This past week has been VERY long . . . . .
On Monday, I found out my cousin passed away. He had cancer.
On Tuesday, one of my students stole my ITouch off my computer desk. My Housemaster searched them but nothing came up. I feel violated and upset. I can no longer trust any of my students. In ten years of teaching, no student has EVER stolen from me. The kids are upset for me too since a lot of them know how much I sacrifice and give to them. On a positive note: kids can be "stupid thieves" - they will eventually talk and it will come out on who stole it. I will never see my ITouch again (kids usually steal them, delete the music, and then turn around and sell them to other students). I still have that Midwest too trusting thing going on and it officially was killed on Tuesday. :=(
Tried to end the week on a positive note: I chaperoned the Junior Prom. The kids looked wonderful. Sometimes, they can clean up good! :-) Us teacher folk had a fun time too. We kept requesting old school songs in the beginning of the evening. No one was dancing at first so we requested the Twist song and each of us grabbed a student from a different table to go out on the dance floor and dance. It worked! They started to dance at that point and we heard rap music for the rest of the evening.
So, this is why I've been a little more MIA than usual.
For those of you that sent me emails requested French Revolution materials, I did respond this past week. If ya didn't get the stuff from me, please let me know and I can use my school email account.
Just started Napoleon this week. Really trying to plug through all the curriculum that needs to get taught this year.
Grades for 3rd quarter close on Friday. I noticed in my grade book that a lot of my students are currently failing. Not good. This freshman class this year just doesn't seem to "get it" -
I am taking Monday off for a mental health day . . . . AND, U2 tickets are going on sale so I want to try and get tickets for the Sept 20th concert. :-)
Have a good week folks.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Plugging through the curriculum . . . and other random info
Isn't this so true for so many of us teacher folk out there?
Still in the French Revolution. FYI: If anyone would like any more information about any of the activities that I do for the unit, please feel free to leave your email address in the comment section. I will send you (If I have the documents electronically) any materials that you may need or use for the French Revolution unit.
It seems like I will never get through all the curriculum that needs to get taught this school year. It doesn't help that my school lumped two years of World curriculum into ONE year! Goodness! And, it's a blessing (or is it?) that at least we are not state mandated tested for the graduation requirement.
My co-taught class is really behind compared to my other classes. Since we deal with attendance issues, learning disability issues, and behavior issues, it's quite amazing that I get any curriculum taught in this class at all. I currently have three kids in that class that are homeless right now (they are living in a shelter). So, learning about King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette is probably not a priority in their lives right now.
On a positive note: I attended some great professional development workshops the past few weeks on local history and primary documents. We received some great primary documents that I can incorporate into my local history class. So pumped! :-)
Still don't know anything about the potential cuts. There will be cuts; it's just a matter of how bad. Until the federal gov't figures things out, the state and local gov'ts can't figure out their budgets yet for next school year. Since this is my 3rd year, the administrators could get rid of me. If they go by seniority, I'm 5th in line. If they go by job performance, I should be good to go too (I've been told by my Principal and Asst. Principal that they don't want to lose me). So, the drama continues . . . . . .
My summer is up in the air right now. Don't know if I will be teaching summer school or going to Ghana for a travel study program. I applied for another travel grant (everything is paid for) to travel to Ghana for two weeks in July - the topic is the Transatlantic Slave Trade. I'm also going to apply for the same summer institute that I took last summer just in case too. I would get paid a $1000 stipend for the seminar (5 days of classes plus 3 grad credits).
Still in the French Revolution. FYI: If anyone would like any more information about any of the activities that I do for the unit, please feel free to leave your email address in the comment section. I will send you (If I have the documents electronically) any materials that you may need or use for the French Revolution unit.
It seems like I will never get through all the curriculum that needs to get taught this school year. It doesn't help that my school lumped two years of World curriculum into ONE year! Goodness! And, it's a blessing (or is it?) that at least we are not state mandated tested for the graduation requirement.
My co-taught class is really behind compared to my other classes. Since we deal with attendance issues, learning disability issues, and behavior issues, it's quite amazing that I get any curriculum taught in this class at all. I currently have three kids in that class that are homeless right now (they are living in a shelter). So, learning about King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette is probably not a priority in their lives right now.
On a positive note: I attended some great professional development workshops the past few weeks on local history and primary documents. We received some great primary documents that I can incorporate into my local history class. So pumped! :-)
Still don't know anything about the potential cuts. There will be cuts; it's just a matter of how bad. Until the federal gov't figures things out, the state and local gov'ts can't figure out their budgets yet for next school year. Since this is my 3rd year, the administrators could get rid of me. If they go by seniority, I'm 5th in line. If they go by job performance, I should be good to go too (I've been told by my Principal and Asst. Principal that they don't want to lose me). So, the drama continues . . . . . .
My summer is up in the air right now. Don't know if I will be teaching summer school or going to Ghana for a travel study program. I applied for another travel grant (everything is paid for) to travel to Ghana for two weeks in July - the topic is the Transatlantic Slave Trade. I'm also going to apply for the same summer institute that I took last summer just in case too. I would get paid a $1000 stipend for the seminar (5 days of classes plus 3 grad credits).
Sunday, March 08, 2009
Attended a Volleyball Coaches Clinic on Saturday & Daylight Savings Time
Since I'm a member of our state volleyball coaches association, they had their annual coaches clinic at the Reebok International Headquarters on Saturday. Can I just say how nice it is to see how the other half lives? Their building was AMAZING! The facilities had a huge gym set up for volleyball and basketball, baseball fields, football field, soccer field, and a ton of work out rooms with all equipment that had cable TVs attached. Crazy! We were supposed to have access to the Reebok store and get a 50% discount on products but the employees didn't show up so no new clothes or shoes for me! I had my eye on a pair of $175 Reebok shoes so half of that price would've been a good deal. And, the store sells a lot of clothing that isn't being sold to the public yet so it would've been nice to purchase some stuff. Oh well. Maybe next year. :-)
The varsity coach and I drove down to attend the clinic and I have to say I was very impressed! The association brought in the head volleyball coach from Springfield College to do some sessions on setter training, training the middle hitters, and leadership training for high school athletes. He showed a ton of drills by using kids and coaches too. There was also the executive director from the American Volleyball Coaches Association to show us how to keep more accurate stats on our players. It was a very productive and useful day.
We also networked with some coaches from other schools and arranged for a few preseason scrimmages. And, we are in a new conference this year so we met some of the coaches from the new conference. Network, network, network! :-)
We were even given a free Reebok volleyball (they are worth around $40!).
I hope I can remember everything that I learned and implement stuff in August during pre-season. :-) The varsity coach and I talked a lot on the drive about how we want to make some changes to our program. Since next year will be the third year of the volleyball program at my school, we really want to step it up!
Hope everyone is having a restful weekend (don't forget to change your clocks - spring forward!). In case you want a quick history lesson on daylight savings time, check out this link here.
The varsity coach and I drove down to attend the clinic and I have to say I was very impressed! The association brought in the head volleyball coach from Springfield College to do some sessions on setter training, training the middle hitters, and leadership training for high school athletes. He showed a ton of drills by using kids and coaches too. There was also the executive director from the American Volleyball Coaches Association to show us how to keep more accurate stats on our players. It was a very productive and useful day.
We also networked with some coaches from other schools and arranged for a few preseason scrimmages. And, we are in a new conference this year so we met some of the coaches from the new conference. Network, network, network! :-)
We were even given a free Reebok volleyball (they are worth around $40!).
I hope I can remember everything that I learned and implement stuff in August during pre-season. :-) The varsity coach and I talked a lot on the drive about how we want to make some changes to our program. Since next year will be the third year of the volleyball program at my school, we really want to step it up!
Hope everyone is having a restful weekend (don't forget to change your clocks - spring forward!). In case you want a quick history lesson on daylight savings time, check out this link here.
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