a bunch of crazies!

Mrs. P.

Strange

My day started off with seeing two guys on the side of the freeway. I had no clue why they were just standing there, until I noticed their car halfway up a hill, between two trees. I have no idea how they got that car up there. There was a malfunction in the fire alarm system that led to an urgent-sounding announcement that we needed to evacuate. Now. I've never seen students move so fast out of a building, except for that one time there was a gas leak at GHS. On the way home, the first stop light I hit (and one of my last on the way home) stopped working the moment I stopped after it. That's the exact moment I started shaking my fist and saying, "It's TUESDAY! Not MONDAY! What is going on?!"

I realized I haven't told you how much weirder my students are this year. They have so much more humor and personality as a whole, it's crazy (awesome)! This is a plus for me because they seem to understand my sense of humor, which keeps me on my toes a little more (I like that).

For example:

Me: Why are you hovering outside of my door?

"I've been in jail" 9th grade boy: I can't hover. I don't know what you're talking about.

Me: You mean you didn't buy those special hovering shoes?

Mr. IBIJ: Nah, they were sold out.

I didn't expect him to come back with that.

A lot of my students seem to enjoying my habit of booing or yelling "Whoaaaa!" while making overacted arm/hand movements at students. We've done this in the hallway, at one of my students as she hugged her boyfriend goodbye (Math Teacher Next Door took part in that, too), and at multiple silly children who thought they could throw me off my game.

Oh, and we did that at the girl who brought about the first Classroom Joke.

Ahh, I love the time of year when the first joke that unites most of a classroom comes along. Today I caught a girl being forced by a male classmate to touch another male classmate's butt.

I yelled across the classroom, "Lady L, butt touching is banned!.... Plus, we don't know where Skater Kid's butt has been." Skate Kid says, "Yeah, seriously. My butt's been a lot of places." She says, "I guess I just can't help it..." Hilarious! I'm glad she went with it! This led to an ongoing joke about how L was addicted to touching butts and had to go to rehab. It was ridiculous, but made the whole class laugh.

That time of year

I keep feeling like I catch up only to fall behind again. My to do list never seems to end! Every day there seems to be more things to do and I find more reasons not to finish things and, instead, go home early. My initial motivation and initiative is kinda gone. This usually happens around this year, where I don't have to rush so much and find some sort of balance. Unfortunately, this usually leads me to laziness and procrastination. This is why I'm posting: a little reminder to myself to get my as back in gear.

Here are some highlights:

-40 kids showed interest in the literary magazine. Whoa. We'll see how that goes.

-They keep interrupting English classes again and again for just about everything. Just because English 9 and 10 do not have an SOL doesn't mean we don't have stuff to do.

-We bought Wii Fit. I love all the games in it.

-Something I've been thinking about: Do you ever find yourself thinking about the same people around the same time? For example, I usually find myself thinking about my grandpa or grandma Pushie around 3:30 (my drive home from school). It's usually my family and wondering what they're doing around 6 or 7. I just noticed that I do this most days, and I find it very interesting. Do I connect these people with these times for some reason?

-Have you see Glee or Modern Family? Awesome! New seasons of Mad Men and Dexter? Love them! Although I haven't really liked the new season of the Office as much as I expected, I loved the Jim/Pam wedding!

-We went to see Zombieland and it was AWESOME. I can't wait to see Where the Wild Things Are this weekend!

-Pictures of National Equality March should be up soon on flickr and I'll prob. post a bit on here as well.

It's October already?!

Holy moly. It's October. Already.

I have a lot I could post about, but right now all I want to do is breath & relax for a second. We had a pretty busy weekend, we have another sort of busy one coming up, and I've already taught 4 classes, graded, made dinner, and run errands (and while running errands: avoided buying up all the cute Halloween stuff I found, haha) all before 5. Whew.

Then again, I promised myself I'd blog more. Here's a compromise:

• This year is waaaaaaaaaay better than last.
• I love my principal, Math Teacher next door, new AP (assistant principal, for those who don't eduspeak), and other snarky English teachers.
• I love my little English 9 kiddos! I did NOT expect to ever say that. They are crazy (in a good way), hilarious, creative, pretty well-behaved, enthusiastic, and have tons of personality.
• My throat is so horribly dry today (and yesterday) that I could only talk at a normal tone. There was no Teacher Voice today. Thankfully, the kids were very supportive (even talkative 7th period!)
• I've been having a lot more success with correcting students behavior using a hand on the shoulder and conversational tone. This only works during independent work time or when my co-teacher is in the room and I'm circulating, but it's amazing how this works on kids who were seen as "bad kids" to other teachers.
• Yesterday I hung out with other teachers outside of school for the first time. Okay, it was a baby shower for another English teacher, but it was something! I went. I laughed. I played games. It was fun. Oh! And I wore my "There Their They're" shirt from Threadless and they all commented on it!

And a big announcement:

I am now the sponsor of the new literary magazine. New School hasn't had one for years, but they desperately need one because those artsy, nerdy kids are getting no love or recognition from our school. I stepped up to do it even though I honestly have no clue what I'm doing. I already have about 25 kids who came in to say they're interested. There are flyers all around the school. Hopefully, by the end of the year, we will have something to show for our effort.

3 Weeks In

This week was the busiest and most tiring week so far. We had meetings, we had Back to School night, and I had piles and piles of things to grade. I attended all of the meetings, which went quickly & painlessly. This weekend, I will tackle 90% of the grading. It won't take too long, since it's all homework and classwork & a credit/no credit situation. As for Back to School night... it was the smoothest one I've had to do so far.

I really don't like meeting parents, probably due to the fact that I know they all have different expectations of what a teacher should be. Some of them want me to be the Grammar Nazi English teacher that will beat their children over the head with spelling, grammar, reading and writing. Some of them want me to just pass their kid, no matter what. And some of them DGAF what I do, as long as their kid learns something and I have a reason behind my actions. I'm betting that all of them expect me to be (or at least look) older. I used to try to impress upon them that I was that intimidating teacher (to the kids) and that they can trust me with their child's education by trying to be overly professional sounding, even though I look like I graduated last year. I don't do that anymore because it's ridiculous. I got tired of worrying if they automatically judge me as incapable due to my appearance, which I have no control over. (My mom would probably say they were just jealous of the fact that my family ages well, even though she once commented on how my 7th grade science teacher looked too young)

Truth be told, most parents are afraid of me just because I am The English Teacher. I know we've ALL had an English teacher that was a major bitch, no matter what you did. I had a few teachers like that throughout school--nothing you do will ever be good enough, they have ridiculously high expectations, they find it rude if you sneeze or cough without asking you first and punish you for ever smiling. Oh, and they correct your grammar at all times and look down on you if you don't speak or write "correctly". You don't know how many emails I've received from parents that have a note somewhere in there mentioning how bad their grammar and spelling is and to not grade them (or their student) on it.

Based on this, I went into this Back to School night with a different mindset. I dressed nicely (which netted me a lot of compliments that day) and I came up with a great plan to use the Promethean board to show my class website, the syllabus and the online textbook. These parents want to know that I mean business and I know what I'm talking about, but they don't want to be intimidated by me. I finally took the same approach I have with their children and applied it to them: I may look young, but I am an adult. I let them know that I know what I'm talking about, I've done this job before and had success, I'm approachable, and I'm more than willing to listen to their concerns. I don't care if the kids are intimidated by me, but I don't want their parents to be.

Unfortunately, this approach does not work on parents who like to intimidate teachers. Nothing I can do about that, though.

Things That Make Me Glad I Teach

There were a lot of reminders today about why I'm glad I teach. Here's a list of 5 things:

1. Hugs

I have my own personal bubble that I don't like kids to enter most of the time, but there are times where student hugs are nice. A majority of the hugs I get are from former students. Most of the former male students I have usually make a big show of it, yelling, waving (flailing) arms and then squeezing all the air out of me. I still appreciate it, though.

2. Emails

Every now and then, I get emails and facebook or myspace messages from former students. Most are like one facebook request (I have a separate facebook just for students) I got today from an Old School student that went something like "Mrs. P!!! I MISS YOU! I LOVE COLLEGE!"

But this is one email I got today:

Hey Mrs. P i just finished watching Finding Forrester starring Sean Connery. It got me thinking about my writing and how you helped influence me. My creative juices started flowing after I got into the movie and the plot thiccened. I really could relate to the main character Jamal Wallace in the movie because he grew up in the Bronx surrounded by the hardships of life and growing up without his father. Another good movie that got to me is The Hurricane starring Denzel Washington. It's based on a true story about Middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and his wrongful imprisonment for 20 years. I never tell people this but my favorite book is The Phantom Tollbooth written by Norton Juster. It's crazy because I dont remember how i got the book or how I began to read it. Once I got through the first chapter I was hooked lol. That book alone had a strong part in molding my imagination. Many important aspects of my life play a part in my writing. For instance, growing up without a father, me being a Crip because of me not having a fatherly figure, the death of my uncle when i was 8, losing my my cousin to the pen, all the drama and bull around me, and so on and so forth. I started with music to escape but when I combined that with my writing I really began to blocc out the madness around me. These were just some thoughts on my mind. Love to hear from you soon. Sincerely, [name removed] Lil Malcolm X He also emailed me again when he realized he wanted to tell me that he decided to reread Catcher in the Rye and see if he liked it more the second time. I told him that I brag a little about how brilliant he was, how great his writing was and how proud I am of him. He was supposed to go to school after graduating in June, but money issues got in the way. I know he'll get there one day and I know he'll love college. BTW, he signs all his emails with his name and 3. Stopping by Slowly, but surely, former students have been stopping by my room--in the morning, at lunch, and after school. Usually, they just stop in to say hi, but there have already been times where we've had deep conversations and laughed so hard we almost cried. It boggles my mind that they want to spend that much time with me because I'm always thinking, "Why aren't you out there, in the hallways, like everyone else?!". 4. "I miss your class" From a high school student, this is almost as great of a compliment as "You look nice today!". Most HS students are so busy being bored, they forget to enjoy class. It's always great to hear them admit that they miss a class, which leads to #5... 5. When they remember things It's great to hear them say they miss my class, but even better when they remember something we read. I love when students remember small things we read or wrote about and how it affected their life because I never expect it. What I hear while teaching is "Ugh, I hate this. This is so boring," and what I hear later is "Remember when we read that? Hilarious! Remember when we wrote that? I loved that assignment!". Who are you and what have you done with that other kid I taught? I hope to remember these things when I hit those rough days that happen throughout the school year. Those days are when you need reminders of why you do this the most.

The First Week

The first week of school is over and we're now heading into the second. This one was my fifth first week of school, and the fourth one by myself. This was definitely the least amount of nerves and the smoothest start to the school year. That is a nice feeling.

So, my students are still in the honeymoon period, where their true selves haven't quite shown up yet. We haven't had any breakdowns, meltdowns, blow ups, etc. yet. You gotta wait until after Thanksgiving for that (or Halloween, if it's gonna be that type of year).

I started the year off with two ice breaker games: Did you know bingo and candy introductions. Both went really well, thankfully, and the kids had lots of fun. We also started off the year with a new project that combines them identifying their purpose in English class and creatively expressing themselves. I also started off this year with a quiz on basic grammar concepts, which most students did well enough on to make me happy.

Here's the run down of my classes:

1st period: Mostly freshman, with a few repeaters. Pretty quiet so far, but starting to warm up.

2nd period: Mixture of first time freshman, freshmores, and a few that are taking English 9 for the third time. Most of the kids are chill, but the repeaters are a little testy already. This class has the girl that listed 4chan as her role model and "trolling" as an interest & hobby as well as the atheist boy who said George Carlin was his personal hero. I have a lot of different types of kids in this class, which could be awesome or completely horrible.

3rd period: Mostly freshman. I'm not sure if I have a repeater. I also have the least amount of kids with IEPs and 504s in this class. From day one, this period has been HILARIOUS. I absolutely love these kids already. This class is full of personality, intelligence (their journals were fantastic) and energy.

5th period: My new 5th period is so quiet compared to last year's! They were a little quiet to begin with, but when they're done doing their work, they like to play Would You Rather? a lot.

7th period: My 7th period last year was pretty awesome, but I think these kids beat them. There are a lot of really smart, intelligent and energetic kids in this class. From day one, this class came in ready to learn & have fun. We've already had some great discussions. I'm looking forward to spending the rest of the year with these kids.

I'm hoping that my odd day kids can stay as awesome as they've been, since I was given a full schedule on that day. I have four classes in a row on odd days and only two (2nd and 5th) on even. It's pretty lopsided, but I'm getting used to it.

As for my former students, quite a few have stopped by or yelled hellos at me in the hallway. One of them is my student involvement worker this year, so I see her every day. We had a Unity Day to welcome in the freshmen last Thursday and once I walked into the gym, a few of my former students spotted me, yelled and whooped. That's a good feeling!

Pre-Service Week '09

I love pre-service week. I love being able to have a whole week to work in my room and talk to teachers about our ideas for the upcoming year.

What did I do with mine? The usual: working, meeting, chatting, sweating, moving, bitching, moaning, and being professional developed.

The thing I worried about most this summer was confirmed on Monday. I was moving rooms. The administration didn't have a certain answer for me when I left in June, but I got an answer on Monday. All of Monday, between Convocation and a school-wide meeting, I moved from my upstairs room to my new room downstairs. I'm no longer in room 208, but I'm not changing this blog again. :)

At first, I was frustrated. Why couldn't they email me during the summer and let me know? I would've come in earlier and moved! Then I decided just to get it over with and see it as a fresh start for this year. Last year, I moved into another teacher's spot a week into the school year and never got to set up the room the way I wanted. This year I got to do that and I got to do it in a new room (a blank slate). By the time I left on Monday, it was all set.

Tuesday started off with parking in my new assigned parking spot. It is sooo much better than the one I had last year. It's on the academic side of the school, so I no longer have to walk all the way through the school to get to my room. It's also right next to the door. Since I had to move rooms on Monday, I decided to bring in all the supplies and books I bought over the summer on Tuesday. This new parking spot made the two trips I had to take so much easier. I quickly put away all of the supplies and headed off to the first professional development of the week.

The first PD of the week brought great news (for me, at least. Some weren't too happy about it): we are switching to a 4X4 block schedule next year. WOOO! For those of you who have no clue what that means, it means we are switching from a 7-bell schedule (7 classes for the whole year) that has 4 classes every other day (one meets every day) to a schedule with 4 classes per semester that meet every day for 90 minutes each. I love the 4X4 schedule, probably because the HS I graduated from switched to it and it made my life a lot easier (and I learned a lot more). As a teacher, this means a lighter student load and one planning period per day. Also, the students can no longer use the excuse of the every other day schedule to claim they don't remember homework, tests, quizzes, etc.

After that PD, we were let loose for lunch. The county I work in has a lot of new development happening, so we headed to one of the new restaurants that opened over the summer. Since pre-service week is one of the few times in the year where teachers have enough time to go out for lunch, most of my department jumped at the chance. We headed to what my department chair now calls "The Fox & The Hound". We actually went there twice during the week and it was DELICIOUS. I was so surprised! A lot of students from New School work there, too, which is cute to see.

Wednesday was full of working, chatting, and a meeting or two. I finally finished my syllabus for English 9 as well as English 10. I had to finish my room so it was ready for Freshman Orientation the next day. My room and my syllabi have never looked better! I think this is definitely the best job I've done of getting my room and information together.

Thursday was the Busy Day. It started with Freshmen Orientation. The freshies went off with Link Crew to have fun and be introduced to the school and upperclassmen who can help them through the year, the parents were stuck with us. First, we sent the parents to the auditorium to meet VIPs, then we went them to homeroom to sign papers, then I had to meet the three classes of Freshie parents. After meeting the parents, I watched all of my former 10th grade babies walk by in their new Junior attitudes and positions as Link Crew leaders. They were excited to see me and I was excited to see them. They were doing a great job and I beamed with pride as they walked by. A few of them stopped by after they were finished, lamented that I wasn't teaching English 12 anymore, and told me they'd talked me up to friends that have me this year.

Let me tell you, I hate meeting parents. I love talking to parents after I've met them, but I hate getting ready to meet them and I hate the initial "Let Me Tell You What My Class is About..." speech while they stare at me. I hate it mostly because I always end up right in front of the parents who give me the look that says, "You don't look old enough to teach my child. Are you qualified?" Nothing makes me more nervous than seeing that look on a parent's face. Gives me chills just thinking about it now.

One really awesome thing happened while I was meeting parents: A parent of a sophomore I had last year told everyone in my 1st period group that her daughter just loved me and my class last year, and her daughter hated reading and writing. I told them all I paid her $20 to say that. At least my 1st period parents will have good reports for their kids...

Anyway, I met a lot of parents, gave them my selling points, then breathed a sigh of relief and talked with the teacher next door about how much we were sweating after it was all over. She looks young like I do, so we bonded over the fact that all the parents probably think we graduated from HS last year.

As if meeting parents wasn't torture enough, we were sent to a three hour long professional development about high standards. This lady lectured at us for three hours and then said, "This was supposed to be 4 days." FOUR DAYS of PD into THREE HOURS! There were no breaks, either, so at one point in time, my legs cramped up and my bladder almost burst. I'm one of those people who hates getting up in the middle of someone talking, no matter how badly I need to and no matter how badly the lecture is because I had a few teachers scare the ever-loving daylights out of me whenever I needed to get up in their classrooms. It's a phobia that's stuck with me even though I highly doubt anyone would interrupt their own lecture to tell another professional to sit down. I ended up doing it anyway when I just couldn't take it anymore and everyone else in the room had gotten up and moved at least once.

I have no clue what she said for the last 90 minutes, either.

All in all, this was a very productive pre-service week. My room is set up, the homeroom materials are on the desk, the syllabi are copied and ready, and all my ice breaker games are ready.

There are so many positives so far this year, that I can't help but feel that it's going to be great. I have a new classroom and a great bunch of teachers that have welcomed me to the first floor. I have a great administration: a new AP who is hilarious, and a principal and AP that complimented me on my ability. I have former students who have stopped by and who have made me proud already. I have a department chair who is hilarious and a department as a whole that are motivated and connected. I have a great new co-teacher. I've already had another teacher say they want to come into my class and see what I do and learn from me. My room is next to a teacher who cracks me up and is new to the school, like me.

Basically, some things are new, but I feel comfortable. I know what I'm getting into, I know the people I work with, I even know some of my new students. I still have a few nerves and anxieties about the first day, but this year I'm not half as nervous as I was before. I don't think I'll ever meet a new group of students without some nerves, and I'm okay with that. I think this year will be a lot more smooth than last for many reasons and that makes me incredibly excited.

Seeing the other coast

This is a little overdue, but I kept doing other things and then going "Ohh, yeah, the blog..." around midnight.

So. This summer continued to be busy after Michigan. I had a week of rest, then headed out to the other side of the country.

All of this flying this summer made me realize something: I've developed an uneasiness about flying. Not quite a fear, but definitely not the easiness I remember having flying up to Canada and back multiple times. This was not helped by having to fly on a propellor plane once during my trip. It was terrifying.

I started in San Francisco, where I saw Emily, who is the MOST ADORABLE pregnant woman ever (seriously, look at her newest blog post with the pictures of her & her fantastic husband, Dan, and try and disagree with me). Emily & I met in an undergrad class we had together and then she ended up dating & marrying my boss/friend, Dan! I haven't seen them in two years and I saw I had to fly through SF to get to Oregon, so I asked Emily if it was cool to stop in for two days, even though she was ready to pop. Thankfully, she said yes (and also didn't give birth while I was there! As exciting as that would be, I didn't want to add any sort of complication to that time [or cut the cord, haha]). She was kind enough to walk around with me, even though she was mere days from her due date. It was awesome to just see Emily & Dan again and catch up, but I also got to see things in SF I didn't get to see the first time I was there, talk with Emily about all the TV shows we watch AND it was Dan's birthday the second day I was there. It was awesome to be a part of that and try out something new: Indian pizza! Seriously delicious. I wish there was a place in RVA that offered it.

After that small time in SF, I flew into Portland to meet Katy. Katy & I lived together in Kalamazoo for two years. Katy & Mike came to visit us in VA last year and we had a blast. This year there was a new addition to Katy & Mike's life: Alexandria! She is absolutely adorable! Seriously! I felt in love with her the moment I saw her. Katy & I went to an AMAZING bookstore in Powell's, then walked a little around Portland, swearing that next time, we would have ideas of other things to see, and headed to Eugene, where Katy lives. In Eugene, I introduced Katy to the IT Crowd and True Blood, and she introduced me to life in Eugene! We went to see Harry Potter (a tradition), talked about hippies and Eugene/Oregon culture, ate at delicious places (I now want a Cafe Yumm! in RVA), went to Saturday Market (all handmade things & a multi-cultural food area), went out on a girls' night, went to the Oregon Coast, went to an art museum, and tried to dodge the heat wave that hit Oregon.

When I first started this, I was going to include pictures & video of my trip, but they're ALL on my facebook and flickr & I don't feel like putting them here as well, since it took some time to get them on those two sites. If you don't know how to get to those, ask me.

This summer has been a summer of firsts, which is what it was meant to be. I want to stop letting excuses and anxiety get in my way of doing the fun things I talk about, and I think I've been pretty successful.

Firsts:

-Flew to Michigan alone

-Delayed luggage

-Flew to the west coast alone

-Ate alone in a restaurant

-went to a movie alone

-said "y'all" like I was born saying it. It just kinda popped out of my mouth before I knew it!

-sang karaoke (not quite alone, with two other girls, but STILL! way more than I would've ever done a year or more ago!)

-met the first additions to friends' families: Alex, Harrison (I didn't mention this in my Michigan post I now realize. I went to visit my friend Kate and meet her son, who is adorable, funny & smart!) and (sort of) Jackson. I'm just gonna put him on the list cause I got to feel him moving around :) All of my friends have such beautiful children! (Again, putting Jackson in that cause I bet you he will be just adorable!)

-many more I've forgotten!

I still have some plans for the rest of the summer. I need to start working on school plans more than I have, but I have some time...

Say Yes to Michigan!

This summer has been a busy one so far.

My last day of school with students involved giving 17 kids an exam, grading them and putting in all grades in a span of 2.5 hours. I then drove about 1.5 hours to Norfolk to see my first class graduate. It was AMAZING. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy being bombarded by about 100 kids. It was crazy with hugs, screams, some tears, laughter and smiles. One of them spun me around screaming YOU'RE HERE! YOU'RE HERE!!! Another ran across a group of people screaming my name and almost knocked me over when he slammed into me to give me a hug while he told me I made his graduation day and senior year perfect by showing up. I didn't have time to talk to a lot of them, so our conversations were brief. Most of them said they missed me, and I told them the same. A lot of them said that they still had my notes and awards (some of them were reading them in the days leading up to graduation). I heard a lot of great news about their future plans. They reminded me why I teach and made me feel like I've been pretty successful so far as a teacher. They're all such great kids, I was really lucky to have the group that I did for my first two years.

Since I left early from school, I had to go back in the day after to check out. It was basically almost three hours of cleaning up my room, packing up stuff, and then running around the big school to find everyone that needed to sign off on my check out list. Ugh.

After that, I had a day and a half to myself before David's parents came to visit for a week. We took them all around Richmond, they went to see Monticello and I went with them to Va Beach. It was a beautiful week, we were given perfect weather for each activity we chose that day. It was great to see them!

The day they left, Charna, Jordan and Dave rolled into town for the moped rally in Richmond. It was TONS of fun! It was great to be on a moped again and see Richmond from that POV. They took us on some great rides and I met some great people. My moped ran like a champ with the only problem being that it didn't want to idle sometimes (that's fixed now, though!). Everyone left Sunday morning, which was fine with me because I was exhausted, bruised, sore and blistered!

Plus, I only had one more day until I left to spend a week in Michigan. My checked luggage didn't come with me, but it ended up okay. I spent one night in Detroit so I could see Joey's bike shop and hang out with him. Megan came to pick me up and we headed to East Lansing. I finally got to see her apartment (cute!) and meet her pet rat (CUTE!), Eve. Of course, we had Tim Horton's, went shopping, had ice cream made on MSU's campus (delicious!), and relaxed. The next day, we headed to Kalamazoo, tried to find my luggage, and then had a get together so Megan could tell us all about her Uganda trip. I am AMAZED by what she got to do--truly the experience of a lifetime! The next morning, we got confirmation that my bag was flown back to Richmond and was now safe and sound in my apartment, so Megan, mom and I went shopping, got Root Beer Stand (I cannot tell you how much I miss this place!) and headed out to the cottage. We spend Friday to Monday at the cottage, it was amazing to be out there again! It was barely warm enough to swim the whole weekend, but we got some time on the lake. We also went to the Hayloft, which has amazing sundaes, and a flea market, which is fantastic for people watching. I found a few books to add to my classroom library there, too. Most of the time at the cottage was spent relaxing, playing games, and reading. It was nice having some cooler weather because I knew that when I got back to Richmond, it was going to be hot and humid for another few weeks! When we got back to Kalamazoo, I HAD to go to Kazoo Books, mostly to find books for my classroom. Thankfully, they ship books all over, so they had no problem sending the books I paid for down to VA. I also got to see Krista before I left! I'm so glad we got together! I hadn't seen her in years, and it was wonderful to catch up a little bit. I hope we get to see her when we go up for the holidays, too. :) All in all, it was an amazing trip to Michigan. I got to enjoy some of my favorite Kalamzoo or Michigan-only foods, go to Meijer (oh man, I miss that place so much), see a movie with my sister, see my parents and have an amazing time with them. I'm really lucky to have seen them so much in the past year.

Now I'm enjoying some time without plans or travel before I head off on my next trip: SF and Eugene! I'm so excited!

About those 9th graders...

This fall will mark the beginning of my 4th full year of teaching. The past year was one of the most challenging, for sure. I'd say it was even more challenging than my first year, believe it or not. But that's really for a whole other post.

Each year I've been a teacher, I've taught a new prep. First year, I taught 10th grade, which I had never done before. Second year, I volunteered to do 11th as well as 10th (it gets really boring to teach the same thing 5 times over). This year, I was given 12th and continued to do 10th grade. I really love teaching English 10, so I'm glad that that prep has never changed.

Next year will be no different, but it wasn't really my choice. My AP came in one day to talk about my schedule for next year. He presented me with an opportunity that appeared at first to have two options: Yes or No. Turns out there was only one answer.

You see, at New School next year, they are changing things with the 9th grade, as they usually do. It makes sense to start with the incoming class because teenagers (and a lot of teachers) can't handle a lot of change at once and starting with the 9th grade means that those kids knew no different way of doing things. This year, we had three levels of English: Remedial, General (what I taught) and Advanced (AP in 12th). Next year, 9th grade English will have a Collaborative class, one or two General (I can't remember which, and I'm not sure why they're allowing that, but whatev), and the rest Advanced. They're trying to combine General and Remedial to avoid tracking, avoid lowered expectations (both teachers and students) and improved self-esteem and environment.

I was chosen to teach those 3 Collaborative English 9 classes. It was a compliment. I was chosen because they saw I was good at keeping all kids busy, differentiating, connecting to students, etc. I also have experience teaching a "collaborative" class. At Old School, we didn't have three levels like they did. We had Regular or Honors/Pre-IB/IB/AP. I taught five classes total, and two or three of them would have a co-teacher. It's nothing new to me and they know this. They also knew that I would not treat any of the kids in there as different or incapable of doing the work. My AP said they wanted the incoming 9th graders to start off their high school career with a "positive view of English class" (ooh, burn to those other 9th grade teachers! He probably didn't mean it that way, but still... word choice, man.).

I am excited about a few things involving English 9. A Raisin in the Sun. The Odyssey. Romeo & Juliet. Their text book has some of THE BEST short stories. Oh, and English 9 & 10 don't have a research paper, although they do have a research project. YES!! On the scheduling side of things, all of my English 9 classes are in the morning, English 10 every day (5th per) and one at the end of the day. That is a major plus, very smart scheduling.

Why did I not want to teach 9th grade? 'Cause it's 9th. I've never taught it before. They're 9th graders. I've taught middle school and it was tiring as hell. 9th graders are crazy. You get the idea.

Then again, it might be totally fun. Why not, right? A new challenge. Can't be any worse than teaching seniors in April & May. I told them I'd try it, but I did ask if I could get out of doing it if I really, really hated it. The answer? "We want you to try it for a few years... to get used to it... maybe you'll like it better the second year!" Uhh... right.

Whoops

I totally just remembered that I've been meaning to update this, but never actually did it. Oops.

School year ended today for me. Here's what I'll get around to after I get the required few hours of doing whatever the flip I want:

-Why I'm teaching 9th grade next year. 

-Review/reflection on my year at New School

-My birthday & graduation at Old School (it happened on the same day, so they are intertwined)

-Pictures of 2008-2009 hooligans

-Ideas for next year

That's about it, I think. Let me add this to my to do list on my fancy new phone... 

...which reminds me to also put here that I have a new phone number. If you don't have it and you want/need it, please email me (alikay@gmail.com) and ask for it.

end of the seniors

I love days where my students are loving and kind, they get along with each other and I get along with them and things just... go. Days like this make me happy I teach, they make me not wish for 3:00 or for summer vacation every moment. Even better is when the week goes by at a nice pace, things get accomplished, to do lists get finished, and everything works.

I hope it lasts until the end of next week!

I only have 2 more class days with each senior class. Their exam (both classes I have) is set for June 1st, but some are going to take it next Thursday or Friday since grades are due June 2nd. Thankfully, most of my seniors are exempt, which means I only have a few to worry about. I'm slowly getting research papers and quickly grading them and returning them. I'm giving them my usual end-of-the-year thing on Thursday and Friday.

It's nice to have seniors. Once they're gone I'll have two open blocks to get my room all situated for next year. It will be nice to have all that extra time after a whole school year of craziness.

I only have 7 more odd and even days left with my sophomores. I really love teaching 10th grade. I don't know why. I've really come to like this crazy group of kids. It'll be nice to see them next year again and possibly in 12th grade.

My last day with students is my birthday. This is the first time I've ever been in school as student or teacher on my birthday. When I was in elementary school, I was always bummed that I never got to celebrate my bday at school and bring in treats. That day is also the exam day for my 5th period, which is the class I see every day. That's exciting because they are the group of kids I get along with the best. That day is also graduation for Granby, so I'll be going down to Norfolk to see all my old students graduate! I'm so excited to see them again and see them on such an important day!

Even though things are going great now, I'm still looking forward to summer vacation! My birthday, a trip to Michigan, a trip to SF/Eugene, possible other trips are all exciting additions to the general joy of summer vacation. Nothing beats not having a schedule, being able to read whatever I want, not having to grade and not having to deal with 100+ demanding teenagers Monday-Friday. :)

today's funny moment

TG is a student who has a big personality and is not afraid of being brutually open and honest. He's a good source of laughter in class due to his quick moving mind and imagination. 

Today, TG's class was pretty small and quiet due to SOLs. We were also stuck together for about 2 hours. They were working independently on two different things, so I was at my desk, attacking the massive amount of grading I have to take care of.

About one hour in, it's nice and quiet and then... the noise. You know the noise. The noise of someone farting and not being shy about it. Some teachers dread it because it brings on the giggles in your students. 

After I heard the noise, I looked up, pretty sure I knew who it could be. 

TG: Yep, that was me.

Girls around him: Good night, I was right near you! Ewww!

TG: Not my fault y'all got all quiet right as it happened.

Amber: You leaned forward!

Casey: He totally leaned forward, you do this all the time in other classes. Mrs. P, he does this all the time and his farts smell like death. He once did that in International Relations and half the class had to leave.

TG: That's true...

Casey: He made me puke      in        my        mouth. (Imagine a very well-time, spaced out statement. She looked at me with the most sincere look I've ever seen. She was dead serious and disgusted. I didn't meant to laugh, but I had to)

Kayla: That's pretty serious if he made you puke in your mouth.

TG: That's the G! You can't tell me you know someone else who could make them puke in their mouth. I mean, who else can do that?

Casey: You're lucky I kept it in my mouth!

He was proud of his ability. I laughed so hard because they were all so serious, debated about whether or not it was possible to make someone puke in their mouth from a fart, etc. TG was completely serious and proud that no one else could say they met someone other than him that could cause someone to puke in their mouth by farting.

Wow. My seniors are something else.

Time for Poetry

Maybe it's because I've been reading Romantic poetry for the past month and I find these guys (Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Keats and Shelley) fascinating or maybe it's because I can relate to this poem. Or it could be that I like it because I understand it and its inspiration--he saw a storm approaching, watched it, and finally wrote again, marking the end of his grieving period for his 3 year old son that had recently died. No matter what, I like these two sections of this poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley.  

from "Ode to the West Wind"

IV.

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;

If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;

A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

 

The impulse of thy strength, only less free

Than thou, O uncontrollable! if even

I were as in my boyhood, and could be

 

The comrade of thy wanderings over heaven,

As then, when to outstrip thy skyey speed

Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne'er have striven

 

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.

Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!

I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

 

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed

One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

 

V. 

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is;

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

 

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

 

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe

Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!

And, by the incantation of this verse,

 

Scatter, as from an extinguished hearth

Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!

Be through my lips to unwakened earth

 

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,

If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

Friday, LOTF, and kid games

Some weeks drag on. And on and on. That was last week. I took this picture last week trying to capture how much I hate progress reports, grading, and long weeks. I was so tired all week, I had a ton of stuff to get ready for progress reports and I had lunch duty (ughhh). By Friday, I didn't want anything to do with school. 

This week was better. Even though I had the GRE on Saturday looming over me the whole week, it went okay. We're almost done with Lord of the Flies in the 10th grade and a few more kids are getting into it. My seniors have turned in some research rough drafts and we're almost done with the literature part of the course. Everything is wrapping up nicely. I ended up ahead of myself and not behind, for once. It felt strange. I kept feeling unproductive. It'll pass with the upcoming weeks due to SOLs, papers, projects, and exams. I'm looking forward to when the seniors leave so I can finally make the room more of my own and start setting up for next year. Speaking of next year, I told my administrators and department chair that I'd be willing to help with a literary magazine, if they would like one started up again. I think it'd be really great for the school. Hopefully, if I get it, it'll be fun to do and not a huge chore. Ha.

Since I've had this whole quarter to teach Lord of the Flies, I've been able to do more with it, even though we're reading it in class (due to lack of books available for all Eng 10 classes).

I had them draw pictures:

I've had them do small writing assignments and journals on just about every aspect of the book, from why we like stories involving characters on the island to writing letters to the characters giving them advice to why Simon is so weird. They've done pretty well on it all.

So I threw them a challenge. I made a twitter for Simon (http://twitter.com/thebeastwthin), two of the three classes got to vote on who they wanted to do: Jack (http://twitter.com/CSharpHero), Piggy (http://twitter.com/notpiggy), or Ralph (http://twitter.com/want2BRescued). They had to come up with the suggestions and so far, they've done pretty well. What's  on the twitters are a combination of their suggestions, since a lot of them suggested similar ideas. We haven't finished them since we haven't finished the novel. They seemed to enjoy it and some of the suggestions made me laugh. 

Another thing I did with my 5th period, since they meet every day and thus get farther ahead quicker, was have a funeral for Simon. Yesterday we read the chapter where Simon is killed, so today I had them get into groups and write poems or paragraphs eulogizing him. They did a great job, I was really surprised! Some of them took on the voice of a character from the book (mostly Jack, since it's easier to write from his POV), but I had two great poems. 

After we did that, we had extra time, so I let them have free time. It was a plus for me since it allowed me to grade a little more (I was trying to grade as much as possible so I wouldn't have to worry about that while taking the GRE tomorrow). 

My 5th period is definitely one of my best classes. They're creative, they're productive, they're absolutely hilarious and they get along the best out of all of the classes, probably due to them meeting every day. During free time, I asked them to be quiet, so Kaitlyn decided to teach her friends a game she learned before. It was so strange and distracting that everyone in the class started watching them. Finally, I asked them to either stop what they were doing in 2 minutes (giving them time for one last game) or to include everyone. They were totally cool with that (I love them for that! In my other classes, they'd probably just give up their game) and decided to sit on the floor and teach others:

They changed the game after a few tries of the normal version and started trying to make weird faces or weird voices when it was their turn. When Garrett got to start it, he decided to do something a little different...

am I cursed?!

I keep meaning to sit down and write something meaningful. Or share some stories. Or something... else. It never happens. I get all these ideas, then I go home and read, laze about, play silly games, watch movies... you know. Lazy stuff.

I will be so glad when I'm done taking the GRE on Saturday. 

Also, I will be glad when I'm done teaching seniors. They're great kids, but good night, do they complain and whine a lot! I've never taught seniors before, so I don't know if it's the grade or just them. I like them as people, but I will be glad when I am no longer their teacher! That reminds me, I need to get started on their notes...

Anywho. The title of this post is about how every year I must, without fail, have at least one pregnancy in one class.

First year: two girls in the same class.

Second year: three girls, all in Eng 11, two different classes.

I thought I could avoid it this year, but I was so wrong! Oh, how wrong I was! 

O, God! O, mighty forces! why do you curse me so? Must I, every year, without fail, have a pregnant girl in my class?! 

There's nothing wrong with them. The problem is with the other students. You know, the ones who like to talk. I didn't have a problem before, mostly because most of them knew someone before like that. But here... at New School... oh my. 

When I told David I had a pregnant student, he asked "What is their policy on those cases?" I said, "point and laugh seems to work...?". I feel for this girl. I know her and her boyfriend/fiance pretty well since I have them both in two different Eng 10 classes. She's going through this in an environment that is so small that everyone knows everything, but unfortunately is not forgiving to those who are outsiders and those who do not do what they're supposed to do... Plus, the girl has been cursed with the most horrible morning sickness someone can have, has been hospitalized a few times due to that sickness, and has been told by her doctor that she will deliver way too early due to age and the placement/structure of her uterus. Could this be any more shitty for her? I mean, really.

too much drama

This weekend I swear I'll write something in here. Something interesting like how some of my students are magnets for drama. I'll also include how some of that drama has leaked into my classroom and involved me way too much in a few different ways. Exciting, new adventures in teaching! 

I keep promising myself I'll get better at this, but I never really know what to put. I'm not sure if I should put stories, updates on what I'm doing, more teaching or more personal, etc. etc.

I haven't had that much time to figure that out, either. Spring break was last week and my parents were here. I dragged them all around Richmond and then took them to D.C. Doing all of that meant I didn't get a lot of school work done, so this week's planning time has been mostly dedicated to grading persuasive essays. I haven't stayed after school much this week because of meetings, appointments, tornado watches or beautiful spring weather. Coming back from spring break is always difficult, but this first week flew by. I'm not really stressed about the papers because I only have about 10-14 left (out of ~80!). After those papers, I have to catch up on the little bit of grading I've accumulated from this week already. I can handle it though. Beyond family visits and grading, my GRE test date is coming up in 2 weeks, so I've been preparing for that. 

It's the time of year where I'm looking forward to summer and next year. I've got a notebook that I've started writing ideas down in, and I hope to get some work done over the summer in terms of a sketch of the year's pacing. I say that every year and it barely happens, but I'm hoping to actually do it this year to prevent more work for myself next year! 

This summer will hopefully be filled with travel and new places. There's no moving and no internships, we both have jobs, so why not? So far, we have a birthday trip (for me), my trip out west, my possible trip to Michigan (still figuring that out) and a possible camping trip out to the western border of VA. I'm not making a list (even a mental one) of things I want to do this summer because I always end up only doing a few things. This summer, I'm just going where it takes me. Hopefully, it'll be fun, interesting, relaxing, adventurous and amazing! ha!

surprise!observation

Since I'm new at my school, I have to be observed. This year, I've already had two finished, and I knew there were two more coming up. About two weeks ago, I had a lot of school-related nightmares. In those nightmares, not only would the class be completely bonkers, but my AP would walk in, ready to observe me in action. 

Last week he actually did walk in. He didn't let me know before that he was planning on it. I'm okay with observation, but I really dislike surprise ones. I ended up surprising myself though because I wasn't half as nervous as I used to be. It was a great day for him to be there, though, since I was making my seniors draw pictures as they listened to "Kubla Khan", then we started reading Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 

This week he put the observation report in my mailbox and discussed it with me. He had no recommendations for improvement, I scored above average on 4 different categories (proficient on the rest, which is the norm and where I should be), and he told me two things that made me embarrassed and speechless, but really happy: they are really looking forward to having me back next year and my classroom environment (where students feel safe enough to share when called on) is exactly what they're looking for.  

Why is this so awesome?

If you knew me during my student teaching, you might already know. It's mostly because of that whole experience that I'm always so happy to hear positive things about what they observed in my class. I told my former department chair about this, but that internship about killed any chances I had at a career. I was told by two people who decided my fate as a teacher that I would never make it, I would never be respected and I would never amount to much as a teacher, basically. One of them said I didn't have the voice for teaching, that I was too soft spoken (my students would probably laugh at that). Basically, they didn't think I had what it took.

Since I've started teaching, I have never once had a negative observation. In my first year of teaching, I had suggestions, but they always came with "It took me years to get the hang of that, so that's something that will come in time." I don't want to brag because I don't want anyone to think I believe I'm perfect at my job (I am definitely not even close!). But what they said really stuck with me and I've always wanted to send all of my observations, my letters of recommendation, and all of my letters and emails from students to those two people that never believed in me with a big "IN YOUR FACE!", "How you like me now?" or something equally ridiculous on it.

one more

I'm thinking of changing the title of this thing. Any ideas?

did he just say "pshew pshew"?

Uhh, it's been a while. 

It's been one of those times were I've had a lot happen that I could talk about, I've been busy (mostly with school), but then again, when I take a step back from it all, I realize that wow--that is really boring. Who wants to hear about how much grading I've had to do? About me getting ahead in planning? Those of you that are teachers understand and live (or lived) it every day, those of you that aren't teachers probably don't really need to know that (or want to know that), you just want the stories, right? :) It's okay, I understand.

Okay, so. Stories. 

• Today I had two boys jump up and start doing the "Jump On It" dance. I don't know if there's a name for it, but they did it perfectly in sync with each other and the song, the kids were going crazy for it. Then they sat down and continued their work like nothing happened.
  
• My 5th period is the best with listening to music and not being afraid to sing along and/or dance. Today was Michael Jackson radio station day on Pandora. There were a few kids dancing to "Thriller" and other classics.
  
• I have one student, JM, who cracks me up constantly. He'll ask me a question, I'll respond, and he'll go "THAT'S why I love you!" (in a very appropriate student-teacher manner)
• Had to give my first serious talking to to a girl who barely does anything in class. She had a 30%. Passing is 69.5%. Last Friday was the end of the 3rd nine weeks and she asks me on Tuesday, "How can I pass? I want to pass." On Friday, she had brought herself up to a 66% by finally coughing up some assignments she had partially completed and finally passing a test. She asks me, "Can you just give me the 3%?" and I snapped. Seriously. I didn't yell, but I was the most serious I've been all year in talking to a student.
• I have one kid that is seriously losing it. He's a great kid, but he's going through some troubles. It's not cool. When it's all over with, I might be able to write more about it.
• Most of my study hall kids have seen Kevin Hart's "I'm a Grown Little Man". It is hilarious and is now quoted all the time throughout their time in my classroom. Seriously, look this dude up, especially if you are a teacher and have ever witnessed a girl fight.

Enough teaching stories. You want to know about the non-teaching me, right? 

...right?

• Only a few more days until spring break! I'm looking forward to seeing my parents! When it's not 90 degrees outside! And in Richmond instead of Williamsburg! AHH!
  
• Spring break also means being able to read my own books!
• David quit smoking!
• The weather is finally staying consistently warm! This means two things: Planting and riding. We planted a few different things outside and I hope they all survive. It's been a while since I've planted/grown any sort of garden, so this is kind of experimental. As for riding, I'm getting new wheels for my Varsity so I can actually ride it. I need to fix up my moped soon so I can start riding that again, too. 
• We are going to see Mates of State tomorrow night! We were supposed to go see Matt & Kim on Friday night, but it was postponed/canceled. Bummer.
• I am going to San Francisco and Eugene this summer! I'm excited, but I kinda hate planning things so far in advance cause then I'm all excited NOW to go, so I want to go NOW instead of months from now, you know what I mean? But anyway, I'm excited to see friends, meet new additions to their lives, to see Oregon for the first time, and to see SF! It's nice to have a vacation to look forward to during the long stretch of summer. 
• I registered for the GRE. I'm still not sure what I want to do though.
• I've been listening to some new music and realized this always seems to happen during the spring. Strange.

Wow. That was more than I planned to write when I remembered I had a blog. Anyway, it's almost time for Lost. I actually stay awake during most Lost episodes now since it's finally gone back to being interesting enough to keep up with.

If you feel up to it, leave me some suggestions:

1. Something funny I should watch/listen to

2. A book to read

3. A band to listen to

4. Something to take a picture of

5. Have you read Lord of the Flies before? If so, suggest some activities that would be fun for my 10th graders (I have from April 20th to the beginning of June to teach the novel. I've got time.)

your dose of poetry for today

I've rediscovered Lucille Clifton. I forgot I had her book and I forgot how much I liked her.

photograph

my grandsons
spinning in their joy

universe
keep them turning turning

black blurs against the window

of the world

for they are beautiful

and there is trouble coming

round and round and round

wishes for sons

i wish them cramps.

i wish them a strange town

and the last tampon.

i wish them no 7-11.

i wish them one week early

and wearing a white skirt.

i wish them one week late.

later i wish them hot flashes

and clots like you

wouldn't believe.  let the 

flashes come when they

meet someone special.

let the clots come

when they want to.

let them think they have accepted 

arrogance in the universe,

then bring them to gynecologists

not unlike themselves.

haaaaaaaaalp

I need your help!
The last 9 weeks of school for English 10 is scheduled to teach a novel. Our choices are: Lord of the Flies (yes!! Already decided!) or A Separate Peace (NO!). I asked my department chair if I could do literature circles or another novel instead of choice #2. She understood and said I could probably pull it off because I definitely do NOT need 9 weeks to teach LOTF. I'm coming up with a list of books I've read for her to go over and see if the students will read or have already read them in other classes.

So far, I have:
Ella Minnow Pea: Mark Dunn
1984: George Orwell
Animal Farm: Orwell
Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
To Kill A Mockingbird: Harper Lee
The Bell Jar: Sylvia Plath (mostly because they've read a few Plath poems already and some were really interested in this book)
Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe
Beloved: Toni Morrison
Poisonwood Bible: Barbara Kingsolver
The Kite Runner: Khaled Hosseini
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: Mark Haddon
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Betty Smith
Speak: Laurie Halsie Anderson
The Things They Carried: Tim O'Brien (felt like I needed some "manly" books on the list)
Nervous Conditions: Tsi Tsi Dangaremba
The Secret Life of Bees: Susan Monk Kidd
Life of Pi: Yann Martel
A Lesson Before Dying: Ernest Gaines
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Ken Kesey
Water for Elephants: Sara Gruen

I need suggestions! What are books that you think every high schooler should read? Hopefully you suggest some that I've also read, so I can put them on the list!

Covered

My room is filled to the brim with posters and projects. There are Macbeth projects and then there is 2 full walls of Black history month projects. The kids did a great job on them. There are pictures up on my flickr, you should check them out. A lot of the students have commented that they really like the room this way, that it gives it character. I agree with them.
I'm hoping that next year, my room will look better as a whole, seeing as how I'll A) be hired before school starts, and B) have more time, since I won't be teaching a whole new curriculum and course. Whew.
I've been trying really hard to get ahead. Last week, I kinda slacked off, there were after school meetings, and just not enough time, so everything caught up with me and I almost got behind again. This week, I was determined to remedy that.Monday and Tuesday I was at school until 5PM (Monday I had students with me, though), yesterday I left at 4:40, and today I finally left at 4:10. I hope tomorrow to be able to leave between 3:30 and 4 feeling like I've accomplished something. I've never stayed this late before.
Coming up are Midsummer projects, new plays, the Romantic era, research papers and novels. Wow.

By the way, ever checked out wordle.net?
For example, my 12th graders read "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" by Mary Wollstonecraft, and will read Defoe's essay on the education of women tomorrow. Both on similar topics but different at the same time. I was playing around with wordle.net, and put in both pieces. We'll do an activity tomorrow where they have to guess which one is which based on the frequent words.

lemme brag a sec...

My seniors have finally finished Macbeth, which is a joy for all of us involved. It took way too long to get through, due to the timing: Start before winter break, go through semester change, etc. Seriously awkward timing for trying to teach a play. But it's all done! Tests are finished, projects and essays are done and we move on to the time period of 1660-1800. That's right-- trying to teach almost 200 years of literature before moving on to the Romantic period. There is a plus though: language is more modern. No more whining about "Why isn't this in English?!"
We started off by reading Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". If you haven't read this, do it. It's hilarious. Read Gulliver's Travels, too, while you're at it. We've talked about satire throughout the year, it seems, so now was a good time to bring it up again and finally assign a writing assignment for the whole class (others that could've been satirical were optional, they could also be honest/serious) that involved satire. So, the students had to write their own "modest" proposal. Let me tell you, this was genius. There have only been a few times I've enjoyed reading every writing assignment, and this is one of those times. Some of these are absolutely hilarious! I'm very proud of my seniors right now, which is great since the last few weeks, they've been infuriatingly lazy and whiny.
Also, my 10th graders are actually enjoying A Midsummer Night's Dream, especially Act III (also my favorite act). A few of them are understanding it without me translating Shakespearean English into more modern English (!!!). Plus, they liked the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of it (so far) when I showed them Acts I and II. I'm going to show them the version made a few years ago when we're all done with the play.
I've decided on the second play we'll read in that class, too: The Glass Menagerie. I figured it worked because of family/parent issues. I don't want to do Julius Caesar, even though it'd be really easy for me to teach. No need to do 2 Shakespeare plays, some of those kids would probably try and poison my coffee. Another 10th grade teacher suggested that I not do Antigone because the version we have is a "bad" one and causing her a lot of trouble. The third other choice we have is one I'm not even remotely into and couldn't tell you the title of it to save my life. The one I chose seems to be modern enough and has a few things I could connect to Midsummer, so it'll work just fine.

been one of those weeks...

This week has had amazing days and incredibly irritating days. Today, the amount of grading I have to do, whining I had to listen to about projects and essays and tests, and the amount I feel I haven't accomplished really weighed heavy on me. I had a few moments where I asked myself, "Really? I wanted to be a teacher?". I put so much pressure on myself to accomplish so much and do so much, and always feel like I could do more, that it ends up with days like this. Today, I had to completely reorganize everything on my desk and accomplish small tasks to stop freaking out during my plan period at the end of the day. It worked, though. I'm feeling a lot better and I'm hanging in there-- especially because this weekend is a three day weekend. Phew. Stuff will get done, and I know that, I just allowed myself to get overwhelmed and to give in to all the pressure I put on myself to do a good job.

One thing I've been thinking a lot about this week is the difference between urban and rural schools. Some of the problems and irritations are the same, which makes sense. No matter what, you are teaching teenagers. But there are some differences. I really miss teaching in an more urban school. I don't really know why, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it comes down to that that environment is what I'm used to, it's what I know, it's what I love, and the rural school just can't quite make it to that level. I have a real love/hate relationship with the rural school I teach at. Some things are great, other things about it are completely mind-boggling and infuriating. Maybe that will change, but as of right now, I don't see that happening.

quickie

-Budget still isn't set. We had a whole meeting about how the higher-ups have no clue about what they're going to do to balance the budget. So, we're all waiting for the state to finish waiting for the federal government to make decisions.
-I wore my Shakespeare shirt today because a) it was Friday, b) I finished reading Macbeth with my 12th graders today and c) I'm starting A Midsummer Night's Dream with my 10th graders. (YAAAAAY! NO JULUS CASESAR THIS YEAR! You have no idea how happy I am!) Some of them laughed, some of them didn't get it.
-We just finished our taxes because my W-2 from NPS finally arrived. It was originally sent to my parents' house because when I left there I couldn't remember our new zip code, but it was returned to sender, but the postal system caught it and forwarded it to us.
-I did a really fun and funny activity with my 10th graders to introduce a theme from Midsummer. I don't like to tell my students we're going to do something "fun" cause they're definition of fun is way different from mine. So, I told them "I don't want to say it's fun, let's just say it's more interesting than usual." One kid leaned toward me later and asked, "I thought this wasn't supposed to be fun?"
-I promised myself that starting Feb. 1st, I'd write something every day. It may not be here, but in a written journal I keep. Either way, I'll try and write more here.
-We made sweet potato stew today! Most of you don't care, but I love it (and those of you that have made/ate the stew, you understand) and I've been looking forward to it all day.

Just as I'm getting used to my job...

So the state of Virginia has cut into education for the new budget. That's okay, I guess. Schools are pretty much used to it.
David tells me today that the House of Reps in VA is debating not approving the budget that Gov. Kaine proposed for political reasons and they're going to push to get rid of the small tax increases and instead cut MORE from education. Doesn't sound too bad unless you actually work for a small school district that's been hit hard like I do right now.
Last week, we were told by the administration and then in a letter from the Superintendent that our budget is bare bones. We are cutting after-school buses, summer school and a few other programs. No new textbooks are going to be ordered and we have to be diligent about getting the issued ones back. That's all so we don't lose any positions. That's with the proposed cuts in place and it's all "As far as we know..." and a feeling that nothing's solid just yet. If they're going to cut more from education, that means we're going to have to get rid of more. Since I'm new to this district, who do they get rid of first if they have to cut positions? Support staff? Janitorial? New teachers? Older, more experienced (and thus, more expensive) teachers? Ones with the grades? Ones who they've known?
It's a small place, where everyone knows everyone.... and I'm one of the new kids and, to be honest, a few teachers there do not like me already. So... should I be worried about my job? Even though we've been reassured, I've told them I'm coming back next year (screw spending money to apply to closer places when everyone is tightening up their budgets) and I'm hoping that I'll be able to, I'm still keeping the thought that I might be laid off in the back of my mind. Keep your fingers crossed, I guess.

books & end of semester

Ahh, the end of the first semester. I have less D/F students this nine weeks than last, I have two small things left on my to do list, and I have small corrections to make on my exam. What a wonderful feeling.
Today was full of silliness. My 4th period seniors are hilarious and I was trying to think of all the ways I could say crazy things about Macbeth to help them remember information, plot and characters for a test on Act I-III this Friday. We went off on tangents about how The Wire was amazing and another topic I can't remember, but definitely had nothing to do with Macbeth.
One of the best things about teaching is when you get an on-going inside joke in a class or group of students. For example, in my 3rd period senior class, we refer to Fleance, Banquo's son in Macbeth, as either the "F-word" or one specific student yells out his name in a way that sounds like "FleeeeAAAAAAncSSSSSSSSS". A perfect example of the inside joke with students is this: I have a faithful group of students who I spend lunch with. Most of them are in my 5th period (the lunch period), but there are a few that have first lunch, but hate going downstairs to the cafeteria. Usually, we get pretty silly and end up laughing for 5 or 10 minutes straight. It's always the highlight of my day. On Monday, a student I'll refer to as CH asked me a question. CH is like a little brother where we harass each other constantly. For example, he calls me Pippi in class because he found out I hate to be called Pippi Longstocking. Anyway. He asked if I had a blog. I said "yes, it's called 'Mrs. P hates CH' and I post in it every day about all the things you do that I hate." Ever since then, every time he does something during class, I'll say "Dear blog, today CH called me Pippi 5 times. I think my hatred for him has gotten stronger. Love, Mrs. P." Today, he said something nice about another girl in the Lunch Crew, SH, and they all joked about how the blog post will be "Dear blog, CH said something nice about SH today. Maybe we won't kill him after all...."
Oh, and I did the dance to "Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer at lunch today. Ever checked out pandora.com? It's a lifesaver during my super quiet study hall, plan period, or after school time. Today, I typed in "Baby Got Back" because all the students started singing it. "Can't Touch This" was the second song on the "station" (pandora will come up with similar songs to whatever band or song you type in). During 5th period today, the Lunch Crew decided we should keep the music on, but low to see if anyone noticed. Finally, we had to give it up that the music WAS coming from the speakers. We were then treated to a few students singing along and dancing to 90s hits. It was hilarious and I think it actually helped them get their exam reviews done! hah!

So. Over break, David and I went to our favorite book store ever, Kazoo Books. I FINALLY got some dictionaries (for some reason, NONE were provided in my classroom), but I only have 2 full, 1 somewhat full, and 1 barely-there dictionary. I've also started thinking about what books I'd like to add to a classroom library. I finally have enough space to keep textbooks, dictionaries, supplies AND a classroom book collection all in the same classroom, so I think it's time to start it. What I'd like from the three of you that read this (haha, as if 3 people read this, especially since I've been horrible at keeping it updated) are some suggestions that are absolutely necessary for this collection. If you're feeling really into this idea, there's a wonderful section on half.com where you can find books for less than $1. Good books, too. There's no way I'd ever get the district to pay for this, especially now with them cutting everything but teaching/staff positions to make sure they can stay within budget.

Oops

I keep forgetting to update this.
The holidays were good. Flickr is updated with pictures from the two week vacation. Speaking of having two weeks off instead of one, it is AMAZING how different it is. I figured it'd be about the same-- I was wrong! It's a lot more relaxing having two weeks off instead of just one. I am dreading tomorrow, though. It's going to be tough going to bed on time tonight and getting up tomorrow. Oh well.

New Years Resolutions?
1. Update this blog more.
2. Ride my bike and moped more when it gets warmer.
3. Try more stuff in Richmond.
4. Become a regular somewhere.
5. Take the GRE and apply to grad school.

My guess? I complete #3-5.

I tried the 50 book challenge again this year. I think I actually did it, if my Good Reads account is right. Here they are, not quite in chronological order, but close:
1. The Great Gatsby: F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. East of Eden: John Steinbeck
3. Jane Eyre: Charlotte Bronte
4. Fences: August Wilson
5. Their Eyes Were Watching God: Zora Neale Hurston
6. A Raisin in the Sun: Lorraine Hansberry
7. Teacher Man: Frank McCourt
8. The Scarlet Letter: Nathaniel Hawthorne
9. Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha: Roddy Doyle
10. Wide Sargasso Sea: Jean Rhys
11. Atonement: Ian McEwan
12. "Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?": A Psychologist Explains the Development of Racial Identity: Beverly Daniel Tatum
13. Song of Solomon: Toni Morrison
14. Wild Iris: Louise Gluck
15. Praise: Robert Hass
16. The Awakening: Kate Chopin
17. The Magician's Nephew: C.S. Lewis
18. The Satanic Verses: Salman Rushdie
19. The Piano Lesson: August Wilson
20. Thunderstruck: Erik Larson
21. The Audacity of Hope: Barack Obama
22. The Painted Veil: W. Somerset Maugham
23. The Crucible: Arthur Miller
24. The Abstinence Teacher: Tim Perrotta
25. What is the What: Dave Eggers
26. No One Belongs Here More Than You: Stories: Miranda July
27. The Road: Cormac McCarthy
28. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardobe: C.S. Lewis
29. Travels with Charley: In Search of America: John Steinbeck
30. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay: Michael Chabon
31. The Best American Short Stories of 2003
32. Invisible Monsters: Chuck Palahniuk
33. The Pillars of the Earth: Ken Follett
34. Dandelion Wine: Ray Bradbury
35. An Atlas of a Difficult World: Adrienne Rich
36. A Streetcar Named Desire: Tennessee Williams
37. The History of Love: Nicole Krauss
38. Unaccustomed Earth: Jhumpa Lahiri
39. The Complete Persepolis: Marjane Satrapi
40. Choke: Chuck Palahniuk
41. Something Wicked This Way Comes: Ray Bradbury
42. The Canterbury Tales: Geoffrey Chaucer
43. No Country for Old Men: Cormac McCarthy
44. Water for Elephants: Sara Gruen
45. The Glass Castle: Jeannette Walls
46. The Reader: Bernhard Schlink
47. Macbeth: Shakespeare
48. Our Lady of the Forest: David Guterson
49. That Night: Alice McDermott
50. Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife: Mary Roach
51. A Thousand Splendid Suns: Khaled Hosseini

Wow.