After school ended today, I was packing things up in my classroom when my classroom door opened. In walked three high school boys, two of whom I knew and the third looked familiar, but I never had him as a student.
The first one who walked into the room said, "Hello, Miss Grivna. Do you remember me?" in his slight German accent.
"Of course," I replied. Really, how could I forget this kid who moved from Germany to our school halfway through my second year of teaching? He made me laugh almost every day in class and was a bright kid. Back then, I taught the math support class for kids struggling in their core math class. This kid was there mainly to get up to speed on how the book was set up and vocabulary support (Chicago Math is practically all vocab.).
Yeah, he's a junior in high school now.
The second boy who walked in asked me if I remembered him at all. I could never forget his face, but it took a couple minutes to recall his name. I was confused by this at first (I've been pretty good at recalling names when I see former students) until he said that he was surprised I remembered him since I only had him for two weeks...in summer school.
The memories came flooding back then. Oh, the behavior challenges from that one!
My mother had actually been in my classroom during summer school one day that year, helping me with some stuff in my room. After this boy left my room when summer school ended that day, she laughed and said that he was more than a couple handfuls! She didn't know the half of it, either.
That boy, as well as the other familiar face, are high school seniors this year. Wow.
They have study hall last period at the high school. They said that there are 65-some students scheduled for that study hall period and only about 10 show up. The rest just leave school early. From what I've heard from other years, this is common. If I remember correctly, students have to fill out and sign some form to be able to skip last period study hall.
No matter what, though, it was a lot of fun to see these kids and visit with them for a few short minutes. I love it when former students come back and keep me updated on what's happening in their lives! :)
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Thursday, September 9, 2010
It's Good to Laugh
This year has started out so much more stress-free than last year. My 7th grade math colleague agrees. Last year was just so much push, push, push with the brand new text books and needing to write new lessons for everything and new assessments along with everything else new for the new books. Ick.
This group of kids continues to be fun.
The past two days of lunch have been filled with crazy stories and so much laughter. It's nice. We had a fun discussion about California's Proposition 19 (legalizing marijuana-related activities, among other things about marijuana) during lunch today. Yesterday the conversation was about concerts, old cars, and quoting movies. Well, the quoting movies part seems like it is turning into an everyday occurrence at lunch now. As long as our new health teacher keeps coming to lunch in the staff lounge, I have a feeling we will continue hearing movie quotes as we eat.
I was just about to shut down my computers today after the kids left when I decided to read one last e-mail. It was from our secretary who works in the copier room, making copies for teachers. I had put in an entire chapter of guided notes to be copied this afternoon for my Trans Math kids. It was the whole first chapter. That felt incredibly nice to be that prepared! The e-mail from our secretary was about making all of the copies that I requested this afternoon. This is what her e-mail stated:
"Hi Meg,
I did an oops. I was copying your projects and was wondering what was taking so long when I realized that your first project got entered as 1005 instead of 105 copies, so you have about 400 of one of your packets. :)"
Whoops is right! I figured that I now have copies of that lesson for a few years worth of teaching now at least. :) As I replied and let her know that, I found that I was laughing pretty hard about the whole silly situation, mistake and 400 copies and all. Again, it felt good to laugh and really mean it at school.
That's when I realized how really and truly stressed I was last year with the new curriculum. I can only remember a handful of times from last year when I laughed as hard or as often as I have this week. And it's only the first week of school.
Let's hope that this is the beginning of a theme of laughter and fun this year. I need that kind of year at school.
This group of kids continues to be fun.
The past two days of lunch have been filled with crazy stories and so much laughter. It's nice. We had a fun discussion about California's Proposition 19 (legalizing marijuana-related activities, among other things about marijuana) during lunch today. Yesterday the conversation was about concerts, old cars, and quoting movies. Well, the quoting movies part seems like it is turning into an everyday occurrence at lunch now. As long as our new health teacher keeps coming to lunch in the staff lounge, I have a feeling we will continue hearing movie quotes as we eat.
I was just about to shut down my computers today after the kids left when I decided to read one last e-mail. It was from our secretary who works in the copier room, making copies for teachers. I had put in an entire chapter of guided notes to be copied this afternoon for my Trans Math kids. It was the whole first chapter. That felt incredibly nice to be that prepared! The e-mail from our secretary was about making all of the copies that I requested this afternoon. This is what her e-mail stated:
"Hi Meg,
I did an oops. I was copying your projects and was wondering what was taking so long when I realized that your first project got entered as 1005 instead of 105 copies, so you have about 400 of one of your packets. :)"
Whoops is right! I figured that I now have copies of that lesson for a few years worth of teaching now at least. :) As I replied and let her know that, I found that I was laughing pretty hard about the whole silly situation, mistake and 400 copies and all. Again, it felt good to laugh and really mean it at school.
That's when I realized how really and truly stressed I was last year with the new curriculum. I can only remember a handful of times from last year when I laughed as hard or as often as I have this week. And it's only the first week of school.
Let's hope that this is the beginning of a theme of laughter and fun this year. I need that kind of year at school.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Mrs. S
First day of teaching with my new last name is now over. I'm exhausted.
Today brought with it my largest classes of the year: 28, 24, and 27. My first hour, with 28 kids, was so quiet you could probably have heard a pin drop most any time during class. I know one kids' name from that hour now - he was the one who actually raised his hand and said something during class, as well as volunteered during class. The only kid out of 28. Weird.
My second class may prove to be an interesting one. I'll be keeping my eye on a couple of those kids.
Lunch was good. A nice break in the middle of the day to finally sit down. Oh, and eat some food that my husband packed in my lunch. :) I always enjoy the realization the first day of school that, once lunch hits, I only have one more class to teach before the day is over. SUCH a nice thought.
Last hour was my class of 27 kids...and a para, thank goodness. I've never had a 7th grade para in my last hour class before (always has been during 3/4 block). Last hour with a para is a very nice change. And with 27 kids in the class, a much needed change. These kids were pretty chatty, but that's no surprise. Last hour is always chatty, without fail.
The end of the day brought an early dismissal, which continues to be annoying. It seems like the early dismissal comes earlier every year. I barely had time to explain one of the homework assignments (the one that required explanation, not the "cover your math book" assignment) before the kids were dismissed to their buses.
Once the kids left, homemade cookies and brownies, along with chocolate and white milk, were in the lounge for the teachers - a fun tradition for the first day of school and something I look forward to every year. The cookies were yummy. I probably ate more than my fair share. :)
On to Day 2, which brings Algebra my way. :)
Today brought with it my largest classes of the year: 28, 24, and 27. My first hour, with 28 kids, was so quiet you could probably have heard a pin drop most any time during class. I know one kids' name from that hour now - he was the one who actually raised his hand and said something during class, as well as volunteered during class. The only kid out of 28. Weird.
My second class may prove to be an interesting one. I'll be keeping my eye on a couple of those kids.
Lunch was good. A nice break in the middle of the day to finally sit down. Oh, and eat some food that my husband packed in my lunch. :) I always enjoy the realization the first day of school that, once lunch hits, I only have one more class to teach before the day is over. SUCH a nice thought.
Last hour was my class of 27 kids...and a para, thank goodness. I've never had a 7th grade para in my last hour class before (always has been during 3/4 block). Last hour with a para is a very nice change. And with 27 kids in the class, a much needed change. These kids were pretty chatty, but that's no surprise. Last hour is always chatty, without fail.
The end of the day brought an early dismissal, which continues to be annoying. It seems like the early dismissal comes earlier every year. I barely had time to explain one of the homework assignments (the one that required explanation, not the "cover your math book" assignment) before the kids were dismissed to their buses.
Once the kids left, homemade cookies and brownies, along with chocolate and white milk, were in the lounge for the teachers - a fun tradition for the first day of school and something I look forward to every year. The cookies were yummy. I probably ate more than my fair share. :)
On to Day 2, which brings Algebra my way. :)
Thursday, April 22, 2010
How Long Does it Take?
So yesterday was the last day of the state tests for the year; Day 2 of the Math testing. I’ve learned from experience that the kids can’t handle much more math after being subjected to the state tests for two hours in the morning. So the two days of the state math tests are game days in my classroom – very rare occurrences for my students.
My last hour class started out pretty good until after I had them rate how the state math tests went. They answered with a finger rating (one finger for going really well; five fingers for going very poorly; two, three, and four fingers for somewhere within that spectrum).
Their hands went down and I began to let them know what they would be doing in class that day – having a free day. I got two words out of my mouth before the whole class erupted in chatter. I walked over to the light switches near the door to turn the lights off, signaling the class to be quiet. As I approached the switches, I realized that the past few times I have tried that, it has not done anything to quiet that class. So I just walked out the door, letting it close behind me.
I stood with my ear at the small opening of the door, waiting to hear the kids quiet down. There were shouts of “Guys, we need to be quiet or Ms. Grivna won’t come back in!” and whispers of “I think she’s not coming back.” I just tried hard to stifle my growing laughter at their statements.
Our 7th grade counselor walked by and gave me a questioning look. I told her that I was waiting to see how long it would take for the whole class to be quiet. She peeked in the room to see who was in the class. We talked for a minute or so and laughed at the whole situation. She was still chuckling and shaking her head as she left.
A couple minutes later, my door opened and a piece of paper was thrown into the hallway, with the door slamming shut moments after. On the piece of paper was a note stating (in muli-colored highlighter):
“Declaration of Algebra
We the
People of
7/8 B Algebra
are really
sorry and
will be quiet.
-class”
I laughed quite loudly and had to read it aloud to the two students sitting across the hall from another class, as they had been witnessing the whole course of events.
I cracked open the door just slightly to hear if the class was going to stop talking finally. They had! I opened the door and got half of one foot into the classroom when three of my girls, on bended knee in front of the door, started to break into song.
I turned my back on them and walked out of the room, completely closing the door behind me. Once the door was closed, I started laughing again. I could hear the volume level increasing again, so I cracked open the door.
The kids began arguing about what they should do to get me back in the room. I thought I would help them a little, so I folded the note they had thrown into the hallway so that just the last two lines were showing (“will be quiet – class”). I held that part up to the door window and stood there, waiting to see if anyone noticed my little hint.
Two students did notice. They yelled to their classmates and pointed out the note in the window. Not more than a minute later, they were silent and I made attempt number two at walking back into my classroom. This time the kids stayed quiet. I looked at the clock. TEN MINUTES had passed since I had left the room.
But, oh, what an amusing ten minutes that had been. :)
My last hour class started out pretty good until after I had them rate how the state math tests went. They answered with a finger rating (one finger for going really well; five fingers for going very poorly; two, three, and four fingers for somewhere within that spectrum).
Their hands went down and I began to let them know what they would be doing in class that day – having a free day. I got two words out of my mouth before the whole class erupted in chatter. I walked over to the light switches near the door to turn the lights off, signaling the class to be quiet. As I approached the switches, I realized that the past few times I have tried that, it has not done anything to quiet that class. So I just walked out the door, letting it close behind me.
I stood with my ear at the small opening of the door, waiting to hear the kids quiet down. There were shouts of “Guys, we need to be quiet or Ms. Grivna won’t come back in!” and whispers of “I think she’s not coming back.” I just tried hard to stifle my growing laughter at their statements.
Our 7th grade counselor walked by and gave me a questioning look. I told her that I was waiting to see how long it would take for the whole class to be quiet. She peeked in the room to see who was in the class. We talked for a minute or so and laughed at the whole situation. She was still chuckling and shaking her head as she left.
A couple minutes later, my door opened and a piece of paper was thrown into the hallway, with the door slamming shut moments after. On the piece of paper was a note stating (in muli-colored highlighter):
“Declaration of Algebra
We the
People of
7/8 B Algebra
are really
sorry and
will be quiet.
-class”
I laughed quite loudly and had to read it aloud to the two students sitting across the hall from another class, as they had been witnessing the whole course of events.
I cracked open the door just slightly to hear if the class was going to stop talking finally. They had! I opened the door and got half of one foot into the classroom when three of my girls, on bended knee in front of the door, started to break into song.
I turned my back on them and walked out of the room, completely closing the door behind me. Once the door was closed, I started laughing again. I could hear the volume level increasing again, so I cracked open the door.
The kids began arguing about what they should do to get me back in the room. I thought I would help them a little, so I folded the note they had thrown into the hallway so that just the last two lines were showing (“will be quiet – class”). I held that part up to the door window and stood there, waiting to see if anyone noticed my little hint.
Two students did notice. They yelled to their classmates and pointed out the note in the window. Not more than a minute later, they were silent and I made attempt number two at walking back into my classroom. This time the kids stayed quiet. I looked at the clock. TEN MINUTES had passed since I had left the room.
But, oh, what an amusing ten minutes that had been. :)
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
"Silent" Lesson
I went to my youngest sister's high school band/orchestra concert last night. As I watched my high school band director conduct, I thought of when he would do silent rehearsals with us. He would not say a word for the entire 85-minute class period. He would get his point across with only his gestures and facial expressions. The only sounds that were heard in the band room were the sounds we made with our instruments. I loved those rehearsals.
I decided to try the whole "silent" thing with my last hour class today as I listened to them correct (yes, listened) their homework. I collected the homework and then started to say as little as possible throughout the rest of class. The kids caught on pretty quickly. It turned into a really fun lesson. Well, at least for me.
The kids who wanted to learn paid attention. The kids who didn't care were talking a little, but were usually shushed by their classmates who were trying to pay attention to my charades at the front of the room. I felt like I got my point across better than for any of the other classes with respect to teaching the kids how to reflect images across a line. :)
I was even able to stay mostly silent when explaining the reflection project the kids worked on today.
And you know what? I felt so much more relaxed throughout the entire class period. I wonder if I could pull off a "silent" lesson again....
I decided to try the whole "silent" thing with my last hour class today as I listened to them correct (yes, listened) their homework. I collected the homework and then started to say as little as possible throughout the rest of class. The kids caught on pretty quickly. It turned into a really fun lesson. Well, at least for me.
The kids who wanted to learn paid attention. The kids who didn't care were talking a little, but were usually shushed by their classmates who were trying to pay attention to my charades at the front of the room. I felt like I got my point across better than for any of the other classes with respect to teaching the kids how to reflect images across a line. :)
I was even able to stay mostly silent when explaining the reflection project the kids worked on today.
And you know what? I felt so much more relaxed throughout the entire class period. I wonder if I could pull off a "silent" lesson again....
Thursday, October 22, 2009
"You're Smart Enough"
I just had a student come up to me during a test and ask how she would find the answer because the number wouldn't fit in her calculator so she couldn't figure it out. I told her that she should look at the numbers and find a pattern of the numbers so that she wouldn't need a calculator. She didn't like that answer. I told her that I knew she was smart enough to figure out the pattern and the trick. She glared at me! Apparently telling a student that they are smart and they can figure things out on their own is a horrible thing for a teacher to do, at least in her lazy attitude mind.
Less than a minute later, back in her seat, she whispers, "oh!" She looks up at me and smiles. Uh huh. I knew she could do it. I just wish these kids would believe me once in a while.
Less than a minute later, back in her seat, she whispers, "oh!" She looks up at me and smiles. Uh huh. I knew she could do it. I just wish these kids would believe me once in a while.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
The Wonders of Technology
Oh, yes. Technology is so much fun (I'm serious), especially when it doesn't work (okay, now I'm sarcastic).
I set up this interactive assignment on Edline, the site our school uses for students and parents to connect with teachers, classes, and happenings at the school. I only want students to respond on the assignment, so I set it for only students to be able to view and respond. Well, apparently many of my students only ever log in under their parents' account because I got many e-mails the first couple days asking me why they couldn't see the assignment. I had no idea what was going wrong until I had a student log in at school today. It took me a minute of looking at the pages to realize that she had logged in using her parents' account. Once I noticed that, the puzzle pieces fell into place and that's when I figured out that all the kids who couldn't see the assignment were logged in with their parents' account instead of their own. Ugh.
So I had one of my other students who couldn't see the assignment log in with their own username. Of course, I had to look up their username because they couldn't remember it. And obviously they couldn't remember their password either. Most of the kids hadn't set up a security question or an active e-mail account so they couldn't get a new password for their account e-mailed to them either. The media center is closed to students this week due to text book distribution happening there all of this first week. I plan on sending the kids down during my classes next week to get all of that stuff sorted out for them. In the meantime, the assignment is due for the kids at the beginning of next week, so the ones who can't get into their student accounts have to either e-mail me the answers or write them down and hand them in. Oh, the flexibility needed for a teacher.
I also got to register five of my students for a new student account on Edline today. Those weren't difficult once I had done the first one. It just takes a bit of time for each one. I can handle that.
And to think I get to go through all of this same stuff again tomorrow!
I set up this interactive assignment on Edline, the site our school uses for students and parents to connect with teachers, classes, and happenings at the school. I only want students to respond on the assignment, so I set it for only students to be able to view and respond. Well, apparently many of my students only ever log in under their parents' account because I got many e-mails the first couple days asking me why they couldn't see the assignment. I had no idea what was going wrong until I had a student log in at school today. It took me a minute of looking at the pages to realize that she had logged in using her parents' account. Once I noticed that, the puzzle pieces fell into place and that's when I figured out that all the kids who couldn't see the assignment were logged in with their parents' account instead of their own. Ugh.
So I had one of my other students who couldn't see the assignment log in with their own username. Of course, I had to look up their username because they couldn't remember it. And obviously they couldn't remember their password either. Most of the kids hadn't set up a security question or an active e-mail account so they couldn't get a new password for their account e-mailed to them either. The media center is closed to students this week due to text book distribution happening there all of this first week. I plan on sending the kids down during my classes next week to get all of that stuff sorted out for them. In the meantime, the assignment is due for the kids at the beginning of next week, so the ones who can't get into their student accounts have to either e-mail me the answers or write them down and hand them in. Oh, the flexibility needed for a teacher.
I also got to register five of my students for a new student account on Edline today. Those weren't difficult once I had done the first one. It just takes a bit of time for each one. I can handle that.
And to think I get to go through all of this same stuff again tomorrow!
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