Thursday, June 12th
Today was much rougher than it should have been. The kids were in one of their extremely hyper moods. Today was a half day, but it felt like a very long full day.

This morning I managed to catch my regular train, so no taxi today. My hypers came in late, and started pushing buttons. Since only about 6 kids paid for the movie trip tomorrow, I'm not going. In order for me to go, I would have to find teachers willing to take my students (mostly hypers) who can't go for one reason or another. That would mean trying to find places for about 12 students. Since most of the younger grades will be going to the movie, my options were even more limited. That put me in a bad mood. I was suppose to have had a parent meeting during my prep period, but the prep teacher was assigned to teach a class, so no prep today. I also stressed over meeting the parent, but the parent was a no-show. My kids were so hyper that I ended up sending out 4 students to sit in different teacher's rooms. Once those 4 were out, the class calmed down. Unfortunately, the softy in me called them back after the period was over. When I send out kids, I try to not leave the "headaches" out of the room for too long. When they came back, there was basically more of the same hyper behavior.

Today was a half day for students. Teachers did our new class formation. We also got a chance to see the tentative faculty placement for the 2008~2009 school year.
Changes:
* The kindergarten teacher who was moved to 6th grade "mixed abilities" class was reassigned back to kindergarten.
* A kindergarten teacher who talks of retiring from time to time was assigned a 2nd grade classroom(no, not the extreme talker).
* Ms. Across the Hall was assigned to move up to what will be a 4th grade "mixed abilities" class. She is understandably upset. Last year she had to move her things down to the second floor, now she has to move her things back to the third floor. She will once again be sharing a classroom with another teacher.
* One of the strong 2nd grade teachers was assigned the 3rd grade that would have been Ms. ATH's class. In terms of classroom management, I used to be in the middle between Ms. Down the Hall and Ms. Across the Hall. Now with the strong 2nd grade teacher as a third grade teacher, I become the weaker teacher of the three in terms of classroom management. Luckily, I have organization and some creativity in my corner. However, I will have to take it up a notch next year. I don't want to be seen to being left behind(or seem to be the lowest). Sorry, I have a bit of a competitive streak in me.

From 1PM to 3PM, teachers were in the student's cafeteria making the new classes, and doing administrative work on student cumulative records. My plan was to be out of the building by 3:30PM. However, today was one of those days. Each time I tried to leave, I noticed that I wouldn't make my MN train, so I waited for the next (approx.)train time. I finally left about 6:02PM, and miss my MN train by about 2 minutes. I arrived home about 7:14PM.


Completion Date - Friday, June 13, 2008 1:04AM
Post Date - Saturday, July 5, 2008 11:29AM

Half-Day. I was supposed to have a prep this morning, that would have made my half day better, but no, I did not get a prep period today.

Today was the half day for making the new classes for the next school year. I was expecting to get a better idea of the admin's plans for teacher placement. I mean, part of the logic is to try to balance out the high, mediums, and lows of the students. But also, it is a good idea to try to match students to teachers. So, how were the classes decided? One of the assistant principals came into the student caferteria to put down post-its on various tables. Teachers had to make classes according to groups "A", "B", and "C". We have no idea who will teach which groups. A "very, very tentative faculty placement sheet was distributed (about 4 or 5 only). The tentative sheet was basically the same with only one change. The UFT rep. (currently a kindergarten teacher) after being in kindergarten level for about 4 or 5 years, will "tentatively" be placed in the special ed 6th grade class...ouch!!! Oh, and a vacancy for a first grade class will be going to a stranger. I think the principal is trying to say something. Hmmm....

Oh, and the annoucement that the "very, very tentative faculty placement sheet is just a rough draft. "There might be more changes at a later date". Since that "there might be changes" statement was made several times, we can expect the new sheet will look very different.

After the reorganization, I returned to my room to put up the hall bulletin board. Why, with only about 2 weeks left? My students wrote their own poems, and I had them type it up. I thought that was worth putting up, even if for a few days.

I was out of the building about 6:30pm. There was a bit of a thunderstorm, but not much. Since I had missed the 7:47pm train, I decided to go shopping.I made a quick stop at Target to buy a bulk pack of soap. I then went to buy some milk and bread.

At home, I had Campbell's low sodium soap, and a couple of slices of wheat toast.

Time for me to end this for now...

Post Date - Tuesday, June 12, 2007 10:18pm

Half-Day! Today was a clerical half-day for teachers. It is almost that time. I can almost see the light at the end of this dark and dreary tunnel. Of course, my students were hyper as usual. Number 1 Hyper (Yes, the one of seven with another one on the way) came in late, told me that his father told him to behave. He has told me a couple of times that he does not listen to his mother. And not even two minutes later, he grabbed a classmate's paper and wanted the classmate to chase him around the classroom. Far be it for me to expect a half day to be reasonably easy. The day also started with a last minute prep schedule changed. Notification came on the loudspeaker for 3rd grade teachers to bring their classes to the auditorium; third grade teachers would be meeting with the test prep coordinator to discuss the new materials that would be used for next (school) year.

I used the remainder of the morning for students to work on organizing their Portfolios. I also used the morning for the last few students to finish typing their personal poems. Lunch (for the students) was at 11:00; teachers had to stay with their classes during the shortened lunch period. After lunch, the students returned to class, packed and dismissed.

After lunch, teachers were supposed to arrived in the cafeteria at 1:15 to begin clerical work. Before I arrived, I went to one of the 3rd grade teacher's classrooms to ask what I needed to bring. She was not there, but her para (teacher's assistant) was. She was very eager to help (in her own way). She told me that the teacher was not there, but maybe she could be of assistance. I said okay. No sooner did I say okay, I started getting a "I've been doing this for 20 years, I know what I'm doing, let me help you speech". All that from an okay. She told me all I needed to bring was the "reorganization class list".

I arrived in the cafeteria on time, but no one was there. I thought I was in the wrong place, but people started arriving about 5 minutes after me. As soon as I got settled with the other third grade teachers, an announcement on the loudspeaker informs all teachers that their rooms must be unlocked to receive a free bookcase from a program that the school applied for a won. The announcement was repeated, so teachers had to scramble up to unlock their doors. I returned, only to then find out that I needed to bring the office cards, and my record can, so that meant another trip up 3 flights of stairs. Long story short, Ms. 20 years was not very helpful. Oh, and the bookcases? The assistant principal later came to apologize for not having enough bookcases for everyone.

I was a little annoyed with myself. I was planning to be out of the building at 3pm, but I ended up leaving about 4:45. It was like it was not even a half day. Somehow, I ended up having an incomplete set of office cards for my students, so the first clerical day was spent filling out new cards. I stayed after 3pm to finish filling out the cards, and cleaning up (as usual) my classroom from the mess the students left behind.

I returned home about 5:30pm. I did not feel like cooking, so I went to buy some Chinese take out (beef with broccoli on brown rice). I returned home (again) at 6pm. I ate dinner, and fell asleep soon after. I woke up about 1am. I did my lesson plans for tomorrow (today actually), and now I am posting this blog entry.

Before I go, I suppose I should briefly summarize my Sunday.

Late start. Hot oatmeal for breakfast. I cut my hair and then shaved my head. And showered. I decided to go to the Bronx (to my old shoebox neighborhood), to buy some flavored Cream of Wheat. For some strange reason, the store there is the only place I know that sells favored cream of wheat. I was also planning to do a little bit of shopping at the Target in the Bronx, but the lines there were unreal, so I skipped Target. After buying the cream of wheat, I went to the Staples in the Bronx. I needed to buy more plastic sheet protectors for my students portfolios. From Staples, I went to Manhattan. My plan was to visit my foster father, but there was no answer on the phone so I passed. I went to the nearby discount store to buy some window screens and a plastic black shelf unit ($22). I've been waiting about a couple of months of "we will get some more in stock next week". I finally got the shelving unit. I will now be able to pick up and get a little bit organized.

I returned home Sunday about 6:50pm. I went to the laundry in the building complex. After washing a couple of loads and completing the 30 minute drying cycle. I ended up having to hang up all of my clothes (not just my white shirts and slacks). The dryer was turning, but there was no heat.

Well, I think that is about it...Oh, I just realized some of you (readers) may be wondering why the "Post by.." and my Post Date do match. Posted by is the starting time I first begin writing the blog. Post date is the time I finished.

Post Date - Tuesday, June 5, 2007 2:56am