Lunch Duty: pro door keeper

At the beginning of the year, I signed up as a sub for lunch duty. Lunch duty is not required for teachers, but if you do lunch duty, you get paid a little (emphasize LITTLE) extra and you get a free school lunch. Several teachers choose to do lunch duty regularly (even a little bit counts - plus you get free lunch!) and when they are at trainings or sick, they contact me to be a sub.

Today was my 3rd day in a row being a sub for lunch duty due to teachers being sick. Boo. I don't mind lunch duty too much, but sometimes I just want to sit and relax for 25 minutes and eat my lunch and talk with friends! haha (I'm so needy sometimes.)

Yesterday had a funny moment though. I was in charge of watching the door going from the lunch area hallway to the main office area. Students who have neon yellow library passes can go through the door to the library. No one else can pass (it would be way too chaotic to have random students wandering the school while other classes are going on).

While I was watching the hall, one student said, "Hey! Some students are going through the main office to go to the library!"
I opened the door and confronted a boy who was heading to the library. I told him that next time he needed to go through the main doors. While still walking, he said, "Okay." I told him I needed to see his library pass and he flashed a neon yellow paper at me...while still walking. I told him I needed to actually SEE the yellow paper. At that point, he said, "Aw man!" He just had a ripped yellow piece of paper and was trying to get by without a real library pass.

Don't worry, I'm a really good door keeper.

Ironically, another student had mentioned earlier that day that students could easily just flash a yellow piece of paper and I wouldn't know if it was real or not (I wasn't looking at every student's library pass individually).

Hopefully all the teachers are healthy and well tomorrow so I can enjoy my lunch period. On the plus side, today was the free Thanksgiving dinner provided by the cafeteria. :)

-Ms. Damron-

The first good cry of the school year

I wrote my brother (who is serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) a letter and told him the following:

"Well – my life has reached the point where I am prone to some serious meltdowns. It takes very little to tip me off!.

Exhibit A: After 4^th period today, I realized that one of my classroom ipads was missing. I totally freaked out. I looked all aver my classroom and I couldn’t find it anywhere. I had planned on going to my apartment during lunch to put dinner in the slow cooker, and then I had to write an IEP (a document that includes present levels, goals, accommodations, etc. for a student with a disability) during my prep period. My meeting was after school at 3:00 and I needed to be ready! I went to my apartment and put dinner together, then I went back to school and heated up my lunch, then went into my classroom and just cried. I couldn’t believe I had lost one of the ipads. I felt like I had finally lost it. Grad school and full time work and the business of my schedule had finally gotten to me and I was performing insufficiently. I was so sad. I called in the students from my last class (I called their 5^th period teachers and had them come to my classroom). They were awfully confused, but when I started explaining what I needed and asked them to open their backpacks so I could check inside, I started bawling – in front of them. NBD. Seriously. It was terrible and embarrassing. I let the kids go because they didn’t have the ipad and we had looked all over my classroom. So again, I started crying, and then I realized I needed to write my IEP, so the ipad was going to have to wait. So I wrote my IEP and then went to find my facilitator. I had texted her about the missing ipad, and when she saw me, she asked about the ipad and I just started crying AGAIN. (Seriously – there was no end to the tears. It was terrible.) I had to have one of the classroom aides cover my 6^th period because I still couldn’t control my tears and my face was red and splotchy. Holy cow I was a mess. Right as 6^th period started, another classroom aide went into my classroom to look for the ipad and she found it on my desk. I couldn’t even believe it. Was I blind?! Who knows how it got there or if I’m truly blind. It was seriously ridiculous.

That is just one story of how my days seem to be going lately. It’s just one more thing every day. Yesterday I realized I had brought the wrong computer to work (because I have two matching computers now). I couldn’t access the internet (because my computer was not registered at the school), so I was on my own. My smart board (which uses a projector) is out of commission because the light bulb burned out last Thursday morning and in the chaos of things, no one ordered it (although I was under the impression that it had been ordered). So I’m going old school style because I don’t have my smart board that I can use to project my lessons on! Ack.

That sounds awfully complainy – I really am happy and satisfied with how things are going. It’s just been one of those weeks!" 

I am fairly certain that sums up my life right now. I am seriously embarrassed at how I reacted to the whole missing ipad thing. When I brought my 4th period students in for a poorly executed interrogation, one student said, "Don't cry Ms. Damron! Everything will be okay." Another student looked at me and calmly said, "Ms. Damron, the worst case scenario is that someone stole the iPad." He further explained that said thief could have put the ipad in a locker or placed it somewhere hidden where it would not be discovered. It was kind of cute. 

That same girl who told me not to cry stopped by 7th period and asked if I had found the ipad. She sounded very concerned. 

I really do have great students. I love teaching. (Really - I'm not just saying that to make up for the apparent stress that my job/current emotional state sometimes incurs.)

-Ms. Damron-

One of those weeks...

It has just been one of those weeks! I feel like I have been GOING - GOING -GOING literally all week long. I had another grad school class on campus on Wednesday, and let me tell you, the thought of biking up to campus after a full day of work is seriously exhausting. And along those same lines - doing homework after an entire day at work is almost impossible because sitting down and concentrating on such a quiet, non-active activity makes me fall asleep!

Fortunately, I love the people in my cohort, and the information given in class was good. Still, I sure was tired.
To top it off, I went to bed late one night, and then the following night I didn't fall asleep until almost 1:00 am because I had so much on my mind! (I don't care what some people say - you canNOT just turn your brain off when you want to.)

Last night I went to Salt Lake to visit friends (which again, was fun, but took effort, energy, and time) and this weekend I'm going to Moab. I'm excited for this trip, but we are leaving early, so I will have to leave right after the bell rings and rush to meet up with the carpool. Who knows when I'll do my homework or prep lessons for next week!

This is the first lunch and prep period I've had this week where I've been able to sit down and actually relax for a few minutes and get some stuff done. I've been administering a standardized test to a student whose 3-year eligibility for Special Ed is due soon and it has taken my lunch and prep period to get it all done.

(Sigh.)

Even though this entry sounds complainy and doesn't make a whole lot of sense, I am still so grateful for my job. I love my students and things have been going so smoothly. So far, this year has been great!

-Ms. Damron-

Sub day went well

I have the students in my Writing Skills classes write in their journal for 5 minutes at the beginning of every period. One the day I had the sub, I gave the topic: "What do you think Ms. Damron is doing today? You can make up a story or write what she is actually doing." Here are some good blurbs for you:

"Ms. Damron is sleeping because she stayed up late last night until 12:00 pm. And when she wakes up she is going to go sky diving. After that is going to a fancy restaurant and ordering everything on the menu."

"Ms. Damron is at a petting zoo. She is petting all of the animals like goats, lions, tigers, and white tigers. She is having the time of her life. That is what I think Ms. Damron is doing."

"Ms. Damron is on a crazy adventure in a tropical jungle. With pousiness creatures all around the jungle, and she has to make get out alive. Tune in on the next show Saturday at 8 pm."

(very clever. haha although I don't know what "lousiness" means...)

"Miss Damron decided to take a day off. When she woke up she decided to call the school and take a day off. Then she got out of her bed. She made pancakes and she ate them all and then she decided to go back to bed."

(I wish this one had actually happened.)

The day I got back, I had them write about this topic: "What was the sub like yesterday?"

These were a few of the responses:

"The sub was pretty cool. And I think we should get a better sub that gives us candy and chips and maybe money. And that she let's us do whatever we want."

"The sub was boring, slow, dull. If I wanted a sub I would want a fun, active boy teacher. I would want a fun teacher because little breaks try to like make a game out of the work! That we had to do that day. Most of the subs I had were very strict, "No fun you can't work in groups." It would be fun to have a chilled out teacher."

"The sub we had yesterday was meen. She would not let us do anything we could not do our little bit about us. She go mad at us if we did not follow along to the story about the Chicago fire. That is the sub we had yesterday."

"The sub was really dull. and not helpful."

Hopefully the next sub is a bit less monotone! haha

-Ms. Damron-

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-