Year 3, and go!

Hello all,

After a prolonged absence marked mostly by a stretch of time where I taught 6 days per week, and then a wonderful summer, I find myself finally having the time and energy to blog about my wonderful kiddos again!

And with that, I begin my first post about my third year of teaching.

In major news, I have a new classroom with (gasp) enough seats for all my kiddos and 6 sinks! A great success in a world where any success is celebrated. Also, I am teaching a new class this year - Advanced Chemistry - for my students who took Chem last year and were going to take physics this year. The physics teacher left, and we instead hired Earth Science, who is great, but with a flip-flop in the schedule, I now have the same kids for the 3rd year in a row. I love it! I already know them all, and we've built up a good relationship, so it has been an excellent start to the school year.

This past week, I started off the year by spending some time doing an inquiry/critical-thinking activity called  The Walters Box of Wonder. This year, I hung a carved out cube-ish item in a larger box and stuck a flashlight at the back. The students could only figure out what was inside the box based on the shadows it cast on the wall. They were using so many great observations and making great connections, it makes me happy! I hate feeling that they get so little practice in genuine critical thinking because of the need to teach to the Regents exams, so I LOVE incorporating these activities into my lessons.

With the start of another school year, comes the start of another round of grading. On this lovely Saturday morning, I must tackle the lab-notebook mountain.

Cheers!

Quest for Knowledge

Readers,

Apologies for my absence...things have been busy lately!

Today I gave a Quest for Knowledge. A quest, for those not in the know, is somewhere in between the length of a quiz and a test.

Student enters the room late, everyone else is already working on the Quest.

Student: Miss, what is this? We got a test today?
Me: Nope. It's a Quest. for Knowledge. Somewhere in between a quiz and a test.
Student: Miss, that's pretty smooth.
Me: I know. like butter.
Student: Miss, I'm gonna do this just because you're wavy.

I'm glad my "wavy" factor and the excellent naming of my assessments inspires my kids to work hard.

Also, I was out on Friday at a Professional Development, and since I've been battling an epic cold, some kids assumed I was 1) playing an April Fool's joke or 2) taking a sick day. A concerned student texted me on Friday afternoon saying "Miss, where were you today?" I texted her back and explained my absence. "Oh ok, I'll see you Monday miss. I miss you". ......totally adorable.

Ham Sandwiches and Apologies

For the last week or so, I've been having a running issue with a student. Not just any student, but one of my brightest students with great leadership qualities. A kid that always hangs out in my classroom and jokes around with me all the time. The switch from cooperative and invested in learning to disruptive and manipulative was surprising and frustrating, and has lead me to no small amount of grief over the last week.  I reached the breaking point on Friday when she freaked in class after I called her on being disruptive, and her retalliation actually made me cry in front of students for the first time since I began teaching. Yikes.

Tonight, I received one of the sweetest and most heartfelt apology letters ever.
Super frustrating week? Yes.
Was that letter worth every ounce of my patience and frustration? Absolutely.

Also, a new trend seems to be starting: I keep finding sandwich parts lying around the hallways and stairwells in the evenings when I leave the building. Yesterday, there were 3 entire ham sandwiches, dissected in their various parts, lying all across the floor in the hallway. Strange, no? Next time I come upon this, I'll snap a picture so you can see for yourself.

My job is never boring.

Violence

This year has generally seemed like a pretty violent school year. There have been a lot of fights, a lot of girls' weaves pulled, and many cases of pandemonium in the halls between classes.

Friday, I guess a bunch of brewing issues came to a head. One of my students showed up to class with sunglasses on and a note that she would be out of school for a few weeks. The student told me that she was in a car accident, but her friends told me later that she had been jumped on her way home from school the day before. To spare you the unpleasant details, I will just leave it be that her face was in pretty bad shape and she has to go to the doctor because she may need back surgery.

Additionally on Friday, a massive fight broke out between several kids in the hall between classes. It took teachers, the dean, and the school safety police almost 20 minutes to finally get the madness to settle down and send the many spectator students back to class. Only a short while later, a kid from our school was jumped by a kid from another school in our building. All in all, it was a pretty chaotic atmosphere in school.

Sometimes when things get crazy, I stop to think: Why are so many people scratching their heads about why our kids have a hard time learning? Hmm let's see: there is violence in the halls, classes start late because of rioting, chaos breaks out in the middle of classes, and they are afraid to walk home from school because they might get jumped. Yes, that definitely promotes quality educational experiences and good feelings about school and learning.

Dating Advice, Perfect Attendance

My students feel free to comment on various aspects of my life. Not sure why they feel they have that freedom, since I don't ever remember giving approval, however, I guess what is not banned must be allowed.

16 year old female student: Miss, you look mad nice today.
Me: Aw, thank you. That's so nice.
Student: Miss, you got a date tonight?
Me: Nope. I do have to go to grad school though.
Student: Ok, cause I was gonna say, you look mad nice but you shouldn't wear your hair in a ponytail if you're going on a date.

...Thanks for the dating advice.

In other, exciting news: for the first time in my teaching career, I had a class that had perfect attendance today! Our school has a pretty serious attendance issue, and it is not unusual for my class to have less than 75% of the students present. Today, in my 4th period class, we had all the students present and working! Amazing!

The reward for the class with perfect attendance: breakfast :) I'll be at the grocery store tomorrow morning buying out their stoke of donuts and juice and clementines.

Tattoos and Mid-Year Success

This conversation/story is just a small glimpse into the conversation that I get sucked into at least 1-2 times per week:

T, D, S in Anatomy class: (screaming and yelling about something or another) This shit is TOUGH! Miss, that shit is TOUGH!
Me: Ok ladies, we're very wound up. Let's take a 5-minute yoga-break in the hall.
(ladies go out in the hall to do yoga and come back 5 minutes later, slightly more calm).
T(as she walks toward her seat): you know what, miss? I'm a gangsta, and I say that this shit is TOUGH.
D and S: Yeah, Miss. We are GANGSTAs. And you're a gangsta too!
Me: Oh I know. I don't tell this to many people, but when I was born, I could not even be in the nursery with the other babies because I am such a gangsta.
TDS: Oh damn, Miss! THAT SHIT IS TOUGH!!
Me: Yes. You know what else is tough? The Living Environment Regents. Let's work on getting ready for that right now.
S: Miss, you are such a G.
D and T: Yeah Miss, you're a real gangsta.
S: Miss, I'm going to get a tattoo that says "Walters G-baby" right here (pointing to her chest/shoulder area).
D and T: Yeah!! We all gonna get Walters G-baby tattoos for you, Miss!
Me: Please do not do anything that involves tattooing anything about me on your body. Leave your skin be.

Also, I am happy to report that 80% of my students who took the January Living Environment Regents passed! All of them had taken and failed the exam at least once before, so this was substantial progress! Hooray for kids learning and being on track to graduate! :)

Snowy Day

Despite wearing my PJs inside out and backwards last night and sleeping with my fingers, arms, toes, and legs crossed, Mr. Bloomberg decided that the weather was not severe enough for us to have a snow day today. My disappointment at 5am was overwhelming, and I could not manage to get up and start my routine until 5:45.

Truth be told, the weather was not ridiculous, although the commute was challenging. My street was not plowed when I left for school, and some of the side streets around our building were untouched at 6:45. I saw many a car spinning its tires in the snow drifts along street sides. Lucky for me, I take the lovely subway to school and thus, did not have to do any window-brushing or tire-spinning of my own.

I arrived at school to find out that 50% of our staff had called in sick for today, in large part because the traffic and driving conditions were horrendous. Since only 1 of the "sick" people had managed to get a substitute for the day, we were in a panic about being very short-staffed.

Our students were even less interested in trucking through the snow than the teachers. Attendance for the day: a whopping 26%. (Ladies and gentlemen of NYC, your tax dollars were hard at work today....). As a result, we were on a modified schedule and I did not actually teach any of my real classes and instead spent the day hanging out with students, watching movies via streaming Netflix, and sending kids home through early dismissal. Today was less about me being a teacher and more about being a glorified babysitter. On the upside, however, was the chance to get to hang out with and talk with kids on a more personal, relaxed basis. And to watch their photo-shoot as we took pictures of the "Student Snowstorm Survivors" in recognition of their attendance in school. All in all, it was a strange, and funny, day on the job.

I wonder, in looking at our attendance record, if the Mayor wants to continue his reasoning for not calling off school by saying that he has to keep the kids in school so parents can get to work. Clearly, 74% of the parents today were not so concerned about their kids being in school.

Quote of the day, from an 11th grade girl: "Miss, I ain't tryin to be racist, but why is it that all you white girl teachers be wearing skirts and tights to school in the winter? Ain't ya'll legs mad cold?"
Response, from one of her friends: "It's called professionalism."