It's been awhile!

I apologize for not posting lately! Things have been a little crazy...

I did get ENGAGED on Nov. 6!!! Hurray!  and found my wedding dress this past weekend! I will be updating y'all with my wedding stuff as well as school.

As far as teahing goes, it is going well! I still love my job! We are finishing Black and White this week, which the kids still love and then moving onto our hero unit that will be dealing with Homer's The Odyssey. I am pretty sure I will be having my first observation this week! That is a bit nerve racking but I think I will be just fine.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I have the whole week off! WOOHOOOO!!! Doug and I will be spending Thanksgiving with his family in North Carolina and then we will be making a trip to Greenville to see the Pirates play! We are both very excited.

I know this is brief but I have lots to do during my planning period. I will be updating more soon!!

Happy Monday!

In the words of Michael Jackson...

IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOU'RE BLACK OR WHITE!!!!

We finally finished The Pearl by John Steinbeck. The kids were more then relieved to be done with that "ancient" book (sense the sarcasm?!?). We began our 2nd novel today. It is a young adult novel by John Volponi called Black and White written 2005.

Here is the synopsis:

Marcus and Eddie are the stars of Long Island City High School’s basketball team. Marcus is black and Eddie is white, but they got past all that “racial crap” and have been best friends for years. Both boys are looking forward to great futures in college basketball and are waiting to see where they’ll land their scholarships. Then one cold night, something goes wrong and they make a big mistake. Now they can’t turn back and one of them will have to pay. Told in their two voices, BLACK AND WHITE is the gripping story of two good boys who make a bad mistake. It’s also a heartbreaking look at the realities of the urban criminal justice system.

BLACK AND WHITE is the winner of the International Reading Association’s 2006 Young Adult Novel of the Year, an American Library Association Best Book Young Adult and Quick Pick (inspiring non-readers to read) Top Ten selection, and a New York City Public Library Book for the Teen Age selection. It is also a selection of the Texas Library Association for the TAYSHAS 2006-2007 high school reading list.  The work received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books.

We are only a chapter into the book and the students really like it so far!!! Hurrayy!!! Victory for me!!!! I will let everyone know how it goes.

Also, the last two days have been a huge success. I did an activity called "Get off the Fence" and "Gallery walk"

Get of the fence requires the kids to make a decision and think for themselves. We started our conversation out discussing decisions. What is a decision? What makes a good decision? What makes a bad decision? What are some examples? This lead into the activity. I gave the students about eight different statements.They had to decide if it was good or bad and go to that designated side of the room. If they were "on the fence" then they were to go into the middle of the room. By the time everyone had discussed their reasoning, the students in the middle had to get off the fence and choose a side, but had to explain why they went to that particular side.  It worked out very well =)

Today's activity was called a gallery walk. I had the students pick a group to work in. There were 5 questions posted around the room. Each group was to start at a question, read it, discuss it and answer it. The groups circulate through the room  making sure to discuss and answer each question. Once they return to their original question, the group has to re read what everyone wrote under their answer and pick the answer or answers that best summarize the question.

The questions were as follows:
1. How does your environment affect your behavior?
2. What is a stereotype?
3. How do your friends influence you?
4. How are people judged based on their race, ethnicity, etc.?
5. What does society tell us about skin color?

Everyone was very cooperative and really thought hard about these questions! I was thrilled at how things went! =)


Last but not least...I have decided to start a thread called "Kids Say the Darndest Things", so please look for that!

Open house

I survived my first open house this week. Needless to say, I was very nervous.

Open house is an opportunity for parents to come visit the school and meet with teachers briefly. Each session in class was 10 minutes with 5 minutes in between to get to the next class. I had about 10 sets of parents that I visited with total. I was hoping for more parents but it's no biggie, perhaps I will push it harder next year. I discussed what we had been doing and what we will be doing throughout the year. I also explained why there are so many lamps in my room and why I don't use the overhead fluorescent lighting.

The parents were very nice, and I enjoyed meeting with them. It is safe to say that the only bad thing that happened was my neck and chest broke out in hives. When I get in front of a new group of people and have to talk and introduce myself, I get really nervous. I start getting red and splotchy. Some students and a few parents started to notice =/

One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind

....Well not quite, but this event kind of matches up!

*Background info* The state of Florida decided it would be a good idea to get rid of the special education classes unless a student has severe disabilities. They are taking part in what is called inclusion. This is where students with disabilities (SWD) are included in mainstream core classes. Seems a little crazy if you ask me! These students don't get near enough one-on-one time with teachers that they should. I have about 37 SWDs within my 6 classes.

*Actual story*

One student in particular is at a 3rd grade reading/writing level. He doesn't say or do much in class, let alone turn in work. I finally got our inclusion specialist in my class to do a little observing in order to help this student. With some suggestions from her, the student and I had what I like to call two small victories.

The assignment was for the students to compose an essay in which they tell me what they would do if they won the lottery or some type of sweepstakes. When I assigned it, I was at a workshop for FCAT writing. I left the shortened prompt for the student, but he never received it. Tuesday I allowed a little more time for the students to finish. This allowed me to sit down with this particular student and help. I got him to talk to me and come up with things he would buy. Together we brainstormed and came up with about four things. That was small victory number one!

Small victory number two occurred the next day. I had him write a few simple sentences using the information we brainstormed from the previous day. To my surprise the student picked up the pen without hesitation.  We talked through the sentences and from there he decided what to write. He used because a few times and did so correctly. From there, I noticed his use of there. It was the wrong there, so I explained there/their/they're. Whether or not he actually understood, I don't know. I am just so thrilled he picked up a pen and wrote for me.

Small victories such as this warm my heart and remind me why I became a teacher.

You should always have a backup

PAIR OF SHOES!!!

Yes, you should always have a backup pair of shoes with you!!! Today during 6th period, I got up to answer a phone call and my shoe broke! They are the type of shoe that fits between the toe, but not flippies. I didn't know what to do, so to make it not noticeable, I played it off like my foot slid in my shoe because they were sweaty! I answered the phone call and then sat back down in my chair at the front of the class, trying not to have to do much to walk in them.

As soon as the bell rang, I poked my head into the room next door and grabbed a safety pin so that I could at least walk out to my car at the end of the day with no problem. I pinned them together, but spent 7th period teaching barefoot. Sadly, when I got home my shoes found a new home in the trash can.

I guess I can't really be surprised that they broke seeing as I have had them since I was at least a freshman in high school. They were just so practical and kind of comfy (not like the shoes made nowadays)! I suppose I will have to go shoe shopping now =)

Surviving my first sick day

It's going around so get your flu shot!!!!

Last Thursday I woke up with a sore throat and thought this is no bueno!!! I took some medicine Thursday and Friday and thought lots of water and mucinex or dayquil and I will be good to go on Monday! That was not the case....

Monday morning I woke up to get in the shower and couldn't make it from the bed to the bathroom without feeling like I was going to pass out. I was pouring sweat. It had felt as if I had run circles around the house in the July heat. There was no way I was going to be able to make it to school.

I panicked! I didn't know any substitutes and didn't have any sub plans prepared. I went online to the substitute website through Orange County to request a sub. Not more than 10 minutes had passed before someone picked it up. I was relieved.

Now I just had to get a hold of the teacher next door to me and my department head to make sure the sub got my plans. Thankfully they got the plans to him and then I went back to bed! 

I had high hopes for my students behavior, but this was a very much unplanned absence. My expectations were for them to behave as if I was there and to do the work they were asked to do. I also expected them to not cause any problems....well.....that didn't so much happen. Of the 6 classes I have, 2 of them behaved and did their work. I was very pleased with them, but for the rest of them I was disappointed. When I returned on Tuesday,  I made sure that they clearly understood what I expected if I ever had to be out and let them know that I will not tolerate bad behavior.

Hopefully this Thursday and Friday will be better while I am at a workshop for FCAT writing. This upcoming week is Homecoming. I will share the adventures at the end of the week!

My Classroom!

   Even though it was a short week, it seemed to be a slow week. Monday was a welcomed holiday as it was Labor Day. Tuesday was picture day and since everything is done through the English classes, I couldn't cover much material. Wednesday we touched on parts of speech. It was mostly a review for the students, but I think some of it was a little new to them. Thursday the classes took their vocabulary quiz. I give them the whole time because some students take longer than others. And then it was FRIDAY!

  Friday was the best day of the week. I say that because of how the class went not because it lead into the weekend. We talked about the poem "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes.

Mother to Son

by Langston Hughes

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Don’t you set down on the steps

’Cause you finds it’s kinder hard.

Don’t you fall now—

For I’se still goin’, honey,

I’se still climbin’,

And life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

 

        The mother is basically telling her son my life has been rough and I never gave up. I kept pushing through and doing my best with what I had! Her advice to her son is to keep pushing on and to never turn your back.  I turned this into a life lesson for the class. We talked about times they complained or questioned something in their life and their parents turned it into a lesson. I wanted to show them that not everyone has a smooth, perfect life. There are always obstacles to overcome.  After our discussion, I had them write a letter to themselves giving advice on how to do well in class, in life and how they could handle a hard situation. I will give them back at the end of the year to reflect on.

For the last ten minutes of class, I held a small competition. The task was to see how many words you can make from the word ELEMENTARY. The winning class came up with 65 words. I told them I would bring in a prize for the winning class but I think I will bring something in for everyone!

 

 

 

 I promised awhile ago that I would post pictures of my classroom! Well here they are finally!

*You can see that I don't use the overhead lights and have tons of lamps! I feel that it creates a home-y feel to the class and the students seem to really like it! It's also because I hate the florescent lights! 

The courtyard over looking the balcony walkway

My technology corner

Picnic tables outside of the cafeteria

The door to my classroom