The Education of Courtney: Potpourri

It's been a few days since I have posted and I thought I would give you a sample of the art work that my kids did. It turned out very well and I was stoked that their behavior during the art project allowed me to decide that I will do another one. I am thinking that I will do something with Halloween next month. They don't actually celebrate Halloween but they do get candy and know about punpkins and such. They don't dress in costumes though. This week has been a week of lows and highs. Monday was decent, Tuesday, I think my kids forgot their manners at home and didn't remember them until Wednesday morning. They were so rude and mean that it drove me up the wall!!! I don't think they realize that their cultural tendencies of shouting out and being opinionated are not something that I will accept as it. I know that I cannot change the culture but there is a fine line of being boldy opinionated and being rude and mean at the same time. I have almost all of my kids figured out now. I know who the class clown is, I know which ones just want to please, I know which one is the most devious, I know which ones just want to come in, get their work done and get out. and, shockingly enough, I know which one hates me. This is actually most of them because of their preconceived notions about school and its unimportance. The attitude towards school and its purpose is by far the most challenging thing I am faced with this year. There is a constant struggle going on inside of me of how I want to teach and give them the knowledge. Part of me says that I should just give them the basics and let them slide though because of the society and culture they live but the other, more creative side of me says that I should teach to push them to be creative, less literal thinkers so they can contribute more to their society than just what is expected of them. I find that my kids tend to be minimalists-just doing what they need to pass. I also am in a time crunch as well. Getting a day of school taught for four grades in the normal school time is a lot harder than you think. Even though my setting is closer to an English elementary classroom, I have to run it like a high school classroom. The morning is spent shifting from task to task with them constantly changing subjects. On a good day I get reading, english and math taught before lunch (and yes, that is all four grades) with social studies in the afternoon. I am working on them to be more creative writers so after I get the book clubs started I am going to do a unit on creative writing so the kids can understand how to make their own sentences, creatively without copying out of a book. Currently, I am teaching the fifth and sixth graders how to write good beginnings to personal narratives. The assignment yesterday was to write three beginnings and then make them better by describing the scene, adding descriptive detail or dialogue. We did an entire lesson on it and then here's what I got. student: (1st) I didn't know the lights went out. (2nd) I was in the living room when the lights went out. Mmmmmmmmmm....though they can pick out of the examples in the text book which beginning is better, they can't apply the concept. They don't see why it would need to be improved because it's written down and it's there. This is where their lack of educational value really shows through. I have learned that having them redo an assignment or giving them a zero is a very effective way to get them to understand the importance of doing their work well the first time. I spent a lot of time at the beginning of the school year talking about what quality work means. I use that phrase so they understand the expectations are higher than doing the minimum to pass. Yesterday was midterms and I will be sending home grade reports. There are going to be some shocked students and parents to know that the grades are suffereing because of a nonchalant attitude towards turning in stuff on time (no late work in my room). I will be sending them home on Wednesday. I just spent last night and this morning in the town school updating my grades so they would be ready to do report cards.
Yesterday, we had the birthday celebrations for the kids who have August and September birthdays. It's very creative and organized how it is done. The birthday kids get to pick out a type of drink and snack we bring a sweet treat of some kind. Then for the last 45 minutes of the day on Friday, we sing happy birthday to each student individually, clap for their birthday "spankings" and then hand out treats. Then they get to sit and socialize until we have decided that there is entirely too much sugar energy in the rooms and we send them home! Good teacher plan...give kids lots of sugar and then send them home. Yesterday the drink of choice was Mt. Dew......