Day One Hundred Fifty-four: Miss me?

It feels like ages since I've written.  I figured today was just as good as any to get back on the horse.  I'll be filling in some unfinished posts soon.  I hope.  :)

Some of my students were taking the TAKS test for Science today, while most of the rest are on a different schedule to prepare for the STAAR test.  I miss my kids.  One popped his head in at the end of lunch.  I smiled and said, "Miss me?"
"Yeah.  My other classes are boring."
"So my class isn't."
"No."
"Can I quote you on that?"
"If you don't use my name."

I have a newer student in my 4th period class.  He can be a little crazy and all over the place at times.  Today we were learning some techniques for painting with watercolor.  After asking over and over again if he could go outside and play basketball with the PE class, and me saying no, he finally says he has a proposition.  "If I sit here, and focus on my work, and finish this exercise, AND don't talk...then can I go outside?"  It was too much fun to pass up.  "Sure!"  At first, I thought there was no way to do it.  I laughed hysterically as the two students next to him did everything they could to make him talk or laugh.  At one point he started miming asking me to clean out his water cup.  I told him he could handle it.  Then he tried tapping the person next to him and pointing.  No such luck.  Somehow he persevered.  With 15 minutes left in class he got to go outside.  It was totally worth it.  I think sometimes I have too much fun with my job...and then I remember how important it is to teach with joy

Today was the first time I admitted to a student that it's my first year teaching.  She's only been here about a month, and today should be her last day if she passed her TAKS test.  I told her stories about how students at the beginning of the school year tried to get me to quit, and how much things had changed.  I asked one of the boys who's been with me from the beginning how long it took for him to realize I wasn't going to quit.  "Three days."  A few days ago, I had a student tell me, "I think you'll stay here forever."  What a change from the days of, "When are you going to get a real job?"

I really love my job.  I feel so blessed to be able to work with these kids.  I get to work alongside amazing teachers that sacrifice so much to help those who others have given up on.  It is hard.  Let me say that again.  This is a really hard job.  I don't think everyone could do it.  (And there are those I am grateful for who do jobs I never could either).  But I love it.  And it's worth it.

Day Ninety-three: Oh, you were serious

I started my day exhausted. Couldn't sleep. Running late. Overwhelmed. And then my day set in motion. And it was a pretty fantastic day.

First period one of the boys has been coming back (he's missed school, been suspended, or just ditched my class for all but about 10 days this year). How do I know that there is progress? He gave me one of his Starbursts today.

2nd period I have a few more students, thanks to schedule changes. One switched periods, one was in another, then switched out for a month before coming back

I left one student alone during 3rd period. He's been having a hard time lately, I think with life in general, so I let him have his space today, only stopping by to say hi and ask how he was doing.

A group of girls (3 have been with me all year and became friends in my class) asked if they could come to my room during lunch to have a little birthday celebration for their friends today. She had a rough time the day before and they wanted to do something nice for her. I loved that they felt it was a place they wanted to be.

Student (male): Are we going to put glitter on this?

Me: Heh heh.

Student: ....

Me: Oh, do you think we should?

Student: Yeah.

Me: Um, uh, what color?

Student: Purple.

Later I asked the students which workshop I should go to at TETA Theatre Fest. Fight Choreography and Model Building got the most votes. When I said there was a Shakespeare class, I said I told the principal when I interviewed that I'd never do Shakespeare here. Then the same student said, "Uh...we could do something with it for Valentine's Day." Luckily I was sitting down so I didn't hit the floor.

shakespeare

Day Ninety: Blackouts

Today I put our projects on hold and did a little cross-curricular social studies lesson.

If you are reading this on the day I posted it, you probably have heard about SOPA. If you haven't, this must be the only page you've seen all day. Across the internet, websites are staging a protest through online blackouts against the proposed legislation.

Since the planned protest was today, I felt it was the best time to bring it up. We started with an activity exploring students attitudes about music, movies, the internet, and freedom of speech. After sharing this and related information with my students, a few of them had very strong feelings about it. We talked about how even though most of them are not old enough to vote, the internet helped them to have a voice and to share that voice. I let them get online and post information about it. I showed them how to look up and contact their representatives. And lo and behold...some of them got on and did! The girl in my 4th period who normally fights me on things was the most determined to send him an email. She was planning on contacting her senators next. Later I found out some students were still talking about it in other classes and one of the social studies teachers was so excited that the kids now knew who the name of their congressmen. Part way through the day, I started finding articles about some supporters changing their votes and showed the students that it was because of people like them contacting their leaders that these changes were happening. Their voices can make a difference.

Day Eighty-six: Do you smell that?

Today was my first adventure with the drug dogs. I've heard about them, and I think once I saw them pass in the hallway. Today during 1st period one of the staff came into our room, told everyone to take off their coats, leave everything in the room, and stand out in the hallway. There we found a police officer with a Lab (to our surprise not a German Shepherd...we even stereotype dogs). They did a sweep of the room, came back out, and we returned to the room. Needless to say at least one student looked a little too relieved.

I got an email today saying that one of my students was taken out of school today by her mom. Even though she has not wanted to do any work and has shown little to no desire to do anything besides be wrapped up in her cell phone, I still hoped there was a way to get through to her. It's a strange mix of feelings between knowing you tried everything you could think of and wishing you could have done more.

In happier news, while I have a few students who seem to find editing music "boring" (Are they crazy? They get to listen to music and mess around with it AND work towards getting credit), I have a lot of students that are having a blast. Then there are the students that I used to struggle with so much turn around and be so proud of what they are creating. I love the smiles on their faces when they finally hand over their headphones to me so I can hear what they've done. It makes it so worth it.

Day Eighty-one: Alone

I ended the day on a low note after a pretty good day. So to get it out of the way, I'll say that my 6th period class was a circus. The kind where the boys start trying to show off how ghetto they are in front of the new (to my class, just returning to the school) student that just got out of jail. I have a special plan for revenge. It involves making cupcakes for all the classes but theirs.

During 3rd period, I only had one girl today. All of the guys were sitting around one table painting, but she just sat in her chair quietly. She's a good, polite, normally hardworking kid. So I walked over to talk to her and see what was up. Over the break, a lot of changes were made to student schedules. Her friends are no longer in the same class as her, and she was sad and felt alone. I told her that maybe together we can make the class better again. Then I walked back to the table and started painting with the boys. A few minutes later, I turned and asked her a question. She started to respond. Next thing I knew, she stood up, walked over to the table, sat down in the chair next to me, and joined the conversation.

Day Eighty: Revenge

I'm waiting on another class to finish up with a set of computers so my students can start using them, so today I showed them how Audacity works. Why Audacity? It's free. If they can get access to a computer, anywhere, they can download and use the program. Some classes I recorded what they were saying as they came in the door and then showed them what we could do with it. In another class, I edited something I said to make it sound like I said, "Sleeping in class is allowed." In 6th, we had the most fun. After the students saw a little of how it worked, I hit record and they made a bunch of noises and laughed and commented on what they did. Then we went back and listened to it. They picked out parts they liked, and together we told a story using sound. A loud clap sounded like a slap. We layered a girl screaming on top of it, for which we slowed down and raised the pitch. Someone had shouted, "Hey" later which we put in response to the slap and scream. We started to create a story using their sound clips. I'm trying to upload the final product, but technology is winning this battle.

I walked in to the cafeteria at the end of lunch and started talking to one of my 4th period students. She said, in essence, "Miss G was talking to us and said you are the one person here who is always happy. I told her, 'Yeah, even when we talk back to her she's still happy.'" I couldn't help smiling.

It became an interesting segue into a conversation I had with another one of my students at the end of 4th period. Somehow the topic of getting revenge came up. He shared with me his earliest experiences with teachers. In kindergarten, he said a teacher hit him and he hit back--with a glass bottle. A few years later, he got his payback by pushing the teacher. (Am I worried about my students hurting me? No. I told one student today who asked if I was worried when he walked behind me, "No, I figure if you guys were going to hurt me, you would have done something by now.") I was sad to hear he felt like he had made too many mistakes. We talked about the best type of revenge- being happy and successful. I shared with him an experience I had in high school. One of my teachers failed me because she thought I was ditching her class. I came back the next year with a different teacher, got an A, and then scored a 5 on the AP test. That, I told him, was the sweetest and best payback. The look on that teachers face when she found out was worth it. We all go through tough times. We all have disappointments. We all miss out on things because of the choices of others. The best revenge I can get now when students are disrespectful to me, I told him, it to be happy anyway. The best revenge he can get now is to show everyone who has treated him poorly what he is truly capable of. It is those who have overcome the most, people just like him, that can do the most good.

Day Seventy-nine: Now listen

First day back from Christmas break. What have I learned? Plan on getting sick as soon as your vacation starts. One of those laws of the universe. I think as teachers we go go go as long as we have to and as soon as we breathe our bodies force us to slow down.

Lots of changes today. The morning started with lots of students getting schedule changes due to the last graduation, credits earned, driver's ed, etc.

One big change was a student that used to be in my 3rd period. He would always ask if he could go to PE, and I was struggling with negotiating with him to do some work before he took off. He has learning disabilities, and I was told right before the break that he can't read. It explains a lot of his behavior and the acting out in order to hide his struggle. Now he is in my 6th period class...and today he got to be the one that shined. I'm introducing a unit on music and sound editing. We played a game where I would play the original version of a song. From that they could guess the title and artist, and get extra points if they knew where that song was used (sampled) in another later song. Then we'd listen to the remake (for lack of a better term). He was able to recognize the originals and then could connect to the remake without me playing it, and faster than most of the other students. It seems like what he lacks in reading skill he has made up for with remembering what he listens to. The key? If he's listening. I can't remember the majority of the things that I hear. I think if I, and maybe his other teachers, can find a way of shaping what he is listening to, there is no limit to what this kid can do.

Here is a list of some of the songs that I had the students listen to today. The first video in each pair is the original. See if you can recognize any:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Y9DYGiDL1o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PuNnQlvD1U

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZy6-fMCw4

www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_ZNH6QUACg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSgB61CUcq8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSFyrrhKj1Q&ob=av2e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8rTlVjjYxA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8PLgovGfEY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_U6mWu1XQA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkGLMhcxcPc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEh5pWjcWCg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-Vx_NNAu84

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxZG0w8YS7A&ob=av2n

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IaTaC1mrOg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJv5qLsLYoo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnZ3d9fX8gQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2XhhuM9GZo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSRF3slguhI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYHxGBH6o4M&ob=av2e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5X5zh00rdg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5dR2fZuWM8&feature=fvst

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGqdw3i5xAA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJ_-CmwHWPo

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rlNpWYQunY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mrd14PxaUco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vwNcNOTVzY&ob=av2e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bn1Ca8izXto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zGB3bpZATs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qywUPkxlYpU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV3egWCu7sw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEnJDaqT3-0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mM0-ZU8njdo

As a side note, I found out today that I was Teacher of the Month for December. I'm incredibly grateful for such a supportive administration and for the amazing teachers and staff I work with.