Monday, December 18, 2006

Must be the Hormones...

I had a lot of moods over the course of my day. I wish I could blame it all on my hormones, but today it was all the students' fault.
Chanukah vacation is in two days and I planned on doing something special on Tuesday and that would mean that I'd only be teaching today out of the entire week.
Today I planned to start the 8th grade on writing their summaries for their biographies. When I came into class today, I learned that a nice percentage of the girls had not bothered to finish or even begin reading their books.
I was furious.
I was so angry that I went to talk to the principal to ask her how to handle this. She was amazing. She told me to ask them to write an essay describing how they thought it must feel for me as the teacher to walk into a class where no one had prepared.
I liked that idea very much.
I walked into class and had each girl take out a piece of paper and write on it whether she had finished reading her biography and if not, why.
I then let them watch me quietly as I read each one slowly, and looked at each of the girls who had answered "no".
I then gave the girls a speech about how it feels to be on this side of the desk, and how we teachers work hard to come prepared every day, and what it's like to come to class where the students don't care.
I told them that I was at a loss; that I had nothing to teach them today, and what did they suggest I do?
The girls were very embarrassed. At that point I didn't feel they needed to write that essay, so instead, I improvised, and had them do another part of the biography, for which they only had to read the first half of the books. The only girl who hadn't read even half of her book was R.Y. and I sent her to the principal to get another book. It worked out so great, because the principal had wanted to talk to her anyway, and was looking for an opportunity to get her in the office.
The girls did a good job writing today, even T.B.N. did fine on her own (mostly).
The last 20 minutes of the day I did maps with the girls and anyone who volunteered to sing the entire map for me got a raffle ticket for tomorrow's auction.
The girls were all anxious to volunteer, and R.S. was a panic. She kept getting stuck, and so I kept going to someone else and then coming back to her.
At her 5th try, she was still getting stuck on the same state and then I just had to laugh. I started to laugh one of those real hysterical split your sides laughs. The entire class laughed along. R.S. cracks me up.
T.B.N. has to be commended for trying to sing the entire map, and I gave her a ticket for trying.
So there were two of my moods so far.
During recess I had to chill out, as I suspected that the 7th grade hadn't brought in their photos for their picture essays, and I was getting mad again.
N.N. was a total pest; waiting at the door to the office, but not telling anyone who she was waiting for. She just kept watching the teachers schmooz. I was busy talking about the layout of my new master toilet and she was listening interestedly. LOL
As I was going into the 7th grade; she stopped me and told me that she still hadn't taken the history test, so she wanted to take it now. That's what she wasted her entire recess on LOL. What a kid.
S.E. and M.B. came late to my class because they were chosen as the editors for the school paper and they were working on it. I couldn't bear to make them stop working; they seemed so excited LOL.
I walked into 7th grade, and I found that no one had remembered to put index cards on my desk, and hardly anyone had remembered to sign their tests.
I couldn't even get mad. I just told them that I was walking out and giving them 2 minutes to have everything on my desk.
I met the Hebrew principal in the hall during those two minutes and asked her if it was just me, or were all the girls losing it today? She laughed.
In the 7th grade, I checked their tests and then I asked them who had forgotten to bring in their pictures. I told them I had made a bet with myself that at least half the class would forget to bring it in.
I won my bet. I should've gotten mad, but since it was Chanukah, I just laughed at them and did literature groups instead.
I met with the highest group, and let R.A. get on my nerves while S.E. and R.B. kept me entertained. M.B. also joined in. I couldn't do her group because N.N. was out taking her test. I cannot wait to join both groups together for the next book. It'll make life so much easier.
The group ended up discussing the Harry Potter books, and then S.E. asked me if I'd ever read Eragon. I told her no, (though I do own the soundtrack to the movie ;) ) and she went ballistic. She told me I HAD to read it and that she was going to get hold of a copy for me to read over vacation.
She makes me laugh this child.
At the end of the day, as a special treat, I read them my read aloud for 15 minutes instead of the usual 5. They were thrilled.
I came home dead tired. All those moods have a huge effect on me!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

blame it on the hormones...good job!