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....
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Friday, March 4, 2011
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 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.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
conversations with my students
I know it's been a while but when you're in a routine and nothing exciting happens, then there is not much to tell. Here's what happened today. It's a conversation/running dialogue of my students and myself.
student A: "Miss Stepp! The cows are out!"
me: What?
student B: no, it's headed for your car!
me: (thinking, "should I be worried?") Who do I call?
student C : Call the cow barn boss!
Me: Okay..grabs phone, dials and can't get through. Multiple students then try to dial because they don't think I can do it.
Me: student B...run and tell the cow barn boss that the cows are out.
While we are waiting and watching, the students are trying to convince me that you don't milk a holstine cow. I'm thinking, isn't that why you raise them???
Student B returns and says "they left the door open, that's why the cows got out."
Student D: Miss Stepp, it pooped! The cow dumped next to your car (actually, it didn't). It stinks...like methane!
Me: yes, methane stinks, it also can be used to make energy.
Student E: Isn't that a drug?
Me: No, methane is not a drug.
Student G: yes, meth is a drug..don't do it.
Me: yes, don't ever do it.
It is these types of conversations that keep my room lively. Hope everyone has had a good start to February. Welcome to the shortest month of the year!
student A: "Miss Stepp! The cows are out!"
me: What?
student B: no, it's headed for your car!
me: (thinking, "should I be worried?") Who do I call?
student C : Call the cow barn boss!
Me: Okay..grabs phone, dials and can't get through. Multiple students then try to dial because they don't think I can do it.
Me: student B...run and tell the cow barn boss that the cows are out.
While we are waiting and watching, the students are trying to convince me that you don't milk a holstine cow. I'm thinking, isn't that why you raise them???
Student B returns and says "they left the door open, that's why the cows got out."
Student D: Miss Stepp, it pooped! The cow dumped next to your car (actually, it didn't). It stinks...like methane!
Me: yes, methane stinks, it also can be used to make energy.
Student E: Isn't that a drug?
Me: No, methane is not a drug.
Student G: yes, meth is a drug..don't do it.
Me: yes, don't ever do it.
It is these types of conversations that keep my room lively. Hope everyone has had a good start to February. Welcome to the shortest month of the year!
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Halfway there
I know, I know, it has been a while since you have seen a cheery update from Big Sky country. I made it. I have completed one half of my first year teaching with my very own kiddos. Pretty amazing huh?! There have been plenty of tears and questions and what ifs but to top all of those, there have been successes. One of the big successes has been the change in my classroom management plan that I implimented in November. I have no idea why in the world I had let the disruptions go on for so long before I began this plan. The fake money in the classroom works super! I really enjoy when I get to charge students to "buy" things when they need another pen or a pencil top eraser or a big eraser. It finally gets an inkling into their heads that things actually do cost money and you need money to pay for them. We are still working on attitudes in my class and a couple of my students have had to get attitude adjustments this week. The fine for whining or complaining in my class is now 150 dollars. That is a stiff fine given that the rewards are usually somewhere between five and fifteen dollars.
As the second half of the school year begins I am quickly jumping into the not so fun part of teaching . Standardized testing. Need I say more??? I have three tests that I am supposed to be giving my students to monitor their progrss and then four times per year (once per quarter) I have to "benchmark" my students to make sure they are making Adequate Yearly Progress. I have to test my students one a week with three different tests and on top of all that there are other tests that I have to do to test all of the different aspects of learning (supposidly). Yay for standardized testing.....not.
On top of starting the second half of my first year I have started Graduate school again!! It is so much fun to be a student again and I am thoroughly enjoying my class I am taking. It is all about reading instruction and what makes it effective. I am already applying some of the concepts in my classroom that I am learning about in my class. The only thing I am dreading is writing the paper that is due in three weeks. I had better get going!!
As the second half of the school year begins I am quickly jumping into the not so fun part of teaching . Standardized testing. Need I say more??? I have three tests that I am supposed to be giving my students to monitor their progrss and then four times per year (once per quarter) I have to "benchmark" my students to make sure they are making Adequate Yearly Progress. I have to test my students one a week with three different tests and on top of all that there are other tests that I have to do to test all of the different aspects of learning (supposidly). Yay for standardized testing.....not.
On top of starting the second half of my first year I have started Graduate school again!! It is so much fun to be a student again and I am thoroughly enjoying my class I am taking. It is all about reading instruction and what makes it effective. I am already applying some of the concepts in my classroom that I am learning about in my class. The only thing I am dreading is writing the paper that is due in three weeks. I had better get going!!
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Happy New Year
Happy New Year! Welcome to my first post of 2011. Today was a four day school week with a break today (Thursday) for Epiphany. I was technically on the clock and so I busied myself with photocopying, planning and entering grades into the computer. I also managed to do some of my homework for my master's class that I started.
I am taking a reading class that analyzes the research that has been done on what strategies are the best to teach reading. So far, the class has proven to be very interesting. I read and analyzed a document that was published by the National Reading Board which did exactly what we are doing, analyzing reading instruction techniques. I was a bit apprehensive about reading a document that seemed to be filled with statistics but it turned out that it was not as dry as I had feared. I will just cut to the chase and not bore you with the details of the documents that I had to read. Basically, much of the research that has been performed on trying to figure out what reading instruction method works the best all comes to a very general conclusion. First, there is not one method that works better than the other, only a few can be scientifically supported and that there have been lots of studies on the individual strategies but not many on the combination of strategies that would work for specific groups of students. Mmmmm...not much of this is new because teachers know that there is not one strategy that works to teach a group of students a single concept nor is a combination of strategies guarenteed to work from one year to the next! Duh...
This week has been iteresting in my class. The days were spent reteaching my students their manners and the routine in class. There have been a few shocking revelations in my class. One, is that the pace of the class is picking up and the students don't like that. the second one is that the work is getting progressively harder and they don't like this either. And (shock!) I still will not let them copy off of each other. Startling, I know.
Her's my crazy teaching story for the week. Tuesday was the second day of science that we have had in a while. However, this subject is no less important than any other subject. They were continually talking out of turn, interrupting me and telling me, "but I don't get it!!" So, I told them that I do not like teaching students who are rude and they can either be polite or they can sit in silence and I will teach science after school. Wonder which option they chose. The latter, of course. So, when the German teacher came wandering in, wondering where the kids were, I politely explained to him that the kids had chosen to be taught science after school for the aforementioned reasons. Hopefully they won't make that choice again because it's pain to have to teach after school hours. I did get some grading done while they were sitting, mulling over their choice. On a bright note, I think I hit the jackpot when I gave the kids mechanical pencils for Christmas. They loved them and now I have fewer kids, spending less time at the pencil cup (remember.....the dull and sharp pencil cups.) trying to "choose" a pencil and breaking the sharpened point off of them just so they could whine about not having a sharp pencil to use. So sneaky and ingenius of me! Tomorrow is Friday and a short day. I just have to solve my problem of dealing with whiny students...off to google.....
I am taking a reading class that analyzes the research that has been done on what strategies are the best to teach reading. So far, the class has proven to be very interesting. I read and analyzed a document that was published by the National Reading Board which did exactly what we are doing, analyzing reading instruction techniques. I was a bit apprehensive about reading a document that seemed to be filled with statistics but it turned out that it was not as dry as I had feared. I will just cut to the chase and not bore you with the details of the documents that I had to read. Basically, much of the research that has been performed on trying to figure out what reading instruction method works the best all comes to a very general conclusion. First, there is not one method that works better than the other, only a few can be scientifically supported and that there have been lots of studies on the individual strategies but not many on the combination of strategies that would work for specific groups of students. Mmmmm...not much of this is new because teachers know that there is not one strategy that works to teach a group of students a single concept nor is a combination of strategies guarenteed to work from one year to the next! Duh...
This week has been iteresting in my class. The days were spent reteaching my students their manners and the routine in class. There have been a few shocking revelations in my class. One, is that the pace of the class is picking up and the students don't like that. the second one is that the work is getting progressively harder and they don't like this either. And (shock!) I still will not let them copy off of each other. Startling, I know.
Her's my crazy teaching story for the week. Tuesday was the second day of science that we have had in a while. However, this subject is no less important than any other subject. They were continually talking out of turn, interrupting me and telling me, "but I don't get it!!" So, I told them that I do not like teaching students who are rude and they can either be polite or they can sit in silence and I will teach science after school. Wonder which option they chose. The latter, of course. So, when the German teacher came wandering in, wondering where the kids were, I politely explained to him that the kids had chosen to be taught science after school for the aforementioned reasons. Hopefully they won't make that choice again because it's pain to have to teach after school hours. I did get some grading done while they were sitting, mulling over their choice. On a bright note, I think I hit the jackpot when I gave the kids mechanical pencils for Christmas. They loved them and now I have fewer kids, spending less time at the pencil cup (remember.....the dull and sharp pencil cups.) trying to "choose" a pencil and breaking the sharpened point off of them just so they could whine about not having a sharp pencil to use. So sneaky and ingenius of me! Tomorrow is Friday and a short day. I just have to solve my problem of dealing with whiny students...off to google.....
Monday, December 13, 2010
Almost there
I have four days of school left until my first Christmas break that will be spent NOT working retail!! Yippee!!!!!! I get to spend it hanging out with my family and friends and catching up with everybody. Here is what my week looks like until I arrive home on Saturday. Tomorrow morning (Tuesday), I have a staff meeting, fairly normal school morning, then play practice in the afternoon and the kids have to wrap their presents for their parents. Wednesday comes and the morning will be as normal as it can be with the dress rehersal for the Christmas program. Some of the students from the town school are coming to watch the rehersal and I guess this is a BIG deal for both sets of students. They are so excited! Then comes Thursday.....the big day. This is the official Christmas program where members from the community (aka:the town of Ryegate) can come out to the colony and watch the kids perform. After all the busy work of doing the Christmas program on Thursday, Friday will come. Friday is the day that theyy get to undo everything that they have been working on for the past three weeks! All the decorations, play props and lights will come down. the costrumes will be reorganized and put into their totes for next year. After all the posters come down off my walls for the break the girls will scrub the school from floor to ceiling, literally.
Today I made my lesson plans for the first week in January. I get to start off my first week back from break with a four day school week. Thursday, January sixth is a holiday on the colony. I am not really sure why it is a holiday. The kids tried to explain it to me at the beginning of the school but I don't remember what it is. I think it is an extra day to celebrate Jesus. Yay for Jesus, right?!! I will be able to spend that day working in my classroom and maybe even going into the town school and doing some observations. I need to get into some math classes because some of the 8th grade algebra is the math that hauted me in middle school, high school and college and now it is coming back to haunt me again! I just can't get away from math!!!! AAHHHHHHHH....at least we are doing awesome things right now like circumference, perimeter, slope and ratios. At least I know how to do these things without having to sit down and do the entire set of practice problems before teaching the lesson. Today, however puzzled me because I was teaching circumference to my sixth graders and one of the kept saying "but I don't know." so, I kept asking a series of questions to figure out what part of finding the circumference of a circle she was confused on. They kept answering, "yes, I know," and "uh-huh," but somehow they still did not understand. We even practiced finding the radius and diameter together and putting the numbers into the formula. "What do you multiply?" was the most common question. "Why are their two formulas? Why is 3.14 that way?" These are the kinds of thoughts that go through my students' heads when I am teaching. I am still not sure they got it though, the symbol of pi seemed to be what royally confused them. They have such a hard time accepting symbols as a part of math. They think it is odd that they are supposed to use a symbol instead of writing a number out. Perhapse a different approach tomorrow will shed some light onto the situation. Signing off for now! Stay dry Washington!!!
Today I made my lesson plans for the first week in January. I get to start off my first week back from break with a four day school week. Thursday, January sixth is a holiday on the colony. I am not really sure why it is a holiday. The kids tried to explain it to me at the beginning of the school but I don't remember what it is. I think it is an extra day to celebrate Jesus. Yay for Jesus, right?!! I will be able to spend that day working in my classroom and maybe even going into the town school and doing some observations. I need to get into some math classes because some of the 8th grade algebra is the math that hauted me in middle school, high school and college and now it is coming back to haunt me again! I just can't get away from math!!!! AAHHHHHHHH....at least we are doing awesome things right now like circumference, perimeter, slope and ratios. At least I know how to do these things without having to sit down and do the entire set of practice problems before teaching the lesson. Today, however puzzled me because I was teaching circumference to my sixth graders and one of the kept saying "but I don't know." so, I kept asking a series of questions to figure out what part of finding the circumference of a circle she was confused on. They kept answering, "yes, I know," and "uh-huh," but somehow they still did not understand. We even practiced finding the radius and diameter together and putting the numbers into the formula. "What do you multiply?" was the most common question. "Why are their two formulas? Why is 3.14 that way?" These are the kinds of thoughts that go through my students' heads when I am teaching. I am still not sure they got it though, the symbol of pi seemed to be what royally confused them. They have such a hard time accepting symbols as a part of math. They think it is odd that they are supposed to use a symbol instead of writing a number out. Perhapse a different approach tomorrow will shed some light onto the situation. Signing off for now! Stay dry Washington!!!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Observations
Greetings! It has been a while. A lot has been going on at the Colony to get ready for Christmas. My afternoons have been filled with play practice and making gifts for the families. It is going to be pure chaos for the next week and a half. The Christmas program is on the 16th over here and if any of you happen to have travelled the 900 miles to Ryegate, you can come. The kids went did their first run through on the "stage" this afternoon and did quite wll! I was impressed. It is always hard to tell if they are actually learning their lines when they are not being serious while practicing their lines in the classroom. Although we were missing a couple of students today, the practice went very well. I of course got the lucky opportunity to babysit the kids who could not handle themselves downstairs so they got to sit in silence upstairs with me. They were none too happy however, if you can't pay attention and follow directions when you are supposed to the concequence is that you get to sit in silence while being bored!!! BUMMER for them!!!
This is actually the next day now. I survived my first observation by my boss yesterday! It was mostly good news! The biggest thing that I was criticized for was not reviewing my math lesson for sixth grade before teaching it. I had a big boo-boo in calculations and that was not a good thing to have in my lesson. However, in my defense, when I went to rexplain the concept today to the students and have them do a review of the lesson, the kids totally knew how to do it. They did much better on their assignment today as well. Even though I know the importance of modeling correct mathmatical skills, still think that it is interesting that they understood the concept even though the math was incorrect. On the happy side, I was told that my classroom is much more oganized and runs more smoothly than it did at the beginning of the school year. That is a big YAY FOR ME that I was glad to hear because even though there are the day to day struggles with the snotty and whiny kids that I teach, the amount of material I am able to cover and the individual attention I can give the students has increased. I was also told that I moved through the material at an effective pace and did a good job of pacing the lessons. Occasionally one grade will run long and I will have to explain everything what feels like a bajillion times and that will derail me from keeping to my schedule. I have found ways to ensure that I am back on schedule and the kids get enough time to finish their assignments.
This week has been crazy getting ready for the Christmas program, and decorating for Christmas. it is not a tradition to decorate their house for Christmas and so their opportunity to do so is at school. Quite frankly, it looks like Christmas vomited all over my room and the school, including the basement. The kids go crazy while decorating wih lights, garland, tinsil and pictures they have colored over the years. It is a mad house and causes lots and lots wild children. The big highlight of the day was getting the real Christmas tree downstairs to have for the Christmas program. The kids were very dillegent about putting it in water and making sure it was standing straight in the tree stand.
Two more days of school this week and then five, really like four, school days next week. It is hard to imagine when I am going to fit in packing amid all the chaos, faculty meetings and Christmas parties. Never fear, I will fit it in!! Till next time....
This is actually the next day now. I survived my first observation by my boss yesterday! It was mostly good news! The biggest thing that I was criticized for was not reviewing my math lesson for sixth grade before teaching it. I had a big boo-boo in calculations and that was not a good thing to have in my lesson. However, in my defense, when I went to rexplain the concept today to the students and have them do a review of the lesson, the kids totally knew how to do it. They did much better on their assignment today as well. Even though I know the importance of modeling correct mathmatical skills, still think that it is interesting that they understood the concept even though the math was incorrect. On the happy side, I was told that my classroom is much more oganized and runs more smoothly than it did at the beginning of the school year. That is a big YAY FOR ME that I was glad to hear because even though there are the day to day struggles with the snotty and whiny kids that I teach, the amount of material I am able to cover and the individual attention I can give the students has increased. I was also told that I moved through the material at an effective pace and did a good job of pacing the lessons. Occasionally one grade will run long and I will have to explain everything what feels like a bajillion times and that will derail me from keeping to my schedule. I have found ways to ensure that I am back on schedule and the kids get enough time to finish their assignments.
This week has been crazy getting ready for the Christmas program, and decorating for Christmas. it is not a tradition to decorate their house for Christmas and so their opportunity to do so is at school. Quite frankly, it looks like Christmas vomited all over my room and the school, including the basement. The kids go crazy while decorating wih lights, garland, tinsil and pictures they have colored over the years. It is a mad house and causes lots and lots wild children. The big highlight of the day was getting the real Christmas tree downstairs to have for the Christmas program. The kids were very dillegent about putting it in water and making sure it was standing straight in the tree stand.
Two more days of school this week and then five, really like four, school days next week. It is hard to imagine when I am going to fit in packing amid all the chaos, faculty meetings and Christmas parties. Never fear, I will fit it in!! Till next time....
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