back to school night

most people hate it. i actually LOVE it.
and, i had 25.8% attendance!!!!!!
i know, it sounds abysmal and it sort of it, but for 8th grade it's really good. it's possible that my class will win the pizza party.
for my favorite class, my strategic class, i had 33% attendance!!! how awesome is that? and it was more like 50% because there are several kids who almost never come to school.

i got to speak spanish with 6 or 7 parents, including one from Nicaragua. that was really cool. i think that fact that i can even say a few things is probably meaningful to them.

one of the other teachers at my school came in and saw that i had food set out, information for the parents such as photocopies of the parent letter and a half piece of paper with all of my contact info on them. it was a small effort ($6 for food, half an hour for the contact info sheet including photocopying) but i think it was worth it. i want people to feel welcome when they come into the classroom. so this other teacher came in, i think she's in her 6th year now. she said "oh, this looks like me the first three years that i taught. then i stopped bothering." i thought it was kind of sad, considering there are only 2 nights a year, out of 180-something days of school, when parents are invited to visit our classrooms. i really love meeting parents. i know it's kind of nerdy but i just think it's important. i mean, it also feeds my ego when someone thanks me, or asks me to teach their child something they know is difficult for him or her.i should say, it feeds my ego and reminds me that my work is important and meaningful.

the fact that i got in 1/3 of my strategic class just thrilled me! it tells me that they are invested and they care about school, that their parents made it a priority to show up. yay!!!

i can't brag to other teachers about this because it would be obnoxious. so i am bragging to you, my dear family and friends.

Connections

wow. i just realized i haven't posted in almost 2 weeks. school has been incredibly busy, and i've been running every which way. plus, i'm trying to keep my desk/classroom/front table/bookshelves/overhead cart/inboxes organized and clean. let's just say that is not an easy task for me.

yesterday the best thing happened. i am teaching an idiom of the week, and also a root of the week. both of these are vocabulary builders to help with reading and writing. this week the idiom is "pull the wool over his eyes." one of my (already favorite) students was sitting in class not even trying to hide the fact that he couldn't put away his spiderman comic book even though class had started. i rarely have the heart to make kids put their books away. all of a sudden i happen to be standing near him, and he raises his hand. i call on him and he says "the idiom of the week is in my book," and sure enough, it was. i read the whole thing out loud and explained it to the class, and then complimented him profusely on making that connection. these are the things that invest them (and me) in school. last year my period 1/2 was my worst class. now it's my best. it's also my smallest!

the second connection that i noticed my students making was using one of the week's vocabulary words, benevolent, in an essay that they were writing. they used it correctly. it was rad! i was really proud of them, and told them so. i am really excited about that class. one of my goals this year was to make my strategic class better, and i have accomplished that so far. maybe they will start testing me next week--i'm not sure--but i think i've gotten a crop of great kids in there this year.

gotta go teach!!!