I really should be more on top of this and had made some separate entries, but you know how it goes.
Firstly, a miracle. The second day of school, my classroom key disappeared. Do you have any idea how expensive those things are? Yikes. It somehow disappeared between 4th and 6th period, and I didn't remember leaving during that time. For a week and a half, I had to get my supervisor or the custodian to let me in. Each day I checked my classroom again, hoping that it had slipped between some papers or something (I'd barely had the key and had not put it on a keychain yet). Finally my supervisor told me the last Friday of week 2 to tell the principal's secretary so they could get me a new one. I sent the email, and in my next class the receptionist walked in with my key. A few days earlier, someone found it upstairs on a table and turned it in to the front office not knowing whose it was. No idea how it happened. Maybe it got mixed up in some papers and picked up accidentally. Whatever the key's story, I'm so happy to have it back!
My students are much like this missing key. They disappear sometimes. They have bad days after a long string of good ones. And for some reason, somehow, they find their way back. I have a student this year that is 18 years old, and came back to school...as a freshman. How much courage must that take?! He failed the 9th grade more than once before dropping out, and after a lot of love and intervention by family and friends he's back in school. This is a kid who has a history of making teachers quit teaching (one even left a note on their door saying as such on their way out). It's such a gift to watch and work with students like him.
At the end of week 2, I took my students into the woodshop, turned off all the lights except for one creepy orange one hanging from the ceiling, and told scary stories. It was awesome. In 4th period, a student who is normally very withdrawn shared a few that totally freaked all of us out. By 6th, a few of my students from earlier in the day snuck around the outside of the woodshop and banged on the metal door and my entire class jumped about five feet in the air. It did a lot to help them feel more comfortable reading and sharing in front of their classmates.
And now the reason I am so far behind. Last week I got sick. Bad allergies led to a sinus infection and an ear infection. Gotta love Texas. I was out for two days and went to work sick the rest of them. I HATE not being at work when my students are there. Nothing gets done while I'm gone, students forget about classroom expectations, and it takes at least twice as long to get your students back on track when you return. I found out that a fight almost broke out during my last class on Thursday, so I had to execute a smackdown upon my return...and stop letting students visit my class during 6th period for a while. Now that class is kind of getting awesome again.
My students in general are so excited about being a part of creating this haunted house. I've really been trying to drive home the importance of trust and responsibility as we go to work on it. After being gone, we've talked a lot about "what you do when I'm not looking is just as important as what you do when I am." I told each class that they could start work on the haunted house as each class showed me they were participating and following the rules. 1st period we went over, and a student pulled out her cell phone and answered it. The result? We went back to the regular classroom and did math related artwork. Let's just say word travels and my later classes did not have the same problem.
Then today I had a moment of feeling totally insecure. I have a few college students observing my classes this semester. There is a little bit of excitement having people see what is possible with these kids, mixed with feelings of having those same people pass judgement on the way you teach. These college students more so since I worked for their professor for three years, and they are writing papers for him about my teaching. Yikes! One of them asked me some questions today that kind of surprised me, while others made me laugh. Other questions caused me to wonder if I've given up on certain things. Then I remembered the importance of understanding your students and building them up and into the work. It's almost like I trick them into learning. It's not a group that you can really get a class discussion going with, which was one of the topics that came up today. Imagine taking all the students in a normal classroom who don't answer during class discussions and putting them in one room and then you have my classes. But here's the thing. These kids are working. And while they won't have a big class discussion about something, you can accomplish the same goals through individual conversations with students throughout class. Same principal, different approach. My students will get there with time.
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