great news!

So over the last few weeks I have been so tired that I'm passed out by the time I finish my dinner. That has left little time to do much of anything. But it turns out, there is a reason for all of that! I'm PREGNANT!! :) My hubby and I have been trying for a little while and are both very excited. The little one is due in August and I can't wait.

With that news keeping me rather cheery, things have been going well in the classroom. We teach on a 4x4 block, so my students have their Regents exam in January. My lesson plans tell me that i'm about three weeks behind - heaven forbid I do a few projects and extra writing assignments - so now it's the old question of what I can do in the next few weeks that will both hold my students' interest and help them to nearly master the information that they should know by the end of our time together. My goal is to make it through the Cold War before Christmas break. (A few of us in my department call this time the "highlights of history" because in order to finish on time, depth, sadly, is limited)

In the midst of all that I have tried to start a study group to help those students who still have some room for improvement. A few of them really just need some polishing, while some of them need to essentially re-learn all of 9th grade. (and 10th grade for that matter). Anyway, today was supposed to be the first meeting. I had invited the students by sending them announcements in their homeroom classes, and then invited the rest of my classes to see how many I could get. I had students asking me all day if it was still on, and I started to get excited. After all that, the typical weather pattern in our area chose to return and all afterschool activities were cancelled. Bummer. I have one scheduled for next tuesday. Hopefully I'll still have a good group of kids show up.

As for tonight, I hold out hope for our first snow day tomorrow.

keeping things positive

I have almost gone a month without blogging. I LOVE reading other's blogs and even commenting from time to time, but lately, when I go to write a blog entry I feel like all that comes out is WHINING. Part of the edublogger community seems to be commiserating about our jobs, our struggles, and our students, but I have been increasingly negative and I do not want this to be the reason that I blog. I want to try to share new ideas, discuss interesting topics, celebrate in victories, and still...sometimes do some commiserating and ask for help.

So attempting to be more positive, here's a few words of encouragement/new lesson ideas/fun stuff for you to enjoy

* CaliforniaTeacherGuy posts about our hope-centered, love filled profession with a post that helps us all to gain some perspective, especially when we find ourselves struggling.

* I love this idea for organizing information for students. I'm going to use it for Italian and German Unification - One side dedicated to each, and one tab for causes, one for key people, one for the events, one for other vocabulary, and one for the effects. Then I think I'll have my students use them to compare the events.

* and lastly, to feed my addiction to wonderfully snarky TV and related information - this is one of my favorite sites :)

Man, we weren't like that when I was in school

I'm sure we've all found ourselves saying that every so often. Even just years out of high school, I look at my students today in complete shock about some of the things that they do, say, and expectations that they have within the classroom and for their own futures. Generations of students have been confronted with the same problems - drinking, drugs, sex, the pressures to conform, what is "cool" and what is not. My thoughts on this are that each generation deals with these pressures within their own cultural and historical context, which to outsiders (adults, parents, teachers, etc) always looks different from the context in which they viewed their own adolescence.

Like all students, my classes are faced with choices to make every day. The choice that is distressing me the most right now is the choice they have whether or not to meet challenges head on...go above and beyond...to make the choice to learn and excell at what they are doing.

My students, even the most gifted ones, seem to enter my room with a "lets just get through this" attitude. Even when given the choice on what assignments to complete, they rarely choose one that is going to show off their talents and push them to work hard to achive greatness. They choose the easy road. They do the least amount of work they can possibly get away with to show that they have seemingly "mastered" the material. When they are forced to do the more complicated tasks, those that require higher order thinking, they crumble into whines and complaints, act out in frustration, or flat out quit. Those who push through these feelings, learn. They don't just learn the information so that they pass the next test... they truly learn the content and are able to make connections to it in the future. They see that "bigger picture" that I am always trying to talk to them about.

As fewer and fewer of my students seem to want to push through those feelings of frustration and laziness, all I seem to do is be able to blame myself. Have I not given them the tools that they need to complete this? How can I better inspire my students? Why am I letting their attitude rub off on me? Why should I not expect excellence?! I never want to lose the drive inspire excellence in my students. Lately, I feel like I have hit a fork in the road. One way I can allow students to enter my class, get through it, and move on. The other way involves a lot more work, digging deep to find my own inspirations, but I feel that I have the passion to inspire my students to new levels of success.

Thank God for teachers like Vicki. Her post on one more reason to care is just another inspiration to a teacher, like myself, who is feeling a little overwhelmed and unimportant. By battling indifference in ourselves, I feel we will find a way to battle the indifference of today's students.

new perspectives

Is it really October 11th already? Time sure flies as we trudge along, day to day, lesson after lesson...

After a short hiatus from my computer, I'm back..and things are going well. It's the end of the first six weeks period and at this point, my biggest concern is making sure that those students who have been able to hide - whether it be sitting in the back of the room, not answering questions, etc. aren't falling through the cracks.

Beginning with this new unit, I will be forcing students to change their seats for every unit. Also, using the clock buddy system, students have made appointments with six different partners for this unit's partner work. This solves the problem of losing the kids in the back, and helps my students who may not work with the smartest choice in partner (for the short, pair-share type of partner work), to now be forced to work with other people. It's all about new perspectives, help, and ideas. For about a day, this created complete chaos, but now, after seeing changes in just one student, I'm pretty pleased with the results. This student really struggles to remember anything and is usually pretty spaced out in class. Today, after working with a different partner, she was volunteering answers left and right. It could be for a multitude of reasons...but we all need to claim little victories from time to time :)

The Words of A Child

I've been warned never to take a student's negative comments to heart, but today there was no avoiding it. Midway through an activity today in class, a student, whom I've had in class before, looked up at me and said, "You know, I'm never going to learn this stuff, It's just not interesting" (I don't think I gave that justice...it's not the direct quote)

I really took this comment seriously. I work my ass off, night after night, trying to make history interesting for my students. I teach my curriculum, yet I try not to teach to the test. I incorporate media clips, we use technology, I vary my activities, they work in all kinds of collaborative groups, we play games, we talk about issues (many of which are relevant to today, regardless of the fact that I'm teaching Renaissance history right now), etc. etc. I really take pride in all that I am able to get done in the classroom as a young teacher.

And this girl ripped that pride to shreds.

So much so that I decided to poll my class at the end of the day in search of answers.

And the verdict? As always. one will NEVER reach/teach/excite/enlighten every student with one activity. That's why I spend so much time and effort working on different activities to hammer home the same point. It's nice to have that validated.

When I asked the students what topics excite them the most - War won out by a landslide. Lucky for me, I get to teach modern history and I do deal with a lot of war. However, I don't usually get into the nitty gritty...I'll have to arrange some time to focus a bit on that a little more this year. When I asked the students what activities they think they learn the most from, about 70 percent said movies and tv. Many mentioned games and interactive lessons as well. A few random surveys discussed how they disliked note taking and lectures.

Here are my issues: Are educators today required to be entertainers? Is it dangerous for kids to assume that everything interesting must be entertaining (especially in the real world)? Is it less important in today's day in age to teach skills such as listening and note taking?

I really believe that in order to have meaningful conversations - in order to assign appropriate group work - in order to have a class discussion - in order to effectively evaluate the Hollywood version of history, the students must first understand and work with the facts and historical tools that all historians have worked with throughout time. Whether this means I share this information in the form of a lecture, a reading, historical documents, etc. they still must get that information and demonstrate that they understand it.

Now of course, my students interests fit right in to the types of technology integration (iPods, movies, wikis, gaming, etc) that I'm all about - but of course, my school doesn't have enough resources for it to work out with the number of students I have, and it is also wary about giving permission to try and and to publish such things.

I'll have to discuss this more later - time to take a look at tomorrow's lesson plans...again - comments welcome! Thanks for reading.

little victories

Today, my “troubled” student - I think I’ll call him “The Hoodie” from now on - was the complete opposite of his evil hoodie twin from Friday. He came in, almost on time, with a smile on his face and got right to work. He completed every assignment, and helped another kid to study for his quiz. He even had a talk to me about why he failed the class before, and I explained to him how much I wanted him to succeed, and how I’m not the enemy, etc. I feel so much better. Part of me wonders if he did his work today because it was all graded, or maybe he was high on Friday? Or perhaps he was just having a bad day that day, but whatever the occasion, today he was great. I know things will never be smooth with this one, but I feel like today was a victory.

Crazy School day 1 went well - only seniors were pulled out of class today, so I didn’t lose anyone. My only complaint from today was the over excitement of my freshmen about homecoming and spirit week and the like. “You mean, we get to go to the pep rally?!” “I hear they all yell ‘go home freshmen!’” etc. They never stopped talking! All in all, it was a lovely Monday. Hopefully I’ll get home before 6 

Those creative juices are a flowin'...

I got my groove back :) Things finally seem to be clicking in my planning and time management. It's getting to the point where I feel comfortable with my students, know what they need (at least some of them), and therefore, my planning is done much faster, leaving me some time to put in grades into my gradebook...finally.

Borrowing an idea from elementaryhistoryteacher ...This week will be CRAZY SCHOOL for me. Homecoming week + picture days + yearbook ordering + extra homeroom period + pep rallys = many students missing class, me losing teaching time, and all is making my planning extra difficult. It's just one of the hundreds of things that make the first few months of school more stressful than necessary. I'll have to come up with some type of enrichment activity for my 5th period to do because 8th period won't be in class one day, and I really don't like having to play catch up - it confuses me AND the students. The day that I thought I could test out of my first unit will now be picture day, where I will lose half an hour right in the middle of the block...not so sure what to do with that one. Test out early perhaps? Not necessiarly fair to the kids, but it will have to do.

I have a student who is repeating the course for the 3rd time who flat out refuses to do any of the work. I usually don't have problems with that type of kid, but looks like this time I have my work cut out for me. We're going to have to meet and come up with some type of plan to get him through this, because other than that, I think he's completely given up and has his foot out the door. Hopefully, friday was just a bad day for him. We will see tomorrow...

Feeling a little worn out

No not burned out, just a little worn out.

I knew when I started posting this summer that blogging would be hard to keep up with during the school year. These last two weeks have been a bit tough. I'm not quite up to my usual standards of creative lesson planning yet, and because of that it is taking me tons of extra time to prepare for my lessons.

Right now my biggest problem is a lack of flow, usually because I run out of time the day before and have to double up on topics the next day. This is constantly my biggest challenge in an 80 minute period. If you don't do enough, or vary up the activities enough - then boredom/bedlam ensues. If you try to force in too much, half of it just goes in one ear and out the other. I know I just need to relax and the rest of it will come to me.

One other ingredient added into the mix: EVERYONE is sick. I was on my couch with a sinus thing all weekend, and it just keeps spreading from kid to kid to kid. Lots of absences, lots of sniffles, LOTS OF WHINING. Yuck.

Apologies for not updating as much as I'd like. I know I've lost any readership that I did have, and this bums me out. Hope all is well - I hope get back into this blog soon!

If you get a chance, read this article from the USA today...always nice to get the word out about teacher blogs :)

Reflections on the first two days

This will be a challenging semester for me. As I noted in the previous post, I now have students returning to me for the second year (just in a different class) and I know many of the students who are new to the class from outside activities. I miss the lack of prejudice that I had last year as a new teacher. I'm worried that even though certain rules and procedures are now changed, that students will go back to the old way and I won't fight it. I'm determined to stay a hard ass for the rest of this first full week. (this is very hard for me...I'm usually the smiley, nice one)

I was surprised how comfortable I was to be back at the front of a class. For most of my life I was terrified of speaking in front of a group. I overcame this fear in college - thank god - but my nervousness showed during the first week of each of last year's semesters. This year seems to be different. I'm much more confident and clear with my instructions.

Due to contract requirements, I teach six periods (three blocks) this semester and only four periods next semester. This is my heavy load, and four of the periods that I teach are back to back without a break. As I anticipated - this is an exhausting schedule. But I'll live.

My ninth graders are a great bunch of kids. They're animated and engaged (at least for now) and really get my day off to a good start. There are a few exceptions, of course, but a few well-timed parent calls should take care of most of my problems.

My first class of 10th graders is the smallest class that I have this year. However, this is the class that needs to be small. Most of the class is going to need 1 on 1 instruction. They are my disengaged, apathetic group (at least so far) and I'm going to have to adjust my plans to fit them a little better. The seven dwarfs are in this class - there's sleepy (pretty self explanatory), dopey (the one who doesn't ever know what's going on), doc (the smart one), sneezy (or hustla as they like to call him - who skipped my class because he thought he had lunch 5th period like he did last year), bashful (the quiet one), and happy (the new girl who isn't miserable yet) - we can add jock-y (the football players/wrestlers), and snobby (the girl who wants nothing to do with anyone in the class) and that's pretty much the whole group. I feel like they have the attitudes of seniors, and they're only in 10th grade. It's hard to realize that these guys were only freshmen last year, they seem bigger and more moody than any 10th grade group that I've taught. USUALLY I do alright with the ones that are just in it to pass - but this group doesn't quite get the fact that to pass, one must put forth effort. I hope that at the end of the semester I look back on this post and laugh, but for now, these guys are really a downer - and the longest part of my day.

My class at the end of the day is the biggest that I've ever taught. They are true 10th graders. Engaged when it's the cool thing to do, but it's really easy to lose them. I'll have to adjust some of my lessons to accommodate the size of the group, but for the most part, they should do really well.

I'm aware of the dangers of making assumptions about classes. Posting this was my way of working through the assumptions and trying to find a little meaning in them. I'll understand a little more about what they can do with what they have once I start collecting products and giving a short quiz or two this week. All in all, even if it may not seem so, these guys all have me excited to be their teacher, and challenged to get them interested in the material that they must learn. I only hope that I don't let them down.

'twas the night before the first day of school...

and all through the house... I'm so stinking tired I can't come up with anything clever to say after that. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

When I received my class lists yesterday, I freaked out a little. I miss the innocence that I had last year as a newbie - I knew no one - no history, no last names, no repeating students. This year is different.

Because I teach both 9th and 10th, I have some of my students from last year (both good and bad) as 10th graders. They know me, they remember how the routine was, etc. I'm a second year teacher and I really hope that this year is NOT the same as last year. I hope that these students are able to adjust to the new me - new notes, new procedures, new rules.

I have a doozie of a class second semester, but I won't think about that one quite yet.

My class sizes are good, yet really uneven - two larger classes and the incredible shrinking class that is now down to 13. I hope to get a few adds to at least get that one up to 15, which is where it started.

So as I looked over the names and then obsessed over the names, made seating charts, and revised the seating charts - freaking out a little...I finally had to take a deep breath and say...

I AM A PROFESSIONAL.
I am paid to run my classroom and teach my students.
I am good at what I do.
This will be a fun semester :)
I love my job.