Like a well-oiled machine

Some days just run that way. Things fall into place, students are agreeable, and good instruction takes place. Today was one of those days.

We are in the middle of several activities. Students are creating a photo challenge project, which involves finding pictures under particular categories and then writing about those pictures. We are also working on close readings of articles and writing article reflection essays. In addition to that, we are getting geared up for the end of course test by reviewing the technical vocabulary that they will need to learn. Lastly, students are reading nonfiction texts chosen during a book pass.

That is a lot going on at once. And it's the last week before spring break!

I have tried to scaffold the article reflection essays as best I can. We have read articles together to model annotating/marking up a text. I assigned articles related to their nonfiction text to push their thinking a little further. I wrote my own article reflection essay and we looked at it as a class, discussing what things the writer did while working on the essay. By doing that, we created sort of a recipe for the essay. With that recipe in hand and correctly annotated articles, they were set free.

While they wrote on their own, which they could only do through extensive scaffolding, I was able to hold conferences with each child on their project progress. We were able to talk one on one and they all got the attention they needed.

Sometimes, the chips just fall into place.

Sometimes, you get lucky.

Oh snow you didn't!

At the beginning of the month, we had an extended Christmas break. Most have named it their snowcation. I have dubbed it Snowmageddon 2011. A week off from school was a bit much. I came back to that four day week like a gang buster. I was on fire...en fuego!

Since then, well, let's just say time has slowed around me to a crawl. The fact that I'm still sitting upright at 9:30 in the evening is an amazing feat in and of itself. I'm exhausted. I'm dragging my feet. I can't bring myself to read essays. I can't bring myself to plan. At this point, I can't hardly bring myself to lift my body from this chair to go upstairs for bed!

It's a sad state of affairs for me this week. There's no way I want more snow days.

But a long weekend would help.

Unplugged

I wrote this yesterday after forgetting my purse at home.

It is not a lifestyle I'd choose.

I only happened upon it by chance.

Just a pen and a scratch piece of paper

And forty minutes to spare.

Usually I would tweet.

Read the news in less than 140 characters.

I'd curse my phone for being so slow

and snoop through pictures on Facebook.

But today I'm unplugged.

I forgot my phone.

No news, no Twitter, no Facebook.

No iPod, no music, no Angry Birds.

I've left myself with no outside entertainment,

Only this green pen.

I really thought time would crawl,

But I've only 15 minutes to go.

It's been a long time since my brain has worked,

instead of passively received.

Let me tell you about this "noble" profession

"What nobler employment, or more valuable to the state, than that of the man who instructs the rising generation?" -Marcus Tullius Cicero

So far this morning, I, this woman of most noble employment, have argued over ear buds, argued over a breakfast list, been ignored, snapped at, and summarily dismissed. When I tried to correct a student's essay by telling him not to add spaces between paragraphs and indent each new paragraph, he informed me that he was doing it the way his resource teacher taught him. To which I informed him that I was the one grading his paper, not his resource teacher, and it needed to be done my way.

All in all, another stellar morning.

The only nice thing I can say about teenagers today is that when I asked two of them to take off their hats, they said yes, ma'am and actually did it.

I read everywhere that teachers need to be paid based on performance levels of students. Let me tell you about 14-year-olds. They are unreliable. They are lazy when it suits them. They are hard-working when it suits them. It's all well and good to design creative lessons to grab their attention. If they aren't feeling it, then that is that. Oh well. They are still in the self-centered level of moral development. I'm going to do what I want to do because I want to do it and it makes me happy. Period. End of story.

Yet, politicians want to make teachers more accountable for what they are teaching and doing in the classroom. Not a problem with me. Not at all. But if you want to hold me accountable for what I am doing in the classroom, come watch what I am doing in the classroom. You can't judge me based on a 60-question multiple choice test at the end of the year. My door is wide open to anyone who wants to come and watch me teach. My door is open to anyone who wants to evaluate me.

But if you are going to administer a test that judges my abilities, this morning I would fail. These children are grouchy.

Writing Workshops with Freshmen

I'm always looking for new ways to teach writing to young writers. I struggled with some of the formal writing assignments in college because I didn't have a strong background in high school. There's a fine line between teaching enough and teaching too much. Between giving them too little information and between giving them too much to handle.

My freshmen are working on literary analysis essays to end their reading of Romeo & Juliet. A ton of research went in to this lesson. I'm not sure that I've ever taught it well enough. Sure, graduates come back and tell me that I helped them, but I've never been sure of exactly what I did to be so helpful. I try to be reflective on my practice, so it frustrates me when I can't put my fingers on what I did.

After my tons of research, hours of frustration, and countless e-mails with no good responses, I came on a plan that just might work. We started with notes, of course. Probably too many notes. Definitely too many notes if you ask my kids. I know that I didn't give them enough time to think between each section. I fixed that with later groups, but my poor first period class kinda got the raw end of the deal.

After we took notes that defined a literary analysis, thesis, and textual evidence, we spent some time thinking about the topics for our essay. We wrote thesis statements together, we shared them, and then improved them. Again, this part got better as the day went on. I learned from my mistakes very quickly. We spent time creating topic sentences for the body paragraphs. We spent time looking at examples of textual evidence. I know without a doubt that we didn't spend enough time with shared writing. Shared writing would have made the whole thing easier, but then you have to deal with students who only want to take what you wrote and copy it. There has to be a better way to do shared writing, but I'm still looking for that part.

Today we are drafting. I didn't plan enough time in the classroom to get through everything, and I booked the library for today. Everything is booked for Monday so I can't even push it back for another day in the classroom. However, my hastiness is going to come to my rescue.

Students are often hesitant to come to a teacher's desk when they seem to be working. And they also sit in those tiny student desks all day long. So we are in the library. We are spread out and I am by myself. I laid out the rules before we came in. Students can sit no more than two to a table or can work on the computer. I have to be left at a table by myself. If I'm alone, then I am available to help and answer questions. If I'm with another student, we are not to be interrupted because that is there time.

It's working.

They are writing. They are coming over and getting help. I'm getting to do differentiated instruction by talking to each student as an individual instead of addressing the whole class. Everyone is getting what they need. Including me. I'm getting time to write.

This changes things for next week. But it's also feeding my instructional plans. We took notes on introductions (so very effective, I know) and we looked at some examples. But they have no clue where to start. It shows me that we need a mini-lesson on introductions next week. We all need it. What we're going to do, I don't know. But I have a weekend to figure it out.

Twas the night before break...

The last day of school before Christmas break is a special day that cannot be replicated no matter what.

Freshmen finished exams yesterday, but we still had school today. A half day would have been ideal, but that was not to be. So instead there was movie time. Lots and lots of movie time. And students got to play Santa between teachers who did not have the chance to leave their classrooms. And there were Christmas parties. Oh the parties...

I only allowed one class to throw a party and that was my dual credit Teacher Cadet course. We had some good discussions and they finished up a major project today, so the class wasn't a total waste. And the food was terrific.

When you give kids a free hand, it is amazing what they will come through with. We had pizza, bugles and dip, crackers and dip, brownies, cookies, and cupcakes. For my part, I gave out Christmas cards featuring pictures from our class.

The day before Christmas break is a day like no other. Teachers have the same fever that students do. You can't hide it. There is a feeling in the air. As the students deliver cards and gifts from teacher to teacher, they have to know that we feel it to. That we are ready for a vacation too. It's a bonding experience. Like the song? Everybody's waiting for the man with the bag.

We were all waiting for the man to ring that bell.

When he finally did, we all knew that the next two weeks would be like heaven. Like a little reminder of summer and the feeling of nonchalance that comes with it. Just a taste--just enough to remind us it is coming.

Who's to blame?

Sixty-eight percent of adults believe parents deserve the most blame for students failing in school. That's according to a recent poll done by the Associated Press and Stanford University. Parents. Not teachers, not principals, not the schools themselves, but parents.

At a time where most teachers feel scrutinized and unappreciated, it is refreshing to know that an overwhelming majority realize where the blame actually lies--in the home. And education, undoubtedly, begins in the home.

I spelled "Alaska" for the first time when I was three. I was curious. I wanted to learn. My parents encouraged me. They read to me. They showed me, in actions and in words, that learning was something to be valued and to be held near and dear to the heart. As I grew older, I was expected to do well and be respectful. My word was never taken over the word of an adult. What the teacher said was as good as gold. Teachers were to be respected and listened to and supported. Whenever my parents did have a disagreement with a teacher, it was handled behind closed doors and I wasn't a witness to any sort of disharmony.

Nowadays, many parents don't seem to see any wrong in their children. The teacher is always in the wrong. Recently, a student's cell phone rang in class--something that is forbidden and we constantly fight over in school. Turns out, it was the student's mother. The teacher called him to the front of the room and explained that he couldn't answer his cell phone, but he was more than welcome to use the classroom phone to call his mother back. When the student called her and told her that he couldn't use his phone during the school day, things got so heated that she was clearly heard across the room. Nobody could tell her when she could and could not call the phone that she paid for! Who did we think we were?

Well, let me tell you. We are the people trying to teach your child good manners. We are the people who are trying to show your child how to follow rules and guidelines so they are guaranteed success as an adult. We are the people trying to teach children how to work well with others.

And apparently we are doing these things in direct opposition to the example you are setting at home.

This is not always the case. Lots of parents still support teachers and the rules set up for student safety. But those parents aren't always the ones that get the most attention. The parents that demean us and argue with us and are convinced we are out to get them and their children are the ones that get all of our attention. Those contradictory few are the ones that seem to set the tone.

I'm glad that sixty-eight percent at least realize that we do all that we can with what we are given. We need some support from home to seal the deal.

The daily prayer of a teacher

St. Jude, bless me in my work today. Help me to demonstrate my solidarity, love, patience, compassion and service toward others.

When exactly is less more?

A South Carolina Republican is introducing a bill to reduce graduation credit requirements. Right now, students are required to earn 24 Carnegie units and pass a state standardized test. Thanks to NCLB, the test isn't going anywhere, but in their ongoing quest to cut from public education, Republicans may lower credits from 24 to 20.

Representative Dan Cooper believes that by lowering requirements, we could save money and raise the graduation rate! Yay! But what about educating children? What about improving our economy by improving our workforce?

I think that by lowering graduation requirements, we are once again lowering our standards. It is bad enough that schools are forced to use remediation techniques such as credit recovery because we are under the gun to graduate 100% of our student population in four years or less. This will just be one more jab to the heart for actual learning in schools.

When Kids Go Good

Most of the news about teachers, students, and education in general is pretty negative. There is usually some sexual misconduct or gangs or lack of money or just general disarray involved.

But every now and then, kids go good.

Our school does an Angel Tree for children in need every Christmas. Since most of our students are in need, it's hard to find people who can afford to give what little they have to someone else. The Angel Tree is still pretty full and we are getting closer and closer to Christmas. The economy is bad and times are hard for everyone. But, today, the Newberry High Student Government made a sizable dent in the number of needy children still listed on that tree. They did what they could to fulfill wishes for the upcoming Christmas.

As a class, without telling them what we were doing, we all went down to the guidance office and I showed them the tree. In pairs, I had them each pick one child off the tree. Then I gave them the Wal-Mart credit card and told them that each pair could have $30 out of the SGA accounts to make wishes come true. The excitement is something serious! Sure, they aren't giving of themselves, so to speak. But it is giving. And that is what the season is all about--doing for others.

So they went off to Wal-Mart as a class with their instructions to do good for someone else today. And they went above and beyond my expectations. They came back with bags and bags of clothes and diapers and dolls and games. The excitement of doing good for someone else was palpable.

Today we are spreading Christmas cheer by doing good. I believe that we are all innately good creatures...we just need some prodding and assistance. And sometimes teenagers will surprise you. One of my kids chipped in $40 of his own money to buy diapers and bath stuff for a little boy. It's sad to me that a parent needs diapers so bad that they make a Christmas list, but my heart swells with what this young man did today. On his own. In the true Christmas spirit.

So the next time you read about gangs and drug busts and violence, remember that with a little guidance, we can take the average teenager and turn them into a modern day Santa Claus.