Break?

Yesterday was an interesting day.  I started off with our daily parody, then moved on to the story in most classes, then went on to source cards.  I didn't start the 1001 Nights Festival in my 3rd period class on Monday because they wouldn't be quiet and listen to what I had to say.  I was surprised yesterday when one of my troublemakers in the class asked me why I read to my other classes and not to theirs.  She then asked if I was going to read to them yesterday.  I said probably not because they wouldn't be quiet long enough for me to, and as one of the ringleaders, she quieted the class down and listened attentively as I read the first part of 1001 Arabian Nights.  I was really excited about the reaction I got for the daily story.  Most of the students seem to like it, and even the ones who are too cool to like being read to were upset when I stopped in the middle of the story (which is the point of the 1001 Nights Festival).

Today we had the reading part of the Chunk test.  They students complained a bit, but settled down and were pretty good for Chunk day.  I suddenly became overwhelmingly tired during sixth period, but I got through the day.  This was hump day, so I have one week and three days until finals, and then four days until break.  Yay!  I love my job, but with scholastic audit coming up, I'm stressed to the max.  I can't wait until January is over!  :)

1001 Nights

I started the 1001 Nights Festival in my classes today.  When they found out I was going to read to them, I got mixed reactions.  Some of the classes as a whole seemed excited while others seemed bored and like they thought they were too old to be read to.  Once I began reading, the story of Shahrazad and her tales, the students perked up and began listening. 

I still have one class that has decided that they don't like me.  I'm not sure why.  We were fine until I wrote one of the students up for cussing out another student, then most of the class turned on me.  Today, my class literally divided and moved to two different sides of the room...one side listened to what I had to say, and the other refused to listen.  It's kind of disconcerting and it hurts knowing that some of my students don't care about what I have to say.  Still, I'm going to keep a positive attitude and say it will get better.

I'm Ready

I'm really looking foward to tomorrow.  My room is neat and ready, I have a lot of neat things planned, and we get to start doing Christmas stuff...sort of.  I tend to show a parody a day, and I have some Christmas parodies for the next few days.  Also, we have two weeks and then finals week, and then we're out for Christmas break!

I'm really excited about starting the 1001 Nights Festival...let's hope the kids like it!  We're also working on research projects.  They have topics over controversial issues, and they have to research a focus question they want to follow for that topic, then give both sides of the argument.  They have what they need, and we begin presentations next week.  This week, I'm going to teach them how to make a formal outline and works cited page.

Confession Anew

Hey guys!  Just wanted to let you know about an idea I had for my class.  In Dr. Givhan's class, we have weekly websites we are to visit to try to find one that will help us in our class.  One that I really liked was http://www.storyarts.org/, which is a website that gives you ideas for engaging students in reading.  They had an idea for a lesson called 1001 Nights Festival where you begin telling a story and stop at the most crucial point, much like Shahrazad in 1001 Arabian Nights.  The next day, you finish that one and begin another. 

I bought all three volumes of 1001 Arabian Nights and began reading them.  These stories are really short, so it shouldn't take too much time from your day if you want to use this idea.  I'm only planning on spending somewhere between 5-10 minutes per day to tell the stories.  During the stories we will discuss skills like allusions (Arabian Nights is full of allusions), symbolism, etc.  I ran the idea by a couple of my classes and they seemed pretty excited.  I'm planning on starting on Monday, and I will let you guys know how it turns out.  Happy reading until then!

By the way, I also bought The Complete Fairytales of the Brothers Grimm, which is really cool, too.  Most of my students have never heard the "real" version of the fairytales.  If you haven't read the original fairytales, or the 1001 Arabian Nights tales, you should!  You might have to edit some though...to keep it PG/PG13...

Important Info...A Little Late

They arranged for us to have a substitute on Friday so we could take a Step Up to Writing professional development course.  After the course, we had the rest of the day to grade Chunk Tests, which was wonderful.  The only problem was the substitute I had...you know, the ones they warn you about that take your stuff and don't monitor the students.

I really enjoyed the training, but that information would have been very, very helpful a couple of weeks ago when we started our research projects.  The Step Up to Writing books are wonderful, but they can be overwhelming if you don't have any training in it.  I struggled my way through teaching research projects, but I gave my students a very broad topic and told them to choose a subtopic to work with.  I realized after our training that I really should have spent more time teaching them how to narrow down their topics.  She gave us a very broad topic:  payday, then she told us to write a topic sentence, two details, and a conclusion.  I asked her what she wanted to know about payday and she just shrugged.  I immediately realized what she was doing, and I felt guilty because I know that's basically what I did to my students.  I know now how overwhelming it can be and I feel bad that I left them to do that basically by themselves, though I did help if they asked for it.  Oh well, at least now I know what to do next year, and I'm learning everyday.

After the training, I went by my room, but when I saw who the sub was, I left and went to lunch.  I've heard a lot about her,and I try not to judge by what I hear because people often exaggerate the truth, but she came up to me and told me she hated our students and if I was smart, I would go to another school district to teach.  That kind of rubbed me the wrong way.  In my opinion, if she hates El Dorado Schools so much, she shouldn't sub there.  Anyway, I'll have a funny story about that later on.

After lunch, I went and began grading papers with the other two 10th grade English teachers (who are both new) and one 11th grade English teacher who helps us out a lot.  That was fun, but we didn't get as much done as we hoped because we all do things differently, much like our students.  For example, Seth has to have complete silence where the rest of us have to have music.  I can't do my work at a desk, I have to be able to lay out on a couch or a bed...Needless to say, I sprawled out on the floor, and then was laughed at when Mr. Beck, the assistant principal, came to check on us.  Still, we got more done that we would have had we not had a substitute.

One final story, and then I'm done for today.  I had a student that was rather stressed and I told her I would meet her after school to help her on her English assignments that she didn't understand.  (My students know I will TRY to help them with any assignment, but science and French are not my strong subjects. :) )  Anyway, I went during 6th period, when I have her, to ask if she was still going to meet me.  When I saw the sub was engrossed in something, I just motioned for the student to come to the second door and talk to me.  Of course all my other students came as well to tell me she was writing a girl up for something she did not do.  (The girl who really did it confessed, but the sub did not believe her.  I did because I know the students...)  The sub saw the commotion, looked at me and said, "Excuse me, young lady, are you supposed to be in here?"  I chuckled a little and was going to tell her who I was when my student rudely interrupted and said I was the real teacher.  I felt bad for that.  I apologized and said I just needed to ask a students a question.  Then I "fussed" at my class for not doing their work and escorted the girl to the office.  I told her on the way that the sub is in authority and even if they don't like her, they need to respect her authority.  She didn't get in trouble in the office, but I did talk to my students on Monday about respect.  I was rather disappointed in the way they acted, even though I don't care for her either.  All in all, it was a great day.

Confessions...Or not

Last Thursday was the day after Chunk Test.  I was a little worried because first, I had to call three parents about their students' behavior.  Next, I was worried that my students would start acting up again.  I hate calling parents.  So far, my parents have been really nice, but it worried me just the same.  I've heard enough horror stories that I'm waiting for that one parent that cusses me out over the phone. 

As it turns out, these parents were nice and very supportive.  They told me the problem would be taken care of, and they were sorry I had to call them for behavior.  I really like having nice parents that will support me and take care of the problem.  I know some of my colleagues have parents that just don't care.

My third period class gave me some problems, but my other classes were wonderful...even fifth period!  Fifth Period was my challenge class because it is the longest, it is right after lunch, and I could not seem to connect with my students, but I finally seem to have connected with them last week.  Yay!  Also, my attitude is different in the classroom.  The attitude I have now is I will enjoy my day, I will enjoy my students, we will have fun in class as long as we get our work done, and if I have attitude problems, I will send you to the office.  I think they can see the difference in me. 

We are working on research projects and finishing up Beowulf, so I started with our TSADs (bellringer), moved on to our daily parody (music videos; I show a different one everyday, the original first and then the parody), then I told them that since they refused to read Beowulf, we would end by writing an essay on the Journey of the Hero, following Beowulf's life.  We then had a group discussion to figure out what the Journey of the Hero encompasses.  After that, we discussed our research projects.  I had a really good day, but I felt from the time I woke up that I would.  :p)

More Confessions Part3

On tonight's episode of "Writings of a Modern Day English Teacher" we have Becca's final epiphany...for a while anyway.

On Wednesday of last week, it was finally test day.  Remember I had been stressing to my students how important it was that they do their best on the Chunk Test.  We had a long discussion about it on Tuesday where we talked about scholastic audit and everything.  Mr. Walters, our principal, even came around to every English teacher to ask us to please make sure we are up monitoring all day because the students might put more effort into it if we are walking around.  (As a side note:  although my feet don't care for walking around all day, I love it!  I've lost some weight and my clothes are starting to fit better!) 

During second period, my one "regular" class, my student completely freaked out when I gave them the test.  We are not supposed to know what the prompt is before we give them the test, and we certainly can't help them after we  hand the test out, so when they panicked, I didn't know what to do.  I ran to my desk and looked at the prompt, and then freaked out a bit myself. 

They told us our Chunk test would be over expository writing, but their prompt was asking them to write a letter.  I haven't taught them how to write a letter yet because that is in our pacing guide for the third nine weeks.  My students were asking me if they write an essay or a letter, and of course I could not answer them.  (We were told after the fact to tell our students to never write a letter even if they ask for it because they won't take off for not writing the greeting and salutation, but they will take off if you do it and it is incorrect.  That would have been good to know!)

After my initial shock, I told them to do what they thought and do their best, and they did alright, I think.  Next was third period, my challenge class.  I had three girls that would NOT quit talking, which is a HUGE no no during the test.  Other than that, that class period was okay.

Next was fourth period.  This was the class that I finally had time to calm down and notice what the students were doing.  I tried not to stare over their shoulder, because I did not want to make them nervous, but I did look long enough to see that MOST of them were using some form of prewriting to organize their thoughts.  My students, the ones who don't prewrite because it's a waste of time, were prewriting!  It was at that moment that I had my next epiphany:  They do listen to me...they just have to complain sometimes.  It was that moment that I realized I am a good teacher.  I do get my point across.  I just have to have more confidence.  I was ecstatic!  I decided at that point that I was going to have a great rest of the year, no matter what.  My students would not make me feel bad again because I know I can survive the year.  I would take control of my classroom again and love my job again! 

And I did just that...I still have a couple of classes that I struggle with, but they do not bring me down.  I absolutely love being a teacher.   I love the fact that I come to work everyday.  I love my students.  I love my job.  ;)  I think I'm pretty lucky for being able to say that.