Arg. Yearbook.
The final deadline is fast approaching. Yet another year where I am constantly saying little prayers, "Please, God. If you will just help me get through, I swear that I will plan better next year. I won't procrastinate! I'll be a good little yearbook adviser. I'll even be early on my deadlines! " And that is why I am destined to burn in hell. And you thought it would be for other reasons...
I've had a long day of yearbook work today. I'm stuck between being picky about design to really having no clue about design and thanking my lucky stars that nobody else at my school does either. The only comfort I know is that if I left things up to my students, the whole book would look like MySpace captured in a book. It would be flashy, clashy, and filled with MySpace-face poses.
The program I use comes with template designs, which are actually pretty nice, but I'm so tired of the same old thing! Of course, I have to tweak with the templates to make them more useful to us, but my poor brain has hit a dead end of ways to tweak. And by now I hate the color palette and the fonts. Hard to believe that just a few months ago, we though our decisions were INSPIRED! I'm telling you--I'm tapped out! I'm afraid I might need to be put out to pasture. That sounds so peaceful!
March 9, 2008
March 8, 2008
Feeling Like a Real Teacher
The student teacher in my classroom ended the week with a about 40 pieces of paper to grade and a box of reflection/summary diaries from The Diary of Anne Frank to evaluate. I wondered if she planned on taking things home or if she was going to attempt to finish up on Monday.
As we were packing up our bags and getting ready to leave she said, "I better take the rest of these home to grade."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Do you ever take work home on the weekend?" She asked.
That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time! Heavy-duty grading has been light this quarter, and since she's been there, she's kept up on the grading while she observed me, and I graded quite a few of the standing weekly assignments, such as reading logs and writer's notebooks, as I monitored her lessons. She's on her own now, though.
I answered her with a laugh, "Of course I take work home! I try to keep on top of it during my preps, but sometimes I have no choice, especially when I have essays to assess."
"It's kind of exciting," she admitted to me. "I'm taking papers home to grade. I feel like a real teacher."
Welcome to the life of an English teacher, my dear. Try to keep up your enthusiasm after you realize that stack of papers doesn't go away until June.
As we were packing up our bags and getting ready to leave she said, "I better take the rest of these home to grade."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Do you ever take work home on the weekend?" She asked.
That's the funniest thing I've heard in a long time! Heavy-duty grading has been light this quarter, and since she's been there, she's kept up on the grading while she observed me, and I graded quite a few of the standing weekly assignments, such as reading logs and writer's notebooks, as I monitored her lessons. She's on her own now, though.
I answered her with a laugh, "Of course I take work home! I try to keep on top of it during my preps, but sometimes I have no choice, especially when I have essays to assess."
"It's kind of exciting," she admitted to me. "I'm taking papers home to grade. I feel like a real teacher."
Welcome to the life of an English teacher, my dear. Try to keep up your enthusiasm after you realize that stack of papers doesn't go away until June.
March 5, 2008
The Lost and Confused Saga
Just because testing is over doesn't mean that life in my classroom isn't a little stressful these days. We do have that team research project we're behind on and rushing to complete at least half before the end of the quarter.
I'm pretty well out of my classroom, but I introduced the project to my students on Monday, along with a lecture on different online research techniques and resources beyond Google. I warned them that they might become irritated at times because in my class we will be learning the skills of research while producing two products: a public service announcement and a research paper. I have some reflective steps built into the process that demands the students stop to think about how they are researching and learning. This attention to process slows them down. They hate it. It's an important part of our program. That's life.
This morning I told the student teacher that the students might start freaking out about the project and it wouldn't be a bad idea to check in with them each day and see if they have questions. We don't have a lot of class time for students to work on the project right now, and they need to complete a few tasks on their own while we finish up the literature unit during class time.
I have to admit that there are some parts of the project that might seem a little confusing because they have to also go through the thought process of research rather than simply submitting a product of a research project as they do in their other classes. Again, it's not uncommon for the students to stressed out in the beginning of a large project, and since their foreign language classes (the base of the team project) gave out instructions on Friday, our students have been slammed with a lot of information and some giant tasks.
The student teacher had no problems and no questions from the students until the last period of the day. And then she had a new riot situation on her hands--so bad that she thought she might need to send someone for me.
I walked into the classroom at the dismissal bell only to be mobbed by 20 voices, "Ms. HappyChyck! You're here! Ms. HappyChyck! Where have you been? Ms. HappyChyck!" They were so so rowdy I thought they were being goofy. Come to find out, they were actually near hysteria with worry because they don't understand the project. (I might add that at this moment the student teacher looked like she needed a drink.) My automatic response to broad declarations about not understanding is, "Exactly what part do you not understand?" I answered a few questions and promised to return to answer a few questions the next day for the rest of the class who had already left.
I reminded the students that they tend to make things harder than they really are, asking them to recall the last mondo project that they did and how confused they were at first. Guess what? They survived the experience and turned in awesome projects. The students were slightly appeased and a tad bit more confident as they left the classroom.
The student teacher could not figure out why the last class was so stressed out while the other classes hadn't said anything all day. One of the classes is full of the top, most motivated students and they have already figured it out. I'm betting she'll have to field clarifying questions from those students by Friday. The other two classes are in denial about the whole thing and haven't even looked at their materials yet. She should be concerned about the two classes that won't ever ask any questions. Those kids don't get it, or they don't care enough to freak out.
I promised the students I'd stop in and answer questions, but that's Mama Bear kicking in. How else do I react to students in crisis?
The student teacher is implementing a unit that she didn't write, and I need to coach her more on the requirements and procedures so she can own it. I'm not sure if her teaching my unit is authentic, as I've rarely had to use another teacher's plans to teach. However, I have had constraints of working as a team or keeping the pace. Teaching this unit is constricting to me. We're working with a team, on an unfamiliar topic, using a lot of technology I'm not competent with (iMovie), and we need to meet a firm deadline in the video part of project.
As a teacher, it's my job--and it's her job--
to know the unit,
to be able to explain,
to be able to reframe,
to be able to give guidance,
to be able to calm the fears
to be able to make students do something tomorrow
that they don't understand today.
I'm pretty well out of my classroom, but I introduced the project to my students on Monday, along with a lecture on different online research techniques and resources beyond Google. I warned them that they might become irritated at times because in my class we will be learning the skills of research while producing two products: a public service announcement and a research paper. I have some reflective steps built into the process that demands the students stop to think about how they are researching and learning. This attention to process slows them down. They hate it. It's an important part of our program. That's life.
This morning I told the student teacher that the students might start freaking out about the project and it wouldn't be a bad idea to check in with them each day and see if they have questions. We don't have a lot of class time for students to work on the project right now, and they need to complete a few tasks on their own while we finish up the literature unit during class time.
I have to admit that there are some parts of the project that might seem a little confusing because they have to also go through the thought process of research rather than simply submitting a product of a research project as they do in their other classes. Again, it's not uncommon for the students to stressed out in the beginning of a large project, and since their foreign language classes (the base of the team project) gave out instructions on Friday, our students have been slammed with a lot of information and some giant tasks.
The student teacher had no problems and no questions from the students until the last period of the day. And then she had a new riot situation on her hands--so bad that she thought she might need to send someone for me.
I walked into the classroom at the dismissal bell only to be mobbed by 20 voices, "Ms. HappyChyck! You're here! Ms. HappyChyck! Where have you been? Ms. HappyChyck!" They were so so rowdy I thought they were being goofy. Come to find out, they were actually near hysteria with worry because they don't understand the project. (I might add that at this moment the student teacher looked like she needed a drink.) My automatic response to broad declarations about not understanding is, "Exactly what part do you not understand?" I answered a few questions and promised to return to answer a few questions the next day for the rest of the class who had already left.
I reminded the students that they tend to make things harder than they really are, asking them to recall the last mondo project that they did and how confused they were at first. Guess what? They survived the experience and turned in awesome projects. The students were slightly appeased and a tad bit more confident as they left the classroom.
The student teacher could not figure out why the last class was so stressed out while the other classes hadn't said anything all day. One of the classes is full of the top, most motivated students and they have already figured it out. I'm betting she'll have to field clarifying questions from those students by Friday. The other two classes are in denial about the whole thing and haven't even looked at their materials yet. She should be concerned about the two classes that won't ever ask any questions. Those kids don't get it, or they don't care enough to freak out.
I promised the students I'd stop in and answer questions, but that's Mama Bear kicking in. How else do I react to students in crisis?
The student teacher is implementing a unit that she didn't write, and I need to coach her more on the requirements and procedures so she can own it. I'm not sure if her teaching my unit is authentic, as I've rarely had to use another teacher's plans to teach. However, I have had constraints of working as a team or keeping the pace. Teaching this unit is constricting to me. We're working with a team, on an unfamiliar topic, using a lot of technology I'm not competent with (iMovie), and we need to meet a firm deadline in the video part of project.
As a teacher, it's my job--and it's her job--
to know the unit,
to be able to explain,
to be able to reframe,
to be able to give guidance,
to be able to calm the fears
to be able to make students do something tomorrow
that they don't understand today.
February 28, 2008
Celebrating the Testing Season
The teachers at our school are, once again, having a t-shirt contest for the CRT. The winner earns a day off while an administrator subs the class. Last year my t-shirt was a winner, so you know I couldn't just slide by this year. (Especially after the chair of the social club stopped by my room to throw down a challenge.)
So, I started off the first day of testing with this shirt, which I thought was cool looking, but the print was so small, the point may have been missed. (I blurred it out here.) I gave credit to the testing director, the other administrators, with distribution to all of us teachers who have signed legal documents saying we wouldn't compromise the integrity of the test. Attribution to the writer was given to Nobody Knows and the soundtrack credit was given to the noisy construction site next to our school. Of course, the stars of the show: Students who are NOT being left behind.
The second day of testing I decided to bring some star power. I wish I weren't so culturally inept because I might have been able to do a play on some songs the kids like or something...The shirt was a big hit, though. (The original design had our school name in it.) I had to explain to some that "Yes We Can" is a big catch-phrase in Obama's campaign. Some of my Hispanic kids said, "Oh yea! Sí se puede!" Uhm, yea. And then everywhere I went, my shirt inspired some political debate. Usually my clothing inspires...nothing. That's good, though. It gave my students something to do in the HOUR we waited in the testing room for the rest of the school to finish.
On the third day, I struggled to come up with something. You should see the t-shirts my colleagues have made! They have borrowed catch phrases from just about anything in our culture you can think of. My style is a little quirkier than, "Can you test me now?" with the Verizon guy, and I didn't think cute like iTest, so I was stumped. Finally, I made a shirt that the testing director could appreciate. My students got it a little, too, because I tell them not to discuss the test with their classmates after they are finished. I've even told them I am not allowed to look at the questions, let alone help them in any way. 
On the fourth and final day, I decided to keep it simple and to the point:
Considering we ended up administering the CRT five weeks earlier than we'd originally planned, I am crossing my fingers that we kicked some AYP this year. We need any good mojo we can get! I've heard that some schools have been crippled by this error (still not sure if it was district, state, or testing company), but our administrators have repeatedly commended us on our professionalism and ability to go with the flow under pressure.
It's always easier to go with the flow with some humor and joy in life!
So, I started off the first day of testing with this shirt, which I thought was cool looking, but the print was so small, the point may have been missed. (I blurred it out here.) I gave credit to the testing director, the other administrators, with distribution to all of us teachers who have signed legal documents saying we wouldn't compromise the integrity of the test. Attribution to the writer was given to Nobody Knows and the soundtrack credit was given to the noisy construction site next to our school. Of course, the stars of the show: Students who are NOT being left behind.
The second day of testing I decided to bring some star power. I wish I weren't so culturally inept because I might have been able to do a play on some songs the kids like or something...The shirt was a big hit, though. (The original design had our school name in it.) I had to explain to some that "Yes We Can" is a big catch-phrase in Obama's campaign. Some of my Hispanic kids said, "Oh yea! Sí se puede!" Uhm, yea. And then everywhere I went, my shirt inspired some political debate. Usually my clothing inspires...nothing. That's good, though. It gave my students something to do in the HOUR we waited in the testing room for the rest of the school to finish.
On the third day, I struggled to come up with something. You should see the t-shirts my colleagues have made! They have borrowed catch phrases from just about anything in our culture you can think of. My style is a little quirkier than, "Can you test me now?" with the Verizon guy, and I didn't think cute like iTest, so I was stumped. Finally, I made a shirt that the testing director could appreciate. My students got it a little, too, because I tell them not to discuss the test with their classmates after they are finished. I've even told them I am not allowed to look at the questions, let alone help them in any way. 
On the fourth and final day, I decided to keep it simple and to the point:Considering we ended up administering the CRT five weeks earlier than we'd originally planned, I am crossing my fingers that we kicked some AYP this year. We need any good mojo we can get! I've heard that some schools have been crippled by this error (still not sure if it was district, state, or testing company), but our administrators have repeatedly commended us on our professionalism and ability to go with the flow under pressure.It's always easier to go with the flow with some humor and joy in life!
February 23, 2008
Just the Usual Mess
Life in my classroom and with a student teacher has been a little hectic. We started off the quarter with in interim test. Then we had a writing proficiency boot camp in the second week, followed by the state writing assessment in the third week. As you can imagine, good for my student teacher to see how testing takes over our lives at times, but there wasn't a lot she could do. So, she spent a large chunk of time planning her Anne Frank unit.
Our team is also working on a big project this quarter, so we had to plan when to squeeze research in along side Anne Frank. It's a bit awkward, but we always have more than one thing going on, and the beginning of instruction for research strategies was to begin last week, around the middle of the play.
Was. Yes, then the administration threw a big monkey wrench in the middle of everyone's lives by telling us that our big test--the CRTs--would not be the first week of April. There had been some sort of screw up at the state level, and the test had to be given much earlier. How much earlier? We're starting on Monday.
What would life be like in your school if the big AYP-determining test had been moved up five weeks, and that date was merely two weeks away?
Thank goodness I'm not a math teacher.
I never planned to spend a lot of time cramming for the test in my classroom because my lessons are aligned with the standards, and students are ready or they are not. I did plan to go through some practice test questions and reiterate some reading strategies, much like I did for the writing exam, and I planned to spend time doing that during the week before the test. (The students also have differentiated skills practice from one of our online programs for homework--it puts it more on their shoulders!).)
Out with the project. In with review.
And in the meanwhile, the social studies teacher asked if I could review works cited information with the students, which is a concept had pushed back after until after testing was over. The big team project we're doing is originating from the foreign language classes, and I'd asked those teacher to push back their project start date because of testing, but the social studies teacher had already assigned her big quarter project at the beginning of the quarter before the test was rescheduled.
Part of me wanted to tell her what to with her reviewing of the works cited...but you know I'm there for the kids. I stepped in one day and presented a quick PowerPoint to the students where I basically told them to not make it harder than it really was, where to look the MLA citation guidelines, and to use a citation machine. Use the resources and tools available rather than faking it--for crying out loud! It may have a been a pointless lecture. I gave them nothing to practice. I have nothing to check for understanding. It's was basically, "Here's information you need right NOW. Go! Do!" I'll check them in a few weeks to see if any of it stuck when we get to the actual research unit.
Or actually, I'll encourage the student teacher to do so.
As you can imagine, it's been difficult giving up complete control to the student teacher. At this time, it might have been a little irresponsible of me, though. I am out of the room more than I am in these days, but the worrying is not on her shoulders yet.
What I miss in my classroom is a little continuity. A little flow. It's been months since I felt like my classroom wasn't a three-ring circus.
Our team is also working on a big project this quarter, so we had to plan when to squeeze research in along side Anne Frank. It's a bit awkward, but we always have more than one thing going on, and the beginning of instruction for research strategies was to begin last week, around the middle of the play.
Was. Yes, then the administration threw a big monkey wrench in the middle of everyone's lives by telling us that our big test--the CRTs--would not be the first week of April. There had been some sort of screw up at the state level, and the test had to be given much earlier. How much earlier? We're starting on Monday.
What would life be like in your school if the big AYP-determining test had been moved up five weeks, and that date was merely two weeks away?
Thank goodness I'm not a math teacher.
I never planned to spend a lot of time cramming for the test in my classroom because my lessons are aligned with the standards, and students are ready or they are not. I did plan to go through some practice test questions and reiterate some reading strategies, much like I did for the writing exam, and I planned to spend time doing that during the week before the test. (The students also have differentiated skills practice from one of our online programs for homework--it puts it more on their shoulders!).)
Out with the project. In with review.
And in the meanwhile, the social studies teacher asked if I could review works cited information with the students, which is a concept had pushed back after until after testing was over. The big team project we're doing is originating from the foreign language classes, and I'd asked those teacher to push back their project start date because of testing, but the social studies teacher had already assigned her big quarter project at the beginning of the quarter before the test was rescheduled.
Part of me wanted to tell her what to with her reviewing of the works cited...but you know I'm there for the kids. I stepped in one day and presented a quick PowerPoint to the students where I basically told them to not make it harder than it really was, where to look the MLA citation guidelines, and to use a citation machine. Use the resources and tools available rather than faking it--for crying out loud! It may have a been a pointless lecture. I gave them nothing to practice. I have nothing to check for understanding. It's was basically, "Here's information you need right NOW. Go! Do!" I'll check them in a few weeks to see if any of it stuck when we get to the actual research unit.
Or actually, I'll encourage the student teacher to do so.
As you can imagine, it's been difficult giving up complete control to the student teacher. At this time, it might have been a little irresponsible of me, though. I am out of the room more than I am in these days, but the worrying is not on her shoulders yet.
What I miss in my classroom is a little continuity. A little flow. It's been months since I felt like my classroom wasn't a three-ring circus.
February 13, 2008
So Helpful
A miracle has happened.
Sort of.
After I spent many hours (for which I was paid) working on a Wikispace for my class and team last summer, the district blocked my site. Well, they blocked all of the wikispaces. You know, social networking sites are evil. Our school tech person put in a request to the district computer gods to unblock the site, and after five months, I received notification that the requested site--my wiki--was unblocked.
Halleluuuuu-----wait!
The URL they unblocked isn't my page.
Words cannot even express...
So close. The district computer gods added an extra letter in the wikispaces user name. So darn close.
Well, the name that's been unblocked hasn't been picked up by a wikispaces user yet. Should I take it? Can I handle the bitter disappointment if I spend 40 hours working on my own time and dime to recreate what I had, only to be blocked out again?
Oh, that's right! I'm a teacher! I drink a shot of bitter disappointment blended with martyrdom each day for lunch. Its builds healthy cynicism.
Sort of.
After I spent many hours (for which I was paid) working on a Wikispace for my class and team last summer, the district blocked my site. Well, they blocked all of the wikispaces. You know, social networking sites are evil. Our school tech person put in a request to the district computer gods to unblock the site, and after five months, I received notification that the requested site--my wiki--was unblocked.
Halleluuuuu-----wait!
The URL they unblocked isn't my page.
Words cannot even express...
So close. The district computer gods added an extra letter in the wikispaces user name. So darn close.
Well, the name that's been unblocked hasn't been picked up by a wikispaces user yet. Should I take it? Can I handle the bitter disappointment if I spend 40 hours working on my own time and dime to recreate what I had, only to be blocked out again?
Oh, that's right! I'm a teacher! I drink a shot of bitter disappointment blended with martyrdom each day for lunch. Its builds healthy cynicism.
February 4, 2008
Breaking the Tension
"Don't forget that this is all the space you'll have to write your final essay," I walked slowly around the room showing the answers sheet that students will have to write their essays on tomorrow. Many students are concerned that they will run out of room on the paper before they get all of their thoughts down.
Victor raised his hand, "Uhm. Can we, uh, use a different font?"
I grinned and several students turned to look at poor, confused Victor. It's a hand-written exam. What's he talking about? He stumbled, "I mean, uh, the size."
"Yes, Victor, you can use a smaller font, but I'd say no smaller than 10 point. People need to read it!"
Jason joined in the joke: "Should we use Times New Roman?"
"Sure."
"What about Helvetica."
"No."
"But--"
"No, Helvetica is a san serif font. Use it for titles, not for large sections of text."
Sarah also piped in, "Well, what about Comic Sans?"
"I suppose if you must," I said bringing our silliness to a close. "Any other questions before we begin?"
My computer-dependent students chuckled at our joking before picking up their pencils and beginning their writing assessments.
Victor raised his hand, "Uhm. Can we, uh, use a different font?"
I grinned and several students turned to look at poor, confused Victor. It's a hand-written exam. What's he talking about? He stumbled, "I mean, uh, the size."
"Yes, Victor, you can use a smaller font, but I'd say no smaller than 10 point. People need to read it!"
Jason joined in the joke: "Should we use Times New Roman?"
"Sure."
"What about Helvetica."
"No."
"But--"
"No, Helvetica is a san serif font. Use it for titles, not for large sections of text."
Sarah also piped in, "Well, what about Comic Sans?"
"I suppose if you must," I said bringing our silliness to a close. "Any other questions before we begin?"
My computer-dependent students chuckled at our joking before picking up their pencils and beginning their writing assessments.
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