i don't know what to title this post.
these past two weeks haven't been great, but i came home today after an OK day and thought to myself, i love these kids.
they work my nerves--they know exactly how to--but i love them.
i was frustrated with them one day this week and i told them, i love you guys and you guys all know it and-- and then one of my students interrupted me to say ms b, we know you love us, we love you!
and even though i was frustrated at that moment, i was also smiling.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
oh lord
well back from spring break has been quite the adventure.
spring break was WONDERFUL a true vacation and EXACTLY what i needed. i would go back to jamaica in a heart beat!
the re-entry back into the real world was not quite as fun.
today, for example.
the executive director of TFA STL came to my school today to meet with a 2nd year corps member. he popped into my room before going to meet the other corps memeber. OMG. MY KIDS WERE OFF THE CHAIN (which is partly my fault for poor planning). after he left, i literally stood, shell shocked in my classroom, when one of my students came up and wanted to talk to me about what he had been asking her, and then she saw my face and was just like "he was important, wasn't he" and i said "yep, he's like a bosses boss" and my kids heard that, and saw my face and they all were like "omg, ms b, we're so sorry!" and i just stood there and was like, do your work..... in the five minutes we have left of class.
i'm sad that he had to come in when he did, i planned poorly for that last 20 min of class and had already thrown out 2 students for the same 'ol same 'ol and was just tired of the shenanigans. ugh
i did hear later though that he said it was obvious i had really good relationships with my students. which is a compliment, but yea, the time he was in the classroom did not go well.
i am thankful that i have good relationships with my students, but in same ways it can be hard too--sometimes i think they see me as a friend type more than a teacher type. not all the time, but sometimes. oh well. i'm glad i have the relationships i do with my students in the end.
spring break was WONDERFUL a true vacation and EXACTLY what i needed. i would go back to jamaica in a heart beat!
the re-entry back into the real world was not quite as fun.
today, for example.
the executive director of TFA STL came to my school today to meet with a 2nd year corps member. he popped into my room before going to meet the other corps memeber. OMG. MY KIDS WERE OFF THE CHAIN (which is partly my fault for poor planning). after he left, i literally stood, shell shocked in my classroom, when one of my students came up and wanted to talk to me about what he had been asking her, and then she saw my face and was just like "he was important, wasn't he" and i said "yep, he's like a bosses boss" and my kids heard that, and saw my face and they all were like "omg, ms b, we're so sorry!" and i just stood there and was like, do your work..... in the five minutes we have left of class.
i'm sad that he had to come in when he did, i planned poorly for that last 20 min of class and had already thrown out 2 students for the same 'ol same 'ol and was just tired of the shenanigans. ugh
i did hear later though that he said it was obvious i had really good relationships with my students. which is a compliment, but yea, the time he was in the classroom did not go well.
i am thankful that i have good relationships with my students, but in same ways it can be hard too--sometimes i think they see me as a friend type more than a teacher type. not all the time, but sometimes. oh well. i'm glad i have the relationships i do with my students in the end.
Thursday, March 10, 2011
almost spring break
so this week has been crrrrrazy! i think everyone is pretty ready for tomorrow at 2:07.
this week has been mostly not so good, but tuesday was actually a pretty good day for me! we were reviewing for our test (which they took today) and we were using songs to do main idea stuff. they kids seemed to really like it! they all participated and one of the kids who NEVER does his work was one of the first done, because we were listening to michael jackson, which i think is his fav musician. so that was good.
athough something that is frustrating is that we are expected to give the kids make up work for work they missed, not because they were absent, but because they just didn't feel like doing the work that day. it drives me nuts, but we want the kids to get good grades. in the back of my mind though i really wonder, are we really preparing them for the real world? i mean, no job will let their employees do nothing, nothing, nothing and hten do everything all at once. ugh it's just all sorts of emotions going on here.
anyways. tomorrow we're watching a movie and they're correcting tests and that will end the quarter.
leaving for jamaica on sunday!!! :)
this week has been mostly not so good, but tuesday was actually a pretty good day for me! we were reviewing for our test (which they took today) and we were using songs to do main idea stuff. they kids seemed to really like it! they all participated and one of the kids who NEVER does his work was one of the first done, because we were listening to michael jackson, which i think is his fav musician. so that was good.
athough something that is frustrating is that we are expected to give the kids make up work for work they missed, not because they were absent, but because they just didn't feel like doing the work that day. it drives me nuts, but we want the kids to get good grades. in the back of my mind though i really wonder, are we really preparing them for the real world? i mean, no job will let their employees do nothing, nothing, nothing and hten do everything all at once. ugh it's just all sorts of emotions going on here.
anyways. tomorrow we're watching a movie and they're correcting tests and that will end the quarter.
leaving for jamaica on sunday!!! :)
Friday, March 4, 2011
upadates!
hey guys!
well here are some updates on my life right now....
we are fast approaching our MAP testing days, which is scary, frustrating, and all i've been talking about lately! the MAP test is missouri's standardized test for grades 3-8 (i think it starts in 3rd grade, i could be wrong there). it's a big deal because this is what measures AYP for no child left behind stuff and it's even more important in SLPS cause the district is unaccredited. my school didn't make AYP last year, so this year is crucial. in order to sort of gauge where the kids are throughout the year we take ACUITY tests, which are predicitive (whatever that really means) for MAP tests, even though they are not aligned (i know, i know, confusing). anyways. on the last installment my kids ROCKED the test. 3 go proficient, one got advanced (she only missed one question) and five were right on the cusp of making proficient. the 8th graders did just as well! so right now there is a fair amount of pressure on the middle school to get all t hese kids to get proficient on the MAP test.
my understanding of the situation is that if we get all these middle schoolers to do well on the MAP, our school will be ok. my school goes through high school, and the high schoolers also have end of course exams (EOC) standardized tests, but in order to make AYP we only need a certain number of proficients across the board (at least is my understanding). so, my kids and the 8th graders could make the bulk of AYP for us. it's intense.
anyways. this week has been all about that. staying accountable to the district and talking about how we've been targeting skills we haven't been making and talking about how we are going to prep for the test. this can become a tricky situation--as a teacher you want your kids to do well on the test, but then as a teacher i also want to teach my kids what is really important, and is going over boring passages with multiple choice questions always the most important/going to make them better students in the long run? TFA held learning team meetings this week in order to sort of, talk, about these issues. i've got some good ideas about how to make a short little unit about test prep, but also make it applicable to being college-bound students.
so that's what's been going on big time.
my classroom right now seems a little chaotic, kids are def ready for spring break (as are the teachers!)
i also got a new student, she seems really sweet and pretty smart, so that's exciting.
and today we went on a field trip! we went to UMSL (university of missouri-st louis). it was a joing 7th/8th grade field trip. my kids seemed to enjoy it! some of them talked to me about how they are now realizing how important grades are! that's good. we'll see if it actually sticks... this field trip actually meshes pretty well with my overall vision for my class--college bound 7th graders haha. i'm not sure if i've ever talked about that before. but i've drilled into them (all of them for the most part) the importance of college and how i expect every single one of them to have the abilities to go to any college they want. at the beginning of the year i had my kids make their own visions and there were lots of them, very few mentioned college. i did them again in january/february. almost every single one of them mentioned college!!! i think this field trip will make it more real for them (fingers crossed anyways)
anyways. this is probably the longest post i ahve ever written! hope you all get more of a snapshot of my life :)
ps: MARDI GRAS THIS WEEKEND:)
well here are some updates on my life right now....
we are fast approaching our MAP testing days, which is scary, frustrating, and all i've been talking about lately! the MAP test is missouri's standardized test for grades 3-8 (i think it starts in 3rd grade, i could be wrong there). it's a big deal because this is what measures AYP for no child left behind stuff and it's even more important in SLPS cause the district is unaccredited. my school didn't make AYP last year, so this year is crucial. in order to sort of gauge where the kids are throughout the year we take ACUITY tests, which are predicitive (whatever that really means) for MAP tests, even though they are not aligned (i know, i know, confusing). anyways. on the last installment my kids ROCKED the test. 3 go proficient, one got advanced (she only missed one question) and five were right on the cusp of making proficient. the 8th graders did just as well! so right now there is a fair amount of pressure on the middle school to get all t hese kids to get proficient on the MAP test.
my understanding of the situation is that if we get all these middle schoolers to do well on the MAP, our school will be ok. my school goes through high school, and the high schoolers also have end of course exams (EOC) standardized tests, but in order to make AYP we only need a certain number of proficients across the board (at least is my understanding). so, my kids and the 8th graders could make the bulk of AYP for us. it's intense.
anyways. this week has been all about that. staying accountable to the district and talking about how we've been targeting skills we haven't been making and talking about how we are going to prep for the test. this can become a tricky situation--as a teacher you want your kids to do well on the test, but then as a teacher i also want to teach my kids what is really important, and is going over boring passages with multiple choice questions always the most important/going to make them better students in the long run? TFA held learning team meetings this week in order to sort of, talk, about these issues. i've got some good ideas about how to make a short little unit about test prep, but also make it applicable to being college-bound students.
so that's what's been going on big time.
my classroom right now seems a little chaotic, kids are def ready for spring break (as are the teachers!)
i also got a new student, she seems really sweet and pretty smart, so that's exciting.
and today we went on a field trip! we went to UMSL (university of missouri-st louis). it was a joing 7th/8th grade field trip. my kids seemed to enjoy it! some of them talked to me about how they are now realizing how important grades are! that's good. we'll see if it actually sticks... this field trip actually meshes pretty well with my overall vision for my class--college bound 7th graders haha. i'm not sure if i've ever talked about that before. but i've drilled into them (all of them for the most part) the importance of college and how i expect every single one of them to have the abilities to go to any college they want. at the beginning of the year i had my kids make their own visions and there were lots of them, very few mentioned college. i did them again in january/february. almost every single one of them mentioned college!!! i think this field trip will make it more real for them (fingers crossed anyways)
anyways. this is probably the longest post i ahve ever written! hope you all get more of a snapshot of my life :)
ps: MARDI GRAS THIS WEEKEND:)
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