Nerdy Me!

Dear Readers,

I feel like such a nerd!

“Why?,” you ask.

Well, I’ve just recently learned Google docs, Edmodo, Kahoot!, and a host of other online & tech programs I was previously UNable to use. Well, I spent the better part of Saturday morning organizing my Google docs, making folders for them and being happy doing so.

One of my favorite things to do is have my students share their work with me via Google docs. On Friday I was actually editing my student’s work as he was working on it across the room. One thing I like about Google docs, forms, & sheets is how it’s real time. One other thing I’m really enthused about is Google forms. Over the Veteran’s Day four day weekend, I took that time to create my monthly self-assessments for the rest of the year with Google forms. I couldn’t believe how easy it was. Since my decision to go paperless, I’ve been so gung-ho about all things tech, and I am loving it!

Dear Readers, what are you doing to incorporate technology into your classroom? Drop me a line and let me know!

Happy Me!!! Part…I Don’t Know

Dear Readers,

I’ve written so many posts entitled “Happy Me” that I’ve lost count. That’s not as important as why I’m happy, so I won’t even harp on them. I’ll get to why I’m so happy. I’m so happy because I’ve had a very stressful couple of weeks and I didn’t fall apart. Usually I would have gotten sick or at least taken a day off. I probably would have complained without ceasing to my husband. I mean the list could go on. The beautiful part is how I handled it. Can is just say that I handled it like a champ? Yes, I’ll say that I handled it like a champ. I did not crack. I did not complain. In fact, I stepped up my game and became even more organized. I created templates and lists for my most important tasks. Today, I began organizing my binder that first year teachers can use. It really would have come in handy this year if I would have had it. I can probably still use it next year. I’ll keep you updated. Bye for now!

“Only Me,” he said.

Dear Readers,

I got a story to tell you. Wanna’ hear, here it goes. One of my students was in a mood today. You see, in the beginning of school I gave him many chances to answer questions when others didn’t know the answer. After awhile, I pulled back and didn’t let him answer as much because I wanted other students to have a chance to answer. Well, I guess he didn’t understand that because he bad mouthed me to another teacher who told me, so I talked to him and asked him why he was bad mouthing me. He told me that he didn’t feel that I was giving him enough individual attention. He told me that I should only give my attention to him.

“You should give your attention to only me,” he said.

“Now, that doesn’t make sense to me. How am I supposed to support the other students? How would it look if I gave my attention to only you?”

“I’d like it fine. That’s what you should do,” he said.

I had to tell him that he was important, but not the most important person in the world. I talked to him for a couple more minutes until he finally got it. He said it wasn’t fair but he understood. Let me just say for the record that I do give him a fair amount of my time. He stops by sometimes before school & during lunch. We’ve come to an understanding.

He’s very conscientious and an all-around good guy who deserves the best. I’ll continue to make him feel special.

Detox Time!

Dear Readers,

I’ve been so overly busy the past couple of weeks that I have not had time to detox. One of the main reasons is that my classroom is never empty. I have the class for 1st & 2nd period; the 11th/12th grade Resource Teacher has it 3rd & 4th, and the Spanish teacher has it 5th & 6th. Not to mention that the Spanish teacher tutors on Mondays & Tuesdays. On Wednesdays, we have PDs; on Thursdays, I have tutoring; Fridays are free, but who wants to stay on Friday, right? Couple all of this with the many demands of my church and you have a very burnt out me.

Because of all this, I’ve bee feeling like I could star in one of the  Snickers commercial because I wasn’t myself. I could not center myself, so I stole some time today. There’s a storage closet on the 2nd floor that no one’s using W-F. This will be my go-to spot when it’s not in use because I am so refreshed. I took lunch + my prep period = 2.5 hours. When I tell you that I emerged sooooo refreshed from the storage closet, I mean it. I was able to think clearly. Now I can think of solutions to problems I’ve been having. So, let me get to it. Bye for now!

(Almost) No NPs!!!

Dear Readers,

I’m very happy about my students receiving almost no NP’s! I checked grades last week before report cards were due and last night at parent conferences. Almost all of the parents were happy. Most of all, my students were happy.

After performing grade checks today with my 9th graders, we got down to the nitty gritty- I asked them three questions. I first asked them if they were pleased with their grades. After their response, which were positive by the way, we looked at the grades and the reason for the NP’s. I then asked them if they could have done more to get better grades. They agreed that they could have been more diligent. Lastly, I asked them what their next steps were; moving forward, how were they going to do better and get C’s or better!

I don’t remember all of the grades, but, overall, there were great improvements. One student was happy with receiving 2 NP’s because she was down from 4. We celebrated her success. Another student saw how messing up on one test caused her to get an NP. I told her how I’ve seen her looking at herself in the iPad, combing her hair, talking, and just generally not paying attention or doing her work in class. She nervously smiled and said she would do better. I really hope she meant it. Seeing the grades every week seems to be having a positive effect on them. I’m quite happy with the results, but there is still room for improvement.

We’ll see how things go for the next 5 weeks. I’ll keep you updated. Bye for now!

No NPs!

Dear Readers,

After the last progress report when my students and I were surprised with grades of NPs (No Pass), I’ve been very diligent about checking their grades on a weekly and an as-needed basis. Last grading period, all of the NPs came as a big surprise because I’d performed a grade check on Thursday and only had two students with NPs. What happened was the teachers updating their grades at the last minute. That is the main reason why I perform grade checks so frequently. My student’s grades are much better this time, but I’m still a little worried because today I performed a grade check and some teachers have still not put in all their grades. I don’t know how grades are going to look on Wednesday when report cards are printed, but I’m hopeful they won’t change too much. Keep your fingers crossed with me, Dear Readers. I’ll keep you updated. Bye for now!

The Face of 44!

Dear Readers,

A pic of me on Friday. It’s not my favorite pic, but I must say, not bad for 44!

Terrible Me!!!

Dear Readers,

I feel so bad. Yesterday I cut this student to shreds. I really didn’t mean to. It’s just that she’s so frustrating. She will sit in class and do absolutely nothing. I’ve been dealing with this since the second week of school. Well, today-for my Do Now- the students completed their monthly self-assessment and a quiz I created on Edmodo once they were done. After that, they were to do classwork from other classes, while I performed the weekly grade checks. So, I call on her and ask her what she’s doing and she says, “Nothing, because… (insert lame reason here). Keep in mind that we are about 15 minutes into the class. At this point I asked her what she’s been doing. She gives me a blank stare. I look at her iPad and it’s in the same state as the day before where it’s stuck on iTunes, for some reason.

“Wild Girl, what have you been doing for the entire 15 minutes we’ve been in class?”

Again I get a blank stare. I was going to ask her further questions, but was frustrated at this point, so I told her bye. Next thing I know, I hear the door close. “Where’s Wild Girl,” I ask.

“She just went outside,” my students said.

I was just about to ask my assistant to go and get her when my class was interrupted by the administration for random backpack checks. Once I get out there I see her and talk to her. She starts crying because she says that she thought I put her out when I said bye. I told her that I could understand her thinking that I put her out of the classroom since my words to my students when I put them out is, “Bye Felicia!”

However, this is not the first time this (her doing absolutely nothing) has happened. The other day I found her working on a powerpoint that was due almost 2 weeks ago. She “worked” on it the whole class. I then told her that I did not want to see her pretending to work on that powerpoint again. In addition to doing no work, she’s also ditched 2nd Advisory when she just didn’t feel like being bothered on several occasions. Needless to say, I was not very patient with her. But, I digress.

I go to her and tell her that I am going to call her dad as soon as we are allowed back in the classroom. She was pleading her case to my assistant as I walked back into the classroom to get my phone to give to my assistant to call her dad. Since he speaks Spanish only I asked my assistant to speak with him. He didn’t answer and I got so busy I didn’t call him back. Believe me when I say that I will call him on Monday and use Google translate to communicate with him.

I say that I’m so terrible because I made her cry when I didn’t mean to. I also feel terrible because I had no sympathy for her while she was crying. I simply walked away to let her deal with the consequences. In the past, when someone cried, I would feel so bad. Don’t get me wrong. I would still let them suffer the consequences, but at least I felt bad for them. For Wild Girl, I didn’t feel anything. Does that make a terrible person? Please chime in and let me know your feelings on this. I really don’t want to get to the point where I don’t care about my student’s feelings. Give me some feedback. Please & Thank you!!!