UG. First sub day is coming up...

My sister Alyssa is going on a study abroad to Jerusalem this fall, and I get to take her to the airport this Tuesday. What does that mean...sub day! I debated and debated if I should take the whole day off or just take the morning off, but after talking to several co-workers, I decided there really isn't any point in writing sub plans and then coming back for two periods! It helped when my principal said, "Just take the whole day off." Zero regrets now.

I despise writing sub plans though. I would rather go to school feeling terrible and then just go home and be lazy rather than write sub plans and stay home all day. (I realize that sub plans might take 1-2 hours versus a 7-8 hour school day, but that goes to show you how much I don't like writing them.) Plus, it is so hard to leave my dear, SPECIAL, children with a sub. They need structure and routine, and they often goof off and accomplish almost nothing with a sub. When you teach a homework help class that is geared towards helping them pass their other classes, it is extremely difficult to have someone else teach the class because they don't know what is going on in all of the other classes! (That was a long-winded sentence, but you get the idea.)

Anyway, sub plans are finally done and I am ready for my break on Tuesday! Boo ya!

When I told my classes I would have a sub, they all complained and said they would miss me! Talk about endearing. One girl said, "But you make it fun!" Definitely tender.

Another tender moment occurred in my Writing Skills class. I have a Hispanic boy who is tall and looks very well put together. He has beautiful hair that is always perfectly sculpted, he has cool socks and shoes, etc. Yet, his writing looks like an elementary school student's handwriting and he is in the lowest reading class we have. He has already nabbed a place in my heart though. He is well-behaved in my class and on Friday, he asked where my notes were in his journal. (The past few days I have read their journal entries and written personal comments.) He sounded bummed that I didn't write back and he said he was going to leave space for me to write a comment. My heart just melted. A-dor-a-ble.

On the same lines, the first time I wrote back in their journals, another kid wrote my note and said, "That's really cool that you do that. My other teacher didn't do this."

(Sigh.) I love my job. Year three is already AWESOME.

-Ms. Damron-

Honeymoon Stage is Over

It only took a couple of days, but the blessed, and slightly awkward, honeymoon stage is over.

I had my first true behavior issue today. We were reviewing what is in a planner and I asked students to follow along (by being on the same page). One kid purposefully was not on the right page ever. In fact, it was kind of comical to watch because it was so...determined. He did end up changing his behavior after about 10-15 minutes of that, but then later he was asked to leave the game we were playing because he was acting inappropriately.

I called his mom after school, and she mentioned that one of his teachers (I told her it was me), made a point of explaining that the class he was in was a Special Ed class. Mom asked if the teacher explained it in a positive manner, and this kid said yes, but he was NOT happy with his mom because he didn't want to be in any Special Ed classes this year.

So, when he came to my class today, it made sense that he had a negative attitude. I was so confused because this kid was PERFECT the first few days. He was super polite and courteous and talked about how everything you do in school is good for you and helps you have a better life later. When he showed up as mister Grumpy Gills today, I was shocked!

Talking to his mom helped a lot though. She was extremely grateful that I called and she said that she had been really worried about the transition to middle school, but having a teacher call and show concern about her son made her feel so much better. PARENT CONTACT is CRUCIAL to success with students. Today was another testament of that.

Also, I hope I can build a better relationship with this student so that he isn't so against a Special Ed class. Maybe next year I will wait a week or so to talk about that. I don't think I've had enough time to build a strong enough relationship for that not to be a crushing conversation.

-Ms. Damron-

First week down!

I don't know if I should title this entry as "First week down" because we only had a half week with the students, but holy cow, I am exhausted. It feels like there wasn't even a summer break and I have just been teaching forever, but it's only been 2 1/2 days. (Yikes.) Granted, I have been back to work for the past two weeks and I finished up summer term of grad school just last week (which seems so long ago now).

I really miss a lot of my 8th graders from last year. They were my 7th graders my first year teaching and we really did create a special bond. I have primarily 7th graders this year, and (don't tell my 8th graders I said this) I'm not as attached to most of the 8th graders this year. My first period is going to be difficult because of behavior issues, and my 7th period is going to be difficult because it is my largest class: 15 students.

One more time for emphasis though, I SERIOUSLY MISS MY 8TH GRADERS from last year. They were such good kids! (sigh)

It's been a good couple of days though. Amazingly, I have been in bed before 10:00 pm for the past 3-4 nights, which has been so wonderful. My throat hurt at the end of yesterday because of all the talking! You really do have to get used to talking so much. And standing all day. And emotionally, mentally, and physically draining yourself every day. I should be good to go in another week or so.

Just one term of grad school has already motivated and inspired me to do so much. I feel much more innovative and I'm trying to change things up (teach lessons that are much more hands-on and interactive). To teach my procedures, I made QR codes with clues to puzzle pieces I had made out of poster board. Students took turns finding the puzzle pieces and then we put together a poster that says,

"A single grain of rice can tip the scale. One man may be the difference between victory and defeat."

After putting the puzzle together, I asked my student what that quote had to do with class rules and procedures. I was delighted that at least one student in every class made the connection that "one person who breaks the rules can ruin it for the rest of the class." Very impressive!
When I introduced the QR code activity, I asked if anyone had any questions and one student raised his hand and asked, "Did you take a class on how to be awesome?"

I feel like that was well worth the effort!

I love love LOVE teaching, and I'm excited for this upcoming year!

-Ms. Damron-