fallout

i think the worst part of standardized testing is the fallout. once kids finish their tests, it's next to impossible to get them to focus on anything else. i have a group of kids in the afternoon who are basically incapable of just relaxing with something that's not super structured, so they still have work to do up til the end of the school year. they are not happy about it--other teachers are showing movies or letting kids do whatever but basically i have too much to do, and my kids can't handle it. so we're doing regular work. and they are being a little bit disruptive. the school also makes kind of weird decisions. today after lunch, there was a "meeting" which was basically an assembly about 8th grade activities. (promotion, dinner dance, picnic). i arrive with my students, and the AP is already yelling at other classes. i can't figure out why and chances are that there's no real reason. this particular administrator seems to be in a bad mood before assemblies begin. i wish that he could have come to the assemblies that have happened recently (he's been out for a few months) and seen that the kids did fine without being yelled at. maybe i will get to be like that when i've been teaching for longer, too, but i really hope that if i get to that point, i will quit.

so i have to sit and listen to an adult yell at my students and all other students for like half an hour. i HATE listening to adults yell. i try to never yell. i just don't think it helps.

it's so weird, too, because the administrators use all of this complicated language like "it is important that expectations are made clear to you" that a lot of my kids don't follow. if you really want them to listen, just talk to them in a simple and direct way. all this roundabout doesn't work in the classroom and it really doesn't work with 200+ kids sitting in a big auditorium listen to a white dude yell at them from stage.

so yeah. that's my rant. testing went okay this morning and right before the tests, my kids said, "aren't you going to cheer for us?" and i realized that i said i would cheer for them with my pom poms. so i took them out and seriously did a cheerleading cheer. they loved it, so i wrote cheers for the next three days:

Wednesday: Test is History, Part I
History, it is cool
You have learned so much in school
You are smart
and such good readers
kick some butt
you can beat it
remember facts and big ideas
you can do it
forget your fears!

Thursday: History Test Part II
History, it is cool.
You have learned so much in school.
Work harder on part II
than you did on art I
You'll feel so good
then you'll be done

Friday: Language Arts Part I
This is your moment
get ready to read
You have the skills
that you will need

Your reading and writing has gotten
so good this year
feel good about yourselves
forget your fears

proficient is your goal
i know you can do it
you ready? you set?
let's get to it!

So yeah--cute, huh? it was amazing how excited they were when i pulled down the pom poms and pretended to be a cheerleader. fun!

healing

as you can imagine from my last post, i was not thrilled to do any work this weekend or prepare for school tommorow. on friday before i left, i graded and entered all of the quizzes my kids took that day. i printed progress reports, cleaned up, and left.

this weekend, i did barely any work at all. yesterday i socialized, cleaned, exercised, and napped. we went to a seder in the evening. today jesse and i slept in and hung out together in the morning, then spent the afternoon at a barbecue. i actually napped today from 5-6:30. i woke up convinced i would never want to prep for school again--and then i sat down at my computer and prepped. i have been working for about 3 hours and i'm almost ready for tommorow. well, as ready as i'm going to be. but somehow, just like always, i am able to move on past friday and face my classroom again tommorow morning. i can't say that it's going to be a particularly well-planned day, but it will happen. i will be there, we will work, maybe they will learn a little, and it will all be okay.

the california standards test (CSTs for short) begins in one week. for 8th graders, it's two solid weeks of testing every morning. i have my kids for 3 hours in the morning and we eat snacks, then take the test, then do other stuff. last year was hell, because i had kids who really didn't take much time on their tests, and i didn't plan enough for them to do when they were finished. i think this year will be much better, because my kids are very different (and will work much more diligently) and also i will be much better prepared.

i think when i woke up this morning i couldn't see the end of the school year, and now, for some reason, i actually can. it's pretty exciting, actually! my afternoon kids are really driving me up the wall and i am struggling with how to just stay patient with them for the rest of the year. i have definitely decreased my workload with that class, though, which is great. i'm leaning really heavily on a new (better) textbook that we got in january. it's hard for them but i am doing some support and scaffolding, and they're doing okay. they do seem to be more interested in the stories, so that's good. and it is really helpful to have something good to use. i taught a lot of this textbook to my 7th graders last year, so i am also quite familiar with it.

anyways, i will be fine. i have one more week of regular teaching, three weeks of testing, two weeks that are only four days long each, and then two more weeks of school. so eight more weeks, only one of which (this week) is an actual normal week with normal things happening and no testing. i guess it will all be okay.

Friday blues

one of my kids is on suicide watch

another one got jumped FOR NO REASON on the way home from school on tuesday. had to get 7 stitches and spent the night in the hospital.

and 6 boys in my afternoon class ceaselessly insult each other in english and spanish.

i am tired, tired of planning, tired of working so hard, tired of caring about people who don't care about school--or at least won't put in enough effort to make it look like they care.

time for the weekend--thank goodness it's here.

rode my bike

i rock because...today i woke up and decided to ride my bike to school. i know, there are probably some of you who are shocked that it hasn't happened earlier. well, i do carpool every day with a friend of mine, so that has probably been part of why i haven't ridden. i rode my bike very little during the school year last year. i normally carry a ton of stuff to school (i was able to cut back today) so that has also been a psychological barrier. but mostly, i was just lazy. gas prices are soooo high and i have half a tank. i'm going to see how long i can make that half tank last. it was all pretty exciting. :-)

also, jesse just got a new bike so that is motivational. we rode a bunch together over spring break, and we rode together on monday night to meet with our wedding officiant. by the way, our wedding rings are GORGEOUS--we just got them yesterday and i love them.

in other news (like school) things are good. we are reading the play version of "The Diary of Anne Frank" out loud in class, with kids playing different roles, so that's really fun. in general, they are enjoying it. it gets kind of scandalous with the two different families living together in a small space. my students are also fascinated by the Holocaust--it's very interesting. i can see how it could be cool to teach a cored english/history class, for sure.

CSTs are coming up in a week and a half and my kids aren't really ready and i'm not really ready. it kind of sucks, actually. i'm pretty nervous. well, we'll see how it all goes.

so far so good

so, after a lot of stress and freaking out over the last few days, my first day back at school is going well, so far. I'm about 40% done with my teaching. my first period class, which is good but also intense, went really well. i decided that i'm going to use the textbook and corresponding reader pretty intensively. this chapter deals with theme, and has stories and writing about Anne Frank and the Holocaust, the Japanese internment in the west during World War II, and Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. interesting stuff to the kids, which i know a lot about.

so my kids actually sat and read and worked silently for 20 minutes on this fable in their workbooks. i think that this is what most teachers do. kids have to do more work on their own, more independent work--i just have to get them started on it first, which i did. we talked a little bit about the setting and the title and possible subjects for the story, and then they started reading. i guess it's okay to lean on the textbook more than i usually do. some of the textbook reading *does* suck, though, so it's not totally illogical that i sometimes abandon it altogether. i think that the kids like having a really concrete task in front of them, too. they seemed pretty positive and to feel accomplished and successful today, which was great to see.

nobody got bored enough to try to play an april fool's joke on me during class, either. i'm sure that will come later. but it was great to start the morning off really calm! yay for breaks and yay for me!