Kids Make Me Laugh...

So in class today, I was sharing the poem/song "Imagine" by John Lennon to help describe how poems use powerful messages and themes. One of my kids asked who John Lennon was, so I said he was a member of The Beatles. Most of my classes knew who The Beatles were, or at least acted like they did. However, one class didn't have a clue. Here's how the conversation went:

"John Lennon was a member of The Beatles" - me
"Who were The Beatles?" - student 1
"The Beatles were a very popular band from Britain during the 1960s." - me
"Oh wait... I think I heard of them at church. The pastor said The Beatles were going to hell."

I couldn't help but laugh a little bit as I had to then tell the students that we would listen to the song.

"I'm late, I'm late, for a very important date!"

I felt a little bit like the rabbit from "Alice in Wonderland" this week. Grades, which I submitted while in Austin, were supposed to be a quick verification on Tuesday when I returned to school. However, the entire internet system was completely down, and by down, I mean just by having an ethernet cable plugged into your computer made it freeze. The whole thing was completely bonkers. I didn't have verification sheets until Wednesday, and then was only able to verify my grades by using my internet connection at home (our school gradebooks are online). Unfortunately, putting in a little extra time at home was not the only problem, as several other teachers had errors in their grades and thus every teacher was asked to verify all of their grades by hand. Not wanting to screw up the grades of a kid who could pass/fail because of a computer error, I went ahead and verified all of my grades just like I was asked. Three times. I had virtually no problems, with the only grade changes being required for students who turned in work late or for those who transferred into my class after the 1st six weeks and did not have all their grades. When I originally sent in my grades, I double checked all of these students, but still went ahead with the hand verification. It wasn't THAT bad, but I did feel like I was doing quite a bit of busywork.

The school's internet --- geez... where do I even begin? I wasn't able to submit attendance, print out grades, or even check grades at school for kids that were freaking out thinking they didn't pass or wouldn't be able to play sports, etc. It was a HUGE headache, and I'm just hoping the scheduled internet "fix" on Monday will solve all of the connection problems.

Observations
I was observed several times this week, but never really thought twice about it. One of the observations was a fairly important one, seeing as a bad observation could mean that I don't have a job next year. Frankly, I didn't care if my observers were in the room or not. I figured that I'll teach the same way for my kids when there is or is not another adult in the room. Apparently this attitude carried over with the kids as well, since they mostly ignored the observers without me even having to mention it. This did cause a bit of a double-edged sword though, as students were as active as ever, but some also felt the urge to talk... as they usually do. They didn't feel the need to put on a performance, and I appreciated it. It was nice to know that all of my kids were doing all their work and they didn't even know they were being observed until after the class was over and I was thanked by my many visitors.

UIL Competitions
I judged a UIL (University Interscholastic League) Competition this Saturday at the High School. None of my kids competed, which was a little disappointing, but I did get to read a good 60 papers in the "Ready Writing" competition. "Ready Writing" is basically a competition where students are supposed to write more or less expository pieces about one of two prompts they are given. The kids have 2 hours to crank out an interesting, structurally and grammatically correct essay while bringing in as much of their knowledge as possible. Most of the students were Juniors or Seniors, so it was great to see some near-college level writing. I love teaching my 9th graders, but I can tell that the majority of them have not found their individual voices yet. Their writing lacks the type of intellectual personality that they will undoubtedly develop over the next 3 years. Don't get me wrong, I can still pick out any of my students papers just by hearing it, and every one of them has greatly improved this year, but it's just not the same when you compare it to a student who is about to enter into their own world of self-driven learning.

These kids definitely had some personality. I wish I could share some examples with you all, but I'm sure that's against some type of UIL guideline. At the very least I'd be given quite the stern look next time I show up to a competition.

Anywho... I'm off to bed so I can power on through another 5 days of excitement, turmoil, and unexpected new tasks.

To be posted

I've not forgotten about this blog, not at all. I unfortunately did not have time to post this weekend as I took off Monday and went to Austin over the MLK weekend for some R&R, (and to see Austin).

Coming up... getting observed and writing team referrals! Stay tuned.

Found this little thing earlier. It's a code that tells you your current computer's IP address, internet provider, and nearest location. I thought it was pretty neat. Check it out!

Sign by Dealighted - Dealighted

Coming Back

Getting back to teaching after two weeks of virtually no-stress (well, some...) up in Colorado with the family and friends was a little tough. I only really had to teach for 3 days, since the first two days of the week were training and inservice days. I do love those inservice days.

The kids were pretty calm, and I was happy to take advantage of their rejuvenated spirits. We got back to reading our novels, recapping the stories, and getting set for next week's Six Weeks/Semester Exam. It's very strange, down here, with a winter break BEFORE the semester is over. I don't know why that happened, but I'm not going to ask too many questions.

Over the break I got to thinking about how much trouble I could have gotten into at school, yet didn't. I know that I was a good kid, but there was the occasional day where I would goof off a little in class, or make up new games to play while getting work done. I tried to compare my 9th grade year to my students, and felt like I should cut them a little bit more slack in some areas, (namely certain types of behavior), but still find myself in awe of the differences. If I assign homework, I have to spend the next two weeks reminding the students and collecting assignments just to make sure my students don't fail for having not turned in work. I can have a completely orderly classroom where 95% of assignments are completed and turned in, but homework assignments are treated like junk mail. The story is the same in all of their classes too, and for just about all students. I get the feeling that homework was never really stressed early on, and it's now somewhat of a joke. The only problem is... I don't see it as a joke, and I do my best to make sure my kids know that in education, they should ALWAYS be learning, not just in school. If they have to get a few zeroes and make up class credits because they fail to turn in classwork/homework projects, then that's a lesson that they need to learn. Ugh... I just wish I didn't have to sound like a broken record to get things in three weeks after they were due... (Seriously, I NEVER missed a homework assignment, and to the best of my knowledge, my friends didn't either.)