End of first semester

Today marks the last day of the first semester. We took the freshmen to see The Nutcracker in Poway. I think that was a nice treat; more so for me because I had never been. Today went very smoothly. We got them all there on time, we were seated promptly, there wasn't too much commotion during the show and we all got back safely. Job well done. It was a great way to end the semester.

Being the last day of the semester, grades are due soon. It also means winter break starts next week. I'm excited about that. Although winter break is next week, I will be earning a little extra money working intersession. Then I will get the remaining two weeks off.

I wanted to share some highlights/accomplishments for this semester.

1) I was introduced to the world of International Baccalaureate.
Guajome is an IB school. IB really makes you think when you plan projects and assignments. I created one unit plan according to the IB guidelines. I can't say that it is very good, but it's done.

2) I climbed a pamper pole and jumped to a trapeze 50 feet in the air.
It took me half an hour, but I did it. I was pretty scared and tired towards the end. Actually, I'm pretty afraid of heights. I was only able to climb to the top with the encouragement of the rest of the staff.

3) I overcame my fear of calling parents because of my limited Spanish-speaking abilities.
I practiced a little bit and looked up some vocab words because I knew I was going to have to call sooner or later. I was even able to talk to them face-to-face. Speaking to parents in their native language yields better results. They feel as though they are being conversed-with rather than being talked-to. I plan on having a lot more Spanish-speakers in the place I am going to work next year.

I will also share some things I need to improve on.

1) Projects: I had them turn in the last project during the last week of school. I think I gave them ample notice, but I could have worked with them a little more. I also thought about moving the due-date up so they would have time to upgrade if necessary. I plan on integrating AOI's more in my projects next semester.

2) Quizzes: I had three quizzes throughout this semester. I didn't grade any of them because the students did so poorly. Next semester I plan on having more quizzes and grading them no matter what.

3) Intro and warm-up: I think at the beginning of the semester I did a good job in greeting my students at the door, but towards the end I started slacking-off. Also, I gave the students a warm-up every day we did a lesson. However, some of them weren't working on it because they knew there was no consequence for not completing it. I didn't grade them or check them. I think next semester I have to figure out what to do with that.

That was pretty much a summary of my first semester. My goal for tomorrow: finish grading residual work and start inputting grades.

Parents are power revisited

Today, I received a couple of gifts from my students. One gift was a box of white chocolate and peanut bars. Since I cannot eat chocolate, I am going to re-gift this to Priscilla. Just don't tell her. ;) The other gift was a card with a candy cane taped to the envelope. Both great gifts, but I really liked the card since it was more personalized.

These two items brightened my mood for the day. I wasn't bummed out over the fact that I subbed for someone today, so I had no prep and I had to observe presentations until 5 o'clock tonight. There was another noteworthy event that occurred today.

During class, I told one student who didn't turn in her SBP that she should stay after school and work on it. She is on the verge of passing. If she were to do well enough on the project, she won't have to repeat the first semester of Algebra I next year. Sure enough, she didn't show up so I called her mom. Her mom was aware of her failing grade, but she wasn't aware that her daughter could have stayed after school and make it up. She told me she would drive her to school immediately.

When I saw her there, working on the computer, she was not happy AT ALL. She had on her best I'm-in-a-bad-mood-face. It was funny. I helped her a little bit in between presentations. At the end, she made sure I had received her e-mail and that I was satisfied with the work.

Anyways, I almost forgot how powerful parents can be in helping you to get students to turn in their work. I know of one teacher that makes it a weekly routine to contact parents. I think I ought to try a little more and call home more often.

Shirley you're joking

I have a student in my advisory that I am going to call "Shirley". At the beginning of the year, Shirley was not at all enthusiastic about being in my advisory. For about a week, she asked me everyday if she can change advisories. She even went to another advisor and asked her if she can switch to her advisory because I have no control over my class.

Well, she never made it out of my class. It was past the first two weeks of school and too late. Too bad.

Several weeks later, she is talking to me now more than she ever has before. Yesterday, she drew a picture of me. Today she asked me why it wasn't posted on the wall. All her advisors that she drew a picture for put it up on their wall. I had to explain to her that the room does not belong to me.

After presentations today, I ran into her. She was upset because I didn't tell her specifically that she was supposed to present all five IB area's of interaction (AOI's). She's right. I didn't go up to her specifically and tell her. I addressed the whole class. I went over exactly what we expected of their presentation. I even went over the five AOI's with my class.

Anyways, I am glad things turned out the way they did. I thought I would never get back on her good side after giving her an F in advisory on her first progress report causing her a 2-week probation from cross-country. I wish I had the sort of pull on everybody that I do with student athletes.

Goal for tomorrow: Finish grading SBPs and other assignments.

Whistle while you work

I have to give credit where credit is due:

Today, I was hanging out in the teacher's eating area after presentations getting ready to go home. One teacher came up and waited to use the bathroom. As the occupant walked out, the teacher waiting jokingly asked her if she left the toilet seat up. It is a staff bathroom used by both genders. You would think she would just brush off the joke, but they got into a playful argument; or at least that's what it seemed like at the beginning.

The argument was that women expect men to leave the toilet seat down for them after they finish. Why shouldn't men expect that women leave it up when they finish? Thinking about it, I think there is some mathematical reason why he is wrong and we should leave it up and they should leave it down. I'm not going to get into that though.

The offended teacher got a little ticked off and expressed her feelings to other teachers in the area while the offender used the bathroom. It got to the point where she waited for him to finish. When he walked out, she asked to talk to him outside. I thought some stuff was going down so I kind of followed them as they were walking out.

Apparently she is upset over all the comments he has made all week. First of all, I'm thinking "all week?". It's been two days. I know this guy. He is just a cheerful and joking kind of guy. In fact, as he was walking out to talk to the fed-up teacher, he was whistling and swinging his arms around like he was Mickey Mouse. He gave one of my MET students a hard time in a jokingly manner for not remembering my name. I guess I get him and others don't.

Although I give this teacher credit for standing up to the other and expressing how she feels about people joking with her, I think she should have taken it for what it really is and laughed it off. It's December. The holiday break is right around the corner. I'm happy about THAT.

Goal for tomorrow: finish grading SBPs.

Wall decorations and learning environment

So many things happened today, it's crazy. There are so many things running through my mind right now.

First of all, there is one week left in the 1st semester. That alone means a lot. It means there are student presentations all week. It means I will be working on grades this weekend. It means we are half way through the year. I can write more about this, but I think I will save that for Friday.

Today I substituted one period for a middle school language arts class. This was my first time subbing for a teacher in the middle school (our school is middle school/high school). I do teach a middle school section and there are other teachers that wear both hats, but it all occurs in the high school building. Today I realized that the middle school building and the high school buildings are two different worlds.

As a new teacher, I am trained to survey a classroom and notice the set-up (seating arrangement, doors and windows, teacher's desk, etc.). One thing I noticed in the middle school building and other middle school teacher's classrooms is that the walls are covered with posters, student work and things of that nature. Unfortunately, you don't get that as much in the high school classrooms.

Decorating the classroom creates a comfortable learning environment for the students. Posting student work on the walls makes the students feel as though the classroom belongs to them; which it does. This raises the comfort and safety levels students feel when they come into the classroom.

Now, I have always thought about how I am going to decorate when I get my own room. I think I would have fun doing that too. Honestly, I don't think I would decorate my classroom very much only because I am not very creative. I am more about being organized. Once my room is organized the way I want it, then I will work on the decorating part. Also, I would need some students work to post on the walls.

Anyways, a well organized and decorated classroom will make students feel more welcomed and comfortable creating a better learning environment.

Goal for tomorrow: create a scoring rubric for the Small Business Project.

Food for thought

Today I ate with the same group of teachers I eat with everyday during lunch. Usually the talk around the table is student-centered and mostly I just listen. Today, I realized that this may be the cause of my averse feelings towards some students.

Today, walking to the mail room, I saw a middle school student trip over himself and face plant coming down the stairs. He was fine, but I could not help but laugh a little inside. I did make sure he was able to get up on his own and walk away.

The specific event that made me think that the lunch talk caused those feelings is when we started talking about our 9th grade field trip. One teacher, who likes to be in everyone's business asked us where we are going to leave the 9th graders that do not go on the trip. One of our 9th grade teachers asked her if we can stick them in her room and she asked "Can I beat them?" Now, I know they are completely joking, but talk like this occurs almost everyday. Another teacher adds in by telling her she should slap them in the hands with a ruler. The nosy teacher replied by saying that it would almost be worth it if they could bring back corporal punishment.

So, I know what some of you are thinking, what in the world could our students have done to provoke such punitive thoughts? Well, I do not have a good answer for that. I do know that it has caused me to feel a certain way about some students and I do not know if it is right to be thinking about students that way.

Surely I am not going to go around and start slapping students hands with rulers, nor has the thought crossed my mind, once or twice.

I pose a question to you: Do you think that it is okay for teachers in this day in age to be thinking this way or having such conversations knowing that they would never act upon them?

Benchmarks and projects.

Today, my supervisor from UCSD come to pay me a surprise visit. I really was a little surprised. Today, in Algebra, the students were working on the Small Business Project. I decided to give them the entire period to work on their own; half in the classroom and half in the computer lab. My goal was to have most of my students finish their project.

After talking to my supervisor, he made me realize that I need to have more benchmarks or checkpoints when I let my students loose and work on their own. In other words, do not just let them loose. He told me that I should create checkpoints so that students know where they should be at certain times. For example, "you should have questions 1-4 answered by the end of 10 minutes". This is in addition to the expectations I gave them for the end of the period.

The reasons for creating benchmarks is to make sure the students stay on track, they know what they are doing, they do not get lost and they get more work done.

Another thing I realized is that I did not spend enough time in class working on this project with my students. I also let the duration of the project drag on too long.

My goal is to have 2 more projects by the end of the year. I want to create my own or adapt an already existing project over the winter break. I also want to finish up the school year with another project.

Full-time no joke

To some, it may appear as though I have it easy. Sometimes, I think so too. So how is it I am able to come home, eat some food, play some Gears of War 2 and talk on the phone all night? Well, as an intern teacher at Guajome, I have only 4 class whereas a full-time teacher has 6. That means I have 2 extra prep periods. During these prep periods, I work and do what I have to in order to avoid taking anything home. Today I wondered, what if I was a full-time teacher and did not have those two extra prep periods?

That means that I would not have the extra time to do the things I need to do during school hours, write tests for example. Those kinds of things I would have to do after school or on the weekends. This reminds me of what my UCSD professor and supervisor told us: Sundays were his designated teacher-days. On Sundays, he graded tests, wrote lesson plans and prepped for the upcoming week, hermit-style. It scares me to think that I may actually have to do that in the near future.

Trust me. I am not one of those kinds of people that likes to take work home and work on it there. In fact, I left my laptop at school today because I do not use it here anyways. I may end up like those teachers that arrive to school at the crack of dawn and leave around sunset. Honestly, I would do that if it meant that I did not have to work at home all night or on the weekends.

Regardless, I know this is what I what to do and I am almost there.

A farfetched notion of trust

A lot happened today. During a passing period, the Spanish teacher stopped me and told me that all her students are saying in their presentations that they enjoy my class because I make it fun and they are understanding what they are learning. Now, this is not the main thing I want to talk about today, but I do want to say that I have to believe that a little. If you recall from yesterday's post, students lie. However, in this case, I want to say they are being truthful because they did not intend for me to hear about their presentations.

Anyways, I finished my final project for one of my UCSD courses. Today was the last day. We learned how to take Cornell notes. Do not ask me why. We just did.

3rd period was a little off task. Nothing out of the ordinary. I seriously need to assign them new seats.

The main thing I want to talk about is about a string of food thefts that have been happening in the teachers' area. That is the little area where our group of teachers eat lunch. I do not remember if I wrote about this, but one day I found that my chicken nuggets had been taken about a month ago out of the little freezer partition in our mini-fridge. That was not the first time that we have had something gone missing. Previously, another teacher had her Vitamin water taken out of the fridge. We have also had a Nature Valley granola bar taken. The last occurrence was a lean cuisine lunch taken out of the lunch bag laying on the table in the teachers' area.

Now think about this for a second. In order to eat the Lean Cuisine, the culprit had to have gone into the restricted teachers' area, open a teachers' lunch bag, take the lunch out of the bag, open in packaging, poke holes in the plastic, heat in the microwave on high for 3 and a half minutes, open and stir, heat for another 2 minutes, then let it rest in the microwave for 1 minute. Now think about the progression of the food taken. They started with just the water; easy and convenient. Then the granola bar; easy to swipe and it is food. Then my chicken nuggets. This was a little weird to me because I had taken the nuggets out of a larger bag in my freezer and put them in a little Ziploc baggie. They were not individually packaged. Then the most inconvenient, the Lean Cuisine.

This culprit (or culprits) have gotten awfully comfortable in our area. We are thinking about getting a hidden camera and catching the thief (or thieves) in action. I look forward to seeing what we find. In the meanwhile, I have been keeping my lunch, and anything else of value, in a locked cabinet. And you wonder why I do not trust these students?

Students are just actors

It seems like everything that comes out of a student's mouth is a lie. They pretty much lie about everything. The funny thing is, they actually believe the stuff they say.

Today, I handed back a test I graded over the break. I gave two boys in 1st period a zero for suspicion of cheating. Although I did not notice it during the test, their tests looked identical. They even had the same wrong answers. I could hear one of the boys bickering under his breath while I finished passing back the test. Not only did he cheat, he tried to deceive into thinking he did not cheat. After class, I told them that they could retake the test. Not a lot of teachers would do that, but it is enough punishment for these students to make them stay after school for an hour.

Going into 3rd period, a student came around the corner and murmured some indistinguishable nonsense. To me, it sounded like a display of dissatisfaction for being in my class. Not knowing what she had said, I gave her a slight grin. Then she said sorry and asked if she had hurt my feelings. Trust me, she did not. I do not take these things personally. I like to say there is a little bit of truth in everything you say. Therefore, I can only take her apology for face value.

In 8th period, one student appeared to be unusually concerned about his grade in my class. I am staying after school on Thursday so he can retake a test. Honestly, I cannot tell if he will honor his commitment and show up. He only does well when his mother forces him to.

In these past 3 months, I have become distrusting and ambivalent towards my students' appreciation for my class. I realize that some students do not have someone to push them to achieve academically. However, in order to give a little, you have to take a little. I have provided them many opportunities to perform well in my class. I just I have to teach them how to take them.

Last day before Thanksgiving break

Today I got my laptop back from Gerry, our tech person. I left it overnight so he can install some updates and perform some maintainence. Since I missed The Office last night and I have two preps today, I decided to try Hulu. It worked!!! Other than YouTube, I wasn't able to watch any streamed video before. I watched last night's episode of The Office and the first two episodes of The Sarah Conner Chronicles, season 2. Meanwhile, I finished grading the test for one of my classes.

There is nothing too exciting to report. I let my advisory out early so they/I could get an early start to lunch. We had a staff potluck at work. It was awesome. I ate so much. I had some salad, veggies and chips with bean dip and salsa. On top of that, I had pumpkin pie, blueberry pie and baklava. That wasn't a good idea because the dessert was literally on top. I had to move it around to get to the salad.

Other than that, I gave a test in period 8. Then I left for Merced. After a 6.5 hour drive, I am here. For my birthday, Priscilla gave me a transformers toy (Overcast), a sack of marbles, a keychain with my name on it and a hand-crafted card. It was all very creative and thoughtful.

This officially marks the beginning of my week-long vacation and blogging furlough. Happy Thanksgiving!

Goals for the week: finish grading tests and quizzes, grade tutorial slips, input all grades, create a new unit plan, plan for next week.

Having fun at the students' expense

Today I am going to do something different. I am going to record a bunch of little events that occurred today in chronological order. Then, I am going to talk about one of those events.

I did my traffic duty. I gave a test in 1st and 3rd periods (they both went really well). I was tempted to watch Wall-E with the tech class outside of my room during 3rd period. I picked on my 3rd period a little bit. I completed my APLE application. I ate my lunch. I did my lesson on exponents with my 7th period. I was tempted to watch Wall-E with the tech class outside of my room during 7th period. I found out that the little Holtville girl was using the bathroom as a cover story to sneak off with her boyfriend. I submitted my APLE application. I went to the gym. I went to Fresh 'n Easy. I ate dinner. I watched the 3rd-to-last episode of season 6 24. I showered. I started my laundry. Baked something. I was tempted to buy Wall-E so I can watch it whenever I want. I talked on the phone with Priscilla.

I still have a lot to do. I have to finish this blog, pack for next week, prepare the baked goods for tomorrow and fold my laundry. I don't think I'm going to bed soon.

I really have fun picking on my students. In 3rd period, I scared them into staying quiet during the test. If you remember from another blog entry, the last time I gave a test, it didn't go well. This time, I threatened them with an incomplete on their report card. That and the fact that I let them go outside to watch Wall-E when they finished helped keep the room quiet. At the end of the period, they started getting ready early. I told them to sit down because I have to give them their homework assignment. They all moaned and sighed because it is the last day I have them before Thanksgiving break. Then I relieved them a bit and told them that the assignment was to enjoy the break. It was funny. I laughed a little bit after class.

In sum, it turned out to be a good and productive day. Plus, I'm super excited about tomorrow. I get to drive for 6 hours up to Merced. I'm leaving right after work. I will be up there when I write tomorrow's blog entry.

Goal for tomorrow: start grading some tests.

New light to help brighten my sight

Today was another one of those I-think-I'm-starting-to-get-the-hang-of-it feeling type of days. I worked another full-load day. I subbed for another teacher, so I had no prep. I was more than happy to fill-in because I get extra money and I had nothing to do anyways.

One of the classes I subbed for was a 9th grade class. Some of my students are in that class. It was really interesting to see them in a different light. It was a mix of some students from each of my Algebra I sections, my advisory and other 9th graders. They act very differently in this light. One student, for example, is absolutely quiet in my class. In this class, he reminded me of a hungry chihuahua seeing his favorite Kibbles 'n Bits being poured into his bowl. One student told me that he was lucky to have me for 2 periods in a row today; 6th and advisory. Another student asked me if I was jealous of her paper-snowflake.

On the bright side, I have a better understanding of the assignments they are working on in this class. It's like ammunition I can take with me when I ask them about their grades or if they try to lie and say they have no homework.

Regardless, I left work feeling pretty good. I wasn't exhausted at all. I was a little hungry, but not too tired. The fact that I am traveling to NorCal on Friday helps brighten my spirit too.

Goal for tomorrow: prep an activity on exponents for my MET class.

Long day, feeling content

Today was a day of great realization. I'm finally realizing that the end of the semester is coming up. There are many signs of its coming. We have one class meeting left in our EDS 351 course and our professor gave us the assignment for the final project: a scaffolded lesson plan. Teachers at work are frantically putting together the materials needed for student presentations during the last week of the semester. Students are getting concerned about their grades. I'm planning for the rest of the semester. Thanksgiving and winter break plans are coming to fruition. So many things are happening right now. I hope I can get through this with a steady mind and my feet planted firmly on the ground.

I really want to put a lot of effort in my scaffolded lesson plan. I feel I owe it to this class. Plus, it is something I could actually use in my own class. It is also something we can use for PACT (Performance Assessment for California Teachers) happening in the winter. I want to gear my lesson plan towards something I am going to teach next semester. I have no idea what it will be, but it has to be on a broad concept; solving systems of linear equations for example. I also want to include graphic organizers; something I want to use more of.

Today I realized there was at least one other type of graphic organizer and another strategy I could have used in the solving equations unit we are finishing up. One graphic organizer is a flow chart. Solving equations simply involves a series of steps to be applied to every problem. If students understand the procedure, they will understand how to solve equations. They can use a flow chart to effectively organize the steps in the proper order.

There is an elementary strategy that I could have used. It is called sentence framing. This is where you leave blanks in a sentence and have students fill them in with words from a word bank. I did use it implicitly in my instruction, but I think the students would have understood more if we had actually worked it out. The way I would use sentence framing is by having students justify every step they make in solving an equation.

Today was a long day, but I am feeling content. It was productive both for me and my students. I learned more about teaching strategies. I now have a goal: to use sentence framing in teaching the solving inequalities unit starting after Thanksgiving break. I know this will help me to improve upon my teaching and help the students understand what they are learning.

24 damnit

Today was a 24 day. Since today was Monday, the periods were about 30 minutes each. For my Algebra I classes, we had a homework quiz. After the quiz, we played the 24 game for the remainder of the period. It's the one with 4 integers on a card. You have to use basic operations to obtain the solution of positive 24 or negative 24.

The bottom line is...oh my gosh. I thought these students would be more into it. In retrospect, I don't think I would be into it if I were in their shoes either. This is the 24 game with integers. This includes positive and negative whole numbers. The solution can be either positive 24 or negative 24. This raises the level of difficultly. To top it off, we only had about 10-15 minutes to play after the quiz. Plus, there was no incentive for the winner. But hey, it's better than a worksheet. Plus, I cannot emphasize the importance of adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing integers. These are basic skills crucial for success in Algebra.

I don't know. Maybe we needed more time to "play" this game. Some students were into it though. But even those students were having difficulty solving the problems. I wonder where the creators were when they designated this game for ages 12+.

Also, we played the 24 game at home. Not the card game. I left that at work. I'm talking about the show 24. I got my roomies hooked. We started watching season 6, so we can get ready for the premier of season 7 on Sunday. I'm super excited for that. Anyways, the game ended up being not what we expected. In two episodes, the word "damnit" was only said 3 times. If I remember correctly, Jack had only said it once of those three times. Grrr. Actually, I'm not too mad. After all, I do have to wake up at 5:30 tomorrow morning.

Also, I love Priscilla.

A state of moratorium

This may sound a little conceited, but I was truly impressed with myself today. After getting 3 hours of sleep last night, today I woke up on time, made it to work on time and prepared for the entire next week. I even stayed after school a little longer. One parent showed up. She checks in on her son's progress periodically. Then a couple of students came in wanting to learn more about the fields of aerospace and mechanical engineering. They want me to find an engineer willing to talk to them about his or her career. Lastly, a student not in any of my classes came in my classroom because she didn't want to do her work. She was in the computer lab outside with her friend that was doing homework. This girl spent about 5 minutes asking me who is in my classes.

Despite the lack of sleep, I think I had a pretty great day. After getting rid of that girl, I started getting ready to leave. Right outside, there was the math leader and the current calculus teacher talking to some students on the open floor. I guess they were asking him what class he was going to teach next year. He jokingly repeated "Algebra I" five times. I guess the students asking him are juniors and they want him to teach calculus. They asked him who was going to teach calculus instead and he said "Mr. Velazquez" pointing at me. "Why?" one student replied. "Because he likes calculus" he answered.

I do like calculus, but this got me thinking about more than just math. What am I going to be doing next year? My original plan was to move back to Holtville after I graduate and get a house. However, many things have changed. Most notably, is the new relationship I am in. There's that and many other factors that will ultimately influence my decision of staying here in SD or moving back.

If I am offered a full-time position at Guajome, I may just go ahead and take it. I like my job there right now. The students are great and the co-workers are very supportive. Another big factor is the ability of my mother to care for my younger siblings while she is on disability. I have a brother in the 9th grade. As a 9th grade teacher, I feel I should be more involved in his academics; especially because he wants to go to UCSD. I also have a brother in the 2nd grade who was in danger of repeating 1st grade last year. Because I watched 3 other siblings grow up, naturally, I want to be there for my youngest brother.

All these things have been racing through my mind for the past month or so. Honestly, I don't know what I am going to do. I wish I could give people a consistent answer. It's frustrating to tell one person one thing and another person something else. I guess I will just have to cross that bridge when I get to it.

Never trust someone under 18

Today I got a new rotation of MET students. They make a group of 12 7th graders and I will have them for the remainder of the semester. It's so weird hearing that. It's almost been a semester! Anyways. I know I have my work cut out for me because, all of the students have a C or below in their mainstream math class. Plus, each of the students' math grade declined in the second grading period. Right now they are working on exponents and radicals. I'll try to help them not only become experts in exponents and radicals, but become good little learners.

I started off by telling them a little about myself. I told them that I am from Holtville and one girl said she grew up there. Holtville is awesome. It's a small farm town in the Imperial County with a population of about 5,000. I hope to find a home and settle down there eventually. For now, I'm here in sunny San Diego.

Anyways, soon after, she went to the restroom. Then the VP came in my room asking for her. I told him she was in the restroom. He told me to "watch out for her". Apparently, she likes taking advantage of her restroom privileges. I couldn't believe it. Here is this sweet little girl from Holtville taking advantage of her bathroom privileges and the VP making an effort to track down her class and tell her teacher to "watch out for her". She came back and said that one of the security guards made her wash some markings from her hand. That is why it took her so long. I'm so swayed to give her the benefit of the doubt. I guess I can't be too trusting of these students.

It's like a wise-man once said: "Never trust someone under 18".

A few adjustments and management is restored

Today went really well. Better than I had expected. I wasn't expecting a lot of cooperation today since the students had just come back from a 4-day weekend and frankly because it was 8th period.

I gave the students a new seating chart. Really, it was minutely revised from last time. A few adjustments, if you will. For some, it was a reminder of where they are supposed to sit. Why can't students remember where they sit? We would all win. I had one student who sat in the back. She was really stubborn and actually refused, albeit politely. I gave her two options: 1) sit in her assigned seat or 2) go to the vice-principal's office. I know she doesn't get along with him, so I gambled and gave her that option. She chose to sit in the assigned seat. The whole period she was unusually quiet and taking notes. Anyways, I posted up the seating chart for their reference.

Because of that, the students were doing really well. They were quiet and I was able to talk uninterrupted. I had planned on review classroom procedures today; especially what to do when they come into class. They were so good, I decided to skip that and go straight into the lesson. Because of that, I ended class with a few minutes left to spare; not too bad. Some students started on the homework and actually asked me some clarifying questions.

To top it all off, no one stayed for after-school tutoring, so I was able to leave a little earlier. That could also be a bad thing. We shall see.

Veterans Day-No school

Today was cool because I got to sleep in until about 8:30. I would have slept in longer, but my mom called. Anyways, I started the day by going to UTC with Wilmar. We stopped at Macy's and went to Sport Chalet. He got a new pair of court shoes and I got nothing. Then, I accepted a loss to Wilmar in squash. After that, we came back to Wilhouse, showered (separately), then watched some 24, season 6. Season 7 premiers on Nov. 23. At that time, I will be in Merced with Priscilla. I don't know which one I am more excited for. :D And that's about it. Now I have to prep for tomorrow slash talk to Priscilla.

Understanding what you are learning

Although there were no classes today, I learned a lot. After today, I realized that I am not the only teacher having difficulties. Then again, it's naive to say that no one else is having problems. It's just that outside of these professional development days, no one is discussing their problems.

Today, while presenting our unit plans in our house collaboration, I found out that another teacher is experiencing students that do not understand what they are learning. I am experiencing the exact same thing in my math classes. What's happening is that our students are applying concepts, but they do not know what the concepts are. For example, if you ask them to solve for x in the equation x + 5 = 2, they know to subtract 5 from both sides of the equation resulting in x = -3; an equivalent equation. However, if you ask them what the addition property of equality is, they do not know.

I do realize that I am partly to blame. I mean, I did teach them the definition of the addition property is, but I could have given it some more importance. It's also because for 9th graders, it's hard to understand abstract concepts. They are naturally inclined to subtract 5 from both sides rather than apply the addition property to get an equivalent equation.

I am happy to report that I think the steps I am taking to address this are the right steps. The teacher I mentioned before is adding questions to his tests that assess students' understanding of concepts. I am applying more importance on the definitions and understanding of the concepts and the interconnectedness of the concepts. I am also planning on testing them on this, in addition to testing them on the application of a series of steps.

All in all, I'm glad that the unit plan I earnestly completed over the weekend is a step in the right direction. I only wish I had started emphasizing the understanding of the concepts earlier in the year.

Substituting for the first time this year

Today I had the opportunity to substitute for another math teacher at work today. This was good for two reasons: 1) it got me out of the twice weekly collaboration meeting and 2) I'm getting paid for it. I subbed for an Algebra II class and all they did was take a quiz. I simply had to proctor it.

The students were really great. They were really respectful; probably because I told them I teach there. I followed the plan the teacher left and gave them about 10 minutes to study. I even helped a couple of students with some examples. Then I gave them the instructions and passed out the quiz. They were absolutely quiet during the quiz. Even when they were finished, they were respectful of the students still working on the quiz and stayed quiet.

I was astonished because I remember the time where I gave a quiz in 3rd period and they were as good. They are a lot of factors that may explain the difference, including the fact that my students are freshmen and this class had 10th and 11th graders. I want to believe it has mostly to do with me and my classroom management.

I'm pretty sure the teacher has her procedures in place. The students all seemed to know what to do because they were all consistent. They all stayed quiet after the quiz (surprisingly, because for 4th period, I forgot to mention that they needed to stay quiet) and they raised their hand and asked to go to the bathroom when they needed to. I can tell they are also not used to leaving early because I didn't have a lot of students packing up until I told them so.

Anyways, big SIGH. It has become more apparent that I have some work to do with my students. Honestly, I think they need to learn HOW to take a test. Don't worry. I promise you: I will teach them.

Just a good day

So this graphic organizer I told you about yesterday went surprisingly well. I started the class by having them throw out the skills and concepts needed to solve equations. Then we sorted the list into two categories: skills and concepts. For the last part of the activity, I handed out the graphic organizer and had the students organize all the information.

One reason why I believe this activity went well was because they all completed in the allotted time. It took about the entire period, but we finished the activity. They finished with about 5 minutes left in class. I was really pleased with how the activity turned out, but I think I could have included more scaffolding.

Tomorrow, I will print out a table, perhaps on the back of the graphic organizer, with two columns; one for skills and one for concepts. Hopefully this will help the students organize their ideas.

I could have also asked the students to write a reflection on how this helps them communicate their ideas. I didn't think of that until we started the activity. It's up here though, so next time I will remember.

Know where to find resources and how to use them

Wow. So we made it through half of the week. Today, since I had tutoring after school, it was a much longer day. I can tell because right now I am EXHAUSTED. In fact, this blog is taking about 2 hours since I napped in the middle of it. Anyways, I'm ready for the weekend. Seriously.

Something cool happened today. I got a cabinet! I mean, I'm sharing it with someone else, but I can leave my things in the location where I usually hang out. Now I don't have to wait for class to end and avoid disrupting a class by picking something up in one of the three classrooms I teach in.

This will also help me save time during prep by not having to run around 3 different classrooms. Also, I can pack a few reams of colored paper to use for copies. Oh, and food. I can pack some food there so I don't have to pack a lunch everyday. Sometimes I may oversleep and not have enough time to pack a lunch.

Anyways, before the year started, I was told that if I see a cabinet, then take it. Apparently, there is a storage shortage at work. Of course, by the time I figure out what was going on, all the cabinets were taken. Now I have one, so it's cool. It all comes from experience: knowing where things are and how to use them. In this case, if I hadn't claimed the cabinet, someone might of. It also helped that a couple of teachers noticed our need of cabinet space and took us into consideration.

Express your ideas in a different way so more people understand

Today was a crazy day. A lot happened today and it all happened so quickly. I feel as though the day was moving along without me. I guessed that's a good thing. I don't know. I know that it's 6:30pm right now and I am at home. Usually on a Tuesday, I don't get home until about 8:30 because of class.

Today after class, a classmate of mine approached me and asked if he can come in and observe one of my classes. He needs to observe a couple of students for the English Learner case study we had to do. We had to analyze two English learners' performance in a strategy we implemented in the class. I said yes and we're going to coordinate his visit later.

That got me realizing that I could be doing more to help my students learn what we are currently going over. My plan is to create a graphic organizer to help the students organize the information in a differenty way: graphically. What I am thinking about is a web chart with "solving equations" in the center. What branch off the center concept are the properties needed to solve equations. I think this will be a good review for the end of the chapter.

So this provides a different way students can organize the information, demonstrate their understanding to me and to express their creativity. In other words, it allows them to use a different mode of communication to express their ideas, to show me what they know and how they are understanding the concept of solving equations.

The correct solution may be lying right underneath your nose

Nothing extraordinary happened today in class. I handed back their tests. Most of the students did not do well at all so I also gave them some time to work on some practice worksheets. However, a couple of interesting things happened today after work.

Today after work, I decided to open up our dryer because my clothes were coming out of it a little damp. I even went to Wal-Mart to pick up a screwdriver set with the star-shaped bits. Well I took the dryer apart and looked for evidence of an open circuit or cracked coil; something of the nature. I did not find anything. About the time I decided to put it back together, Wilmar walked into the garage and observed some of my work. I asked him to help me put it back together. When he positioned himself to help me, he noticed the heat level was set to 'delicate'. Apparently, when the dryer is set to delicate, there is almost no heat being applied to the clothes. I felt so ashamed. If I had simply checked the control panel, there would have been no need to take the entire dryer apart. However, I did get to see the inside of our dryer and clean it out in the process. Later, Marvin, my other roommate showed up soon after. It took the three of us to put the dryer back together. Four of us if you count Sarah, Wilmar's girlfriend. She showed us the diagram that helped us figure out how to replace the belt.

The other thing that happened today occured while playing squash at UCSD. I was resting in between games and overheard a couple talking about logic. The man was talking about solving problems. You have to solve problems one step at a time. If you solve a problem one step at a time, you are almost guaranteed to get the right answer. This is what I tell my students all the time. Sometimes they get lazy and try to go straight to the answer. Sometimes they get lucky and get the right answer. Most of the time it's wrong. I try to tell them that solving problems mentally is hard. I even put myself in their shoes and tell them that not even I can solve problems in my head. Anyways, I learned a couple of great lessons today and they didn't even occur at work or school.

Set expectations and stick with them

The test during 8th period went pretty well. I set my expectations at the beginning of the class. During the test there was no talking until towards the end when people finished up. They did have the cryptogram to work on when they finished the test. If they were talking quietly while they were working on it, I wasn't too annoyed. However, I realized that I shouldn't have any talk at all; regardless of if whether or not they were finished with the test. Honestly, for being the last period of the day, on a Friday, immediately after an assembly and on Halloween, I believe the students did very well behavior-wise. At the end of the period, I was in a decent mood and I gave them a few pieces of candy each. For future reference, I do think I need to be more clear in my expectations and be more strict in enforcing them during tests.

Since today was Halloween, I believe there was a lot of fun spirit in the air. Surprisingly, many students dressed up for Halloween and I think most of the teachers did as well. I was actually not looking foward to giving a test in 8th period. I thought they were going to be rowdy and that no one was going to be able to concentrate. The assembly rallied all the students up via a costume contest. They also played a face painting game in which people who didn't dress up for Halloween got the face painted by people who did dress up. Fortunately, they had lunch after the assembly to cool down and refocus. Overall, the day went really well and I am happy with how the day went.

After school I helped my friend move out of his apartment. His mother was there helping him move out and clean up. I thought it was funny to see them interact the same way they did when we were kids. What she did was snap at him as soon as he started imitating his younger brother. She didn't put up with it back then, nor does she put up with it now. I thought it was cool to see. Anyways, the point is, I think I need to be more like my friend's mom and enforce the rules more strictly and consistently.

Consistency = 1 / (Nagging + Frustration)

Today turned out to be a great day despite what happened in 3rd period today. Today we had a quest (as long as a quiz, worth as much as a test). I administered the test in first period with absolutely no difficulty. I started the day with a little classical music. I had them listen to it for a couple of minutes, then I asked them if they wanted me to do a couple last minute problems on the board. I did a couple, then I handed out the quest. As I expected, there was absolutely no talking. If they finished early, I had two cryptograms they could work on, which they all completed. I even gave them some halloween candy and let them go a few minutes early.

Third period did not go so well. I mean, it started off well. I played the music just like 1st period. There was some opera thrown in there, so I had to turn it off. Then I asked if they would like me to do any problems on the board before the quest. No questions. I made sure and I asked them again. Again, no questions. So we began. What happened was that there was some sporadic chatting going on here and there. Now, I know they weren't talking about the test, so I simply reminded them not to talk during the quest. It happened quite a bit and since I was a little tired from a lack of sleep the night before, I wasn't being as strict as I should have been. Plus, a lot of them were asking me how to do the problems. Up to a certain point, I was helping students one at a time which caused me to turn my back to the majority of the class. I almost wanted to create a new and different test for the next class session. Now I know what to do for the next test AND for tomorrow in 8th period. Oh, and I didn't give them candy.

One positive thing that happened at the end of the period was that while I was talking about upgrades and retakes the bell rang. I totally ignored it, but a couple of the students did not. They stood up and I told them to sit down. I think that was remarkable. I do have to give myself a little applause for that.

Immediately after, I called my comfort and support. She simply reinforced the fact that I should have been a lot stricter about talking. She told me about one of her teachers who took a test away from one of her classmates for asking for a pencil a few moments after receiving test. Now I know I have to be strict and follow-through with my specifications. I'm not a fortune-teller or anything, but I guarantee you that tomorrow I am going to take someone's test away.

A minute feels like an eternity

Keeping students after class is a discipline that is somewhat controversial. I have played around with the idea in the past. Today, I saw it done the way I think it should be done.

I observed another teacher at our school today and the students were being a little chatty. The teacher said that if they are going to waste his time, he will waste their time after class. He held them for one minute after class. I am not against keeping students after the bell, but it seems like every time I have done it, it was merely for dramatic effect. You see, the teacher's activity did not stop when the bell rang. That is how I believe it should be done. It should be an extention of class.

When I made them stay after, I made them sit quietly for one or two minutes. I also nagged after a few seconds of complete silence. When they sit there quietly, it makes a minute feel like an eternity. When they're finishing up an activity, a minute is nothing. Thinking back, I have not done that in a long time. There has been no need to. I think after I did the first time, the students realzed that I could actually do that and so they don't waste my time as much anymore.

Go with your gut...and what your girlfriend says

Today turned out to be a great day. I did the activity I told you about in periods 1 and 3. I think I pulled it off. I could of however, modeled it before I let them start. In other words, I should have done an example of how I wanted them to solve the problems and sort out the steps. Tomorrow, I will try doing that for 8th period. However, I'm afraid they won't have enough time to complete the activity. We run a little tight on time in both periods today. So much so, 1st period worked on the activity until the bell rang.

While I was brainstorming how to execute the activity with my girlfriend over the weekend, she pointed out that I did not indicate the original problems. In my gut, I agreed with her, but my original plan was to challenge the students and have them pick out the problems and work from there, OR, pick out the solutions and work backwards. After talking to her about it, I decied to give them some time to figure it out on their own and then give them the original problems.

In 1st period, they did say that it was too hard, so I gave them the problems about half way through. Most of the groups finished about half. For 3rd, I gave them the problems at the beginning. All they had to do then was find those problems in the pile and sort out the rest of the steps from there. That turned out to be a little better since most of the groups actually finished or came close. The point is, in both classes, they were working hard to figure out these problems and review for the test.

Take what you can get because there is no going back

Today was sort of an easy day. We took the entire freshmen class to the SD Zoo today. I split my advisory into three groups since I had two chaperones. Therefore, I only had to manage 11 students. I consider that much easier than going through all my classes.

I want to flip this intro to a topic we went over in class on Thursday. The topic is taking what you can get because there is no going back. It is derived from one of the 8 Keys of Excellence-"This is it!" Since this is my first year teaching, I need to be taking every bit of advice and using every resource I can find to learn from. While I could be doing more observations and talking to experienced teachers more often, I have been taking advantage of our school resources.

Today, after I got back from the zoo, I finished the activity I have planned for tomorrow and Wednesday. I took 8 different linear equation problems, made 7 sets, laminated them on construction paper, then cut them out into the individual steps. The game for tomorrow and Wednesday is for the students to take the whole pile all mixed up and put them back together.

They're laminated, so guess what, you can use them over and over again. You can also make different sets for different concepts in the future. Just make sure you find a TA to help you because the work can be a bit monotonous. Plus, it's called a laminator, not a lamitor.

More frontend work, less backend work

I think I am starting to get in the groove of planning. According to my supervisor, my planning is really developed and I have a good idea of what is coming up week to week.

Today I spent 10 hours at work. About 4 hours of it was spent prepping for next week and I am not even done. I am doing a review activity on solving linear equations. The prepping included a lot of cutting, laminating and more cutting. Today, during 4th and 6th periods, I was in the upper admin building using the big paper cutter; you know, the one with the big swinging blade. The principal walked up behind me and said "Hi Eric!". I was astonished. She knows my name! I replied "Hi Carla". Then I went to advisory, lunch and 8th period. After 8th period, I had detention supervision. After that, I continued cutting with the big paper cutter. The prinicipal comes in shortly after and asks "What are you still doing here?!" She said it in a jokingly manner. I told her that I hadn't been there the entire time.

On the topic of taking as much in as possible, I was talking to an experienced teacher while I was cutting about projects and lesson plans. She started the conversation by asking if there was an easier way. I told her using the cutting was the easiest way I can think of. Then I told her the plan was to prep a lot on the frontend and not do as much work during the activity. Plus, I can lend these materials I am creating to other teachers and use them in future years.

Lastly, I don't think I would have gone so many hours if I wasn't so excited about Priscilla coming down. She is here now and staying for the weekend. During that time, I am going to try to do more work; including posting grades on my lily pad like I promised my students. Hopefully she will help.

Think positive because it is positive

Today I realized how sweet and innocent my 6th graders are. They are so cute in asking me if they can do the littlest things. "Can I get a drink of water?" when the fountain is only 10 feet away. "Can I check my e-mail?" when they are already on the computer. "Can I read over there?" when there is no seating chart. These are all questions they asked me today. This almost makes me consider being an elementary school teacher. Almost.

This is the MET class I am talking about. I just got this rotation of students two weeks ago. Today we had a tutorial day. I let them work on their homework for the first hour and free time for the last 30 minutes. These students come in to my class today a little rowdy. This is because they had just gotten out of advisory. In our middle school, the advisory classes allow the students to run amuck. This is partly the reason why it took me so long to get my advisory (9th graders) to the point where they are now. But that is a different story. Anyways, they run amuck in advisory, then come to my class with an elevated heart rate. This gets them all excited and it takes a few minutes to calm them down. After they calm down, they are the sweetest kids ever.

They give me the energy I need to make it through the day. Today in particular I went into 7th period a little tired. But afterwards, I came out of class pretty energetic and pumped up for class tonight. In this case, I can truly say that I am excited for 7th period and that I am happy to be there.

Keep your cool, don't engage in confrontations

Today was a bit of an off day. Today, I came back after being off on Monday. Apparently, one of my students did not behave for the substitute. She was given a detention for playing with glitter glue and not putting it away after being asked to put it away several times. The sub, who is another math teacher, wrote her a detention slip after class. So today, I had to give it to the student. However, she would not sign it. I did engage in a little confrontation with her, but I managed to cut it short. I ended up tearing up that detention slip up and giving her two detentions for not following directions. She said she wouldn't sign it because what the teacher said was not true.

I wish I had done 2 things differently: 1) give her the slip before or after class and 2) instead of engaging in the confrontation, give her the option of signing it or taking the 2 detentions for not following directions.

In the end, I think it ended well. She wasn't too mad at the end of the period. She was more scared that she would get in trouble at home for having to stay after school. The weird thing is that even after this incident, this student still acted the way she normally does; talking to me about her upcoming quinceanera for example. I would have assumed that she was going to start an even bigger confrontation. But no, she accepted the punishment and I continued on with class.

Retelling stories for comprehension, explaining problems for understanding

Today went pretty well. I did an activity in Algebra I called Four Tutors. This one I picked up from a teacher at the Preuss School. During the period, while students are working on what I call "On Your Own" problems, or "OYO's", I check to see which students are doing them with ease (check for understanding). I also check to see which students are able to do them with a little guided practice. Then I pick 4 students to be the "tutors" from those two groups. I give them each a card with a problem similar to the problems we just went over on one side and the answer on the other. Then the tutors situate themselves around the room and the other students go around to each one with a sheet with 4 squares. The goal is for the students to solve all four problems in the allotted time. The tutors are chosen to assist the students in solving the problems.

I think this activity went pretty well. One reason why I think it went well was because we have done this activity before. One reason how I can tell it went well was because one student who needed some guided practice in solving the problems before was able to explain how to solve the problem to the students during the activity.

I think this is important because being able to explain a problem to another person reinforces the student's understanding of the problem and the ability to solve it.

This connects to what we learned in class tonight. We learned that retelling stories reinforces an English learner's comprehension of English. Also, retelling stories (or in a math class: how to solve problems) in an individual or small group setting is less intimidating than doing so in front of the entire class. The four tutors activity allows students to demonstrate their understanding without going up to the board and explaining a problem to the class.

Don't plan the plan if you can't follow through

Finally it fits! The title is a lyric from the song "A Man's Gotta Do" from Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

So today I took the day off. I called in sick. I felt I needed another day of rest before I started the week. I actually rested and feel a whole lot better now. However, I did mess up with something I am supposed to do everytime I take the day off; sub plans.

Don't get me wrong. I did do them. In fact, I spent about 2 hours doing them yesterday. Then I sent the e-mail to the school last night. However, when I checked my e-mail this afternoon, I realized I forgot to attach the document. I was so upset at myself. I spent those 2 hours on Sunday for nothing. Anyways, another learning experience this is.

On a positive note, I spent my day off at my alma mater, Holtville High School. I observed 3 math teachers; one of whom was my 7th grade math and geometry teacher. That was quite an experience. The 3 teachers all had their own teaching styles. The classes were completely different. I observed a geometry class, algebra I class, then math analysis.

Observing the algebra I class strengthened my desire to move a little faster. Their class is already learning the slope-intercept form of equations and we're just learning how to solve multi-step, single-variable equations. Then again, I don't know the details of his pacing. He could be jumping around for all I know.

Besides that, I ran into some people I know from school. That's always nice.

Lastly, I want to close with something one of the teachers told me. He told me to do as many observations as I can: take what you can get, steal some ideas and try them for yourself.

A lesson is like a vector, it needs a magnitude and a direction

So nothing extraordinary happened today. Therefore, I am going to talk about my lesson plans this week. It's really cool because I do the same thing every two days. That means every two days, I have a new lesson plan and I don't have to worry about writing one Thursday night.

Well, this week, both my plans were not followed through. I blame my own overambition. However, like my UCSD supervisor says, it is better than falling short. It's worse standing in the front of the class not knowing what to do next than it is overplanning.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, I planned a lot. I sort of knew it beforehand, but I created a unit plan that I wanted to finish by Thanksgiving break. I planned to go over how to take notes, how to do homework, the addition property of equality and the multiplication property of equality. I got through the addition property with some time left, but not enough to complete the multiplication property. That was fine because there was a clear transition between the two and it wasn't a weird place to stop. So I had them start the homework. I postponed the multiplication prop. until Thursday/Friday.

On Thursday/Friday, I planned on teaching them how to do equations involving both properties together and working on their small business project. However, I changed my plan to cover the multiplication property and their SBP. Well, again, I overplanned and only got through the multiplication property. Now I'm about one day behind in my unit plan. I'm going to have to rethink that this weekend.

Anyways, I'm still learning how to create plans that work out time-wise. However, it's hard to predict what will happen in the classroom. It is better though, to overplan than it is to fall short. So, make the best use out of your time and plan a lot of things to do. If you don't finish, there is always tomorrow.

New unit, new seating chart, new attitude

Until this week, I had let my 3rd period sit wherever they wanted. There was no seating chart. On Tuesday, I started a new unit, so I wanted to do things a little differently this time around. The new seating chart seemed to have worked on Tuesday. Today, it was even more apparent to me that the seating chart improved their behavor.

Of course, other factors play into this; parent conferences for example. I separated two girls because both their mothers said they get especially distracted by each other. You can imagine they did not like that idea. I had no problems with them talking at all this week though.

The striking event that happened today was that one of my students pointed out that the class today is going very well. He hypothesized that this could have been the best class [behavior-wise] ever. Then he said that it probably had something to do with the seating chart. Then he said "You really put a lot of thought into it, didn't you mister?" I did, I really did.

Also, today my UCSD supervisor came in to observe me. He was sitting in the back of the room. He also noticed a big improvement in the students' behavior. In his observation notes, he said "They are much more focused (most of the time, other than the occasional ice cream and myspace talk). And the side talking is almost not here at all."

This is good news because I do want my students to learn. I do want them to see that I put a lot of thought and effort in my plans and actions. And I do want to be successful in my first year of teaching.

Keep your parents informed part 2

So today something remarkable happened in tutoring. The participation rate tripled. I had about 6 students show up. One had to make up an exam. 3 were working on the current homework assignment. One was making up a project. One was working on Spanish homework. Do you know why so many students showed up? Because of the parent conferences.

After parent conferences, not only does attitude and behavior improve; so does their effort. A couple of the students were a little upset at the fact that they were still in a classroom after school, but I don't think they can hold that against me. In fact, they were blaming their own mothers. I was jokingly threatening to call their mothers and they shouted "NO!" with panicky undertones. To be honest, this made me a little happy. Now I can threaten to call their mothers.

What another teacher at the school does is he makes his students line up to call their parents if they missed an assignment. He makes them read off a script he wrote on the board. Something to the effect of "I'm calling you because I didn't turn in my work". To me that sounds a little harsh, but I've heard it's gotten positive results. I'm not saying that I have been considering doing that, but I know it's something I can resort to if needed.

So I want to close by reiterating that it is utterly important to keep your parents informed. They help you tremendously by making sure they do what they are supposed to be doing at home and making them stay after school. I have been more susceptible to call home on a regular basis. I also regret not doing it earlier in the school year. Next year, I will definitely open up with that.

Tangents, fires and 6th graders

Today I want to talk about tangents. I don't mean the kind of tangent that is a line which intersects a circle at one point. I'm talking about the digression from one topic to another.

Today started like any Tuesday or Thursday, except on Tuesdays, I don't have traffic duty. 1st period Algebra I, 3rd period Algebra I, 5th period prep and 7th period MET. In 3rd period, during my lecture, the class went on a tangent after one student blurted out "Did you see the fires?" She was refering to the fires in Oceanside. These students live right around there, so of course, they all started getting into the conversation. Immediately I had to redirect their focus back to me.

In MET, something similar happened. Firstly, I've been meaning to talk about MET. I like this class because it's very different than the traditional math class; any class for that matter. MET stands for Math, English and Technology. The students enrolled in the class rotate between the three subjects every five weeks. Today, I got a new set of students. They are sixth graders! I was so surprised. Of course I got the roster last week, but I hadn't looked at it until 7th period. These sixth graders are awesome. They're as energetic as my 9th graders, but their energy is very positive. They are eager to learn, listen and do pretty much whatever the teacher says. 6th grade teachers, I envy you.

Anyways, since it was the first day with them, I introduced and told them a little about myself. While I was telling them about myself, I told them that I was a college advisor in college. They started asking me about college. I could see that they all had some sort of interest in going to college, or at least in a career that requires college. This tangent I was okay with. It was actually related to what I was talking about. Plus, it showed me that I may be able to use my knowledge of college admissions with them. After we refocused, I did an introductory activity with them.

I did an activity called "About You". I had them write down their name on a piece of paper. Then I had them write 2 things about themselves that are commom; e.g. I have a dog. Then I had them write down 1 thing about themselves that is unique; e.g. I speak 3 languages. Next, they hand them in and stand up. I start reading off the 3 things. After the first one, the people with which the statement does not relate sit down. Same after the second and the third. The idea is that the only person standing is the person whose paper it belongs to. The activity allows me and the rest of the class get to know the students.

Despite the tangent in each of those classes, I did manage to complete everything I meant to complete. However, I believe I can use some sort of verbal cue other than my "quiet down and listen up" to redirect the students' attention back to my lesson. I could also use a non-verbal cue. I don't have one at all as of right now. I have been toying with my electronic timer. I think I'll use it tomorrow with 8th period and let you know how it goes.

Finding an appropriate time and place to finish your work

It's funny how walking up the stairs, my first thing to do was write this blog when, in fact, I almost went to bed before doing it.

Why did I almost forget? I was busy prepping for tomorrow and Wednesday. My prep includes writing my lesson plan and completing the PowerPoint presentation. I did it here because I wasn't able to do it at work today. The day was spent in more parent-teacher conferences and professional development. I bearly had enough time to eat. I did manage to run the copies of the homework assignment and other handouts I need for tomorrow and Wednesday.

I did start off on the right foot by keeping a list of things I need to do. I just didn't have one period of time that was long enough to finish it all. I had sporadic, short periods of time in between the conferences and the meetings. What I really needed was a place to myself for a couple of hours to finish my prep. I'm sure if I had that, I would have finished at work and wouldn't have to do it at home.

Keep your parents informed

Today was nothing but parent-teacher conferences. I had 13 total and 11 of them showed up. That was pretty good considering I only expected half.

One event was that a Spanish-speaking parent of one of my students was there with her son and met with 4 of us. The whole time she seemed disconnected or uninterested until I started talking. Even though her son was able to translate for her, hearing me talk in Spanish opened up a channel she didn't get with the 3 other teachers. She was looking up at me and asking me questions. In other words, she was actively engaged in a conversation with me rather than being talked to. Also, at this point, I had gotten through talking to 2 other Spanish-speakers. I was getting increasingly better at it. I felt good after the last conference.

Anyways, what I learned today was that as a large group of stakeholders in our school, it is important to keep parents informed. I would say our school does a pretty good job of giving our parents opportunities to be informed. However, unless we are proactive in getting the message across to them, they will not get it. The trend is that students greatly improve in those aspects after phone calls and conferences. Keeping parents informed helps us by having their support in completing homework and their behavior in class.

Don't be afraid to ask for help, Part II

Now we're in advisory. Yesterday, I had asked my house leader to sit-in my advisory because I felt things get a little out of hand. I wanted him to observe and give me some feedback. Worrying about advisory has made me a little stressed. These students are used to not doing anything during advisory. This is because in middle school, advisory wasn't as structured. They didn't receive a letter grade and, according to the students, the teachers let them do whatever they want. Well high school is very different and some of them still don't realize it. I try to follow the house plan as much as possible. Tuesday is the teacher day. I get to teach what I want to them. Wednesdays and Thursdays are tutorial days. These are their days to do work from other classes. Fridays are fun days. Currently, we are engaged in a kickball tournament. Next week, my advisory gets to play.

So today was a tutorial day. The reason I asked my house leader to sit-in was to give me some feedback on what I can do differently with these students. Surprisingly, advisory went a lot better than I was expecting. Either they are starting to get it, or the fact that the house leader was in the room casued them to be more hospitable. Today I had some students from my math classes come in for help, so I helped them. After advisory, I let them go for lunch.

When I met with my house leader afterwards, he said I am doing just fine. In fact, he saw things in my class going a lot better than what he has seen in other classes. This feedback was such a relief to me. It also caused me to wonder if I am setting too high standards for my students. But now I have something to compare the following days with.

After lunch is the last period of the day; Period 7. This is my MET class. MET stands for Math, English, Technology. It is a remedial class for the students to fortify their skills. The students are in four groups and rotate around the classes every 5 weeks. As you may have guessed, I am the math teacher. So this is my 2nd group of students. By the way, these are 8th graders. That's what makes me both a middle school and high school teacher. This class is pretty chill. All we do is tutorials. I help them with their work. When they finish their work, they are free to play on the computers and I am free to do some of my work.

Today, however, I did something I wish I hadn't done. I received some disheartening news in an email and caused me to because a little upset. I ended up lashing out on a student because I was reading the email and a student was trying to tell me about his day. First of all, let me say I am really really ashamed for what I did. I brought something in from my personal life, showed that it affected my emotically, and took it out on a student. Now let me say that he half-deserved it. The instructions were clear: take out some work and work on it, if you don't have work, take out a book and read it, if you don't have a book, play one of the math games. He was just sitting there doing nothing. At the end of the period, I brought them back inside, told them they that they did a great job today, asked them to put up their chairs and let them go about 5 minutes early.

Oh but wait, the day isn't over yet. We have parent teacher conferences, remember? I had to really remind myself after forgetting about the conferences on Monday. Oh, by the way, other teachers, thanks for calling me and reminding me. J/K. Most of them didn't show up anyways. Anyways, today's conferences went pretty well. Informing the parents of their child's progress is really important because most of the time, the students don't tell their parents how they are doing. The parents don't find out until progress reports are mailed out. Then the wonder why their child isn't doing so well. Thus, parent-teacher conferences. Plus, it's a good chance for me to practice my Spanish. Overall, they went pretty well. It was my first set of conferences. At first I didn't know what I was getting to. Now that I got a couple out of the way, I feel confident about stepping into the next set of conferences.

Lastly, I want to briefly talk about class tonight (I'm talking about grad school class). In class we learned that asking for help from veteran teachers is important. That was the very thing I asked of my house teacher yesterday; help. It's comforting to know that I have made some connections between what we're learning in the Education Studies program and my actual teaching practices.

Don't be afraid to ask for help, Part I

As a first-year teacher, one thing I try to do is get as much help as possible from veteran teachers. I recommend this to anyone who has started something new.

Today started off pretty well; the usual Thursday. I got to work early. I did my traffic duty. Then, when the bell rang, I went to the classroom to get ready for class. On Thursday mornings from 7:15-7:35, I stand by the traffic lane, where students get dropped off, making sure the cars keep moving. Pretty boring. After that I'm off to Period 1 (Algebra I). I set up my laptop and the ceiling-mounted projector for the instructions. What we did was a reading comprehension activity on an article about student enrollment in public schools. That went pretty well. "What does that have to do with Algebra" you might ask. It doesn't have anything to do with Algebra. Well, there was a graph portraying the student enrollment levels for the past 6 six in the San Diego Unified School District, but that wasn't the point. The point was to teach students how to read informational texts. Believe it or not, math teachers are reading teachers too.

The activity is called Think, Predict, Read, Connect. First they talk about what they think they know about student enrollment in groups. Then they write it down on a cool little worksheet I handed out. Then I told them the name of the article and told them to predict which ideas they thought of will be in the article. They read the text. Then they made connections between themselves and the article. Making connections is the key. It helps them create a better understanding of what they just read.

They next activity was pretty fun. We played Syllabus Jeopardy. Just like it Period 8 yesterday. Only this time (Period 1) we finished the game just in time.

Period 3 on the other hand didn't go as I had planned. It turned into a class discussion, which is okay with me as long as they read and make connections. A few of the students started ranting about how schools only care about student enrollment for the money. They asked me how I felt, but I tried to stay out of the discussion. Because they were getting in a discussion, I gave them more time on it. That time, however, bled into the time I had set for Jeopardy. Needless to say, we didn't finish. This was partly because of the overtime in the discussion and the messed up projector. For Period 3, I use another teacher's classroom and in his classroom, there is a shotty little LCD projector on a cart. It was working completely fine until a started Jeopardy. I was really irritated because it would have made Jeopardy a lot more fun for the students. On the other hand, I think I figured out the problem. See, it has been crapping out for a long time now. I think the projector overheats. We have long blocks, so they are on for long periods at a time. The ceiling-mounted projectors are of a much higher quality. It would make things a whole lot easier if we had one in there. Especially because I like using PowerPoint. Anyways, what I do on PowerPoint, I can do on the board. So I continued the game on the board. So we didn't finish, nor was it visually stimulating for the students, but that's okay. It wasn't a complete bust. Now on to prep.

Period 5 is another prep. I have 3 prep periods because I am an intern teacher. I teach 3 Algebra I classes, 1 MET class (I'll explain what that is later) and I have one collaboration period with the other 9th grade teachers. So 3 preps, 3 Algebra I classes, 1 MET and 1 collaboration makes 8 periods.

Half way through this prep, there was a fire alarm. Last week we just had a fire drill and last Tuesday, I went over emergency procedures with my advisory students, so I thought it was another drill. It was in fact a real fire drill. So after standing under the warm sun for nearly half an hour, we found out it was merely a piece of sawdust that flew into smoke detector.

Now off to advisory...

I think at this point I should stop and finish in a new post because it might be just as long.

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Today started like any normal Wednesday. I arrived to school early and set up my laptop in the teacher's area where we eat lunch. Since I do not have my own classroom, this is my make-shift work space. Then at 8 o'clock (Period 2), we had 9th grade house collaboration. This is where the 9th grade teachers meet twice a week. Our main topic on the agenda was parent-teacher conferences. We just talked about scheduling really. Nothing too exciting goes on in collaboration. It does help, however, to be in constant communication with your students' other teachers. We can talk about what's going on in other classes and keep things consistent among our students. Our next trip is to the San Diego Zoo. We are taking the entire 9th grade class; about 235 students. It's on October 27. I can't wait.
Period 4 and 6 I have prep. We are on a block schedule, so odd periods are on Tuesdays and Thursdays and even periods are on Wednesdays and Fridays. 8 periods total, 85 minutes each. On Mondays every period meets for 35 minutes each. Anyways, I prepped for nearly 3 hours. Needless to say, I was not prepping for the entire time. In fact, I used part of the time to run to Stater Bros. to pick up a big bag of candy for a last minute idea.
In period 8, we played Syllabus Jeopardy. We did this after our activity on Population density of course. Syllabus Jeopardy actually went pretty well. The candy was the prize for the winners. I used this template to review my syllabus. It's important to review the syllabus every once in awhile or when the situation warrants it. In this case, we are going into a new unit on Tuesday and I wanted to start fresh.
What I learned today was that if the situation warrants it, it's okay to review the syllabus. They all know it, but they need to understand that you are serious about your classroom rules and expectations, policies and procedures, homework policy and everything else. It's like another teacher told me today, it helps us as teachers and it shows the students that you mean business. He also said that they are not shit-heads, but so-and-so-heads.