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

Three-day weekend has begun. I have nothing to write, so I will just ramble for a few minutes. I did not even take notes for things I wanted to write about. I am basically bored at the moment. My Saturday was the usual, lots of sleeping. I woke up today about 9am. I had cold cereal for breakfast, surfed the internet for about an hour...and went back to bed.

I woke up again about 3pm, I ate another bowl of cold cereal, and went back online. I'm still in my pajamas, with the windows closed. Let's see, anything about last week....

Last week, the stress focus was E-PAL. E-PAL is a sister assessment program to E-CLAS (measuring listening, reading, and writing skills). I like E-CLAS, but E-PAL seemed pointless. I feel E-CLAS gave useful information about individual students current skills. E-PAL just seemed like a waste of time. I was annoyed about the layout and the story choice. The listening component was about some ugly towers in Watts, California. Since the literacy coach gave my students a practice test a day or two before on an interesting topic (bats) that required them to write their little hearts out. When this test came around, they rebeled. They were not into it, did not do their best, complained that it wasn't a real test etc...Then, I had to grade their tests. The results were due Friday, May 25th. So, what do the results show? I don't have a clue.

Next stress focus will probably be the science "Expo". All year, I kept asking if there would be a science fair. The answer was always no. Then, a couple of weeks ago, a note appeared in the school's daily bulletin about contributing something to the school science "Expo". This was during E-CLAS time where each child needs about 30 to 40 minutes each to be assessed. Then the results had to be "bubbled in" onto grid sheets.

Administration is nice, but not very organized. Yes, that coming from the guy sleeping on piles of papers. MY home (and life) is a boring wreak, but my professional life is very organized...at least that is the appearance. At work, I am the envy of those around me for my organizational skills. If they only knew...

Oh, schedule change. Yes, with about 20 something days left, the AP responsible for the prep schedule, started to implement a schedule change...months too late. The theory is that halfway through the school year, the programs that students did not received during the Fall term, they would have an opportunity during the Spring term. For example let's say "Spanish" >o<...sorry, I had to contain a laugh. I'm not going to go there...

Anyway, programs should be rotated. That is the theory. But, for some strange reason, after passing out only "Mondays" new prep schedule, On Friday it was annouced that "Mondays" schedule would be THE regular schedule for the remainder of the school year. So, my students now have Science 5 days a week. I got lucky...I meant my students got lucky. I just feel sorry for those that have Spanish...>o< I am not a great, or even a good teacher, but I do know something about teaching. Teaching in the inner city lesson 101, classroom management is vital to teaching anything and everything.

Oh, that reminds me about a conversation I overheard on the Metro-North on my way to work. Nomally, I actively try to avoid listening to other people's conversation, but this one I could not.

Have you ever had a conversation with a "know it all", someone who has an answer for everything? The guy on the train was one. Below is the synopsis of the conversation about a row back from where I was sitting:

A group of 3 men, and a woman (later another woman arrived Ms. Late-comer)...

The conversation (mostly...almost exclusively done by Mr. Talker)..

Mr. T: ...Anyway, in my garden, I hand plant the grass seeds...bla, bla..plants..bla, bla...flowers...bla, bla..

At Yonkers...

Mr. T: Oh, you made it.
Ms. L: What time does the train arrive?
Mr. T: Oh, you must have got up late.
Ms. L: I don't usually take the train.
Mr. T: 6:37.

Later that evening just out of curiousity, I checked the train schedule. I am guessing the group usually gets on at Tarrytown.

Mr. T: So how is the job.
Ms. L: Hate it.
Mr. T: Oh, really. Teaching is a difficult job.
Ms. L: Oh, It is not the material. It's the kids.
Mr. T: The key is to have very high expectations. Let the kids know that you have high expectations, and they will rise to your expectations.

--------------------------------

Sorry, it is not working. I wanted to try to capture the mood and the moment. I left out a lot. Long story short. No matter the topic of the group, Mr. T would put in his two cents. From the conversation, I don't think the guy was a teacher, he talked about what he learned in "OOO" college. At the moment, I can't remember the name of the college, but when someone goes out of their way to mention by name, then it was probably one of the well-known colleges.

Basically the guy just kept going on and on about what the woman should do to handle the kids. At the same time Ms. L. was explaining about rude, disrespect kids, and the parents that support the kids. No matter what the woman said, Mr. T had an answer (or a comment) that if the teacher has high expectations, then things would not be so bad. I finally had to jump in the conversation. I just made the comment that there is more to teaching than high expectations, and more influences to the success of the students then high expectations....Mr. T. went back to talking about his garden.

I forgot to mention the few (3 I think) special assemblies we had. One was about how we are all Kings and Queens. The show started with Hip Hop, and ended with encouraging the "Kings and Queens" (student volunteers from the audience) on stage to dance to the Hip Hop song blasting from the speakers.

The other was a Hip Hop inspired retelling of a famous opera. Sorry, I forgot which one. This production was about a former drug dealer (now preacher), who has to deal with his son who is now a drug dealer. The son's best friend (also a drug dealer) dies in the son's arms. The son runs away, but returns for the funeral, and reforms.

The other special assembly was from another group. The topic was about physical and sexual child abuse. The stories were told with puppets.

My opinions? I would be here all day if I gave it.

Well, I think that is about it. Usually now would be the time I would write about my plans to be more productive, and get organized, but now, I am tired. I am just going to end this for now.

Have an enjoyable three-day weekend!

Post Date - Saturday, May 26, 2007 4:50pm.