Formal Observation. Today was okay I guess. The kids were a bit hyper, but I was not in the best of moods (maybe the observation, but I don't think so. Or at least that was only part of it). The minute the regulars started their nonsense, I just started biting off heads. When Sticky fingers started her "look at me" routine, I just told her to get out. No escorting, no counting, no threatening, I just said "Get Out!". It must have been the way I said it, because I got no argument or discussion. It was nice. I told her to go sit in Ms. Across the Hall's room. Normally, I would escort the child (with something to do), but I just wasn't in the mood. I was doing listening practice for the ELA test. I've also learned a bit more about the power of body language. Not only mine, but the students' as well. Since Friday, I have not accepted students just looking at me as proof that they are listening. They have to have their hands not moving, writing, or any place I can't see them. Just an example.

During the literacy time, AP1 called to invite my group up to the library to listen to an author talk about her books. She was also selling autographed books for $10.

Observation was schedule for the period right after lunch. Yesterday, at a last minute called grade-level meeting, AP1 discussed what she was looking for in the observations (proof that data was driving instruction, and differentiated instruction).

So, how did it go? I guess it went okay. My aim was something like, "Students will learn about finding the area of a shape with 80% accuracy given 6 rectangles. Here, aims are supposed to be quantifiable. My Do Now was some Test Prep examples for the NYS Math Test. We defined area. I looked up the information in the student reference book. I differentiated instruction by giving out two practice work sheets (one high level, one not). I had students sitting in groups according to their abilities. As I explained the directions, I focused on the main ideas of completion that both practice sheets expected (finding the area inside shapes and provide a unit with the answer). The strange thing was that no one seemed to realize that I'd handed out different sheets. I moved from table to table. At the easy tables, the students just had to count the boxes in the shapes. At the other tables, the students had to read the questions about various shapes in order to find the area. When it was time to review, I just focused on getting an answer and did the students' add a unit with their answers. AP1 looked over students' shoulders, and took (what seemed like a lot of notes). At the end, I went back to the aim to see if we accomplished our aim. We didn't, but my students were a bit too eager to say yes we did. I had to explain to them that we didn't. I learned a long time ago that kids will usually say whatever they think the teacher wants them to say. Unfortunately, there are teachers that really don't think about that. They will seek positive answers unconsciously (and consciously), even when they are asking for honest answers.

I better stop now. I want to do a bit of school work, shower, then call it a night. I also want to try out my laminator. I want to make that student check off list.


Post Date - Tuesday, November 27, 2007 9:28PM

Relatively nice day. I had 6 kids out today. Also, due to the school-wide perfect attendance reward, I also lost another 6 kids who went on a mini fieldtrip. For most of the day, I had 6 kids. Nice, but that group included: Beady, Sticky fingers (who by the way got caught trying to steal candy from her literacy teacher's desk [Ms. Across the Hall]). The others 3 were also hyper in their own ways, but I haven't given them names yet. Of the group of 6 only one was a true joy to have in class.

After school, my plan was to be out of school by 5PM, but old habits...you know the rest. I ended up leaving school about 6:30PM. Since I had about 20 minutes for my MN train, I went to the nearby Chinese takeout place. I ordered beef with broccoli. I got home about 7:34PM. The first thing I did was to take a shower, so that I would be ready for bed. In the past, I would jump online almost as soon as I walk through the door. I was hoping for a 10:30PM bedtime, but I will have to settle for 11:30PM bedtime.

Tomorrow is my formal observation. Before I started this blog, I checked a teacher's resource website for differentiated materials. After about an hour browsing, I accepted that I was better off just using the materials I have in class. So far, I am getting the impression that I wasted my money joining that website.

Also, before this blog, I typed up a worksheet for my literacy group (of mostly 4th and 55th graders reading on a second grade reading level. The activity from the anthology text being used called for the students to write a message to someone they wanted to give a hug to. The story read in class was, "Willie's Not the Hugging Kind". It is about a boy who wants huggs but is afraid of looking silly. To "add some meat to the bone", I asked my students to give me 3 paragraphs explaining who they wanted to give a hug to and why(also giving one detailed explanation of a specific incident (or time) when that person showed you kindness.

Well, I better go. Tomorrow, I want to try to make my early train so that I can arrive early for class.

Oh, one last thing. Does anyone else listen to channel 106.7FM on the radio. That used to be my favorite channel, but recently, they switched to a Christmas music channel. Very, very annoying! Now, I've had to switch to WKTU.


Post Date - Monday, November 26, 2007 11:38PM.

New start, or fresh start. I hope so. As my four-day weekend comes to an end. I will be trying to get back on a sane and reasonable track. I also want to do a few things to get back on track in my classroom. I would list them now, but if I did, then by the time I finished, I would be repeat old habit of late night bed time. Hopefully in the coming days, you will be able to see a change from my blog postings. I hope so.

Quick summary. And this time, I do mean quick. Today, I basically ran out the clock. I knew I wouldn't accomplish anything major. My groceries arrived about 3:30PM, they were supposed to arrive between 1PM and 3PM. Luckily, I had no place to go. I did do my laundry. And I did do my lesson plans for next week (so I have a bit of breathing room). For dinner, I had a can of low sodium soup.

If I can manage an 11:15PM bedtime, it would be the first time in a very long time, that I went to bed at a normal hour. Tomorrow, I want to try to avoid getting online unless I've done everything that I need to do. Lately, I have been online a bit too much.

Well, quick means that I should end this now. Hopefully, my next entry will have some thing positive about new or fresh changes back on the road to sanity...I hope.


Post Date - Sunday, November 25, 2007 10:18PM

I did it again. I should not have gone anywhere near my computer. What was meant to be a quick e-mail check, turned into about a 7 hour sitting. My plan was to take a bath, finish my lesson plans (didn't even come close to a monthly plan, I could only focus on next week), do laundry, and go shopping (brick and mortar not online). I also wanted to get on my rowing machine. But other than a few bathroom breaks, I have not moved from this spot. For breakfast, I ate a bowl of frosted mini-wheats (strawberry), and had a 16oz. cup of hot green tea (no sugar). Now it is dinner time, and a day before the last day of the 4-day holiday recess.

Plan now? We'll see.


Post Date - Saturday, November 24, 2007 5:19PM

Quick entry. I have three days to do something productive. My goal now is to do lesson planning for today. I am aiming for 5 weeks of lesson plans and homework sheets(next week and the month of December). If I succeed (or even mostly succeed), then tomorrow will be apt. cleaning day. And Sunday will be my day of rest. I would also like to resume using my rowing machine. Hopefully, I will be able to start going to the gym in December. My routine then will be gym Mondays thru Fridays and rowing machine Saturdays and Sundays.

On Friday, I managed to do some furniture rearranging in my classroom. I moved my desk to the back by the sink and my personal copier. I had enough of the split work space that I'd created. Now, my most of my workspace is in the back corner of the room. The space by the window will now be my teacher's storage space. I've located a shelf and a bunch of colorful crates(for storage space). For some strange reason, my classroom looks bigger now. I did not include a photo because, I only managed to relocation my desk. I had to pile miscellaneous things into the back of the room. Next week, my plan is to tackle the disorder a day at a time. Hopefully, by next Friday, I will have a nice and orderly classroom.

Yesterday was Thanksgiving. My Thanksgiving was fairly quiet. I went to my foster father's place. His lady friend made the Thanksgiving dinner. I bought the cheesecake that one of the school custodians was selling. Sixteen dollars for a cake! The cheapskate in me wanted to say H** No!!! However, since other teachers were buying, I sheepishly followed the crowd.

Anyway, after moving my classroom around, and getting home about 8pm, I really was not in the mood for leaving my bed. I did not get out of bed until about 12PM. I finally did manage to catch the MN to NYC.

I arrived about 4:15PM. My foster father's lady friend's grand daughter was there. When I arrived, I asked if anything was needed from the store, granddaughter suggested ice cream. So, I was back out in a matter of minutes. It was actually a very nice day in terms of the weather.

Lady friend's kids and grand kids arrived. Not a lot of space so, I just kept to the living room. I had brought my lesson plan book and a couple of textbooks, so that I could have something productive to do. However, I spent about 30 minutes, address envelopes for the parents who did not show up for parent teacher conferences. I finally got around to mailing the report cards. I also included a progress report and a print out of their child's pretest results on the reading program we use at my school. I bought the stamps last Saturday.

I waited until Lady friend's kids ate (not a lot of space in the kitchen), then I fixed myself a plate. The dinner was very good. It is nice having a home-cooked meal. Eating Chinese takeout and precook microwavable meals get tiring after awhile. After I finished eating, I washed all of the dishes. I also put most of the food into containers and washed the pots and pans. By the time I finished, it was almost 8PM. I ate a piece of the expensive cheesecake, it was actually pretty good. I was out by 8PM. I ended up missing my train, so I ended up getting home about 10PM. I read the newspaper and skimmed the social studies textbook that I bought with me.

Well, I better go. I already spent too much time on this "quick entry". My breakfast is now cold. I finally opened the organic instant oatmeal. The first difference I noticed was that it was thicker than the other brands.

Well, that's it for now. Hopefully, I can get offline now, eat and then do some lesson planning. I want to stop (whatever I'm doing) by 6PM, I don't want to spend the whole three-day weekend staring at my lesson plans with a mental block. I want to treat today like Sunday, do as much as I can then put the school work away. I'm tired of wasting weekends thinking about school work, procrastinating and avoiding school work, stepping over, pushing aside, sitting on, repositioning...I think you get the picture.


Post Date - Friday, November 23, 2007 10:42AM

Well, I made it to another weekend. This one is a four-day weekend, also carrying the hope of me getting organized. I will be at my father's place for Thanksgiving. My plan is to do some lesson planning there. My goal is to make Thursday and Friday school work days, and Saturday and Sunday "me" work days(shopping and cleaning). I'm am trying again for a months worth of lesson plans along with homework sheets for four or five weeks.

About my "Turkey" bulletin board. I only got one compliment(from Ms. Across the Hall). I did see a couple of teachers sort of looking at it indirectly, but neither said anything. I think the bulletin board came out better than I thought it would, but I still think that it isn't one of my better displays.

My work day. No real drama. With about 2 hours of sleep (5 if you count the crash and burned sleep after dinner), I missed my morning train. I managed to get ready, dress with my coat on, when I looked at my watch. I had about a minute to run to the train. However, I did not feel like running, so I decided to take the later train. At the Bronx, I took a ($15) taxi cab ride to school. I arrived with about 5 minutes to spare (enough time to take my things upstairs then turn around and pick up my students). Today, AP2 had her upper grade feast. Any student who brought something could join. I had about 8 kids go. With the rest, I had the remaining students begin working on their portfolio dividers(photocopiables that can be used to separate the different sections in their portfolios).


Post Date - Wednesday, November 21, 2007 11:50PM

Okay, quick chat. Yes, yes I know, but I will try. I just woke up from a crash and burn sleep in my chair. Quick summary...I hope. Today, my after-school goal is to get a gripe on the mounds of paper cluttering my classroom, mounds of books cluttering corners, and repositioning my furniture. I can no longer take having my "teacher's space" split in half. Remember, I have my teacher's desk by the windows, but my "baby" is in the corner in the back of the room(copy machine). For the past couple of months, I have been alternating between the two areas, however, I spend most of my "off time" in the back. Too many times this year, I've not been able to find something that should have been readily available. No sooner have I gotten a grip on my space, something has been thrown at me, so that I end up making another mound of this or that. If given an opportunity, I think things to have a place, and everything in its place. Uh...so much for quick.\

This morning (really yesterday since it is now after midnight), with about an hour of sleep, I pulled myself out of bed. With about 30 minutes to go, I had to pull myself to together. With a quick "morning rest", I did not have much time to do anything else. I did manage to shave with my new Gillette "fusion" razor. A quick sponge off, I was out of the door to catch my train. I had wanted to try the new organic oatmeal, but I didn't have enough time, not even the 3 minutes it would have taken to boil water.

Once I arrived to the Bronx, I bought a Nutriment drink and iced honey bun.

The kids were a bit hyper today. During my "literacy grouping", a couple of kids had a fight. AP1 called for something, while I was on the phone, the boy threatened to slap the girl. The girl dared him, so he did. Both were 5th graders. Wait. You are saying, "don't you teach 3rd graders?" The "new program" requires me to spend 2 periods teaching a "literacy blocked program" to another completely different group of kids. So, I was assigned to be one of the teachers to teacher students reading at the approx. 2.2 reading level. So, my group of 16 students all 4th and 5th graders are reading at a second grade level (I have one 3rd grader). The kicker, is that I still have to provide the same level of accountability for my regular kids in terms of reading, writing and test prep, without any real knowledge of what they are doing for the "literacy block". The same applies for the kids that I have. Sorry, sidetrack.

I thought I would like this program better than the other, but I guess I was wrong to wish that "anything would be better than the what we have now" wish from last year.

After the literacy block, was to be my prep, but AP1 called at last minute to let me (and the other 3rd grade teachers) know that she wanted us to plan together the homework packet for the Thanksgiving recess. I was annoyed. I did not mind collaborating, but not at the last minute. The nicely put together packet that I had used last year was no longer good enough. We were called together to look through free samples of test prep materials that she picked up at a last admin conference. None of the materials were photocopiable. Unfortunately, I do sometimes photocopy unphotocopiable materials, but I try not to. I rationalize that most materials allow a classroom teacher to copy for the good of his or her students when the motive is not profit related. However, I felt a little bit uncomfortable with admin having us sit down a "white out" some company that took the time to stamp do not photocopy across each page of the test prep book. "Down the hall" 3rd grade teacher noticed that since the copy came out gray and barely noticeable, then we would not need to "white out" much. I really did not want to sit and white out materials, so I went to my class to get some materials that could be photocopied. Strange, I do it alone, but in a group, I have a problem with it. Strange.

When I got back from my "prep", I had about 40 minutes before lunch, I used that time for my students to finish up their "bulletin board" writing. My original bulletin board topic was character sketches. Since I had a couple of students who did not have the teacher's once over, and several students who did not type their report, I did this last minute changed. The plan was that since the "original" idea (writing) was almost finished, then I could use that for next bulletin board which would be the first time, my bulletin board would be completed on time. However, things are not going as planned. The last few days has been trying to get my students to do a decent piece of writing. What I've gotten has been anything but great, but with all of the other things that have to be done, I don't have time to really do a job that I would like to do.

Today after 3PM, after my brief crash and burn recuperation, I put up my "November" bulletin board. It is now Nov. 21st. I read two books:

All About Turkeys by Jim Arnosky
Gracias the Thanksgiving Turkey by by Joy Cowley and Joe Cepeda

My students then had to complete a couple of worksheets (one facts about turkeys and the other a story map). Having my students do rough drafts before doing the worksheets really didn't help very much. The worksheets still came out crappy. Half ignored my corrections. I am going to have to learn to stop accepting crappy work!!!

Afterwards, my students had to make paper turkeys. The worksheets look sloppy, but since I waited until the last minute, I really can't have the kids do it over. After this recess, I really am going to have to work on my organization and classroom management. I have to learn to not accept crap from my students. I did have my camera with me, but I will take a photo today. So my opinion is that I basically put crap up on the wall. However, since a lot of teachers don't really do hands on art activities, I think I might get a few "ooo" and ahhhs".


Post Date - Wednesday, November 21, 2007 1:32AM

Since I'm online (although I shouldn't be), I thought I would post a photo of some of my shopping items. Today, I had to leave school by 5PM in order to be home when my online groceries arrived. It was nice leaving school early (for me).

I arrived home about 6PM. I ate a Healthy Choice meal. I added a cup of microwavable rice to help me fill up. For dessert, I ate a bowl of cold cereal (4 grains of something or other). I fell asleep soon after. I woke up to do a bite of lesson planning and online shopping. One of my students stole my pointer, and I have been having difficulty finding another one in brick and mortar stores. I also bought a couple of themed-books related to the guided reading stories that will be covered in the next couple of weeks. I did the online shopping at Amazon.com. My final cost came to about $23. At first I fell into the "free shipping if you spend more than $25" trap. My bill was originally about $63 (trying to add things to my list to make $25, but I resisted the shopping impulse.

My items arrived about 7:15PM. I ordered a couple of "organic" items (oatmeal and milk). I don't know if it is me, but I liked the milk. I have been trying to only drink skim milk or 2% at the most. I was surprised by the taste. The organic skim milk tasted like 2% milk. Tomorrow (now today), I will try the organic oatmeal for breakfast.

I attached a photo of my online groceries and a few of the items I bought over this past weekend.


Post Date - Tuesday, November 20, 2007 3:58AM

The fact that I'm sitting here blogging tells you that I'm not off to a good start. Just a quick update. This weekend was supposed to be my attempt to get back on track, but once again my train derailed. Saturday, it took me a while to get started, and Sunday was basically the same. On Saturday, I went to the Yonker's post office to buy stamps. I am going to mail of the report cards of the students who parents didn't bother to show up for P/T conferences. I took the local to Yonkers, so I was able to take the express into NYC. I went to my old neighborhood in the Bronx. I went to the big locksmith shop there -- near the location of the former Sears location. I bought a couple of locks for my classroom closets. The cheap clasp that must have been put on by the previous teacher just wasn't cutting the mustard. I also bought a couple of key chains for my school keys. I couldn't decide so I just bought a couple. I like having my keys attached on my belt loop so that I don't lose them. After the lock shop, I went to Staples on Fordam Road. I bought some miscellaneous school supplies; a couple of big calendars (home and classroom), thin-tipped whiteboard markers. -- did I mentioned that I ordered a personal laminator for my classroom, it arrived sometime last week. One of the teachers recommended it. At first I was hesitate, but I grew to like the idea. Although her reason was to do art projects and laminate them for the bulletin board. I'll help my students do art projects, but I am not going to put up my work. It is there work or nothing. I wanted a laminator more for organization reasons. For example laminating a student check off list, so I can keep track of students completing specific assignments. Having a posted "check off" list will help me (and my students) keep track of who didn't do the assignment, rather than scribbling do on a paper that I misplace from time to time. Just one example.

Anyway, after Staples, I went to visit my foster father. Since I hadn't visited in a while, I thought it would be nice to check-in.

As I approached the building, his ladyfriend was coming in the opposite direction. She started complaining about my father's mean-spirited ways. I suggested that he was getting old, frustrated and angry at getting old. He is probably lashing out at anyone he can, and she is the easiest target. She should have gotten out when I did. She has been saying for years that she wants to leave and get her own place, but never does. I suspect that having her there has been good for my father. Some people age gracefully, and others age aggressively...my father is the lather. He is a fighter, and has no intention of going quietly. Anyway his ladyfriend complained of the ornery things my father had done the last few days. She said that she needed to get out of the apartment to get some breathing room, and to get some aspirin for the pain in her legs. Since the drug store was closed, and the imitation 5 & 10 shop was about a block away, she was going to the corner bodega even though it would be more expensive. She didn't want to walk the extra block, so I volunteered to buy the aspirin at the 5 & 10 store and go for her. It was about an extra ten minutes for me, but it would have been much longer for her. Anyway, I stayed about half an hour. The visit was basically who died, was dying, and who's very sick. Also, the conversation was about how no one listens to the experience he's had. Unfortunately, my visit didn't have the usual result. My foster father was very happy to see me, but he didn't let go of (for lack of a better phrase) the "bitter behavior". Usually, when I arrive, my foster father smiles, and I can change the subject to pleasant this and that casual conversations. However, no matter how much I changed the subject to the minor/casual conversation, he would always come back to the "dying" topic, also, he gave examples of the ornery behavior. He told me how "he gave the boy downstairs hell" for being outside without a jacket. Luckily, I have "the train" excuse to leave with relative ease. If I miss my train, I'll have to wait a whole hour for the next train. He wanted me to stay, but I really didn't. The way "ladyfriend" was looking at me as I left, I think she also wanted me to stay. I still have the delusion that I will be more productive tomorrow running through my head. I might spend the night for Thanksgiving. Better yet, I might come the day before Thanksgiving, and leave Thanksgiving evening. The only reason to spend the night is that I think it would make my foster father very happy. We all get old, and I know it is only a matter of time before my time comes.

I am wayyy of track...


My Sunday started with checking e-mail. Big mistake! My computer has become a parasite that sucks the emotional lifeforce from me. Any plans, motivation, or will dissipates when my computer comes on. Since I've had about 6 or 7 e-mails in the past two and a half months, checking e-mails is a pointless endeavour. But, I am a glutton for punishment. After "checking my e-mail", I replied to a survey. I mentioned doing an online shopping a few weeks ago. Well, having not done it again, caused me to receive a "we missed you, what have we done wrong" e-mail/survey. Since several things were not available at the time, I really didn't think about doing the online shopping again. Anyway, having started the survey, I decided to do some online grocery shopping. This time there were more options. So, what should have been a couple of minute survey, turned into about an hour shopping trip in front of my computer. After shopping, I took a bath. I was out of the tub and on the MN by 1:30PM. I need to go to the teacher's store in Brooklyn. For some strange reason, I can't find glue sticks for my mini glue gun. Target sells the mini glue gun, but they sell the gun without the glue sticks. For the last month or so, Target (in the Bronx) has not had the sticks. Staples has the heavy duty glue gun with the heavy duty sized sticks. Anyway, for my bulletin board turkeys, I need more glue. I also wanted to buy the January idea book. My goal is to plan for the month of December during the Thanksgiving holiday/vacation. Anyway, arriving at the teacher's store, I ended up spending about $70 dollars. I bought three packs of glue sticks, black history workbooks, math, science and social studies test prep workbooks, rubber stamps (please sign and return, and please correct)etc...

After the teacher's store, I went to Wendy's for lunch (MacDonald's was very crowded). I actually liked Wendy's meal better. The hamburger and fries had a better taste...to me. I think MacDonald's food taste more processed.

After Wendy's, I rode that train back to the Bronx. I corrected papers on the train ride to and from Brooklyn. In the Bronx, I went to Target to have my blood pressure medicine refilled. With the 20 minute wait time, I browsed the aisles. I wasn't planning to buy anything, but I did. I bought "Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials" (the trilogy of The Golden Compass, the Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass) 933 pages. The Golden Compass movie is coming out soon. It will be nice to read the book before I go. Yes, I'm still reading The Storm of Swords. And yes, the story is still dragging on. I also bought some Healthy Choices meals.

I was back home about 6PM. After reading the Sunday paper, I started grading more papers. I ate a Healthy Choice meal, I mixed a cup of microwavable rice to the meal to help my fill up. I fell asleep soon afterwards, and woke up. Now, I'm blogging.

Well, I better go. It is late. I still have to type up my homework sheet. Today, I have to leave school by 5PM. I need to be home by 6PM to be home when my grocery order arrives.


Post Date - Monday, November 19, 2007 2:25AM

Quick entry. How many times have I typed that? Anyway, short entry...How many...never mind.

I've been a bit out of it recently. I have not been able to blog recently. Just read previous entries to see the negative behavior that I've been adopting.

Today, I was suppose to have my last PD Saturday class. However, I was too tired this morning. Going to bed at 4:30AM didn't help. Especially when I needed to get up at 6AM. When the alarm went off, I just was not in the mood. Also, the instructor mentioned that the last day would basically be applying the different skills that we learned. I also have assignments to grade, and lesson plans to write. I also need to go to the teacher's supply store to buy a couple of items. My plan now is to do my lesson planning today. Laundry and food shopping also. Tomorrow's plan is to do some assignment grading, and a visit to the teacher's store.

I would also like to go to the post office to send off report cards for those parents that did not attend the Parent/Teacher Conference.

Well, we'll see what I get done.


Post Date - Saturday, November 17, 2007 2:24PM

End of the three-day weekend. Not much to report. I managed to finish my report cards. After procrastinating for the last couple of weeks, I finished...Late. Having been used to to disorganization of Admin. I (and several other teachers) were expecting to have the report card deadline on Tuesday. Yes, the day of the afternoon Parent/Teacher Conference. Since in the deadline has been due by the P/T day in the past, it was no surprise when there was no announcement of a due day. Unfortunately, I fell into that trap. I should have known better to let my guard down. Anyway, with a posting in the daily bulletin on Thursday that report cards are due on Friday took several teachers by surprise. My plan was to leave early on Thursday, and have the report cards finish. I'm very good with deadlines, train times, etc.... Unfortunately, when the time changes unexpectedly, then I get caught. Either missing the train, or in this case, missing the deadline. I was annoyed with myself more than with admin. However, other teachers seem to have felt that since the due date was so short, then it isn't the teacher's fault that the report cards are not in by the due day. I sort of verbally went along with the group, but inside I was still annoyed with myself more than with admin. After all, the report cards were handed out about 2 weekends ago.

Anyway, I had missed the deadline, so this three-day weekend became my report card avoidance weekend. I had three days to get them done, but I wasted the weekend avoiding them until the last minute. I was also annoyed that I couldn't find my grade book, nor assignments that I did grade that could have help make my grading easier.

After sleeping most of the weekend away, I finally got the cards done. I also managed to finally type in my students names into a grading program that I've used in the past. I finally stopped being a cheapskate and paid for the upgrade from the free CD that I've been using for several years....Big Mistake!!!

The changes to the program either were designed to highlight my stupidity, or just to aggravate me. the new changes now don't allow changes to the reports that are printed. I spent about a half an hour trying to merge a students grades from two separate "classes" into one. The grading program uses a program that isn't Microsoft compatible. It does ask if I want to convert the individual file (each student's saved file), but when I click yes, it converted the report into something unreadable. Now I'm thinking that it might just be easier to do my own grading onto an Excel file. It is a bit annoying to have to print out 38 pages when I only needed 18.

I better end this, tomorrow (now today) is Parent/Teacher Conference. On Friday, after helping "Across the Hall" input her test scores into the computer, and help show her how to access the reading reports for the reading program we use at school, I did not get to clean my classroom. I would have stayed longer -- there were several teachers still in school getting ready for P/T Conf. However, I think Across the Hall was a bit nervous about walking to the train now that it is dark. I'm sure she would have gone if she needed to, but I did tell her that I would be finish by 6PM. Since it was 6PM and I did say that I would be ready, I left my classroom a mess.

I'm hoping I will be able to catch the early MN train. I want copies of my report cards before I hand them it, AP1 can sometimes be forgetful. I also want to print out my homework.


Post Date - Tuesday, November 13, 2007 1:07AM

Another week of procrastinating. This time it finally caught up with me. But before that, a quick update.

Tuesday, November 6th Election Day
Today was Election Day. The students were not in attendance, but the school was opened to the public as a polling station. For teachers, today was a professional development day. A fairly wasted day. Teachers were divided up into the groupings of the new reading program.

*First "training" session, was math. The math coach was in charge of training, but was not prepared. He showed up with nothing but the letter to the staff that he'd just typed up. The letter basically repeated what was written in a previous memo to the staff written a few days ago. The math coach is nice, but often he seems to like the sound of his voice. He likes to use big words, and he likes to talk. His "training" was basically chatting with the group about this and that. Finally, AP2 took over the training with a "what works and what doesn't T chart". I thought an honest response would be useful to the discussion. Unfortunately, Queen Bee walked in to observe.

My comment was that we have so many different assessments, that I end up not really looking at the results because as soon as one is given and graded, another one is around the corner. I'd mentioned that I recognized the need for a variety of assessments, but what good is an assessment if time is not set aside to analyze the results and formulate a plan of action....

I should have kept my big mouth shut!

Queen Bee and AP2 started having a heated (but nice and professional) discussion about "what he meant". After about 2 or 3 minutes, they turned to me. I just said that both were correct. Queen Bee asked how many math assessments we had this month (3), and how many questions in the last in-house assessment (10). The result, was the belief that 10 questions really isn't a lot to grade. I just nodded keeping my mouth shut. I wanted to say that that thinking implied that teaching is done in isolation. Forgetting about the other areas that take up the teacher's time:

The new reading program with all of the minute details, the math program, the hands-on science program, the test prep program, city-wide assessments (E-CLAS), checking homework, keeping bulletin boards updated monthly, conferencing with individual students, assessing students as individuals, differentiating instruction for the students.

To be honest, for me, I have only managed a few of the list above at any one time. Each time I have a plan to do one thing, something comes up, and I push one thing aside to tackle the next thing. Sorry, I am getting sidetrack. Basically flexibility is something that I need to work on.

Anyway, the "what's right/wrong" math training ended. The next training was a closer look at the new reading program. According to AP2, the training was suppose to be led by the literacy coach 2. But since she(LC2) was still working with her first session group, AP2 decided to show us the new materials for the new reading program. Strange. I was a bit lost. A little background.

The new reading program started about mid October. It took me a bit of time to get use to the anthology text and the materials that did not match the training materials. It turns out that the materials that we have been using were the old materials of the program. Since the new materials hadn't arrived, Admin made an executive decision to use the old program, but forgot to mention that to the lowly staff, or they did and I just was not paying attention. Anyway, the new materials will be arriving over the next few days. The old materials were based on an anthology text, but the new materials are based on paperback trade books. What will happen with the old materials when the new materials arrive. There was only a couple of shrugged shoulders. By the end of the "training", Lit. coach 2 arrived. There was some mistake, according to her, she wasn't supposed to do a training session. The training time was supposed to be teachers working independently in their classrooms with organizing and planning with the new program materials. However, she stayed to answer questions AP2 could not answer. AP2 is in charge of the test prep materials. LC2 is the one in charge of the new reading program. After a bit of Q & A, it was time for the next "training".

The third training starting "a bit late" was led by AP1 (looking at student portfolios). AP1 asked a couple of teachers to share what a student's portfolio should contain. AP1 provided feedback as to what Admin is looking for. After the two portfolio presentations, AP1 asked us to do a written feedback about what we would use in the coming weeks. She said that the purpose of writing was that we would receive a copy of what we wrote, but I think she will probably forget, sometimes she can be a bit forgetful.

Next on the agenda was "report cards" with no explanation, none of the teachers I asked seemed to know what that meant, either working on report cards, or finishing report cards. The third "training" ended about 12PM. When I asked about the location of the next training session (report cards) since the nicely written agenda had lunch at 12:30PM. Since the trainings were a bit off schedule, the fourth session was unofficially cancelled. AP2 just told me that if nothing specific is given then I should just work in my classroom. I decided to use the staff copy machine in the science lab. This year, I told myself that I would try to use my personal copy machine for emergencies only, but so far I've been using my personal copier like it was a heavy duty machine. Also, Across the Hall has gotten comfortable with asking to make a few copies every now and then. My hints about expensive ink and drum replacement no longer have much effect. But since she is a nice person and I enjoy her company, it doesn't bother me too much. Anyway, I managed to make all of my copies for the week. And I did a bit of running here and there, before I decided to eat lunch. I decided to pass on the usually "Principal's lunch special (cold cuts and lunch [potato, mac & cole] salads. I had a Healthy Choice meal. It was about 1:10PM when I was about to sit down for lunch, when AP2 made the following announcement over the loudspeaker:

"All teachers, report to their afternoon training locations at 1:15PM."

I was told that according to Admin's watch, lunch started at 12:15PM. I was so annoyed that I decided that I would eat lunch and arrive late to the "training".

For my group, afternoon training session was the grading of the city-wide ELA practice test. Then about 2:50PM, Dr. Data (a former high school teacher with a PhD hired to be a data analysis) announces that teachers will have to find time to input the grading students received for each extended response question. I was annoyed to put it mildly. My plan was to be out of the building at 3PM or 3:30PM, the earliest I've ever be out this school year. I was also annoyed that I was the one who mentioned twice that the teacher's directions mentioned that the individual gradings for each questions would need to be uploaded to the testing site. I mentioned it the first time it was suggested that teachers needed to read the directions...and I did. I also mentioned it the day of the test. A total waste of breath, day, time, and effort. For the remaining half hour, Dr. Data kept for lack of a better word "schmoozing" the crowd about how technology has arrived and how we need to not be afraid of it. Then she wanted us to scribble down the website address. I just got fed up. I (politely) asked her to write down the necessary information. I was thinking in memo form, but she misunderstood, and scratched down the website address on a piece of paper. I had wanted the address written down because I don't have good luck with web sites or email addresses. In the end, I spent about 30 minutes trying to find the website because Dr. D forgot an "s" in the address. Dr. D is actually a very nice person, but that incident just annoyed me.

Oh and during the last 15 minutes of training, the "Spanish" teacher passed out evaluations for each teacher. I think I will have to drop the quotation marks from Spanish teacher. This year, he seems to be doing a bit of Spanish in his lessons I've been told. He made note of each person he hand delivered an evaluation to. And...each evaluation required that the recipient wrote down his or her name on the evaluation. About 3PM, AP2 announced that all evaluations had to be submitted to Mr. Spanish. And being a "dutiful" teacher....he walked the various rooms collecting the evaluations.

I was out of the building about 6PM.

Well, I was going to just summarized a few days but it is late. I will do the summary another time. This three day weekend I need to finish my students report cards. I also want to do my lesson planning.


Post Date - Sunday, November 11, 2007 1:28AM.

Not much new to share. Another mental meltdown. I did not finish lesson planning or my homework sheet. "Falling Back" really didn't seem like a big deal. My day was okay. Oh, I forgot to mention that I received a couple of new students almost days apart. One is a boy who received an emergency transfer. Apparently, he was stabbed with a pencil, and received the transfer the very next day. Came to school with no pencils or notebook. Oh, and he lost his brand-new math book that I'd given him in about 3 days. The other newbie is a girl who speaks no English only Spanish.

Today the kids were okay (relatively speaking). Today was also a faculty meeting. Another forced "suggestion" session. Apparently our school received an A in some categories of the new NYC school grading system. The meeting ended about 4pm. My plan was to be out of the building by 4:30pm, but I ended up leaving about 5:38pm. As I walked to the train station, about 3 trains passed at 2 or 3 minute interval, then I when I arrived, no train comes for quite a while. About 15 minutes a train came and left skipping my station. Another 15 minutes past before a train finally came. It was so crowded that I did not bother trying to get on with my granny cart. I ended up taking the next train. I arrived home about 7:15pm (almost two hours travel time).

Finally, tomorrow is Election Day. The students have the day off, for teachers, it is a professional development day. Today, I pretended that tomorrow was a regular day. I cleaned and got organized as if the students were coming in tomorrow. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will be able to leave at 3pm. We'll see.


Post Date - November 5, 2007 8:11pm

Hi sa shi buri desu ne (Japanese). "It has been a while". Sorry, if you've read my blog over a period of time, you'll know (or can probably get a sense) when I am in a "mood". I really did not feel like blogging. Boredom at the moment is the reason I'm blogging now. I was planning to type my students' information into Excel, but I got lazy. Well, since I am here, I might as well do a catch up, however, by now so much is just shades of repetition.

First up, (random) near blog entries that never got written:

*Shoulder pain so bad that I could barely lift my right arm. Luckily, it was only for a day. I don't know what caused it, but it is gone.
*Sticky Finger drama. The step-mom wanted the cell phone that birth-mom said to throw away. Finally met Sticky finger's father. A week of teary-eyed fear has dissipated to the same vague response to the "I'm going to speak to your father". A follow-up meeting with the father did not yield the same "teary-eyed" fear.

*School newsletter drama. My offer to submit a photo of my bulletin board (to avoid having to write anything)turned into a last minute "blurb" that required me to fill 3/4 of the page. And it needed to be done and finished because of the deadline by "today". And after submitting a 2 paragraph summary of the paragraph along with a student's sample of the spider report by 5pm. The principal was impressed with what I'd submitted, but didn't know how it could be glued into the final newsletter draft. I submitted a paper copy to let her know what was available in digital form upstairs, but "cutting and pasting" and "reshaping" seemed alien to "Blackberry Queen". Anyway, after submitting the summary, the principal put it into a folder and said that the secretary would finish it tomorrow. In the end, only the single photo was used with a one-line caption that basically said, "nice work, keep up the good work!". I was planning to post the article submission and photo here, but now the moment has past. If I remember, I'll at least post a photo of the bulletin board.
*And finally, I could spend the next 15 or 20 minutes with the same "I ate, I walked, I slept" as previous entries to summarize the last week, but I won't. I'll just do today's. :)

So now, I am caught up. Now, a quick summary of today. Professional development class in Queens meant a two hour commute there. This week, we learned mail merge. Last week, we learned how to use Microsoft's Excel program. Both lessons were very interesting. With mail merge, I can send a personalize form letter to each student and/or their parents. With Excel, I can organize students' testing data. Both lessons made the 2 hour commute worthwhile. Our last class will be in two weeks. The last class is supposed to apply all of the skills we learned. Although I found that class very useful, that sounds like a lot of down time. We have to bring in 3 lesson plans and/or documents that we can apply the skills on. Oh, I almost forgot, we also learned about PowerPoint today. I'm not really a big PowerPoint fan, but I think it was still useful to learn.

On the commute back to Yonkers, I continued to read "A Storm of Swords". On the ride to the PD class, I was thinking about dropping the book. I was annoyed at the adult content that would appear every now and then. "Women are whores. She takes him in her mouth. She was striped naked and thrown in the street. He's hard. He's inside her." Etc... And I am only on the 168th(of 973) pages. If I am going to read adult content, it would not be in science fiction. I was also annoyed at the book's layout. Each chapter is focused on one character (and there are about 7 or 8 main characters). Everyone has a barely pronounceable name. Anyway, on the train ride back home, the first scene where characters (or just events) are finally coming together....I think. Up until now, I felt like I was reading seven or eight different books. I have to keep going back to the last time the character's chapter last appeared to remember what happened. I bought the book thinking that it was a combination of sword and sorcery along with some political intrigue with royal houses. The royal intrigue part is there, but it might be a bit over my head. With the first near overlapping of story lines, I will hold out a bit longer before deciding to drop this book. Being a bit of a cheapskate, I hate the thought of throwing my money away for a book that I don't read.

On my way home, I remembered that new bulletin boards are due by Friday, Nov. 9th. I got off the train -- oh, there was track work on the #1, #2 and #3 train line, but it did not really affect me. Anyway, I got off the train at 116th street. I went to the teacher's College Bookstore. Wow, what slim pickings. There were about 4 colors left, and a not very good selection of borders. I'm assuming that with Parent / Teacher Conference days away, teachers are redoing their bulletin boards. Anyway, I settled for a lite purple paper with a slightly darker border with a flower pattern. I asked a lady also shopping for her opinion just to make sure it matched. After stopping at the bank, I headed for home.

I was home about 5pm. And, I was asleep within minutes of arriving. I woke up about 8pm. Since I had a big lunch, I didn't eat dinner. I ordered take out from a Spanish restaurant in the school's neighborhood. I ordered Spanish rice and chicken. That was my day.


Post Date - Saturday, November 3, 2007 10:42pm