I had to be in school early on Tuesday because I had a meeting set up with Mr SNK about his daughter's retarded behavior.
Poor guy. He looked so lost and confused about what to do with her. I think we ended the meeting with the agreement of sending her to a psychologist.
The kids were nuts and I had no patience teaching, so my co and I decided to take them to the park. I asked RS to bring a note to my co asking her, and the notes went back and forth between us and we fought over whose turn it was to ask the principal for permission.
I won.
RS was being a cute brat, refusing to let me read the notes, making me chase her around the classroom to get at it.
I had to tape it ans taple it shut so that she couldn't read it before it got to my co. Stinker. I have no idea how she was chosen for G.O.
Then the class became OBSESSED with asking me a zillion questions about my clothes, baby, deoderant I used. OMG, it was nuts. But I didn't care. There are less than 13 days left to school, then these kids graduate, and I move on. What the heck. I'm going to have fun.
The park was fun, but RA was a pest, acting like the boss of everyone, telling us teachers to get our butts off the benches and make the 8th grade play ball with the 7th grade.
HATE HER.
7th grade is going to fail their final on the Civil War, because there is so much material on it and they are so stupid.
Yesterday CFC got on my nerves all day asking if she could put on the air conditioner. I happened to have been cold and I decided that because they had not taken care of putting it on recess time, I was not going to waste class time putting it on and off every 5 minutes.
Then she got all sticky about her hand hurting cause she was writing so much notes.
Finally, I exploded, and asked the class, "and what happens if I tell you that we have ten more pages to write?? What are you going to do then? You have to either learn to keep up and keep your mouth shut about it, or stop taking notes and photocopy someone elses!"
I sat them down for a long talk about high school, where going out to the bathroom ten times during a class was not going to be accepted and where they would be writing notes all day long without a break.
I told them that they had to grow up, this was what life was all about from now on.
CFC then raised her hand to ask me what would happen when she got her period during class, would a teacher allow her to leave.
I cracked up.
I explained to them that high school gave them enough breaks to take care of teir needs, but that they had to utilize the breaks, and not wait until class started to remember they had needs.
During recess I sat with the principals on the yearbook (which, by the way, had been UPSd to my sister who is now in Israel, so no one was home to take it, so it laid on the hallway floor for a week until I went there to look and see if it had come.)
There were mistakes, but nothing for my sister to do, it was all the yearbook company's mistakes. Yay.
Seventh grade was okay. I had a long discussion with the girls about first impressions and how they were going to be jusged going into high school by the averages on their report card, whether they thought it was fair or not.
CK was livid about it all. No wonder. The kid hasnt passed a test all term.
I warned them that I was going to quiz them today. Lets see how they do....
I got a note in school that they are looking for blood donors that are A+ for FE's sister, so I called this morning to offer my A+ blood. I still am waiting to hear from them if it's okay to give even though I had transfusions before. I'm not going to tell them that I don't match the weight requirement. I figure ten lbs up or down don't make that much of a difference.
We'll see soon.
Thursday, May 31, 2007
Monday, May 21, 2007
Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
The 8th grade has been down my back for ages to find out my nickname.
I promised them that if they scored a 93% average on their history test today I would tell them.
Well guess what? They studied their brains out and got a class average of 92.6. The girls all started adding their points from all the boxtops they had collected and the ones I had promised them... They ended at 92.99. I had to tell them.
My nickname is Twinkle.
They are still singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I don't think I will ever live it down.
I was about to go into the seventh grade when AS came to tell me that she couldn't take the test because her grandfather had passed away that week and she couldn't study. I was upset, because I had told them about this test two weeks ago, but her grandpa died, so what could I do?
Then EMB gives me a note signed by her mother no less, that because she was helping all day for Shavuous, she couldn't take the test.
I ran to the office to scream. I was not going to let EMB get away with it. She knew about the test and she knew about Shavuous. Neither was a surprise to her, and if she thought that a note from her mom was going to get me to let her off she was WRONG.
Turns out that AS got a 96% and HB needs to retake it, and CSS and EMB both failed. The principal backed me up 100%.
SE and EL asked me on their index cards when my birthday is. I told them they missed it by a day. They were in 7th heaven that I finally told them.
And now, a well deserves Shavuous break!
I promised them that if they scored a 93% average on their history test today I would tell them.
Well guess what? They studied their brains out and got a class average of 92.6. The girls all started adding their points from all the boxtops they had collected and the ones I had promised them... They ended at 92.99. I had to tell them.
My nickname is Twinkle.
They are still singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". I don't think I will ever live it down.
I was about to go into the seventh grade when AS came to tell me that she couldn't take the test because her grandfather had passed away that week and she couldn't study. I was upset, because I had told them about this test two weeks ago, but her grandpa died, so what could I do?
Then EMB gives me a note signed by her mother no less, that because she was helping all day for Shavuous, she couldn't take the test.
I ran to the office to scream. I was not going to let EMB get away with it. She knew about the test and she knew about Shavuous. Neither was a surprise to her, and if she thought that a note from her mom was going to get me to let her off she was WRONG.
Turns out that AS got a 96% and HB needs to retake it, and CSS and EMB both failed. The principal backed me up 100%.
SE and EL asked me on their index cards when my birthday is. I told them they missed it by a day. They were in 7th heaven that I finally told them.
And now, a well deserves Shavuous break!
Seat Change
Hebco made a seat change without telling the other teachers. I hate her guts sometimes.
I came in to the 7th grade and the class was a mess because some of the girls wanted to sit in their old seats while some were sitting in the new ones.
I made every girl sit in her new seat.
SNK refused.
She sat in her old seat because her new one was right in front of my desk and she didn't want to be there. HB used to sit there and SNK used the excuse that HB had gone home sick that day and she didn't want to catch germs from her desk.
CSS was sitting in that desk instead.
I had CSS move her desk to touch the side of my desk (it worked out so well, it's a shame we didn't do it earlier on in the year). SNK still refused to come up.
I folded my hands and told her it was not up for discussion; I wanted her here N.O.W.
She stomped her foot. (!)
I told her that we were not going to start class until she got her books and got herself into that new seat of hers.
She stomped around, picked up her books and told EL that I was DISGUSTING. I don't know if I was meant to hear that but I did.
I was in no mood for power plays with little babies so I told her to just forget the seat change and ask the principal for a note to come back into class.
She refused to leave, claiming she didn't know what she did.
I told her that if I had to tell the principal what she had done, I would not be very lenient. Rather she should be the one to tell the principal the story in the way she wanted it told.
She went.
She came back 30 minutes later with a note saying that she would sit in her new seat.
That day I got into a long discussion with the girls about acknowledging their talents and then using them in the right way; not rubbing them in everyone else;s face.
I was hoping RA would get the hint about how crazy she drove us all. She didn't.
At the end of the day I gave out their history tests and RA fought with me over 2 points that I gave her off because her handwriting sucked.
She told me it was not possible to have gotten it wrong because her mother was a history major. I wanted to tell her to have her mother teach it all to her and for her to keep out of my life.
Friday, SNK was sitting in her old seat again with her head down on her desk. I walked in, told her she had ten seconds to get to her new seat or else she was out for good.
She came to her new seat, turned the desk around to face the back of the class, and put her head down.
If she were my kid, I would have smacked her.
I stopped talking until she looked up to see why and when she saw the look on my face, she turned the desk back around and put her head down for the rest of the class.
Shame, she missed a good lesson. I didn't teach. Instead, we continued the discussion from the day before.
RA still didn't get it.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
I came in to the 7th grade and the class was a mess because some of the girls wanted to sit in their old seats while some were sitting in the new ones.
I made every girl sit in her new seat.
SNK refused.
She sat in her old seat because her new one was right in front of my desk and she didn't want to be there. HB used to sit there and SNK used the excuse that HB had gone home sick that day and she didn't want to catch germs from her desk.
CSS was sitting in that desk instead.
I had CSS move her desk to touch the side of my desk (it worked out so well, it's a shame we didn't do it earlier on in the year). SNK still refused to come up.
I folded my hands and told her it was not up for discussion; I wanted her here N.O.W.
She stomped her foot. (!)
I told her that we were not going to start class until she got her books and got herself into that new seat of hers.
She stomped around, picked up her books and told EL that I was DISGUSTING. I don't know if I was meant to hear that but I did.
I was in no mood for power plays with little babies so I told her to just forget the seat change and ask the principal for a note to come back into class.
She refused to leave, claiming she didn't know what she did.
I told her that if I had to tell the principal what she had done, I would not be very lenient. Rather she should be the one to tell the principal the story in the way she wanted it told.
She went.
She came back 30 minutes later with a note saying that she would sit in her new seat.
That day I got into a long discussion with the girls about acknowledging their talents and then using them in the right way; not rubbing them in everyone else;s face.
I was hoping RA would get the hint about how crazy she drove us all. She didn't.
At the end of the day I gave out their history tests and RA fought with me over 2 points that I gave her off because her handwriting sucked.
She told me it was not possible to have gotten it wrong because her mother was a history major. I wanted to tell her to have her mother teach it all to her and for her to keep out of my life.
Friday, SNK was sitting in her old seat again with her head down on her desk. I walked in, told her she had ten seconds to get to her new seat or else she was out for good.
She came to her new seat, turned the desk around to face the back of the class, and put her head down.
If she were my kid, I would have smacked her.
I stopped talking until she looked up to see why and when she saw the look on my face, she turned the desk back around and put her head down for the rest of the class.
Shame, she missed a good lesson. I didn't teach. Instead, we continued the discussion from the day before.
RA still didn't get it.
Grrrrrrrrrrrr.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Catching up on the Last Few Days
Again, long time no post.
Monday I come to school to find DA waiting for me.
She decided she wasn't going to take my history test that day because she didn't study. She wanted to take it Tuesday.
I asked her why she didn't study as I had told them about the test a week in advance and finished the material with enough days to study well for it. She told me she forgot there was a test.
I refuse to let a girl push off taking a test because she "forgot". There is no such thing in 7th grade. When I was that age I would never have the chutzpah to ask a teacher to excuse me for forgetting. I'd be cramming the material in hard and writing answers on my hand and hoping to scrape a pass....
Well she did pass. Barely. She got a 67.
15 minutes to the end of the day, the principals both came in to my class to make my girls redo their tzniyus fair project because the pictures they used were....not tzniyus.
I had to take 4 girls out to the staircase and had them finish their tests there.
CSS took her test home to finish and she gave it back to me the next day, but I have no heart to mark it now. HB and SS both got no mar because they scored so low and I had a few kids in the 60's and this was NOT a hard test.
Spring Fever.
Tuesday I could not teach. I was dead tired as Jellybean had been up the whole night alternating between giggling and crying for his dummy. I got through an aim in history (Korean war) and then had the girls daven mincha and then we discussed the Wave a little bit (we finished reading it the day before) and then I took the girls to the park with the 7th grade from 2-3.
My co is pregnant now and she is spring fevering too.
When we got back to teaching, within one hour I finished two aims in 7th grade. Felt good.
Today was cute.
In the 8th grade I explained to them why the Vietnam war was so hard psychologically- because Americans could not tell the difference between the Vietcong and the civilians and they had no idea if they were killing innocent people.
I explained it to them with the example that to an outsider; chassidim and litvaks may look the same.. (okay, we know that's not true, but whatever)
The girls started fighting with me and saying that chassididm looked weird and had curly peyos and were very obviously different.
So RS piped up and said "Nuh uh! Mrs. (ME) is chassidish and she's so normal! She doesn't look weird! I would never know she's not normal like us if she didn't tell us!"
Gee thanks RS.
TG decided she was sick today and put down her head in my class. She glared at me when I made her daven mincha and right after mincha she took out a Hershey bar and started munching. I need to have a talk with her.
Seventh grade today finished half a chapter in history again. DA was behaving a bit better- but that's because she has no idea what she scored on that test...
DA was being "big sistered" by Hebco. I have a feeling that's where some of her attitude is coming from... Hebco lets her get away with MURDER.
I marked the essays this morning and I didn't have the heart to take the mark off the girls who had not handed in their drafts. They had all done so well and I didn't want to do it before asking the principal again.
I got the yearbook proofs now and they need soooo much work! My sister is leaving to Israel Sunday and I have no idea how it will get done.
To make matters worse, this is an English Friday, so my week is dragging on forever.....
Monday I come to school to find DA waiting for me.
She decided she wasn't going to take my history test that day because she didn't study. She wanted to take it Tuesday.
I asked her why she didn't study as I had told them about the test a week in advance and finished the material with enough days to study well for it. She told me she forgot there was a test.
I refuse to let a girl push off taking a test because she "forgot". There is no such thing in 7th grade. When I was that age I would never have the chutzpah to ask a teacher to excuse me for forgetting. I'd be cramming the material in hard and writing answers on my hand and hoping to scrape a pass....
Well she did pass. Barely. She got a 67.
15 minutes to the end of the day, the principals both came in to my class to make my girls redo their tzniyus fair project because the pictures they used were....not tzniyus.
I had to take 4 girls out to the staircase and had them finish their tests there.
CSS took her test home to finish and she gave it back to me the next day, but I have no heart to mark it now. HB and SS both got no mar because they scored so low and I had a few kids in the 60's and this was NOT a hard test.
Spring Fever.
Tuesday I could not teach. I was dead tired as Jellybean had been up the whole night alternating between giggling and crying for his dummy. I got through an aim in history (Korean war) and then had the girls daven mincha and then we discussed the Wave a little bit (we finished reading it the day before) and then I took the girls to the park with the 7th grade from 2-3.
My co is pregnant now and she is spring fevering too.
When we got back to teaching, within one hour I finished two aims in 7th grade. Felt good.
Today was cute.
In the 8th grade I explained to them why the Vietnam war was so hard psychologically- because Americans could not tell the difference between the Vietcong and the civilians and they had no idea if they were killing innocent people.
I explained it to them with the example that to an outsider; chassidim and litvaks may look the same.. (okay, we know that's not true, but whatever)
The girls started fighting with me and saying that chassididm looked weird and had curly peyos and were very obviously different.
So RS piped up and said "Nuh uh! Mrs. (ME) is chassidish and she's so normal! She doesn't look weird! I would never know she's not normal like us if she didn't tell us!"
Gee thanks RS.
TG decided she was sick today and put down her head in my class. She glared at me when I made her daven mincha and right after mincha she took out a Hershey bar and started munching. I need to have a talk with her.
Seventh grade today finished half a chapter in history again. DA was behaving a bit better- but that's because she has no idea what she scored on that test...
DA was being "big sistered" by Hebco. I have a feeling that's where some of her attitude is coming from... Hebco lets her get away with MURDER.
I marked the essays this morning and I didn't have the heart to take the mark off the girls who had not handed in their drafts. They had all done so well and I didn't want to do it before asking the principal again.
I got the yearbook proofs now and they need soooo much work! My sister is leaving to Israel Sunday and I have no idea how it will get done.
To make matters worse, this is an English Friday, so my week is dragging on forever.....
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The Reaction
Because it's hard to keep on top of posting every day I tend to forget a lot of what happened in school that I wanted to blog. So bear with me if I sound a little jumbled.
The preparing thing worked SO well in 8th grade. The aim took less than 20 minutes. Right then and there I scheduled a test for next Monday; I'm so confident I can finish the chapter by then.
I spent a lot of the period reading The Wave- and I'm sure I'll be done that by next reading or the one after that.
After that, I still had 20 minutes left to the lesson so I did maps with the class and scheduled a quiz for this coming Monday.
OMG, that reminds me that I had better make up that quiz!
Recess time a bunch of teachers were in the office making fun of stupid names, we had a great time but got a bit rowdy LOL. Spring fever I guess.
Before I walked into 7th grade I had a word with the principal about the general attitude there. I had marked the drafts of their editorials and noticed that 5 of them were missing- and this was 4 days after they were due.
The principal and I agreed to lower each girl by one full grade for this. There was no reason that in May this kind of behavior should still be going on.
The missing essays were from FE, AS, DA, SNK, and CSS. The only one who surprised me was DA. Like I have mentioned in previous posts; she had changed drastically since the beginning of the year.
I refused to help the 5 girls who hadn't handed in their drafts during the rewriting time. I said that they had lost their privilege for me to help them. I told CSS who was being stubborn that my help time had come the night before. Her writing was not on my pile so she lost out.
She offered to hand it her writing then, but I insisted that I would not touch it. She was angry; as were the other girls who had missed out, but they knew I was fair.
MB had brought in a book she wanted me to read to the class, but I thought it was too long to finish before the end of the year.
CK told me to start it now and finish it next year. I told her there would be no next year.
The class started yelling and I could not calm them down. About 6 or 7 kids started crying. I thought I was going to embarrass myself too. :(
I can't tell them why I am leaving but they kept asking me questions and made me promise 1000 times that it wasn't because I hated them. I told them that I was not leaving them for another school or anything, just had to leave teaching for a while.
I told them that they'd all be more than welcome to call me or anything once the year was over, and knowing these girls, I don't doubt they will.
MB, RB, SE, CSS, SG, and some others were really upset. I felt terrible.
I told the girls about three of my students who had dropped in on me earlier in the week (CK, MP, and CO) so that I could paint two sweatshirt for them for theri color war. It was actually quite funny that my old students were hanging around my flat- taking care of JB while I was painting, but I liked the feeling that my old kids still remembered me.
I promised my new kids that I'd be there for them the same way.
Later that night CSS's mom called me screaming that I hadn't called her back about a note she had given for me to call her.
JB was coughing in the background and acting really bratty and I apologized to her for having a life that demanded some of my time.
She went off about how CSS was on meds now and that it was irresponsible for me not to have called her about noticing a change in her behavior (Ah! So that's why she's been so calm lately!)
I called her on that and asked her if maybe she wasn't the irresponsible one for not telling me her kid was on drugs.
She shut up after that. We spoke for a while, and all the while I heard her yelling at CSS in the background. No wonder that kid is so messed up. She gets treated so strangely at home.
Her parents waited years to have her, and then she turned out not to be the perfect child they dreamed of. The way they treat her reflects all that. It's so sad.
I wish I could be there for her to help her through next year. I'm so sad to be leaving these girls that I've become so attached to.
Someone please keep reminding me that this is the right thing to do.
The preparing thing worked SO well in 8th grade. The aim took less than 20 minutes. Right then and there I scheduled a test for next Monday; I'm so confident I can finish the chapter by then.
I spent a lot of the period reading The Wave- and I'm sure I'll be done that by next reading or the one after that.
After that, I still had 20 minutes left to the lesson so I did maps with the class and scheduled a quiz for this coming Monday.
OMG, that reminds me that I had better make up that quiz!
Recess time a bunch of teachers were in the office making fun of stupid names, we had a great time but got a bit rowdy LOL. Spring fever I guess.
Before I walked into 7th grade I had a word with the principal about the general attitude there. I had marked the drafts of their editorials and noticed that 5 of them were missing- and this was 4 days after they were due.
The principal and I agreed to lower each girl by one full grade for this. There was no reason that in May this kind of behavior should still be going on.
The missing essays were from FE, AS, DA, SNK, and CSS. The only one who surprised me was DA. Like I have mentioned in previous posts; she had changed drastically since the beginning of the year.
I refused to help the 5 girls who hadn't handed in their drafts during the rewriting time. I said that they had lost their privilege for me to help them. I told CSS who was being stubborn that my help time had come the night before. Her writing was not on my pile so she lost out.
She offered to hand it her writing then, but I insisted that I would not touch it. She was angry; as were the other girls who had missed out, but they knew I was fair.
MB had brought in a book she wanted me to read to the class, but I thought it was too long to finish before the end of the year.
CK told me to start it now and finish it next year. I told her there would be no next year.
The class started yelling and I could not calm them down. About 6 or 7 kids started crying. I thought I was going to embarrass myself too. :(
I can't tell them why I am leaving but they kept asking me questions and made me promise 1000 times that it wasn't because I hated them. I told them that I was not leaving them for another school or anything, just had to leave teaching for a while.
I told them that they'd all be more than welcome to call me or anything once the year was over, and knowing these girls, I don't doubt they will.
MB, RB, SE, CSS, SG, and some others were really upset. I felt terrible.
I told the girls about three of my students who had dropped in on me earlier in the week (CK, MP, and CO) so that I could paint two sweatshirt for them for theri color war. It was actually quite funny that my old students were hanging around my flat- taking care of JB while I was painting, but I liked the feeling that my old kids still remembered me.
I promised my new kids that I'd be there for them the same way.
Later that night CSS's mom called me screaming that I hadn't called her back about a note she had given for me to call her.
JB was coughing in the background and acting really bratty and I apologized to her for having a life that demanded some of my time.
She went off about how CSS was on meds now and that it was irresponsible for me not to have called her about noticing a change in her behavior (Ah! So that's why she's been so calm lately!)
I called her on that and asked her if maybe she wasn't the irresponsible one for not telling me her kid was on drugs.
She shut up after that. We spoke for a while, and all the while I heard her yelling at CSS in the background. No wonder that kid is so messed up. She gets treated so strangely at home.
Her parents waited years to have her, and then she turned out not to be the perfect child they dreamed of. The way they treat her reflects all that. It's so sad.
I wish I could be there for her to help her through next year. I'm so sad to be leaving these girls that I've become so attached to.
Someone please keep reminding me that this is the right thing to do.
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Just Another Day
Yesterday I had the funniest mishap.
I drive my husband to work in the mornings because I take the car to school in the afternoon. Yesterday, I woke up early and got dressed and even packed up the baby, and then my husband tells me that he doesn't need me to drive him because his friend was going to give him a ride.
Come 11:45 and I need to leave the house but I can't. I call the husband is stitches, hardly able to talk through my laughter and ask him if he still has the car keys in his pocket.
He did.
Funny man didn't see why it was a problem that he had the keys and I had the car on the OTHER END OF TOWN!
He asked me to walk over and get them and then walk back to the car. I had 3 teachers at my door waiting for a ride and to my DH's office, it's at least a 25 minute walk not counting the way back..in 80 degree weather.
I decided to take a car service with the other teachers, when DH called me back that his friend was going to rush over with the keys.
We teachers waited outside and the guy pulls up in my father in law's car and throws the keys out the open window before speeding off.
I try to unlock my car and I cant. I call up the friend and ask him if he drives a Toyota. He asked me how I knew. I told him I was holding his keys.
He had to come on back, actually stop the car this time, take the keys from me, give me the keys I needed and then speed off.
We got to school on time anyway.
In 8th grade I decided to let the girls do their editorials all day, and I sat and relaxed. Then I stopped letting them ask questions because it was disrupting every time a girl raised her hand. Whenever a question was asked the class decided it was discussion time.
At the end of the day, I gave out sheets of our next lesson in history and told the girls to prepare it as if they were in high school. I'm hoping that today when I get into class we can speed through the aim. I want to really finish my curriculum with time to spare.
Recess time I ran 3 blocks to the post office and waited 25 minutes on line, only to discover I had packaged the whole thing wrong, had to repackage it, wait another 10 minutes on line, pay $18.50 and shipped the yearbook disc to the printer. FINALLY!
Ran back to school, and totally blacked out in the office. I have a knack for embarrassing myself.
The secretary wanted to send me home, but I was already 20 minutes late for my class, and there was only an hour left to school, so I walked in, still out of breath and started teaching.
I got two aims done with 20 minutes to spare. I had nothing else to teach because I honestly hadn't believed I could teach it all so fast.
We spent the rest of the period schmoozing.
DA today was a monster. My co had to send her out to the principal because she deliberately disobeyed her 3 times. After she got back from the principal she did the same thing.
My co told her that she wondered where this chutzpa was coming from, and after having met her parents, she knew it was not from them. LOL my co cracks me up.
It's such a shame. DA was one of the best in the class in September, and now, after hanging out with CSS and her crew, she's a terror. I dunno. If I were here next year I'd think of something to do, but I'm not going to be there for them come 8th grade.
It makes me so sad.
I sat down to mark some essays and turns out that 3 days after it's due, 5 girls still hadn't handed it in. I could kill.
What is wrong with the 7th grade. I'm going to take a full grade off their final copies for failing to hand in their drafts. Can't wait to get the red pen out!
I was looking at RA's handwriting yesterday, and having been into graphology since I was 12, I thought it might be interesting to look at it in that way (because I couldn't read it any other way!) Kid has a waaay chaotic background. :(
I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, but it was interesting to see it reflected in her writing.
Just another day, ready for another one? I dunno... only about 21 days left to school!
I drive my husband to work in the mornings because I take the car to school in the afternoon. Yesterday, I woke up early and got dressed and even packed up the baby, and then my husband tells me that he doesn't need me to drive him because his friend was going to give him a ride.
Come 11:45 and I need to leave the house but I can't. I call the husband is stitches, hardly able to talk through my laughter and ask him if he still has the car keys in his pocket.
He did.
Funny man didn't see why it was a problem that he had the keys and I had the car on the OTHER END OF TOWN!
He asked me to walk over and get them and then walk back to the car. I had 3 teachers at my door waiting for a ride and to my DH's office, it's at least a 25 minute walk not counting the way back..in 80 degree weather.
I decided to take a car service with the other teachers, when DH called me back that his friend was going to rush over with the keys.
We teachers waited outside and the guy pulls up in my father in law's car and throws the keys out the open window before speeding off.
I try to unlock my car and I cant. I call up the friend and ask him if he drives a Toyota. He asked me how I knew. I told him I was holding his keys.
He had to come on back, actually stop the car this time, take the keys from me, give me the keys I needed and then speed off.
We got to school on time anyway.
In 8th grade I decided to let the girls do their editorials all day, and I sat and relaxed. Then I stopped letting them ask questions because it was disrupting every time a girl raised her hand. Whenever a question was asked the class decided it was discussion time.
At the end of the day, I gave out sheets of our next lesson in history and told the girls to prepare it as if they were in high school. I'm hoping that today when I get into class we can speed through the aim. I want to really finish my curriculum with time to spare.
Recess time I ran 3 blocks to the post office and waited 25 minutes on line, only to discover I had packaged the whole thing wrong, had to repackage it, wait another 10 minutes on line, pay $18.50 and shipped the yearbook disc to the printer. FINALLY!
Ran back to school, and totally blacked out in the office. I have a knack for embarrassing myself.
The secretary wanted to send me home, but I was already 20 minutes late for my class, and there was only an hour left to school, so I walked in, still out of breath and started teaching.
I got two aims done with 20 minutes to spare. I had nothing else to teach because I honestly hadn't believed I could teach it all so fast.
We spent the rest of the period schmoozing.
DA today was a monster. My co had to send her out to the principal because she deliberately disobeyed her 3 times. After she got back from the principal she did the same thing.
My co told her that she wondered where this chutzpa was coming from, and after having met her parents, she knew it was not from them. LOL my co cracks me up.
It's such a shame. DA was one of the best in the class in September, and now, after hanging out with CSS and her crew, she's a terror. I dunno. If I were here next year I'd think of something to do, but I'm not going to be there for them come 8th grade.
It makes me so sad.
I sat down to mark some essays and turns out that 3 days after it's due, 5 girls still hadn't handed it in. I could kill.
What is wrong with the 7th grade. I'm going to take a full grade off their final copies for failing to hand in their drafts. Can't wait to get the red pen out!
I was looking at RA's handwriting yesterday, and having been into graphology since I was 12, I thought it might be interesting to look at it in that way (because I couldn't read it any other way!) Kid has a waaay chaotic background. :(
I didn't learn anything I didn't already know, but it was interesting to see it reflected in her writing.
Just another day, ready for another one? I dunno... only about 21 days left to school!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Rundown of the Day
Here's the rundown of the day that I had no time to post about.
I started going to school later and later because I figured that if I left a little later and came home a little earlier instead of coming to school early and hanging out after school for a bit, I can save almost an hour a day at the babysitter's where I drop JB.
I never imagined two weeks could be enough to change a mindset about money. I guess you learn something new every day.
I got to school about 12:25, to find that the office was busy editing the yearbook yet another time. There is no way the girls will be getting their yearbooks at graduation. If the school schleps us one more day I'm going to tell my sister to just drop it all.
I love my school and my job, just can't take the pressure when there are deadlines to meet.
In the 8th grade I finished the WWII chapter and read them The Wave and still had time to do The Giver. I am getting good in my old age. :)
The principal is shlepping on my Holocaust book and I wanted to start it today, but it wont be ready for at least another week. I think I'm going to have to start teaching the Cold War Era before I get to the Holocaust. Blah.
Index cards were interesting. TG wrote on hers that she was so sorry for bringing up my whole cancer thing, but her mother was sick and the doctors were doing tests on her for three years now and had no idea what she had or what to do. I understood her and felt pretty bad, and told her it was not a problem and that if she ever needed anything not to hesitate before asking.
She's my student; that's the only thing holding me back from giving her my cancer blog address. Maybe at the end of the year when I wont be coming back anymore I'll email her the link.
She wrote the most beautiful letter as a journal entry this week and I told her that I copied it and saved it- I didn't tell her that I wanted to post it on both of my blogs. Maybe I'll tell her the last day of school.
I won't be posting it on the cancer blog for a while yet- until I get up to date, but I can out it here for now.
***
Life
by TG
Life is a journey full of its ups and downs. It's full of feelings that are without name and indescribable. That's Life.
There may be a sharp turn on the way, right where you wish it wasn't. I guess that's just life.
You can take it as a molehill or a mountain- it all depends on how you look at it. That's life.
There are ways that a person may want to present themselves, as a happy, cheerful, funny and kind person, but in reality, you will never really know how they feel inside. There are feelings like love and hatred, like happiness and sadness. Even though you may want to be the one that always has a smile on their face, it doesn't always work like that. That's life.
Your family and friends will always be there to help you, but only you can really help yourself. That's life.
There will be many people that have a story to tell of their own survival of that sharp turn. Listen to them with a full heart because you never know that could chas v'shalom happen. It may seem like Hashem is out to get us, but if anything, it's just the opposite. We see it as that because we are only human. That's life.
***
I was so moved by this piece of paper written by TG- a student I didn't even know could write, much less say a straight word without trying to make a joke out of everything.
Anyway, back to school.
Seventh grade finished a chapter in history and I scheduled their next two tests. They're not happy, but I need to finish my curriculum.
After school I told the principal I was not coming back. She didn't pry, but she was kind of upset. She praised me to high heavens' the usual "acharei mos kedoshim thing". LOL
At least I will be leaving knowing that I had a great year in a great school that really liked me.
Okay, 24 days to school left- going to tackle on of them in less than an hour. Wish me luck!
I started going to school later and later because I figured that if I left a little later and came home a little earlier instead of coming to school early and hanging out after school for a bit, I can save almost an hour a day at the babysitter's where I drop JB.
I never imagined two weeks could be enough to change a mindset about money. I guess you learn something new every day.
I got to school about 12:25, to find that the office was busy editing the yearbook yet another time. There is no way the girls will be getting their yearbooks at graduation. If the school schleps us one more day I'm going to tell my sister to just drop it all.
I love my school and my job, just can't take the pressure when there are deadlines to meet.
In the 8th grade I finished the WWII chapter and read them The Wave and still had time to do The Giver. I am getting good in my old age. :)
The principal is shlepping on my Holocaust book and I wanted to start it today, but it wont be ready for at least another week. I think I'm going to have to start teaching the Cold War Era before I get to the Holocaust. Blah.
Index cards were interesting. TG wrote on hers that she was so sorry for bringing up my whole cancer thing, but her mother was sick and the doctors were doing tests on her for three years now and had no idea what she had or what to do. I understood her and felt pretty bad, and told her it was not a problem and that if she ever needed anything not to hesitate before asking.
She's my student; that's the only thing holding me back from giving her my cancer blog address. Maybe at the end of the year when I wont be coming back anymore I'll email her the link.
She wrote the most beautiful letter as a journal entry this week and I told her that I copied it and saved it- I didn't tell her that I wanted to post it on both of my blogs. Maybe I'll tell her the last day of school.
I won't be posting it on the cancer blog for a while yet- until I get up to date, but I can out it here for now.
***
Life
by TG
Life is a journey full of its ups and downs. It's full of feelings that are without name and indescribable. That's Life.
There may be a sharp turn on the way, right where you wish it wasn't. I guess that's just life.
You can take it as a molehill or a mountain- it all depends on how you look at it. That's life.
There are ways that a person may want to present themselves, as a happy, cheerful, funny and kind person, but in reality, you will never really know how they feel inside. There are feelings like love and hatred, like happiness and sadness. Even though you may want to be the one that always has a smile on their face, it doesn't always work like that. That's life.
Your family and friends will always be there to help you, but only you can really help yourself. That's life.
There will be many people that have a story to tell of their own survival of that sharp turn. Listen to them with a full heart because you never know that could chas v'shalom happen. It may seem like Hashem is out to get us, but if anything, it's just the opposite. We see it as that because we are only human. That's life.
***
I was so moved by this piece of paper written by TG- a student I didn't even know could write, much less say a straight word without trying to make a joke out of everything.
Anyway, back to school.
Seventh grade finished a chapter in history and I scheduled their next two tests. They're not happy, but I need to finish my curriculum.
After school I told the principal I was not coming back. She didn't pry, but she was kind of upset. She praised me to high heavens' the usual "acharei mos kedoshim thing". LOL
At least I will be leaving knowing that I had a great year in a great school that really liked me.
Okay, 24 days to school left- going to tackle on of them in less than an hour. Wish me luck!
My Decision
I did it.
I spoke to the principal and told her I'm not coming back next year.
She cried. I cried.
It's not an easy decision but it's what's right for me at this point in time.
I am always welcome to come back to teaching (the principal told me she'd always welcome me if I decided to come back), but I'm terrified of what's out there for me right now.
This is what I know; what I love; and what I feel for. But I think this era is at an end for me now.
The school year is another 24 days and I can't decide whether to count down or to grasp tight to every last day I remain a teacher.
I'll post more about my day when I wake up in a few hours. I just got in from a late night appointment and its almost 2 am.
Thankfully, JB just took his late night feeding as I walked through the door, so that means I get about 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep now.
The small pleasures in life.
I spoke to the principal and told her I'm not coming back next year.
She cried. I cried.
It's not an easy decision but it's what's right for me at this point in time.
I am always welcome to come back to teaching (the principal told me she'd always welcome me if I decided to come back), but I'm terrified of what's out there for me right now.
This is what I know; what I love; and what I feel for. But I think this era is at an end for me now.
The school year is another 24 days and I can't decide whether to count down or to grasp tight to every last day I remain a teacher.
I'll post more about my day when I wake up in a few hours. I just got in from a late night appointment and its almost 2 am.
Thankfully, JB just took his late night feeding as I walked through the door, so that means I get about 3 hours of uninterrupted sleep now.
The small pleasures in life.
Sunday, May 06, 2007
Tough Decision
No one had the patience to sit in class Wednesday. The weather was amazing and I had too much on my mind to teach very much. I taught aim in history and then read the Wave for about 20 minutes to the girls.
My co came to my door and asked if I wanted to take the 7th and 8th grades to the park with her. She couldn't teach either.
We took the kids out to the park where we sat and watched them play ball. DSW and DZ and BG and a bunch of other 8th graders were acting all immature and were obsessing over if we teachers were staring at them. As if we cared. LOL
CSS and EMB were walking past a group of public school boys trying to get their attention. Ouch. That was hard to deal with, but my co handled it well.
After the park RA decided to walk back to school side by side with me telling me all about how she wished she knew the names of trees because it would make walks outside so much more fun if she knew this stuff.
She came over to me after class one day this week to bore me to death with my own history lesson. Just added tons of stuff to it etc, told me that her mom was a History major and that she knew all this stuff.
Could strangle her.
The building had a minor fire Thursday because of some fuse that burned out.
The smell was horrible and it was hard to concentrate on learning.
DZ piped up that breathing it all in could cause cancer.
I lost it.
I told DZ that I had thought she was more mature but I guess I was wrong. I said that she was taking the whole cancer thing too lightly and that it wasn't a joke- no matter how easygoing I was about it. I said that she really hurt people with that attitude- treating a life threatening disease as if it were nothing.
She sulked the rest of the day. I didn't care.
The administrator of the school had a problem with the yearbook stuff again. I almost cried. I have more than enough on my mind right now without having to go through the manuscript yet another time.
My sister has been killing herself on this thing for ages. They haven't even discussed pay with her yet. I felt awful having to hand her back another sheaf of papers.
Friday morning I had a meeting with the administrator about signing contract for next year.
Two weeks ago I would have signed in a heartbeat. Things came up suddenly and I'm not as sure. Actually, I am pretty sure. Just scared to make the move away from what I know.
They offered me a $500 raise and I laughed out loud.
The admin asked me if I was coming back and all of a sudden I just started to cry. LOL I'm hanging around JB too much.
I told him some of the circumstances that were causing this change of heart, and he understood.
For you blog readers, I don't want to get too into my personal life, so I'll just give you half of the rundown.
I love teaching, I really do. It just takes a lot out of me and I feel that my kid and husband are missing out on what I really should be for them. I haven't gotten back to myself after the baby and I feel that I am killing myself and not getting anything for it.
Now money never was the problem, but now it is on my mind. And I'm not upset at the school or anything, but my husband and I feel that with a lot less of the talent and energy that I use for teaching, I could e making a lot more and still resting up and being there for my little family.
DH calls teaching playing games. I don't see it that way, but I do see it as I goal that I achieved. As hubby so delicately put it; "You came, you saw, you conquered, you left."
I think it's time to move on.
I don't feel it is a cop out, I feel that where I am right now its necessary. I'm not backing out because the job is too hard or not for me. I'm backing out because circumstances dictate that its time for me to do so.
I didn't sign Friday. I asked for a week to think about it. I'm quite sure I know my decision, but still, it's hard.
I was an absolute mess for the rest of the day. My head was somewhere else.
I had to drive SG home because she doesn't live in Flatbush and the bus doesn't take her home. The teacher who usually drives her home was not in school that day so I offered.
The kid was chuffed. Felt so great to sit at the back of my jeep LOL.
She's the class celebrity now. Cutie she is.
My co came to my door and asked if I wanted to take the 7th and 8th grades to the park with her. She couldn't teach either.
We took the kids out to the park where we sat and watched them play ball. DSW and DZ and BG and a bunch of other 8th graders were acting all immature and were obsessing over if we teachers were staring at them. As if we cared. LOL
CSS and EMB were walking past a group of public school boys trying to get their attention. Ouch. That was hard to deal with, but my co handled it well.
After the park RA decided to walk back to school side by side with me telling me all about how she wished she knew the names of trees because it would make walks outside so much more fun if she knew this stuff.
She came over to me after class one day this week to bore me to death with my own history lesson. Just added tons of stuff to it etc, told me that her mom was a History major and that she knew all this stuff.
Could strangle her.
The building had a minor fire Thursday because of some fuse that burned out.
The smell was horrible and it was hard to concentrate on learning.
DZ piped up that breathing it all in could cause cancer.
I lost it.
I told DZ that I had thought she was more mature but I guess I was wrong. I said that she was taking the whole cancer thing too lightly and that it wasn't a joke- no matter how easygoing I was about it. I said that she really hurt people with that attitude- treating a life threatening disease as if it were nothing.
She sulked the rest of the day. I didn't care.
The administrator of the school had a problem with the yearbook stuff again. I almost cried. I have more than enough on my mind right now without having to go through the manuscript yet another time.
My sister has been killing herself on this thing for ages. They haven't even discussed pay with her yet. I felt awful having to hand her back another sheaf of papers.
Friday morning I had a meeting with the administrator about signing contract for next year.
Two weeks ago I would have signed in a heartbeat. Things came up suddenly and I'm not as sure. Actually, I am pretty sure. Just scared to make the move away from what I know.
They offered me a $500 raise and I laughed out loud.
The admin asked me if I was coming back and all of a sudden I just started to cry. LOL I'm hanging around JB too much.
I told him some of the circumstances that were causing this change of heart, and he understood.
For you blog readers, I don't want to get too into my personal life, so I'll just give you half of the rundown.
I love teaching, I really do. It just takes a lot out of me and I feel that my kid and husband are missing out on what I really should be for them. I haven't gotten back to myself after the baby and I feel that I am killing myself and not getting anything for it.
Now money never was the problem, but now it is on my mind. And I'm not upset at the school or anything, but my husband and I feel that with a lot less of the talent and energy that I use for teaching, I could e making a lot more and still resting up and being there for my little family.
DH calls teaching playing games. I don't see it that way, but I do see it as I goal that I achieved. As hubby so delicately put it; "You came, you saw, you conquered, you left."
I think it's time to move on.
I don't feel it is a cop out, I feel that where I am right now its necessary. I'm not backing out because the job is too hard or not for me. I'm backing out because circumstances dictate that its time for me to do so.
I didn't sign Friday. I asked for a week to think about it. I'm quite sure I know my decision, but still, it's hard.
I was an absolute mess for the rest of the day. My head was somewhere else.
I had to drive SG home because she doesn't live in Flatbush and the bus doesn't take her home. The teacher who usually drives her home was not in school that day so I offered.
The kid was chuffed. Felt so great to sit at the back of my jeep LOL.
She's the class celebrity now. Cutie she is.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
My Kids are Nuts!
My students are nuts!
One girl in the 8th grade wanted to know why America felt the need to butt in when other countries did things they didn't like.
So I compared our country to the stranger old lady in the street who thinks she has the right to tell us how to walk, how to talk to our younger siblings, what to eat, and when to cross the street.
The girls had a good laugh when I told them about this stupid old woman who had stopped me just that morning to ask me what I ate for breakfast.
I told the lady I had eaten half a jar of Pringles and an ice cream bar and some chocolate and she then asked me if I went to the gym 5 days a week to keep my shape.
I didn't tell my students how I snobbed her out and told her that I was only so thin because I had been on chemo and never gained back all that weight. The lady ran away as if cancer was catchy, but that part I left out.
RS then piped up and said she had heard of a bunch of times where I knocked people dead when I was sick and bald.
My chin still hurts from where it banged into the desk on the way to the floor.
RS and the class were all into how they asked everyone they knew about me and when I was sick and they collected an impressive file on all my teenage escapades. Talk about embarrassing.
I couldn't get a word in the entire lesson because they were so busy asking me questions of when I was bald and if I cried when I got sick and if chemo was really really bad and if I thought I would die.
I couldn't believe I was letting them get away with it. I mean, I got my lesson plan done, so time was not an issue, but they were pushing it so far!
RS took out my scans that they had gotten in Science (not knowing it was me) and tried to show it to me. I took out my copy and the class was shocked to see that mine was on photo paper as opposed to a photo copy. TG was dying to know how I had the original.
BK piped up, "Because it was her you dummy!"
The class was going nuts. So was I. I never blushed so much in my life.
TG was all like. "Mrs. _______, I'm so going to buy one of those frames that say 'role model' at the top and put you in it and hang it up and take it with me to camp to look at every time I want to get homesick and cry for a stupid reason etc."
Kiss up!
DZ my little attention seeker who is always telling everyone she is FAT when se weighs as much as I do (and I'm still in the double digits) decided that she also had bumps in her neck. Today during recess she decided she had cancer because she got out of breath very quickly.
Oh grow up. What did she think? I was going to feel sorry for her? She came over to me to ask me if she could feel bumps in her neck even if she was fat.
Oh EW.
The principal came in and had the girls all try on graduation gowns. They looked sooo cute! ...Even though the gowns are soooooooooooo ugly. LOL I graduated in the same ones... I do not miss those days. 8th grade graduations are so pathetic.
I was so tired today, so I promised the girls that if we got the history lesson done quickly, I'd read to them from the Wave for the last half hour of the day.
I've never had them quiet for so long.
They tried getting me to jump rope with them, but me jumping rope is a sorry sight, so I just offered to turn for them.
My co came over to talk to me about SNK who is getting into major trouble these days for being an obnoxious brat. She is so maladjusted because of her messed up parents. Poor child. Her latest shtick is to scream when anyone touches her desk and to pour water over other girls.
I wanted to talk to CSS about her good behavior lately, but just today, she interrupted my 8th grade class to call a girl out for fun. Out the window...And then later the principal called her out for some other crime so...
The yearbook is uhmazing. I saw the printed stuff that my sister sent to school to be proofread and its pretty wow. Now I have to make sure she gets paid for this :(.
I was asked by the principal if I was coming back to school next year, and I told the principal that while for now it was a yes, it might turn into a no.
She asked why and I told her that I felt I could do a lot more. I felt that teaching (especially for this kind of money) with the way I felt, and balancing the baby and all, and with money a little tight, wasn't all that worth it for what I really could be doing.
I told her that I'm still young and I could go to school and make a heck a lot more money for a lot less work. She had to agree but said it would be a shame for the education system to miss out on me.
I'm a bighead.
I asked her if that meant I could get a raise, and she said to discuss it with the administrator on Friday.
Wish me luck.
One girl in the 8th grade wanted to know why America felt the need to butt in when other countries did things they didn't like.
So I compared our country to the stranger old lady in the street who thinks she has the right to tell us how to walk, how to talk to our younger siblings, what to eat, and when to cross the street.
The girls had a good laugh when I told them about this stupid old woman who had stopped me just that morning to ask me what I ate for breakfast.
I told the lady I had eaten half a jar of Pringles and an ice cream bar and some chocolate and she then asked me if I went to the gym 5 days a week to keep my shape.
I didn't tell my students how I snobbed her out and told her that I was only so thin because I had been on chemo and never gained back all that weight. The lady ran away as if cancer was catchy, but that part I left out.
RS then piped up and said she had heard of a bunch of times where I knocked people dead when I was sick and bald.
My chin still hurts from where it banged into the desk on the way to the floor.
RS and the class were all into how they asked everyone they knew about me and when I was sick and they collected an impressive file on all my teenage escapades. Talk about embarrassing.
I couldn't get a word in the entire lesson because they were so busy asking me questions of when I was bald and if I cried when I got sick and if chemo was really really bad and if I thought I would die.
I couldn't believe I was letting them get away with it. I mean, I got my lesson plan done, so time was not an issue, but they were pushing it so far!
RS took out my scans that they had gotten in Science (not knowing it was me) and tried to show it to me. I took out my copy and the class was shocked to see that mine was on photo paper as opposed to a photo copy. TG was dying to know how I had the original.
BK piped up, "Because it was her you dummy!"
The class was going nuts. So was I. I never blushed so much in my life.
TG was all like. "Mrs. _______, I'm so going to buy one of those frames that say 'role model' at the top and put you in it and hang it up and take it with me to camp to look at every time I want to get homesick and cry for a stupid reason etc."
Kiss up!
DZ my little attention seeker who is always telling everyone she is FAT when se weighs as much as I do (and I'm still in the double digits) decided that she also had bumps in her neck. Today during recess she decided she had cancer because she got out of breath very quickly.
Oh grow up. What did she think? I was going to feel sorry for her? She came over to me to ask me if she could feel bumps in her neck even if she was fat.
Oh EW.
The principal came in and had the girls all try on graduation gowns. They looked sooo cute! ...Even though the gowns are soooooooooooo ugly. LOL I graduated in the same ones... I do not miss those days. 8th grade graduations are so pathetic.
I was so tired today, so I promised the girls that if we got the history lesson done quickly, I'd read to them from the Wave for the last half hour of the day.
I've never had them quiet for so long.
They tried getting me to jump rope with them, but me jumping rope is a sorry sight, so I just offered to turn for them.
My co came over to talk to me about SNK who is getting into major trouble these days for being an obnoxious brat. She is so maladjusted because of her messed up parents. Poor child. Her latest shtick is to scream when anyone touches her desk and to pour water over other girls.
I wanted to talk to CSS about her good behavior lately, but just today, she interrupted my 8th grade class to call a girl out for fun. Out the window...And then later the principal called her out for some other crime so...
The yearbook is uhmazing. I saw the printed stuff that my sister sent to school to be proofread and its pretty wow. Now I have to make sure she gets paid for this :(.
I was asked by the principal if I was coming back to school next year, and I told the principal that while for now it was a yes, it might turn into a no.
She asked why and I told her that I felt I could do a lot more. I felt that teaching (especially for this kind of money) with the way I felt, and balancing the baby and all, and with money a little tight, wasn't all that worth it for what I really could be doing.
I told her that I'm still young and I could go to school and make a heck a lot more money for a lot less work. She had to agree but said it would be a shame for the education system to miss out on me.
I'm a bighead.
I asked her if that meant I could get a raise, and she said to discuss it with the administrator on Friday.
Wish me luck.
Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Test Troubles
Every time I give a test, it's the same old story.
CFC comes over to me in the office to tell me how she couldn't study last night and how she was going to fail etc and could I please help her out.
Today I put my foot down. I told her that she did this to me since September and that I was not going to deal with it anymore. She kept trying to talk to me about it during lunch, but every time I sent her away saying that it was not up for discussion. She looked very hurt but I didn't' care. It's time she learned that the only easy way out to life is death. LOL
The class took the test and did really well. Got a lot of 90's not many 100's and some 80's. TBN got a 72 for real- not moderated! I'm happy for her. I told her so.
CFC cried over her 86% and asked me to change her mark but I told her that's not the way it works. I refused to give her extra credit and told her that a mark in the 80's is more than nice. Her resource room teacher annoys me every time we pass in the halls. She claims I have to help CFC more etc... I told her the same thing. That a girl who gets in the 80's on her own cannot be wasting my time.
CFC wanted to ask a question during the test and when I told her I couldn't help her, she got all upset at me and made sure I realized that she was angry, but I ignored it. I need to have a long talk with her about this...
Seventh grade was so cute today as we discussed editorials and came up with ideas of what to write about.
Then we had a fire drill and they embarrassed me big time by being the rowdiest and sloppiest grade in the school. Oh boi.
RA needs a good slap, so it's a good thing she sits in the back. I am going to lose my cool with her one day and it won't be pretty. I just can't believe I'm going to have to suffer another year with her as a student. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
CFC comes over to me in the office to tell me how she couldn't study last night and how she was going to fail etc and could I please help her out.
Today I put my foot down. I told her that she did this to me since September and that I was not going to deal with it anymore. She kept trying to talk to me about it during lunch, but every time I sent her away saying that it was not up for discussion. She looked very hurt but I didn't' care. It's time she learned that the only easy way out to life is death. LOL
The class took the test and did really well. Got a lot of 90's not many 100's and some 80's. TBN got a 72 for real- not moderated! I'm happy for her. I told her so.
CFC cried over her 86% and asked me to change her mark but I told her that's not the way it works. I refused to give her extra credit and told her that a mark in the 80's is more than nice. Her resource room teacher annoys me every time we pass in the halls. She claims I have to help CFC more etc... I told her the same thing. That a girl who gets in the 80's on her own cannot be wasting my time.
CFC wanted to ask a question during the test and when I told her I couldn't help her, she got all upset at me and made sure I realized that she was angry, but I ignored it. I need to have a long talk with her about this...
Seventh grade was so cute today as we discussed editorials and came up with ideas of what to write about.
Then we had a fire drill and they embarrassed me big time by being the rowdiest and sloppiest grade in the school. Oh boi.
RA needs a good slap, so it's a good thing she sits in the back. I am going to lose my cool with her one day and it won't be pretty. I just can't believe I'm going to have to suffer another year with her as a student. Grrrrrrrrrrr.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Week Back From Pesach
The week has been so insanely busy that I have not had any time to post.
Came back to school to find CFC being more annoying than ever. I wore a hooded sweatshirt one day with my sheitel in a ponytail and thought it was very important to tell me that I looked cute.
TG is a pest too, always calling out and totally coming up with weird topics to talk about in class.
8th grade is obsessed with the idea of my husband coming in to talk to them about the Great Depression, but the best I could do was pass around a photocopy of a real stock certificate he got for me to use.
They are all asking about my baby and are kind of shocked that I still call him Jellybean.
Last week Thursday the 8th grade learned about cancers and I gave my co some of the scans that I took when I was sick where you could see actual tumors in my body. The girls didn't know it was me in the scan, but I heard that they were fascinated.
Well this Monday I got an index card from TG that asked me if it was true that I'd had cancer as a kid. I was slightly shocked, but coming from TG it made sense... so I just wrote that yes, I had been sick.
BK is a brat who skipped a grade and thinks she is all that, but in reality she is just about average- even for her age, not to mention the grade, but she lords it over everyone else. She's always calling everyone "guys!!!" and tries to act like a big macher all the time. Gets on my flipping nerves.
She gave me an index card this week saying "just a personal thing, but I don't like you." I told her that it was okay for her not to like me.
She came over recess time to tell me that she just wanted to see my reaction. I told her that as a personal thing it was okay, but as a derech eretz thing that wasn't acceptable.
The class has been really bratty about going outside for recces so the principal threatened to take recess away. That got them going.
Yearbook is coming out soooo amazing, but the administrator of the school is sitting shiva so I don't know what's going to be with the stuff he has to give in for it. :(
I started driving to school again, which means that after not having slept all night, I still have to wake up early to take my husband to work so that I can use the car and then my mornings are pretty much shot. I found a babysitter for JB so I think I'm happy, but boy, I can't wait for summer vacation.
We did The Giver and had a really great discussion about how a child is not an adult and that its not fair to ask one to grow up too quickly. The girls had to admit at the end of that lesson that it was indeed a privilege to come to school every day- homework and all.
Seventh grade.
CSS has been so calm the past week. I don't know if this is for real or if she's just resting while the gathers her strength for a whopper. She's been writing notes and paying attention and acting sincere. I'm impressed. She's becoming quite lovable.
EL and SE and some of the other girls are OBSESSED with finding out when my birthday is. They make me laugh, but I won't tell them.
I went to Philadelphia with the grade this Tuesday, and it was a really nice trip. We left the school at 7am, and the principal was telling me that she was a bit nervous because she had planned this trip months ago and it turned out that just this week the administrator's father passed away and he wasn't here to mind the school while she was away on the trip. She hoped that the Hebrew principal could manage.
Half an hour later the Hebrew principal called in that her water broke and that there was no way she could come into school LOL. (She had the baby 3 hours later... I could KILL such people!)
The principal called up the secretary, but she was stranded in Cleveland because she had gone in last night for a wedding, and because of heavy rains and flooding, her plane was delayed.
The other secretary had to leave early so pretty much the school was run by the janitor all day.
The principal then had a very interesting conversation with me about all her birth stories and whether epidurals are worth it etc. OMG I love this school.
I told her that this school was such a different place than my old school. In my old school I had to wear a suit every day. The principal was shocked. She told me that she came to school in knee socks and a slinky skirt every day because she feels that by dressing casually the kids identify with her more and by feeling comfortable she got more done.
I love this school more!
She asked me questions about when I was sick too. I don't know why that always comes up...
Once we got to Philli we hung out in the visitor's center while a mad black woman was cursing and shrieking about her rights. My kids took lots of pictures....
We saw independence hall and the Liberty Bell and took a horse and buggy ride around the historical part of town. The girls were so thrilled to see a bunch of places they had learned about and I was thrilled that they remembered everything I had taught them. The principal was thrilled too about how great of a teacher I was.
I'm a bighead.
The buggy driver we had was sooo annoying she didn't shut up for a minute and kept teasing me because I was the teacher. Grrrrrrr.
We went to the Franklin Institute where we watched an Imax about Hurricane Katrina.
As I entered the Imax I got really really dizzy and sort of (okay, not just sort of) blacked out in front of all my students. The principal told me to go wait outside while the class watched the Imax , but I insisted that if I sat down and didn't move and didn't talk it would be fine.
RA and NN plunked themselves down on either side of me and didn't shut up for a minute while I puked into a bag. I don't even think they noticed.
There were two 80 year old women walking up the Imax stairs and RA said to me, "Look, if they can do it, so can you! Compare the skills of the 80 year olds vs. the 19 year old."
I could have slapped her if I hadn't been too busy trying to keep my lunch down.
She was absent on Thursday and I have to say it was the best day of my week.
On Wednesday RA kept trying to teach the class. She kept answering everyone's questions even before I opened my mouth.
I finally walked over to her desk and dumped my book on it. I told her that I was way to tired to fight it out with her and that I wanted to go home and take a nap and would she mind teaching the class as she seemed she thought herself capable.
She was quiet and I left my book on her desk to make her feel stupid and taught the rest of the lesson without it.
After class she came to insist that she was right about some of the things she had said and in less than two seconds I told her why she was wrong. She asked me why I didn't tell her that during class so I told her that I didn't want to embarrass her. I told her that she had to start thinking seriously into some of the things she said because although she thought she knew everything she didn't. She claimed that she reads a lot and that she knows more than the average girl, but then I pointed out that knowledge isn't everything, that social capabilities are important too.
I think it went over her head.
I finished two chapters in history in the seventh grade this week and both grades are having tests scheduled for next week.
I started reading "The Wave" to the 8th grade because we're going to be starting the Holocaust shortly. They're loving it.
Today I taught them how to sit through a high school discussion class and look interested, and still come away enjoying it. The girls felt huge at the end of the lesson.
I had two girls in each class make up a review game for history for Monday because I won't be there- I need to go in to the hospital for scans. :(
The principal asked me to take some time off from school because I looked awful and she said that recovering from a baby isn't easy. I don't want to take off, and school is almost over- another couple of weeks. I told her thanks, but I'd sleep it off over Shabbos.
Came back to school to find CFC being more annoying than ever. I wore a hooded sweatshirt one day with my sheitel in a ponytail and thought it was very important to tell me that I looked cute.
TG is a pest too, always calling out and totally coming up with weird topics to talk about in class.
8th grade is obsessed with the idea of my husband coming in to talk to them about the Great Depression, but the best I could do was pass around a photocopy of a real stock certificate he got for me to use.
They are all asking about my baby and are kind of shocked that I still call him Jellybean.
Last week Thursday the 8th grade learned about cancers and I gave my co some of the scans that I took when I was sick where you could see actual tumors in my body. The girls didn't know it was me in the scan, but I heard that they were fascinated.
Well this Monday I got an index card from TG that asked me if it was true that I'd had cancer as a kid. I was slightly shocked, but coming from TG it made sense... so I just wrote that yes, I had been sick.
BK is a brat who skipped a grade and thinks she is all that, but in reality she is just about average- even for her age, not to mention the grade, but she lords it over everyone else. She's always calling everyone "guys!!!" and tries to act like a big macher all the time. Gets on my flipping nerves.
She gave me an index card this week saying "just a personal thing, but I don't like you." I told her that it was okay for her not to like me.
She came over recess time to tell me that she just wanted to see my reaction. I told her that as a personal thing it was okay, but as a derech eretz thing that wasn't acceptable.
The class has been really bratty about going outside for recces so the principal threatened to take recess away. That got them going.
Yearbook is coming out soooo amazing, but the administrator of the school is sitting shiva so I don't know what's going to be with the stuff he has to give in for it. :(
I started driving to school again, which means that after not having slept all night, I still have to wake up early to take my husband to work so that I can use the car and then my mornings are pretty much shot. I found a babysitter for JB so I think I'm happy, but boy, I can't wait for summer vacation.
We did The Giver and had a really great discussion about how a child is not an adult and that its not fair to ask one to grow up too quickly. The girls had to admit at the end of that lesson that it was indeed a privilege to come to school every day- homework and all.
Seventh grade.
CSS has been so calm the past week. I don't know if this is for real or if she's just resting while the gathers her strength for a whopper. She's been writing notes and paying attention and acting sincere. I'm impressed. She's becoming quite lovable.
EL and SE and some of the other girls are OBSESSED with finding out when my birthday is. They make me laugh, but I won't tell them.
I went to Philadelphia with the grade this Tuesday, and it was a really nice trip. We left the school at 7am, and the principal was telling me that she was a bit nervous because she had planned this trip months ago and it turned out that just this week the administrator's father passed away and he wasn't here to mind the school while she was away on the trip. She hoped that the Hebrew principal could manage.
Half an hour later the Hebrew principal called in that her water broke and that there was no way she could come into school LOL. (She had the baby 3 hours later... I could KILL such people!)
The principal called up the secretary, but she was stranded in Cleveland because she had gone in last night for a wedding, and because of heavy rains and flooding, her plane was delayed.
The other secretary had to leave early so pretty much the school was run by the janitor all day.
The principal then had a very interesting conversation with me about all her birth stories and whether epidurals are worth it etc. OMG I love this school.
I told her that this school was such a different place than my old school. In my old school I had to wear a suit every day. The principal was shocked. She told me that she came to school in knee socks and a slinky skirt every day because she feels that by dressing casually the kids identify with her more and by feeling comfortable she got more done.
I love this school more!
She asked me questions about when I was sick too. I don't know why that always comes up...
Once we got to Philli we hung out in the visitor's center while a mad black woman was cursing and shrieking about her rights. My kids took lots of pictures....
We saw independence hall and the Liberty Bell and took a horse and buggy ride around the historical part of town. The girls were so thrilled to see a bunch of places they had learned about and I was thrilled that they remembered everything I had taught them. The principal was thrilled too about how great of a teacher I was.
I'm a bighead.
The buggy driver we had was sooo annoying she didn't shut up for a minute and kept teasing me because I was the teacher. Grrrrrrr.
We went to the Franklin Institute where we watched an Imax about Hurricane Katrina.
As I entered the Imax I got really really dizzy and sort of (okay, not just sort of) blacked out in front of all my students. The principal told me to go wait outside while the class watched the Imax , but I insisted that if I sat down and didn't move and didn't talk it would be fine.
RA and NN plunked themselves down on either side of me and didn't shut up for a minute while I puked into a bag. I don't even think they noticed.
There were two 80 year old women walking up the Imax stairs and RA said to me, "Look, if they can do it, so can you! Compare the skills of the 80 year olds vs. the 19 year old."
I could have slapped her if I hadn't been too busy trying to keep my lunch down.
She was absent on Thursday and I have to say it was the best day of my week.
On Wednesday RA kept trying to teach the class. She kept answering everyone's questions even before I opened my mouth.
I finally walked over to her desk and dumped my book on it. I told her that I was way to tired to fight it out with her and that I wanted to go home and take a nap and would she mind teaching the class as she seemed she thought herself capable.
She was quiet and I left my book on her desk to make her feel stupid and taught the rest of the lesson without it.
After class she came to insist that she was right about some of the things she had said and in less than two seconds I told her why she was wrong. She asked me why I didn't tell her that during class so I told her that I didn't want to embarrass her. I told her that she had to start thinking seriously into some of the things she said because although she thought she knew everything she didn't. She claimed that she reads a lot and that she knows more than the average girl, but then I pointed out that knowledge isn't everything, that social capabilities are important too.
I think it went over her head.
I finished two chapters in history in the seventh grade this week and both grades are having tests scheduled for next week.
I started reading "The Wave" to the 8th grade because we're going to be starting the Holocaust shortly. They're loving it.
Today I taught them how to sit through a high school discussion class and look interested, and still come away enjoying it. The girls felt huge at the end of the lesson.
I had two girls in each class make up a review game for history for Monday because I won't be there- I need to go in to the hospital for scans. :(
The principal asked me to take some time off from school because I looked awful and she said that recovering from a baby isn't easy. I don't want to take off, and school is almost over- another couple of weeks. I told her thanks, but I'd sleep it off over Shabbos.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Last Days Before Pesach
Monday was a stupid kind of day where I just gave open notes tests in both classes.
CFC got on my last nerve when she got upset about getting in the 80's. I hate having to curve her marks just so that she can go home happy. I put my foot down and refused to give her anything more than she deserved. She was not happy.
Recess time I played belts with the girls and they were thrilled about it. I myself enjoyed it too.
My co left early because she wasn't feeling well and I had the feeling that I was going to be the only 8th grade teacher coming in Tuesday when the 8th grade was off.
Seventh grade didn't finish their tests- even though it was open notes. I was not happy.
We had a meeting in school with a reading specialist who is going to wreck all my literature lessons from now on with her idea of the "politically correct" way of teaching students. ARGH,
She was from Australia and without realizing it, when she came into my class, I sort of began copying her. She wasn't so happy, but then AS, who had been listening to our entire conversation, promised up and down that I always spoke with an accent.
Cute kid.
So then the specialist wanted to know where I was from. Oh great. I just told her I didn't want to talk about it in front of the class. It got her to shut up for a bit.
Tuesday I WAS the only 8th grade teacher who didn't have a day off. Steam was coming out of my ears the entire bus ride to school.
During recess I played belts with the 7th grade and fooled around like one of them. I even gave them an extra 20 minutes of outdoor recess. I told them it was so they could enjoy the weather, but really it was because I didn't have what to teach them. ;)
In class SE, who is my cutie and knows it decided she was walking out because she had finished her test yesterday and didn't want to sit around and wait for everyone else to be done. I threatened to fail her if she left early.
She didn't believe me and started walking out. I smiled and picked up her paper and started to rip it up. She smiled back and sat down and shut up for the rest of the afternoon.
I let the girls listen to this cute phony call I had brought in on CD with a girl talking about a school in Dublin because they had learned about the place in geography.
After the test, I gave them a quiz to see who remembered the list I had taught them to memorize last week. Majority of the girls did really nicely.
Last 10 minutes of the day I read them from the book the sub had started reading to them. Then was dismissal!
Free till the middle of April!
Whooohooo!
CFC got on my last nerve when she got upset about getting in the 80's. I hate having to curve her marks just so that she can go home happy. I put my foot down and refused to give her anything more than she deserved. She was not happy.
Recess time I played belts with the girls and they were thrilled about it. I myself enjoyed it too.
My co left early because she wasn't feeling well and I had the feeling that I was going to be the only 8th grade teacher coming in Tuesday when the 8th grade was off.
Seventh grade didn't finish their tests- even though it was open notes. I was not happy.
We had a meeting in school with a reading specialist who is going to wreck all my literature lessons from now on with her idea of the "politically correct" way of teaching students. ARGH,
She was from Australia and without realizing it, when she came into my class, I sort of began copying her. She wasn't so happy, but then AS, who had been listening to our entire conversation, promised up and down that I always spoke with an accent.
Cute kid.
So then the specialist wanted to know where I was from. Oh great. I just told her I didn't want to talk about it in front of the class. It got her to shut up for a bit.
Tuesday I WAS the only 8th grade teacher who didn't have a day off. Steam was coming out of my ears the entire bus ride to school.
During recess I played belts with the 7th grade and fooled around like one of them. I even gave them an extra 20 minutes of outdoor recess. I told them it was so they could enjoy the weather, but really it was because I didn't have what to teach them. ;)
In class SE, who is my cutie and knows it decided she was walking out because she had finished her test yesterday and didn't want to sit around and wait for everyone else to be done. I threatened to fail her if she left early.
She didn't believe me and started walking out. I smiled and picked up her paper and started to rip it up. She smiled back and sat down and shut up for the rest of the afternoon.
I let the girls listen to this cute phony call I had brought in on CD with a girl talking about a school in Dublin because they had learned about the place in geography.
After the test, I gave them a quiz to see who remembered the list I had taught them to memorize last week. Majority of the girls did really nicely.
Last 10 minutes of the day I read them from the book the sub had started reading to them. Then was dismissal!
Free till the middle of April!
Whooohooo!
Friday, March 23, 2007
Tired and Teaching
Yesterday I actually taught both classes a full aim in history. The 8th grade was so happy to finally be back to the schedule where I ended an aim every day.
I just opened my arms wide and asked "missed me?"
Hebco is at it again. 8th grade has no school Tuesday so that they can help out at home for Pesach. Usually, 7th grade would have had off as well, but not this year.
Hebco asked the principals to give school Tuesday for 7th because she needed an extra period to teach them in. That means that on Tuesday I need to come in from 2:30 - 4. I need to travel and find arrangements for JB just because Hebco needs to finish another posuk.
I told the principal that if Hebco needed another day- let her teach my period for me Tuesday, I don't see why I had to come in. I'm fuming.
*shakes**cries**slams fist into wall**ouch*
I'm sooooo angry.
JB was up the ENTIRE night last night and of course today was an English Friday, so I had be up and out bright and early.
I gave 8th grade a study period for their open notes test on Monday, but all they wanted to do was schmooze and ask about JB.
Finally, we got to talking about the stock market and I went 10 minutes into recess teaching the most amazing lesson I'd never prepared.
The girls were so into it and now I just hope they can remember it all for next chapter when we learn about the Great Depression.
Seventh grade was great today, and as a treat for ending the chapter in history, I taught them a trick to help them remember numbers and dates and things like that in the future. They were so cute about it.
At the end of the day, I walked out of the class before all the buses were called- I needed to go to the office and load up on chocolate. I was zonked.
The principal took one look at me and told me to make sure to rest over Shabbos. As if.
Hubby wants to drug the kid up with benadryl so that we can get a full night. Crazy men.
I just opened my arms wide and asked "missed me?"
Hebco is at it again. 8th grade has no school Tuesday so that they can help out at home for Pesach. Usually, 7th grade would have had off as well, but not this year.
Hebco asked the principals to give school Tuesday for 7th because she needed an extra period to teach them in. That means that on Tuesday I need to come in from 2:30 - 4. I need to travel and find arrangements for JB just because Hebco needs to finish another posuk.
I told the principal that if Hebco needed another day- let her teach my period for me Tuesday, I don't see why I had to come in. I'm fuming.
*shakes**cries**slams fist into wall**ouch*
I'm sooooo angry.
JB was up the ENTIRE night last night and of course today was an English Friday, so I had be up and out bright and early.
I gave 8th grade a study period for their open notes test on Monday, but all they wanted to do was schmooze and ask about JB.
Finally, we got to talking about the stock market and I went 10 minutes into recess teaching the most amazing lesson I'd never prepared.
The girls were so into it and now I just hope they can remember it all for next chapter when we learn about the Great Depression.
Seventh grade was great today, and as a treat for ending the chapter in history, I taught them a trick to help them remember numbers and dates and things like that in the future. They were so cute about it.
At the end of the day, I walked out of the class before all the buses were called- I needed to go to the office and load up on chocolate. I was zonked.
The principal took one look at me and told me to make sure to rest over Shabbos. As if.
Hubby wants to drug the kid up with benadryl so that we can get a full night. Crazy men.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
First Day Back!
I was a nervous wreck today, and almost cried when I left Jellybean at the babysitter. He made the cutest faces at me as I was leaving and I was sure I was going to cry all day missing him.
I took the bus to school because I still haven't driven the car since the accident and mu husband wants me to practice a bit before I begin driving to school again and with the baby in the backseat.
In school my students kept peeking their heads into the office to make sure I was really there. Sooooo annoying!
I opened up my notes and almost cried in the office because I was so overwhelmed.
8th grade would not let me walk in on time because they were busy cutting up confetti and stringing streamers across the room.
I came in and they started dancing and I felt kind of dumb. LOL
I let them party and give out nosh and answered a zillion questions. TG made sure to tell me how thin I was now and CFC, as annoying as ever, made sure to tell me how much she liked my shoes and clothes and how much she wanted to give me a hug, and how much she missed me and how much she'd improved in reading and blah blah blah.
I read them the story of Harrison Bergeron because it had to do with the literature story they are reading now - and because I was not about to teach today.
I had a hard time getting them to shut up long enough to listen to me. BK wanted to tell me all about how she was a holy terror by the sub and how she walked out of class on a daily basis. ARGH.
DF made me a beautiful sign, and RS went around bopping everyone with balloons.
I had an awful time getting them to daven mincha and to clean up the classroom. TG especially was a pest and a half.
I literally had to drag them out to recess, but then DZ cut herself and 10 kids came inside to bandage her up. I should have done it myself as I doubt my students are licensed in first aid.
I spoke to my co and caught up with the last 6 weeks. She had been thinking of leaving the school to get a job closer to where she lives, but turned down an offer she got because she said nothing could compare to this school.
I printed the entire holocaust book for my principal and it was almost 50 pages. I'm a little embarrassed about what an idiot I am. I never got a book like this in school, but I felt it was important to do it for my students. Principal was more than impressed though, so that's good.
Seventh grade was sooooo dumb!
The classroom stinks to high heavens and its not a deodorant smell, so I cant even give them a speech. They think its some dead animal stuck in the ceiling. Oh sugar.
The girls had their desks in a U and they played a dumb hangman game and word search that SS took care of. I'm amazed at how SS took charge. 6 weeks ago she was this quiet little nothing.
Talking about a quiet nothing, SNK has gotten soooooo weird. I never even knew she could talk, but today she shrieked every time someone touched her desk. I asked the Principal about it and she said that she had done that in 2nd grade and that it was sooo strange that she was doing it again.
CSS was as full as issues as ever, and CK and EMB are still part of her fan club. Ech.
DA was yum, and I'm going to miss her this week because she's going to Israel for yom tov.
SE!!!! OMG did I miss her!
And MB dressed up as me and brought in a little baby doll even and paraded around pretending I had brought him into school. Yummie!
RB and EL and SG and AS and HB - i missed them a lot.
The girls put on a skit and of course, RA was as annoying as ever. NN made me a card and a little card for JB where she told him he was cute and that he should let me sleep.
Er. Okay.
Tomorrow will be the real going back to school day because then I'm actually teaching.
Wish me luck!
I took the bus to school because I still haven't driven the car since the accident and mu husband wants me to practice a bit before I begin driving to school again and with the baby in the backseat.
In school my students kept peeking their heads into the office to make sure I was really there. Sooooo annoying!
I opened up my notes and almost cried in the office because I was so overwhelmed.
8th grade would not let me walk in on time because they were busy cutting up confetti and stringing streamers across the room.
I came in and they started dancing and I felt kind of dumb. LOL
I let them party and give out nosh and answered a zillion questions. TG made sure to tell me how thin I was now and CFC, as annoying as ever, made sure to tell me how much she liked my shoes and clothes and how much she wanted to give me a hug, and how much she missed me and how much she'd improved in reading and blah blah blah.
I read them the story of Harrison Bergeron because it had to do with the literature story they are reading now - and because I was not about to teach today.
I had a hard time getting them to shut up long enough to listen to me. BK wanted to tell me all about how she was a holy terror by the sub and how she walked out of class on a daily basis. ARGH.
DF made me a beautiful sign, and RS went around bopping everyone with balloons.
I had an awful time getting them to daven mincha and to clean up the classroom. TG especially was a pest and a half.
I literally had to drag them out to recess, but then DZ cut herself and 10 kids came inside to bandage her up. I should have done it myself as I doubt my students are licensed in first aid.
I spoke to my co and caught up with the last 6 weeks. She had been thinking of leaving the school to get a job closer to where she lives, but turned down an offer she got because she said nothing could compare to this school.
I printed the entire holocaust book for my principal and it was almost 50 pages. I'm a little embarrassed about what an idiot I am. I never got a book like this in school, but I felt it was important to do it for my students. Principal was more than impressed though, so that's good.
Seventh grade was sooooo dumb!
The classroom stinks to high heavens and its not a deodorant smell, so I cant even give them a speech. They think its some dead animal stuck in the ceiling. Oh sugar.
The girls had their desks in a U and they played a dumb hangman game and word search that SS took care of. I'm amazed at how SS took charge. 6 weeks ago she was this quiet little nothing.
Talking about a quiet nothing, SNK has gotten soooooo weird. I never even knew she could talk, but today she shrieked every time someone touched her desk. I asked the Principal about it and she said that she had done that in 2nd grade and that it was sooo strange that she was doing it again.
CSS was as full as issues as ever, and CK and EMB are still part of her fan club. Ech.
DA was yum, and I'm going to miss her this week because she's going to Israel for yom tov.
SE!!!! OMG did I miss her!
And MB dressed up as me and brought in a little baby doll even and paraded around pretending I had brought him into school. Yummie!
RB and EL and SG and AS and HB - i missed them a lot.
The girls put on a skit and of course, RA was as annoying as ever. NN made me a card and a little card for JB where she told him he was cute and that he should let me sleep.
Er. Okay.
Tomorrow will be the real going back to school day because then I'm actually teaching.
Wish me luck!
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Going Back
Okay, my 6 weeks of leave is up today, so that means tomorrow I'm going back to teach.
I spoke to my sub, and she pretty much told me where she was up to in each class. I took my notes out but I have no head to begin preparing now.
Also, because I wasn't there for 6 weeks, the lessons are on the schedule I had in mind all year. So now we are going into Pesach vacation and I'm going to be stuck in the middle of a chapter. There is no way I can come back after Pesach and give them a test on what they've learned before.
Oh well.
At this point I don't really care. I have a cute JB baby, and he's my first priority. I'll figure out a way to deal with the tests and marks as I get into the teaching again.
I've been working my bum off on this Holocaust book for my 8th grade, and it's finally getting somewhere. I still have some more articles to add, but I'm pretty much done I think. Actually, pretty much done usually means I'll be up till 2 am for the next 4 weeks, but anyways...
I don't really know what I will do with the baby when I'm teaching, but for the next week he's going to be dumped on his aunt and his father.
I'm so nervous to go back to teach, but I know it will be good for me to get back into my regular life.
Keep you updated!
I spoke to my sub, and she pretty much told me where she was up to in each class. I took my notes out but I have no head to begin preparing now.
Also, because I wasn't there for 6 weeks, the lessons are on the schedule I had in mind all year. So now we are going into Pesach vacation and I'm going to be stuck in the middle of a chapter. There is no way I can come back after Pesach and give them a test on what they've learned before.
Oh well.
At this point I don't really care. I have a cute JB baby, and he's my first priority. I'll figure out a way to deal with the tests and marks as I get into the teaching again.
I've been working my bum off on this Holocaust book for my 8th grade, and it's finally getting somewhere. I still have some more articles to add, but I'm pretty much done I think. Actually, pretty much done usually means I'll be up till 2 am for the next 4 weeks, but anyways...
I don't really know what I will do with the baby when I'm teaching, but for the next week he's going to be dumped on his aunt and his father.
I'm so nervous to go back to teach, but I know it will be good for me to get back into my regular life.
Keep you updated!
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Teacher had a Little Lamb
The entire day the song "Mary had a Little Lamb" was in my head.
I brought JB to school today.
The girls had a Purim carnival in school and it was pretty much a free day, so I asked the principal permission to bring JB to school for a visit.
The kids went wild. They all wanted to hold him and TG was thrilled to have gotten to make him a bottle.
The kids were all over me telling me how they wanted me back and how the sub was great, but they missed me.
The kids were funny, telling me how skinny I was now and telling my sister (who came with me) how good she looked in her sheitel.
The principal was wearing a hot pink sheitel in honor of the carnival and the secretary was wearing a long blond one on corn braids. I totally went to the wrong school as a kid. LOL
The kids were all into if I had gotten their emails- TG had sent me an email begging me to come back or at least call and say "hi" cause they missed me.
This is a copy of what she sent-
Dear Mrs. ____,
MAZAL TOV!!! As awkward as it is for you to be getting this e-mail,it is double the amount for me to be sending it.
I sure have a lot to say....well, here goes! Our class, not just me , misses you A TON!!! not that the sub is not amazing [this is coming from me, the kiss up!] but we like you!! We miss your teaching and your life stories and your getting off topic........I can probably go on forever!!! But I wont because this is probably taking up a lot of your time.
I'll cut to the chase. we are all very happy for you and we don't want you to rush away from your baby or anything, we just miss you a lot and we kinda want to hear from you-or at least I do!!
Anyways, I got out what I wanted to say and here is what S.Z. had to say [I'm on the phone with her!] she said that you were right about how having a sub for 1 day is fun but for weeks it is totally, completely and eternally annoying!! - I agree with her and so do the rest of us.
PS:please do not show this to anyone who is involved in our school because i will probably get in trouble- thanx!!!
From T.G. and the rest of the 7th and 8th grades!!!
LOL, I couldn't decide if this was funny or chutzpadik. I decided to let it go, but I didn't respond to it like she wanted me to.
I gave out shalach manos to the girls and they were so excited.
The seventh grade had gotten so big and really cute.
S.E. was as adorable as ever, and M.B. and R.B. were too. S.G. was kind of quiet and I have a feeling the sub isn't giving her all the attention I usually do. N.N. and R.A. were still annoying, and C.S.S. was still a huge pest.
I miss them all so much, but I can still use the next three weeks that I still have off.
I brought JB to school today.
The girls had a Purim carnival in school and it was pretty much a free day, so I asked the principal permission to bring JB to school for a visit.
The kids went wild. They all wanted to hold him and TG was thrilled to have gotten to make him a bottle.
The kids were all over me telling me how they wanted me back and how the sub was great, but they missed me.
The kids were funny, telling me how skinny I was now and telling my sister (who came with me) how good she looked in her sheitel.
The principal was wearing a hot pink sheitel in honor of the carnival and the secretary was wearing a long blond one on corn braids. I totally went to the wrong school as a kid. LOL
The kids were all into if I had gotten their emails- TG had sent me an email begging me to come back or at least call and say "hi" cause they missed me.
This is a copy of what she sent-
Dear Mrs. ____,
MAZAL TOV!!! As awkward as it is for you to be getting this e-mail,it is double the amount for me to be sending it.
I sure have a lot to say....well, here goes! Our class, not just me , misses you A TON!!! not that the sub is not amazing [this is coming from me, the kiss up!] but we like you!! We miss your teaching and your life stories and your getting off topic........I can probably go on forever!!! But I wont because this is probably taking up a lot of your time.
I'll cut to the chase. we are all very happy for you and we don't want you to rush away from your baby or anything, we just miss you a lot and we kinda want to hear from you-or at least I do!!
Anyways, I got out what I wanted to say and here is what S.Z. had to say [I'm on the phone with her!] she said that you were right about how having a sub for 1 day is fun but for weeks it is totally, completely and eternally annoying!! - I agree with her and so do the rest of us.
PS:please do not show this to anyone who is involved in our school because i will probably get in trouble- thanx!!!
From T.G. and the rest of the 7th and 8th grades!!!
LOL, I couldn't decide if this was funny or chutzpadik. I decided to let it go, but I didn't respond to it like she wanted me to.
I gave out shalach manos to the girls and they were so excited.
The seventh grade had gotten so big and really cute.
S.E. was as adorable as ever, and M.B. and R.B. were too. S.G. was kind of quiet and I have a feeling the sub isn't giving her all the attention I usually do. N.N. and R.A. were still annoying, and C.S.S. was still a huge pest.
I miss them all so much, but I can still use the next three weeks that I still have off.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
The Arrival of Jellybean
Vacation ended Feb 1 , and I was debating whether I should go back to school or just wait the baby out at home. I felt guilty not going in to school when I was sitting home just waiting to go into labour, but my husband refused to let me go teach.
So Thursday I had a free day while everyone was back in school. Friday was a Hebrew Friday anyway, so I didn't miss anything.
Monday was my sister's wedding, so I would have missed some school anyway because of the preparation time I needed for the event. I was in the hall all day helping out and getting ready.
At 11:30 that night, during the wedding dancing, my contractions started. My husband and I left the wedding early so that I could lie down and see if the contractions would go away.
They hadn't stopped 12 hours later, so though they were not painful, I went in to the hospital anyway.
I was kept overnight, and Wednesday morning I was given Pitocin to speed up my labour. The day dragged from 8am until (minus all the painful details) Jellybean was born at 7:22 pm February 7th.
He weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 inches long.
By now he's a little fatter and he's getting cuter by the day KA"H. He looks just like his daddy, but has my mouth...(which when he learns to talk, might not be such a good thing!)
The bris will B"H be on time, and though I can't wait to name him, he will always be Jellybean to me. ;)
I feel great, and I would love to go back to teach for a bit, but I can appreciate the resting time I have right now. With all my midnight feedings, I sure could use the break!
So Thursday I had a free day while everyone was back in school. Friday was a Hebrew Friday anyway, so I didn't miss anything.
Monday was my sister's wedding, so I would have missed some school anyway because of the preparation time I needed for the event. I was in the hall all day helping out and getting ready.
At 11:30 that night, during the wedding dancing, my contractions started. My husband and I left the wedding early so that I could lie down and see if the contractions would go away.
They hadn't stopped 12 hours later, so though they were not painful, I went in to the hospital anyway.
I was kept overnight, and Wednesday morning I was given Pitocin to speed up my labour. The day dragged from 8am until (minus all the painful details) Jellybean was born at 7:22 pm February 7th.
He weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 19 inches long.
By now he's a little fatter and he's getting cuter by the day KA"H. He looks just like his daddy, but has my mouth...(which when he learns to talk, might not be such a good thing!)
The bris will B"H be on time, and though I can't wait to name him, he will always be Jellybean to me. ;)
I feel great, and I would love to go back to teach for a bit, but I can appreciate the resting time I have right now. With all my midnight feedings, I sure could use the break!
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Is it 4:00 Yet?
I was dizzy from no sleep, and anxious for vacation to arrive, so I didn't even put on makeup for school today.
I went to school just to wait out the afternoon till it was over.
I gave tests in both classes, and enjoyed my free afternoon.
The 8th grade scored beautifully on the tests, but the seventh not so much. I even gave the seventh graders a plus one if they wrote on their tests what they planned on doing for vacation. Even with the plus, the average ain't so great.
I handed in the sheets that I had worked on till the wee hours, and I hoped and prayed it would be approved.
The principal came to talk to me during the seventh grade tests about the papers for the literature novel. She liked what I had done, but was still nervous about teaching it.
She was very nice about it all, and told me that if she chose in the end not to do the novel, she'd do all the preparation on a new one; she'd never ask me to do another entire novel after I had worked so hard.
While this is such an improvement over my last school, it still upsets me that I might have worked so hard for nothing. I'm happy that the principal took full responsibility here. I dread to think of what it could've been like last year.
The principal also told me then not to come back after vacation, regardless of if I'd had the baby yet. She told me that I was not to fool around with my baby's health. She wanted me to stay home and rest and call her with the good news. She said that I was more than prepared with my sub, and that I deserved to haev this baby without pressure.
What a change! I could've used a principal like this a year ago!
I stayed a bit late in school to finish marking the tests. I refused to go home and do any work. I was on vacation, and I wanted to go home free and clear.
I felt free as I got a ride with a teacher going in my direction, but when I came home I found a note that I had forgotten about, to call S.N.K.'s father.
The guy is a creep and quite weird if I may say so, and I was not going to call him now that I was on vacation. Come to think of it, I'm not going to call him if I can get out of it. I wont be back in school for quite a while, so hopefully I can avoid the guy for about 2 months now.
4 pm- Ahhh vacation!
Free and clear!
I went to school just to wait out the afternoon till it was over.
I gave tests in both classes, and enjoyed my free afternoon.
The 8th grade scored beautifully on the tests, but the seventh not so much. I even gave the seventh graders a plus one if they wrote on their tests what they planned on doing for vacation. Even with the plus, the average ain't so great.
I handed in the sheets that I had worked on till the wee hours, and I hoped and prayed it would be approved.
The principal came to talk to me during the seventh grade tests about the papers for the literature novel. She liked what I had done, but was still nervous about teaching it.
She was very nice about it all, and told me that if she chose in the end not to do the novel, she'd do all the preparation on a new one; she'd never ask me to do another entire novel after I had worked so hard.
While this is such an improvement over my last school, it still upsets me that I might have worked so hard for nothing. I'm happy that the principal took full responsibility here. I dread to think of what it could've been like last year.
The principal also told me then not to come back after vacation, regardless of if I'd had the baby yet. She told me that I was not to fool around with my baby's health. She wanted me to stay home and rest and call her with the good news. She said that I was more than prepared with my sub, and that I deserved to haev this baby without pressure.
What a change! I could've used a principal like this a year ago!
I stayed a bit late in school to finish marking the tests. I refused to go home and do any work. I was on vacation, and I wanted to go home free and clear.
I felt free as I got a ride with a teacher going in my direction, but when I came home I found a note that I had forgotten about, to call S.N.K.'s father.
The guy is a creep and quite weird if I may say so, and I was not going to call him now that I was on vacation. Come to think of it, I'm not going to call him if I can get out of it. I wont be back in school for quite a while, so hopefully I can avoid the guy for about 2 months now.
4 pm- Ahhh vacation!
Free and clear!
Not a Snowball's Chance
Just an update on last night's celebration.
I had expected my husband to wave his magic bag of peanut butter to bribe me out of going to a restaurant and so I was ready not to break no matter how much PB he offered me. I was determined that no amount of peanut butter and no amount of chocolate would get me to give up on this night out.
I hadn't counted on the grilled cheese.
He got me to stay home for 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. I can kick myself.
Anyway, today in school the principal came over to talk to me about my literature sheets.
Yesterday she had been all amazed at all the work I had put in to preparing the sub, but today it turned around.
She was actually very nice about it as she told me that as she had been reading over the novel last night, she started thinking that it was G-dless and that it should not be taught in a Jewish classroom. I thought I was dying.
She felt bad having even given me the novel to begin with, and asked me to please consider doing another one instead.
She can't understand that I can't just do that. My aim was to do it all now; before vacation, so that my sub could have what to start with. I also wanted her to have it all over vacation so that she could begin preparing.
...And just to be selfish here; I don't want to work over vacation either!
I told the principal there was not a snowball's chance in hell I was even going to think of doing another book.
Instead, I offered to make this book kosher. I told her I'd find a way to put G0d in there and teach it from a Jewish perspective. And I did it.
The principal approved of it, and I just spent all night redoing all the essay questions. I'm utterly drained. As you can see from the time on this post; it's already way into the wee hours of tomorrow morning.
8th grade took their maps test today, but there is no way they are getting marked tonight. If I manage to wake up in time tomorrow, maybe I'll do them then.
I want to get all my marking in before vacation as well, so I'm going to push myself to the limit till 4 tomorrow.
After that, I sure could use the break!
7th grade learned current events and then played a history review game for their test tomorrow.
I have a feeling both classes are going to do poorly.
Oh bum. I could not care less. I just want vacation!!!
I had expected my husband to wave his magic bag of peanut butter to bribe me out of going to a restaurant and so I was ready not to break no matter how much PB he offered me. I was determined that no amount of peanut butter and no amount of chocolate would get me to give up on this night out.
I hadn't counted on the grilled cheese.
He got me to stay home for 2 grilled cheese sandwiches. I can kick myself.
Anyway, today in school the principal came over to talk to me about my literature sheets.
Yesterday she had been all amazed at all the work I had put in to preparing the sub, but today it turned around.
She was actually very nice about it as she told me that as she had been reading over the novel last night, she started thinking that it was G-dless and that it should not be taught in a Jewish classroom. I thought I was dying.
She felt bad having even given me the novel to begin with, and asked me to please consider doing another one instead.
She can't understand that I can't just do that. My aim was to do it all now; before vacation, so that my sub could have what to start with. I also wanted her to have it all over vacation so that she could begin preparing.
...And just to be selfish here; I don't want to work over vacation either!
I told the principal there was not a snowball's chance in hell I was even going to think of doing another book.
Instead, I offered to make this book kosher. I told her I'd find a way to put G0d in there and teach it from a Jewish perspective. And I did it.
The principal approved of it, and I just spent all night redoing all the essay questions. I'm utterly drained. As you can see from the time on this post; it's already way into the wee hours of tomorrow morning.
8th grade took their maps test today, but there is no way they are getting marked tonight. If I manage to wake up in time tomorrow, maybe I'll do them then.
I want to get all my marking in before vacation as well, so I'm going to push myself to the limit till 4 tomorrow.
After that, I sure could use the break!
7th grade learned current events and then played a history review game for their test tomorrow.
I have a feeling both classes are going to do poorly.
Oh bum. I could not care less. I just want vacation!!!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
