Time management (inside and outside the classroom)

Since I have a two hour layover at the airport I figured I would put my free time to good use rather than wasting my life sitting at my departure gate.

What am I doing? Grading exams (and planning for the next two weeks).

What's conjugation?

We learned how to modify verbs in Spanish depending on who we are talking about. 

If you still don't know how to conjugate present tense verbs that end in -ar after multiple modes of presentation, you are beyond the teacher's reach. 

1st try: visual + auditory

Check out the awesome video

2nd try: traditional (some people like the no frills approach)

3rd try: kinesthetic (you made a foldable on neon green paper and stapled it into your interactive notebook)

OUTSIDE

INSIDE

I don't remember Spanish being this exciting when I was in high school.

Riding the struggle bus

How do we improve teacher attendance?
I always laugh when I see this question posed in faculty meetings or in education leadership circles. Why? We should ask a different question; why are teachers absent so much?

Excessive teacher absences

Sure the odd teacher has a chronic health condition that requires frequent absences for medical attention, but this does not apply to the rest of us able bodied teachers. 

Why are teachers absent so much i.e. more than 10 days each year (in priority schools)?

1. We need a break from being a teacher, mentor, counselor, parent, psychologist, interventionist, corrections officer, zoo keeper, and/or life coach
2. We need a day of peace and reflection
3. We need a day to catch up on paperwork (for the extremely dedicated few)

Frequently asked questions 2.0

It always warms my heart when my students are hard at work either independently or in groups, and they raise their hands to ask a question. What is less pleasant is the nature of the questions since they are completely unrelated to the work in front of them.

1. Miss, how long your hair is?
2. Is that all your hair?
3. How long you been natural?
4. Is you gon' flat iron out your hair?
5. Miss, where you from?
6. You from Chicago, ain't it? (nah, she from New York)
7. Miss, is you mixed?

At least I inspire curiosity in the classroom. 

"Is we gon' had to presentate this?"

It never ceases to amaze me how my kids want to act up and show out in front of their friends. They will do anything for attention which may include anything from being loud, wearing revealing clothing, being disruptive in class and in the hallway, refusing to do work, and open defiance in the classroom.

Given that they love to be the center of attention, you would think that that they would enjoy being the center of attention by presenting their work in front of the class. This was NOT the case when they had to present a basic greetings and introductions comic strip that they created.

Sample comic strip

When it came time to present, one of my boldest attention seekers was clearly opposed as he raised his hand and asked, "Is we gon' had to presentate this?"

Increasing student engagement without over engaging my free time

This year I try to keep students engaged without spending hours planning a fun activity that may or may not work out. I thought of the easiest review game ever after I was forced not to do my modified version of the fly swatter game when the poster machine broke one morning. It took me all of two minutes to think of the game and ten minutes to get the supporting materials together.

Modified Fly Swatter Game

I let students pick a partner. Each pair gets an answer board with scrambled phrases in the target language. I call out a number and translation of one of the phrases on their answer board. Students work with their partner to write the correct number beside the phrase on their answer board. The group that gets the most correct wins a prize. 

Why is this review game awesome?

1. Students are engaged

2. Students are quiet (they don’t want neighboring groups to steal their answers)

3. Students are practicing listening

4. I can easily assess listening comprehension

"Is we doin' work today?"

I never knew kids could be so lazy until I started teaching. Last year when I taught a state tested subject, I kind of understood why they complained about doing so much work. This year I teach an elective; Spanish 1. Just to be clear, this is Spanish for kids who have NEVER taken a foreign language class in their lives.

This means we're learning things like the ABCs, days of the week, numbers, weather, classes, and colors. You are officially the laziest person on earth if you think learning the ABCs in Spanish is too much work. We even watched a video and sang a song!

New classroom management

I actually give out a tangible reward!

I make it rain raffle tickets for participation. This is crucial since I require 100% participation every single day in my classroom. As a foreign language teacher I need to hear my students attempt to speak the language to gauge how they're doing orally.  To reward their bravery for trying they get tons of verbal praise and raffle tickets.

And I do a class raffle every two weeks with 3 winners from each class period.

Off to a great start

Reasons why this school district is better than the last one

1. the vision statement is catchy. “All students will be successful”. I didn’t bother remembering the vision statement was at my old school because it was too long. 
2. they gave us paper to start the school year! 
3. my kids can read (most of them anyways)
4. I get a break for lunch (last year I had to escort my kids to lunch, walk them through the lunch line, sit with them, and escort them back from lunch)
5. school starts at 8:00 instead of 7:30
6. there’s no snack time (seriously why do high school students need snack time?)
7. I’m "in civilization" (still no target though)
8. I’m teaching an elective instead of a core subject (I get to teach whatever I want however I want to teach it)

Inspiration

These three signs will be featured in my classroom this fall since it is my job to encourage and inspire young people to stay on task and do their work. 

Things you can only enjoy in civilization

One of my favorite productions

You may only enjoy the luxury of seeing the fantastical musical Wicked if you are in/traveling to New York, London, Louisville, Salt Lake City, or Winnipeg.

What will I see the next time I venture into civilization?
Aladdin? Chicago? The Book of Mormon?

The possibilities are endless!

Random things students ask/say...

1. What you is?
2. How you get your hair like that?
3. You natural, aint it?
4. Where you from?
5. You Spanish, aint it?
6. May you please give me a pencil?
7. We aint never learn this!
8. I need for to go to the bathroom. 
9. We must finna go. 
10. You got kids?
11. How old you is?

You never know what's on the mind of a teenage student.

The exodus

As I look back at my time spent in the county, I can definitely say that living there has helped me appreciate the little things in life such as the following:

• paved roads
• a grocery store
• shopping malls
• movie theaters
• Chick-fil-A
• Starbucks
• Target
• Walmart
• Kroger
• Belk
• Gap
• diversity
• education
• integration

Every cloud has a silver lining

You never truly appreciate the privilege of having a real Walmart (all Walmarts are not created equally) less than 10 minutes from your house until you have to drive an hour to get there. 

Nonsensical...

In the teaching profession it is imperative that teachers attend workshops and seminars in order to get continuing education units (CEUs). Teachers need these CEUs in order to keep their teaching license active.

Here in the county, the school board doesn't see the value in paying for teachers to go to professional development. As a result, certain faculty will not be able to renew their teaching licenses.

It would be one thing if the school board lacked sufficient funds to pay for said professional development, but this is not the case. The school board just paid to send the principal to an Asian country for 5 days to recruit new teachers. This includes airfare, accommodations, and transportation. Guess how many teachers our fearless leader brought back?

What is more cost effective; an all expense paid trip to an Asian country to recruit teachers that need visa sponsorship, assistance with green cards, and continuing education units, or paying for less than 100 teachers to go to at least one workshop or conference per year?

The struggle is real...

Side hustle...

I have seen it all. You know times are hard when the school security officer is selling candy to the children.

Extra cash

The struggle is real...

The best thing about this place...

The beauty of living in the nether regions of our beloved country

Where else can I see a movie for $6.00?

Enemies of progress...

The motto of the county should be as follows:

"Progress for progress's sake must be discouraged, for our tried and tested traditions often require no tinkering."

Enemies of progress

How does the county discourage progress?

1. Segregated school system -- black kids go to public school, and white kids get home schooled or go to private school
2. The elected superintendent creates positions for his incompetent friends, appoints his friends to the school board, and gives his friends vacant positions in the school district
3. Black people don't pay taxes since they receive government assistance, so their roads don't get paved

The struggle is real...

Soaring high...

Here in the county as we aspire to acquire something, we seem to have lost our way and have thus fallen short of the honor of being named a “C” district. This God fearing state wouldn't even condescend to rate us as a "D" district. How did this misfortune fall into our lap?

1. Lack of parental involvement
2. Ineffective Inclusion program
3. Inability of parents to assist their children with school work

   

   District Report Card

4. No professional development
5. No learning or reading specialists
6. No interventionists
7. No educational consultants
8. No communication between administration and faculty
9. No professional learning communities (PLCs)
10. No teacher support team (TST)

This truly is a recipe for success…

We all need a friend...

Teachers have grown accustomed to little gestures like an apple on their desk or a note left on their desk by a student. We even enjoy the miscellaneous school supplies and candies that often find their way onto our desk since they can be re-gifted to other students with little inconvenience to our purse.

Something we do not expect to find is a little friend lurking inside our desk drawers. One teacher had the misfortune of finding a live mouse when she reached into her desk drawer.

I now know cleanliness is a top priority here in the county...

Something worth fighting for...

Each day young scholars take a stand to fight for a noble cause. Some people fight to end social injustices while others take up arms in self defense. Still others fight for less noble causes. 

Recently, one young scholar, student A, took up arms for a "less than noble cause". What was the less than noble cause in question? A bag of Flamin' Hot Cheetos. Freed from the strict rules of the classroom and free to join the zoo in the hallway, student A seized the opportunity to enjoy a light snack on the way to his next class. 

Unfortunately, another student, student B, wanted to join in on the merriment of eating Flamin' Hot Cheetos, so he asked to sample this delicacy. Deeply offended by this request, student A proceeded to shove student B and then grab student B by the neck and shove him against the nearest wall.

The culprit

I suppose we all must protect what is near and dear to us even if it is a bag of chips. 

The struggle is real...

  

Everyone has his own level of comfort

While cruising the streets in the county I happened upon a home that I am almost certain is unfit for human habitation.

I made inquiries and it seems that two sisters live in the humble dwelling seen below.

There's even trash pickup

I suppose everyone has his or her own level of comfort...

A celebration of black history...

Black History Month is supposed to be a time to celebrate the achievements of black Americans and to acknowledge the role that black Americans play in the history of our beloved nation. It should also be a time for African Americans to reflect and appreciate what their forefathers suffered for their present freedom.

A Celebration of Black History

As Black History Month comes to a close, it's interesting that my school has not done anything to celebrate Black History Month even though 99% of our student body is African American. It's also interesting to hear what some of my students think about important figures in the civil rights movement.

According to my students, Martin Luther King Jr. was an amazing person because he ended slavery.

Also, Malcolm X was a wrestler, and Martin Luther King Jr was killed by Elvis Presley.

 
Who knew slavery was abolished sometime during the 1950s or 1960s. 

The struggle is real...

Come prepared...

Since it is now February, every student should know that he or she must come to my class prepared with an appropriate writing utensil. Unfortunately, it's surprising to see how many students "forget" to bring something to write with, so I came up with a game plan to teach my forgetful students a lesson.

Since I am overflowing with generosity, I offer "charity supplies" to students who forget to bring a pen or pencil to class.

This is what you get when you ask the teacher for a pencil

How many kids will come to my class unprepared again after being forced to write with a nub or a crayon?

Ingenuity at its finest....

Focused?

It's always nice to know what my students are thinking about when they take an exam.

What one student drew on his desk when he was supposed to be taking his exam

It would be one thing if he had finished his test early and didn't feel like doing the extra credit assignment. This was not the case. About 30 minutes into the test he was only on question #3, but he managed to complete the masterpiece seen above on his desk

Still riding the struggle bus...

Our wonderful students...

Here in the county we firmly believe in maximizing instructional time and reaching every student, but I guess this doesn't apply to the history department.

One unfortunate history teacher has classes of 25-30+ freshmen who still haven't learned how to behave. On one beautiful morning she turned her back to the class as she wrote notes on the white board.

As her back was turned, one young scholar turned the lights off. As she turned around to confront the student, other students proceeded to throw textbooks at her.

This teacher then marched the class to the office, turned in her grade book, and drove home.

Not to worry, I'm 99.9% sure that none of the students involved got in trouble.

Whatever happened to kids who respect authority?

The perfect student?

Still riding the struggle bus...

In retrospect...

It would have been nice to know a few things before teaching in the county.

1. Everything is a teacher problem/The kids are not accountable for anything.

Let Billy's mom show up and accuse you of failing Billy. Even if you plan interventions and give extra opportunities for Billy to bring his grade up, it is not my responsibility to convince Billy that he should try to get above a 65 in my class. But don't worry, it's the teacher's fault that Billy didn't feel like doing group work, independent work, art activities, lab work, learning through song, etc. As a result, Billy's mom is in the right. It's the teacher's fault. Shame on the teacher for not doing cartwheels and back flips to get Billy excited about learning.  

2. Too many kids "need" accommodations.

Billy's dad wants Billy to sit in the front row, but I can't do that since I have more than 10 other students with a behavior plan that requires him/her to sit at the front of the room. I'm no magician, so there is no way to make more than 10 front row seats even if I have the room split in half with the kids facing each other. Well, sorry Billy's dad, request declined.

3. Alternative school is an ineffective rehab facility

Billy and Suzie are notorious for disrupting the classroom environment, and both have already received several days of in school suspension and out of school suspension. At this point both students now have a behavior plan which essentially allows them to misbehave without getting written up unless the teacher follows steps 1-10 on their "positive" behavior plan. Nevertheless, Billy and Suzie continue to disrupt class and are therefore sent to alternative school.

Problem solved? Not quite. Low and behold Billy and Suzie are on a 10 day plan at alternative school, so 10 short days later they're back in my classroom doing the same nonsense they were doing before they left. To sweeten the deal they are both now 10 days behind on classroom material.

4. Everybody knows somebody, so nobody gets in trouble

Before coming to the county I was told that we rarely ever have fights, because if a fight breaks out, the students are taken to the police station.

Since I've been here we've had at least 8 fights, so that means at least 16 students involved in violent activities on school grounds.

How many of these students have actually been handcuffed and/or escorted to the police station? Zero.

Why? Well Suzie's mom knows officer B., so he can't bring himself to handcuff her. And If he doesn't handcuff Suzie, then he can't handcuff Brenda either. Or, one of the students involved belongs to an influential family in the community, so we can't handcuff him or take him to the police station.

When there are no real consequences for bad behavior, the kids will do whatever they want to do.

Still riding the struggle bus...

Literacy among other things...

It's always a special day when you find out that the assistant coach for basketball has a master's degree but can't read and can't do basic addition. How did I come to learn this? Well, here in the county we firmly believe in pushing all of our staff members to get certified. This means that everybody must at least attempt the praxis each year if you are not already certified.

For the past few years our beloved assistant coach has been signing up to take the praxis but has never actually taken the test more than one time. Since the county is so wonderful, they think that this person has taken the test each time, so in their books the assistant coach is making every effort to pass the praxis. According to my source, the real reason this person hasn't been attempting to take the exam is because he/she can't read.

As the assistant coach for basketball, you're responsible for keeping stats during the game. Since my magnanimity and beneficence are boundless, I offered to send the game stats to the local newspaper, but I noticed a few discrepancies when I looked over the point totals.

Our team's total points = 67
1st quarter: 17 points + 2nd quarter: 8 points + 3rd quarter: 19 points + 4th quarter: 20 points = 64
Point totals for each player = 11+7+8+16+17+5+1 = 65

Opponent's total points = 46
1st quarter: 10 points + 2nd quarter: 15 points + 3rd quarter: 13 points + 4th quarter: 15 points = 53
Point totals for each player = 2+2+1+23+23 = 51

I have thus concluded that someone can't count, and this someone happens to have a master's degree.

The struggle is real.

Dismissal

Here in the county the principal realizes that the students are not responsible enough to exit the building in an orderly fashion. To resolve this issue, at the end of the day, students remain in their 7^th period class and wait for each individual bus to be called before exiting the building. 

Although this idea seemed fool proof, there was an incident in the bus loading zone that necessitates a change in the dismissal policy. Apparently certain teachers allowed all of their students to leave as soon as busses were called. This meant that 200+ students bum rushed the bus loading zone, and as a result, an unfortunate young scholar was trampled. 

To rectify this situation, our fearless leader will call ALL classes to the gym at the end of 7^th period, and we will dismiss all students from the gym. This means that 600+ students will crowd the hallways to bum rush the gym in preparation for dismissal. 

600 students crowding one hallway vs. 200 students in the bus loading zone; I'm sure more than one student will get trampled this time