Day 17

No post yesterday because of absolute crap-type day. I got called out on some thing, and rightfully so, but names were hidden, other issues were brought up, so I was generally in a foul mood yesterday. I came back today the only way I know how, by proving everyone wrong. It was the same thing last year. People say something bad, show them up, and today I did. I still do not know who brought it up, and I would like to know, to understand the situation better and to make amends, but I'm in no rush to keep the crap afloat.

Today was much better though, save one moment near the end of the day, involving another teacher in a wholly unprofessional behavior. That situation will be worked on tomorrow, so no bad details here. On to the good news.

1. Today there were revolving rehearsals for the school's Winter music concert. Mr. Novick is bold and brave enough to try to get about 400+ students to perform. Aside from logistics, it looks like it will be wonderful.
2. This morning I got D-Troope to practice reading a book independently. He was able to work through a page on his own, practicing reading it until it sounded like talking.
3. Something got into Xander today. He was raising his hands and wanting to talk. He was jamming up on stage for "Feliz Navidad" and "Lean on Me." He was giggling, talking (at least trying very hard to). And he wrote a page about Santa Claus. I feel like we are approaching a breakthrough in terms of his communication. Boy was trying so hard today, I was so proud. He was generally acting like a very social and energetic person, you know...like most 6 year olds should be. We are getting better with him.
4. The problems I had, I dealt with swiftly, got the children to understand, and when I could not work them out I brought in the proper authorities and followed up with them.

Overall it was a very professional and positive and encouraging day. I'd like to thank my neighbor teacher for helping me out the past two days during the rough waters into which I've been tossed. She has acted as a buffer and a support, and I will have to repay kindness. Without her kind words I would feel sunk right now.

Day 15

Skipping a couple of days, but I felt like I was about to pass out last night. But today there were a couple of things that were too good to pass up.

1. The party happened, and the day wasn't too insane. Had two parents show up and help a great deal. Even brought a couple of younger siblings, one in diapers.
2. I had my kids make snowmen, should have taken pictures, but did not. They gave them multiple necklaces around the body, as well as gold teeth. The biggest bit of ingenuity was when they decided to put handles on the back, so they could hold their snowmen up. No idea who started it.
3. My kids, at least 19 of them did well on the math test today. Not exactly where I wanted them to be, but they were a full 10% better than the last one, so we were at about 77-78%. Two even aced the test. They are starting to get it.
4. Crowning moment of the day was when I got Alexander to write, not just one, but four complete sentences, all staying on topic. So proud I had to take a picture. I finally got some language out of him, even if it was describing a picture, but for him it is amazing.



Moments like this, with students like this, is why I teach.

Day 13...yeah, I skipped day 12, too tired

So there it is. As we get closer to Christmas the kids get ants in their pants. And right now it is just trying to manage through the days. We've gotten a bit done, but I get the feeling in the next week that will slowly devlolve. Right now I'm hoping that my kids showed their parents the notes i sent home about the Christmas Party. In the new year I've got to get better about communicating and mobilizing parents. It was a strange day, it started out with 5 kids missing, 25% of my class, but then over time three of those showed up, so it seemed like the standard number absent. I'm feeling confident in my students abilities for this math test on Friday. Tomorrow will be testing light, reading test and such, I will try to shore up some grades that I might be lacking. I've got through next week to figure out grades for students. I want them done by Christmas.

1. Not really a good thing, but a rather funny quote, "My butt smells like pee." Mind you this was through tears and snot that it was said (long story).
2. Alexander was able to go over a Phoneme Segmentation test, Nonsense Word fluency, and an accuracy/fluency check. Oh yeah, he also wrote a sentence (coherent mind you) during writing. AMAZING!!!!
3. Oh yeah, about Alexander, he was able to read 39 words per minute. For him, that is amazing. The state frameworks say that they should be able to read a grade level text at 40 wpm by the end of the year. For his level and current abilities, he is doing fantastic.

Thursday will be interesting.

Day eleven

Actually sent a student home today...never had to do that before. But I do not want to get bogged down by negative feelings.

1. By the end of the day we were able to create subtraction facts that were related to addition facts, like 4+5=9 so 9-5=4. It made me feel good that they could do that finally.
2. Today Joshsawa actually said that he liked math and that it was easy. I think it's the first time he ever said that. He was actually smiling during math, which meant a lot to me.
3. I also found out that one of my students is now living in a different house. His home life was not the best, and it is good to see him out of that situation. I could not imagine anyone having to grow up like that.

I look forward to getting all of my parent surveys back tomorrow.

Sunday

1. I was able to go through all of my math test data and was able to look at who needed what sort of help.
2. I was finally able to talk to my friend Jesica, even if for only a couple of minutes.
3. Buying a ticket to head home for Christmas.

Saturday

It was a professional Saturday here in Helena. It was alright. The last one in Helena for a year. I believe we move to Clarksdale for the spring.

1. I was reminded of some good things that are happening in my class by my PD, Rachel. An observer is always good to point things out like that.
2. My cheesecakes won the bake-off. I made a 'Smores cheesecake and a Black Forest cheesecake. No award or anything, just recognition in front of a restaurant full of people.
3. I graded the math pre-tests my kids took yesterday and Temarja aced it. He got all 23 questions correct.

It is a start, but I really need to practice on noticing the positives and good things that are happening. Too often we get stuck looking at the bad things. Sometimes it goes on for so long, and that is all we discuss, that we forget that there are some good things happening. The environment is challenging, sure, but there are also many good people trying to accomplish many good thigns. When you are living day-to-day sometimes it is hard to realize that.

I'm also not sure if it's being humble or what, but I also learned today that I do not take recognition or praise very well. I am utterly lacking in confidence, and things that go well, I do not take a great deal of pride in for some reason. Just like high school, just like college. I feel like I just do things to do them. Grades, no special source of pride. They were what they were because I did what I did, nothing spectacular, nothing out of the ordinary.

Perhaps my idea of ordinary is just skewed.

Day ten

Yeah...that time of year...when I put off any Christmas party in my classroom and am reminded of it by the other teachers. One of the times of year when the schedule just gets changed around a bit.

1. Kevonta brought bottle rockets to school in his backpack this morning. Not the greatest thing, but certainly a strange way to start the morning.
2. My students were able to sit a separated arrangement all day today while they took three different tests (district reading test, spelling test, and a math pretest)
3. According the the scale given to me by my school, all of my kids scored advanced on the district reading test from today.
4. Day'Quan only got three words wrong on his spelling test. For him that is amazing improvement in just about a month.
5. I spoke with Alexander's mom when she picked him up about his writing. She recognized that he has a lot of difficulty with writing thoughts, which kind of put me in my place and made me take a step back from everything.
6. I went kind of new-old school in sending a note home today. I used packing tape to attach a note to a child's back. Hopefully his mom will see it when he gets home.

Next week will have a return of class meetings, differentiation of math instruction to get ready for the district test, communication with parents to try to pull off a Christmas party for my kids. I'll also bite my tongue when it comes to them as well. I'm a teacher, not an inquisitor.

Day nine

A little better.

1. I was able to make it through the whole day with no parapro or anyone else in my room.
2. Temarja kept asking if he could add more detail to his story about dogs.
3. During math my kids were able to pick up the lesson easily and they all accomplished the work easily. They also were able to work on the independent activities (mostly independently) today.

Friday my kids will get tested a bit. Aside from the standard tests and such that we do Friday they will need to take a district reading test. We will also be doing a pretest for the district math test which will happen in one week. It's a good feeling to have assessment (in this case a pre-test) to help guide instruction...you know...the way teaching should be. I just hope we are preparing for the right material for the test.

Day Eight

Again it was another interesting day in Room 610. The day kinda ran the gamut of possibilities.

1. Mrs. Jackson came back today. She is the foster grandparent in my room (a part of some program) and she had eye surgery during Thanksgiving break. She came back and was a big help.
2. My class was able to average about 85% or so on some math work today-plowing through two lessons. Everyone rose up meet the challenge and do those subtraction problems.
3. My counselor gave me some steps to take with one of the students in my room. It felt good to get support and new ideas from other staff members.

There are good things that happen every day, and everyone does them. It just helps to point out the positives in life. Like someone told me tonight...you can't let the negatives define the experience.

Day seven

I finished up my teaching reading course...finally. And today was a Tuesday. It began with a disruption, and that just made for foul moods, but I'll have none of that here.

1. During writing Derian was able to write four sentences on his own (much improvement) and put periods at the end of three of them all by himself (massive improvement).
2. Today Lakresha was able to write a story describing something. She moved past the repetitive "I play with #. I play with *." stage.
3. Day'Quan was able find the word elephant on his own and use it in his story.

I feel so much better about my kids writing this year. Now I just need to get math instruction up. Wednesday is bound to be better.

Day six

Well...My class is moving in the direction of more differentiation. I am getting math center/activities set up and things are progressing.

1. I started accuracy/fluency checks and two students, Calvin and Theqautiay, both had over 97% accurate reading with more than 85 words correct per minute (State frameworks say they need to read grade level text at 40 wcpm).
2. Alexander was able to name be 30 letters in one minute.
3. Alexander was also able to to finish nearly 12 addition problems by himself.
4. The look on Day'Quans face when he remembered to stretch out words to spell them, and then telling me that his dad calls him smart too.

Small victories and baby steps. Progress is basically the goal for most of mine, and we are all working towards it. Not all united, but getting there. Their feet and legs are not all that big yet, for them all steps are baby.

Sunday

Weekend lists are a little challenging, mostly because I do not seem to do a great deal.

1. I was able to play a good game of frisbee, even though it was near freezing.
2. I made a white chocolate rasberry cheesecake that I'll try tomorrow.
3. I got most of my planning done for the week.

Saturday

1. I was able to stay in a dream for a good while this morning. Haven't been able to do that in a few weeks. Don't really care that the dream was not all that pleasant, but it was a nice diversion.
2. I was able to get my presentation for my reading class mostly worked out.
4. The heat got fixed in the house, so I was able to venture out of my room by around 4 PM

Lazy Saturday in preparation for a busy Sunday.

Day five

An end to a week. It ended a little bit down from where it started, but part of it was the disorganized feeling in my mind. This were not quite as they should have been, people in and out of my room. Couple that with colder weather and it seemed to be enough to set any 6 year old off, as well as their teacher. Next week will have at least four really good days. Now just because some things were a little off does not mean that nothing good happened.

1. I saw Derian go from writing single sentences in writing, with no spaces between words, to writing four sentences, two without any real prompting from me, comple with proper spacing. (How's that for a rambling good thing)
2. Day'Quan figured out that a way to help him spell words in writing and on his spelling test was to strech them out and listen to the sounds. He went from 0 on spelling tests (with no correct sounds) to 5 right, and another 5-6 only one letter missing (final -st blend)
3. I was able to redirect Kei-Nosha, Calvin, Sammie, Tyreke, and Kevonta from being upset and pouting, to work in under4 minutes each.

Saturday will be a day for working on my class project, as well as beginning the prep work. I've a lot to prepare for the week ahead. I am trying to initiate a few systems. Should be great to be all caught up and running smoothly.

Day four

Well...today was interesting. A pop in observation, no comment from it, a meeting that I thought would happen, so I kept putting things off. So yeah, it was raining, we weren't on our best routine, so my kids were a little crazy, but we still got a lot done.

1. Joshsawa did not have a single big-wrestle-man pouting fit...all day!
2. We did physical activities and manipulations with even and odd numbers and the students that took a test on identifying even and odd numbers after the activities aced it.
3. Cherica was able to stretch out some sounds in words when writing and correct some spelling mistakes.

One more day on what has been a very good week at school. Positive thoughts and good planning are helping. Now I just need to refine a couple parts of the day and we will be off flying.

Day three

Wow! Today was pretty good. My kids were rolling today. A few points stand out in my mind.

1. Joshsawa did not do his big-man wrestler pout until about 11:30. That is a new record for him keeping his cool.
2. My class was disappointed when they found out the principal would not be observing us tomorrow.
3. My kids were calling out punctuation and catching me on it when I did not read it right (pauses on commas and periods).
4. I have been able to make it through every part of the literacy block every day this week and my kids are moving right along with me.

This have really smoothed out this week. Maybe that Thanksgiving break was better that I had initially thought. Just need to find out when the district will test us again and get on with my math centers and small group and all will be well.

Day two

Continuing the trend of positive news here are three good things that happened today.

1. Joshsawa did some math work independently today (an improvement for him).
2. We were able to get through two math lessons today and the class was moving along with me.
3. Some students were able to read silent letters, like "kn" "wr" and "gn" accurately.

With more practice I will be able to add more details to the positive happenings in Room 610. It will be an amazing year.

The Beginning

Alright...this is a long time coming, but now seemed like a good time. This is to serve as a record of all that is going well and is positive. The goal is for three positive things (at least three) every day. Bad things always weigh heavily, so we need to dig out the positives from the day. I will not try to hide identities so that the highlights are obvious to me in the future. I will try to update this every day before I go to bed.

1. Seeing Day'Quans face when he finally understood how to add using a number line.
2. Having Josh get over his grumpy mood quickly when he realized I would not let it bother me.
3. When Kei-Nosha was absorbed in her writing and finally wrote four lines.