Did y'all miss me? I missed blogging! I'm trying to figure out exactly what it was that I was so busy doing to where I couldn't blog regularly and I came up empty. Dah well...
If you're a teacher then you know that your kids can be the biggest, fattest, smelliest turds in the history of America. They will get on your nerves, make you want to cuss and punch things, and possibly take up drinking and smoking. You'll want to call them mean things and slap their mommas and daddies for raising such awful children. Then all of a sudden, they'll do something so sweet it'll bring tears to your eyes and you forget that they just glued their fingers together and busted an ink pen in their mouth. My 4th period class did just that. My granny has been going through chemo for her breast cancer. She had to have surgery to remove the lump and I was slightly worried about the whole situation. Well a few of the girls in 4th period made sweet cards and sent them to her. I almost cried reading them because they were so sweet. They always ask about my granny. It's funny how your kids take on your cares sometimes and adopt your family as their own. Granny loved her cards by the way!
Recently, I saw a former student of mine at Kroger. He was one of those kids that I had to pray long and hard before he came into my room everyday. He was a dirty, sneaky kid that wanted so bad to be a good kid but that bad kid just kept screwing him over. He was eventually kicked out of school for his behavior and I never heard from or saw him again. Anyway, I saw him at Kroger and I didn't recognize him. He called my name and I had to look twice. When I recognized him, I stopped and chatted with him.
Me: "So what are you doing with yourself these days?"
Kid: "I'm working down in Magee."
Me: "Oh yeah, I remember your sister telling me that. You know I teach Susie*"
Kid: "Yes ma'am. She said you were a bitch."
Me: *blank stare*
Kid: "I told her that you were like that when I was in your class and you probably weren't gonna change."
Me: "At least I'm consistent."
Kid: "Yup, well I'm gonna go. It was good seeing you."
Me: "Likewise."
Uuuuhh.... How was I supposed to respond to that?! I just laughed it off. When I got back to school I told his sister what he told me. The look on her face was priceless. LOL. I haven't had any problems out of her since then. LOL! She's scared... And she should be.
My repeater class has been working on state test stuff. While they're working they like to sing or rap for some odd reason. They're usually pretty quiet when they do this but not on this particular day. I wish I could have recorded the foolishness. I felt like I was at the American Idol try outs minus the good acts. It was awful. The only thing I could do was laugh. Now whenever I hear any of those songs on the radio I laugh. I can't even enjoy them anymore.
A student in my 4th period was telling the class about her grandpa being on life support when one of my brilliant pookies spoke without thinking.
Kid 1: "My grandpa's on life support."
Me: "I'm sorry to hear that."
Kid 2: "Why are you sorry?"
Me: "Because her grandfather is on life support."
Kid 2: "That's a good thing tho."
The whole class: *frowns* "What?! No that ain't good!"
Kid 2: "But I thought life support was when you got money for being old."
Me: "Uh no. You get money from child support but not life support. Life support is when you're basically depending on a machine to live."
Kid 2: "Oooooohhhhh...."
They're so silly.
Third period was a little loud and active the other day and I had to keep telling them to be quiet, sit down, stop touching so and so, etc. It was getting rather annoying because they had work to do and they weren't working. Sensing my frustration with them, one of them suggested we play a game. We played roller coaster. If you got out of your seat then you died since you fell off the roller coaster. My response? A big fat blank stare. Amazingly it worked. They didn't get up or touch their neighbors. The second part of the game was that the roller coaster was in the library so they couldn't be loud. At this point I was just like whatever. It worked so who cares.
We're still doing the book drive so get your books to me! Thanks!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Cootie Kings and Lint Lickers
Today involved lots of "counseling," cheering up, analyzing children, giving boyfriend advice, giving parents advice, etc. Basically I felt like I should have been a counselor or psychologist/psychiatrist instead of a teacher. First there was the conference. It involved the parent, regular and special ed teachers, a principal, a counselor, and a psychiatrist. It was crucial. The kid is struggling in his classes but we can't really figure out why. That's why the SPED teacher and psychiatrist were there. That was the 1st conference I've ever walked out of not really knowing how to help the kid. Like, I felt bad for him. Something isn't adding up or clicking here. I'm going to figure this out! I'm going to pray about it and go from there. Something just ain't right here.
After the conference was the homeroom drama. Once homeroom started I noticed a student, who is normally upbeat and cheery, was the opposite of her normal self. I didn't say anything to her because I figured she was upset about the game last night (she's a basketball player). Another student came and asked if they could go in the hall and talk. I said sure and asked if I needed to come too. I went out in the hall and they told me what was going on. Her boyfriend used to date a girl on the basketball team. They broke up and he started dating my student. Well apparently he's still in love with the ex girlfriend and he can't be with my student anymore. She was all upset. I gave her the whole "you'll have 20 more boyfriends before you graduate from high school so it's not the end of the world he didn't deserve you anyway" speech. She wasn't fully buying it. Next, I told her how to get over it. And finally, as is my custom when my girls are terribly upset over a cheating boyfriend, I wrote her a little note to keep in her notebook to look at when gets down. Her note said... KM is a cootie king. She cracked up. Notes from the past have said boogers, lint licker, turd, and other gross, funny words. I'm not deep or inspirational so that's all I got. They love the notes and they actually keep them. Sometimes you don't have to be all deep and inspirational to make a situation better.
During 3rd period a former student came by my room all teary eyed. My kids were working on a worksheet so I stepped out to talk to her. Her boyfriend was cheating on her too and she found out in the principal's office after the so called other woman tried to fight her. Poor thing. I gave her advice on how to be "nicety" and move on with her life. I talked to the guy about it too. He appeared to feel bad about the whole thing. He said he was going to get her back and leave that other girl alone. I know you're wondering why he cheated but I won't tell. Let's just say it was easy to do.
After all of that I sat and reflected on my high school boyfriends and giggled. It all seems so serious then. Oh to be young and in love.
My repeaters are working out of the English II state testing handbook. Right now we're doing fact and opinion. The other day we were reading an editorial dealing with education and basically it said that kids are failing because teachers suck. That sparked a serious discussion with them. They said that it's not the teacher's fault all the time. A lot of times it the kids fault because they just don't want to learn sometimes. Then they went on to explain that sometimes teachers don't teach on their level or relate the material to them so they don't want to do the work. It was a really interesting conversation. It made me think about what I'm doing in my classroom to make sure my kids want to learn.
Don't forget about the book drive! We're collecting books, cds, and DVDs to help raise money for the football and basketball facilities. If you have any books, cds, and DVDs you want to get rid of please contact me. You can leave a comment here, call me, text me, Facebook me, tweet me, email me, whatever. I'll come pick up the stuff or I can meet you somewhere. Since I coach volleyball and we play in the gym I want to help as much as possible. It costs you nothing but maybe a little gas. You'll be getting rid of some clutter! Thanks!
After the conference was the homeroom drama. Once homeroom started I noticed a student, who is normally upbeat and cheery, was the opposite of her normal self. I didn't say anything to her because I figured she was upset about the game last night (she's a basketball player). Another student came and asked if they could go in the hall and talk. I said sure and asked if I needed to come too. I went out in the hall and they told me what was going on. Her boyfriend used to date a girl on the basketball team. They broke up and he started dating my student. Well apparently he's still in love with the ex girlfriend and he can't be with my student anymore. She was all upset. I gave her the whole "you'll have 20 more boyfriends before you graduate from high school so it's not the end of the world he didn't deserve you anyway" speech. She wasn't fully buying it. Next, I told her how to get over it. And finally, as is my custom when my girls are terribly upset over a cheating boyfriend, I wrote her a little note to keep in her notebook to look at when gets down. Her note said... KM is a cootie king. She cracked up. Notes from the past have said boogers, lint licker, turd, and other gross, funny words. I'm not deep or inspirational so that's all I got. They love the notes and they actually keep them. Sometimes you don't have to be all deep and inspirational to make a situation better.
During 3rd period a former student came by my room all teary eyed. My kids were working on a worksheet so I stepped out to talk to her. Her boyfriend was cheating on her too and she found out in the principal's office after the so called other woman tried to fight her. Poor thing. I gave her advice on how to be "nicety" and move on with her life. I talked to the guy about it too. He appeared to feel bad about the whole thing. He said he was going to get her back and leave that other girl alone. I know you're wondering why he cheated but I won't tell. Let's just say it was easy to do.
After all of that I sat and reflected on my high school boyfriends and giggled. It all seems so serious then. Oh to be young and in love.
My repeaters are working out of the English II state testing handbook. Right now we're doing fact and opinion. The other day we were reading an editorial dealing with education and basically it said that kids are failing because teachers suck. That sparked a serious discussion with them. They said that it's not the teacher's fault all the time. A lot of times it the kids fault because they just don't want to learn sometimes. Then they went on to explain that sometimes teachers don't teach on their level or relate the material to them so they don't want to do the work. It was a really interesting conversation. It made me think about what I'm doing in my classroom to make sure my kids want to learn.
Don't forget about the book drive! We're collecting books, cds, and DVDs to help raise money for the football and basketball facilities. If you have any books, cds, and DVDs you want to get rid of please contact me. You can leave a comment here, call me, text me, Facebook me, tweet me, email me, whatever. I'll come pick up the stuff or I can meet you somewhere. Since I coach volleyball and we play in the gym I want to help as much as possible. It costs you nothing but maybe a little gas. You'll be getting rid of some clutter! Thanks!
Monday, November 1, 2010
"Don't drink the Kool-aid if you didn't fix it"
Thursday and Friday we talked about revenge. I told them the story about how my brother and I got revenge on each other when I lived at home. This sparked them to tell stories of the tricks they've played on their brothers and/or sisters. One kid told a story and gave the moral at the end. Basically her brother drank her Sprite, so she drank all the Kool-aid. He beat her up because it was his Kool-aid. The moral? "Don't drink the Kool-aid if you didn't fix it."
Friday, my Asperger's student spoke in front of the class. I told the SPED teachers and 1 of his former teachers and everybody was so excited! He had to teach his classmates a new word. His word was preclude or prolonged. I don't remember. Anyway, they kids were so quiet when he gave his word, a sentence, and the definition. He's really coming out of his shell. Yay!
I've got to do a better job of managing my time so I can keep up with my blog. I did better during volleyball season. Basketball is about to start so I'm really going to have to work. Maybe I should get an assistant to grade all my papers for me that way I can do everything else. Any volunteers?
Today we were reading a story about 2 brothers. The younger brother is mentally challenged and the older brother doesn't like him. Anyway, the older brother nicknames the kid Doodle. He names him that because nobody expects much from someone named Doodle. From that quote a conversation about names came up. We discussed the story of Marijuana Pepsi Sawyer and how they would respond if they were a CEO doing some hiring. They said they wouldn't hire her because of her name. I asked them why. They told me because she might be a drug head or they couldn't take her seriously. It was rather interesting.
Remember the book drive!
Friday, my Asperger's student spoke in front of the class. I told the SPED teachers and 1 of his former teachers and everybody was so excited! He had to teach his classmates a new word. His word was preclude or prolonged. I don't remember. Anyway, they kids were so quiet when he gave his word, a sentence, and the definition. He's really coming out of his shell. Yay!
I've got to do a better job of managing my time so I can keep up with my blog. I did better during volleyball season. Basketball is about to start so I'm really going to have to work. Maybe I should get an assistant to grade all my papers for me that way I can do everything else. Any volunteers?
Today we were reading a story about 2 brothers. The younger brother is mentally challenged and the older brother doesn't like him. Anyway, the older brother nicknames the kid Doodle. He names him that because nobody expects much from someone named Doodle. From that quote a conversation about names came up. We discussed the story of Marijuana Pepsi Sawyer and how they would respond if they were a CEO doing some hiring. They said they wouldn't hire her because of her name. I asked them why. They told me because she might be a drug head or they couldn't take her seriously. It was rather interesting.
Remember the book drive!
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