AuburnChick's Adventures

Ahhh…Week 19…the last full week before Christmas vacation.

I went into school still feeling a teensy bit under the weather.  I don’t think I was contagious, but my stomach was still hating life in the horizontal position.

But, I am an over-energetic first-year teacher, completely dedicated to my students, so I showed up.

That said, I have to admit to a bit of fatigue.  I was also at a bit of a loss as to what to do with my 11th and 12th graders.  They dutifully submitted their Scarlet Letter literary analysis essays.  I could tell that they had probably had a rough weekend.  They attend college part-time, so their plates are full.  College finals were this week, so they had spent all weekend studying while cleaning up their essay rough drafts.

Besides that, our school finals begin on Friday, so that only left four days, during which I did not want to start a new unit with a new grading period starting in January.

I decided to be merciful.  I gave them Monday and Tuesday off to study for their exams (we will review for finals on Wednesday and Thursday).

On Monday, they took advantage of my expo board to work on advanced math problems…

Looking at all of those letters and numbers makes me shrink back in fear.  I never made it past Algebra II, and I am going to need a refresher course before I take the General Education certification exam.  I am totally looking forward to it.

Not.

Regardless, my students seemed happy with the extra time to study.  They were very nervous about their college tests, bless their hearts.

During planning, I copied and copied and copied…

Those are my 11th/12th grade vocabulary lists for the rest of the school year.  I am going to organize them into folders.

Why did I copy them so early?  Because in January, I will begin taking alternative education certification classes…doubling my current workload.  I will blog more about this at some point.

Anyhoo…

My 6th graders were in for a real treat.  Monday was to be their very first ever Vocabulary Bingo day!  I was psyched.  They had asked to play before, but we never had enough words to cover a board.  With finals around the corner (and yes, I have to give my sweet little sixth graders a final), we have plenty of words now…forty one to be exact.

I decided to split the words in half.  I had to explain the rules to them, but let me tell you…these kids are quick and competitive.  It did not take them long to catch on.

Not too long after we had begun, my school’s Education Director popped in unannounced, took a seat at my desk (I was sitting in a student desk), and observed, taking notes the entire time.

Would it be rude if I said that I ignored him?  I basically just taught, which even though we were playing a game still offered plenty of teaching opportunities.

The kids had a great time.

Later, the education director pulled me aside to tell me how great the game was.  He said he was impressed at how well it kept the students engaged in what we were doing.

Yay!  I can’t take credit for the game, though, for one of my IRL friends (a fellow soccer mom and teacher) told me about this at the beginning of the year.

I worked through lunch, as usual.  One of my students had to make up a vocabulary test.

Then it was time for the ninth graders.

Oy.  God has so much to teach me, and I think the lessons are going to come mainly through this class.

I have been having problems reaching a couple of these students, and the problems continued on Monday.

Several students were disruptive during class, so I wrote them up for detention.  Detentions go on a student’s record, and after a certain number, the student will be suspended.

Because some students keep repeating the bad behavior, disrupting other students’ learning processes, I wanted to take more serious action.  I am concerned, though, that it is only serving to make them angry.

Teaching is very much like riding a roller coaster.  There are ups and downs, and all you can do is hang on for dear life.

I know what I need to do, but I struggle in how to do it sometimes.  This is where I need to turn to my knees in prayer.

Sigh.

My tenth graders, as usual, made my day end well.  We worked our way through who/whom pronouns…not an easy lesson but rewarding when I saw the lights go on in their eyes.

Tuesday arrived before I knew it.  I gave my juniors and seniors study hall again.  This was to be the last day of their college finals.

My 6th graders spent another day playing Vocabulary Bingo…this time with a second set of words.  They were nearly giddy with excitement.  It was a lot of fun.

I had a little surprise for my 9th graders.  During lunch, I chose to host detention.  I had instructed my students to bring in their grammar packets, and I spent the time teaching the lesson I had not gotten to teach the day before.  At first, they were irate, but they settled in after I refused to give in.  I let them go with eleven minutes left in their “sentence.”

When they arrived for the regular class period, they were a little subdued.  I think they knew I meant business.  We had a good review for the pronoun test I would be giving the next day.

Meanwhile, my sophomores also had a good review for their final.  It’s a little hard for them to get in trouble…there are only two of them.

On Wednesday, I reviewed themes and symbolism with my juniors and seniors.

My sixth graders reviewed similes and metaphors.  I had put together a good review packet, and they were able to complete them in class and check for corrections.  This is a very smart group.

I administered a comprehensive pronoun test to my freshmen and sophomores.  It took them most of the class period to finish.

On Thursday, I finished reviewing for finals with all of my classes.

We had parties in three of my classes to kick off Finals.  Here is some of the food that my seniors brought in.

StereotypicalGeek brought in these spicy treats…

 

Tigger brought in these pastries…

Awesomeness brought in egg rolls, but I didn’t get a picture of them.

I found out that half of my juniors were fasting, but a couple of them still brought in food.  BigTimeGleek baked cookies for me…

Gigglingbuttons brought in a cake that she baked herself…

I brought in cupcakes from Publix (the lights are plastic rings)…

I had a little mishap, though.  When I got to school, one of the boxes fell out of the bag.  Oops…

My juniors and I got a little silly.  Read this post if you missed the low-down.  Nerves were on high alert as everyone grew nervous for the next few days of testing.

Finaly…Friday.  Testing day.  It was the first day of finals.

I had a gift waiting for me…

It was a thoughtful gift from a coworker and brought a smile to my face.

I only had one test to give – to my seniors.  It was comprised of two essay questions about The Scarlet Letter.  Part of my students’ grades will include how well they write their essays…thesis, topic sentences, and grammar (not to mention actual content).

After they got done with their tests, I spent the rest of my day organizing…

I had spent every planning period copying vocabulary lists for four of my five classes…for the rest of the school year.

I scanned and uploaded them to Edlines, the online site the school is using to communicate with parents and students.  I love having things online!

I am getting organized because I know that my time is going to be limited when January begins.  I will be taking three different colleges every eight weeks for twenty four weeks.  It’s going to be very stressful to get everything done…hence my haste to get everything organized…

And so the week ended.  We will have finals on Monday and Tuesday, with both days being half-days.  I am really looking forward to finishing things up so I can put all of my energy into lesson planning for the next term.

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