Not been feeling right recently. Just a sort of general unease, like something is missing. Not quite sure what it is, but I'm trying to work through it. The past couple of weeks have been crazy at school. There were the Benchmarks last week and a Multicultural Fair at school this week. A good dose of lunacy in scheduling was also thrown into the mix.
There have been a couple of bright moments.
1. Last week I had my kids write books about two pharaohs. It was a six day process, but I'm pretty happy with the product. The goal was process and I think most started to pick up the process of writing. I will just need to be consistent with the stages.
2. I found a trick that absolutely blows Xander's mind. The whole fake-like-you're-taking-your-thumb-off. After I show him he gets a big grin and then he tries to take my thumb off. Since he has such sensitive hands his grip is light, barely pulling. Then he tries to take his thumb off. It ends with him saying, "I can't do it Mr. Taylor." Quick way to bring a smile to my face. He can even look at my hands and not realize that I have one thumb tucked into a fist.
3. I finished my Arkansas History course. I got an A and no longer need to worry about the online course.
4. I completed my Praxis III yesterday. It is a formal observation by a state trained assessor. The course and the Praxis III are the last hurdles to my getting a standard 5 year teaching license.
Friday, April 27, 2007
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Day of whoa
Missed yesterday and went to school today. Not the easiest day, and I'm not even really sure why. Pretty rough day with some of my kids.
1. I was not the only one at my school that had a rough day. Other teachers that I talked to had pretty rough days. Rough days at school are not necessarily a good thing, but it made me feel better that I was not alone.
2. I had another student post 1.5 years of growth in reading today. Kev read a book that was at a pretty high level and he was able to answer questions and tell me about what he read. It was interesting because as he was reading he must have been splitting brain power because there were some words he could not read in the text, but in isolation was able to read them. Even with the bumps in decoding he was able to comprehend the book very well.
3. At my faculty meeting my principal bragged on me. She said that I was basically the only teacher that was following the schedule. It's funny because she came in and saw me this morning, and Tuesdays are generally off schedule days. But whatever. If she says I'm on schedule then I must be doing something right.
1. I was not the only one at my school that had a rough day. Other teachers that I talked to had pretty rough days. Rough days at school are not necessarily a good thing, but it made me feel better that I was not alone.
2. I had another student post 1.5 years of growth in reading today. Kev read a book that was at a pretty high level and he was able to answer questions and tell me about what he read. It was interesting because as he was reading he must have been splitting brain power because there were some words he could not read in the text, but in isolation was able to read them. Even with the bumps in decoding he was able to comprehend the book very well.
3. At my faculty meeting my principal bragged on me. She said that I was basically the only teacher that was following the schedule. It's funny because she came in and saw me this morning, and Tuesdays are generally off schedule days. But whatever. If she says I'm on schedule then I must be doing something right.
Thursday, April 5, 2007
Day of news
It is that time of year. The time of year when the schedules get mangled a bit. It's rough, but doable again. I did it last year, I can do it this year.
Kaydie moved to the other side of town and is now attending another school. I'm down to 19. She moved during break so she has been gone for a while. I hope things are going well for her family.
Since the Thursday before my spring break I have had one student only show up for two days. Two days attendance in ten possible days. I got my certified mail back saying that the address was vacant, so I'm not sure where exactly he is. The school's speech pathologist said that her assistant has seen the boy every day at the ballpark here in Helena. The boy is here in town, just not coming to school. She said that it was because his dad cut all his hair off. It's something completely new to me. I've heard about kids getting upset about haircuts, but enough so that their parents let them miss nearly two weeks of school? Crazy. That combined with the fact that he told me a couple of months ago that his dad is in "Mississippi Jail" because the police found something in his car that wasn't his. Not quite sure what exactly to believe.
Speaking of jail, it turns out that Sunday night/Monday morning 4 or 5 inmates escaped from the county jail, which is at the courthouse on Cherry Street, right downtown. So my school was on lockdown. Interesting way to start the week. Hearing conflicting stories from people, like possible shootings (which were dismissed by the police chief and my housemate that works at a bank), but nothing actually on the news. By today all had been recaptured, but not without incident.
One of my boys had been really out of it this week. I really got on him today and I called his mom during lunch to try to figure out what was going on, but I left a message. She called me up after school and gave me an idea as to why he might be a little distracted.
It turns out his mom's brother (boy's uncle) was shot. By one of the inmates. In the back. After a robbery. You know what...that would kind of knock me off for about a week. He is currently at the Med in Memphis and I hope he pulls through.
Everytime I think I've seen/heard it all, something new comes along.
The art teacher also sent me a student from another class because the boy's pants had ripped. Three safety pins to fix his pants. They had torn right down the back side, about as far as they could. Fascinating the thigns that happen during a normal day.
Even with all of that stuff I'm not down at all. You just kind of shrug it off and keep on rolling.
1. Nearly every student I've listented to in the past week and half has met my reading goal of 1.5 years of growth. I just need to get through the whole class to find all my numbers.
2. Most of my kids are doing better with coins. They are getting better at counting mixed coins, as well as coming up with ways to show different amounts.
3. Walking around during writing showed me that my kids are really trying out the things that I talk about during the mini-lessons.
4. Dil has been phenomenal since spring break. Only a couple of issues, but he's been energetic, laughing, smiling (you know, like a first grader should be). We just need to eliminate the chair vault from his repertoire and we'll be alright. Better attitudes make me feel better. And really seem to improve my standing in the eyes of my principal.
I'm starting to see things that we've talked about since the beginning of the year start to gel. It's a good feeling to notice that I've made an impact.
Kaydie moved to the other side of town and is now attending another school. I'm down to 19. She moved during break so she has been gone for a while. I hope things are going well for her family.
Since the Thursday before my spring break I have had one student only show up for two days. Two days attendance in ten possible days. I got my certified mail back saying that the address was vacant, so I'm not sure where exactly he is. The school's speech pathologist said that her assistant has seen the boy every day at the ballpark here in Helena. The boy is here in town, just not coming to school. She said that it was because his dad cut all his hair off. It's something completely new to me. I've heard about kids getting upset about haircuts, but enough so that their parents let them miss nearly two weeks of school? Crazy. That combined with the fact that he told me a couple of months ago that his dad is in "Mississippi Jail" because the police found something in his car that wasn't his. Not quite sure what exactly to believe.
Speaking of jail, it turns out that Sunday night/Monday morning 4 or 5 inmates escaped from the county jail, which is at the courthouse on Cherry Street, right downtown. So my school was on lockdown. Interesting way to start the week. Hearing conflicting stories from people, like possible shootings (which were dismissed by the police chief and my housemate that works at a bank), but nothing actually on the news. By today all had been recaptured, but not without incident.
One of my boys had been really out of it this week. I really got on him today and I called his mom during lunch to try to figure out what was going on, but I left a message. She called me up after school and gave me an idea as to why he might be a little distracted.
It turns out his mom's brother (boy's uncle) was shot. By one of the inmates. In the back. After a robbery. You know what...that would kind of knock me off for about a week. He is currently at the Med in Memphis and I hope he pulls through.
Everytime I think I've seen/heard it all, something new comes along.
The art teacher also sent me a student from another class because the boy's pants had ripped. Three safety pins to fix his pants. They had torn right down the back side, about as far as they could. Fascinating the thigns that happen during a normal day.
Even with all of that stuff I'm not down at all. You just kind of shrug it off and keep on rolling.
1. Nearly every student I've listented to in the past week and half has met my reading goal of 1.5 years of growth. I just need to get through the whole class to find all my numbers.
2. Most of my kids are doing better with coins. They are getting better at counting mixed coins, as well as coming up with ways to show different amounts.
3. Walking around during writing showed me that my kids are really trying out the things that I talk about during the mini-lessons.
4. Dil has been phenomenal since spring break. Only a couple of issues, but he's been energetic, laughing, smiling (you know, like a first grader should be). We just need to eliminate the chair vault from his repertoire and we'll be alright. Better attitudes make me feel better. And really seem to improve my standing in the eyes of my principal.
I'm starting to see things that we've talked about since the beginning of the year start to gel. It's a good feeling to notice that I've made an impact.
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