PS: my june will be longer than expected

So snow recovery til June 21st? I'm just thanking that it's not til June 30th or whatever, man. Last year was ridonc--Massachusetts had it til June 25th, and it was sweltering, and we were SO done with school, seriously.

Also--I just watched today (we had parent teacher conferences, so I got to go to school late, yay!) Obamarama on the television talking about some steps to improving the graduation rate of the United States...one of those steps was firing principals and whole staff or part of staff as a last resort. Controversial!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't say whether or not I agree with that, because it seems very Rhee-esque. Does it work? Maybe, to aid in changing the climate of a school...or perhaps it just takes an attitude change? Do principals ever get proper training on how to turn around their schools, or do they just go around as they are, without considering that they, in fact, might be a problem?

With that said, how the hell are we going to change our graduation rates if we constantly focus on testing, testing, testing. Obama, let's get rid of AYP, please...and let's figure out what to do with the standards that 48 states want to focus on regrouping, yah? I doubt this'll happen in the next year or so, but let's get it soon, can we?

dr. tatum and the long road to reading

Middle school, for the longest time hasn't been much of a challenge. In fact, it's been pretty fun--very little classroom management, very little to do besides let the kids go and be a great teacher. Except now I'm finding myself up against a new challenge: really noticing and assessing their reading abilities.

In a very revealing moment, I finally got to separate myself from my small group and talk to some of my straight-English speaking kids (mainstream, rather) about their reading. And they said to me, "I hate reading, I feel dumb when I read. That's why I hate all my classes." They don't have access to vocabulary, they can't keep track of the books they're reading, and it's hard for them to keep it all together. So what can I do when we start reading an equally, disturbingly hard text in the rBook, "The Fall of the House of Usher???" Oy! Our first page has words like "ease," "moat," "obliged," and many, many more....so what do I do, kids? Again, I ask?

I'ma try and figure this out, because the ridiculousness of it is perplexing and really grinds my gears (to coin a phrase). But also, speaking of Dr. Tatum, I'm thinking of re-writing the text with small parenthetical phrases that give definitions of the words. For my other kids, I'm going to print out some pictures, I think--these'll be for my ESL students. Very important that they don't get too, too confused with these words an' trip up on 'em. Oh, I mention Dr. Tatum cause he's this dude who's pretty bad-ass, and is a wonderful reading advocate and teacher. I believe he's a professor at U of Illinois, Chicago, and worked with kids in Baltimore--talks a lot about transformative texts for black students. Anyways, he had mentioned this thing about building background knowledge, or at least allowing students who can't read well, to access grade-level texts. He showed us a normal text with parenthetical phrases giving short definitions of words, so that you don't have to dwell too much on explaining these things. So, that should be fine. Also, he stressed guiding questions while reading, so that the thing isn't so daunting. So, perhaps that will be part of my Wed. night preparation?

Oy, oy, oy...to be a reading teacher. In the meantime, I hate to admit it, but does anyone know anything about Oyster-Adams, Takoma Ed. Campus, or Stuart-Hobson MS? Or, does anyone know of any other interesting middle schools in DCPS that're looking for people? I wonder what this year's turn-over is going to be like in DC? Predictions?

challenges, 2010

A whole new classroom full of mainstream students. The energy level is increased by a billion (now that we're filled to capacity 21 kids--don't scoff, that's way out of proportion for Read 180), and I'm finding myself exasperated after each day. The constant reminders, taking time out to talk to people outside the door. The management is crazy. It beats me up, surprisingly. It's also 4th period, so things do get a little nuts then.

One student, D., is having a tough time keeping track of things he's reading. I'm really trying to sit down with him and get him to read, but something's blocking him terribly. He's reading Walter Dean Myers's "The Greatest," which is a biography of Muhammed Ali. He read part of the introduction, and after some pages, he wrote in his reading log "Today I read that Ali and Clay fought." I took a look at it, and sat down next to him and said, you know that they were the same person? He said, "WHAT?" and reread some pages, and gave up (the bell was about to ring). This disconcerts me, and I'm wondering what can I put into place for him so that he can be accountable both for reading (he's been very ridiculous about never reading or writing in his reading log), and also his comprehension of the text. It's just above his reading level, but he's interested in it, so I'd rather he read something he's into than nothing at all.

Does anyone have some tips? He's a 9th grader, stubborn, and loves to wander. He's an attention-seeker, farts in class, and, I think, at his core, wants reassurance that he's doing ok.

school lunch

You know what grinds my gears (to coin a phrase)? School lunch. Kids are starving when they get back, because they think that everything the school offers is disgusting. Which, could very well be true--but the question is, can the kids stomach the pain (as it were) and eat anyway? It'll keep their energy up, and keep them going. Nope. They barely eat breakfast, even--coffee, said one student of mine. That's it.

Well, let's take a look at school lunch menu this month at high schools.

I mean, it doesn't look so bad, does it? Personally, I could never eat that stuff, so I just had the usual of pizza on Thursdays, and salad bar galore (at least, that's what senior year was all about). But, I wonder if the kids aren't eating because they don't know that there are more options than just pizza and burgers? That there are two lines, and (although I don't know), that those lines most likely have different options. In fact, there are salad options daily (with hearty ranch dressing, gross!), plus deli sandwiches, plus the main meals. It seems to me like there are plenty of options. So what happens? Is it ignorance, or that they follow their guts and it leads them to pizza? It'd be interesting to do an advisory lesson on school lunches, what's healthy, and what's not...no?

insomnia watch: 2010

Hey there, folks! Welcome to my blog...again. Sorry for being so dull. So here's the scoop: I'm doing better, and adjusting myself more into non-survival mode/depression mode, which means I'm trying to care more about my kids' education in the classroom. Serving their needs along with my own. Sounds like a good thing, I suppose, no? I'm not saying I've been selfish, I'm saying that along the way, I disengaged myself from what the kids were learning because I didn't want it like I would've wanted, say, The Odyssey. Regardless, things'll be getting better now, I think. I hope. Either way, I've still got this tiny little problem:

INSOMNIA 2010!!!

To the untrained eye, it might seem like a movie. To the trained eye, it'll seem like work--or the thought of it, perhaps--is steeling away into my subconscious, making me wake in the middle of the night. I will say, the periods of time when I wake are short (thus, not really insomnia), but my mind wakes completely for a sec, thinks I have to go to work, looks at the clock, then tries fitfully, and finally successfully, to go to sleep again. I've been trying to use guided meditation and warm glasses of milk. It's worked, for the most part, in that it gets me back to sleep. Last night was a little different, though.

I woke up at 5 this morning, turning absently and then groggily awake, to the sound of a bus. I started to dream (in the I'm-about-to-go-to-sleep dreamy way) that I was a waiter, and asking someone's personal opinion on something. Then the dream muddles into all sorts of other unidentifiable things. All in all, not a great rest from 5 til 6:30 am wake-up time.

What do I do? Has anyone had similar experiences? Any advice?

first day back: plus twenty experience points!

So, in general, I had a pretty great first day back! This is a huge change from all the negativity I've been reeling from for the past forever, so I'm pretty happy about it.

Highlights:

Student A: Are those new glasses, mister? You look real gangsta in 'em!

Student B: *titters*

Student A: No, for real!

My usual ridiculous guy in 3rd period started off his year by handing in a project (woo!), farting in class real loud (not woo, at all), and then making up for it when I gave him a "it is your choice to be inappropriate, your choice to do all this stuff, your responsibility" schpiel.

One kid who totally shut down, kind of opened up to me, said he didn't want to go to this school anymore. I told him that he'd been doing so well (in class...outside, really, he's doing pretty poorly...as in, grade-wise) in terms of being a leader in his group, helping out this other kid who doesn't know diddly (not my words, but ya know, I'm a blogger, so I can say things like that, right?). I want you here, I said. I think all that cheered him up, because he went back inside the room and did all his work.

Off to a good start, Read 180, let's continue chuggin along!

new year, new everything!

So, as the new year dawns, and school starts tomorrow, I've got plenty on my plate:

1) Grapple with time management and the anxiety that it produces

2) Being reflective about appropriate homeworks

3) Predicting future weaknesses, and planning appropriately

The third one is what I'd like to focus on today. This is the question of the day, it seems! Recently, before the year let out, I grouped my high schoolers differently in one of the classes: low-medium-high (3 groups, respectively). What a relief that was! Now I have students who're much more engaged, and they seem to be learning on a higher rate (except for this one kid who's an utter space cadet), and, more importantly, understanding at a higher rate.

So, now I have to do the same for my middle schoolers. Yikes! I've grouped them pretty well, I think, with one who's about a medium-low, with the rest being low and very low. I'm a little apprehensive about including the medium-low student, because I don't want her to get lazy or fall behind simply because I need to explain or show better. Though, I think she'll benefit. It's tricky. We'll see how it goes.

Either way, I'm scared that this group is going to become an ESL group, where I'm going to have to differentiate a shit ton of language that needn't be in any part of the lesson plan. But, I suppose that'll have to be something done at the end of the day for kids who need more attention.

I'm starting this new year off with a pop (no bang...not just yet), so let's hope this works out.

Here's to a whole new start!