Reflection

Blog Reflection

            I like the idea behind creating a blog. I felt that there were too many requirements for the blog. Instead of 7 pictures I think we should have only had to do 1 or 2. Instead of 2 book reviews maybe just 1. We as first year teachers have a lot going on and on top of teaching, planning lessons, grading papers, and doing MAT assignments we had the burden of trying to keep up with a blog. I can honestly say that I hardly looked at anyone’s blog because I was in such a rush. I just logged onto mine, posted things, and logged out. I probably looked at other blogs 5 times. I have talked to some of the MAT students that are followers of my blog and they never even looked at my postings. I think the blog is a good idea because I can see how if a person had more time it could be very useful.

One big problem I ran into was that my school had blog spot blocked. I had to wait until the weekend and go to my girlfriend’s house or to my parent’s house to post things so it was very hard for me to get everything posted and meet all of these requirements because I didn’t have easy access. My school allows word press but the assignment required blog spot. I think students ought to be able to use whatever site they choose to create a blog as long as they post the correct URL address. It would have been a lot easier on me if I could have used word press because I would have been able to get online and post thins right after they happened. Instead I had to wait until the end of the week to post it and sometimes I would forget some of the details.

I feel the purpose of the assignment was so we could communicate with other students who are in the same situation we are. I could share things that happened to me and I could also read about some of the similar things other first year teachers were going through. The problem is that no one really looked at any other blogs because they were so pressed for time. The other purpose was to teach us how to create and use a blog. I just think that there should be fewer requirements for the blog. We learned how to create the blog, post things, post pictures, and post book reviews. If we choose continue blogging after this course then we will know everything we need to do so.

Skipping class

I have one student who hates going to pull out. I have caught him skipping my class twice already and each time i put him in ISS for 3 days. He has been caught skipping pull out 6 times now and he still continues to do it. I noticed he wasn't in my class today so i waited about twenty minutes and went looking for him. It wasn't hard to find him, he was in the same spot he has been caught every time. He goes into the boys bathroom and sits on the floor in the corner for an hour until it is time to go back to his homeroom. You would think he would learn his lesson or at least find a new hidding place. Now he will start his week back from the break in ISS again for 3 days.

Glad it's the holiday

I am so glad it is the holiday. Today went just like I had expected. The kids were absolutely crazy. Of course the teachers threw parties providing pizza, soda, candy, and other goodies. The kids did nothing in class all day but eat and watch movies so when they came to me they were ready to go wild. I didn't want to start a new lesson because it is a short week so let them dance and shoot basketballs but they were out of control. I sent 8 people to the office. It seemed like they didn't want to listen to anything I said and it drove me crazy. Hopefully when they come back they will have settled down. I can only imagine what the last week of the semester is going to be like.

So happy

I took a sick day today because my brother came in from Georgia for the holidays and i am so glad. My assisstant called me and said that she has already written up 4 students. I knew they were going to be wild since it is a short week. I am dreading tommorrow because i know they are going to be even wilder. Hope everyone survives.

So glad the week is over

I decided to work on the rythm and dance frameworks this week in my P.E. classes. I taught all of my classed K-5 the cha cha slide and the cupid shuffle. I teach 6 classes a day and each class did both dances twice during the class. that means i did each dance 30 times meaning i did 60 dances this week.  My knees are killing me. It was so fun though because everytime someone walked by the gym they would come in and dance with us. My principal even came in and danced for a while. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. I can honestly say that this was the most fun lesson for me to teach this year and judging by the reactions of the students i think they like this lesson the best as well.

Problems with same student

I forgot to post this last week but i am still having problems with the same student. He got into a fight in my class last week so i took him to the office. I knew if i called his mother then she would be in my office within 30 minutes. My principal was at a meeting so i called the superintendent. He told me to send the both of them to ISS for the day until my principal could get back and handle it. I looked at the student and told him that the superintendent told me to take him to ISS for the day and he looked at me and laughed. He said "i don't go to ISS, my mom told me never to go to ISS no matter what unless i she told me it was ok.'' I called the sup back and he told me just to put him in the councelors office for the rest of the day. I guess his mom thought he was wrong because she never called me or showed up in my office and he was in ISS the next day.

Coincidence or not

I went into the office last Monday for something and the police officer was in there. I asked the secretary what had happened and she looked at me in that I'll tell you in a minute look. Apparently a fourth grader had found a joint (weed) in the 3-5 grade bathroom. When the student went into the principals office with the officer the secretary told me that this was the second time this had happened and the same student had found it both times. I think it is ridiculous that the weed was even found in an elementary school. I never heard what happened but if i find out i will post it.

LICE!!

Our school had hair checks for lice today!  Two kids got sent home two days in a row because the nurse found they had head lice.  The parents sent them back to school the next day without any treatment so again the nurse sent them home.  Well, today we had the whole elementary school checked for head lice and they found 40 kids that had it!!!  So I've been paranoid all day and feeling the need to scratch my head!  But I'm in the clear.... Trust me!  I had my head checked five different times just to be sure!  :)

Sixth Grade Drama

Last Wednesday (October 27th), I walked into the gym and the whole gym smelled like smoke.  The smoke was coming out from under the bathroom door in the gym so I walked in and caught two sixth grade boys smoking weed.  It was rolled up in notebook paper.  What is wrong with these kids?!

I reported them to the office and the next thing I know they were leaving in handcuffs!  Haven't heard anything since then.  These two boys were not even my students.....

Book Review

I had a student come into my office and he saw my book that I was reading for my book review. He asked me if he could read the book when I finished with it. I printed a copy of my book review off  and gave it to him to read before he read the book. He read the book review and the book. The book was called The Babe and Me by Dan Gutman. Gutman has written about 10 other books that are just like this one. The books are about a young boy who can hold old baseball cards and it takes him back in time and he ends up associating with the player in some way. Our school has a book fair coming up next month and each student is required to read a book and in some way present it. The student who read my book review has decided that he is going to read the book Shoeless Joe Jackson and Me for his project. He was very interested in the book review that i gave him and he has asked me if i would help him do a book review. He should be finished with the book soon so this week he and I are going to create a powerpoint book review just like the one we did. I didn't realize how good of a project this was and that we can use our book reviews to encourage students to read.

An Interesting Day

Last wednesday was a very interesting day. On Monday I had trouble with one of my students. He hates going to pull out so whenever he goes to art, music, library, computer lab, or P.E. he acts up. On Monday he kept disobeying me and i finally made him write sentences. He threw the paper on the floor and told me he wasn't going to write them. I told him that he was either going to write or I was going to write him up. At the time I didn't know that his mother was the one that all of the teachers talk about. On Wednesday morning she was in my office with my principal and her son. She tried to twist the story every way possible to make it look like her son was an angel and i was the one in the wrong. Then i realized she was the one the teachers talk about and I was her third conference this year. She feel like her kid does no wrong and he is always treated unfairly. She began to question my qualifications for the job and told me in front of her kid that i had no clue how to teach and she didn't know how in the world I got a job. I tried to tell her that her son was written up for being disrespectful and I don't tolerate disrespect from any of my students. I told her how ther were almost 40 other students in the class and there was no way i was letting him get away with acting like that towards me. The angry parent then started telling my principal that she couldn't believe that she hires teachers like me and that she has no clue how to run a school system. I couldn't believe that the mother was saying all of this to me and my principal with her kid sitting there. Everytime I looke at the kid he was just smiling and laughing. Luckily my principal took my side because she knows how the kid and mother are. She told the mother that she could either move him to another school, make him do his 3 days in ISS, or keep him at home and let him get 0's on his work. The mother stood up angrily and stated that her kid was not doing 3 days in ISS for somehting that was my fault. The cops had to come to the school and remove the woman. The funny thing is that this woman has been in education for a long time. She was a principal in Greenville, Mississippi which is 20 miles up the road but she was fired and put back in the classroom. I was told that last year she had problems with all 5 of the 3rd grade teachers and filed a complaint on all of them. Well on Thursday morning I recieved a call from the administration building and was asked to come over. The mother had filed a complaint on me and was trying to get the state department involved. My Asst.Sup knew how she was and told me he just wanted to let me know what was going on and he would take care of it.