April 8, 2005
Dear Newly Interested Parent:
I commend you for deciding to be interested in your child's education. Parental involvement has been shown in study after study to have a positive effect on grades, behavior, and attitudes about education. It is frustrating for teachers when a child is doing poorly academically or behaving obnoxiously and the parents are no-shows at meetings and refuse to answer their phones when we call. You, newly interested parent, are not like that. You call me three times a day and send me scathing notes daily through your child who shuffles, embarrassed and red-faced, into my classroom to deliver them.
I love that you are now interested. I do, however, take exception with the fact that you used to be one of those other parents who was uninvolved and avoided contact with me. Where were you in January when I called begging you to call me back because your student called me a bitch? Why did you never sign or return any of the progress reports I sent home informing you that your child was failing English? I have a parental contact log with your name on a mile long. You didn't care.
Now it is April. There are only a matter of weeks left before this school year ends and your little angel either goes to high school or is retained here at middle school. Suddenly you are the most devoted and interested parent in the world. Suddenly you are frustrated by my lack of communication with you. You are offended by my attitude. "What do you mean he has to stay after school to do extra work?" You demand to know. "I don't have time for that!" You complain.
Well, your child has gotten 60% or lower every grading period. The only reason they even have a prayer to pass is because my administration requires that I give a "last ditch effort". Meaning that if your child completes a ridiculously small packet of work, I am required to go back and change those grades to passing. I guess we are teaching them that they can do nothing and at the very end do very little and life will work out for them.
Again, thank you for becoming involved. I wish you had been this involved in September, but I guess I'll take what I can get. But please stop calling me so much. Please change your tone from angry to sheepish. You really should be a little ashamed of yourself.
Sincerely,
First Year Teacher
¶ 9:30 AM
Monday, November 2, 2009
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Want to know what fun is? Trying to teach poetry in North Carolina to a class of middle-school, sport-obsessed boys the day after North Carolina won the national championship!
I try to give examples of things I am talking about, so many of my poetry examples centered around NCAA themes. My example haiku (though I realize it was not about nature) was:
Carolina won.
We are glad about that, yes?
Illinois is not.
Tomorrow, hopefully this craze will have passed a little. I wore a Carolina shirt today in solidarity, but Carolina Blue isn't my best color.
¶ 8:30 PM
Want to know what fun is? Trying to teach poetry in North Carolina to a class of middle-school, sport-obsessed boys the day after North Carolina won the national championship!
I try to give examples of things I am talking about, so many of my poetry examples centered around NCAA themes. My example haiku (though I realize it was not about nature) was:
Carolina won.
We are glad about that, yes?
Illinois is not.
Tomorrow, hopefully this craze will have passed a little. I wore a Carolina shirt today in solidarity, but Carolina Blue isn't my best color.
¶ 8:30 PM
Monday, April 04, 2005
I was really anxious about coming back to work. I'm not sure why. But the night before last I even had nightmares about it. I dreamed that it was the first day of school and I woke up three hours late. Then I got to school and realized that I wasn't wearing any shoes. Then I noticed that I was wearing shoes but the shoes were really ugly. Then I was in my classroom and there was trash everywhere, the kids were running around, and I was shouting, "Just create graphic organizers! You know how! Create them!"
It was awful. Then, last night, I couldn't sleep. I just felt unprepared and anxious. I woke up nervous. Then I got to school this morning and couldn't figure out why I felt that way. Everything is fine. I know what I am doing. It's weird.
We are starting the poetry unit. Today is all about boring terms and "get in touch with yourself" exercises. But I love it when it starts to get going.
¶ 10:58 AM
I was really anxious about coming back to work. I'm not sure why. But the night before last I even had nightmares about it. I dreamed that it was the first day of school and I woke up three hours late. Then I got to school and realized that I wasn't wearing any shoes. Then I noticed that I was wearing shoes but the shoes were really ugly. Then I was in my classroom and there was trash everywhere, the kids were running around, and I was shouting, "Just create graphic organizers! You know how! Create them!"
It was awful. Then, last night, I couldn't sleep. I just felt unprepared and anxious. I woke up nervous. Then I got to school this morning and couldn't figure out why I felt that way. Everything is fine. I know what I am doing. It's weird.
We are starting the poetry unit. Today is all about boring terms and "get in touch with yourself" exercises. But I love it when it starts to get going.
¶ 10:58 AM
Saturday, April 02, 2005
I swear that I will post again someday. Spring break has sucked my brain out. Monday, back to work.
¶ 12:43 PM
I swear that I will post again someday. Spring break has sucked my brain out. Monday, back to work.
¶ 12:43 PM
Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Things I have done on day 4 of my spring break:
1. Hung out with one of my bestest oldest friends
2. Ate goat cheese and sun-dried tomato breadsticks
3. Went to the beach
4. Did well-choreographed karaoke
5. Re-potted my houseplant named Jeremiah's Brother
6. Hung out watching movies with a fat, squishy cat named James
7. Slathered hydrocortisone cream on my eyes because, yes, they swelled up from mysterious mango compounds from something
Notice that planning a unit or lessons were not included on that list? Don't care, don't care, don't care! I guess I will have to do some planning soon. But it is blissfully only Tuesday and I have until next Monday! Hooray!
¶ 10:59 PM
Things I have done on day 4 of my spring break:
1. Hung out with one of my bestest oldest friends
2. Ate goat cheese and sun-dried tomato breadsticks
3. Went to the beach
4. Did well-choreographed karaoke
5. Re-potted my houseplant named Jeremiah's Brother
6. Hung out watching movies with a fat, squishy cat named James
7. Slathered hydrocortisone cream on my eyes because, yes, they swelled up from mysterious mango compounds from something
Notice that planning a unit or lessons were not included on that list? Don't care, don't care, don't care! I guess I will have to do some planning soon. But it is blissfully only Tuesday and I have until next Monday! Hooray!
¶ 10:59 PM
Thursday, March 24, 2005
So this has become an America's Top Model / Teaching blog...so what? Ahem. Love me in all my diversity or don't love me at all.
Some thoughts on last night's episode...
I really like Naima. She seems cool. I wish they would give her new hair-- I feel bored with the mohawk action. I liked that she tried to moderate the argument between Brandy and Tatiana but wasn't all weird and gross about it. She seemed mature...plus she is pretty hot.
When will this farce with Michelle end? She is not a model. She seems interesting and stuff-- especially since next week she will apparently start to be consumed by flesh-eating bacteria (was anyone else absolutely horrified by that clip of her showing Tyra her bacteria consumed lip?!?!)-- but she just isn't very pretty at all. She also isn't "fierce". And we can't tolerate lack of fierce.
Kahlen, Keenyah, Noelle, and Christina are still a little boring. I'm not sure what they are about, exactly. And the numbers on the show are still so high that is hard to keep track.
Lluvy is interesting, but I think she is going down very soon. Not very photogenic. (But what was up with Tyra's rabid insistance that Lluvy's picture was the "worst in America's Next Top Model history"?? It wasn't that bad. I have been watching a long time now and I have seen worse.)
I think that Rebecca is the prettiest...I can't tell if she is mean or not...I think she seems a little annoying at times, but I haven't made a final judgement.
I was glad to see Brandy go. I am hoping that with her gone Tiffany will become less annoying. I think that Tiffany was going down with Brandy, so hopefully without her, Tiffany will get back to wanting to be positive and stuff. (Did you see how all of the other girls wanted so badly for Tiffany to become violent with the Tennis Guy? Wasn't that mean of them? Wishing her to lose control? Awful girls).
I cannot wait for next weeks flesh-eating bacteria episode. The look of horror on Tyra's face when she sees it is wonderful. Poor Michelle.
In teaching news, tomorrow begins spring break. I have just been fired from my corporate bookstore job (for too many absences due to sickness caused by my students) so I will have a lot of time to reflect...and by reflect I mean lay on the couch and watch the Food Network and hour after hour of The Real World. Being fired helps me be thankful for my real job. Its not perfect, but at least it isn't corporate.
An aside-- has anyone else been watching The Starlet? It is like America's Next Top Model on a low budget and crack. There is a lot of howling that takes place. I watch in horror, but I can't look away. It comes on tonight on WB.
¶ 7:29 AM
So this has become an America's Top Model / Teaching blog...so what? Ahem. Love me in all my diversity or don't love me at all.
Some thoughts on last night's episode...
I really like Naima. She seems cool. I wish they would give her new hair-- I feel bored with the mohawk action. I liked that she tried to moderate the argument between Brandy and Tatiana but wasn't all weird and gross about it. She seemed mature...plus she is pretty hot.
When will this farce with Michelle end? She is not a model. She seems interesting and stuff-- especially since next week she will apparently start to be consumed by flesh-eating bacteria (was anyone else absolutely horrified by that clip of her showing Tyra her bacteria consumed lip?!?!)-- but she just isn't very pretty at all. She also isn't "fierce". And we can't tolerate lack of fierce.
Kahlen, Keenyah, Noelle, and Christina are still a little boring. I'm not sure what they are about, exactly. And the numbers on the show are still so high that is hard to keep track.
Lluvy is interesting, but I think she is going down very soon. Not very photogenic. (But what was up with Tyra's rabid insistance that Lluvy's picture was the "worst in America's Next Top Model history"?? It wasn't that bad. I have been watching a long time now and I have seen worse.)
I think that Rebecca is the prettiest...I can't tell if she is mean or not...I think she seems a little annoying at times, but I haven't made a final judgement.
I was glad to see Brandy go. I am hoping that with her gone Tiffany will become less annoying. I think that Tiffany was going down with Brandy, so hopefully without her, Tiffany will get back to wanting to be positive and stuff. (Did you see how all of the other girls wanted so badly for Tiffany to become violent with the Tennis Guy? Wasn't that mean of them? Wishing her to lose control? Awful girls).
I cannot wait for next weeks flesh-eating bacteria episode. The look of horror on Tyra's face when she sees it is wonderful. Poor Michelle.
In teaching news, tomorrow begins spring break. I have just been fired from my corporate bookstore job (for too many absences due to sickness caused by my students) so I will have a lot of time to reflect...and by reflect I mean lay on the couch and watch the Food Network and hour after hour of The Real World. Being fired helps me be thankful for my real job. Its not perfect, but at least it isn't corporate.
An aside-- has anyone else been watching The Starlet? It is like America's Next Top Model on a low budget and crack. There is a lot of howling that takes place. I watch in horror, but I can't look away. It comes on tonight on WB.
¶ 7:29 AM
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
The insane thing about some workshops on how to teach is how badly taught they are.
I mean, really. Can you not feel foolish saying to a group of teachers, "No one can sit still and listen to lectures for hours at a time. People must get up and move and be engaged on several levels to learn" who have been sitting still listening to lectures for hours at a time?
I went to a workshop today and I didn't get out of my seat (with permission) except for two times. It was an eight-hour workshop. The workshop was on how to use lots of different techniques to teach different learners. And all they did was lecture. I don't believe that my personal learning style was taken into consideration at all. I would have killed to get up and stick stickers next to my predictions for the day. It would have been nice to hold an index card with a definition on it and then have to search for the person holding the word. Imagine the freedom in writing ideas down on sentence strips and having to arrange them in order.
These were the ideas they taught. I just wish they had taught the way they were teaching us to teach. Instead of listening to them drone on and on I passed mean notes about someone I don't like to my co-worker. I also wrote haikus in my notebook. I also whispered when I was supposed to be quiet. See what happens?
¶ 5:33 PM
The insane thing about some workshops on how to teach is how badly taught they are.
I mean, really. Can you not feel foolish saying to a group of teachers, "No one can sit still and listen to lectures for hours at a time. People must get up and move and be engaged on several levels to learn" who have been sitting still listening to lectures for hours at a time?
I went to a workshop today and I didn't get out of my seat (with permission) except for two times. It was an eight-hour workshop. The workshop was on how to use lots of different techniques to teach different learners. And all they did was lecture. I don't believe that my personal learning style was taken into consideration at all. I would have killed to get up and stick stickers next to my predictions for the day. It would have been nice to hold an index card with a definition on it and then have to search for the person holding the word. Imagine the freedom in writing ideas down on sentence strips and having to arrange them in order.
These were the ideas they taught. I just wish they had taught the way they were teaching us to teach. Instead of listening to them drone on and on I passed mean notes about someone I don't like to my co-worker. I also wrote haikus in my notebook. I also whispered when I was supposed to be quiet. See what happens?
¶ 5:33 PM
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