New Year

If you follow things I write, you may have noticed that I...stopped writing on this blog.  One of the last things I posted was that first-year-teacher graph.  It seemed that I hit that slump pretty hard, and I was also met with a whirlwind of paperwork and deadlines...I know what this sounds like--excuuuuuses!  Indeed.  So.  Reboot, refresh, a new year, here we go!

What's New:

• My schedule for one!
  Instead of three block classes, I have five 57-minutes classes.  I fell into a rhythm pretty quickly, it's working so far :)  Also, instead of one awesome co-teacher, I have two!  Any other brains in the classroom is such a great way to always be professionally learning.  
• My room!

Several things are similar to last year; however, on the far left you see a map.  I'm putting pictures of what we read, and then
attaching a thread and pinning where the story takes place on the map. 

This may look like a weird picture, but these are my
class name cards.  I tried making this confidential by starring faces.
 I'm all gung-ho on being SUPER organized
this year.  I have each hour color-coded, and files, rosters,
seating charts-you name it- follows suit.

A dry-erase calendar to help, again, with that organization goal.

OMG NEW PHONE!  And this one is at my desk, so I
don't have to rely on my students to answer the phone properly.
I use this so often that I think people now roll their eyes when
they see it's me who is calling. 

New desks!  AHHH! THE CHAIRS ARE NOT ATTACHED!
Life is peachy.

Finally, what I am/was reading:

Also!  I forgot--I have this super fantastic class website that materialized last year after being inspired by a speaker at the WSRA about incorporating technology into the classroom.

Check it out!

Still in the slump, but now with some laughs.

Two and a half weeks until Christmas!

It is a new Trimester, which means a fresh start for my students grades, and for my inspiration.  I am hoping that both of those things will be rejuvenated!

Until then :)  I'll just report on some silly happenings in my classroom.

1.)  I gave a quiz on Friday.  One of the questions asked for the students to analyze a certain paragraph from The Cay and draw an inference about what may happen next.  I had five students ask me, over the course of three classes, "where do we draw it?"

2.)  A student was giving his example of the day's "Daily Sentence Composition," (a writing activity that we do each day to help enhance their manipulation of commas, clauses, so on and so forth.  One student was reading his example sentence, very emphatically, and in the middle of his example, he said, "...that BASTARD!"  The class, naturally, started to murmur to each other, and appealed to me to see what I was going to do.
    Another student said, "Dude, you can't just say that."  The student repeated his sentence, explaining that no, there weren't any bad words in his example.  Again, he repeated 'bastard,' getting the same shocked response from the class. I just waited until he had finished his sentence, and explained that it is actually a word that we do not say in school.  I asked him to replace that word with something else, but unfortunately, I think he was far too embarrassed and asked for us to move on.

3.)  I had students write a simile poem.  It was pretty adorable at the amount of boys who wrote about girls, and not in a psuedo-name way, but in a very obvious, deliberate way.  One boy, let's call him Peter, wrote about one of his many crushes, Allie.  He said some very cute things about her, in simile form, and ended with, "her family is like a pack of lions."  He was very proud of his piece, and I unfortunately was instantly drawn to the bit about the pack of lions.  To him, he meant that they were a tight-knit family, but to me, I took it as they are fierce defenders, ready to shred any intruder to pieces.  He looked at me with worried eyes and asked, "oh, should I do it over?"  I laughed and explained of course not.  In hindsight, maybe I shouldn't have even mentioned his faux-pas with the pack of lions.

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Currently Reading 

I'm only two pages in, so I can't make an intelligent comment on this.

Also reading:

I'm having a handful of my higher readers read this, in their own small group, while the rest of the class reads The Cay.  It's an interesting plot, told by a student that harbors so much anger inside, he doesn't know how to process his feelings, and lashes out at everyone and everything. There's a lot more to the story, but I don't want to tell too much and spoil the story :)  

   

The ride of a first year teacher

Maybe I wouldn't be considered a "first year" teacher, but this is my first whole year, with students that came into sixth grade with me and will leave sixth grade with me.  It was liberating to be able to set up my classroom how I wanted it, both the physical space and laying out my classroom expectations.  Being a firsty, I get a mentor, who also works in the school, to guide me through the ups and downs of teaching :)  She presented me with this graph:

As you can see, I've labeled where I'm at right now.  "Disillusionment; "a feeling of disappointment resulting from the discovery that something is not as good as one believed it to be." isn't exactly how I would describe myself right now.    

I wouldn't say that I'm disappointed at all, I'm still quite happy :)  My students are awesome, my coworkers are awesome and the spirit squad I co-coach (both cheer and dance team) are awesomesauce.  Honestly, I couldn't imagine a better situation.  I would describe myself now as perhaps lazy, uninspired, sluggish... and I don't blame this on the fact that I'm a first year teacher, but rather the weather.  I'm only hoping that the rest of this year will follow the path of this graph, as in, going nothing but up.

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What I'm reading


I just finished reading this book, the follow up to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight.  It's been filling in more and more details about Rhodesian Civil war--something I hadn't heard of until I had stumbled over Fuller's first book.  It makes me long for Africa; the Africa I know today, and also this strange Africa that Fuller describes to be quaint and colonial.  I know it's awful to think of what was regarded by the rest of the world as apartheid to be "quaint," but if this other version of Africa could have existed without the racial separation and marginalization, it would have been just that.

I just started this today, but it sucked me into the same world of dust, sweltering afternoons, frangipangi, tea,  msasa trees, the cacophony of  African life and again, the backdrop of the Rhodesian war (told by a woman who was at the time a young child).  It's interesting trying to decipher what really happened based on the retelling by little girl.  Being knee-deep in this story, and having read both of Fuller's books, I feel so familiar with Zimbabwe, it's as if it was my childhood as well.  I can only hope to write something this addictive, so as to make my readers wish they had such a rich, rural Wisconsin upbringing.











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Books I couldn't help myself from buying at B&N:

WRITE

We had one of those awesome short-short weeks recently (professional development Thursday, no school Friday).  This gave me the entire day of Halloween free...I collected items from Goodwill to design an 1830's-esque woman's dress, to get in the scene for the haunted establishment in the local big-city, which gives ghost tours...Although I had no paranormal experiences, I did have a frighteningly great time...  I went online to find a meme about how I felt about our professional development day.  I realize that most schools do not entertain and inspire their teachers quite like our district does, and so no meme was truly fitting to how I felt.
    The first half hour of our morning was "community building" where we had to sit next to teachers we don't work with and complain about the coffee.  I found this entertaining because even at workshops in Uganda, the first thing teachers would bond over would be how unsatisfactory the tea was.   I loved this.  Our community building was followed by a presentation by Smokey Daniels:

He has written several books, one being:

This is probably one of my favorite teaching books because it's mostly pictures :)  It's full of ideas to turn any lesson where you'd originally have some kind of oral discussion into a written conversation.  This technique made me think of how my friend Taryn started the "Spiral" when we were in middle school.  We would always be writing notes back and forth to each other, and folding them in the cutest little packages.  We decided that it would be more efficient to just keep an ongoing notebook conversation.  

My students have requested that I bring in this artifact to share :P  I can only imagine.  It's probably filled with, "So I have a huge crush on so-and-so..."  "Oh my god, Social Studies was so boring today, all we did was take notes..."  yadda yadda yadda.  It'd be great if there were some factoids that would illuminate our early millenium pop culture.  :) "I can't wait to see 'Center Stage' in theaters!"  "Have you heard the new Christina Aguilera song?" "OMG N*Sync!"  

Since having this presentation and reading some snippets from the book, I've done the following activities in my class; I've had them write responses to prompts, then pass their papers and have a friend write a response to their response, and so on and so forth.  I also did larger-topic written responses in reaction to the CNN Student News of last Friday (November 7th).  The topics were; cytology and the latest cancer research, the NC Basketball Free-throw challenge, bipolar disorder, Syria and robotic exoskeletons.  After watching the episode, I titled a piece of chart paper with the topic and they were to go around with different colored markers and write comments/questions/connections to the topic.  I found this fascinating, especially when students would ask really deep thinking questions--specifically about the questions behind what we're doing in Syria.  

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What I'm reading for fun:

Cocktail Hour under the Tree of Forgetfulness by Alexandra Fuller

This is the sequel to Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight; a book about Fuller's childhood growing up in the then-named Rhodesia.  Her writing just sucks you right in and makes you forget about any commitment you may have or that you're not in Africa at that moment.  When I get so deep into her reading, I half expect to look up and see my green nylon mosquito net again, encasing me while I read myself to sleep.  I can faintly hear goats crying in the background, and Bantu languages being exchanged in the distance.  I recall that feeling of exhilaration and adventure of living in a foreign country. I forget that I'm now on American soil with a steady job and a predictable future.  The grass is always greener it seems; when I was in Peace Corps, I wanted all the comforts and predictability of America, and now that I'm home, I want nothing but red dirt, equatorial sun and the daily adrenaline that comes with facing lingual, cultural, logistical and ideological challenges.  This book helps me escape to a corner of my memory where mosquitoes and dust were daily battles.  And I love it.  

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To end, a most recent, most entertaining story.  This was the journal prompt:

Have you ever formed an opinion about someone too quickly, and then found out you were incorrect?  

One student shared his piece.  He explained that at first, he thought his now-best friend was going to be a jerk but then, after a few days of hanging out and talking to him, he realized his friend was hilarious and fun to hang out with.  I asked, "What made you think that he was going to be a jerk?  Just by how he looked?"

"Yeah, pretty much." He replied. 

Another student then chimed in, "I'm concerned for when you start meeting girls, James; you can't just judge girls on their looks.  You really have to get to know their personality!"  

I was speechless.  I began a slow clap, and the class joined in.  

...or so the story went in my mind.  I definitely applauded... 

Things Fall Apart

Things Fall Apart

What's that? You're so excited to read about my synopsis of the Nigerian author Chinua Achebe's most famous literary work, Things Fall Apart?  How does Ms. M have enough time to teach such fabulously interesting lessons AND critically analyze classic African literature?  HOW DOES SHE DO IT?

...hopefully this isn't the biggest disappointment of your day.  I'm just borrowing the name from the late, great, Mr. Achebe to reflect on my classroom so far this month.  This post focuses less on my eclectic extra-curricular activities and more about how my splendid things in my classroom have slowly been deteriorating.  To start, let's begin with the physical things.

'Lil Bub

Remember 'Lil Bub my pencil sharpener?  A gift from my sister for my birthday?  Here's what I surmise happened last week, Thursday, during my second block, told through the internal thought of the culpable student:

Uuuuuuugggghhhh...I don't want to do this essayyyyyy....agaaaiiinnn...

I'll just wander around the room and pretend to be doing things until class is over....

My pencil is already sharp...what else can I do...

Hm...I wonder if I put my pencil in backwards, the eraser come out all pointy-like, like a pencil.  How cool would that be!  You could erase really tiny mistakes.  I'll be a genius!

Uh oh...

"What are you doing?  You're going to break it..." -some other kid

Oh crap oh crap oh crap it's stuck!  How can I get the eraser out?  I'll stick another eraser in there to dig it out.  

Nope.  Nope, that didn't work. 

This is how I found myself on Friday night, (still wearing mouse ears and a tail), sitting on the floor with the custodian, trying to figure out how to put my pencil sharpener back together.  While one of my sixth grade students so eagerly took the pencil sharpener apart to get the eraser bits out, putting the thing back together was a very different task.  

Stress Ball

After reading some reviews of the isoflex stress ball I was so readily endorsing, I realized that they weren't industrial sixth-grade-clammy-hand-proof. 

Thank you Joseph Kugelmass for your review in 2009.  Strangely enough, Isoflex is still in business;

"Here is what this is: a little leaky bag full of sand, with a fairly fragile plastic covering. I'm not sure why, in this day and age, Isoflex can't find a plastic that lasts longer than a few months, but I assure you that the other reviewer is right, and the bag will break. Once the bag breaks, little clear grains of what is (probably) artificial sand start to leak out and you have to throw the whole thing away. The whole process has made me extremely stressed out and I will probably have to buy another stress ball just in order to cope. Also, you will find yourself wondering why you paid good money for something you could have made yourself with a sandwich bag and a trip to your local beach."

...I'm on the lookout for a better stress-ball...

Exercise Ball

Again, another lovely gift from my sister for use in my classroom.  

(The flat ball pictured above is not the one from my classroom, but very currently resembles it).  My students are in no way abusing the exercise ball, but again, I'm finding that the product is not holding up its end of sturdiness (the package says it can take up to 300 pounds...even two of my students together wouldn't make 300 pounds).   I will attempt to pump up the balloon again...

My Brain

Ok not really.  But here's a list of dumb things I've done just today;

*Locked myself, and my entire 3rd hour class, out of my classroom following a fire drill

*Re-read the incorrect word on an assignment all day, and didn't catch it until a student in my last hour pointed it out 

*Attempted to hold class outside due to the unbearable heat in our classroom...(it worked for ten minutes until the students decided that dealing with the heat was better than battling the horrifying spiders and mud.  They were very vocal about this realization.)

What I'm Reading

I've meticulously planned out my trip to Aruba, so I may better understand our sixth grade anchor texts.  I'll spend five nights and six days at an all-inclusive for $1,650 (including airfare).  Pretty sweet, right?  I can dream :)  While I'm dreaming, I'm also contemplating The Cay by Theodore Taylor.  I learned a bit about the history behind Aruba and it's status as a country.  It is still run by the Netherlands; however, with it's ever-changing history, it remains very culturally diverse with its population of over 100,000 Arubans.  

I'm excited to start this book and discuss the several hypothetical situations of "...if I were trapped on a deserted island..."  (It also opens up a great natural opportunity to teach the homonyms dessert and desert).   Some writing prompts that come to mind....

"...trapped on a deserted island, with which type of animal would you prefer to be stuck?"

"...upon finding yourself deserted on an island, what would be the first thing you'd do in order to survive?"

"...who would be the most useful person to have on a deserted island?"

Things may fall apart.  I could wake up tomorrow blind, with a pet cat, and a stranger whom I barely understand.  There is nothing but possibilities in life.  And with that, I'm going to rest my weary brain, and hope that it doesn't actually fall apart one of these days....

insta-post

.....because I don't have instagram....

(a name that always makes me think of graham crackers?)

The top ten most haunted places in Wisconsin

Phobias :)

Teachers believe in the moon

Ask any teacher.  They'll be able to tell you when it's a full moon--without looking outside at night.   How?  That's probably the day that it took a full 10 minutes for the class to settle in and get quiet.  Perhaps the same day when two verbal fights had to be mediated, and when three different young ladies broke down in tears over broken nails, promises or hearts.  When I walked outside on my 28th birthday, at an ungodly early hour, I was slightly confused at what I was seeing.  

     My first thought was--bad omen?  
    
     Whilst waiting for Panera to open, I scrolled through Facebook.  Thank you facebook post-happy people; I quickly learned it was a lunar eclipse.  According to space.com, "Lunar eclipses occur when Earth's shadow blocks the sun’s light, which otherwise reflects off the moon. There are three types — total, partial and penumbral — with the most dramatic being a total lunar eclipse, in which Earth’s shadow completely covers the moon.

The last lunar eclipse was on Oct. 8, 2014. "

     Did it affect my day?  I honestly cannot remember.  This week was such a whirlwind, I didn't know which way was up.  It was one of those weeks where it was Tuesday, and in a blink of an eye, I was wrapping up the week.    Between cheer/dance practice and teaching, I managed to do a few fun things:

I woke up to this on the lunar eclipse day.  Presents!

We had a field trip on Friday to Skateland!
HOW FUN!  Here is a fellow teaching strapping on
the skates.

Gifts from my sister; Octopus and Whale Squishable.  THANKS SIOBHAN!

The boys getting ready to race

My door!  Our Collections theme is fear, so I had students
look up and illustrate a phobia.  They had some pretty good ones :)
In case you can't read it, it says, "Who's afraid of the big bad wolf?
(Probably the Lupophobic)."

     I had a blast at the roller rink.  Aside from two things; I dropped the ball on turning in some lunch orders for some students.  That, and during the last half hour of the day, we had like five injuries in succession.  After the boys had a race and the ladies had a race, they called any teachers on the floor.  

Remember that student I gave a detention to in my last post?  He was the first one to point and shout, "Ms. M!"  

     I waited for anyone else to come out onto the floor so I wouldn't be the only one to race.  Luckily, Mr. C (pictured above) and a paraprofessional Mr. K came out to race.  Mr. K took the lead pretty quickly, and I was doing OK--trying my darndest to catch up-- until all of my momentum turned into an epic barrel roll.  All I remember is tripping, then knees, back, knees, back.  Later I found out that Mr. C wiped out as well, but more like a cartoon character losing their footing, then suddenly falling all at once.  I wish someone had taken a video, but it probably didn't look as awesome as I imagined it did.  All the kids kept asking, "are you OK?!" I assured them I was just fine, then followed up with asking how awesome my wipe out was.

      "Um...it looked like it hurt a lot."

    Making memories.