Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu~ (that's a long breath let out)

Today I decided to shake things up a bit. It's normally funday Friday, but it has been so long since we've been here on a Friday that I needed to have them work a little first.

I had my students write in their journals about "If you could read whatever book you wanted to, what kind of book would that be? Why?"

Anthony answered that "If I couldn't read a book about relaconsips (relationships)." He told me he wanted to read one about girls, mostly.

Emina wrote, "If I could reade whatever it would be about prombis." I think she meant problems.

Ensia wrote, "I would read about Ms. Franklin. because I would Love to no what u Love." She wrote me a note earlier this week that says,

"Dear Ms. Franklin.
Did u no that i Love u so much and that ur my hero. But me and u are like best friends. And I <3 that! I <3 u alot.

by: Enisa"

I was really touched by that note, and really humbled. I've never been anyone's hero before!

Adrijana wrote, "the book would be about Brenda future. Be cause I want to know how is it goin to be in the future of Brenda's life." Brenda wrote similarly about Adrijana. I thought that was clever, but it shows me no insight as to what she likes to read about!

Joseph wrote, "I would read king of the hill. I like it because it was so cool. I always because it is cool." That's one of our Read180 books, so I guess he'd like more stories about King of the Hill.

Seth explained that he "would read a book about skateboarding and Biking because those are my favorite things to do."

And Azra... "I would read about a girl that lost her family. and how she lost her family in the forest. because it would be fun to read." That seems so morbid and then funny that I didn't even know what to make of it!

Hatija told me that she doesn't really like to read at all because it comes so hard for her. So she doesn't know what kinds of books she's want to read. She threw something down on the paper: "I would read about love stiries." Hatija does like hearing about romance.

So, I read out a chapter of Bruce Coville's book, Oddly Enough. The chapter I read aloud was entitled "The Box," and it's about a boy named Michael who is given a box by an angel and is charged with keeping it safe for almost his whole life. I wanted them to inference and guess as to what is in the box because ultimately we never find out what's in it. Each class was absolutely enraptured with the story! It has suspense, and they are just dying to find out what on earth is inside of the box! On top of that, I got to do a couple of scary voices of those who are trying to steal the box from Michael, and the kids thought it was hilarious. The more I got into it, the more they got into it.

Second hour was convinced, in part of Terry, that it was most definitely a fairy or a baby angel. Haris D. asked me what page we stopped on so that he could read the book later. "I have to find out more!" he exclaimed, pacing until he decided to get onto a computer.

Third hour was convinced that it was THE angel in the box, or maybe even just some other angel. Ibrahim stated, "Maybe it's another life with his woman!"

Sixth hour was bored with the story, and only Fahrudin tried to guess. He thought it was an angel, and Saladin and Hatija went along with him. Angeles had no opinion. Fahrudin got so into the book that he and I ended up reading another chapter. He loved that book. I'm really glad that he did too, because it gave us something in common to talk about that is literary related.

Seventh hour was so into it that Adrijana asked me if I could read to them like I did today on Monday (the class emphatically agreed). Seth thought that it was a bright light. Erik thought it might be the stairway to get to heaven. Joseph thinks that it might be Michael's next life, and then Emina stated that it might be Michael's life started all over again.

It was really interesting to hear their ideas, because really, no one was wrong! We never find out what's in the box. : )

Bone weary and trudging forward

I am weary. Both in heart and body. I feel bad writing this, but I'm just so tired all of the time, and I can't help but wonder if it's my students who are creating this weariness. I'm so tired that I can't even work out. I don't feel like doing Fellows work, and I haven't been sleeping well at night. In fact, I haven't slept more than an hour in two nights. I'm exhausted. The last time I experienced these emotions I ended up with a mild case of the stomach flu back in January.

I know that certain classes are causing me to re-think if whether I should be a teacher next year. My third hour is a constant source of my worst classroom management (I'm super ashamed whenever someone comes to observe!); my seventh just wears me down. Last Wednesday with my third and seventh hours were awful. I don't even want to write about it. But all I have to say is that the sixth graders in seventh hour are just off the wall, and I'm regretting using them as my data group. I was so angry at the two students that were acting out. They made my room look like a circus.

I've been seeing some success with the Read180 program and the differentiated instruction techniques I've been working on. Many of my students are starting to progress into the second disk of the computer-based component of the Read180 program, which has caused others to really want to speed up their progress. The first disk, Art Attack, is pretty boring. The second disk, Disasters, is really interesting because it talks about natural disasters and the devistation that comes of tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, and volcanoes. A handful of students are done with the first disk (which makes me wonder whyyy, because they should have been done with it by now, but I see them doing it so I just don't get it...). They've been asking a lot of questions:

"Can you run away from a volcano? What about a tornado?"
"Is it possible for there to be an earthquake here? THERE IS!? Oh my gosh, duck and coverrrr!!"
"Why are there things like floods and volcanoes? Don't those kill people? Why?"

Seth informed me, after reading the book Hiroshima (a Read180 skinny version of the horrible tragedy), "Ms. Franklin! Did you know that if only half of the world's nuclear bombs went off, the world would blow up? ONLY HALF! That's messed up. We need to get rid of these nuclear bombs before someone accidentally blows them up."

Another student informed me, after I read with him in the reading area, "This book is actually pretty good. I didn't think it would be cause the cover is sucky."

And I'm noticing that my second hour is by far the best hour at doing the reading area. I might just throw a root beer float party for them to celebrate how well they're doing.

I have been CRRAAAZY busy

So, SLPS has decided that blogger.com is against policy and has "kinda" blocked it off. What that means is that I completely lost all the posts that I typed up and forgot to copy and save. Which makes me frustrated.

I've been pretty busy with my students and with my coursework. Last night in our research class, we worked on getting our data written down. I went through three surveys and was absolutely astonished to find that my students answered most of the questions wrong on pretty much all of the surveys. For example, when Irma answered the question on the Burke's Reading Inventory, What would you like help with as a reader? she answered, "Doctor".

What!? Doctor!? I guess what she answered in her head was what would she like to be when she grows up, but how does that have anything to do with the question? The rest of the questions were similar, and it made me feel like a rather crappy teacher. On top of that, I had read the questions off to the students, one at a time. I just don't get it. I'm going to have to have them take those surveys again, just to get a first and last attempt at them.

Irma, just to let you know, got into a nasty fight with another girl about three weeks ago. The next day her family moved her to Kentucky. I now have to find another student to use as a test subject.

Jero*, the amorous Latino who liked hugs from me and rubbing himself and sticking his face into my neck and sniffing me, has been moved out of my class. About two weeks ago he came back from being shipped off to another school (Blow) because they did not have an ESOL program. He caught me after school, claiming he left a green pencil in my room. I had remembered seeing one, so I let him in. However, as soon as the door closed behind us, he grabbed me into a hug and would not let go for ten whole minutes. Mrs. Stanley had left and so had the rest of the floor, leaving me alone with him completely.

I explained to him how uncomfortable I was, how this might look to other people, how my fiance might feel if he walked into the room. I tried prying away, I tried pushing, elbowing. His only response was, "This is how people in my culture show their affection."

After ten minutes I got him off of me, and walked him to my door. I was shaky and really upset with myself for--AGAIN--not following the rule of being alone with a male student. He asked for another hug and I said no. He then leaned forward and tapped his cheek, saying, "How about a leetle kees, Mees Frankleen." I yelled at him, "NO! Get out!" and he left. I cursed myself out for hours until I realized that it was not my fault; I did no wrong by letting him come in to get his pencil (which he never got, obviously). I don't wear revealing clothing, and I was just as kind to him as I am to any student. He just got the wrong idea.

He skipped my class for the remaining week, which was fine by me. Come that Monday, I asked for him to be removed from my class. I told Mrs. Brown, Laurencia, and Mrs. Firestone about his third (and hopefully last) incident. The last thing I need is to be labeled as a pervert; there really are some teachers who like that type of attention, but I am not one of them. It freaked me out so much I had nightmares about Jero being in my class, and--good Lord this is so stupid--I get slightly scared when I see him in the hallway. I shouldn't be scared of one of my students.

Anyhow, other than that classes are going relatively well. The kids are really getting into the routine of Read180, and have been able to do it even when I have a sub.

GET THIS! I was gone for the flu about two weeks ago. I had not expected it to happen, so I had prepared the board for the next day. I knew that since I was calling in that morning (technically, I came, tossed my cookies, and left within 20 minutes of getting there), I wasn't going to have a sub, but the ISS teacher filled in for me that day.

The kids went to their stations! I was so shocked! They did their journals, some finished their writing station packets that we had been working on, and they all did what they were supposed to do. I about died when I found that out, and I was SO HAPPY that they're becoming responsible. I wanted to throw confetti in the air and yell HURRAY!! I praised them all, of course, which they loved.

Also, I've been sending good notes home. It's especially working for those students who have been naughty all first semester, and when they have a good day I send a note home with them. It's completely turned around several of my most mischevious students, and on another good note a behavior plan I'm working on with another student is really helping as well. Kayse, we believe, has ADD and cannot sit still for more than 5 minutes at a time. She's normally doodling, writing notes, or being very loud and disruptive. I started a behavior plan with her last week and she's really responding well. She's cleaned up her behavior in her other classes, and really keeps track of her three goals we created together. She knows that having a behavior plan isn't a good thing, and tells other students that this is "for me to better my behavior. You're good, so you don't need one. This is for me and Ms. Franklin." She also told me that the chart really helped her track herself and to know if she's doing good or not. It's a great step for her, and I love that she's honest with herself when she knows she hasn't done well.

All in all--and hopefully I'm not jinxing myself!--this quarter is sizing up to be pretty good.