"You'll toughen up."

Today was actually a pretty good day!

I was pretty excited because my lovely friend Katie came and volunteered. I can't tell you how wonderful it is to have volunteers in my classroom! There are so many students that need one-on-one help, so the more people I have in my classroom helping, the smoother things go.

During the passing period between Plus/Intervention and my 4th period, I went out into the hall and found three boys who had just been in my classroom, wrestling in the hall! They were pushing each other and ended up on the floor!
Awesome.

I didn't quite know what to do because there were no other teachers around, but clearly that was unacceptable behavior. Yes, they were laughing and just having fun, but seriously?
One of our school rules is keep hands, feet, and objects to yourself, so obviously action had to be taken.

I demanded that the three boys come over to me, where I explained that their behavior was inappropriate and I had no choice but to give them all lunch detention. Oh my goodness. The protests that exploded out of them almost crushed me! I was determined to follow through though, so I went back to my desk and started filling out the lunch detention slips. They followed me and and I was impaled with excuses as to why I should not give lunch detention,

"MS. DAMRON! I have football practice! I can't get another lunch detention."
"Ms. Damron - NO! I can't get another lunch detention or I'll have ISS!"
"I just pushed him once. Why do I need a lunch detention?"

Oh my goodness I was flustered. My heart truly broke because I had to give a lunch detention. I didn't know what else to do though. I couldn't just tell them that wrestling was wrong and please don't do it again. Plus, once you give a consequence, you can't back down.
I was freaking out the entire 4th period. Two of the students who I gave a lunch detention were in my 4th period and they were MAD. They just glared at me the whole time and refused to do work. I finally sat down with one student and helped him do his work and I think he was in a better mood by the end of the period. The student who had football practice after school was not in a forgiving mood though. When one of the paraeducators took him aside to help him with his science homework, I heard him say, "It isn't fair. So and so didn't get a lunch detention..." Yikes. When the period ended, he wouldn't play battleship to earn a piece of candy and he wouldn't make eye contact!

Needless to say, I went to lunch and told some other faculty members that I had given out my first lunch detentions and I was freaking out about it! I told them that I felt awful, but I didn't know what else to do! They said that I did the right thing. One of them said I was nicer than she would have been. She said she would have marched them right down to the principal's office. At the end of lunch though, one of the teachers told me, "You'll toughen up. Nothing phases me anymore."

I guess we'll have to see how I "toughen up" over the years!

(And lets hope that my dear students don't hold grudges...)

-Ms. Damron-

Random funniness

I thought I would take the time to share some random funny quotes or moments lately:

While walking down the hall before school one day, there were three students huddled by a door. One student had his violin out and he was playing it. His violin case was open on the floor, and I heard him say, "Spare change?"

One my fashion divas from 4th period came in today and told me she had a science worksheet to do during class and then she said, "You look really hott in jeans by the way." Then she walked off.

During that class meeting I had 2nd period this past Tuesday, I was commenting on the fact that one of the boys NEVER stopped talking. Do you know what his buddy said? "WE NEED TO LOBOTOMIZE HIM! It's the only option." Then he took the piece of paper I was writing notes on and wrote "lobotumize Bob." (I changed the name.) I couldn't stop laughing.

Another comment that happened during 2nd period one day was with regards to how organized I am! The new 7th grade student that joined the class asked where something was or how we did something (I can't quite remember) and one of the girls in the class said, "Ms. Damron is very organized. If she says its there - it's there."

-Ms. Damron-

I'm not completely following you...

Before anything, I had to show this comic. A math teacher from my school posted it on facebook and it made me laugh:



Anyway, I had to share the most interesting story with you.
My 2nd period is full of seven 8th graders and one 7th grader. It was kind of a little wild before a certain 8th grade girl was added to my class, but I think the boys have a crush on the new girl or something because the talking, banter, middle school attempts at flirting, WHATEVER you want to call it, has increased exponentially since she entered my class! It has been driving me insane and I have been at a loss for what to do. I stand at the front and talk and absolutely no one listens or gives me the time of day because they're too busy making faces at each other and complaining about so and so breathing their air...you get the point. It's a little ridiculous if you ask me.

Monday was a block day, so I had my students for 85 minutes. We had been in class for maybe 30 minutes and they were out of control. I couldn't manage my class to save my life. I was a little frustrated to say the least, but of course I kept my cool and calmly told everyone to leave the stuff at the table they were at and move to a different table. ;)
I sat them all down and held a CLASS MEETING. I told them that I was at a loss because for the life of me I couldn't get them to listen to me. I asked them to tell me what I was doing wrong or what their side of the story was. I needed to know something.
The first student who raised his hand is notorious for always having a rebuttal to everything I say. I like him, but for heaven's sake you do not have to say something every time I speak! What he said completely shocked me. (Just so you can get an idea of how out of control this class was that day, while he was talking, at least two other people were talking or making some sort of noise. He tried to get everyone to be quiet by shouting, "BE QUIET!" but not even that worked...) To summarize, he said that they all talk because they like my class and they like me. All the other teachers are mean and they yell, but I have fun with them and I laugh and think they're funny. Basically, they like my class, so they don't stop talking.

WHAT?!

I told him that I thought it was horribly rude to talk while I was talking and I thought they were doing it to be mean and rude. This student very sincerely said, "No! We don't mean to be rude. We like you!"
I'm sorry...I'm not completely following you. You're saying that you won't stop talking and you won't show me respect because you...like me? The rest of the students backed him up and said,
"Yeah! We like this class!"
"This is one of the few classes I like."
"You don't yell at us."

I couldn't believe it. I told them that what I was getting out of what they were saying though was that I needed to be mean and strict in order to get them to listen to me. They didn't really have an answer to that. I continued to ask them things such as, "what can I do better?" "what do you like/dislike in teachers?"

When we gathered back at the other table before the period ended, we had no time to accomplish anything else on my list of things to do, but I asked them again what I could better. More specifically, I asked them what they considered good consequences. One student said, "Going to the desk in the back of the room does nothing for me. If a teacher were to take me out of the classroom and go on a little walk and chew me out, that would be scary."
Hmm...
That same students also said, "You need to be more strict. Well, not strict, but...firm. Yeah. Firm."
I thought that was very insightful. That student is actually the most out of control student when it comes to talking out. He's funny and likes attention, so he NEVER STOPS TALKING.

I changed my consequences after I talked with them, so hopefully it will start to work out better. Even though my students seemed at ease that day, as soon as the period ended, I wanted to just sit there and cry. I was so on edge and frustrated. I can't control my students! Something needs to change!

I talked to Mrs. Radant across the hall about the whole ridiculous amount of talking thing, and she empathized with me and said that her 5th and 6th period are completely ridiculous. It's good to know that even an experienced teacher has some periods that are a little hectic to say the least. We're both similar in the sense that we like to be liked and our personalities are very "let's all have fun and just enjoy life!"

I am so grateful for other teachers who take time to listen to me and provide me with support and a little bit of encouragement.

-Ms. Damron-

Just my luck

So apparently the Special Ed meeting god has it in for me!
I had my first official IEP today and I was pretty excited. I figured it would be pretty simple. I figured a lot of the stuff out yesterday, but during 5th period today I went and talked to my facilitator about this particular student to double check a few things. Today was a block day, so 5th period was 85 minutes. Guess what? We talked THE ENTIRE 85 MINUTES. Yup. That really happened.
She was super awesome and she helped me write the goals I needed to and went over the entire IEP with me. It was fantastic! While I was in there we also talked about a few other things and sorted some stuff out for some other periods. It was a much needed chat and I wish I got one at least once a week, BUT, today probably wasn't the best time to have it. Then again, there's no time like the present, right? haha

The 5th period bell rang and thankfully I had lunch next. What did I do during my lunch though? Panic about the IEP I had to write! EEK. So, thankfully my 6th period is a good little class and I had them take turns reading the novel we're reading this month. Some of them were a little hesitant to read out loud, but they were so good. When I started class I told them I had some really important paperwork to get done and I needed them to do me a huge favor by reading while I finished some paperwork. I finished right around the time they were going stir crazy, so it worked out wonderfully. Now that I think about it, I should have given them all a little treat for being so good and reading while I was doing something in the back of the room. Maybe I'll take care of that tomorrow. :)

My 7th period ended at 2:50 and my meeting was supposed to start at 3:00. I dashed to the restroom, filled up my water bottle, and then ran to the faculty room to print off the IEP. It took forever to load and print, so I was about 7 minutes late to my meeting. Greeeat. There were also two other IEP meetings going on today, so I had no where to hold my meeting! I felt guilty that I was so disorganized when I first met with mom and her son, but it got sorted out easily enough.
We ended up having the meeting in my classroom and I actually really liked it that way. Usually IEP's are held in the conference room in the main office or the special ed team room, but I've always liked having them in your classroom. You feel so much more confident and comfortable.

So, overall it worked and and went smoothly. I just thought it was a little ironic that things were a little hectic yet again. One of these days I'll be super on top of it and not do everything the day of! (Let's not get a head of ourselves though...)

-Ms. Damron-

Out of Compliance

Special Education is all about being "in compliance." This means that all things dealing with special ed need to be in compliance (obeying the rules of) with special ed laws.

A huge part of compliance is doing things within a certain amount of time. For example, every year we hold IEP meetings. (Remember, IEP stands for Individualized Education Plan.) This ensures that parents are involved with their child and the child's needs are reviewed at least annually. Well, to stay in compliance, we need to have this meeting at least one day earlier than they had it the year before. So, if an IEP meeting is held October 10, 2011, it needs to be held October 9, 2012. Does that make sense? Along with IEPs, we have three year re-evaluations every...(can you guess how long?) THREE YEARS! These re-evaluations determine if a student re-qualifies for special ed. They can be kind of time-consuming if you have to do a lot of testing to determine if a student qualifies or not. Just like the annual IEPs, they need to be done the day before they were done three years earlier. So, if a re-eval is done October 10, 2011, then the next one is due October 9, 2014. Yay for special ed! haha And when I say due, that means that is the day we hold a meeting with the parents.

Whew. That was an awful lot of technicalities, but hopefully it will help you understand my serious situation.

Monday, September 12 I was assigned specific special ed students. (The split up all the students in the school among the 5 special ed teachers.) I am now called their "Case Manager." When I looked over my students and when their IEPs and Re-evals were due, I realized that one was due that Thursday, September 15. Was there anyway that was going to get done in a couple of days? No way! So was I in compliance? No way! Awesome. AND little new teacher me had no idea what I was doing or how to go about getting things done, SO I finally got this Re-Eval done last Friday. Let's see...how many days late was that? 22 if I counted correctly.

So, I finally got all of the paperwork filled out, and got the meeting set up. Oh! And half the reason it took me so long to get it done is that the parents speak Spanish, so I couldn't just call them up and set up the meeting because I don't speak Spanish! When I finally had the teacher across the hall call, we couldn't get a hold of the parents with the phone number we had. Double awesome. What I ended up doing was talking to the kid the next day at school, and what do you know? He called home and got a hold of his parents and set up the meeting. You mean I could have done that all along?! For pete's sake.
To make it even better, he was getting checked out that very day he set up the meeting, so I figured why not meet with the parents then!
What did that mean? Complete chaos. I had to get everything sorted out, figure out who would watch my class and who would watch another teacher's class so they could attend the meeting, and the most important question of all - WHO WOULD TRANSLATE? Well, as it turns out, they parents didn't have time because they had an appointment to go to, so all of that stress was for nothing.

The official meeting was held Friday, October 7th at 2:00pm.
This day was also a bit hectic because I had to get the paperwork all sorted out and what do you know, I got observed 6th period, and my meeting was held 7th period. I ended up totally missing my 7th period because of this meeting. (I wasn't happy about that because I seriously needed to chew out my 7th period because their behavior was horrific with the sub the day before.)
Anyway, I had also spent my entire 3rd period prep searching for people to come to my meeting, and most importantly, hunting down someone who could translate! The ESL person only worked until noon, the Spanish speaking counselor only worked until noon, the science teacher who had 7th period prep spoke Portuguese instead of Spanish, and no one else had a free period. That means I would have had to find someone to cover someone else's class while they translated my meeting! At the last minute though, the vice principal said he was free to attend so he could translate for me.

Hallelujah!

The meeting went smoothly and the mom was really nice. Mrs. Radant, the Special Ed reading teacher across the hall had a 7th period prep so she attended the meeting to act as an extra support to me. She was so great.

I was so relieved when I found out that I was done with that re-eval and it was good to go! (even if it was done so late)

What do you know though, I was informed that the Speech services person at my school hadn't added her stuff to the Re-eval form and we didn't talk about it at the meeting, so now we don't know what to do!
Is there no end to this Re-Eval? Sheesh.

Anyway, I guess we'll just have to hope for the best. Wish me luck!

-Ms. Damron-

Last car in the parking lot

Gotta love the life of a first year teacher. I am frequently the last car in the parking lot at the end of the day and it's a little disheartening sometimes! Thank heaven the sun was shining and the mountains looked beautiful or else I would have been horribly gloomy. Once it starts getting dark around 5:30 pm I'll be doomed.
This morning started off a bit rocky because instead of getting to school around 7:00 am, I got there around 7:45 am. And yes, that's 15 minutes late according to teacher contracted time. Cameron called me at 7:18 am and when I realized what time it was I freaked! I was definitely a little flustered when school started. I was feeling pretty good after 5th period because I had accomplished a lot during my prep period, but for some reason, after/during lunch, I started feeling a little gloomy and bogged down. By the end of the 7th period, I just wanted to put my head on my desk and cry for a couple of minutes. Ug.

My Writing Skills class, which is 6th period, isn't too bad. There's always stuff to teach and do in that class. The kids are extremely talkative and have a difficult time with the whole raising your hand and staying on task thing, but they mean well and they are good kids. My 7th period on the other hand is getting to be very difficult for me.

There are only 6 students in my 7th period, but they are a handful. With the exception of one, maybe two students, they are getting to be quite rude, demanding and non-compliant. (Non-compliant meaning they do not follow directions!)
I'm struggling because Resource Learning is a class meant to teach study skills and organization and hugely to help students finish homework and get help on assignments they don't understand. Well, 4 out of the 6 students in my 7th period have mostly A's and B's. One of them has had straight A's in every single class every single day so far! She never has anything to do in my class! She is one of the demanding ones actually. Sheesh.
Anyway, I let my students have free time on the computer if they have all A's and B's and have silent read for at least ten minutes. I figure if we they have pretty good grades and silent read for ten minutes, they should deserve some free time. Well I have definitely changed my mind! All these kids live for is free time on the computer. I made the mistake of letting my students listen to music on the computer while they have free time and now they demand free time and headphones.
Today I was just sick of it, so I said that no one could have any headphones or listen to music today. That totally threw them for a loop.

Sorry to vent, but I'm just struggling a little bit because I don't know what to do when I have two students who really need some one-on-one help with assignments and they need that time to get work done BUT I also have four students who don't have homework or missing assignments from other classes, so they just wander around without a cause. And I hate having my kids play on the computer every day. They are still in school and there are lots of things they could be working on or something!
I talked to my neighbor teacher after school today and shared my concerns. She gave me a couple ideas and provided me with some books that had worksheets that could be used when there is free time. I hate busy work, but I think that if there is something that could be a supplement, or reinforce what they are doing in their other classes, then let's have it!

I have a lot of organizing and prep to do before I figure out a good system for some of these worksheets I found, but hopefully I'll get some sort of system figured out before I go stark raving mad!

-Ms. Damron-

Secret Ninjas

Pencils are the bane of every teacher's existence. No teacher seems to have a fool proof pencil retaining plan. Pencils disappear like nobody's business when they're in a classroom!

I set out a little yellow pail labeled SHARPENED PENCILS and a pink and red striped pail labeled UNSHARPENED PENCILS. Students are allowed to get a pencil out of the yellow can while I'm teaching, but they can't sharpen pencils. All I ask is that students return my pencils. Do they get returned? No. Is it on purpose? Not exactly. I know that students aren't evil little pencil stealing devils. They just use a pencil and forget to return it, then they forget whose pencil it is, and then it's lost forever.

At the beginning of the school year I put about 10-15 brand new pencils into the yellow pail. After about three weeks, there were no pencils left. Maybe three weeks is a record for how long pencils will last. I had a sub the next day, so I decided to re-stock my pencil pail. When I came back that Friday, there were maybe two or three pencils left. No. Stinking. WAY. Where did all of my pencils go?!
Well, I was venting to my students about how my pencils just disappear, and bless their hearts they were giving me all sorts of ideas.

"Tape plastic spoons to them!"
"Mrs. Radant is going to tape spoons to them, then put them in styrofoam and number them so that she knows if any are missing when class is almost over."

They provided several other ideas, but my favorite was the following:

"I know what you can do! If someone steals a pencil, secret ninjas could jump down from the ceiling and get them!"

I couldn't help but laugh. All I could respond was, "Ooo. That's what I need to do. Get some secret ninjas."

Man I love my students.

Today was a block day, which means 85 minutes of 7th and 8th graders with absolutely NO attention span. I decided that my classroom management needs a little bit of a booster, so combined with the fact that I did not prepare any lesson plans, I decided to review procedures like crazy. My students didn't particularly enjoy it. My 7th graders were much more up for the role playing then my too-cool-for-school 8th graders, but nevertheless, we practiced.
I felt validated for my review of procedures when I was working with one of my 8th graders. I told her to grab a piece of paper and a pencil. She asked about a pencil and then said, "Wait! We learned about this earlier!"

YES. Finally I can see my teaching get through to someone. How often are we going to have to review rules and procedures though? EVERY SINGLE DAY. My poor students are not going to like this!

-Ms. Damron-

P.S. Did I mention that I don't particularly care if they don't enjoy going over the rules every day? One of my 8th grade boys petitioned me that if they could say all of the rules perfectly for a week, we would never have to say them again. I said no because I haven't seen everyone obey them perfectly yet. Another student started singing, "Nobody's perfect..." at which point I said, "Thank-you for pointing out why we will have to repeat the rules every single day."
Bahahahaha haha for some reason they didn't laugh with me. ;)