Is it that time again?

Wow, yesterday was the end of the third quarter and today was the first day of the fourth quarter!!  Today was a bit chaotic, as some of my students were still testing and therefor did only some of the work and my lessons were all out of order, which drives me crazy because I like things to go step-by-step and in order and keep the routine the same.  I will be glad when it is Monday again and the rountine will be normal.  I think the routine change attributed to most of the behavior issues I had this week.  I cannot wait until spring break which seems like it is never going to get here because it is still six weeks away!!
We did art in my class again today but the students aren't appreciative of the art that I prepare for them.  They were very confused that I made them read an article and answer questions for an art lesson.  We did abstract expressionism for our theme. We learned about Jackson Pollock-my favorite artist. (Have you seen his work? It's at the SAM!)  One fun fact I learned while researching the article about Jackson Pollock was that he was born in Cody, WY which is not too far from Billings.  He also died in an alcohol related car crash. Yet another reason to not drink and drive-even though you make awesome paintings you still can't drink and drive.  Okay, that said and done, more teaching things.
This week, until spring break are all normal days and hopefully this will curb some of the irresponsible decisions that my students have been making.  I have yet to figure out why a change in the routine makes the kids go crazy.   It makes me crazy when they go crazy!! I guess my job wouldn't be nearly as exciting as it is if there were no questions for me to wonder about....

A short update after a long while

It is finally starting to feel like spring around here though I am trying not to get my hopes up yet that we are done with the frigid weather.  There hasn't been much to update on a weekly basis any more due to the breaks and behavior issues that still occur in my class.  I am beginning to think that there is a point when I have to just survive. I dislike this idea very much although with these kids, that's what they do. They do the bare minimum to survive.  I did, however, get to give them a taste of their own money today. It was great fun.  Yesterday, the behavior go so bad that I finally just told them that if they were going to waste my time and see the work as unimportant, then I had better things to do with my time.  There were a lot of quickly turning heads at this point in my day. I then called the other teacher to come over and let my kids explain to her why I was done teaching for the day. They all, not suprisingly, were able to identify exactly why I was done teaching for the day.  Each of them owed me and the other teacher an aplogy letter by 8:20 this morning or else the concequences would be sentences to copy.  So...................today, I handed over the reigns (constructively) to the students and told them it was their turn to teach.  I assigned all students a subject to teach and let them have at it! Suprisingly, everything got taught by lunch time.  I was a bit suprised.  What this tells me is that yes, they know the routine and actually do know what to do. They just choose not to do it.  After lunch, I had them write a reflection about what it was liek to be the teacher and what did the students need to do better to make it easier.  The number one thing that was said that the students needed to do better or was the hardest.......????? Drum roll please................interrupting students. Case closed.
Here are some lovely samples of student art. We did a lesson on positive and negative space. 

Here they are on display at the school in town.