AuburnChick's Adventures

There should be a list of Ten Commandments for teachers who are on summer vacation.

Here are my suggestions for just such a list.

1. Thou shalt have a conversation with the fur babies the night prior to the commencement of summer vacation explaining that there is no need to awaken at O’Dark’Thirty…that sleeping in until 9am is the new rule.
2. Thou shalt not set the alarm, with the exception for Sundays when one needs to get up in time for church.
3. Thou shalt schedule lunch with a friend a minimum of once a week to ensure interaction with human beings continues.
4. Thou shalt only plan to accomplish one small thing each day.  Multi-tasking is strictly forbidden during this time of rest.
5. Thou shalt read at least one inspirational teacher book during the break..one slow chapter at a time to fully appreciate the lessons imparted by said book.
6. Thou shalt let the past school year remain in the past, with the exception of a brief time of introspection that is NOT to include beating one’s self over the head for mistakes made.
7. Thou shalt temporarily forget such acronyms as FCAT, IPDP, IEP, and ESOL, to name only a few.
8. Thou shalt take at least one nap per day…two if necessary…to catch up on the sleep one missed while working 70+ hours the previous ten months.
9. Thou shalt sit and look at one’s children in the eyes without looking at email or lesson plans…having deep, meaningful conversations that you actually remember the details of after said children walk away.
10. Thou shalt thank the Lord at least once each day for His provisions and for placing you in one of the most honorable and satisfying professions in existence…knowing that you were privileged to have an impact on hundreds of children’s lives this past school year.

You know…I actually have an 11th commandment that’s worthy of being included.

11.  Thou shalt pray each day for the new group of students that will walk through your door in August…that this summer would prepare you and them for the year that lies ahead.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 3 Comments »

Yesterday was a post-planning teacher work day.

It was the day when we finished entering grades and packed up our rooms.

To get an idea of the difference from the beginning of the year to the end, take a look at these pictures…

Now, compare those pictures to the ones I took yesterday before I locked up my room for the summer…

I’ll be eagerly awaiting my new room assignment so that I can get busy setting things up.  I don’t want to wait until the last minute.

It’s so hard to believe that my second year is finished!  Time really flew this year, that’s for sure!

For now, I’m going to sit back, sleep in, begin working on my third Reading Endorsement class, and try to enjoy as much of the summer as I can!

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 2 Comments »

Today is our final day of school.

Because I have second period planning, I will only see one class today…my first period.

I thought I’d share a few of my favorite memories and musings about this class.

This class began with a small number of students…twelve, to be exact.

Why so small?

Because this class was comprised of all ESE students.  It was a class labeled as VE (varied exceptionalities).

What does this mean?

It means that every student had a learning disorder of some type.

This class had one blind student and one hearing impaired student.

This was the class that greeted me on the very first day of my second first year of teaching.

I.

Was.

Petrified.

I wondered what in the world my friend, Barb, had been thinking when she had insisted, last summer, that I was qualified to teach intensive reading.

I felt ill equipped to meet the special needs of these very special students.

When students have learning disabilities, they often have behavior issues as well.  I mean, it’s easier to act up than not know the answer to things and embarrass yourself.

That’s not to say that all of my students were this way.  I had some very well-behaved students in this class as well.

The ratio of girls to boys was 4:8.

When the second semester began, a few of the students’ schedules were changed, and they were moved to different reading teachers’ classes.  New students joined my class in their place.

Others joined the group as well until I had twenty students.

They were twenty kids with varied interests.  I had two basketball players, one football player, one wrestler, and one cheerleader.  Several of these students were exceptional artists.  They enjoyed doodling on their folders, exams, the desks, and each others’ arms.

It didn’t take me long to realize that I had to take things a lot slower with this class.  What my other classes could do in one day, this class needed three or four.

They had trouble focusing, and they needed instruction to be scaffolded in very small steps.

They also needed class to begin much later than 7:30.  I can’t tell you how many of them straggled into class late every day.

It was the First Period Sleeping Curse.

After talking to a couple of teachers last summer, I had decided to allow my students to eat in class.  They were only allowed to drink water because I worried about sugary drinks spilling.

Many of these students walked in last minute after cruising by the cafeteria to pick up breakfast.

I kept cereal and other snacks in my closet as well.  There were many days when I fed these students.  That was the only way I could coax work out of them sometimes.

In fact, I finally figured out that some of them would do anything for candy.

Yes, bribery works wonders in the education system.

😉

I experienced a lot of ups and downs with this class…mostly downs from August through December.  Once the dynamics of the class changed in January, and (not coincidentally) after I began doing guided reading stations, the behavior improved and real teaching and learning took place.

Oh, and I also did a little something else.

I got strict…really strict…and I started writing up my students…often…following through where I had not previously done so.  I also started having disruptive students removed by administrators.

It took a little while for my students to realize that I meant business, and that I wasn’t going to let anything or anyone interfere with the learning process.

Consistency was the key…and a determination to hold my ground, which I did with every cell in my 5’3″ body.

The payoff was worth it.

One of my students who had been a handful from day one and for a number of teachers made one of the most amazing turnarounds.

He started coming to school…

On time.

And he started behaving…

In my class.

I finally “got it,” becoming sensitive to when he was about to lose control, and I figured out how to diffuse situations in such a way that he was able to remain in class without being written up.

This child made several years of learning gains this year…a fact I proudly shared with him and used to encourage him to keep working hard and stay on track with his behavior.

One of the hardest things about this class wasn’t their learning disabilities nor their behavior issues.

It was the way they defined the word respect, and the way I defined it.

I had no idea that we weren’t on the same page until I used a cartoon that had Whitney Houston in it to teach inference.

My students were appalled that I’d chosen this cartoon, feeling that I had disrespected her and, in a way them as well.

It was not a good day to be in my room, and I shed a few tears about that lesson.

Some of the more positive memories includes my use of music to teach figurative language.  Oh my word, but my students ATE THIS UP!  In fact, I quizzed my kids about similes and metaphors, and they did exceptionally well.  The music had been the key that unlocked the door to understanding.

Another favorite memory involves the bellwork that required them to make words from letter tiles I provided.  I copied the letters onto squares that I cut out so that students could manipulate them on their tables, and they went to town!  I rewarded them with candy.  This activity opened up the door to explain homonyms and other types of vocabulary and spelling concepts.

Throughout the year, I watched the students in this class evolve from initially being angry when they were seated beside my blind student to eventually offering a lending hand, without being asked, so that he could complete his work.  One gentleman, in particular, will always stand out because of the gentleness and patience he showed his blind classmate.  I told this student that he had a real gift, and he should consider working with the handicapped when he gets older.

Yes, these were special students, in more ways than I can describe here.  They were also very unique.

This class, more than any other, taught me the importance of positive feedback.  In fact, one of the saddest things I read in one of my student’s files was that the student needed encouragement.

Really?

They put that on his official paperwork?

Well, giving encouragement was easy for me, but it worked especially well with this student.  He will be attending a different school next year, and I’ll miss seeing his face in the hallways.  He was a bright spot in my room…someone I could count on to do neat work and never give up.

Oh…so many memories!  How does a teacher save them all?  Is there a magic bottle I can pour them into to save for later, or will I just have to relive them in my head over and over?

I pray that I never get Alzheimer’s because I don’t want to forget the fun times with my students!  Ultimately, I don’t think I will, no matter how old I get or what afflictions may strike me.

God brought us all together for a reason.  Whether we wanted to or not, we’ve left imprints on each others’ lives.

I’m sure I might forget a name or two as time and distance separates us, but we will forever be joined together as partners during my second first year of teaching.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 4 Comments »

Today, I’ll bid farewell to my third and fourth period classes because tomorrow is a half day, and I won’t see them.

I thought I’d share a few musings about each class.

First of all, third period.

This was always my largest class, so at first, it was a little intimidating to teach.

The class was, at first, my second wildest class.  Leaving them with a sub ensured disaster.

This class was the one that changed the least throughout the year.  I had a few students filter in and out, but for the most part, at least fifteen of the kids became my core group, staying with me from August through June.

This class was comprised of mostly boys, which I didn’t notice until my friend, Barb, pointed it out to me in January.  No wonder they were crazy!

I had four basketball players, two football players, one cheerleader, and one baseball player in this class.

Yes, they had a lot of energy…

And a lot of hormones.

With only six girls, you could say that the guys were in happy land.

This class became my wildest class in January.  Don’t ask me why.  However, they settled down a bit when I started stations.  Finally, they were all busy…all the time.  That’s just what they needed.

Doing group things with this class was challenging.  What I could do with other classes was twice as loud and three times as difficult to manage because my boys were so active.

You should have seen the time I tried to have us do a game in the hallway.

Yeah.

This was a one-time thing.

Though they were difficult to manage, they were the most competitive.  They LOVED my Jeopardy review games!

This class also responded well to music.  I started using a lot of music during the last two months, and it was the way to go.

Another thing about this class was their sense of humor.  They could tell Yo Mama jokes like nobody’s business.  Unfortunately, they used these jokes to put each other down, which I deplored.  Try as I might, I don’t think I succeeded in teaching these students how to have empathy for one another.  I’ll think about this during the summer.  I wonder if it’s a boy thing…simply the way they interact with one another.

Now, on to fourth period.

As parents, we’re not supposed to have favorites, right?  However, we can say that certain personalities mesh better together, right?

The same goes with teachers.

When you put twenty young adults with all of their crazy lives and hormones into the same room, you’re either going to get lucky or you’re not.

With this class, I got lucky.

It was a class primarily composed of females.  At first, we had two guys.  Then one of them moved, so we only had one left.  We acquired a few more boys at the beginning of the second semester.

“A” was a burly football player with long hair.

He liked pink and wasn’t afraid to admit it.

We loved him for that.  In fact, though “A” gave me a lot of problems, he and I shared a birthday, so I couldn’t help but like him a bit more for that.

My fourth period class was my easiest class all year long.  It started off fairly small with about fourteen or fifteen students, but by the end of the year, I had twenty.

Every new student was initially angry about changing classes but ultimately happy with the class at large.  This group supported each other 100%.  Each new student was indoctrinated into Mrs. AuburnChick’s way of doing things, and the students shined.

I had an autistic student in this class, and I placed him at the same table that had a tenth grade girl who I’d identified as nurturing and a gal who was loud but loveable.  He blossomed, coming out of his shell so much that he actually participated in class discussions.

These students had huge learning gains on state exams, and I am confident that it was because they were so supportive of each other and respectful of the learning process.  In fact, I chose this class for both of the observations that my principal made…observations that went quite well.

This class had three band kids, one football player, and one cheerleader.  It was a loud crew that quieted quickly when asked to.

One of things I’ll remember about this class is one young lady.  She’d started out in my first period class, got moved to third, and then moved to my fourth period.  She moved so often to accommodate other issues in her schedule, but she requested that she stay in my reading class because she loved me so much.  My fourth period class embraced her…something she really needed after transferring first from a different school and then in and out of my other classes.

This is the class that I could have frank talks with without all of the immature giggling that happened in my other classes.  This class taught me about weaves (we’re not talking the yarn kind), about how calling a black person “black” is preferable to being called “African American” because, in their frank words, “You are white, we are black.  We’re also Americans.  Why qualify that by adding ‘African’ in front of it.”

One of the funniest things that we shared in this class was an inside joke (actually we had several) about Michael Jackson and one of my students, who I’ll call “P.”

“P” might as well stand for Precious because she truly is one of the most precious people you will ever meet.  She has fingernails that are about three inches long and always painted fancy.  Her daddy is a preacher.

She is the most respectful young lady I’ve ever met.  She’d rather do the pee-pee dance than interrupt you to ask for the bathroom key.

She also loves Michael Jackson…to the point where she almost cries if talk turns to him.  We’ve had MANY laughs about MJ, as we call him.

I guess you could say that I enjoyed teaching this class.

😉

As I say goodbye to both of these classes, I’ll do so with a smile on my face…grateful that we all made it through the year…happy that I won’t have to pull out any discipline referral sheets for some of my more “energetic” students…thankful for a heart filled with memories of these darling young people.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 2 Comments »

On Saturday, I headed into school to work on my classroom.  First, I stopped by Chick fil A to pick up empty boxes after calling ahead to ask the store to hold them for me.

I had tons to do, so I got busy.

My ultimate goal was to pack the hundreds of books that line my shelves and cupboards.

This proved easier said than done.

Have you ever started picking up around your home, aiming to get ONE thing finished but quickly discover that you can’t do one thing until something else is done.  Then you realize that you can’t do that until you do something else.  It’s a snowball effect, and it can become quite overwhelming.

That’s exactly what happened in my room.

Before I could pack up my books, I had to get them all in one place, so I had to go through my students’ folders, where they’ve kept the books they read during silent independent reading time.

Pulling the books from the folders led to me going through each folder, pulling out all of the papers and individual folders inside, deciding what to recycle and what to trash, and stashing stuff in the “Keep” pile.

Oh my word!

It took me about an hour to go through 60+ folders!

As I opened each folder and went through the papers, I thought about the student who belonged to the folder.

Have you ever watched the show Survivor?  During the last show, when the game is down to three contestants, the contestants go on a walk of remembrance, when they pause beside each person’s snuffed out torch and share memories.

That’s a little how I felt as I looked at each name.

I remembered meeting each student for the first time.  I thought about laughs we’d shared, aha moments experienced, and even times of stress when the student either acted out, or I became frustrated for whatever reason.  With each student’s folder I opened, I asked myself if I’d met that student’s needs during the year…if I could honestly say that I’d differentiated instruction.

Sadly, I realized that there were times that I had not.  I know this was due to my inexperience.

Oh, there were many times when I did differentiate…I just don’t think that I went far enough.

Yes, I realize that I’m being hard on myself.  That’s because I want to be the best teacher possible.  I wonder if I’ll ever reach a point in my career when I don’t feel like I need to apologize to my students as they head out the door into the land of Summer Vacation.

I sincerely doubt it because that’s the nature of the beast.  When you’re a perfectionist, you always feel the need to apologize for not quite hitting the mark.

Still, I feel like I have succeeded in many ways…only because of the lessons I learned this year.

Most of my students are on free and reduced lunch.  They come from broken families.  Some have parents in jail or prison.  Some of them live with grandparents, who are their primary caregivers.

This year, I taught ninth and tenth graders.  Those ninth graders came into school very scared and nervous about being in such a big school.  Some came in with a cocky attitude after being the oldest in their middle schools.  Humble pie was tough for them to swallow.

To all of this, I had a front-row seat.

And all of these memories came to a head as I went through those folders.

Monday and Tuesday are our last days of school…days in which students will be taking their finals.

As my kids walk out the door, instead of apologizing, I think I will thank them.

I’ll thank them for the lessons THEY taught me.

They inspired me with their fortitude.  They inspired me with their honesty…an honesty that was difficult to hear sometimes.

They taught me that there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and for a stubborn person like myself, that’s saying something.

My students taught me how much little gestures mean.  Something as small as a casually spoken compliment has the power to open up the quietest of students.

An example of this?  One day, my shyest student told me, “Mrs. AuburnChick, you made me feel so good when you told me that my paragraph was creative.”

My students taught me that I don’t need to apologize for being strict.  They need this.  They need routine.  They need to be held accountable.  They respect an adult more for it in the end.

My students have also taught me that I need to lighten up a bit.  I need to smile more.  I need to not take myself so seriously.

I adore these students I’ve had the privilege of teaching this year.  I cannot wait until the day when they walk the stage at graduation…when their names are called out.  I’ll be proud to say that they graced my classroom with their presence.  I’m a better teacher and a better person because they did.

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 3 Comments »

Yes, I know that I’ve been MIA since Wednesday.

What can I say?

The end of the school year is kicking my rear end.  Whew!  I thought this was when we teachers got to catch our breaths.

NOT!

Since last Friday, I’ve spent over ten hours grading!

I’m also starting the not-so-fun business of dismantling my classroom.  The reading teachers have been told that we are changing classrooms next year and that everything must be packed before we leave.

I’ve been so busy teaching that I haven’t had time to start…until this afternoon after school, when I spent an hour taking things off of my wall.  I plan on going in tomorrow (Saturday) to begin the laborious task of packing books.

I’m keeping things in perspective, though.  I am SOOOOO thankful to be returning to my school in August that changing classrooms is a temporary stitch in my side that I can easily get over.

😉

Meanwhile, as you know, we celebrated Rooster’s 18th birthday this week.

What a fiasco that started out to be.

I’m not sure why, but Rooster was not a happy guy when I got home from work on Wednesday.  I think he felt like nobody had made a big deal about his birthday since he had to be home by himself while the Mr. and I worked.

Rooster was g-r-u-m-p-y and announced that he would be helping out with the youth at church (while his friends were walking the stage at the graduation HE should have been attending) and oh, by the way, he would probably stop by the stadium to watch his friends walk.

Yes, you read that correctly.

While he denied me the privilege of watching HIM walk, he wanted to watch his FRIENDS walk.

It was not a good time to be in the Chickster household, let me tell you.

I vacillated  between being angry and hurt.

Then, I sat down to grade.

Things turned around about an hour later when he walked back in the door and said that he’d been bored at church.

Um, yeah…that’s probably because your FRIENDS were getting ready for GRADUATION!!

:::cough:::

He decided that he wanted to go out to eat for his birthday.

We took him to our favorite hibachi restaurant and had a grand old time.

When we returned home, he departed for the stadium.

Sigh.

I don’t know if I’ll ever fully forgive him for denying me the honor and right of watching him walk.

He’ll find out just how long I can hold a grudge when my will is read after my death.

I think I’ll leave his portion of my estate to his high school…as a scholarship for a graduate who can’t afford graduation expenses…maybe pay for his or her mama’s dress so she can look real pretty while she watches her baby walk across the stage.

😉

Anyhoo, off he went.  He followed that up with ice cream with his graduating friends and then Project Graduation, which was held at one of my church’s campuses.

Thursday, after school, the three of us headed out of town for a quick trip to watch my nephew, Music Man, graduate from high school.

Yes, Super Sis and I decided to have babies, way back when, three months apart from each other.

Her boy, unlike mine, walked that stage, allowing her to have a memory she’ll treasure for a lifetime…

Psst…he’s the one in the green cap.

Teeheehee

We got home really late, but the dogs were fine.  I’d arranged for a young man who graduated with Chicky to watch my fur babies.  They quickly took to him…he’s great with animals.

Then, today, I got up at my regular time and headed back to school, determined not to allow my students to get out of hand.  With 1.5 days left until the end of school, the natives are getting restless…as are the teachers.

Next week promises to be somewhat hectic as well.

School ends at 11:30 on Tuesday, and teachers go in for one full workday the next day.  Then, we are finished.

However, I will be starting my third Reading Endorsement class, “Assessment,” on Monday.

Please say a prayer.  It’s one of the toughest classes in this certification program.  It’s ten weeks and will end the week before school starts back.

Aren’t I lucky?

Yes, actually I am.

🙂

So, forgive my waywardness of late.  Though the summer will not bring much relief in the way of stress, at least I can be stressed out while sitting around in my pajamas.

😀

Filed under: Teaching | Tagged: teaching | 1 Comment »