Back to school for the home stretch... a 4 day week this week and 2 full days next, followed by 3 half days. Wow, then it is over! It already feels like it is over with camp behind us. Camp was great this year, absolutely great. The kids were wonderful, the counselors even better. The weather cooperated for a change!

The best part of camp is getting to see the kids in a different setting and them seeing their teachers in a new role. New leaders among the students emerge when put into new situations. I am amazed at how some of them step up and take charge when there are boxes to haul, litter to pick up, or floors to mop. Quite frequently, it is the ones who are not strong academically who rise to the occasions at camp.

Part of the reason camp was outstanding this year was the massive volume of students who did not attend. Of the 81 7th graders, we took 49 to camp. Of the 32 left behind, about 20 were "not invited" to attend, due to a variety of problems, from frequent detentions to more serious issues - drugs, stealing, alcohol, etc...

It bothers me we cannot take every student along for the experience, because I truly feel this bonding time with the larger group is critical to their future success in school. Camp seems to be a turning point for many students, a place where they can be accepted by their peers as truly being a part of the larger picture. There is just something about sleeping in the same cabin, eating meals together family style, the bus ride, the playing in the water, the goofy classes.... that brings kids together in an entirely new way.

So if being a part of the group is so important, how can we justify not taking all students along? That is the part of the controversy I struggle with often. Is camp a right or a privilege? Do we dare take along all students when some of them would jeopardize the experience for others? How do we decide who is worthy of going and who isn't? We have tried many times to set ground rules to follow but it always seems there is an exception to every black and white line we draw.

The controversy surrounding Accelerated Reader baffles me. Many say this program kills students' intrinsic motivation to read independently. I just don't see it. We have used AR at our school about 8 years now. As I watch my homeroom reading during the half hour slot set aside each day for this purpose, I know students are reading more than ever. Kids are excited about books, authors, series. They talk about books. They beg to go to library together so one can check out the book the other is turning in. The dig through my shelves trying to find one more book by Gary Paulsen or Jean Craighead George.

Our program has seen many changes. Some years, we have awarded prizes for different levels of points earned. Others we simply have students working towards their goal. The prizes seem to make little/no difference in their motivation. Students this year are simply reading, reading for enjoyment, reading for pleasure, reading.... Isn't that wonderful??

Certainly, some students do not read, never make their goal, seldom take a test.... but I see more students than ever choosing to read, choosing to take a book home, utitizing the library.

Sitting quietly while my students take their GLAD test gives me too much time to sit and think, looking at them, trying to do their best as they click buttons on the computers, pressing keys on calculators, scribbling on scrap paper, and looking nervously at the clock.

Some students are trying their very hardest; others will simply click through the questions, choosing random answers in order to finish as quickly as possible. Some of the ones who try the hardest will do the worst. They either do not have the skills to be successful, or have missed so much school this year, or in the past, there are gaps in their achievement. Of the ones clicking quickly, a fair number will be successful, scoring in the top tier among their peers, out of luck occasionally, but more often, due to their natural mathematical abilities.

I wish I could somehow cloak them with a superhero type cape, giving them all my own mathematical knowledge, protecting them from making careless errors. I want to know what they really do KNOW, what they really can DO, what they really have learned from our time together.

Of course, right now, even as a type my blog, the questions are coming. JG who wants me to help him with every question, despite me repeatedly telling him he must do this on his own. MN who did not bother to make sure he had power for his laptop before begining the test, despite my reminder to do that. He keeps hopping from power cord to power cord, with no success, because the group ahead of him did not make sure the connections were complete. And, now SL is done, and feels the need to tell the girl across from him, who is still taking her test, that she has something on her nose.

I wish the powers that be could be here today, watching, and seeing the true validity, or lack thereof, in these tests.....

Tick tock, tick tock... let the countdown of days begin. It seems once the weather finally breaks, some well meaning teacher starts posting the "how many days of school are left" numbers. I really wish they wouldn't do that. As soon as the first number goes up, the kids chalk up the school year to being done, and start thinking about summer.

Myself, I am in a panic, thinking about all the many things I need to cover yet, all the topics I wanted to revisit with students, and all the fun activities I swore we'd do at the end of the year when the weather got nice.

We are at the point in the year where I really honestly like the kids, I know them, quirks, strengths, weaknesses, and all, and like them in spite of, or more likely because of those things. We have worked through the honeymoon period where I liked them because they were new, we've plodded through the time in the middle of the winter where I was tired and frustrated with the things they couldn't do, their misbehaviors, and their rambling stories, and we've gotten to the point where we know each other well. My classroom expectations are ingrained in them. They know what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. They are working hard because they want to be successful and want to please me. They are learning because they have seen how it all comes together to explain questions they've been asking.

And I become melancholy... thinking about letting them go to 8th grade, and starting over again with a new group, "the worst group we've seen in a long time". (Isn't it funny how the 6th grade says THAT every year, about every group....)

But then, a 6th grader smiles at me in the hall, and says, "I get to have YOU for math next year!" and suddenly, I realize... it's all going to be OK. By this time next year, I will be sad again.... contemplating letting another group move on.

As the end of the school year fast approaches, it becomes a race towards the finish line, many topics left to teach, lots of activites I want to share, as well as other disturbances creating havoc in the classroom. We are gearing up for 7th grade camp, my first granddaughter is on the way, any day, and spring is in the air melting the last of the snowbanks and causing 7th grade minds to wander randomly.

It is also the time of year I truly feel the most reflective about my own personal growth as a teacher. Looking back over the year I wonder what have I learned?

Today's post will be that: What I Have Learned in Middle School

Patience: Middle school kids simply have NO patience, none for trivialities in lessons, none for boring mundane assignments, not even a twinkling for each other and their mistakes. However, built into their own vast empty vat for patience is an insatiable need for the adults around them to be brimming with the same trait. They want and need for us to be tolerant of their actions, even when our patience has run out. They need us to explain one more time, ask them to stop doing something one more time, they want and crave our approval, one more time.

Humor: Nothing is more important the ability to laugh at yourself. Nothing will take you further successfully in a group of adolescents than being able to genuinely make fun of your own mistakes. Not only do they see the humor in most any situation, your ability to laugh at your own mistakes shores up their own insecurities about themselves. When they realize you are not perfect either, it makes them more confident that their own shortcomings, the ones they feel are so obvious to everyone around them, are less important.

Honesty: Never, ever lie to a middle school student about anything. In the first place, they are wonderful at picking up signals from you. In the second place, if they ever suspect you are lying, or worse, catch you in a lie, they will likely never give you another chance.

Forgiveness: While they are holding you to the highest possible standards, middle schools need to know you will always love them, always forgive them their indiscretions, and most of all, always wipe the slate clean. Once they feel you are holding their past actions,against them, they give up, refusing to try to please you because they feel it is too late, the damage is done, irreparable, so why bother. Even when you do not feel like being forgiving, you must.

Spontaneity: Middle schoolers crave routine, and feed off knowing what to expect from you, but once in a while, let you guard down. Tell a story that pops into your head because of what you are studying; take the class outside to taste the first snowflakes of the season, or to enjoy the first 60 degree day of the spring; bring in cookies just because. Everything during the school day does not have to be curriculum related. Show your humaness as well.

Unconditional Love: If you give it, you will get it. Students need to know you love them for who they are, in spite of who they are. If they do, the love you get back will make anything else thrown you way irrelevant.

I've also learned many other things this year, some of which would change the PG rating of my blog to XXX rated, but those don't matter nearly as much as the ones above :)

Middle schoolers are the most magical people on the planet. If you don't believe me, walk into my classroom and watch the fairy dust generated by their smiles.

I've been thinking a lot about student success, learning and how the responsibility of those two things seems to rest solely with the school in the eyes of the public. Not for one minute I am saying all schools and all teachers do absolutely everything they can to ensure each child has the ultimate opportunities afforded him/her in the classroom. I am not even saying that I personally make every possible attempt to ensure the success of each child I teach.

However, I think we need to look beyond the classroom as well. There are students I have who no matter what I do, simply refuse to be successful in my classroom. While in the room, they are without the necessary materials for learning, despite the fact these are provided for them - simple things: textbook, paper, writing utensil. Daily, they are seated in their chair when the bell rings, with nothing in front of them. These students refuse to participate in the even the most engaging and relevant of lessons. They would rather use their time to sleep or talk to those around them, draw ink tatoos on their arms, or write notes to others. I can pull out all my tricks of the trade to no avail. I can call home, to talk to parents, some of whom talk a good talk, telling me they will have a chat when the student gets home, but in reality, that chat either never happens, or no consequences are attached, so the conversation falls on deaf ears. Other parents make is crystal clear: when that student is in my room, s/he is MY problem, not theirs. Not only will they not in any way be supportive, they don't want to hear about it.

I have students writing notes about having sex, graphic descriptions of their requests of the opposite sex. Those students are certainly not thinking about linear equations!

Forget homework..... these are students who will not carry ANYTHING home with them. I can try as I might to create learning opportunities within the classroom, but reality is that sometimes, students need to practice or think outside the 60 minutes I have them with me.

Perhaps the worst cases are the chronic absences. I have students who, at this point in the year, the 29th week of school, have missed over 40 days of school. I have called, emailed, talked to these parents, but to no avail. It is always some "family emergency" or "allergies" or some other excuse. Those might be plausible excuses if I didn't see the same kid walking downtown in the evening, hear them talking about hunting and ice fishing with grandpa while out of school, or look in the file and see that this is a chronic year after year problem.

Granted, there are students who are struggling in my content I could make a greater effort to reach. I could offer more after-school help, seek them out more often during the day, make more effort during class to sit with and work one-on-one with them. These are the reachable ones.

The ones above, I do not know what to do... I wish I did.

I wish whoever wrote the 100% of students WILL be proficient would come visit my classroom and watch these kids and explain it to me. I want them to all be successful, and I work very hard to try and make that happen. It just seems to me, more and more often, that goal is lofty and out of my control.

On the Teacher Leader Network forum, I have been co-facilitating a book chat around Failure is Not an Option. The conversation has been rich and engaging among this group of educators who have chosen to participate. Some of the ideas there are worth sharing on a larger scale though.

The book, written by Alan Blankstein, is a simply written explanation of a plan to change schools to ensure success by all students. Some of his principles are so basic and obvious I am forced to wonder why schools do not follow his sage advice.

Central to his success plan, collaboration among stakeholders in education. Not forced, contrived collaboration, but true, down and dirty, working together, how can we get this RIGHT work. I wonder though, are schools really ready for this type of model?

What about the holdouts who refuse to buy-in? What about time and money? Are we in public education ready for change? Are we willing to stand strong against outside forces fighting us at every juncture?

Often, teachers use the phrase, "Whatever is best for kids... I'll do it!" Do they mean it??

I am not fingerpointing at all. I question my own intentions as well as those of others. How much time and energy AM I really willing to devote to making sure every single one of my students WILL learn?

Some teachers choose to be a part of the larger educational community, becoming active in professional learning networks. For example, I am a member of National Middle School Association's MiddleTalk listserve, where daily conversations surrounding every aspect of teaching and learning with middle schoolers are carried on by teachers around the globe. I find answers to my pedagogical questions, ideas for lessons, support when the daily routine is rocky, and a sounding board for my own ideas. However, this membership is a choice I personally make.

Having been a part of lesson study groups that were contrived by higher powers, I have been a part of the "great job" detail, as many others have been. No real learning took place in those meetings, no give and take of ideas, no growth, professional or otherwise was seen.

Is the answer then, voluntary membership in these groups? Is that enough?

How can we create learning communities among teachers which are real, viable and continue to build and grow without indictments from above?

OH but it has been a WEEK! The houses are coming along wonderfully but I am beat. The constant questions, the counting/measuring scales, trying to help draw plans of houses I have never seen... It becomes overwhelming after a few days.

Overall, I am thrilled with their progress. Every single student, with the exception of DR who has been suspended all week, has been working faithfully, engaged in their task at hand.

Some students are doing models that are simply incredible, with details, furniture, paint even. Others are doing models that are to scale and great! One of my hard core problem boys said today, "This is the hardest best work I have ever done in school!" He was proud of his efforts and so I am!!

Pictures to be posted later!!

We are starting one of my favorite projects of the year - the House Plan Project. It seems every year, it is a bit different, but the bottom line is always an experience, a real life experience in scale, scale factor, and scale models.

I start to generate excitement by hanging blueprints around the room. We talk about different elevations, or views, shown on the prints. We explore the site plans/landscape plans. I share with them entire blueprint books from big commerical projects from nearby towns.

The next part of the assignment is where things start to get a bit tough. I send students home to measure their own home. I loan measuring tapes to those who need one. I try to give a week to get the measurements taken, since it can be a time-consuming task, one that is easier done with a partner. Every day I remind them about taking measurements, encouraging them to use a sunny day, one that is a bit warmer, since they will be climbing over snowbanks outside to measure.

Inevitably though, the first day of the project, a few show up with no measurements. I could, in theory, give them some. But this defeats much of the purpose of the assignment, having them visualize their home and create a scale model of it. Being given a floor plan to follow takes their creativity out of the mix, turns it into an assignment rather than a project, and is in no way challenging or stimulating.

Then, not only do those students miss out on the experience of completing this project, the learning part, they are disruptive and tough to handle the days we are working in class.

Others students are engaged, drawing, making models, drawing elevation views, learning, sharing, and experiencing.

How do I get these other students to engage?

This is the first year we have truly tracked for math. The jury is still out as to the success of the schedule.

I do like the fact that my prealgebra students can move along without worry we are leaving some of the students behind. These are students with at or above grade level math kids when they come to me, so we spend very little time reviewing concepts taught in previous years. I am free to teach content relevant to 7th grade not things they should have learned before.

The class I struggle the most with is not suprisedly, the low group. The makeup of this group is by design, the students who for whatever reason, just do not have the background from 6th grade, or even before, they need to accomplish what the prealgebra kids are doing. About a third of these students are hard workers, ones who always do what is asked of them, always make their best efforts, and are never discpline problems. Another third are fringe kids, those with frequent absences or other issues which make it difficult for them to be successful, but they are not hard core discpline cases, and can do the work, just hard a tough time keeping up. The last third are hard core discpline students, those who are frequently suspended, and when here, do everything possible to avoid working. They are disruptive, refuse to work, are unmotivated, and just simply do not care. One day one student might work some, but the others are loud and disruptive. Another day, you think you have almost connected with another one, but any gains made with the one from the day before are gone.

It feels like I am walking up a slippery slope, one step forward, three steps back.

I try to make class engaging. I try to plan fun, hands on activities when appropriate. However, these are the students who throw things, intentionally wreck supplies, crumple their garbage into the cubbies instead of using the trash can, despite several trips to the can during class. They come to class without a pencil, their book, or paper. They have no ideas where anything is, nor do they care.

I truly do believe every student CAN learn. Some of these are the brightest kids in the school. I just struggle with the every student WILL learn motto. Too often, second hour, I feel like that is out of my control.

Despite my best efforts to engage, to work individually with them, to make those personal connections, nothing seems to make a lasting impact.

Friday the 13th at MAMSE was a lucky day. I started out in the session Healing a Staff in Conflict. Nic Cooper did an excellent job of explaining conflict, why it is a good thing, how it can be used productively, and gave some easy strategies to ease the pain of these situations. I would love to have him come to our school to implement some of his strategies.

Session 2 was my only disappointment. The guy meant well, but almost his entire presentation, word for word, was on his PowerPoint. The content was fluff, and I left looking to make sure I was NOT attending any of his other sessions.

My next session was probably my favorite overall, though it is hard to choose just one. Active Learning Strategies in the Middle School Classroom sounded great on paper, but it was a presentation from a Glencoe textbook rep so I was a bit leary. WOW! I am thrilled I went. DJ West gave us a plethora of activites to use with kids. Some of these I had used, but others were completely exciting and new. His active reading strategies will be engaging for my kids and help them remember content. He described some activites like foldables I already use, but showed new ideas I will apply. The entire 55 minutes, he had us working, engaged and excited. His short, quick ideas will keep middle schoolers wondering what is coming next!

Lunch time was spent in the wonderful cafeteria at White Pine Middle School. I love the setup of this school. The sprawling grounds, the separate buildings, the large gym and cafeteria... It just feels welcoming, despite the fact it is an older facility.

After lunch I was able to meet my regional director, Tim Hall, who is the Sault Middle School principal. It was fun to connect with him, talking about the various people we know as our networks overlap.

The last session of the day was a Web 2.0 session, with William Merrill from Central Michigan University. What an energetic speaker he was! He has a dry wit that captured the attention of everyone in the audience as he explored using blogs, wikis, social bookmarking sites, podcasts, mashups, etc.. with us. When he was still talking at the magic minute the session should have ended, no one got up to leave. I left thinking, "Wow, I should be doing some of this stuff more often. My kids would be so geeked."

Overall, MAMSE was a wonderful 2 days of making new friends, catching up with old ones, and putting faces to virtual ones. I left energized for the last stretch of the school year, ready to go back to the classroom and try the new ideas I learned.

A comment on a previous post asked for classroom management ideas for subs. Off the top of my head, here are a few:

Get to school early if at all possible. Too often, I see subs, who knew they were subbing that day, walking into the building with students. I realize subbing is not a high pay position, but getting there a few minutes early to look over lesson plans for the day helps you get off to an easier start.

Remember that students probably miss their real teacher - especially for elementary and middle school kids, they do not adjust well to change, so just having you there sets them off. Talk to them, and assure them you plan to have a great day with them. No threats, no ultimatums about behavior, just talk as if you are looking forward to spending the day with them.

Follow the lesson plan left! If you run into a problem with content, do the best you can, encourage students to help out, and move on. Leave a note for the teacher about the problems you encountered. But NEVER, ever, allow students' "We don't get this" to thwart your efforts. They do that to US as well. Encourage them to look at examples, and get help from each other. Do NOT allow them to convince you to not do to assignment!

Carry some tricks and fun stuff with you. A couple of sets of Brain Quest cards can go a long way. They do not have to be for the exact age group for which you are subbing. My 7th graders love the 4th grade questions. These can be used for end of hour fillers, or in an emergency situation with no lesson plans, make for a great competitive game that can easily fill an hour.

Take the trouble makers aside and talk to them instead of blowing up and kicking them out. Talk quietly, privately and calmly and ask them what you can do to help them be successful while you are there today. Try to engage them in the lesson personally if necessary. Some kids just freak out when a sub comes, and get goofy and overreact without meaning to.

Do not waste the entire hour in small talk. The kids really don't like it, and the teacher will have lost a day of instruction upon coming back.

Have the kids clean up at the end of hour. Make sure supplies are taken care of, garbage is picked up, chairs are pushed in... Don't leave a mess for the teacher to come back to. 99% of the time, the kids would have had to pick up with that teacher there, they are just waiting for you to push them to do it as well. Don't let them be slackers with you.

Encourage by motivating with students who are working. Point out behaviors that align with the protocol for the day. Be supportive.

Surfing the internet is not what you are here for today. When your nose is to the screen, kids sense an opportunity to be sneaky. Before you realize it, things are out of control. Too often, I see subs who are online all day, sitting at the teacher desk, and they wonder why they run into behavior issues.

Don't get into a shouting match with a student. Be the adult! Be calm!

Don't make sweeping accusations - "you guys are stupid" "how can you not know how to do this" "what, are you kindergarteners?" Students will bristle when you threaten or demean them.

Those are a few of the ideas I thought of initially. Hopefully, it helps! Good luck. Good teachers need great subs to take care of their classes when they must be away! We appreciate your hard work and efforts.

Today was a great day at the MAMSE conference!

We started out with keynote speaker Ron Clark. I was skeptical of Clark and his "fame" but watching him and listening to him, I KNOW why middle schoolers love him! He is energetic, funny, and motivating. I thoroughly loved listening to him speak.

My first session was cancelled which usually would mean just scoot to another session, but since Clark's keynote had run over, we thought initially the speaker was running late. By the time we realized no one was coming, it was too late to get into any other sessions.

I was disgruntled and went to get lunch. Then I headed to a session presented by 2 teachers from White Pine Middle School where the conference was held. They presented a variety of techniques for working with struggling students. It was an interesting session, but many of their ideas would not work in my small school which has fewer students in all three grades than they have in one grade. Still, overall, I got some good ideas to try with my students.

The next session I went to was a hands on math session. It was intended to reach all middle level teachers, with a strategy for each grade level to take back and use. The 3 presenters did a great job. I learned a very easy trick for teaching students to balance 2 step equations. I can't wait to get back on Monday and share it with my kids!

I had planned to attend a session on social studies next thinking I would get some ideas for incorporating some new strategies in the one section I teach. When I got the handout, the speaker had constantly used "GLIC" instead of "GLCE". I decided quickly, this was not where I needed to be.... maybe I was wrong, but a Michigan teacher who does not understand GLCE stands for GRADE LEVEL CONTENT EXPECTATIONS.... I just do not think she is going to teach me anything.

Heading into a packed room, I wondered if I should have stayed where I was. This session was supposed to a presenation on Kagan cooperative strategies presented by CMU middle level preservice teachers. It was GREAT! I left with some ideas of how to use these tried and true methods in new and exciting ways.

Off to my last session, I was curious to see the presentation that had been recommended to me as a good one. The session on tiered assignments was relevant and interesting, using many of Rick Wormeli's ideas. Having been a Wormeli fan for a long time, I was thrilled to see his work cited and used practically. One vocab activity was especially intriguing and I will use it in my social studies class!

The day ended talking with MAMSE president Teresa Sutherland and Shawn McGirr. Then off to dinner with a crowd of MAMSE attendees.

All in all... a worthwhile, educational day!

Yesterday was an in-house PD day for our district. I went into the process a bit discontented. A speaker from somewhere else was coming to talk, part 2 of something I had missed part 1 of. I was somewhat going into it with a bad attitude.

The speaker was Anita Kishel from Ruby Payne's aha Process Inc. We started the day half an hour late, no fault of the speaker, just a miscommunication from our administration. This only served to further annoy me as I sat in the cafeteria thinking of all the things I needed to be doing in my room.

Once Ms. Kishel got started, she spent the morning reviewing ideas from the first workshop, and having us jigsaw this book we were given. It was tedious and boring and I was annoyed. I had read some of Dr. Payne's work before, and while I find it interesting and relevant to my teaching, I really wasn't learning anything new.

Finally, after lunch, Ms. Kishel starting giving us strategies to use with students. I was immediately drawn in. I LOVE things I can use, new ideas, new tools to reach and teach kids. Of course, all the ideas she presented won't work for me, but I came away with several I can't wait to use!

I think my favorite..... it is a kind of word wall of sorts.... This is a somewhat adapted version of hers.... I am going to post the alphabet on a large laminated sheet, and as we study units in social studies, students will scrounge for words that represent that region for each letter. I think it will be engaging and fun, and will grab the interest of some of the lower level students I have.

The day did seem to drag on, what should have taken half a day was drug out all day... but I left excited with new cool ideas, so overall, I give it a B+!

There is little more frustrating to me than wasted time out of my classroom. I love to go to a conference or PD day that is worthwhile, inspiring and leads me to a new revelation for my teaching.

I am on the Math Curriculum Review Team at my intermediate school district. Much of the time spent at those meetings is worthwhile, and I have gained much by my involvement in the group. Yesterday was not one of those days I left the meeting feeling positive.

We started the day with this problem, the Ron Castleman problem. In and of itself, the problem and the process was a worthwhile one. First we worked out our own solutions to the problem, a simple percent problem. We were instructed to try to come up with more than one solution to the problem, including using diagrams. Then we shared with a partner, and then shared with the large group.

We were then given an article discussing this problem in great detail. (I would give the link to the work we read but unfortunately, there was no reference on the handout. It simply says "Chapter 5, Linking Fractions, Decimals and Percents Using an Area Model".) We were given highlighters to mark things that struck us as particularly enlightening, or that we had questions about. The article was worthwhile, and I highlighted many interesting quotes I hoped to discuss further.

Then we were told we were going to blog about this article. We were instructed how to get to our newly created MCRT blog space. We then began posting our comments. This is where the activity really started downhill. The person in charge had not explored the blogging experience completely, so in essence, all we did was write a comment, which then had to be approved before it was posted. By the time she got our comments posted, we had moved on to another task in our meeting.

What could have been a wonder exploration of using a blog for discussion, was simply a busy work task. The article we read is not posted there, there is a simple list of our first names and our brief comment. Yes we posted to a blog, but did we learn about how blogging can be used in our classrooms? Did we learn how blogging could be used in our own group to further conversation? Do you really think any of those 20+ people are going to go back to our comments and read them, and further comment?

This was one of those instances of using technology for the sake of using technology. There was nothing gained from the experience. A conversation in the room would have been more productive.

Perhaps the most ironic part of the day? Next door the local superintendents were in a meeting learning about the new technologies coming down the pike. I spoke briefly with one of my former superintendents who now works in a neighboring district. He was excited to share some of the cutting edge things he was learning about: blogs, wikis, zoomerang, myspace....

One of the most common areas of concern for teachers is classroom management. Every one seems to be looking for a perfect way to control students while they try to teach.

While I sometimes I have problem students who do not conform to my expectations readily, usually, my classroom runs smoothly. Shhh... don't tell anyone else, and I will share my secrets with you!

The #1 way to keep your classroom under control is to have a well organized plan for the day. Know exactly what you want to accomplish, how you want to accomplish it, and what materials you need in order to pull it off. Don't wait until the bell is ringing to whip off copies. Don't wonder what to do if the activity takes less time than you thought. Always have a backup plan in mind. It is said that a dog can smell fear. Students can smell disorganization. Its scent spurs them to churn and churtle. Don't let it happen in your classroom! A few extra minutes spent planning will make your day smoother and easier.

Teach students your expectations and expect them to meet them, every day, every hour. "But in Mrs. Smith's room we can..... " is met with "we don't do that in this classroom". Have something to keep students busy and engaged every moment. Students like to know what to expect. If they know what is happening next, they will be ready and waiting for it to happen. That repetition in your routine is comforting and sets the tone for every day. Walk in, grab your notebook, do the problems on the projector, group activity, partner time, independent learning time. Some days may vary but there is comfort in knowing things will be the same.


Keep it fast paced and interesting, shifting from something quiet, to something active, always changing things up. Realize that all students learn differently. Some work better with a partner, some work better alone. Some like music, some like quiet. Try to meet the needs of all with varied activities.

Have a sense of humor in all that you do. One boy I had asked repeatedly to be quiet once day responded, "I bet you want to strangle me don't you." I laughed and responded, "Do it yourself so I don't have to!" He wrapped his hands around neck, made gurgling noises, bugged his eyes out. We all laughed, he settled down to work, and all was good. That kind of good natured teasing and rapport with students goes a long way in keeping control.

When faced with defiance, repetition can be a lifesaver. Do not argue or engage the student. Simply and calmly repeat your request, wait time, repeat your request, wait time, repeat your request. By this time, most students will have complied, and you can move on without engaging in battle.

The last and most important trick is to be human. Allow yourself to make mistakes and allow your students to make mistakes. Mistakes can be laughed off, and learned from. Let your students see you as you learn and grow from your own debacles and they will be more likely to take their own in stride.

A classroom should be a home, a place of comfort and consistency, one you and your students all enjoy being. Don't let managing it manage you!

Someone in a different education forum posed the question: Should teacher leadership courses be included in a preservice teacher's classes?

Here is my answer, in part:

Being a leader in your building or district is NOT about the title. All teachers, new or experienced, have the potential to become powerful leaders. Empowering preservice teachers with those leadership skills and aspirations should be a critical component of the teacher prep process.

What does it take to be an effective teacher leader?

~ a strong personal vision of your own goals and the conviction to stand by them

~a willingness to listen and learn alongside those around you

~the courage to be right, the courage to be wrong

~a dedication to empowering others - a non-need to be the one in control/with the title, but a desire to manifest change
~commitment to modeling professionalism

All teachers can and should be leaders in some way. It might be curriculum work, technology, working with students outside the structured school day in sports or extracurriculars, or simply leading by professionalism.

Given this necessity for all to be leaders, yes, teacher prep programs should teach and prepare for leadership roles.

Often, the most effective leaders, the ones who make the most positive changes in a school, are not the ones with the "power". Let's work to facilitate this skill!

It is the time of year we start planning for 7th grade camp. Along with the obvious planning - class schedules, staffing, etc... the subject of who to take and who not to take comes up.

The initial philosophy of camp was always to take everyone, and part of me agrees 100% with that.

However...... what about some accountability for students? Is it OK to get suspended over and over again, for a variety of issues from truancy to fighting to insubordination, and still be allowed to go? For some of the students, the issue is fairly clear cut - too many issues, period. End of discussion.

For others though, the question rides a wavery gray line for me.

Is it a matter of the ones I like and the ones I don't like?

Should it be based on what our predictions will be for that student's success while at camp?

Should it be based only on past performance at school behavior-wise?

Is it acceptable to not include a student because you know s/he will not survive the experience because of maturity issues?

Can exceptions be made for those who are showing dramatic improvement, but had serious issues early on?

Should we create more clear cut black and white rules to enforce?

Every year I struggle to think through these questions for the students I love dearly and want to take along but for reasons outside my realm of control, are being excluded.

The student who misses school so frequently he struggles to keep up despite being incredibly bright and working hard while he is there. I would love to take this little guy. He is so funny, so smart, so likeable. But he misses school so often. When he does come to school, most of the time he is tardy. But these issues are out of his control. It is a parenting issue. Does that mean he should be excluded from camp?

The girl who lives with grandpa and skips school more days than not. When she is there, she is amazing - bright, talented, a real knack for learning, pleasant, friendly. She does have some other issues - bullying, smoking.... But I like her, I enjoy her. Camp would be a wonderful experience for her.

Then the ones I simply do not want to take. The mouthy, sneaky one who seems to usually avoid trouble himself but is central to almost every issue in the class or hall. I *know* he will cause problems in his cabin at camp. He will be the one throwing food in the lodge at meal time, refusing to pick up trash on the greens, and jumping up to break branches off trees on hikes.

How do we justify camp, period? Is it truly a worthwhile educational endeavor anymore?

Not many answers..... just lots of questions....

Do you ever wonder if you are having an impact on your students? I think all teachers do. We wonder if we are getting our content across, certainly, but more importantly, we wonder if our students know we care about them, and will remember us as a teacher they liked having.

On those days students are annoyed with me for the work load, or my expectations for behavior, or the chunk of parent phone calls I made the night before, I often remind them I am not paid to be their friend, I am not here for them to like me, I am here to teach them, and I will do whatever it takes to make that possible.

In reality though, I am not that hard hearted. I want my students to realize how very much I do care about each and every one of them. I want them to feel like I tried to personally touch them in some way, even if they struggled academically in my classes.

I love Alfie Kohn's article, Unconditional Teaching. His message is important for all of us to remember:

"If some children matter more to us than others, then all children are valued only conditionally. Regardless of the criteria we happen to be using, or the number of students who meet those criteria, every student gets the message that our acceptance is never a sure thing. They learn that their worth hinges on their performance."

Every time I read Kohn's words, the faces of past students I am sure I have slighted come to mind.

"Teaching in this way is not just a matter of how we respond to children after they do something wrong, of course. It’s about the countless gestures that let them know we’re glad to see them, that we trust and respect them, that we care what happens to them. It’s about the real (and unconditional) respect we show by asking all students what they think about how things are going, and how we might do things differently, not the selective reinforcement we offer to some students when they please us."

I hope each day, each hour, there are enough of those countless gestures I bestow upon my students to help them understand how valuable each of them was to me.

"Imagine that your students are invited to respond to a questionnaire several years after leaving the school. They’re asked to indicate whether they agree or disagree – and how strongly – with statements such as: “Even when I wasn’t proud of how I acted, even when I didn’t do the homework, even when I got low test scores or didn’t seem interested in what was being taught, I knew that [insert your name here] still cared about me.”
How would you like your students to answer that sort of question? How do you think they will answer it?"

I know that some of my students know how very much I cared for them, but I worry about those few who slipped between the cracks. I worry that my frustrations with them overshadow the true feelings I felt for them.

Another teacher came to talk to me about the problems she has had with cheating in her classroom with our group of 7th graders this year. It was a timely conversation, echoing one I had yesterday with another teacher.

I think we have created a culture among students where they do not think sharing or giving answers is cheating.

The social aspect of learning has been at the forefront of education recently. We encourage students to talk it out; we establish group learning/projects as the norm; we seat students in closer proximity to each other trying to facilitate these protocols.

Have we gone too far? Are we creating students who cannot think independently? Where is the line between working together and cheating?

As a general rule, in my classes, students are allowed to confer when working on independent work. The only time I usually implement 'silence' in during a final assessment/test situation. I find students better able to explain to each other the problems they encounter, and it is obviously easier for me to not have to help each individual student. I know the students who are "teaching" are cementing the learning in their minds more securely, and like to think both parties are gaining from the experience.

However, I am begining to question my philosophy. Are the slackers just coasting along, stealing answers from the others? Are they really learning?

I find it more and more difficult to keep students quiet during an assessment situation. They are so intune to talking to each other, they seem to struggle to silence themselves. Is that bad? If they are learning in a social situation, should they also be assessed in that situation? If so, how will I ever know that Student A really does get it?

Students seem unable to differentiate between what is actually cheating and what is not. They think letting someone else copy their answer is 'helping' and showing them how to work a problem is just 'assisting'.

How do I learn to draw the learn for them, and for me? How can I ever be certain each and every child is grasping the content we cover if I am not assessing accurately?

Does it all matter in the scheme of life?

Dear President Obama,
You are coming into office at one of the most tumultous times in history.

Our country's economy is in shambles. Jobs and homes are being lost daily. Once relatively stable components of our economy are crumbling before our eyes. Watching the evening news is depressing and scary.

We are spending phenomenal amounts of money daily fighting a never-ending war in a far away country, a war most of the country does not understand or support. Lives are being lost, without a tangible reward apparent.

While I realize those things, as well as the others on your plate being handed you tomorrow are important, I ask you to look instead first at what I see as the biggest impending crisis for our country: education.

No Child Left Behind, I have to believe, started with good intentions. However, the small snowball it started with has become an avalanche thundering downhill, leaving in its wake little real improvement, and much confusion and disaster.

We, as a nation, need to make our children our first priority. Test scores are just one small indicator of the "worth" of a child. Accountability has become a word that makes teachers and educators shudder. It doesn't mean accountability for educating the child; it means accountability for them filling in the correct bubbles on that one magical day in space and time. These tests that measure our worth as educators, and the child's worth in society, do not measure every aspect of a quality eduation. They do not measure problem solving skills, technology skills, nor communication skills.

Tests scores are not being used to improve the child's education, but to punish the school. Test scores should be a tool for gauging "what next for this child". Children are not robots, in a one size fits all package. Some learn math quickly but struggle to read. Some are voracious readers but find math a challenge. Others are gifted musicians or athletes, but find academics overwhelming.

Instead of looking at these strengths and capitalizing on them, high stakes tests are forcing teachers and schools to shove each and every student into the same small bubble at the same time. It just doesn't work that way!

Many students have no support at home. Others have no home. Some are caregivers after school for siblings. These children struggle to keep up with the students who go home to a healthy snack and a stay-at-home mom eager to help with homework.

Educators should be held accountable, yes. YES! But measuring that accountability with one test score per year, compared to a different group of students, makes no sense.

Shore up teacher prepartion programs in universities, provide additional monies to schools to work with struggling students, create community outreach programs to educate parents on how to best help their students, and demand adequate and ongoing professional development for learning communites among teachers.

Help US help THEM! Until we make education a true priority in this country, we will never meet our full potential. Please listen to teachers as they reach to you with concerns. Please make our priorities your priorities!

Sincerely,
Cossondra George

Middle School Doesn’t Matter & Other Old School Tales

Teaching 7th graders is tenuous. Even the best student, on her best day, is far from a model student by high school standards. Homework tends to mean scurry around in the hall before school work, lessons learned yesterday are often forgotten, and studying for a test consists of shoving the notes in the textbook. Parents and students both know the grades earned these years won’t show on the ever-feared “permanent” record. These transitional years are viewed as a time to get ready for high school, but without any real consequences for mistakes or failures.

As a result, middle school academics are seen as something to get through instead of crucial to success later in life. With more stringent standards in place, however, this is changing. Algebra 1 seems to be the bottleneck where the failures start in high school. Without this course, not only can students not progress in the math sequence of Geometry, Algebra 2, and whatever other math courses they may need, they are locked out of many science courses as well.

Much time and effort is given to shoring up high school math programs to help struggling students meet with adequate achievement to move on. I think if instead we educated parents and students early on about the importance of math skills, perhaps this bottleneck could be avoided altogether.

Retention has its negative connotations and consequences, socially and emotionally. It is often viewed by parents and students as negative. I do not see giving a struggling child another year to grasp the skills they need in order to be successful at all punitive. I see it as an opportunity to learn and move on with ease.

At other points in our lives, we meet with similar struggles. If we are unsuccessful on our first attempt to learn to drive, we practice, and try again. For our extra efforts, we are rewarded with safer driving skills, and that magical driver’s license. If we cannot shoot the hoops as fast or consistent as others trying out for the team, we are not given an automatic pass onto the varsity team. We are told, try again next year. Practice those skills, get them up to par, and then you can play.

Why then, is it acceptable to send on a 4th grader who still does not know his multiplication facts with automaticity, or a first grader who cannot count to 10? Why is it expected that a 6th grader who still cannot simply a basic fraction like 10/20 to ½, should progress to 7th grade?
Perhaps traditional retention as has been practiced in the past is not the answer. I will be the first to concede that.

Instead, why can’t we develop a non-graded educational program where students work on skills according to where they are, whether it is math or written language? We allow them to move to the next level only when they are ready to move on. This system would allow students to work at their level, mastering those essential skills before we throw them to the wolves at the next grade level, unprepared, intimidated and destined for failure.

The phone rang this afternoon, the school number showing on the caller ID. I answered to hear the voice of my 7th grade language arts colleague asking if I had been listening to the radio. She then tells me one of our girls is missing, one of the ones I would so love to bring home and give a real family to, the one who cuts herself, the one who lives with grandparents who make it clear they are not keen on raising a second family. As the teacher runs down the story quickly for me, telling me of her search of the girl's locker, finding several notes with stray bits of info on them, and how the school counselor is involved, I panic, imagining the worst possible scenarios. The state police are looking for her, but there are no immediate answers.

Is she hitchhiking to mom who lives 1000+ miles away? Is she hiding out in town with some boy seeking comfort where she can find it?? Is she OK? Did a stranger grab her?

Just let her be OK... my heart cries out....

The joys of middle school.... the saga continues....

Let's see.... where oh where should I begin??

Tootie Frootie projects? Sure, why not... They had 6 days in class to make 2 bar graphs, 2 circle graphs, show how they calculated the degrees of their circle graphs, and answer a short group of questions about the project. A reasonable student, who worked faithfully, was easily done in 4 days. However, out of the kindness of my teacher heart... and in an effort to get everyone to turn in every project.... I gave them over Christmas break to finish up, and even 2 days beyond break, outside of class, to complete this project. YET.... I still have kids who need "one more day", "just need to color it", or "can't I glue it on the poster board".... Yes, I know they NEED to do the assignment in order to have met those standards, I know they should be allowed to complete things at their own pace... I know all the buzzwords and philosophical reasons to give them one more day.... BUT NO!!! At what point is a deadline a deadline, and you have to take things home and work on them if you are not going to make good use of your classtime??? At what point do students have to be held accountable for their effort or lack thereof??

Moving on....
MP drove me nuts today. He needed to take an AR test. fine.. grab a laptop with the AR sticker on it and take the test. no.. not for MP! Once he unplugged that particular laptop, it would not work. Instead of simply plugging it into the power cord ON THE TABLE IN FRONT OF HIM... DUH... he takes the battery out to do lord only knows what. He went over to the tub of batteries waiting for the tech person to recalibrate and tried one of those. Of course, it didn't work either. For crying out loud... it is the middle of the school year, you are a 7th grader, PROBLEM SOLVE!

In prealgebra, MP couldn't find his paper, which he swore he turned into the basket. I have no idea where it is, but I am not holding up the other 20 kids in class to help him look for it. But after class, I did find it.. in the SOCIAL STUDIES basket. No, it is not next to the prealgebra basket so it is easily mistaken, it is on a different shelf, and even metal instead of plastic, and it is brown instead of blue! Again, it is the middle of the school year. Why are these things so complicated??

During social studies, he comes to me for a pencil. I point to the cup on my desk. He grabs one, but it is not sharpened. "What do you want me to do?" he asks quizzically. Trying desperately not to strangle him, I point calmly to the pencil sharpener.....

Sitting now at my desk, at least half the laptops are unplugged. Why? Is it so difficult to not unplug it to begin with, or at the very least, plug it back in when you are done with it???

Maybe I am getting old and impatient.. I don't know... but it seems this year, I have large numbers of students who are unwilling, or unable, to be independent about anything. They need handholding for every simple thing, from what to bring to class (even when it is written on the board by the door) to how to answer a problem on their homework (which if they just read the directions and gave it a minute bit of thought, they could solve on their own) to constantly forgetting to bring paper, pencil, book, to class. Usually by this time in the year, they are getting into the routine of school and maturing. This year... no...

Sitting here, bored, as my students take a social studies test, once again I am intriguied with how much testing has permeating the school day. I wonder if it does result in increased learning, or if we are just wasting time.

Before all the high stakes testing pressure, my classes were less about assessment and more about time on task learning. I like to think we accomplished more without all the class time spent on reviewing before a test, taking tests, looking at how well they did, analyzing what went wrong with instruction, reteaching, retesting....

The flipside is, were they really retaining information long term before? Does regular summative assessment help students retain information better?

I think it does. Never before did I see students studying, really studying, committing those learned skills and information to their long term memory. It was like we learned it, did it in class, and then moved on. Sure, some of them may have grasped enough to retrieve those skills in the future when needed, but often, it was a skate-by proposition at best.

A fair number of students still struggle, for a variety of reasons - lack of prerequisite skills, lack of parental support, lack of personal motivation - and yes, some simply because they do not click with me and my style of teaching. But honestly, it seems to me, more students are learning and retaining more than ever before.

When I first started teaching math 8 years ago, I seldom gave even chapter tests, never gave quizzes. Now, at least once a week, sometimes more often, we have a quiz over a small amount of material. This gives me a chance to stop and address misconceptions before moving too far past. I seldom skip a chapter test, feeling that the review and testing process somehow reinforce those skills one more time into students' long term memory vault.

Is it a perfect system? No, not even close... Is it a process headed in the right direction? I like to think so!

Am I conceding that all the high stakes NCLB testing is relevant and necessary? Heavens NO!! I am just coming to realize that in my own classroom, more assessment embedded into instruction is a good thing, a step in the right direction.

A new year….. the time for resolutions… new beginnings… Maybe instead of resolutions, we should write goals, the difference being, a resolution not met seems a failure, while a goal is simply being still worked towards.

With this in mind, this year, I shall write goals for my teaching rather than resolutions. I will view them as a work in progress so if I do not meet them, I will be encouraged to continue the journey instead of abandoning it in perceived failure.

Goal #1:Provide more opportunities for students to learn independently. Too often, learning is structured with me being the guide, leaving little room for individuality, failure, or straying from the intended course. I would like my students to have more opportunities to become responsible for their own learning, pushing themselves to reach beyond what is required, exploring on their own.
In social studies, I find this teaching approach easy. Projects are fun and rewarding both for students and me. Giving them a basic skeleton of what they should learn allows them to explore on their own, while still meeting the requirements I know they need.
In math, however, I find this approach more difficult. Not only do the grade level content expectations seem restrictive, students often need direct instruction in math content to grasp the topics covered. It seems complicated to provide independent learning experiences for students.
My goal will be to provide students at least one independent learning experience per unit in math. These might be online learning explorations, or some sort of project in class. This will require me to be proactive in seeking /developing this type of math lessons.

Goal #2:Due to a variety of circumstances, I have not been on top of sending positive communications home for students this year. Most years, I try to send out postcards about once a marking period praising student successes in my room. I have yet to send out one postcard this year. Therefore, Goal #2 is to send positive postcards on students, hopefully, at least one to each student twice before the end of the school year.

Goal #3: Strive to be a more effective leader among teachers on my staff. I want to always be a positive role model in dealing with students, parents, and adminstrators. Often we find ourselves caught in a rut of complaining and negativity. I want to constantly remind myself to remain positive and find the good in others and situations. By keeping an upbeat outlook, I can be a source of renewable for those around me.

Christmas break.... ahhh.... the peaceful 2 weeks between the crazy December hullabaloos, and the dark and dreary January funk, to be followed by the even more dismal February weeks of never-ending day after day after day.

Winter has set in solid and hard, with snow on the ground since the begining of November. The days are long and cold, snowy and dark, with no respite on the horizon. The first snowfall excites me and students, usually in the middle of October. We see those huge, wet, soft flakes drifting lazily by the window and our blood races thinking SLEDS, SKIS, SNOWSHOES, SNOWMOBILES.

By January, the novelty has worn off, and we see the snowflakes blurring horizontal past the window thinking, where is the sun, why is it snowing again, how long until summer.

Aside from the obvious weather challenges of driving and shoveling, these days mean as a classroom teacher, my lessons have to sparkle and shine, to make up for the lack of outdoor contentment. Students are in a midyear rut, the routines of 7th grade now keeping them complacent in their work habits. It becomes almost like starting the year anew in many ways, as I try to capture their attention.

With all that in mind, as my vacation time stretches far ahead, my thoughts are pulling back to the classroom, wondering how to make monomials and square roots and radicals, something to capture the interest of even the most reluctant of my students. How can I somehow make prealgebra magical and enticing? I need something hands on and meaninful, engaging and motivating, quick paced and easy. hmmm............... so much for vacation, eh?

At our staff meeting this morning, our principal passed out lanyards for our new ID cards. OK, naive me thought COOL, we get ID tags like other professionals other places. I expected some people to moan and groan but I really did not anticipate the barage of unprofessionalism I saw displayed.

I think the principal might have been less naive than I- there were boxes of warm doughnuts greeting us - a long standing teasing grip between he and I about him not bringing us treats for these tortorous meetings. So the sight of doughnuts should have been my first clue, things were going to be a bit more intersting today!

As he sent the snarls of lanyards around to staff members, suddenly the yelling began. "Whose idea was this?" "Is this simply another top down way to control us?" "What purpose do these serve?" "What if we don't wear them?"

Comments from the usual suspects, yes, but instead of being made as calm comments, they were yelling, attacking, and intimidating.

The principal tried to calmly address the questions - the decision had just come about as a result of several factors. He pointed out it had been discussed at School Improvement Team Meetings, in conjunction with our trying to get a visitor welcoming center at the front door of the school, without success. We as a district are trying to crack down on who comes into the building during the school day. ID cards are just one more way to identify who should be there, and who should not be here. It all boils down to a safety issue, pure and simple.

The opposing teachers continued to berate him with accusations that this was because we have just recently settled our contract, finally after nearly 2 years of working without one. They wanted to make it a union/administration issue big time.

Finally, another teacher spoke up politely asking could we please more on to more important things and stop dwelling on trivial stuff.

He was attacked back, one teacher standing, leaning towards him threateningly telling him that a large number of teachers WERE concerned about this and HE should be quiet and let the rest of people have their say. The irony... only 3 of the probably 40 teachers there were speaking out opposed to the ID cards, and here one spoke up against them, and was shut down immediately.

The principal tried to gain control but it was hopeless. His face was defeated, he knew no matter what was said, it wouldn't matter. He tried to further explain his position, the rationale for the ID cards, but no, those in opposition were relentless.

All this comes down to professionalism in my book. Is wearing an ID card REALLY a crisis? Is it really worth attacking each other over? At what point do we step back and realize we are EMPLOYEES of the school district and certain things, certain mandates are NOT union/contract issues? Our employer has the right to tell us certain things. Our employer has the right to mandate certain things concerning procedures in this building. What makes us think we have the right to argue, challenge his authority, and certainly, attack his integrity in a public forum.

What does it say about us as a profession when we act so unprofessionally towards our adminstration and each other?

Sometimes I think we as teachers do not deserve pay at the same scale we would get out on the open market. We, too often, are just a bunch of whiny, obnoxious people, out for blood in a complete US against THEM battle. We have forgotten our purpose in this profession. We have forgotten what professionalism means or looks like. We act like uneducated blue collar radicals with hidden agendas. No wonder we aren't paid what we are worth.

The door is done! My kids rallied together and made our door look great after all.

It does not have the shine and polish of some of the more "teacher created" doors but it looks like it was done 100% by 7th graders, and it was!

I am thrilled with the results and the teamwork that made it happen.

The poor guy.... he was at school to prepare to be a substitute teaching, having recently gotten his teaching degree, but not having secured his first position yet. Our school tries to have newly hired subs "shadow" for a day, spending a few minute in each teacher's classroom to get a feel for protocols.

The poor guy.... I wonder if he will EVER set foot in a school again?

Mike, I remember him in middle school, a quiet kid, a nice kid, the kind who did what was expected of them, didn't cause problems, just kind of blended into the woodwork.

The poor guy.... he wanted to sub in high school, not middle school. But they sent him to my 7th grade class. The day we were decorating our door for Christmas. The most chaotic half hour of the entire year. He looked terrified. He looked like he wanted to run, fast and far.

The poor guy.... of the 21 kids in my homeroom, exactly 6 were in their seats reading or working. The rest were like little Energizer bunnies on speed who had been locked into tiny cages for days and suddenly set free. Fifteen voices all talking to me at once, "Where do we get more paper?" ,"Can I use ALL the glitter?", "TAPE, TAPE, WE NEED TAPE NOW!" , "SHUT UP!", "NO YOU SHUT UP!", "can you draw a horse?", "show me again how to make snowflakes", "give me that marker!", and, and, and.... then add in the half a dozen kids who came from other homerooms needing help with their math assignment, and the fifteen still yelling at me, each other, and no one in particular, as they drew horses and trees, snowflakes and hills, sprinkling glitter and paper scraps like a blizzard in their wake.

Mike.... the poor guy.... he looked like a trapped animal desperate to escape. and the girls, trying to impress him because he is gorgeous, and young. My little 12 and 13 year old 7th graders trying to get his attention being silly and goofyas only adolescent girls can.

The poor guy... I wonder if he will ever be back?

But our door is almost done, and it looks pretty good! I don't think we will win the contest, but our door looks like 7th graders made it with lots of heart and laughter and noise!

Dashing off to class
With book tucked in my hand
To my seat I go
Laughing all the way
Numbers make me smile
Making spirits bright
What fun it is to laugh and sing
Learning math today

Oh, jingle bells, math is swell
We love to do our work
Fractions, decimals, variables
they make us shout with joy
HEY! Jingle bells, math is swell
I can’t wait for class.
Oh, what fun it is to learn
to do new math each day.

A day or two ago
I thought that I was dumb
I just could not do math
But Mrs. George that meanie
Made me understand
She cut me not a bit of slack
We learned it all somehow
And now we’re smartified

Oh, jingle bells, math is swell
We love to do our work
Fractions, decimals, variables
they make us shout with joy
HEY! Jingle bells, math is swell
I can’t wait for class.
Oh, what fun it is to learn
to do new math each day.
Jingle bells, math is swell
Math class all the way!
Oh, what fun it is to learn
To do new math each day

Jingle bells, math is swell
I can’t wait for class
Oh, what fun it is to learn
To do new math each day

Today's math lesson is one of my favorite all year. Most of it is really a quick review of Measures of Central Tendency: mean, mode, and median, but I love the kids being so up and engaged and THINKING about how to work as a group to solve problems. I wish I could come up with more ways to create these scenarios in class.

It was interesting 4th hour especially. I invited the special ed teacher to bring his 10 students to join us. Those kids have never had me in class, so joining us for such a rambunctious experiment had to be overwhelming and intimidating. However, overall, it went well. I am not sure "all" of them got "all" of the lesson, but hopefully a little debriefing will cement the top ideas for the ones still struggling.

Another interesting thing today..... HH, at the very beginning of 4th hour, catches me in the hall, after having had me first hour for social studies, and 2nd hour for math, and then having had time during seminar to come talk to me. He was in a panic. Apparently, HH had checked his grades and seen that his math grade has fallen back into the failing zone. He actually thought I was going to STOP EVERYTHING else RIGHT THEN AND THERE and give him some extra credit (I do not give extra credit ever) or let him redo a quiz or SOMETHING because suddenly now he cares about his grade. Why the sudden concern? He will be ineligible to play basketball again! Well, unfortunately for him, Mrs. George doesn't work that way. I told him I didn't have time to even discuss it with him because I had a class to teach, and walked into my room, closing my door behind me, leaving him standing there, mouth agape.

Before you think me callous and uncaring, HH has already sat the bench much of basketball season because he is constantly failing one or more classes, sometimes my classes, sometimes others. Unfortunately, he doesn't understand, or want to understand, that the way to playing basketball is working hard in class EVERY day, not just when his grade fails below that magical 60%.

HH thinks he is the ONLY student his teachers are responsible for. He thinks it is ok to waste time in class day after day, fail test after test, but that in spite of those efforts on his part, we should find a way to make him pass.

Today, we had a little exit quiz which should have been super easy, and for most students, was. Students had to simply define mean, mode, median, and answer one question comparing a stem and leaf plot to a line plot. HH scored a 25% on his. These are concepts students have had in previous years, and concepts we discussed at great length during the activity today. However, HH spent the class period causing disruptions, touching other people as they walked by, playing with the blocks he was using for our experiment, etc... I was not surprised by his score, but he was when he saw the impact it had on his grade.

HH popped back into my room during my prep, interrupting my conversation with another teacher, asking me if I was going to be there after school because, "we have to do something about my grade". When I told him that I do not stay late on Friday's, he sulked away.

He wouldn't have done any better retaking the quiz without some further instruction on my part, or some studying on his, and even if it seems somewhat cruel on my part, I think he NEEDS to sit the bench during tomorrow's basketball game.

Not only is his math grade in dire straits, his language arts grade is at 45%. Once I grade his European powerpoint he has been avoiding working on for the past week, most likely his social studies grade will fall into the red zone as well. However, during work time, he is not concerned about that, preferring to talk, bother others, and avoid researching his country.

It is so frustrating to try to help students like HH see that he CAN do the work. He simply must CHOOSE to do it consistently instead of when it suddenly becomes important to HIM.

Today was one of those RED LETTER days that seem so rare. I was not at school yesterday so I anticipated the worst, coming back from having a sub. Fortunately, I had Jack, one of my favorites as subs go. He is a retired science teacher who gets along well with middle schoolers. He has a sense of humor, is just strict enough the keep them from destroying the classroom, but lenient enough to tolerate most of my untolerables.

D.R. was back from his latest suspension, which meant he would most likely have a good day, glad to be back in his element. The work I left was fairly easy - read a social studies section together and complete the easy/boring worksheet that accompanies the book & complete a worksheet packet in math class on histograms, which we had spent Monday learning about together. I knew my kids knew how to do the work, but the practice wouldn't hurt them, and was something sub-proof.

When I walked in this morning, looking across my classroom, WOW... things weren't too bad. Laptops unplugged here and there, a couple of pencils on the floor, but the chairs were picked up, there was NOT garbage and junk everywhere as had been the past couple of times I was gone. I was relieved! The baskets were full of completed assignments even!

Social studies class started - they KNEW their European bodies of water they are to be tested on Friday. Then, they got to work on their powerpoint projects they are working on. EVEN DR! It took some help from me, granted, but he worked, and was even excited about some of the research he is doing on Romania, wanting to include some of the things he found about Dracula in his presentation. At the end of the hour, I patted him on the back and told him how very much I appreciated his hard work and encouraged him to "Let's make it 2 more hours!" to which he grinned and laughed.

AND HE DID!!! Math class, he worked! I was soooo impressed.

We did a "hands-on lab" from the textbook, which while not hands-on in my book, was pretty cool. A table gave us the statistics of how many tornadoes each state averages per year. We took those stats, as a group, and made a line plot, using the state abbreviations instead of X's. Then, we worked to divide these into logical intervals and then, students colored US maps to show the trends in tornadoes. Not a difficult assignment, but one that took some thinking. They enjoyed the coloring part, and joked about doing social studies in math class. EVEN D.R.!!

During homeroom, D.R. listened while I read! Then, he read silently. Even during seminar time, he busied himself on something.

The rest of the day was uneventful, though the kids were LOUD. There is a huge snowstorm predicted, and predicatably, the dropping barometic pressure means middle schoolers are rambunctious. However, they were all working and on task so other than the noise level driving me bonckers, it really didn't matter.

I left school tired, but feeling like WOW, we accomplished A LOT, ALL DAY!

One sad note... K.C.... the little girl from earlier with the embarassingly sexually explicit note.... is suspended again.. she had cigarettes at school AGAIN, this time selling them. I wish I could somehow get her to come around. Since I had a cruel heart to heart talk with her, she has done remarkably well academically in my classes. She has become my star student in both social studies and math class. But her frequent suspensions make it difficult for her to keep up when she is there. I don't know what to do....

With 3 1/2 weeks left until Christmas break, I am trying to organize my brain around some active, fun, engaging GLCE driven math lessons to keep my kids on track. Part of the difficulty lies with the planned absences this time of year. So many parents schedule extended vacations around the holidays. While I believe in the value of travel, family time, and the premise that learning occurs naturally outside the classroom, these trips make lesson planning more complicated.

Many of the hands on things in my bag of tricks have no written work to substitute for absent students. Sure, I could in theory dig out some worksheets from our text to hand them, but does that truly replicate?

So..... I am going to plan forgetting students will be gone, knowing some will miss out.

This short Thanksgiving week is easy. We are going to draw Cartesian cartoons. My students always need practice graphing, for some reason. I don't see what they struggle so much with what appears to be a simple concept. However, thanks to my supervising teacher when I was student teaching oh so many years ago, I purchased 2 books of Cartesian cartoons - with only only positive coordinates and the other with points in all four quadrants. I also got a super simple one for those struggling students - this one has letters and numbers with direction to color squares different colors. It is cute but not challenging for most 7th graders. I want to require all students to complete the most difficult one but as usual, I wonder if I am setting myself up for a disaster. If time permitted, I would have them each do 2, or complete one and create one. Can you imagine how creative some of their own would be?

After turkey holiday time is done, we will head into our data unit. I have a great hands-on lesson to review mean, median, mode, as well as quartiles. I invited our special ed teacher to bring his kids in for the data stuff so things are going to be exciting 4th hour. This is my GREAT class though so I am not worried to much other than space. Suddenly I will have 32 kids instead of 21, but there will be an additional teacher. My only concern with them joining us is one student who has Asperger's Syndrome and does not adjust well to large, loud groups, or change.

In the past, I have used the tiny snack boxes of raisins to teach box & whisker plots ( you know.. those funny graphs you see **everywhere** ... OK, the only place I have ever seen the is a textbook and the MEAP). The raisins work great though. We create a double box and whisker comparing our estimates of how many raisins are in the box with our actual #'s. We also create a double stem and leaf plot with our data. While raisins are not students' favorite snack, it makes a relatively dull lesson more exciting.

Then we move on to circle graphs. When I was first teaching, I bought snack bags of M&M's but now that I am older and wiser with the funds I spend in my classroom, I use Tootie Frootie cereal, which works just as well. Those big bags are cheap and a paper cup of cereal is perfect for circle graph data. I have students create a small poster of their own individual data displayed in both a circle and bar graph, as well the class data. Great lesson for not just graphs, and why each is better for certain circumstances, but also, we hit relative and cumulative frequency, as well as translating those into fractions, decimals and percents. And at the end, I have all those cool posters to hang on the walls, which students LOVE.

SO back to lesson planning..... I think I will start out with a little book work to prep them first so their prior knowledge is activated. With the promise of cool food activities on the horizon, the book work will set them up perfectly.

Social studies: Monday we start their presentation project on Europe. I took the social studies GLCE's and sorted through what they needed to know, and created this. I hope it works OK. I have concerns about a couple of my students who do very little work. I struggle with the constant question of allowing students to choose their own partners, or assigning them. I hate sticking a good student with someone who will not do their share of the work.

I wish I had some cool idea for something other than a powerpoint - but here I am into powerpointless land again. This mode of presentation does lend itself well to this project but I would love to introduce students to a cool new tool. Alas, I don't have one in my back pocket so ..... and I do not want the time to be caught up in teaching how to use the tool either. That reminds me, though, I need to create a sample for them to critique! (YIKES!)

I was gone Monday morning for a math department meeting and then all day Tuesday to the ISD for a math curriculum team meeting. I had the same sub both days, a very nice retired teacher from our district.

Unfortunately, it was mass chaos while she was there. Some of it, my kids knew better, but other things, were entirely within her control.

She allowed students to take attendance. I am all for giving students responsibility, but we are told over and over again that our attendance book is a legal binding document. Mine was inaccurate as only 7th graders can be expected to make it!

My prealgebra 4th hour class did not even get to go over their homework from the day before to get a chance for questions to be answered because she was too busy talking about hurricanes. Both of my prealgebra classes on their assignment she gave them answers to problems. She didn't work through problems with them, she just simply gave them answers. Several students last hour were so upset they actually starred those problems on their papers with a note.

The classroom was a mess, a disaster area, with garbage, papers, rulers, colored pencils, etc.. all over. This, I scolded my classes for. They know better than to leave our room that way.

The social studies assignment was fairly simple - directions in the teacher's addition said to have students label countries in Europe with name, and then divide them into regions - north, south, east and west according to the clues given in the chapter. She told them to just label countries and color them. A total waste of time.... No higher order thinking at all.

Several students did NOTHING while I was gone. Granted they are the ones who do little when I am there, but at least I try to get them to work. She was excited they had written names on their papers.

I am frustrated with our substitute teacher situation. I have complained and complained but it does no good.

My district expects me to attend these meetings, which are planned months in advance, but instead of securing competent subs, I get the bottom of the barrel. This means the days I am gone are a total waste of educational time. I feel like telling the kids to just not show up when I am going to be gone.

The worst part is when the kids themselves complain. I have no answer for them. How can I defend her actions? Should I?

And, today I have no voice.... laryngitis has set in and all I can do it squeak. As usual, the kids were great, rising to the occasion for the most part. I did have a few issues but none that weren't with the usual suspects. They will have to wait for another post!

The Mighty Dragon of Chaos
When you are inherently unorganized, life’s simplest tasks can be ove

rwhelming. That describes me exactly. I am one of those people, left to her own devices, would simply suffocate under the piles of stuff that accumulate around me. Fortunately, I am not ashamed to admit this personality flaw and am in constant search of tricks to lasso the mighty dragon of chaos.

Over the years, I have collected ideas from every teacher I have met. While some work well for them and not for me, I have managed to piece together enough tools to keep my classroom running somewhat smoothly most of the time.

Below are my top ten stolen organization secrets:

1. Have specific places for students to turn in work – I use plastic stackable baskets, with bold clear labels for each hour. This stops students from tossing a paper onto my desk and being sucked into the black hole, never to be seen again.

2. Have a designated place for students to collect their work from when they are absent. The last thing I do each day before leaving school is take care of absent work. I look at my attendance book and for each student gone each hour, I put exactly what we did that day with any homework and handouts in a basket marked with the hour and ABSENT WORK. This puts the primary responsibility on the student, and makes my life easier without the question of “What did I miss yesterday?” being easy to answer.

3. Have a NO NAME folder. Unless you teach in Lake Woebegone, your students will on occasion, turn in work without a name. Later when they note a missing assignment, you can now simply point, “Did you check the No Name folder?”

4. Use online grading programming - if your district does not use something like PowerSchool, fight to get it. This makes for fewer parent phone calls, fewer students questioning about their grades, fewer writing lists of missing assignments, and best of all, no last minute panic at report card time. But do not get behind on grading - you expect students to turn work in on time. Have the courtesy to assess and return promptly as well. I find myself much more accountable when grades are posted for parents to view.

5. Write the day's lesson on the board. This solves the perpetual “What are we doing today?” question as well as focuses you and your students on the task at hand. Also, write notes on board - reminders for week, etc... so kids learn to look there. Help them learn to be responsible and plan ahead.

6. Have a board in hall outside classroom where you write what students need for class each hour. This method of reminding them what to bring each day helps teach middle schoolers to be organized. Students can be overwhelmed with so many classes and different teachers and thinking in 4 minutes can be tough.

7. Expect students to come to class prepared - I do not allow them to go get calculators, pencil, etc... I loan pencils, paper, textbooks, etc...they are all in designated area of classroom. I do not loan calculators, but "If you wanted it you would have brought it to class" usually sets the tone. Time in the hall is wasted time and I simply do not allow them to go get forgotten things.

8. Keep seating charts on a podium or other easily accessible location so you can take attendance in a split second as students are completing the class starter for day - something written on board to get their minds into gear for today's class - as you take attendance -ours is required to be online within first 10 minutes of class so I do it immediately when the bell rings. Seating charts also are invaluable to a substitute teacher. Mine also serves as a roster for fire drills or other trips out of the classroom since I have no grade book as such.

9. Use email for parent contacts whenever possible – This saves time and makes it easy to keep paper trail. Parents appreciate the ease of contact. Talk to parents early on - establish a positive relationship before there are problems. Send them a positive email about something you notice about a student. Those positives are like money in the bank when you do encounter a discipline problem later in the year.

10.Let go of the things that don’t really matter. My first years in the classroom I spent hours organizing my class library. When students returned books, I had to put the checkout cards back in and shelve the books back in their appropriate location. Finally, a couple of years ago, I decided enough of that! Now students know my books are NOT organized. If they want a book, they will have to dig for it. It is almost like a treasure hunt. Books in order may matter to you, but for me, those are hours better spent on other things. Examine your own classroom for those little things you can let go.

My classroom is not neat and tidy and shiny like some. It has that homey, lived-in, loved look. The tables are never quite in perfect straight lines, the computer cords are twisted and tangled, and my teacher desk looks like a recycling center exploded on it. But my students and I spend our time together engaged in learning, and for the most part, things run smoothly. With a little help from my stolen ideas, I bet yours could be the same!

I admit it... I am a bad person, a bad teacher.... My least favorite student is suspended for 3 days, and that makes me ecstatic. He got into trouble after school, being disrespectful to a paraprofessional, arguing about something. I cannot be accused of picking on him. This incident in no way had anything to do with me.

When he is gone, things run so much more smoothly, though today, his buddy did get into a bit of trouble. It seems he is having trouble in band and instead of dealing with the teacher personally, he is running his mouth in the hall, and even in class, being disrespectful towards her. Not only is this unacceptable, the attitude is carrying over into class. Today, I saw him throw a piece of something across the room. My usual punishment for such an offense is to show up at lunch and clean before going down to cafeteria. Of course, this young man balked at giving up his lunch time, and tried to convince me to let him come to my room instead of band. I first said no and then thought, hmmm.. perfect teachable moment.

He showed up right on time and started picking up all those million tiny scraps on my floor. He did ask for a broom and I said no way.... then, I started talking to him about band and his attitude towards the band teacher, and how disrespectful he had been towards her earlier. He told me his side of the story, in great detail. We talked about possible solutions. He decided to write her a letter outlining how he feels, how he feels about being treated unfairly in her class, and what his proposed solution to the problems is. He left with a smile on his face. My floor is clean.

Will he follow through and really write to her? I don't know. I will touch base with him tomorrow and ask him. I hope he does, and I hope she reads it with an open heart and mind.

He really is a good kid, with a tough life, and I like him a lot. I want him to realize that. I hope today helps that relationship grow.

First snow delay this morning! Wow, totally unexpected. But of course, the kids are all wired now. It certainly makes for an interesting start to the day and week!

Last week ended with parent teacher conferences Thursday. I saw 36 parents of the 67 students I teach. Not a bad turnout. I think now with PowerSchool, and parents having constant access to their child's grades, we see fewer inherently. That is unfortunate because there are so many other things I would like to talk to parents about other than grades.

Typically, most of the parents I want to talk to, don't show up. However, this year, I did get to have some great conversations with several parents. It is wonderful how supportive and concerned most parents are about their children and their education.

I have to admit I love conferences, even though the sitting there all day is tiring. I love hearing comments that this is the first year a student has done well in math, or that I am a large part of the reason their child is having a great 7th grade year. It is reaffirming that all the time and effort I put forth is appreciated.

I love talking to parents about how great their kids are. I love sharing stories of their sense of humor, kind deeds for others, as well as academics successes. Parents love their child unconditionally, but the reassurance that someone else feels the same can be so comforting. I had one mom tell me her child has never felt smart before this year. He has always thought he was dumb, treated as such by teachers. That breaks my heart.... he is an amazing kid. He has a huge attendance problem, is frequently tardy to school, does not always make up his work... but those are parenting issues. When he is here, he is engaged, on task, very knowledgeable about a variety of topics, and wants to do well. I love having him in class. I shudder to think that teachers have damaged children this way, year after year...

But then.. there are those students I do not connect with, I know. We cannot all reach all of them, despite our best of intentions.