humor

Supplies Aplenty

School supplies, if bought at the right time, are pretty cheap.  I can get folders for dime, or pencils and notebooks for a penny. Because of my thrifty shopping, I give students anything they need to get the job done.  I even instruct them to grab these items as they enter room without asking.  It can be frustrating to give the same person a pencil daily.  I can get past this; if they just do it themselves and not remind me DAILY they lack supplies.    How can some students lose a pencil a day is beyond me, but I don’t question them as long as they take care of these needs quickly and on their own.  It wastes class to take collateral, like a shoe or an agenda (I know of teachers who have collected both).  If the students  could just remember to grab them from the various places in the room before the bell rang, the world would be a perfect place.

Of course, it does take a little bit of time to get use to what each teacher expects.  A month into school and some students are still trying to figure it out.  Patience is definitely something I should work at, but I really do try.  However, some students get “lucky”; they have me for 7th and 8th grade.  They don’t have to learn my expectations all over again.

One student has had the pleasure of having me two years in a row.  He probably doesn’t consider it enjoyable because I have been emailing his mother weekly for twelve months (at this point).  Most days this particular student is on top of things.  He does struggle to get motivated and does space out at times, but he knows BETTER.

He asked me for a pencil; I actually didn’t have any stocked.  I quickly and happily grabbed him a brand new pencil.  I started the class in today’s journal.  At which point, the students write in their journal, listen to announcements, and get ready for the next task listed on the board without my direction.  It’s a routine that has been in action for a month, and for second year students for twelve months.

After the journal, the class begins to open their books and get out their discussion guides.  On this day, I was reading aloud, so I read and stopped and the class answered questions on their guides.  As I finish the chapter and the students are feverishly answering their questions, I notice this boy isn’t doing anything.  When I question his actions, he shows me the pencil I gave him twenty minutes earlier in class.

The pencil is not sharpened.

I ask him how he could do his journal with a unsharpened pencil.  He said he didn’t.  I asked him why he wasn’t writing down answers as I read.  He said his pencil wasn’t sharpened.  Needless to say, I sent him to the hallway to finish the assignments on his own. I still am pretty sure he never sharpened the pencil.  A lengthy lecture, emails to his study hall teacher and his mother ensue.  At least, his life was spared; thanks to the handy-dandy hallway.

It is clear why I can’t get my work caught up.

In the Swing of Things

My lessons are going incredibly well.  My 7th graders will be wowed tomorrow when I woo them with my summary of the story we read today.  I always get their attention with my performance.  It involves hand puppets and jumping around…pretty much looking silly for them.  Again, teenagers like me to look goofy.  Of course, teaching is a lot like performing.  I have compared it to being a comedian before.  Some days I have been booed figuratively, but so far I have had good reviews.  My 8th graders are extremely attentive for 8th graders.  Our difficult path will begin tomorrow when I make them actually write an essay about themselves.  I am going to let them challenge me to write an essay about anything.  I hope I can do it successfully.

Returning to my previous entry, I am still learning about my students.  My first class in the morning is slow at everything.  They are not stupid.  They just take too much time opening their books and getting out their belongings.  I have found myself asking them multiple times to do simple tasks.

The students that don’t do their homework are surfacing.  In the first week, everyone has high hopes for their grades.  I believe even previously failing students believe they can do the work in the first week. In many cases, this is totally true.  They simply get bored or discouraged so quickly.  I am sure I will have some parent phone calls  to make next week.

In my study hall, I found that one distracted student that prefers to stare into space…sadly staring right  in my direction every time  distracted.  I teased the student about it a bit.  In middle school, students are still learning how to “fake work.”  It takes a talented student to appear to be reading a book without actually reading.  How someone could be this lazy is beyond me, but lucky for me, in middle school, students that are off task look off task.

Teaching and learning about the students is the best part of my job.  The rest of my job really isn’t all that much fun.  The more comfortable I get as a teacher, the more frustrated I get with the other parts of my job.  I practiced my shopping skills today buying donuts, milk, and such for a meeting in the morning.  Obviously I had to prepare to lead the meeting too.  Carrying in all the food was the best part of the experience.  I have attempted to nail down an interview for a PR project I thought of for my committee work.  I am hoping that I will get my three tiny questions answered tomorrow.  I met with the union to discuss “an undiscussable matter.”  They pretended to fix the issues for the moment…hoping we will forget about them soon enough. Good thing we are too busy to put up much of a fight.  It can’t be won with just us; all we really have is to believe them.  Back to School Night came and went.  Shook a million hands and actually met a few babies.  As I continue to hunt down my principal to make plans for a field trip, I trudged on through the week. Faced with more paperwork as I sort through possible goals for the year.  The goals are not so hard; it is finding the right category to claim each of them.

Still the best weeks are when the kids are motivated and learning.  I plan to take full advantage of it.  Next week they could hate the lesson.  For now, I am the star of the room…just not in the halls when I am working on a million tasks at once.