My answers: great, no, yes, YES!, probably, terribly, thrilling, themes. More detail to come. How about you? How’s it going?Similar Posts:

• Mind That Gap
• Why We Need Realistic Education
• Passion Is Contagious
• How Was It For You?
• What Parents Need, But Don’t Get

• review root blocks 25 & 26
• finish chapter 6 and begin chapter 7 of Lord of the Flies
• begin chapter notes for LOTF
• read in their SSR book for about twenty minutes
• start their Reading Response in class
• discuss symbols in LOTF

We only:

• reviewed root blocks 25 & 26
• finished chapter 6 of LOTF
• know that the Reading Response is homework

I hate feeling behind. Scoop onto all this the fact that I have a stack of writing from the previous book sitting untouched on my desk. Slide in a helping of a final project from that same book that I’ve only graded four or five of and I’m left feeling like I’m doing a terrible job. Cover everything with that writing being the single piece of formal writing we’ve done all semester. The cherry is that writing was supposed to be a two parter, with the second part working to connect our previous book (Animal Farm) to our current one (LOTF). Since I haven’t even started grading that writing yet, that ain’t happening.

Now multiply all this by two because I feel almost exactly the same way about English 3. Well, maybe by two and a half because I kinda feel this way about Speech, too. And we’ve only got about five weeks left. I’m running out of time. You?Similar Posts:

• Routines
• The Feeling Of “Ugh”
• Can’t Separate
• Preparation
• Facebook Questions

A certain student in the Support class handed her phone over to me today with minimal cajoling. Another one I didn’t even have to ask more than once. I attribute this to the fact that I take care of this problem without turning phones over to administration. I typically hand phones back at the end of the period.

Again in my Support class, Student A and B almost got into a fight today. Student A is a kid I really like, one who honestly wants to get something out of the course (or, at least, wants to pass), but is insanely flustered by not being able to concentrate through all the misbehavior flying around. I told him to sit down: “I got this, Student A. Thank you.” Addressing the other fellow: “Student B, get out. Wait for me on the bench.” The class was much quieter then. I fervently hope that Student A felt supported. Those two won’t be sitting near each other again.

Prior to this, Student B took a book from Student C while on the way to his desk. Student C was looking like, “What the…” since he’d done nothing to provoke the theft. I firmly and physically escorted Student B back to his seat, put the books back where they belonged, and apologized to Student C. Student B also took candy from the desks of two surrounding students, then looked at me to claim he didn’t do it. Student B needs to go. This is the fourth referral I’ve written on him this year. Sorry, that story wasn’t a treat. It was a trick.

I now see that creating banks of words to use when writing sensory description is what we need to do in the Support class. We filled up small Picture Write Notes today based on observations about a piece of candy. I wrangled their attention, taking one sense at a time, drawing five students up to the board for each sense to write their ideas for all to see. They weren’t great, but we made it through.

My English 3s are great (though they are tanking their recent vocabulary tests)! One student walked in with red eyes today and a startling inability to focus. He’s referral number six for the year, the second one I’ve written for him. But even this kid is not a huge problem and all others are with me as I push the class forward.

While my referral count is at an all-time high, they are all for the same two students. My other 132 students seem to be just fine.

Best costume in my class: Pac-Man.

Best teacher costume I saw: Leon from The Professional by a teacher who always has the coolest movie-reference costumes (Shaun from Shaun of the Dead and Nice Guy Eddie from Reservoir Dogs in previous years).

Speech seems ready for me to push them in a way that I haven’t pushed other Speech classes. It’s not that they are all rock stars and completing all the work, but enough of them seem bored with the speeches we’ve done so far that I want to step up my level of expectation. I’ve done that on the next speech, both in terms of requirements and turn-around time, so we’ll see how that plays out next week.

I’m worried the visual aides will be horrible, so I might need to give them my quick PPT on slide design and give groups a second shot at presenting their surveys. We’ve worked our way through several failed presentations from last year. I hope what I’m pointing out and what they are seeing translates to their products.Similar Posts:

• Two In One
• AFI Curriculum
• Day One
• What Video Has Taught Me – Part 1
• January Finals Of 08-09

Referral 1

Description of behavior resulting in referral:
Mortimer and Petulance were yelling back and forth about who was going to beat who up. Profanity flew across the room. I told Petulance to sit on the opposite side of the room and advised Mortimer not to say anything further, that Petulance would be quiet if Mortimer didn’t egg her on. A few minutes later, Mortimer just stood up and walked out. I called after him 3-4 times, but he didn’t respond. I don’t know where he went for the period. I’ve included Petulance on this referral because she threw lots of insults and threats of physical violence at the beginning of all this.

Referral 2

Description of behavior resulting in referral:
Batholemew walked in about 5 minutes late. I held out my hands to suggest “Why?” He said, “I was getting the bottles.” I said, “I’ll see you after class.” “But I was getting the bottles!” “I don’t care, I’ll see you at lunch. “Well, then f— this, I’m gonna go get more bottles,” Batholemew said. He then walked right back out the door. He never came back to class. I really am confused as to why he reacted this way. I’ll speak with him the next time I see him.

Seriously, what is going on!? Separated by only about forty minutes, two students walk right out of class? The only other time students walked out was during a schoolwide demonstration. Those students weren’t protesting me or my class. Today, these two students were doing exactly that.

And I can’t shake the responsibility I feel for making those students feel like getting out of my classroom was the best thing to do. But I also feel like someone who walked into the room only to hear the punchline of an uproariously funny joke. What just happened?Similar Posts:

• Treats
• Self Imposed
• Results
• About That Support Class…
• Silent Conversation

Think of a bucket, something the size of, say, a paint can. You’ve got 3 big rocks, several smaller stones, and a bag of sand. How can you fit all of those things into the bucket?

Size Matters

If you pour the sand in first and then the smaller stones, the big rocks won’t fit. Put the big rocks in first and pour the sand in, the smaller stones won’t fit. Basically, if you do anything other than put the larger objects in first, something won’t fit. First come the big rocks, then the smaller stones, and finally the sand. That’s the only order that will allow everything to fit.

The Bigs

The point of all this is that only by doing the big things first can you get everything done. Otherwise, you end up spending too much time on the other things that aren’t as important and there’s not enough time charted out to take care of all those big items. At the start-up where I was working, this became a concept that we’d call The Bigs.

On Mondays, we’d have a meeting to chart out The Bigs for the week, fitting the smaller things around those. Launching a Web site was A Big; moving the server from one corner of the attic to another was not. Sending a pamphlet to the printer was A Big; editing videos of the company jam session last weekend was not. This made it so that we always took care of the most important things, but also allowed us to use our time to get other, less important tasks taken care of.

Rocks, stones, and sand presented a good analogy, one that I should probably apply to teaching more often than I do. To some extent, the novels and essay types that I teach throughout the year are The Bigs. The state standards are The Bigs. Still, I spend a lot of time on the smaller stones and the bag of sand.

While Flipping Channels…

Imagine my surprise one day when I saw some motivational speaker on KQED take out a big water jug filled with, not water, but ping-pong balls. “How many more can I fit in there?” he asked as he shoved a dozen more into the opening. A bag of sand was next. “Can I fit this in?” I smiled, thinking that I knew where he was going. Memories of The Bigs popped back into my head, a practice I had actually forgotten about until I saw the show. Finally, he produced a glass of wine and a bottle of beer. He asked “And what if I pour these things in?” as he proceeded to do so. I figured this was simply a variation on the analogy I had been shown years earlier.

“What’s my point?” the man on TV asked. I knew what his point was, but I decided to humor him and kept watching.

“My point is there’s always time for a glass of wine or a beer with friends.”

What…

Are You Kidding?

No, seriously, that’s exactly what he said. That was really his point. And he honestly felt that he built up to the point of spending time with friends. I tried to grab the remote, but my hysterical laughter made it hard focus. My girlfriend, she was laughing too, shaking her head back and forth, staring at the man trying so hard to make his life-altering revelation clear to his TV audience.

This guy really thought that he followed his demonstration to its logical conclusion by extolling the virtues of time spent in good company, that somehow ping-pong-sand-beer-wine soup made that truth so clear and obvious. Yet he missed the real lesson of the demonstration entirely.

What’s my point? It’s pretty clear, isn’t it? My point is there’s always time for me to write another blog entry and for you to read it.

Oh. And don’t do drugs. Seriously.Similar Posts:

• Passion Is Contagious
• Leadership Tag
• I’m Sick
• Affirmative Brazil
• Get A Life