Laziness

Yes, LAZY seems to be the theme as of late. My students don't want to do ANYTHING. Thank goodness tomorrow is the last regular day of classes. We'll just be going over their final review packet in every class.

It's gotten really hot in my un-airconditioned building these last few days, but the lazy kicked in about a week ago. Last Thursday I gave my freshmen a test, and after grading the larger of the two classes, the majority failed. They knew it was difficult, but instead of giving it 110%, my students decided that they just didn't care anymore.

There are a few A's floating in the sea of F's.

Oh well. There's not really any time left to do any remediation or corrections, so I'm going to be nice and curve it, but for some, they still won't pass this test. And those few A tests... they're going to be getting LOTS of bonus points. :)

It's frustrating.

Just 15 tests to finish grading, and then I can go to bed!

Pet Peeves

Got my papers out to grade a few minutes ago, and started through the first page of a test. It was fill-in-the-blank and matching (just the first page). I told them EXACTLY what would be on this section. So I made each blank worth 2 points, so this whole easy part of the test ends up being 30 points, or 30% of the test. I feel like that's generous, since I told them exactly what was going to be on it. I'm being completely honest here. I told them.

And yet even though I still have 5 that I haven't even looked at, already there was more than one person that did not get a perfect score on this part. And it's not like I told them about it the day before. I told them in advance. 

But this isn't even the thing that prompted this post. Oh no, it's something much worse. And as a disclaimer, this test is not the first time this has happened. It's not just a particular student, or even a particular class. There's always going to be kids that do this...

What is it you ask? Is the anticipation killing you yet??

Well...

Okay fine. I'll tell you.

My Biggest Pet Peeve:

When students write, "I don't know how to do any of this" on a test, quiz, or anything really.

WAS I TALKING TO THE BRICK WALL IN THE BACK OF THE ROOM FOR THE LAST 2-3 WEEKS?!

That's just so unacceptable. Do students really think I'm going to feel bad? If you don't get something, then you're aware of it. And you're aware of it before test day. So ask questions. Come in and get help before or after school. Ask your friend who is really good at math, and a huge sweetheart to boot, to help you! OH MY.

Teenagers.

And no, I don't think this makes me a bad teacher. I offer help before and after school. I stay until five freaking o'clock two days a week for night school and I'm available to help them during that time. I'll come early if someone asks me to. I have a study hall and a prep period, which I've been known to give up to offer some assistance. I've introduced students to awesome websites Khan Academy that are great for extra help if the times that I'm available are not convenient for their schedules. And there's often time to ask questions either during a lesson or at the end (I give them time to start their homework for this very reason!)

I'm done. I still have these tests to grade. I could have sworn they went smoothly last year, but maybe I was wrong...

Clothes, Twitter, and Other Musings

Wow! It's been quite a while since I've said anything here. I'm just not the greatest at blogging, which is funny, because I always have plenty to say. I have a bunch of things in my head, but never know which ones to spend the time typing about. And sometimes I think of things that should definitely go on my blog but then I don't actually write about them. And then I'm not sure what I should say. I write as if I'm this anonymous person, yet most of my readers are my friends. And those who aren't won't care who I am, so I could probably blog about all kinds of things. But then there's always the chance that a student will stumble upon this. Or a parent. Or worse, a parent who doesn't like me. (There's always one or two.)

So, I'll blog away about something kind of generic while I contemplate all that word vomit above.

One of the things I like about my job (most days) is my wardrobe. I'm one of those weird people who loves to dress up. And I like wearing heels (again, most days). Today I wore a new skirt I bought this weekend. It was from The Limited (my favorite). It was originally over $69, but I found it on the final clearance rack for $16.99. And if you didn't already know this, The Limited offers student, teacher, and military discounts, so if you qualify for any of those, take some kind of ID and take advantage of the extra 15% off everything! In the end it was $15 something, even after tax. It's a plain grey, high waisted skirt with a couple of pleats in the front and super cute.

With it, I wore a black tank top that has little off-white polka dots and my favorite dark purple sweater (both also from Limited). I finished off my outfit with my amazing purple shoes and an awesome silk scarf given to me by my friend from China!

In other news, I created a twitter page that I'm going to try to use to inform my students of things like when tests and quizzes are. I've only told one class about it so far, but we'll see how that goes.

Another cool thing... the student council at our school is doing this awesome thing called "Sweet Tweet Friday." On Fridays, students are encouraged to tweet something nice about someone else with the hashtag #sweettweetfriday. They have even been encouraged to say something nice about someone outside of their typical friend group. This is one of the main reasons I created a twitter that I could use to communicate with students. This way I can interact with them and not care if they follow me. I also have a personal Twitter. It's still public, because that's the best way to get the most out of twitter, but I'm blocking any student who tries to follow me on that one.

I'll keep you posted on the status of that, if I remember. So... more to come, I guess! I'll try to be a better blogger. And try searching #sweettweetfriday this weekend. It will only be the third week though, and understand that teenagers are weird, so they may say some interesting things...


One more random thought... the best thing about midterms is that they force me to get caught up on all the grading I've been neglecting! Yay!

Working with Teenagers...

Sometimes it's great... other days... well, they're TEENAGERS...

(Meant to post this Monday after a frustrating afternoon.)

But really, it's not that bad. I usually really enjoy them. One of my girls from last year stopped in to see me today and made me laugh so hard. Teenagers can be really sweet.



And another of my usual odd little anecdotes...

Tonight I was sitting on my porch watching Hulu and knitting. Yes, I know I'm a weirdo, but that's what I was doing, and I was quite enjoying myself. It's been gorgeous outside lately.

And then this group of girls walked by. Four of them. It's dark outside. I've got a porch light, but I can't really see the girls on the sidewalk. One says, "Hi Miss _________, you have a nice house!" I seriously have no idea who that was! Okay, actually, I think it might have been the little sister of a student of mine, who knows me from when we sell pop at the volleyball games, but I really am not sure at all! But that seems fitting, because if they weren't middle schoolers, I'm pretty sure they were freshmen. Oh well.


Anyway, enjoy this picture of my scarf I was knitting! It's a bit longer now than it was when I took the picture, but not as long as it should be. I realized I had knit a row when I should have purled (or vice-versa) and so I had to unravel 15 rows. :(

Sorry the quality kind of stinks... my crappy phone is the only camera I have since my camera I bought when I graduated high school finally kicked the bucket a couple of months ago!

On that note, I am finally up for a phone upgrade in 1 week, which I've been counting down to for a year or more! But I can save that rant for another post, maybe after I get my new phone!

Reflections on Blogging

Blogging... I don't even know what to say about the experience. I'm a math teacher. Writing isn't really my thing and yet I do enjoy writing sometimes. I LOVE to read but I always HATED writing papers when I was in high school and college. It wasn't that I was bad at it, it's just not something I enjoy. I have a journal, but it's mostly full of notes I've taken at church and random tidbits about how things are going in my life, and the occasional ranting about things I'm really excited or really upset about. It's mostly just a way for me to get stuff out of my head and on to paper, so I can stop overanalyzing it.

But anyway... 

...I tend to get a bit off topic...

I think I mostly do this because I love stories. Obviously, as a public school teacher, I can't just tell the whole world about every bit of my day. Teaching has its highs and lows, and you live with the good and the bad. But here's the thing: I work with teenagers every day. If you don't spend much time around teenagers or it's been a while since you were a teenager, let me remind you of something... teenagers are a whole different breed of humans! And sometimes they just make life interesting. 

As I look back on my blog, I'm flooded with memories of the last year and I'm really glad I started this blog. If you want to know what inspired me to write it, you can read my first ever post, entitled Today I was told I should write a book.... A lot of my blog is just random musings about daily life of a teacher, and a lot about the struggles of my first year. But what I really enjoy is is telling funny stories. Like the day a student basically told me another teacher was "hott" or yesterday's post about lunch! I also wrote another one recently with 3 random stories all from that week. Some of the posts are actually serious reflections of my job and my life, but they might be boring, unless you're really interested in learning about the trials of the first year of teaching. 

Anyway, this post is kind of a little trick to get you to read my old posts. Sorry? :) 

Oh, and if you're interested in reading a really awesome blog about writing, read my roommate's blog.

Rough Week

Bad tests this week in Algebra, then some remediation and MUCH better grades, but it took two days away from time to do new things. Then my car died. And talking to parents is always stressful. We had conferences at the beginning of the week, which started the week off with a really long day. And kids that were late to help with the fundraiser at the volleyball game.

None of the stuff was too horrible, it was just a long week and a lot at once, and it just seems rough sometimes, you know?

3 Random Stories

I had a headache before lunch. My Algebra II class came in and I yelled, "SIT DOWN." That sure got them quiet. I do raise my voice on occasion, but I don't actually yell all that often. Then I said, "Well, at least I know one way to get you to shut up. I have a headache so you're going to get out your homework and be quiet." Or something like that.


So today a teacher came into the teacher's lounge at lunch. Told us about a situation with a student. One teacher was so shocked she spit out her McDonalds' Happy Meal Milk, while the teacher next to her spun around and nearly died laughing.

My roommate majored in English (as you know if you checked out the link I posted to her blog). I (obviously) majored in math. So this weekend we had an argument that only the two of us could have. We debated the spelling of a math word. Oh, and I won. Ha! (The word was "collinear" by the way.)

P.S. We started watching NUMB3RS on Netflix. You really should check it out if you've never seen it. I'm in love with Charlie. If you know a hot genius like that, send him my way. (lol)

Check Out My Roommate's Blog!

Yes, I totally stole her title, because she just promoted me on her blog about 20 seconds ago (maybe 2 minutes by the time I finish typing this)! She's a wordpress girl, but you should check it out anyway. She's a writer. Seriously, she's writing a novel. So yeah, we have totally different career aspirations... math vs. literature... but we're great friends.

You see, when I was hired last year, it was about 2 weeks before school started, and I was hired at my alma mater, so my first year of teaching was spent living at home with my parents. But this spring, I became a real adult and I bought a house! So in addition to not updating my blog over the summer because it's a teaching blog and I wasn't teaching school, I also didn't update because I was busy with cleaning and painting and remodeling and babysitting. (You've gotta do something to make some extra cash when you buy your first house!)

So anyway, go check her out. Because one day she might be a famous Sci-Fi writer!

http://dorothylynn.wordpress.com

Year Two

I could have SWORN I had updated a week or so ago! Guess not! The year is off to a good start. I'm "teaching" night school two days a week and already busy with fundraisers for the sophomore class. Also, we had our first meeting for the second year of Ohio's Resident Educator program. Busy as can be!

Year Two Fast Approaching!

This first year teacher has reached August, which means the full year one is about over! Guess the blog needs a new title...

I haven't thought about school much this summer. Tried to just take a mental break from it and I've been working on my house and enjoying life. I've also been babysitting. I prefer to call myself the nanny though, because we keep busy!

I've made one trip to the teacher store and found a book of Geometry worksheets that work out to give you a word, phrase, picture, or something similar if you do everything right. That way students will have an idea of whether or not they're on the right track. They're great for sick days or professional days! I've been to my classroom, but there's not a ton to do there. I don't decorate the way my friend who teaches elementary does! What I really should be doing is beginning to work on what I want those first days to look like, but who knows how much thought I'll give to that next week on vacation. Guess those 4 week days when I return and the two teacher work days will be important for that!

Also I will be having lunch with my new co-advisior for the Class of 2015... No more popcorn! We're moving to pop, so we're moving up in the world!

Just thought I'd quickly post to say that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth, I'm just enjoying the schedule of a teacher, because I must say, it's pretty great!

Enjoy what's left of summer and hopefully I'll revamp this soon!

The Things Teenagers Say...

I could probably write a book on crazy things teenagers say, like when they hear a rumor that I'm dating a coach, they come to class and ask me, "Are your favorite sports to watch soccer and tennis?" But that's nothing to what happened today.

We had a fire drill, and after a few minutes of standing outside, a male teacher summons everyone back in, saying, "We've got work to do!" Then the best thing ever happens. One of my female students says...

"That Mr. ----------, he is one good looking man!"

Me: "What?"
Her: "Nothing"
I laugh.
She says, "I didn't think you were listening!"

I love my job.

Even on boring test days that result in hectic afternoons.

"As you all know..."

One of the things you should know if you're soon going to be a first year teacher is this: sometimes you'll find out things that everyone assumes you already knew. This could be bad. You may have neglected something important, or you may have some unforeseen responsibility, or you might need to clean a popcorn machine, or... I don't know! But the point is, it's usually not good to find out something that you were supposed to already know. No one likes that.

But sometimes, finding out something you didn't already know can be really good. Exciting even. Like this:

Today I got an email began: "As class advisors you all know you are invited to chaperone the senior class trip to Cedar Point..."

I definitely didn't know. I saw the trip on the calendar and thought, "Gee, I wonder how you get yourself signed up to chaperone that?!" But it was just a fleeting thought, because I figured there was no way the new girl was going to get a day off to go to Cedar Point.

But apparently she does.




[And that popcorn machine... a few freshmen are definitely getting pulled out of study hall for that one...]

Oops!

To my blog-reading friends, sorry it's been so long! I've been extremely busy helping my best friend plan her wedding, supporting my kids at sporting events (our basketball team made it to the Elite Eight), running my little brother around town, getting paperwork together to buy my house, and just generally dealing with being a first year teacher on top of all this!

I gave my Algebra II students a test Friday. It was over a LONG chapter. We reviewed for 3 days and they still complained (they don't always study...)! So I put off grading them this weekend thinking they might be a bit of a bear to grade. But I did take them home... I tried to be good (I'm not really sure I ever intended to do it over the weekend). Anyway, I took them out of my book bag in order to find the few that weren't finished so those students could finish today, and I just went to take them out of my bag, and what do you know, I left them at school! THIS was HONESTLY a mistake. Not doing them on the weekend... that was a choice. But I was going to at least get started tonight... guess I'm not now because there is no way I'm driving to the school and sneaking around those dark hallways to retrieve them now!

I'll miss you all if the kids riot and kill me tomorrow... (kidding! They're good kids... usually)      ;)


So what else have we been up to? Well, we celebrated Pi Day in all of my classes! We gave each digit a different color, then made a paper chain with each digit corresponding to it's color. I think we went through about 400 digits! It was fun. We also ate delicious round things!

Presidents' Day

I just love that it's Presidents' Day! I caught up on some much needed sleep and generally wasted time for a good part of the day, which means I'm spending my evening grading papers.

I just finished grading tests from my first Algebra II class. They did really well! I still have to finish grading the other class... but I graded the first page of them Thursday night, so that's half the battle.

Grades are due by 8 am, so I have to get all of this done tonight. Then I've got to finish whatever planning I didn't get done Friday. Hopefully I can remember what all that is!

Grading Grading Grading

Life has been so crazy lately! I had a couple of easy weeks and now I'm busy and have lots of work again. I thought of something that needed blogged about the other day but can't for the life of me remember what it was.

I let my students talk me in to buying a Singing Valentine Tuesday... for my little brother. Then I went over to the middle school and watched the whole thing! And recorded it with my camera, which I just happen to keep in my purse. It was fun.

Graded Geometry tests today while my Algebra II students took a test. Grading those now. And watching Big Bang Theory too, of course. Have a great evening blog readers!

A Taste of Year Two

Since one of the classes I teach uses the same book as the school where I student taught, I've been getting a taste of what next year (as a second year teacher) is going to be like. It's WONDERFUL. I haven't brought any work home for three days!

We are having some unseasonably warm weather. And it's February 1st! I hear that this month shall also bring a huge snow storm, but as an educator, I'm also COMPLETELY okay with that. But for today, I'm enjoying the chance to pretend it's spring. Sitting outside in my gazebo with my laptop is pure bliss.

So why mention the weather in my teaching blog? Well today my last class BEGGED me to take them outside. I checked with another teacher to make sure this was okay, then we busted out of there! I only had 14 in that class today, so I let them sit out on the patio to work. I walked around and helped out and counted them about once a minute (felt like working at camp). But it was great because the sun was shining and I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful February 1st. 

Sorry I've been gone so long. Things got crazy for a while, both teaching and personally. But I'm still really loving my job! :)

Christmas Break is Here... ALMOST!

Today was my last day of actually teaching before Christmas. We still have exams, but that just entails handing them out, giving instructions, and waiting for them to be returned so I can grade!

I love teaching. I like my kids. I actually baked over 100 cookies tonight, just because I wanted to give them a treat for exams. But being a teacher unfortunately involves more than that. There's meetings and meetings, and, well, more meetings. Sometimes these can be helpful, other times it seems like a waste of time. It's always great to spend time with other "math minds." (If you are one, you'll understand, and if not, well, you probably think the whole lot of us math people are insane, so you probably think we should stick together.) We get along well because we understand each other and we value the importance of mathematics. But we're also people. Some days we all work great together, and sometimes not. I love my colleagues; I guess I should stop rambling and get to the point...

Today one of the other teachers I work with said to me, "I really appreciate you, as a teacher." That meant the WORLD to me. To be young and new, and have someone who has been there for a while and has experience tell me that I'm doing a good job and that he thinks I bring something to our department as an educator... that's unbelievable. It's difficult to be a first year teacher. I struggle to stay more than a day ahead of my kids (in planning, not in general content knowledge... I do understand the math!). I feel like there are days that go really great, and days that I could have done more. I could have had more prepared. I could have had better examples. I could have reviewed more. I could have better prepared them for this or that. I could have spent more time planning. All of that. There are days I feel like I didn't get through to anyone, or someone was left behind, or that maybe they just all hate me. But compliments like that encourage me. They were healing words to my soul. If you ever read this, THANK YOU. I doubt you will ever even stumble across this silly little blog, but if you do, I'm sure you're smart enough to figure out who I am and that I'm talking about you.

Teachers

So, in middle school, my favorite teacher found us a class pen pal. She lived in Russia, and we would all write to her and she would respond to us. Ten years later, that teacher is now retired and my friend. And she found our pen pal on Facebook. We've been getting to know each other again, and she is ALSO a teacher. She teaches English in Russia. So we get to discuss teaching and education. It's such a cool connection. And today was her birthday. But it's already tomorrow there...

In order to find out what time it was there, I used one of my FAVORITE sites: Wolfram Alpha. It solves math problems, gives you information about any date in history, can tell you the about history of the use of any given name, or it can serve as the best world clock ever. It tells you the time at the location you want to know about, the time where you are, and the difference.

Anyway, give it a try. I personally love to check the time in places like Rome, where I spent 5 1/2 weeks in 2009.

**I made a widget that let you type in the place, but it didn't work. So if you want to try it, go to Wolfram|Alpha and type in "What time is it in Russia?" or any other place. Or really, any kind of search!

**Oh, here's the link to my widget... I haven't managed to imbed it, but this is the next best thing. The Best World Clock EVER

Sometimes Being the New Teacher can be FUN!

I've thought about updating a lot recently and I think it was because I've had some things to say, but most of them are slipping my mind at the moment. We had our second conference night and I actually DID meet with some parents this time. That went pretty well. The rest of the 3 1/2 hours I was there I worked on things I needed to get done for school. Unfortunately, I STILL had work to do when I got home... it's never-ending! I did a lot today during my prep and brought next-to-nothing home this weekend! THAT is SO exciting!

For those of you who don't know my secret identity, I'll tell you this. I'm a very petite girl. I don't really look like I'm that much older than my students. Today was payday... a.k.a. Jeans Day. I was standing in the halls between periods and one of my students was telling a friend a story as they walked by. I gave her some sort of look and laughed, and her friend says, "Who is that?!"

Apparently, some kids have no idea I'm a teacher.

More School Spirit!

I chaperoned a "Spirit Bus" to a soccer game tonight. Our boys are doing great, and have won again, which means they've now made it further in the playoffs than ever before. Our awesome assistant principal really wanted to encourage students to come to the game and ride the bus, so he made it completely free. Free ride, free entry, and free food. My mother was skeptical... she didn't think we'd fill a bus. I was supposed to ride a spirit bus to a football game against the school I student taught at, but the bus was cancelled so I didn't go. We were afraid it would be like that... Wow, were we wrong! Not only did we fill a bus, but another full bus left an hour later when some of the sports teams finished their practices.

I love soccer, so the game was great, but the ride wasn't bad either. Got some tests graded on the way there and a power point made on the ride home. I'd call it a successful evening!