Reflection #3: Preparing for snow days!

Snow days are a nice little visit and break; but when does it become too much? With the threat of another 8-16 inches on the way and two snow days (both white days) already come and gone, it’s getting a bit hectic! How do teachers effectively manage classes that get out of sync? As I have two senior classes, one on red and one on white days, the white day class is always follows the red day’s activities. Now there are two snow days that were lost to white days for planned parent-teacher scheduling (which caused the white days to become back to back but in the end was also snowed out).  Should I try to slow down the red day class, or speed up to catch the white day class back into sync with the red? Or does it matter that they are off by two days? I was thinking of finding some activities related to Catching Fire or The Hunger Games since we’ve just started the second book in the series, to give the white day class time to catch up. There are several crossword puzzles that I’ve seen on teaching websites or other such activities that may be able to help the students better remember the first novel since it’s been about a year that they have read it (even though we recapped and watched part of the movie).

The snow days have also caused a bit of havoc and forced re-planning for the freshman and the Holocaust unit. We were supposed to be starting the research project this week, but I’m not quite sure how it is going to play out now that they have had so many snow days- but the laptop carts are checked out specifically for this week only. It seems that this break (as I know many students were looking forward to Spring Break next week, and they have it two months in a row now!) is almost as bad as sub planning: almost more hassle than it’s worth. But I am glad to have a bit of time off to work on filling out the KPTP. I also got to play around with a cool idea that I’ve been tossing around for an assessment of sorts: having students create trading cards of the topic that they are researching. It’d be a fun display for the end result of the group research projects as well as providing something easy to run copies off for the entire class. Then they can have the information in their folders rather than on a poster the students may see for a few days in the classroom before it’s taken down for something else. There was another website I was told about that had some interesting tools like the one linked above, but I left the information in the classroom. I’ll have to update it here for everyone to check out as soon as I get the link!

Reflection #2: Dealing with change

The past week and a half has been an interesting experience, and while every class period has not gone according to plan, I have still learned a lot. Through meetings and personal plans I have had the privilege of working with substitutes and experiencing the students in a whole new light. Occasionally the students have delighted me with phrases of, "Does this mean you get to teach us? Yes!!". However, working with students who do not deal with change well has become a heavy and hard transition. Even though the students seem to recognize me as their teacher and come to me when they need help, their attitudes and behaviors do not match up. Part of this, I have been told, may come from the fact that some of these students are labeled with BD or OHI and such rejection to new ways happens with any change rather than only for me.

In order to help ease this transition I have been reviewing some procedures and expectations that the students receive at the beginning of the school year. Even though they roll their eyes and act like they don't care, there has been some improvement in behavior. My CT has also let me begin classes without her presence and come in to check halfway through the period to provide assistance where necessary while also letting the students adjust and see that my position is no different than hers. Everyone seems to be settling nicely into this routine.

Even when there are substitutes, as there were for 1.5 days of class last week, the students appear to recognize no difference. This reaction has been a great motivator and influence for me. Dealing with change can be difficult for everyone, but as I begin teaching my units for two courses (three classes), I have noticed an ease of anxiety as the students work with me instead of against me. Hopefully this positive spark will continue! I'm looking forward to watching the students' interests grow as seniors begin Catching Fire and freshmen start in on The Story of Blima: A Holocaust Survivor.

Reflection #1: "Difference"

Ellen Bass' poem "Relax" speaks humorously of some horrors life can throw our way. "Bad things are going to happen" is the first line; not what you might expect after reading the title. In this same way teaching will throw each and every one of us for a loop now and then. Even the best teachers have horrible days. In response to Bass' poem I followed her form to create my own piece entitled "Difference".

Difference

Everything that can happen will.

Your umbrella will have a hole during a downpour

and your school laptop will  make a sickening “whrr”.

A student will sneak in their hot fries and forget where he hid them

until the cockroaches enjoy their snack. Then

bed bugs join the train from student A to your classroom.

Your alarm clock will decide to die

that Wednesday morning you have a 7:10 meeting, the one where

the principal just had to join. Or your students

will remember they’re dramatists

and reenact soap operas all period long. And your other computer-

the one with Windows 8 you never really understood- will contract a virus

that requires you to prove you weren't downloading illegally to

every person that gives you “the look”.

Your pants will rip.

No matter how much grading you get done during plan,

how much copying, you’ll lose your classroom key,

students' assignments and your ability to spell. If your grade book

doesn’t receive every food stain

possible during speed triathlons of eating,

you’ll come home to find there is no food in

your refrigerator, you aren’t paid for another week,

and all the dollar menus require more gas to reach than is in your car—and the oil light dings.

There’s a saying about a silver lining for every cloud.

Where even in the heaviest of rains, something positive

awaits you as well. But that doesn’t help a drowning worm.

In the gutter—Niagara falls to bugs and insects—the water rushes

and the worm floats helpless. It is at this point

the worm might look up if it had eyes.

It could look up at the silver lining.

Then it could see the positive of the child rescuing its brethren in neon galoshes just before the sewer.

So here’s the lining, the upside, the positive

light in the dark. Your students make you rethink your job, you’ll get frustrated,

find out all the chocolate in the vending machine is gone

and your coffee pot broke. You’ll feel helpless.

But wriggle into the safety of the child’s hands as

They pull you from the gutter; how one act makes a difference

and the difference is with you.