Kontan.

Messages received from former students:

Mrs kontan, i just wanted to let you know that for the first time in US history i fell asleep today.

His power points are blue.
Just plain blue.
No pictures.
Blue.

Today I concentrated on getting them started and keeping them in their seat throughout the period. Success. Now, they are still WAY too loud and impulsive, but we’re working on it. I asked questions, they responded. They thought about their answers and expressed their opinions. I will have to be careful with this because they would love to talk about their opinions the entire time and we do have information to cover. Besides, sometimes their opinions are not based on reality. The biggest problems I had today came from students who were not here yesterday. Either way, goal one is a check.

Funny but sad story about yesterday…

I had students pulling out candy and tossing it to one another. Putting it in their pocket and sneaking it when they thought I wasn’t looking. Hey, I was happy that they cared enough to at least try and hide it. These are 90 minute classes, with third block being 110 minutes. Honestly, if I don’t see it, hear it, or smell it I don’t care. I shall not share that piece of information with them. One girl pulled out a juice box and sat it on her desk. I just shook my head and said it is almost lunch you need to wait. This was the 110 minute class and we were about 80ish minutes in. Next time I looked and she had the straw in it. I pointed out that I had asked her to put it away. She said, “I gosta medical ‘scuse.” I responded that she should show it. She shrugged and stood up. Girl is gonna have a baby any day now. She is so little and all the baby was hidden under her desk top. She was allowed to finish her juice…and a cracker.

I have two that are pregnant in that class. Very sad. Even worse, the girl I described above had her sister bring something to the room today. She is just as close to her baby’s birthday as her sister. I cannot imagine having two pregnant teenagers in the house. You know, this young woman has the ability to do something with her life and it is about to get way more complicated.

Today was the first day with students at new school. I will be going to bed after this blog post.

I had great plans yesterday of getting in my room, setting up, and accomplishing my planning for the week. Instead I cleaned up and discarded the 30+ years worth of hmaterials that the previous teacher, a retiree, left. Look, I have my own junk, I do not need to inherit yours. Besides, preparation material for the California end of course exam will do me little good in NORTH CAROLINA! It wasn’t even the same subject. There were a few good books, but as Djembe can tell you, I am not hurting for social studies related books. There went my day.

When the students arrived I was lured into a false sense of security. They weren’t that bad. A little chatty, but they came in and sat down without issue. I gave them their new schedule and shortly homeroom was over. Turns out, I have a senior homeroom and I teach sophomores for the rest of the day. Wow. It was very much like having a room full of early elementary. They will have to be taught to the basics of respect- stay in your seat while I am talking to the class, do not talk while I am talking, do not throw anything at the garbage can or your neighbor, save your snack for between classes or lunch. I have always had good classroom management skills, but they were challenged to the limit today.

Just when I thought I had possibly made an error in judgment a rather large student walks by and I comment about how his behavior drastically improved throughout the class. I was impressed with him by the end. He looks down at me and grins, then extends his hand for a shake and says, “you aw-ite.” That’s a true compliment from this group.

Another found me after school and asked to go back to the room because he had left his bag. As we walked, he chatted and apologized for putting his head down. He promised it wouldn’t happen again and explained that with his mom in school and his dad working third shift he had to take care of his siblings and it was a late night last night. He also said that he thought I was going to be a good teacher, and that I had a lot more energy than his last teacher.

Reflecting on these two students I realize that the decision to change schools is not as crazy as many thought it was. Maybe for them it would be, but I really think it is what I am supposed to be doing. There will be headaches…oh so many, but I need to focus on what is really important- the students who need someone there for them.

Just to give you an idea of the type of school I am in, I have had “Pants on the Ground” in my head the whole day. So many reminders. It did make it easier to smile.

Amused

Teachers: These are actual comments made on student report cards by teachers in the New York City public school system. All teachers were reprimanded but, some of these are really funny!

1. Since my last report, your child has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.
2. I would not allow this student to breed.
3. Your child has delusions of adequacy.
4. Your son is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot.
5. Your son sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.
6. The student has a ‘full six-pack’ but lacks the plastic thingie to hold it all together.
7. This child has been working with glue too much.
8. When your daughter’s IQ reaches 50, she should sell.
9. The gates are down, the lights are flashing, but the train isn’t coming.
10. If this student were any more stupid, he’d have to be watered twice a week.
11. It’s impossible to believe the sperm that created this child beat out 1,000,000 others .
12. The wheel is turning but the hamster is definitely dead.

Since it is feeling almost like spring outside I decided to get rid of the snow theme for a while. Winter may make another showing, here in the South you never know. I counted my days and am officially gone from TCS (the charter school). There are parts that I will miss. The schedule, set up like a college MWF/TR schedule, was wonderful. Having first and second periods off was extremely convenient. I loved teaching US and AP US History. However, like all jobs there were headaches. This particular had about 15 in my fourth period class. It was AP and I pushed them. I expected them to be self accountable. I gave them the tools to study and research. I didn’t quiz them constantly or test them on every detail. I made them write and I didn’t tell them how spectacular their BS ability was. Instead, I called them on it and told them they had given me a well written essay with no substance. Most of them knew how to write and had been told their entire academic career how wonderful they were. It would have been easier to tell them the same, but when you read an entire essay that has no supporting detail and is riddled with generalities you are not doing them a favor by giving a good grade and ignoring the lack of substance. AP readers and college professors won’t tolerate that. Their multiple choice questions were greater than knowledge based learning. A large portion of the class didn’t like it. Others rose to the occasion and sought excellence. I saw one student move from a generous low C to a low A. She worked so hard for every point.

When the students were told that I was leaving there was mixed reaction. My music students were disappointed and very concerned about what would happen to their class. I don’t blame them, the new teacher is not a music person and we had been having so much fun with our Stomp preparations. My honors students were taken by surprise but understood you do what you have to do. A good portion of my AP students were visibly elated. They had already decided that they would achieve great things with another teacher.

One individual decided to organize a farewell celebration. Keep in mind please that this was not a “we will miss you” going away party. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was very clear that this was a “don’t let the door hit ya” kind of send off. On the last day I gave a final quiz and afterward the organizer asked if the girls could share the snacks they had brought, I looked up and quietly stated, “my concern is entering grades and letting each individual know where they stand in the class…you can celebrate after I leave.” I don’t think the irritation I feel is because of this immature handling of my departure, it is because this student is one that I went out of my way to help. It is necessary for me to realize that he skipped a grade and is younger than the rest, but that doesn’t change the fact that he had followers. I received the following apology from a student who I have great respect for:

I’m terribly sorry how your last week went at TCS, at least with our class. I never wanted it to end that way. I just hope you don’t think the entire class disliked you. That’s not true, but I’m afraid you’re under that impression. I’d like you to know that I’ll miss you. Class won’t be the same. In all seriousness, your class may have been my favorite this year. I’ve always loved history. It’s such a fascinating subject. I hope that you enjoy teaching at your new school and I wish you the best of luck there.

Why is it that the students who need to apologize are never the students who do?

Days ago natural disaster struck the small nation of Haiti. The images are devastating to watch. The helplessness is heartbreaking to feel. In 2002 I was there, standing on the same streets that are now covered in rubble and haunted by death. I scroll the pictures from my 2002 trip and cannot help but wonder, did they survive? This nation struggles to get by on a good day. The roads are barely passable on a good day.

I cannot fathom how this nation will recover.

SO proud of my music guys. They went from looking at me like I had two heads because I told them we were going to learn to drum to students who learned some basic drumming techniques and put it together for the talent show. Of the things I have done at my school I think this is the one I will smile the most about. These guys do not have an outlet for their artistic desire and I was able to provide it for them, at least for this past semester.

It is the coldest I have been in a long time. I don’t mind it and the real winter is actually a little refreshing, but I am spoiled. When indoors, I prefer to have heat. I know, I’m a wimp. Bloggy buddies, it was so cold today I am STILL chilled. Not outside, well, yes outside too…but INSIDE. The boiler went out at school and we spent the day bundled up, still having class. It was not 60 degrees in any room…wait, I lie. I think it was 62 in one room. I know that doesn’t seem very cold, and it isn’t. When it is 25 outside and you are trying to conduct class in a less than insulated Cold War era building, it’s cold. I didn’t take my coat or scarf off all day! Admin went back and forth, back and forth. I understand the dilemma. If you release school today, what happens over the next several days when there is no guarantee that the boiler will hold out even if it is fixed? When you dismiss how long is it going to take to get all the car riders picked up? You know, I get it…really…but it was DANG cold.

My across the street classroom is frequently cold, but we manage to take the chill off when all the warm bodies are in there. Yesterday the nice lady across the hall felt sorry for us and gave me her oil heater thingy. Why isn’t there heat in my classroom? There’s a story there. Over the summer they prepared the room to be a large conference room and painted the radiators. I don’t know what they painted the radiators with, but when that steam things starts pushing through it heats up and the fumes from the painted radiators are unbearable.

So there was a choice to be made:
1. Very cold room in the main building
2. Asphyxiation in my regular room

My first class met in the back of the lecture hall while another teacher taught in the front. My last class met in the theater where we drove the rest of the building nuts with our trash can drumming.

What will tomorrow hold? I hope a warm classroom, or at least cool and comfortable, with no fumes. I found it annoying that a nearby middle school did not meet today because their heat didn’t work. I found it ironic that an Alabama prison moved its inmates to another location today because their heat didn’t work. A teacher I work with commented on the other school. “They can play a football championship game in this weather but not have school.” Um, lady, I’m from Alabama, that isn’t strange AND playing a sport in the cold or choosing to cheer your child in the cold is heck of lot different that being required to sit in the cold and try to concentrate on learning.

Brrrr, where’s my blanket.

Tomorrow is the day I face the music: my soon to be former administrator and students. Nervous.