Bummer

Sometimes we have students that are a major pain in the butt, but--for some unknown reason-- we love having in class. They don't do work, they are brutally honest, they are brilliant, hyper, talkative, constantly in motion... all the marks of a kid you don't want in class. But there they are, and you find yourself enjoying their remarks and craziness from time to time.

I have a kid like that this year. I nicknamed him Sunshine because he always stops in and says good morning, always seems to have a smile on his face and has one of the biggest hearts of any student I've had so far.

His problem is that he doesn't think before he acts. He realizes what he did was wrong after the fact, but he has a hard time not acting on impulses. There are a few of his teachers that he can't seem to get along with. There have been many times he's ended up in my classroom after blowing up and needing somewhere to chill out. He's been my "bodyguards" on my hall monitor walks quite a few days.

One of his other major problems is that he is so hard on himself. He wants to do well, but doesn't like to sit down and do work. Or he gets distracted and forgets about it. Or he has to sit too long and ends up slowing down and falling asleep. He has the highest expectations for himself, and when he finds something slightly difficult or challenging, he stops believing in himself, gives up and starts beating himself up over it. If a teacher, at that moment, pushes him, he can become incredibly upset, leading to a lot of problems.

All of this led to a meeting today where it was decided that he'll go away for a while, to an alternative school in another county, to hopefully make up credits and come back ready to try our school again. It's definitely the best decision at this time because he needs to make up credits to be able to graduate before he's 20 and this program can help him do that. He is determined right now to earn a diploma, so this could be a step in the right way. I really hope it is because we all want to see him reach the level of success we know he's capable of. I'll miss having him in class because he is brilliant, helpful, and hilarious. He's talkative and disruptive and hyper, but he can also see things in the literature we read that a lot of other kids don't pick up on. I'm pretty bummed that he won't be in my class for the rest of the year, but maybe I'll see him in a class next year.

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.

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...

ladies and gentlemen: we have success

I haven't been 100% recently. Friday started it off with a horrible headache that felt like someone was stabbing me on the left side of my skull. That headache made an appearance on Saturday and at times on Sunday. Sunday also brought the Sore Throat, which continues until today. My voice has slightly gone in and out, but I'm trying to pretend that I'm NOT getting sick in any way, shape or form, cause you can only pull the "I'm sick kids, please stop being crazy" only so many times before they get tired of it and think you're faking (side note: the headache excuse? ALWAYS WORKS. Seriously. I could probably claim to have a headache even when I didn't and they would be all nice, calm and quiet.)

Since I have been slightly sick, I was dreading today because today has Seventh Period, it's a 4 day week due to the holiday on Monday, and next week is Homecoming (cause, you know, just cause it's next week doesn't stop them from being excited this week and the week after [which is also Halloween week]). During my 6th period planning time yesterday, I was debating not coming in today. I felt horrible and exhausted, which is usually how I felt trying to wrassle 28 10th graders into doing something(ANYTHING!) but talking, wandering around the classroom and generally being more interested in going home rather than the work that needs to be done during class. If you are a teacher, you probably understand. End of the day classes are usually the most challenging because they're either seriously awake (a little too awake) or incredibly tired, but either way, they're brains are fried and they don't want to do much. Every class I've had at the end of the day (and last year, I had classes on both A and B days at the end) was always the one I heard "How about we don't do anything today, Mrs. P?" during. Do you know how annoying that is? On the positive side, they were always the one with more energy and personality than the others.

But I decided to show up to school today.
Today was the first day my 7th bell was exactly what I wanted it to be. The kids in there are super helpful, mostly because they like being on their feet and find it hard to sit down for longer than two seconds. I have one that sits at my desk (he loves to put on a show, but if he sits at my desk, he calms down) who took attendance, started/ended the video, and made sure what needed to be on the Promethean Board was up there. I have another student who sits in a blue chair right next to my desk, who everyone lovingly refers to as "Fatty" (that's a whole other story, though). I also have a few other students who always like to be up and social who help in passing out books and papers.
I made the few announcements that I had to make, answered "ARE WE PLAYING TELEPHONE TODAY? I HEARD YOUR OTHER CLASSES GOT TO PLAY TELEPHONE. DO WEEEEEEE?" about a thousand times ("No, your class is about a day behind. We'll get to play telephone next class"), we watched a short 3 minute video from the textbook on what it took to be a knight, and then I let them loose. They had to create a knight's shield for themselves (we were reading "The Sword in the Stone"), put it on the wall somewhere in the room (one student put it on the ceiling!), and then they had to read the story on their own, and finish a sheet we started with the knight clip. While they were coloring and tracing animals onto their sheets using the Promethean Board, I was passing out papers, getting candy for students who turned in their progress reports signed and getting students to make extra copies, clean up, pass out books, finish their work, help others tape up their shields, etc.
These are the days that make teaching worth it. I looked around the class and saw that they were helping each other out, they were learning and having a fun time at the same time, and they were completing what they needed to do. I think I should do those kinds of activities more often. I was also repeating to myself "go with the flow, you are not sick" and I think that helped.
With that class, I try (I'm definitely not 100% successful) to stay as calm and positive as possible. They respond a lot better to me joking around with them or just giving them the "And? I'm not amused" face (or, for Megan and David, who will get it: the "Am I bovvered?" face) than getting angry and yelling. This is mostly because they are the kind of kids that like to find the buttons that make a teacher snap and go bonkers. The more you get angry--the more they win and the more fun they're having, while also creating a very tense, negative classroom atmosphere. When you have a class full of kids used to being yelled at, knowing exactly how to set a teacher off and being able to easily accomplish just that, it really shocks them when you say nothing but positive things about them (no matter how small) and make a joke about the crazy things that come out of their mouth instead of snapping and writing them up. Just imagine me brushing my shoulder off and trying to keep the "What? You thought that was something for me to get mad about? You are crazier than I thought!". What happens with them is that they are either shocked out of misbehaving because they weren't expecting that reaction or they get whatever jokes they have out of their system. Either way, they get over it and everyone moves on a lot quicker than if I decided to make a big deal out of it and argue with them over it for who knows how many minutes. Also, when you have to use the "teacher voice" (which I did have to do to one student today because he kept bouncing up and down on the floor to make the projector shake in an attempt to mess up a few shields), they take it slightly more seriously than if you're using it all the time. Again, it's the shock that makes them straighten up and actually listen. When I told one child to sit down and get to his own work today in "the voice", half the class's jaws dropped and they were all "Oooh, dang, Mrs. P's serious." and then I went back to doing what I was doing and they went back to doing what they were doing. Amazing.

Also: my 12th graders are actually liking Chaucer/The Canterbury Tales, which is great compared to their utter dislike for Beowulf. They are probably just humoring me though because I can't say enough how much better Chaucer is than Beowulf. Does that make me a bad teacher? (Allow me to answer my own question, like a crazy lady: probably not. I do make a point to say that I just don't appreciate Beowulf as much as Chaucer's work, but I definitely understand why it's important. It's just not my thing.)

I need to take more pictures!

Look at that face!

What have I been doing?
Besides answering questions about evolution, I've been getting to know the adorable kitty above. That's Vincent Gallo, Shannon and Dan's new kitten. He is adorable, but incredibly hard to photograph cause he hates cameras. Also: I tried sushi for the first time and ate tater tots with chopsticks. I sent the best birthday present I've ever put together to Megan for her 21st birthday. I had a headache that lasted about 2 1/2 days, which was a new experience for me. I've made plans for Halloween/Autumn-related activities, Christmas break, and NYE. I've found a balance between work and fun. I've gotten to know my students better and my classes are falling into more of a routine. I've emailed back and forth with old students and each has been the same: they say: I miss you! We talk about you every day! We are jealous of your new students! and I say: I miss you! I brag about you every day! It makes me feel amazing to hear they still remember me and look forward to seeing me again (because I look forward to watching them graduate). I got my Richmond Public Library card. I'm grateful I work in a pretty stable industry. David and I (sort of) celebrated being together for 5 years. I've started to really focus on what I want to accomplish with my career and what I should chose to do for my master's. I watched most of the debates and I've laughed really hard at Tina Fey's Sarah Palin sketches. I'm looking forward to a lot of things.

that's a new experience.

So, 10th graders were taking notes on different kinds of folk tales (I know, right? Who still teaches 10th graders about folk tales? Isn't this what K-9 is for? Sheesh.).
We got to the part about myths, where I was explaining that they're similar to fables and parables because they deal with religion or religious beliefs, but different from them because it has to do with an explanation of the gods, landmarks, creation of humans/earth, or interactions between humans and gods, etc. My example was Greek or Roman myths and this is what happened:

Student: But myths aren't true.
Me: Not necessarily. Sure, we use the word 'myth' to mean something that's not 'fact', but the kind of myths I was just talking about were true to somebody at some point in time.
Student: But Greek and Roman myths aren't true.
Me: You have to be careful saying that because you're basically saying that someone else's beliefs and religions are false. I'm pretty sure no one likes to be told that. Like I said, at some point in time, myths were true to whatever group of people the tale originated from.
Student: But... aren't they not true?
Other student, just chiming in: Like, don't we use 'myth' to mean false?
Student: Like evolution?
Me: ...........


Evolution?
Student: Yeah, like the myth of evolution.
Another student, just hearing this: But evolution makes some sense... (more thinking out loud than anything, but still... I just wanted to ignore what could possibly explode into a very awkward debate)
Me: Well, some people believe evolution is true. There are many people who have studied long and hard and found common traits, so they came up with the theory of evolution. (and I made sure to use "Theory" just becaaaaause of trying to avoid some crazy situation that could end up with me being sued and/or fired.)
Student: Oh. So, do you believe in evolution?
Me: ............



(very quietly) yes... it makes some sense to me...
Student: Oh, well I believe in God. And Adam and Eve.
Me:....I believe in God....
Student in the back: You can believe in God and evolution!
Another student: Debate!!
Me: Aaaand we're done with this conversation. We're not having a debate because I don't want anyone to feel like others were ganging up on them for their beliefs. Everyone has something to belief and that's okay. Moving on to legends...

Thankfully, after I explained that it was all done.
My jaw seriously did drop, though.

death and the student body

One of my students is convinced she will die soon. She was mostly joking, but the students have been discussing death more and more recently. The biggest reason behind this is because, in the last month, three students have died or been involved in causing someone's death.
The first was a kid I didn't have who was shot in his neighborhood. I have a lot of students who were friends with this student and teachers who had him as a student that really admired how hard he was trying to make something of himself, despite his past.
The second was an incident that happened right before school came back from break. Most of my students kept talking about a 17 year old Crip that shot a 21 year old Blood three times in front of a Game Stop in the middle of the day. One of my students even lived right behind the Game Stop. During 7th bell last week, I finally got the name of the 17 year old kid after hearing about it all day. He was one of my students, one that was in my class until he beat the living daylights out of another kid (who also happened to be one of my students). They kicked him out of Granby much too gladly. The students in my 4th bell were discussing it today, since, for possibly the first time ever, I knew something before they did. One student said, "I can't believe we were in class with a murderer!", another was just completely shocked. The kid was strange, but used to be really good. It seemed like he needed to fit in, belong, prove something and now his ass is in jail from going way too far with it.
It's strange that they were talking about former-student, now-inmate today because the third death happened yesterday. I was updating my grades in the workroom and Rebecca mentioned to Laura that some of her students may not be in school or will be very distracted/upset because one of their good friends died. She mentioned the girl's name and it was a student I had last year in my 3rd bell. She was on homebound due to cancer (and, if I remember correctly, brain-related, possibly tumors), but came back during second semester. She was an amazing girl: incredibly intelligent, friendly, kind, hard-working, beautiful (she showed me some of her modeling pictures--they were amazing!) and funny. People are planning on wearing pink tomorrow for her.

It's been a strange start for 2008 in our school.

a day in the life of an odd day

Today was another A Day, since it was the 1st. Sometimes this is really irritating, but today was really easy-going, since it was an extra day. I've been bringing my camera around more often, too, to get pictures of my kids before they leave me.

Since it was June 1st, I started telling anyone who asked what day it was that they only had 15 more days to figure out what they were getting me for my birthday. I usually got a "Whaa?"

So, first bell. We did some review for our exam, then some children started playing Apples to Apples (they're hooked, man!).
Billy declared it was "Everybody Be Gay Day!" and started sashaying around the room. He was trying to get everyone dance to the music I was playing (the Blow, Kanye West (their choice) and Interpol). He saw Ronisha outside and yelled out through the window, "Mrs. Pushie can see your stupid butt! Get your butt in here, girl!" I love that kid. I made sure he took the tag off of his new sunglasses before posing for this picture with Ronisha, his BFF!!!#%#!@!, who tried really hard to not crack a smile when I asked her about not smiling in any picture. "No smiling? Ever? Never. Really? No fun? No fun at all? Serious all the time? 110% of the time?" Oh, I went on like that for at least a minute! She held strong! It was amazing.
Maino said, "Take a picture of me doing my work!" Nycolle and I must have had the same thought, because we both said "The only time you do your work?" I must cherish this moment! Maino later challenged me to see if I was stronger than him by a shoulder fight (y'know.. randomly
pushing up against someone and seeing if you can shove them into the locker). Later on in the day, he stole some of the books I was carrying and ran into the men's bathroom, waited and peeked around the corner. That kid cracks me up.
While some kids played Apples to Apples, Bryan and I talked about music snobs vs. music slobs. Then he stole Kaila's hood and put it on his own head. Everyone agreed he looked like an elf.




3rd bell we did the same thing. A lot of students were missing, so it was pretty empty. We also cleaned out our lockers (hurray?) and I got a lot of the Literature books back-- sooo exciting, let me tell you. I don't think people realize how much paperwork and crap teachers have to do. Oh man, it's so incredibly fun. Especially at the end of the year. Totally fun.
After locker clean up, they still had silent sustained reading to do. A lot of the kids in this class (and a few of my others) actually enjoyed their novels and are almost done with them. I don't know if you even know how amazing that is. Not only did they just finish up their standardized tests, they also have 6-7 other classes, tests, projects, etc. to finish up (y'know, the end of the year=assign all those projects and tests! why does that always happen?) I can't imgine how these kids keep track of 6-8 classes! Anyway, I snapped a picture of some of my favorite ladies, Tiffany, Tyeiesha, and Elinida, (but who am I kidding? They're all my favorites) while they were reading their books. It would have never happened if I had asked them.
Some of the kids finished their review, cleaned up and then started playing Apples to Apples. This class is my hardest class to get involved in actually talking to each other (in a manner that's not joking someone), playing games, etc. etc. They would rather do their own thing. That's cool, but it's kind of sad when you want to "build community" and whatnot. But today a miracle occured! I had more than two students who wanted to play a game! (In the picture, it's Cory, Kyle, Tyrone, Tory, Elinida and Christina) One of the newcomers, Tyrone, enjoys pointing out any problem or mistake I make. That's just his sense of humor and I appreciate it because he can dish it out and take it and if I tell him that it's not a good time, he'll stop. Basically, we have a fun time making fun of each other every day. He really enjoyed the fact that I (as well as the other girls) were losing horribly. I had no green cards! I couldn't win! The girls also only had 2 or 3 cards. Tyrone ended up winning, in a sick twist of fate. That ass gloated like I've never seen someone gloat before! Amazing. I love that kid.



(you can't tell in this picture, but there are about 11 or 12 people playing this game)
Ahh, 5th bell. My light at the end of the tunnel on my long 3-classes-in-a-row A days. It was wonderful today. They crack me up and they've become really well-behaved, especially when I think about how rowdy that class was at the beginning of the year. They get their work done, they work well with each other and then they beg to play my nerdy games. Looove it! They also donated quite a bit of money for their end of the year picnic and some of the kids doing the alternative project (it's like a "10th Grade Will" all about English 10 in scrapbook or giant collage form) already started working on it! I was impressed!
Since the SOLs are done, so are a lot of classes. I've had a lot of students come and visit my other classes to play games or catch up on work, since they have nothing else to do. It's really flattering for them to come into my classroom, instead of wandering the halls. Today, Timmy B (he used to be in my 2nd bell, but had to be switched to another teacher due to scheduling conflicts with another class) and Sequena (my success story!) came to class. I kept telling Sequena I wasn't speaking to her until she turned in a research paper, but she still stayed. I took a picture of Zakiyyah, who's usually bubbly and smiling, but apparently refuses to smile in pictures. It could be because my comedienne, Crystal, did a stand-up routine for about 15 minutes about Zakiyyah's boyfriend until Z. finally stopped laughing.

And here is Jarone/"Pacman", Nekita, and Vanessa showing you how they look when they play Apples to Apples. Seriously, they posed like "Okay, this is our Apples to Apples play, ready? Go."


And during my 7th bell plan, I got to do the coolest (nerdiest) thing EVER. I didn't have much to grade, so I went to ask Rebecca (dept. head) if she needed any help with the book room business. We have to move all our English books from the A wing because the A wing will be all for freshmen and apprently we can't store the 9th grade books/novels in there next year. So she had to move all of them and she's wanted to organize the book rooms for us anyway. (She alo said she was motivated because she was trying to keep herself busy because one of the IB 12th graders was killed in a car accident which is pretty upsetting to her, other IB teachers and IB students, since it's a pretty small, tight-knit group of kids. It sucks even more because tonight is prom for seniors.) And, also, you know I love organizing, so I went to help. It was HUGE! And she had all the Shakespeare plays in one side and it turns out we have class copies of The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice as well as The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night's Dream!!! (Only the first two are on the 10th grade regular curriculum, though. I think MSND is on one of the honor's curr., but I don't think anyone does it.) That means that next year, I probably won't be doing Julius Caesar. It's so hard to do because it's really meant for people who know Shakespeare and are at a higher level of reading. It's so subtle, it's a lot of discussion and basically, it's a pain in the ass for 10th grade kids who've only read one other play by Shakespeare. Plus, as I pointed out to Rebecca, they go from Romeo and Juliet to Caesar to Macbeth! Talk about depressing! They never get to see Shakespeare's hilarious side. I told her I might do two of the other plays to see how it goes with them. I kept her company for a while while I picked out books to read from the stacks and stacks (some of them never taught any more) as well as the novels I'd have to read with 11th graders next year. It was pretty awesome.

Oh & if you ever wondered what I would look like as a cartoon:

Thank you, Cleo.