I was off campus today for a meeting so I actually got out of work at 3:45 this afternoon. That is the time I am allowed to leave school each day but it just does not happen. So I took care of ordering my new glasses and then I called Lil.
Lil and Morse, a couple I know from church. She is almost 89 and he delights in being the younger man. He is almost 87. Morse is a native Texan and he is a hoot-an-a-half. He was a teen during the depression and he served in World War II. Lil is also a native Texan and she is a class act. As my father would say “she is a real lady.” After I took care of my glasses I stopped in to see Lil and Morse.
I had planned to stay for a half-hour, forty-five minutes at the most. Almost two hours later I was still there. Morse does not get around as well as he used to so he does not get out much anymore. His mind is still as sharp as a tack and there is so much history in that man’s brain it is just amazing. He was also quite the artist in his day so I love looking at his WWII sketches. When I wrote my essay to get into graduate school I interviewed Morse and wrote his story into my paper. He was an excellent primary source. I also used him as a sounding board for several of my papers especially if I was not sure I had made my point in a concise manner. Morse was an editor for a newspaper after the war so he also caught my typos and such. I know we have spell check and grammar check on the computer but it does not catch everything. Morse on the other hand still catches everything.
Lil remembers the depression and her grandmother feeding the out-of-work-men that jumped of the trains just outside of Fort Worth. If they got off the trains in Fort Worth they would be arrested for riding the rails without a ticket. The engineers actually slowed the trains down outside of the city so the men could get off. Many of the men had come to Texas looking for work. Texas was not as hard hit as other states.
Lil and Morse have been together a long time. Lil still gets out she comes to church on Sundays Morse can not so when company comes Lil sits quietly next to Morse because she “knows” he need the conversation more than she does. Morse always asks her to “fill-in-the-blanks” of his story because he “knows” she has a lot to add to the conversation.There are a handful of married couples that I admire. Lil and Morse are one of those couples and hope that my husband and I will be like that when we are in our golden years.
I have known this couple for 12 years now and my life is richer because I know them.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Home and Back Again
I traveled to Yankee Land this past week. I left on a Monday afternoon with sunny skies and with temperatures in the low 70s and by the time I arrived it was dark and a very chilly 40 degrees. I definitely needed my winter coat that evening. My sister met me at the airport. My sister was celebrating her birthday; I won’t rat out her age here I will just say that she is younger than I am.
I made it safely to my destination. My luggage however did not. One of the guys that was loading our luggage had an “accident” and he had to be taken to the hospital so they stopped loading the luggage to take care of him. By the time others realized luggage still needed to be loaded our plane had taken off. Lucky for me I did not desperately need anything that was in my luggage.
Once at my sister’s house I got to see my niece NP Diva. She is always a joy to be around. She has such a sunny attitude toward life and she will be a wonderful primary grade teacher in the future. My sister’s hubby got home from work and we spent a few short hours talking. We had conversations about work, kids and of all things the art of passing gas. I am not even sure how this became the topic of conversation but it was and NP Diva and her Dad had me laughing so hard my sides hurt. I love visiting my sister and her crew they are laid back and I could just feel the stress melting away. I did not get to see the two younger members of the family. They were fast asleep when I got there.
The next morning my sister picked up my luggage before heading to work. I got to see Jack before he went to day care. This little man is a handful and I can only say he is my sister’s payback. But because he is not mine to keep I can laugh at his antics and dote on him without feeling an ounce of guilt.
My Mom came to pick me up from my sister’s and we headed out to the farm. Let me try to describe my home to you. As you leave the suburbs where my sister lives you travel through small villages and into farm land with rolling hills that are the start of the Berkshire Mountains and in the summer the area is lush and green. In March green is not found unless there are a few early snow drops in bloom. There was no snow left so it was very brown but in another month daffodils, crocuses and tulips will be in full bloom.
My parents have a 100 acre farm with woods, ponds, flats, swamps and a creek. Growing up here was at times fun, lonely and boring. I knew I was going to get out of the one horse town and live in the suburbs or the city. I just did not think I would move that far away from everyone. So going home is a mixed bag for me; while there I was able to see the deer on the flats and on the hills. In a few months there will be fawns bounding through the fields. The creek that runs behind my parent’s home was spilling over the banks. The creek in the spring has always been my favorite part of the farm. I used to spend hours sitting on the banks and just being or day dreaming. After several days of the quiet that is my parents' life.
I am ready to be back where there is a daily hum that moves at a faster pace. It is not anything my parents can understand although I have tried to explain it numerous times. Neil Diamond said it best in I am I said: L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home, New York's home, but it ain't mine no more. Texas is where I make my home but Yankee Land pulls me back. There are times when I miss driving down dirt roads, picking green beans out of the garden, sitting outside under the maple trees while I read a book. I do not miss taking care of the chickens…I hate chickens.
My Dad was still not doing as well as I would have liked but he was better than I expected. He has started to gain back the weight he lost and his cough is under control for the first time in a long time. More importantly I was able to just spend time with my Dad and my Mom. I know that sounds like a simple thing but if you live away from family you will understand how hard that really is.
When we travel home in the summer we have so many people to see and it is hard to have any quiet time with my parents. We have such a short time to squeeze in lots of visiting and sometimes it is stressful instead of relaxing. This visit was not stressful it was relaxing. Therefore I returned to Texas refreshed and ready to return to work this Monday. I was true to my word and I did not take any work with me so I graded essays Sunday. They really need to improve so we will be working on that again this week.
My favorite part of the essays is when they write a paragraph to explain to me why they did such a poor job on the essay. If they had used that time to continue writing their essay it might have received a better grade. They are either hopeful or they have yet to realize that I do not give pity grades. I use my former English and American History teachers as my role models. I did get to see both of these gentlemen on this trip. My English teacher did not accept garbage. The first paper I ever wrote for him was garbage although I did not think so at the time. He bled red all over that paper and he gave me an F--. I didn’t even know there was such a grade. I was so angry at him after all I had always made As in English. I worked my tail off in that class and managed to pass the class. The next year I had him again and the first paper I turned in that year received an A++. My American History teacher taught me to question the textbook and conventional wisdom. He made it safe to think outside of the box and to question authority. Both of these men changed my life for the better and I try to give to my students what they gave to me. The old high school has not changed much. They have added a new wing and I would give my eye teeth to have one of those nice large classrooms. They actually do have locked doors and you have to buzz to get in the building once school is in session. I was rather shocked by this development. Even in the inner city we do not have buzzers.
All in all I had a wonderful spring break that allowed me to spend time with me family and to relax which I needed more than I realized when I first booked this trip.
I made it safely to my destination. My luggage however did not. One of the guys that was loading our luggage had an “accident” and he had to be taken to the hospital so they stopped loading the luggage to take care of him. By the time others realized luggage still needed to be loaded our plane had taken off. Lucky for me I did not desperately need anything that was in my luggage.
Once at my sister’s house I got to see my niece NP Diva. She is always a joy to be around. She has such a sunny attitude toward life and she will be a wonderful primary grade teacher in the future. My sister’s hubby got home from work and we spent a few short hours talking. We had conversations about work, kids and of all things the art of passing gas. I am not even sure how this became the topic of conversation but it was and NP Diva and her Dad had me laughing so hard my sides hurt. I love visiting my sister and her crew they are laid back and I could just feel the stress melting away. I did not get to see the two younger members of the family. They were fast asleep when I got there.
The next morning my sister picked up my luggage before heading to work. I got to see Jack before he went to day care. This little man is a handful and I can only say he is my sister’s payback. But because he is not mine to keep I can laugh at his antics and dote on him without feeling an ounce of guilt.
My Mom came to pick me up from my sister’s and we headed out to the farm. Let me try to describe my home to you. As you leave the suburbs where my sister lives you travel through small villages and into farm land with rolling hills that are the start of the Berkshire Mountains and in the summer the area is lush and green. In March green is not found unless there are a few early snow drops in bloom. There was no snow left so it was very brown but in another month daffodils, crocuses and tulips will be in full bloom.
My parents have a 100 acre farm with woods, ponds, flats, swamps and a creek. Growing up here was at times fun, lonely and boring. I knew I was going to get out of the one horse town and live in the suburbs or the city. I just did not think I would move that far away from everyone. So going home is a mixed bag for me; while there I was able to see the deer on the flats and on the hills. In a few months there will be fawns bounding through the fields. The creek that runs behind my parent’s home was spilling over the banks. The creek in the spring has always been my favorite part of the farm. I used to spend hours sitting on the banks and just being or day dreaming. After several days of the quiet that is my parents' life.
I am ready to be back where there is a daily hum that moves at a faster pace. It is not anything my parents can understand although I have tried to explain it numerous times. Neil Diamond said it best in I am I said: L.A.'s fine, but it ain't home, New York's home, but it ain't mine no more. Texas is where I make my home but Yankee Land pulls me back. There are times when I miss driving down dirt roads, picking green beans out of the garden, sitting outside under the maple trees while I read a book. I do not miss taking care of the chickens…I hate chickens.
My Dad was still not doing as well as I would have liked but he was better than I expected. He has started to gain back the weight he lost and his cough is under control for the first time in a long time. More importantly I was able to just spend time with my Dad and my Mom. I know that sounds like a simple thing but if you live away from family you will understand how hard that really is.
When we travel home in the summer we have so many people to see and it is hard to have any quiet time with my parents. We have such a short time to squeeze in lots of visiting and sometimes it is stressful instead of relaxing. This visit was not stressful it was relaxing. Therefore I returned to Texas refreshed and ready to return to work this Monday. I was true to my word and I did not take any work with me so I graded essays Sunday. They really need to improve so we will be working on that again this week.
My favorite part of the essays is when they write a paragraph to explain to me why they did such a poor job on the essay. If they had used that time to continue writing their essay it might have received a better grade. They are either hopeful or they have yet to realize that I do not give pity grades. I use my former English and American History teachers as my role models. I did get to see both of these gentlemen on this trip. My English teacher did not accept garbage. The first paper I ever wrote for him was garbage although I did not think so at the time. He bled red all over that paper and he gave me an F--. I didn’t even know there was such a grade. I was so angry at him after all I had always made As in English. I worked my tail off in that class and managed to pass the class. The next year I had him again and the first paper I turned in that year received an A++. My American History teacher taught me to question the textbook and conventional wisdom. He made it safe to think outside of the box and to question authority. Both of these men changed my life for the better and I try to give to my students what they gave to me. The old high school has not changed much. They have added a new wing and I would give my eye teeth to have one of those nice large classrooms. They actually do have locked doors and you have to buzz to get in the building once school is in session. I was rather shocked by this development. Even in the inner city we do not have buzzers.
All in all I had a wonderful spring break that allowed me to spend time with me family and to relax which I needed more than I realized when I first booked this trip.
Saturday, March 14, 2009
HOME
In my last post I expressed the concern I have for my Dad and how I felt I needed to see him for myself. I have decided to do so. I will be heading north into Yankee land to return home for a visit.
I am not sure if other people feel this way or not. The life I have created with my husband and sons is located in Texas. We have not always lived here but have called it home for the past 12 years. Yet I find myself pulled northward in my thoughts on a regular basis and even though I do not wish to live north it is still HOME. The place I was raised shaped my life and even though it is an awkward fit I still return to see the people that I left behind.
I will spend 5 days in Yankee land 4 of them on my parents’ farm with no internet although they do now have satellite television. It is funny the satellite I could live without for 4 days the internet on the other hand is difficult to live without when I visit. This is always an adjustment for me. I rely on my email to stay in touch with the world. I also enjoy following several blogs and getting the news from several sources; none of that for 4 days.
What I will get is peace and quiet and time with my Mom and Dad. The nieces and nephews will not be on spring break so I’ll only get to see them a little bit. I will get to spend the 16th with my Sister which is a big deal because that is her birthday. I can not remember the last time I was able to see her for her birthday. I hope to stop in at my Alma Mater and see a few of the high school teachers that played a large role in my life. I usually return home in the summer when school is out of session.
I am not taking any work with me it will be here when I get back that is one thing I can count on. I will also return with a peace of mind along with less stress but at the same time I will be happy to be back in Texas and suburbia. I can only take rural farm life for so long before I need a Starbucks in the morning and a Sonic in the afternoon along with a 5 minute ride to the nearest grocery store along with a large variety of restaurants close at hand. I will also be ready to go back to work. A week off and I start to think about my other kids and I want to be back in the classroom.
I am not sure if other people feel this way or not. The life I have created with my husband and sons is located in Texas. We have not always lived here but have called it home for the past 12 years. Yet I find myself pulled northward in my thoughts on a regular basis and even though I do not wish to live north it is still HOME. The place I was raised shaped my life and even though it is an awkward fit I still return to see the people that I left behind.
I will spend 5 days in Yankee land 4 of them on my parents’ farm with no internet although they do now have satellite television. It is funny the satellite I could live without for 4 days the internet on the other hand is difficult to live without when I visit. This is always an adjustment for me. I rely on my email to stay in touch with the world. I also enjoy following several blogs and getting the news from several sources; none of that for 4 days.
What I will get is peace and quiet and time with my Mom and Dad. The nieces and nephews will not be on spring break so I’ll only get to see them a little bit. I will get to spend the 16th with my Sister which is a big deal because that is her birthday. I can not remember the last time I was able to see her for her birthday. I hope to stop in at my Alma Mater and see a few of the high school teachers that played a large role in my life. I usually return home in the summer when school is out of session.
I am not taking any work with me it will be here when I get back that is one thing I can count on. I will also return with a peace of mind along with less stress but at the same time I will be happy to be back in Texas and suburbia. I can only take rural farm life for so long before I need a Starbucks in the morning and a Sonic in the afternoon along with a 5 minute ride to the nearest grocery store along with a large variety of restaurants close at hand. I will also be ready to go back to work. A week off and I start to think about my other kids and I want to be back in the classroom.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Silver Linings
Some people are very organized. I am not. I write that in my PDAS every year that one of my goals as a teacher is to be more organized. I will admit this year I am a little better because I have actually put papers, documents and such in binders or folders. I did even better at the beginning of the year when I had a student assistant. He left me after three weeks because there was an opening in the advanced art class so he switched into that and I went back to organizing myself. So where am I going with this train of thought all over the place I think because it has been a rough week both on the work and home-front.
I am not one of those people that is so organized that I can compartmentalize my life; thus I only keep one blog and work and life both show up in the same blog. I know several people that keep two or three blogs I just can not do that. So for those of you that only like to read about educational items I am sorry that not everything I write is education based therefore you will be surprised at times by what you read. I hope you will continue to read and comment.
As I said in the opening paragraph this past week has been very rough not only at work but on the home-front as well. Messy part number one is too complicated to go into but it involves the lack of health insurance for a young adult in the family. From where I sit “socialized medicine” does not seem like such a bad thing if it means coverage for those who need it.
Messy part number two as if part one were not enough to deal with. Work, specifically my concern for my students’ ability to write well for the AP test and the amount of class time I am losing because of that wonderful required state assessment we must give. By this time the students’ that are taking the AP exam in May should consistently be writing at least 6s. That is not the case at all many of my students are still getting 1s and 2s. For those of you in the non-education world that did not take AP classes in high school, I didn’t my school didn’t even offer them, a 1 is equal to a 57 a 2 is equal to a 62 you get the idea. So if they are still writing 1 and 2 level papers their chances of passing this test is not good. So once again I find myself wondering what more can I do to help them get the concepts that they are missing and I look for the silver lining. The first one is rather silly but it helps: the have stopped using things and stuff in their essays. It would go something like this: “the French they had things wrong in their country so they did stuff to cause a revolution.” This was enough to make me want to pull my hair out. The other silver lining AP baby number 890, I give them made up names and numbers, that usually only wrote one or two paragraphs wrote a full essay and it was a 9 yes I said a 9 the highest score you can get. I am losing 2 days with them this week to the standardized test requirements so that is two less days of content and writing. Can the State make this any more difficult? Please do not tell them that I asked that or they just might.
Messy number three is not really messy but it is something that I hate doing. FAFSA! Ugh the paper work is a pain. Our youngest child is a senior in high school and we need to get FAFSA done and finding the time with everything else that is going on makes it very stressful. The silver lining is that he has already received one acceptance letter. We are waiting to hear from two other schools.
Messy number four is something that Bone wrote about in his blog a few posts ago. Bone’s post was excellent and once I can figure out how to link it I will. He wrote about parents growing older. Both of my parents will be 70 this year. That wouldn’t be so bad in and of itself the problem is that they live in Yankee land which for those of you in the South does not mean everywhere North. Yankees live along the East coast. Michigan for example is not Yankee land it is the Midwest. Yankees do not like being lumped with just anyone that is north of the Mason-Dixon Line we are a unique breed and not everyone can be a Yankee just like not everyone that lives in Texas is a Texan. TC I thought I would help you out with that one. I of course am a transplant because I now live in Texas so I only get to see my parents about once a year. My Dad has been under the weather for a while and I am considering making the trip home to see them during my spring break. My silver lining is I will get to see him for myself the down side to that is I am sure he will tell me I did not need to come and that I should not have wasted my money. I of course do not think it would be a waste of money but I know my Father it is what he will say. The silver lining is I know that deep inside he will be happy I came home. He wishes I would not live so far away even though he understands why I do.
So my semi-organized overlapping life is not real smooth right now but I just keep hanging on and moving forward as I hold onto those silver linings.
I am not one of those people that is so organized that I can compartmentalize my life; thus I only keep one blog and work and life both show up in the same blog. I know several people that keep two or three blogs I just can not do that. So for those of you that only like to read about educational items I am sorry that not everything I write is education based therefore you will be surprised at times by what you read. I hope you will continue to read and comment.
As I said in the opening paragraph this past week has been very rough not only at work but on the home-front as well. Messy part number one is too complicated to go into but it involves the lack of health insurance for a young adult in the family. From where I sit “socialized medicine” does not seem like such a bad thing if it means coverage for those who need it.
Messy part number two as if part one were not enough to deal with. Work, specifically my concern for my students’ ability to write well for the AP test and the amount of class time I am losing because of that wonderful required state assessment we must give. By this time the students’ that are taking the AP exam in May should consistently be writing at least 6s. That is not the case at all many of my students are still getting 1s and 2s. For those of you in the non-education world that did not take AP classes in high school, I didn’t my school didn’t even offer them, a 1 is equal to a 57 a 2 is equal to a 62 you get the idea. So if they are still writing 1 and 2 level papers their chances of passing this test is not good. So once again I find myself wondering what more can I do to help them get the concepts that they are missing and I look for the silver lining. The first one is rather silly but it helps: the have stopped using things and stuff in their essays. It would go something like this: “the French they had things wrong in their country so they did stuff to cause a revolution.” This was enough to make me want to pull my hair out. The other silver lining AP baby number 890, I give them made up names and numbers, that usually only wrote one or two paragraphs wrote a full essay and it was a 9 yes I said a 9 the highest score you can get. I am losing 2 days with them this week to the standardized test requirements so that is two less days of content and writing. Can the State make this any more difficult? Please do not tell them that I asked that or they just might.
Messy number three is not really messy but it is something that I hate doing. FAFSA! Ugh the paper work is a pain. Our youngest child is a senior in high school and we need to get FAFSA done and finding the time with everything else that is going on makes it very stressful. The silver lining is that he has already received one acceptance letter. We are waiting to hear from two other schools.
Messy number four is something that Bone wrote about in his blog a few posts ago. Bone’s post was excellent and once I can figure out how to link it I will. He wrote about parents growing older. Both of my parents will be 70 this year. That wouldn’t be so bad in and of itself the problem is that they live in Yankee land which for those of you in the South does not mean everywhere North. Yankees live along the East coast. Michigan for example is not Yankee land it is the Midwest. Yankees do not like being lumped with just anyone that is north of the Mason-Dixon Line we are a unique breed and not everyone can be a Yankee just like not everyone that lives in Texas is a Texan. TC I thought I would help you out with that one. I of course am a transplant because I now live in Texas so I only get to see my parents about once a year. My Dad has been under the weather for a while and I am considering making the trip home to see them during my spring break. My silver lining is I will get to see him for myself the down side to that is I am sure he will tell me I did not need to come and that I should not have wasted my money. I of course do not think it would be a waste of money but I know my Father it is what he will say. The silver lining is I know that deep inside he will be happy I came home. He wishes I would not live so far away even though he understands why I do.
So my semi-organized overlapping life is not real smooth right now but I just keep hanging on and moving forward as I hold onto those silver linings.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Letter Game
Okay, here's a fun game you should play...If you want to play, leave a comment on this post letting me know, and I'll assign you a letter. You post ten things you love that begin with your assigned letter. When people comment on your list, you give them a letter, and the chain continues on and on. My cousin Felicia assigned me the letter S. So here it goes. S's are really hard.
1. Stan - this is my Dad. He is strong, silly with his grandchildren and once wore a banana peel on his head when we went to Wards. He loves, cares for and protects his family. He is a wonderful Dad, Husband and Grandfather.
2. Silence - something I totally enjoy when I have the house to myself. I don't even turn on music.
3. Scrapbooking - my new hobby now that quilting and cross stitching have become very difficult for me.
4. Students - my favorite group of people. They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, intelligence levels and they are just enjoyable to be around.
5. Siblings - I have two. A brother and a sister. They are both younger than me and they mean the world to me. My sister is one of my very best friends. I do not to get see either of them as much as I would like to.
6. Spiral Diner - the Vegan Resturant in Fort Worth. This is a fun little place with a personality all of its own. I like it so much because in the middle of "Cowtown" and "Where the West Begins" along with the "Chisolm Trail" stop we can have a Vegan Resturant.
7. Savannah, GA - We went here for the first time in the summer of 05 and I fell in love with this city. We were only able to spend a day there. I would love to go back for at least a week and I would not mind living there if the opportunity came about.
8. Sonic Drive-In - Even though I do not eat meat anymore I still love Sonic. I love their drinks and there soft-serve ice cream. I love that I can get iced tea all year long not just in the summer.
9. Singing - even though I can not carry a tune in a bucket I still sing in the car and I sing in church. I'm pretty sure God doesn't care that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. I also love to listen to my youngest son sing. He has a beautiful rich deep voice.
10. Shayna - my wonderful niece that is more like a sister than a cousin to my two sons. She is beautiful, talented, confident, smart, sweet and funny. I love her openess and how she embraces life. She is a blessing and I am so lucky that she is a part of my life. I wish I could see her more often than I do.
That is my list it was harder than I thought it would be.
1. Stan - this is my Dad. He is strong, silly with his grandchildren and once wore a banana peel on his head when we went to Wards. He loves, cares for and protects his family. He is a wonderful Dad, Husband and Grandfather.
2. Silence - something I totally enjoy when I have the house to myself. I don't even turn on music.
3. Scrapbooking - my new hobby now that quilting and cross stitching have become very difficult for me.
4. Students - my favorite group of people. They come in all sizes, shapes, colors, intelligence levels and they are just enjoyable to be around.
5. Siblings - I have two. A brother and a sister. They are both younger than me and they mean the world to me. My sister is one of my very best friends. I do not to get see either of them as much as I would like to.
6. Spiral Diner - the Vegan Resturant in Fort Worth. This is a fun little place with a personality all of its own. I like it so much because in the middle of "Cowtown" and "Where the West Begins" along with the "Chisolm Trail" stop we can have a Vegan Resturant.
7. Savannah, GA - We went here for the first time in the summer of 05 and I fell in love with this city. We were only able to spend a day there. I would love to go back for at least a week and I would not mind living there if the opportunity came about.
8. Sonic Drive-In - Even though I do not eat meat anymore I still love Sonic. I love their drinks and there soft-serve ice cream. I love that I can get iced tea all year long not just in the summer.
9. Singing - even though I can not carry a tune in a bucket I still sing in the car and I sing in church. I'm pretty sure God doesn't care that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. I also love to listen to my youngest son sing. He has a beautiful rich deep voice.
10. Shayna - my wonderful niece that is more like a sister than a cousin to my two sons. She is beautiful, talented, confident, smart, sweet and funny. I love her openess and how she embraces life. She is a blessing and I am so lucky that she is a part of my life. I wish I could see her more often than I do.
That is my list it was harder than I thought it would be.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Second Semester
I like the start of the 2nd semester almost as much as the beginning of the school year. Part of the reason I like it so much is my students have a new beginning with the arrival of the new semester. If they did not do well in the first semester they have the chance to learn from their mistakes and fix it.
This new semester has already seen so many steps forward for my students and some recognition for me; both of which have given my spirits a boost even as I battle the crud.
With the arrival of the new semester I give my students the “talk”. I tell them what happened in the first semester is water under the bridge and that if they work hard this semester they will only need to make up a half credit not a whole credit. This is also where I tell them that if they don’t get it done here it is summer school or a repeat of a year with me and that they would not want to suffer me twice. This usually gets a laugh or a groan from most of my students.
I had many students battle with me in the first semester but I have one in particular that I will tell you about. This one student battled with me all through first semester. He did not turn in most of his work, was insistent that he was not smart enough or that it was too much and too hard as well. None of this was true but it is what he perceived to be true. He also believed that if he failed I would have to let him out of the class. Boy was he wrong because not only does he need my permission. He also needed the academic coordinator’s permission, the principal’s permission and his parent’s permission. This is where he underestimated my powers of persuasion. I contacted his parent’s at the end of the first semester to give them a fair warning of what was to come. I had to use the stay-in-school coordinator as my interpreter I am fluent in ASL not Spanish. Once they realized that this class will help him go to college and be successful along with the fact that he could earn up to six credit hours while in high school that was all they needed to hear. He would not be allowed out of my class and he would complete my work. I can tell you he was not happy with me at all. The first day back in class he just glared at me but then he turned in an assignment and got an 81, he just wrote a great essay and it scored a 6 on the AP World History scale. I knew he could do it and now he knows he can do it. I have seen an attitude change in this young man and the fact that his girl friend “doesn’t want to date a dummy” her words not mine sure does help. It also helped that I gave him gift advice and his girlfriend loved what he gave her. The girls in the class gave him advice that was way too expensive. It pays to have teenage sons I use what I have learned from them to help my students.
Here is another change I am seeing this semester: after school tutoring. I am after school Monday – Thursday until 5in the evening and since the second semester started I have at least seven students in my room every afternoon for help or to work on assignments. I really like this part of my day actually I love this part of my day because I get to spend more one-on-one time with my students. I also get to know them on a personal level so that I better understand them and what drives them.
By the second semester I really do know my students well and I become very protective of them. I work with their other teachers, administer, and their parents. They are my AP babies. I am the first AP class they have. Everything to this point has been Pre-AP or regular classes. They have actually asked me to talk to our principal about having AP shirts made that say AP World History Ms. Penny Candy’s AP Babies. I am not sure that it will be approved but I think it is great that they want to be known as that.
The recognition for me this year came as a surprise to me and I am honored and touched that I was named Teacher of the Year at my school. This also means that I am a candidate for Teacher of the Year for the whole district.
This new semester has already seen so many steps forward for my students and some recognition for me; both of which have given my spirits a boost even as I battle the crud.
With the arrival of the new semester I give my students the “talk”. I tell them what happened in the first semester is water under the bridge and that if they work hard this semester they will only need to make up a half credit not a whole credit. This is also where I tell them that if they don’t get it done here it is summer school or a repeat of a year with me and that they would not want to suffer me twice. This usually gets a laugh or a groan from most of my students.
I had many students battle with me in the first semester but I have one in particular that I will tell you about. This one student battled with me all through first semester. He did not turn in most of his work, was insistent that he was not smart enough or that it was too much and too hard as well. None of this was true but it is what he perceived to be true. He also believed that if he failed I would have to let him out of the class. Boy was he wrong because not only does he need my permission. He also needed the academic coordinator’s permission, the principal’s permission and his parent’s permission. This is where he underestimated my powers of persuasion. I contacted his parent’s at the end of the first semester to give them a fair warning of what was to come. I had to use the stay-in-school coordinator as my interpreter I am fluent in ASL not Spanish. Once they realized that this class will help him go to college and be successful along with the fact that he could earn up to six credit hours while in high school that was all they needed to hear. He would not be allowed out of my class and he would complete my work. I can tell you he was not happy with me at all. The first day back in class he just glared at me but then he turned in an assignment and got an 81, he just wrote a great essay and it scored a 6 on the AP World History scale. I knew he could do it and now he knows he can do it. I have seen an attitude change in this young man and the fact that his girl friend “doesn’t want to date a dummy” her words not mine sure does help. It also helped that I gave him gift advice and his girlfriend loved what he gave her. The girls in the class gave him advice that was way too expensive. It pays to have teenage sons I use what I have learned from them to help my students.
Here is another change I am seeing this semester: after school tutoring. I am after school Monday – Thursday until 5in the evening and since the second semester started I have at least seven students in my room every afternoon for help or to work on assignments. I really like this part of my day actually I love this part of my day because I get to spend more one-on-one time with my students. I also get to know them on a personal level so that I better understand them and what drives them.
By the second semester I really do know my students well and I become very protective of them. I work with their other teachers, administer, and their parents. They are my AP babies. I am the first AP class they have. Everything to this point has been Pre-AP or regular classes. They have actually asked me to talk to our principal about having AP shirts made that say AP World History Ms. Penny Candy’s AP Babies. I am not sure that it will be approved but I think it is great that they want to be known as that.
The recognition for me this year came as a surprise to me and I am honored and touched that I was named Teacher of the Year at my school. This also means that I am a candidate for Teacher of the Year for the whole district.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Disappointment and Hope
This week was final exam week for the first semester where I teach. So last weekend I graded the projects that my students turned in. They had four-and-a-half weeks to complete this assignment. The students were given a rubric and there were examples in my classroom for them to look at. This assignment could be done alone or with a partner. I was after school 8 of the 10 school days before break started so if they needed guidance or access to a computer they had an opportunity to get support or resources. The students also have my work email address if they had questions over they break they could ask in an email. I received one email from a student.
We returned to school Tuesday and the project was due Wednesday so they had a reminder to turn it in. I have 52 students and with the arrival of the due date I had less than 10 projects turned in. Thursday I had 5 projects and Friday I had 5. Granted some of these students worked with a partner so when it was all said and done 40 students turned in projects. I was disappointed because last year all of my students turned in this major project.
My disappointment grew as I graded the first 5 projects; the students had not followed directions and their grades were very low. Here is where the hope comes in as I moved through the projects they did get better and in fact a few of my students that had really struggled with earlier assignments had very good projects.
The students that did not turn in the project will feel the consequence of their decision because each of them failed the six weeks and some of them failed the semester. So then I think to myself is there a bigger hope and the answer is yes. My students are learning a valuable lesson that they need to learn sooner rather than later.
Another ray of hope came as I graded the semester finals. I gave them a modified mock AP exam and I had several students pass the test straight up without a curve. I did curve the exam in the end because there will still too many failures. This exam gave me a good read of where my students are, what they do and do not understand, what we still need to work on with regards to essays and who has a realistic shot at passing the exam and who has the potential if they really work at it.
As the new semester faces us I will use the exams and the projects as a way to motivate and move forward. My hope is that none of my students fail the second semester. I hope they have learned that deadlines are important and they have to be met even if you do not like what you have been asked to do.
We returned to school Tuesday and the project was due Wednesday so they had a reminder to turn it in. I have 52 students and with the arrival of the due date I had less than 10 projects turned in. Thursday I had 5 projects and Friday I had 5. Granted some of these students worked with a partner so when it was all said and done 40 students turned in projects. I was disappointed because last year all of my students turned in this major project.
My disappointment grew as I graded the first 5 projects; the students had not followed directions and their grades were very low. Here is where the hope comes in as I moved through the projects they did get better and in fact a few of my students that had really struggled with earlier assignments had very good projects.
The students that did not turn in the project will feel the consequence of their decision because each of them failed the six weeks and some of them failed the semester. So then I think to myself is there a bigger hope and the answer is yes. My students are learning a valuable lesson that they need to learn sooner rather than later.
Another ray of hope came as I graded the semester finals. I gave them a modified mock AP exam and I had several students pass the test straight up without a curve. I did curve the exam in the end because there will still too many failures. This exam gave me a good read of where my students are, what they do and do not understand, what we still need to work on with regards to essays and who has a realistic shot at passing the exam and who has the potential if they really work at it.
As the new semester faces us I will use the exams and the projects as a way to motivate and move forward. My hope is that none of my students fail the second semester. I hope they have learned that deadlines are important and they have to be met even if you do not like what you have been asked to do.
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