The End of the WORLD!

I’ve always been convinced that the world is going to end in 2012, and when I saw the rain this morning, I knew that it started today. I was supposed to have my 2^nd observation from my University Supervisor today, but she would have been travelling in the awful weather, so she called as I was walking in this morning to move our date to tomorrow. After I shook off (visual: like a wet dog), I headed to the Principal’s office to ask her to fill out a recommendation for me for the John Simmons Award that I was nominated for. Upon hearing that the bells were turned off, me and one of the Assistant Principals started to move kids toward their classrooms. It was SERIOUSLY pouring this morning and the lightning was so intense, so I was a little baffled that the students would have rather hugged and kissed all on each other in the rain than in the dry hallways. Kids… also, I have a student in 1^st period with hair longer than mine, and his was perfectly straight. Mine? Yep, the lovely side swoop returned.

Today, the FCAT math retakes paired with the WORLD ENDING definitely did ruin my plans. I had 8 kids in 1^st period. I really wanted to assign reading roles and being reading A Raisin in the Sun today, but I don’t have enough books to issue to 50 kids so the ones who weren’t there could catch up, so Mr. Archer suggested we have the kids play Apples to Apples (“for vocabulary purposes”)—I LOOOVEEEEE this game so I was all about it. And since my observation isn’t until tomorrow now, I didn’t really mind. I had fun with my 8 kids in first and my 15 in second period; plus, I think it was a little bit of a reward for those who did pass the FCAT the first time. In between classes, I herded more kids to class. Seriously, THE WORLD IS ENDING OUT HERE PEOPLE, go be lovey-dovey INSIDE. Also, eww.

3^rd period is my planning period and since both lunches are during this time, it makes all of 3^rd period about 2 hours long. I love Thursdays and Fridays during lunch time- the Hurricane Café, our student-run café, is open for teachers and it’s GOOOOOD.

Again, I wasn’t missing anyone from 4^th period (English 2) and so we were able to continue on with our plans. We did some more FCAT reading practice and read some more of our Tears of a Tiger novel. My kids really love this book and they don’t ever want to put it down. Whenever I tell them that we’re done reading for the day, they’re less than happy and they always voice it. I love them. Then, for the last 15 minutes, we went to the library so they could check out and return books. They were a little loud in the beginning, but they weren’t bad. The librarians were kind of mad at me- one even yelled at me. Wah L
Peace, love, Oxford Commas, and SUNSHINE TOMORROW, MAYBE?

What a MARVELOUS day!

Wellllll, I had every intention of posting yesterday, but I didn’t get around to it before my bedtime. Yesterday, in English 3, we talked about 1950 America to get ready for reading “A Raisin in the Sun”. We also did more of the “100 Words…” and talked about the anticipation guides we did on Monday. In English 2, we did some more FCAT reading and we started our word trees! Here are a few of the best…

 When I got home from school, I was COMPLETELY exhausted (as usual) so I had my typical nap- however it was shorter than the others. Me, dad, and Kelli met mom at the movie theatre to see “The 5^th Quarter”. Oh my God, you have to see this movie. It’s about a family’s loss and struggle dealing with teen driving and organ donation, and the mom in the movie (played by Andie MacDowell) is based on a Phi Mu from my mom’s years. VERY touching- we pretty much wept the first 20 minutes and the last 5. Oh man.

Today, I learned something about myself as a teacher- I’m pretty good at adapting. The FCAT retakes tried to ruin my day but I was able to change my plans around, so YAY. There’s more retakes tomorrow, and while I won’t be missing as many students tomorrow as I did today, I’m not sure if we’ll be able to begin reading “A Raisin in the Sun”. But I sure hope we can start it, at least in 2^nd period, because I have my 2^nd observation from my University Supervisor!!! Eek!

So, today was FREAKIN’ AMAZING AND I SUPER LOVE MY LIFE RIGHT NOW.

Reasons why I’m so happy:

1. Even though the FCAT retakes stole half of my students, the ones I had left were on their best behavior

2. We got to use crayons in every class and I LOVE that smell

3. My presentation at our “Best Sessions” went very well, even though I thought I was going to drown in my nerves beforehand

4. My perfume AND GRADUATION ANNOUNCEMENTS came in the mail today. HOLLA J

5. I got an email from Dr. Witte telling me that I have been nominated for a teaching award from FSU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awkward & Awesome Monday :)

Maybe it’s because I haven’t officially started my professional career, but I don’t hate Mondays (yet). The realization that Spring Break is legit over was very heartbreaking, but I pressed forward; I missed my babies and I was excited to see my department and the other faculty members, too.

So today in English 3, we went over “The Crucible” final test that they took before the break. I made very few mistakes while grading and I rectified them all, so yay J We did more “100 Words…” vocabulary and did the anticipation guides n the SUPER SWEET packet I made for “A Raisin in the Sun”.

In English 2, we went over some old work and then moved right along to FCAT reading. We were going to do word trees with prefixes today, except they don’t know how to behave, so I let Mr. Archer torture them with FCAT information. We’ll reattempt the word trees tomorrow. Generally, when I mention crayons and markers, they behave so they can play. That wasn’t the case today. Here are the instructions:

Now, this part I have seen this on a few of my friends’ blogs, and I want to give it a try. So, introducing “Awkward and Awesome Monday”!!

Awesome:

-          Student: “Hi, Ms. Baker! I missed you so much- can I hug you?”

-          I was able to take a nap AND blog today. Hopefully I can keep this sweetness up!

-          I only have like 17 days left with my kiddies. That’s not the awesome part, though- GRADUATION IS IN 33 DAYS!!!!!!!!

-          Student: “’A Raisin in the Sun’?! I’ve wanted to read this for so long!”

-          I intercepted a note between two students in 4^th period. The note was 85% about how cool I am and how these two students love me

Awkward:

-          Student: “I got tased in the butt on Daytona Beach!!”

-          Rain made my hair do this sweet side-swoop thing, and I looked like a flippin’ Who from Whoville, minus the weird nose… Looked a little something like this:

-          Student: “I saw you topless in Daytona, Ms. Baker!”I actually heard this from about 3 students today. For the record, I WAS NOT in Daytona AT ALL over Spring Break- check my 365 if you don’t believe me. I didn’t leave Ocoee. Apparently I have a doppelganger.


Until tomorrow- peace, love, and Oxford Commas :)

Because I Know You're Dying For An Update

Hi darling friends that I’ve forsaken! I’m sorry that I haven’t posted in a blog time- I got super sidetracked. I divided this blog into sections so it’s easier to read. And, if you decide you don’t really care about a section based on its title (rude), you can skip it J I know, I’m awesome.

Reasons why I temporarily abandoned blogging:

1.       I take about a 2 hour nap every afternoon when I get home

2.       I’ve been superrrrrr busy

3.       Spring Break doesn’t require an update

4.       I semi-forgot  :/

5.       I’ve been in the routine of wake up, get dressed, drive to school, teach, read/grade, teach, plan, teach, drive home, nap, help with dinner, shower, bed, repeat and I don’t like change

NOT Reasons why I temporarily abandoned blogging:

1.       I lost interest in my internship/teaching

2.       I don’t think it’s exciting anymore

3.       It’s monotonous

4.       My kids smell and they’re dumb

5.       I turned out to be a horrible teacher

*All of these are completely opposite of the truth J I still flippin’ love teaching, it’s still exciting, it’s not monotonous, my kids don’t smell and they’re not dumb, and I’m pretty sure I’m not an awful teacher.

Things English 2 did in the classroom while I was neglecting blogging:

1.        “I AM” poems

2.       Soundtrack of My Life essays and presentations

3.       FCAT Glogster posters

4.       Successfully took the FCAT Writes!

5.       FCAT reading practice

6.       Began “Tears of a Tiger” by Sharon Draper (and they FOR REAL love it)

7.       Creative Writing

8.       Began completing a packet that goes along with “Tears of a Tiger”

9.       Turned in their 1^st round of GTL reflections for a grade

10.   Serious emotional conversations that go along with parts of the book

11.   Really cool letter assignment that goes along with our book

Things English 3 did in the classroom while I was neglecting blogging:

1.        “I AM” poems

2.       Soundtrack of My Life essay and presentations

3.       Began and completed “The Crucible” by Arthur Miller

4.       Chain of Events for each act of “The Crucible”

5.       Character Facebook profile pages for characters from “The Crucible”

6.       “The Crucible” Glogster posters

7.       Character Trading Cards for “The Crucible”

8.       KWL charts

9.       Letter writing assignment that goes along with “The Crucible”

10.   “The Crucible” final test

11.   Began “100 Words That Every High School Graduate Should Know”

Things we’re doing after Spring Break (aka Monday, March 28) in English 2:

1.       Finishing up “Tears of a Tiger” book and packet

2.       Word Trees!

3.       Working hard on FCAT reading

4.       Character Cubes

5.       Storyboards

6.       I’m really hoping that we can get through this story and move onto another book in the trilogy before my time is up with them

7.       Character & classroom (paper) Facebooks

Things we’re beginning after Spring Break (aka Monday, March 28) in English 3:

1.       Review “The Crucible” final test

2.       “A Raisin in the Sun” anticipation guide

3.       Really super sweet “A Raisin in the Sun” packet

4.       Concept maps

5.       Character webs

6.       I modified the character Facebook pages from last time and made it into one classroom (paper) Facebook that lasts the whole unit J

7.       Continue “100 Words Every High School Graduate Should Know”

Professional Accomplishments:

1.       My University Supervisor came for her first  visit and said that I’m ready to be on my own right now J

2.       I got to present some of my ideas to a few teachers at “Fab Friday”- a professional development meeting J

3.       I’m presenting my “modern ideas” to the entire school on Wednesday at “Best Practice Sessions” after school J

4.       The Principal LOVED our Facebooks and Glogsters J

Things I have learned:

1.       More often than not, timing never works out. It’s too hard to predict the students (in general) to know that a play or novel can be read in a certain amount of time. One day in English 3, I was really excited to continue on with “The Crucible”. First period was swimming right along and when second period rolled around, there were less than half of the kids there. I had to adapt really quickly and give them an alternative assignment.

2.       Kids don’t care that you spent your entire weekend planning. I take all this time out of my social life (which only consists of 2 nights and 2 days now, instead of 24/7) to plan these lessons for my kids so they’ll have fun and the kids will want to learn and they’ll love me for it. But, kids are unpredictable and you never know when you’ll have to scrub the fun lessons you planned and give them boring ones because they don’t know how to behave.

3.       Kids are mean. Yes, I knew this when I was younger, but it’s so different seeing it from this side. And I’m not talking about “kick me” signs on someone’s back; I’m talking about a boy in my 1^st period beating up a boy in my 2^nd period because of his sexual preference. Then, every boy in 1^st period was talking about it the next day calling my boy in 2^nd period some really awful names. They put gum in each others’ seats and throw pencils at each other.  Mean little people.

4.       Girls have gotten cattier. Yes, it is possible. I never imagined that a 16 year old girl would want to argue with me every day just because she doesn’t like me. And boy, does she have a mouth on her. Good Lord! Okay, I’m only 6 years older, but honey- I GRADE YOUR PAPERS. Check yourself. And yes, as much as I hate to admit it, my feelings do get hurt. If you’re reading this and you were in my Methods class at FSU, no, I haven’t cried in front of them, although one day I came REALLY close.

5.       There is a direct correlation between parental involvement and student achievement. This one is kind of a no-brainer, but seeing it in action is really something else. I think this hit me the hardest during Open House. The kids who are doing REALLY well, always go above and far beyond, ask me for help before and after school, and should be in advanced classes and not my general classes; their parents are the ones who came to open house. Those parents push their children to work hard and be something. The kids who talk all throughout the period, don’t do homework, throw paper, text message, and get an attitude with me daily; their parents are the ones who just don’t care. I don’t blame the kids at all.

6.       I really, really want to do this. I can’t imagine, for the rest of my life, doing anything besides teaching English. I love literature, I love writing, I love reading, I love doing cool projects, I love students, I love teaching the students, and I just love being involved in their lives. I clearly didn’t choose this profession for the money; I chose it for the other kind of rewards I get. Like being an INTERN and being nominated for teacher of the month; having my students come to me at all hours of the day to ask for help or just to talk; being an INTERN and having parents come to Open House specifically to meet me; knowing that even the students that don’t like me still respect me; being an INTERN and presenting my ideas to the faculty; going home every day knowing that something I taught that day won’t ever be forgotten.

With all that said, and stepping off my soap-box, I will be updating almost daily. Even if no one ends up reading this besides my mom, it feels good to write it down. Plus, I’ll probably want to look back on this in 25 years when I can read it from my watch or something ridiculous like that.

Peace, Love, and Oxford Commas <3