Back to School

New preps. New students. New principal. New colleagues. Same classroom. It almost sounds like I started working at a new school coming into my third year of teaching. It's already been a roller coaster. I expected MUCH more out of myself going into the first day today with students. I got my classroom all set up the way I wanted it to be. I definitely have a better idea of how I want to get things done in my class this year. I've got processes in mind that I want to implement. The kicker is.. I still didn't feel prepared. Correction. I still don't feel prepared moving forward into the year. Don't get me wrong. I'm stoked to be back in my classroom. I guess I'm more excited about the content I'm teaching than anything else. After all, I'm purely a Math teacher once again. That puts a smile on my face. So why so glum? I'm still working on figuring that out. To be continued.... (I guess)

New Quote

Earlier this month, I read a tweet that really struck home. It goes hand in hand with the way I try to drive my teaching.

"People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care." - Mark Twain

I feel that this is most especially true with students. I find that teachers in general feel they deserve respect off the bat rather than earning it from students. In some cases, that works. Such is not necessarily the case at my workplace. Some teachers just don't get that they have to modify themselves to be effective at helping others. Yes. Perhaps, we do know what's good for these students and we are trying to impart such values upon them. However, that's simply not enough for them to respond to you. So if, like me, you're in a Title 1 school, try this. Don't just half-ass it. Students WILL read you and fail to respond. They are more perceptive than we might give them credit for. So really believe in it.

We had a speaker at our staff meeting who started out his piece with a positive introspection to our practice. I watched my colleagues' reactions around me trying to rack their brain about the good things that have transpired over the course of the year. If you want change, it starts with you. If you want things to go right in your classroom, you have to learn to acknowledge them. You have to celebrate them. I'm not talking about parties. Tell your students to pat themselves on the back. No matter how many times I tell them that in my classroom, most of them still do after 170 days of school.

'til next time!
-Mr.A

I hugged a student today

I made a deal with a student of mine who has been consistently performing below expectations since I acquired him. The goal was for him to earn a C or better in my class without giving him any extra graces. Should he accomplish such a task, he and I would play one-on-one basketball during school on my planning period. Today is the end of the grading period. He had to make up a quiz and make the corrections and produce the necessary items for my binder check. I thought for sure that my procrastination in getting his stuff done was going to dig him deep.

I am ecstatic to report that he completely obliterated my negative expectations for his performance. He bombed his quiz. However, it was his recovery that was so amazing. I graded it immediately and handed it back for him to do corrections after he produced what he had for his binder check. He sat, discouraged to see his grade and kindly asked if he could receive help with his corrections. I had to let him know that help was allowed, however, I was far too busy updating grades for the entire class to work with him. Instead, I gave him the option to ask the other two teachers in the class. To my delight, he made a brilliant move and sought help from another adult. He worked hard and his decisions paid off. He managed to pull up an F to the C he was working for. I was so thrilled to have updated the grade that I stood up in joy. I opened my arms and stood quietly before I said "Give me a hug. I'm so proud of you." I guess my sarcasm runs deep and my students don't know when I'm serious, so he hesitated. So I assured him that he was successful for the grading period. Looks like I'm playing basketball on my planning period one day. Can't wait. He deserved it. And I'll probably end up biting a bullet in an embarrassing loss to a student as he's 6-2 and I'm 5-6. Oh well. It'll be worth it.

'til next time!
-Mr.A

Missed breakfast

I LOVE MY STUDENTS!

I have a little terror in one of my classes. Let's call him John. John is NOT a terror in my class but my colleagues aren't having a very pleasant experience with him in their respective classes. He might not be the brightest of students. He may tend to make some terrible decisions at times. Despite that, he works hard for the most part. He gets his work done. He participates during class. He volunteers to read out loud. He's a leader for the class.

Today, John was sharing a story with his classmates. Apparently, his mother was cooking breakfast - bacon and eggs. Breakfast was being made a little late this morning so mom was letting him stay home to eat and come to school late. Due to our rotating schedule, I was scheduled to meet with his class first thing in the morning. So John told his mother, "No mom. I don't want to miss my favorite class." Who doesn't crack a smile when you hear that from one of your students?! I'll have to repay him the favor for making such a incredible decision. Thinking I'll make lunch for two the next time his class meets with me during the lunch period.

#itsthelittlethings

'til next time!
-Mr.A

Mending the broken key

I've written about building and sustaining relationships with my students to get them to perform in my classroom. It's my whole teaching mantra. However, like anyone else, I'm not perfect. I've definitely broken the relationship with students at times. These students I work with are so harsh and standoffish that it becomes easy to feel little or no remorse for breaking the key. As a reflective practitioner, I beat myself up over ruining a relationship with a student. Sometimes, it takes longer to feel the remorse but I always end up coming around and trying to fix it. 

I broke the relationship with a particular student on Valentine's Day this year. I know. This already sounds bad so read on. For the sake of privacy again, I shall refer to my student as Jane. Jane had exceeded my limit with being late to class and she was being a terrible member to the classroom. I had given her a warning about my discipline process the day before regarding her tardiness. First, I issue a written warning  my students sign which lays out the process for them. The next infraction results in a contact home - usually via text message. Another subsequent infraction results in an admin referral. 

I HATE when students are late to my class. So couple that with her being unproductive in the classroom, I decided I'm not going to wait to send a text message, I'm just going to call mom during class. Jane's mother had asked to speak with her so I put her on. From there, everything went sour. Jane's mother must've let her have it over the phone. "Why is she yelling at me, Mr. A?" Jane was crying as she pleaded with me while her mother was on the phone in the middle of class. I immediately knew I crossed the line. I knew I had to work on building a relationship back up STAT. As soon as she got off the phone, Jane and I had a small talk. I had to let her know that it wasn't my intention for it to let things go so far. I also had to let her know how much she had crossed the line with me. I let her recollect herself outside before she came back in. We began working on resurrecting her performance in my class. 

Since that day, I've been mindful of how I've crossed the line with her. It helps that she's gotten her act straight in my class too. The other day, she came running into class cautious of being tardy again. She's been alert and on task during instruction. Other students noticed the change in her attitude in my class. She responded, "I'm trying to get good grades this time." I smiled inside when I heard that. I'm pretty sure the expression on my face wasn't hiding what I felt. 

Yesterday, she asked me to talk to her mother again because I sent home progress reports earlier than her other teachers had. I mass message parents to expect my progress reports when their child comes home. Jane  explained that her mom was hounding her about progress reports from other classes and thought that she was hiding them. I assured Jane I would find out from her teachers and speak with her mom. I knew it probably wasn't easy for Jane to come and ask for my help. The fact that she did so respectfully was mind blowing. In fact, I don't think I've had a better relationship with her all year until now. I cherish the victory. 

There's always a growing experience waiting to happen. I believe we just need to be trained to find it.

'til next time!

-Mr.A

Can't win them all.

I had a sad realization about one of my favorite students. I can say that because there's about 20 of them that fit the title and a whole lot more who come close to it. For the sake of her privacy, I'll refer to her as Jane.

It was the last class of the day and happens to be my favorite class. I know. All about my favorites today. Everything was going well. My students were reading and I felt they actually enjoyed being in my class despite doing something so boring. I play a ton of games in my class so reading can't compete with that. There was about 10 minutes left before school let out so my students were just enjoying the free time.

Fast forward to the end of the day. My AP told me there was a group of misplaced 7th or 8th graders in front of my door in the 6th grade hallway for the longest time. I told her I knew about it and that someone in the group was Jane's sister.

That group of elder, more mature and responsible students claimed Jane was going home. Don't fall for the sarcasm there, please. In my employing school, students needs to be given a dismissal pass to leave and it wasn't being produced so no luck for them. "Well Jane has my stuff." Ok. Go get it. I let one in. Another had managed to slide in while another student held the door open. Grrr. Rude. It didn't help that a girl in that group had threatened me because I had asked her to leave my doorway a couple weeks prior.

I gave them a couple in minutes in the classroom before I asked them to leave. So they did.

It's not over yet. This group of brilliant young minds came about a minute later. "We need to talk to Jane." So I let Jane out too speak with her sister outside of my classroom. She came back looking frustrated and upset. I told her that I hoped they weren't friends. That's when I found out one of them was her sister. I also told her that I thought she was better than they were. She cracked a slight smile.

At that point, I realized the strength of bad influences in her life. Her older sister appears to encourage something that's unsettling with her. They obviously aren't making the greatest decisions in school. It appears as though they are trying to bring down Jane with them. That saddened me.

This girl has a brilliant mind. She's respectful. She works hard. She participates willingly in class. She's personable to her peers and elders. She's got the world at her disposal. She doesn't need those influences to take that away from her.

I wish I could save her. Maybe she doesn't need saving and she'll be strong enough to make it past the foolishness around her. I could only hope. Maybe I care too much. If I do, nobody could ever convince me it's a bad thing.

#heartofateacher

'til next time!
-Mr.A

A simple thumbs up

A thumbs up. That's all it takes for some students to feel successful. 

My students are taking their FAIR tests in the computer labs today. FAIR is a progress monitoring tests administered to Reading students to see how they're progressing throughout the year. Students take it three times in the course of a year. Before taking it the second time, I emphasized how important that data was for the Maze section of the FAIR. It determines how well students can fill in the missing word from a passage using a dropbox. Not dropbox like the online cloud - though that's a pretty awesome tool if I say so myself. I hadn't prepared my students for the exam today. I know. Bad teacher. It was surprising to see my students take the Maze section quite seriously. It was refreshing to see the looks of accomplishment on their faces when they'd score well on that section of the test. In my classroom, on of my celebrations with a student is to give them a thumbs up. After roaming around the classroom and giving a few students a thumbs up for their scores, I noticed others lying to me about their scores just so they can get a thumbs up too. So it got me thinking. A simple thumbs up. It's powerful. Use it to your advantage. Go ahead. Try it out. And be aware of the success your students feel when you celebrate with them. :)

'til next time!

-Mr.A