Teachers Rant!

Discipline Hell

Fri, 19 Sep 2008 23:13:26 GMT

I am teaching 2nd grade this year after teaching fourth grade for three years. I hated teaching fourth grade. I loved most of the kids, but I always ended up with a rowdy group with lots of emotional problems and discipline issues. It also seemed to be a time when many kids develop attitudes and smart mouths, so that was very stressful for me.

Anyway, I was very excited to get moved to 2nd grade this year. I worked all summer on developing a Positive Discipline strategy to use this year. (My school has many many discipline problems to deal with.) Things went wonderfully the first week of school and I was so proud of them! The principal wants to implement Positive Discipline for the whole school starting next year; she loves the idea.

But the problem is, that since that first week of school, things have progressively gotten horrible! I only have 15 kids in my homeroom class but ten of them have turned out to be holy terrors. I hate to sound negative, but I'm running on empty right now. I love teaching, but at this point nothing has worked for me when it comes to discipline and I'm starting to wonder if maybe I'm just not cut out for this. I'm so discouraged! I'm trying to make a difference in these kids lives (I teach at a school that has a population of very poor, often attention starved students)....I'm trying to teach respect and responsibility and honesty. Honestly, I feel like they are just throwing it back in my face.

I don't know what to do anymore. I feel like quitting.
I need some advice...any advice!
X-posted a bit.

The "Peel & Eat Kleenex" Teacher Meme

Sat, 06 Sep 2008 01:41:45 GMT

This might be just the thing for some of you who are already being driven crazy by your classes.

I need to start with the original "Peel & Eat Kleenex" story. I originally posted this to my journal in April 2006. (Here's a link to the original.)

I've been buying Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues for my classroom lately. I have no data on whether they make a difference, but given how well diseases travel through schools, I figured it couldn't hurt. For the record, the active ingredients in Kleenex Anti-Viral tissues are citric acid and sodium lauryl sulfate [also known as sodium dodecyl sulfate, or SDS].

Today, one of my students [in my all-senior organic chemistry class] got out one of the tissues and told a classmate, "I've heard that these taste like lemon." He separated the plies from each other, and put the one with the blue dots all over it into his mouth. The acid was evidently a lot stronger than he was expecting, because he made the most amazing "OhMyGod this is DISGUSTING!" face, with vocals to match.

This is something you just don't do in front of your classmates, because it makes them wonder, "How bad can it be?" About half the class utterly failed to resist the urge to go up to the tissue box, peel and eat a tissue, and make similar faces and noises.

Then one of them got the bright idea to have a contest to see which of them could hold one of these tissues on his/her tongue the longest. (As Dave Barry often says, "I am not making this up.") I am very sorry that I didn't have a digital camera anywhere accessible, but the lineup was priceless. Six or seven students were lined up like contestants on a game show, each with their tongue hanging out with a tissue stuck to it, and a screwed-up, twisted, mangled, puckered-but-determined facial expression that screamed, "I CAN'T STAND THIS but I'm NOT going to be the first one to quit!"

By the end of the period, my entire abdomen was aching from laughing. And then, in the way that kids often do as they're leaving a classroom, they mentioned the event to their friends coming into my next class. And the entire scenario repeated itself the next period, right through the game-show contest. By the time the two classes were finished, about half a box of Kleenex had been eaten!

My tissue box now has a note written on it in black Sharpie, that says, "Do not peel & eat these tissues!" Yes, I realize that giving a command in the negative is practically an invitation. I'm evil that way.

I told this story to a friend who teaches Spanish to seventh-graders in a rough neighborhood, and who has some particularly difficult-to-manage kids. She started posting signs in her room in Spanish, with various "Dos" and "Don'ts". One of the signs, of course, translated to "Do not eat the tissues." After a few days, one of the kids noticed and asked why not. "Because it's a rule." "But why is it a rule." "Because they taste bad." "What if I want to eat one anyway?" "I'll tell you not to." After several rounds, the student couldn't stand it any more and ate the tissue, with predictable results.

She told me her story over the summer, claiming that this was in danger of becoming a classroom meme, and that teachers all over the world would soon be leading their unsuspecting students down the citric-acid-and-SDS path.

This year, I once again put out a tissue box with the same handwritten warning. So far, I've had two instances of students eating tissues in the first three days of school.

If you decide that you have a class that truly deserves to be told the "Peel & Eat Kleenex" story, please feel free to comment here with the results and/or email them to me at jcb [at] mit [dot] edu.

Damned if you do.....

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 02:49:39 GMT

The school I'm at this year has a no cursing policy. If a child blatantly curses or makes an obsene gesture it is reason for an automatic referral. Since the beginning of school, I have had five instances where students have purposefully cursed. Therefore, as per the rules I have written them up. Today, I get called into the principal's office because I've had too many referrals in the first few days.

Now granted, I am trying a different kind of instruction than the traditional sit in rows and listen to the teacher. I have placed my students in TEAMs based on a cooperative/discovery learning format which is the model the local math initiative which is an acceptable curriculum guide. Now, my first block students are struggling with the concept and I have already reached out to my mentor from the local initiative to get some ideas about how to sell the kids on the idea. 2nd and 4th have not had any problems and are doing a pretty good job of staying on task and working toward various goals.

So, what is the principal's argument. She claims I've moved them into teams too quickly allowing them free time to simply talk without enough work to keep them busy. Because of course, we all know that when kids are given assignments they are so busy jumping to do them they don't have time to think about cursing. Therefore, we should blame the teacher for giving them time to formulate a curse in their mind because it's not stuffed with new information.

Seriously though, please read about the referrals I've written and offer up any suggestions you have about how I could have prevented those curses from occuring.

1. I had stepped out into the hall to conference with a student about her attitude. When I came back in two ladies in one team were a bit loud. I walked over to verbally get them back on task. As I approached, the other obviously hadn't realized I'd come back into the room when she looked at her teammate and said "Shit, you a lie." I wrote her up immediately because of her ability to get an attitude.

2. During a class discussion over the Problem of the Week, a student has his hand to his nose and interupts me by stating he needs the nurse because he has a nose bleed. Now, I've been teaching long enough to know a ploy when I see one. I easily simply asked him to take his hand away from his nose. When he did and there was no nose bleed to cover himself he stated, "You took too long, damn." His write up was not sent immediately because I was not interupting instruction for his comment. I sent him to the office with his later in class and he didn't even take it so I had to rewrite one.

3. I was passing out text books when a student brought his back up and asked if he could trade it for a nicer one. I told him that I didn't have enough books to answer requests and that each student ended up with whichever book I handed them. Another student piped up that everyone and their mama was getting the same book. Before I could address the other student about the inappropriateness of jumping into our conversation, the one with the request looked at him and said, "My mama ain't got no damn book." Because this child seems to have the ability to be violent, I waited until later to discuss it with him and explain that he'd broken the rule. He understood and the student that provoked him was given detention for instigating a classroom disruption.

4. We were in the middle of notes on probability. After writing a statement on the board, I turned around to see a student flipping another off. The reasoning unclear because I didn't see or hear anything that would have perpetuated the incident. Again, I did not interupt instruction to send the referral, I discussed it with her at a later time.

5. A student was tardy and when I went to let him in he told me he wasn't coming to class and started to walk away. I simply stated he didn't want a referral for skipping class. As he came in he showed out by protesting not getting to roam by using the phrase, "Man, god damn." I directed him to go have a seat and reminded him about getting a detention for his second tardy. Instead of getting to work, he spent time ranting to his team about not doing my stupid detention, et cetera. I took time to do his referral and remove him immediately from the room to keep his attitude from spreading to the others.

So much drama over a document camera

Wed, 06 Aug 2008 00:03:41 GMT

This summer: Went to a workshop on using teams and discovery learning. The presenter had a document camera and I fell in love with it. When a student shows all their work on paper you no longer have to waste instructional time getting them to copy their work onto an overhead or the board, just use the document camera.

Monday morning: I walk into my new classroom and fall instantly in love because there is a document camera there. I am super excited.

Monday afternoon: Ms. M walks in and introduces herself before jumping and saying I have things in my room that belong to her and she will be sending someone to get it later. I am crushed and go talk to my department chair. He tells me that the library has some and to his knowledge no one uses them so I shouldn't have a problem getting one to use in my classroom. From there I go talk to the librarian who informs me that the one in my room should be mine because the teacher before me used his instructional supply money and paid half out of pocket so it belongs to my room specifically. Still, if Ms. M wants it I need to just let her have it because she is supposedly the principal's homegirl. I am told I can come get the other this morning.

Tuesday morning: I go visit the library and the librarian checks it out to me for the year. Of course she continues to talk about Ms. M and I am seriously beginning to wonder what I've walked in on around here. Seems the librarian likes to stir stuff.

Tuesday before lunch: I hook up the document camera and notice that a prong is bent on one of the connectors. So, I walk down to Mr. V's room and ask him to help me fix it. He asks where I got one and I told him I'd checked it out from the library for the year and he begins to get huffy. I told him we could share it and when he needed it just let me know and I'd let him borrow it.

Tuesday afternoon: I have now hooked up the document camera and take the bulky box back to the library for storage. The librarian pulls me to the side and tells me that I opened my mouth to the wrong person because Mr. V is a kiss ass and will run to the principal if things aren't exactly perfect. This meaning I have to return the document camera to the library in two weeks as per library check out rules.

My solution: Screw them all. Buy my own. I can write it off on my taxes. Then I don't have to worry about anyone fussing and complaining. I've also already talked to the tech guy who has told me that. I can indeed hook up my own to the computer.

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 00:19:03 GMT

i hate summer school.

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:40:24 GMT

The Gender Public Advocacy Coalition is pleased to announce the release of its 2008 GENIUS Survey in partnership with Ernst & Young. GenderPAC works to ensure that classrooms, communities and workplaces are safe for everyone to learn, grow and succeed.

The Gender Equality National Index for Universities & Schools (GENIUS), GenderPAC’s most recent effort to end discrimination and promote awareness, encourages colleges and universities to recognize the benefits of a GenderSAFE^tm campus - supportive equitable and protective for all students. Choosing to participate in GENUIS sends a strong public statement that bullying or discriminating based on the race, sex or gender of a student, faculty, or staff member is not tolerated at your institution

Fill out the survey at: www.gpac.org/GENIUS2008survey, and make sure that we have data for as many schools as possible. Your voice will help us continue to work towards a safe and welcoming environment for every student.

*While we greatly appreciate the interest taken in GENIUS by students, staff, and faculty at academic institutions outside of the United States, at this time GENIUS is only able to track schools based in the U.S.

School is hell, indeed.

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:52:38 GMT

If you're a teacher, you should see the film Chalk. If you're a student, you should DEFINITELY see the film Chalk. Presented by Morgan Spurlock (the guy who did Super Size Me), this film is like The Office, but in a school setting. I know a couple teachers and while I have no idea what teaching is like, a friend of mine who teaches science told me it's not far from the truth. Which is scary, because this is a mockumentary.

Anyway, I thought y'all might like it. Enjoy!

Chalk

X-posted... everywhere? :)

In a desperate need to rant

Fri, 23 May 2008 22:21:03 GMT

I've peeked in on this community a few times, and now I find I just need to join and let it all out!

I teach middle school art in a great little charter school (only about 300 students, grades 6-8). I've been there for 3 years now, and I'm very happy. I especially love my fellow teachers.

I share a wall with a gentleman who teaches 6ths graders. He is a very smooth operator, believe me. Everyone is "honey" or "dear" to him. I had a good first impression of him (it was his first year at our school, though he's been teaching for 8), if only because he donated a ton of very old and mostly unusable supplies when he came. Perhaps I could only make use of a few things, but it was the thought that counted, right? I should have seen through it then.

There have been a million little things over the course of the year that have gradually worn me down to my last nerve, the short of it being shouting at the students, allowing them to scream and run around his room, "borrowing" supplies from me since he was so generous at the beginning of the year, answering his cell phone during staff and parent meetings, and outright lying to the administration about the trouble he's had with the students. Seriously, the kids call him an idiot to his face, and he doesn't even give them a detention.

Now, my art room can get noisy. The kids are working, I'm not lecturing, they like having the chance to socialize. He has not once approached me to say that things get too loud on my side of the wall. When I see he has an exam going on, I have my kids do Whisper Work, where they are only allowed to speak in whispers so the kids next door can have a nice, quiet testing environment.

My neighbor's classroom management skills are greatly lacking in every way. The kids just don't listen to him, and he spends much of his time hiding behind his laptop while they run wild.

Yesterday and today were final exams for us, and I take them very seriously for an art teacher--I've worked very hard to have my classroom recognized as a "class" and not just a "specials" room.

I was hopeful that he could get enough control even for a few days to allow my classes the respectful quiet they deserved for their exams. Of course, things hadn't been quiet at midterms in December, so bad that I had to find another room for one of my hours to test in. But this time, it would be different, wouldn't you think? Nope. Yesterday I had to pop my head in twice to ask them to quite down. Today, I also stuck my head in to plead for quiet, since the kids were yelling "shut up" at the top of their lungs at each other. My group kept looking at me, asking if they could go over, or bang on the wall, or shout that they were trying to work....

I finally called the office and begged that someone come down and handle this. One of our administrators came down and sat in the room, which helped, but my neighbor decided that rather than show off just how little control he had, he'd take them outside to run around for an hour or two. At least then it finally grew quiet.

It's nearly the end of the year, thank goodness, but I'm rather horrified by the idea of having to go through the whole thing next year. The biggest problem is that our administration have almost ZERO idea of how poorly things have gone next door to me, and they actually really like the guy. It's frustrating to no end. At the beginning of the year, when I noticed he was shouting at the kids and other such things, I approached the principal with my concerns. I was called a tattle tail. Have you ever heard anything so ridiculous?

There's nothing I can really do at this point, other than hope he doesn't get asked back next year. If he is, I might go seriously nuts.
(/lj-cut>

If anyone has any helpful ideas, I would love to hear them.

I'm teaching a WHAT?

Fri, 23 May 2008 00:58:23 GMT

Quick background: I'm a high school English teacher. Ninth and tenth grades.

So today we were called in for a planning period meeting (I love those, when they leech away the time we're supposed to be given to "prepare," especially the week before final exams), and told that next year the school district is going to require all teachers be given a daily "professional responsibility" assignment. Seeing as how this is the same school board that told us we could no longer give students "punish work" but instead had to assign "redemption assignments," I didn't have a lot of faith. But even I wasn't prepared for this one.

A "professional responsibility" assignment, in essense, is something that will help with our school's "growth plan." If you are a non-core subject teacher, this could be anything from mentoring (students OR teachers) to hall duty to lunch monitor duty five days a week. How lunchroom duty helps with our growth plan, I haven't the foggiest notion, but I digress. If you are a core teacher, like myself, this most likely means teaching a class of underperforming students in reading comprehension, reading fluency, writing, mathematics... in other words, in addition to our usual courseload, every core teacher just got a remedial class dumped into our lap beginning in September. Needless to say, this is not accompanied by an increase in pay or benefits or anything else.

And people wonder why teachers flee this profession.

Seriously...?

Wed, 07 May 2008 04:44:48 GMT

LAND 'O LAKES, Fla. -- A substitute teacher in Pasco County has lost his job after being accused of wizardry.

Teacher Jim Piculas does a magic trick where a toothpick disappears and then reappears.

Piculas recently did the 30-second trick in front of a classroom at Rushe Middle School in Land 'O Lakes.

Piculas said he then got a call from the supervisor of teachers, saying he'd been accused of wizardry.

"I get a call the middle of the day from head of supervisor of substitute teachers. He says, 'Jim, we have a huge issue, you can't take any more assignments you need to come in right away,'" he said.

Piculas said he did not know f [sic] any other accusations that would have led to the action.

The teacher said he is concerned that the incident may prevent him from getting future jobs.

Seriously, Florida? You're serious about this? "Wizardry," fer cryin' out loud??

Arrrrgh.

source: http://www.local6.com/news/16169506/detail.html

(x-posted)

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:22:18 GMT

Gotta love it when a parent e-mails you and informs you that there is no way her child cursed you. Especially after you gave him detention for something he didn't do.

3rd Graders Plot Attack on Teacher

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 19:29:44 GMT

WAYCROSS, Ga. (April 2) - A group of children ages 8 to 10 apparently were mad at their teacher because she had scolded one of them for standing on a chair, authorities say.

That led the third-graders, as many as nine boys and girls, to plot an attack on the teacher at Center Elementary School in south Georgia.

Police Chief Tony Tanner said the students apparently planned to knock the teacher unconscious with a glass paperweight, bind her with handcuffs and duct tape and then stab her with a broken steak knife.

( Read more )

As Always, The Good Suffer

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 02:28:33 GMT

I don't know how it is where you are, but we do not have tomorrow off. Tomorow, of course, is Good Friday, and it has traditionally been a day off school. I can't remember it ever not being a day off. I heard on the radio news this morning that the School Board had set into place a "secular" calendar and this is why we were not getting it off.

Oh, but many many are taking it off anyhow. Not just the students, either: the bus drivers (in droves, no pun intended) and the teachers. They (the news) started talking about the problems we'll face tomorrow a couple days ago.

First off, if teachers are taking the day off as protest, then I wish they would have organized somehow so it sent a real message. If this had been the case, I would have gone ahead and taken it off. Chances are, though, that at least some of them verifiably feel that they should not work on Good Friday for religious reasons.

Second, the bus drivers are crippling the schools tomorrow. At the end of the day, an announcement was made that several buses would not be running tomorrow, so students who would normally ride these buses would need to find a way to get to school (that encouraged the school population, I'll tell you!). I guess we have a lot of very religious bus drivers.

But what we really have are a lot of very very religious students! I heard students all day today saying they wouldn't be in school because of their religions, and you just know they are all very pious individuals.

So tomorrow is going to be a bust at school; I can see the writing on the wall. As many students as possible are going to take off, and many teachers will be gone as well. So classes will get combined, and those of us who are there will take on the burden of entertaining extra kids we don't know, kids who don't want to be there any more than anyone else. No learning will take place. It's going to be a fiasco.

And who suffers? The bus drivers and teachers who take the day off? Certainly they will not be persecuted for their religious beliefs (go ahead, YOU try to prove someone isn't really religious and is just taking advantage of a situation). The students? Same deal: in fact, if what I heard is right, their absence tomorrow will not be counted as an absence and will not affect their ability to exempt exams. So no one who takes tomorrow off will suffer.

I will suffer, and the other teachers who do go to work. And the students who show up, they too will suffer. Because we are not hypocrites who pretend to be overly religious when we're not (and for the record, I actually AM fairly religious, but I don't need to take a day off work to demonstrate that) and we are doing what we are supposed to do. We all will suffer from having to be at school for eight hours that others are taking off. What will our reward be for showing up tomorrow? Nothing. Our day's pay, I suppose.

PLEASE NOTE: I am aware that some who read this truly are religious. I am certainly not disparaging you for taking tomorrow off to truly commemorate Christ's crucifixion. I hope I have made it clear from my tone that I am denouncing those who are Christian when it suits them but never otherwise.

EDIT: In case you're curious how it all turned out: http://orbadviser.livejournal.com/192379.html

How has computer technology changed students and/or teachers?

Sun, 24 Feb 2008 14:50:50 GMT

I am collecting informal information for an ethnography centered on the implications of technology in and outside the classroom. I would truly appreciate a veteran's view or a new teacher's view on this topic. I am working towards licensure in secondary education to teach middle school English, so this subject is very relevent to me. As an older student (30) with a teenage daughter of my own, I also have a compelling need to understand what everyone is doing on the computer and why? If you have time to answer a few open-ended questions or would like to share anything about your personal experiences, I would be most appreciative.

How often do you use compters in the classroom? And for what purpose? I would love to hear of ways you may have successfully (or unsuccesssfully) incorporated technological innovations into your classroom or a lesson plan.

How often are computers needed to complete the homework you assign?

Do you think the increased recreational use of computers has affected your students in a positive or negative way, or both?

Do you think your students have become better writers and/or communicators, because of the increased use of the written word via bloggs, IMs, email, role-play, ect.?

If you have been teaching long enough to remember how things were before the internet explosion, what do you think of the changes? Both positives and/or negatives?

I would appreciate a little background such as what age you teach, what subject and how long you have been teaching as well as any additional information that you feel comfortable sharing.

What role does the computer (and all it's various uses) play in your non-teaching life? What do you use it for?

state testing: what to do after the test?!

Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:24:07 GMT

our state won't do state testing for another couple months.. but i thought i'd ask for ideas early.

our 10th grade students are bombarded with 2 full days worth of state testing. i'm stuck in a room with the same 30 students for both days and the problem is that their afternoon tests are either written short, or by then the kids don't care and bubble in whatever. last year, i will not forget the 50 minutes of "dead time" i had after i received all the afternoon tests.

what do you advise to do on such days when the tests are all in? the kids are wiped out mentally. also, i don't permit any ipods to be used on these test days. this is actually a rule every day in my class but on this day in particular, the kids beg to listen to them after the test. what's your stance on this?

plagiarism

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:31:08 GMT

Dear student:

Before turning in a verbatim copy of someone else's formal lab report, it would be a good idea to check to see whether your friend's report contains embarrassing material that might be memorable enough to make its way into my Lab Report Quotes file.

Yours truly,
Me

Thought You Might Be Interested

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 01:02:56 GMT

I had my students write an essay the second day of class this semester on this topic: What is the most frustrating thing about high school?

While they were writing their essays, I wrote my own. Then I made a copy for every student in my class and handed them out, asking students to read it a second time (after I read it aloud) and write five substantive comments in response.

When they returned the essay to me, I painstakingly recorded the most significant responses I received - good or bad - and I posted that essay with these comments placed after each paragraph on my LiveJournal.

I have been encouraged to post that here for others to see. Feel free to swing by and take a look at my essay (entitled "Apathetic Epidemic") as well as the comments my students shared in response: http://orbadviser.livejournal.com/180989.html

students and drug use

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 01:55:18 GMT

a teacher that i eat lunch with approached me today... one of her students that had just come from my class, came into hers, and began ranting to her about my inability to notice that a student in my class that morning was "high".

naturally, i started to go through all the students in my mind.. no one seemed as if they were acting out of the ordinary. a few were resting their heads on their desks and i had to remind them to stay on task.. but this isn't unusual.

i told this teacher that there weren't any implications that anyone was on drugs.

is there something i should be looking out for? also, i might mention that i've never used any drug besides alcohol. i realize they say marijuana has some odor to it-- i probably wouldn't be able to recognize by scent as such.

help?

Greetings!

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 03:51:11 GMT

I can't tell you how glad I am to have found this community. I'm a relatively new teacher -- a year and a half now -- and while in general I really do like the profession (there's really no other reason to do it, after all, lord knows it isn't for the money), we all have those days where we come home, pound our foreheads on the doorjamb, and ask how something so stupid could possibly exist in the universe.

I'll leave you with this encounter that happened a few months ago. It was a Friday afternoon and I was on my way to a pep rally when the principal stopped me and told me that Student X's mother asked that I call her about her son. I told him I'd do so and went on to the pep rally. Well, I'm human -- over the weekend, it slipped my mind. On Tuesday, he calls my room during class to ask if I'd contacted the student's mother yet. I told him that I hadn't and he snapped that it was unacceptable and that he'd arranged a meeting with her that day at 1 p.m.

Greeeeeat, I thought. He's in a mood and now I've got an irate parent to deal with.

One o'clock rolls around. I meet the parent, preparing myself for a tongue lashing. Instead I get, very sweetly, "I just wanted to check in on how he's doing."

So I show her his last few tests, tell her he did fine on a poetry reading earlier in the week and give her my e-mail address if she has any other questions.

Basically, spent the whole day irritated and anxious for nothing. Ugh.

I hate being told HOW to teach.

Wed, 12 Dec 2007 01:25:08 GMT

The other day my supervisor calls me into her office. She says that the principal has a new way of lesson planning. Really, I think to myself, how different can this be from the normal lesson plan. Wow! I really think he was bored and created a new theory.

He now wants to see questions that lead up to the aim, addiional questions that you will ask in the lesson (god help if I don't ask one of them), details summaries and learning objectives, statergies (think pair share, cooperative learning, etc) board notes written out, expected student responses to questions, two aims, and all matierals clipped onto the lesson and much more. UGH! Like we don't have enough to do in our school.

Needed to rant....sorry.

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 03:39:19 GMT

2nd block went alright except for S.G. She decided very early in the block that she was going to the restroom, she did not have her pass, and she wasn't going to do my break detention and then promptly walked out of the room. I didn't make a big scene, I just let her do her thing. Then later with about 15 minutes left in class I handed her a 3 day D-hall slip for the blatant disregard of the proper proceedure. Then she got vocal and pulled this whole, I'm walking out again. When I shrugged it off and told her to go ahead, just get an excuse from the office, she decided I didn't make a big enough scene for her. What did she do instead? She made a cross cut motion across her body toward her crotch while humping in time with the motion repeating "You can get this." I promptly sent her out of the room and had another teacher watch the class while I went to the office. I told the principal I wasn't going to deal with that kind of disrespect and he's answer was, "Well, she did go to the restroom because she has lady problems." Excuse me, these girls use lady problems as an excuse to get out of class any time they want. Why can they have a running excuse that gets them out of class and violates the policies while guys are just stuck in class? I have a feeling nothing will get done with her. Why do I think this? Last time I wrote her up all he did was call her mom knowing I'd already done so to no avail.

Any advice on how to keep from going crazy when the administration is obviously on the side of the student that gives you trouble?

Why can't sub's follow directions

Tue, 06 Nov 2007 11:30:40 GMT

Yesterday, I woke up with a migrain. Yet, I still had the presence of mind to get a lesson together and e-mail it to my department chair. My headache was gone by noon and since I have to go to a workshop today I went in and got everything together for today. While there I saw A. He came up and inquired about where I was and told me he was sorry I'd been sick. Then he told me "Mrs. H brought the worksheets in and we tried to tell the sub you'd expect us to have those done but he went and got a movie anyway." Sure enough, there was a VCR in my room and the entire stack of worksheets sitting there. Guess they'll get an extra grade on that when I return Wednesday.

It just really irks me because when I was a sub I always made sure the kids did what the teacher left. Even if the teacher left nothing I did my best to formulate a real lesson instead of getting a movie from the library (unless of course they left a video). Guess that's the difference between a real teacher taking some time off and a professional babysitter.

Tue, 30 Oct 2007 22:59:34 GMT

So, I have a student, let's call her Regina. Regina was doing a good job in general in class. She wasn't the most outstanding, but she was by no means the worst. She was a ray of sunshine in the class from hell. Then Regina was named to the Homecoming Court. Suddenly, Regina was too important to do anything she was supposed to do. Of course, it didn't help any that she now thought she was perfect enough to get the boy of her dreams. How does she go about it, by interrupting class trying to make a scene with the boy.

Tomorrow, Mom is working a different shift and hasn't told Regina. She is planning on swinging by and listening outside the classroom. Yes, I want my parents involved and I'd love for them to come by and visit. Yet, this is the class that is evil. How evil are they? A few weeks ago we had a teacher move on to another job. They hired in a retired teacher who used to work in the county I worked in (in other words used to low income mostly black schools). They ran this woman off in three days. This is the group that I have tried everything with and gotten support by word but not in action from the office. Why is it I am afraid that this parent is going to listen to these children and their rude disrespectfulness and turn around and blame it all on my inability to make them pay attention?

sp.ed inclusion into mainstream classes

Thu, 04 Oct 2007 02:42:57 GMT

anyone hearing about eventual full-inclusion of sp. ed students into mainstream classes at the high school level? i teach 9th and 10th grade science and i've already had handfuls of sp. ed students in various classes of mine. when there's over 6 or 7, i'm given a teacher's aide to assist with assignments. i'm grateful for that and i often find that these students tend to enjoy taking science more.

i'm hearing teachers say that all sp. ed students (not just a select few like it's been) will be mainstreamed next year. i'm assuming this is some phase of nclb? can someone elaborate on this? i'd like to know more.

i have a lot of concerns about "team teaching" and rumor has it that this will be how my school site will handle the large number of sp. ed students entering the mainstream courses.