Sista!

My younger sister came up to visit last weekend, and had the opportunity (or rather interesting experience?) of coming to school with me and observing my lessons for the day.

If you don't know me/my family, you should know that my sister and I look almost freakishly alike, except that she is shorter than I. Obviously, this caused my kids to literally scream and laugh and point (it is an art school, so I am generally prepared for their flare for the dramatic).

Most of the comments were along the lines of...whoa, deadass miss, you all look alike, you be looking like twins!

It was pretty awesome to have someone that I am so close with finally get a chance to see what I do every day, and to meet the students with whom I spend most of my time/devote most of my time to their success. The students were pretty impressed with her work as a nursing student, although to quote the masses:

"you both deadass like science? that's weird. that's OD."

All in all, however, in her one day of observing, she got a flash sense for the brilliance that gathers in my room each day. She enjoyed their wit and their smarts and their good questions, and of course, their fake dramatic love triangle fights about who is my "wife" and who each other's wives are.

Now, if only how I could figure out how to get all that brilliance to express itself in more productive ways than singing the tunes of Disney movie songs during a "calculate your mastery" day (aka today's adventure). Their soundtrack of choice: High School Musical.

Best Class In the School

Sometimes it just takes one class and sometimes it just takes one student to remind me why I kill myself week after week for this job.

This has been a really stressful time lately. Our school is being evaluated by the city/state on January 5th (aka 3rd day back from Christmas break), so the pressure is on to have everything ready and perfect by Christmas time. Which officially makes this crunch time. As a result, every teacher and administrator is scrambling to take care of every odd and end to ensure that our school gets the best review possible (oh and ensures our kids are getting the most out of their education).

Part of this process includes the administration formally observing every teacher. The process involves 3 stages.
1. Planning = Submit your lesson plan, a planning guide, and your lesson materials to the administration. Have a pre-lesson meeting with the administrators to discuss your plan and get feedback. Make adjustments as necessary.

2. Lesson = Teacher teaches the lesson while administrators sit in the room and observe, taking minute-by-minute notes of everything that happens in the classroom and then walk around and ask students to explain their answers to the lesson objective (Guiding Question) at the end of class.

3. Reflection = Teacher completes a detailed reflection form about the lesson and then conferences with the administration, who decide if you are a Satisfactory or Unsatisfactory teacher.

It's a pretty high-stress situation. My observation was yesterday. Today I had my Reflection conference with my administration. I was given lots of good feedback and lots of things to improve on, but received an overall Satisfactory rating! Yay I can teach children!

The best part: Adminstrator tells me that as she was leaving the classroom, one of my students said "Ms., Chemistry is the best class in the whole school!":)

Cutting Class

Class cutting is a big problem at our school. A big problem. The swing on my attendance between when a class meets 7th period (before lunch) and 9th period (after lunch) averages to around 40%. So, some kids I only see 2 - 3 days per week because they cut all of their after-lunch classes.

Today, a student in my 9th period class did not show up at the start of the period. I walked her to class earlier in the day because she was out flirting with the boys from across the hall instead of going to Math. At the start of 9th period, however, she was nowhere to be seen.

Conveniently enough, her mom was in school for a meeting. Right next door to my classroom. She came out just as 9th period was starting. Mrs. ____, I asked, where is your daughter? She has Anatomy with me 9th period.
The conversation/events went as follows:

Mom: She's not in your class?
Me: No, she did not show up yet. I saw her earlier today, so I know she was here.
Mom: Oh, I know she was here alright.
((Riot breaks out in the hall - fight between the boys next door and our kids))
(( Mom starts plowing through the crowd looking for her daughter))
(( I shut the door to keep the other students out of the riot ))
(( Things settle down, police come up, Mom comes back to the room ))
Mom: Oh, I don't know where she is, but I'm about to find out.
Me: Ok, thanks.
Mom (on cell phone): _______, where the hell are you? You're supposed to be in science class right now! ....... How do I know you're not there? Because I'm standing in the classroom and you're not here!

Vocabulary Part 2.

really awesome things to say. 


wavy = awesome/cool. In reference to my sliding dry erase boards: Miss, those boards are wavy. 


curve (verb); curvin = ignore or intentionally "hurt" feelings using sarcasm: (After ignoring Alexis' 3rd request in a minute to whip my hair back and forth). 
Alexis: Miss, whip yo hair back and forth. 
Me: Ok everyone should have their notebook on their desk, today is Chem #34. 
Alexis: Oh Miss, you just curve me.  


gassed up = hyper, energetic: Miss, you be mad gassed up this morning. 


shut the front door! = shut the f* up. for once, they actually choose to censor their profanity.


OG = Original Gangsta (gangster). No explanation necessary. 
 ---- For the record, according to my Anatomy - 4 class, I am the OG.  

day-to-day struggles

It's a rough time lately. It's hard to still be peppy and crazy and on top of my game when exhaustion is setting in for the kids and as I seem to be growing more tired by the day. 


The little moments when kids give me encouragement, or thanks for holding them to high expectations, are what can keep me going for the next few days. In the meantime, we have to keep on keeping on with our sweet studies...


Also, is anyone reading this???

The Achievement Gap

One of the most emailed articles on the NY Times...
The Achievement Gap

Who's The Boss?

Just announced today: the Department of Education appointed a new Chancellor to the schools. Not sure that I feel very confident in this, since the new Chancellor has no previous experience in education.

Here is the article in the Times....
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/nyregion/10klein.html?_r=1&hp