Long December

At about 2:30, after having specials at about noon....
Ricardo: Did we already have P.E.? We DID!? I didn't even feel it!

Four of my kids were tested proficient so will now be leaving my class. It's good news in the way that is means what I'm doing is working if these kids are already proficient by the second quarter, but I don't want them to leave! I know it's greedy and wrong, but my classroom is a little like my family. It's hard to see anyone go.

A little humor

We were playing a centers game where I'm trying to get them to guess a particular word. This time it was, "A Frisbee".

Me: What often gets thrown over the fence?
Ricardo: A nerd!
Me: It sometimes gets on the roof.
Ricardo: Poop!

Voting

I got at my polling place at 5:15 (it opened at 6) and there was already a huge line, like it was the opening of a new Star Wars movie or the release of a Harry Potter book. I voted, and it was my first time voting a) in Arizona and 2) physically at the polls.

I also got my first sticker, but sadly, it doesn’t say, “I voted for your mom”, “Kiss me, I voted” or “Voters are sexy”. I’m really disappointed.

The kids at school are involved in this nationwide campaign called KidsVote, where kids, K-8, are given Voter ID cards and vote at simulated polls. The votes are tallied and compared to the real votes. Pretty awesome, really. (My kids are pro-Obama. One kid calls McCain "McCan't").

A Day Made Better

To see real pictures of my surprise, follow these directions:
Go to:
http://www.adaymadebetter.com/a-day-made-better.htm

Click on Days Made Better at the top.
Click on Arizona, then Phoenix.
Click on floating picture that has caption of “Maurice C. Cash School” (there are yellow and black balloons).
There are two pictures…. The surprise was serious!

My newly christened throne:

Gift with the recipient:



What I now do in my new chair:


Just kidding!

Super Surprises!

You won’t believe what happened today! Right after recess, Ms. Sandomir and a bunch of people in black shirts came into my classroom. I was a little scared, but one of the guys had roses for me (couldn’t be all bad) and a plaque. They said they were from Office Max and they had a surprise for me if I followed them. They led me and my students to the cafeteria where there was about four classes of kids and a huge poster that said, “We (heart) Miss Sells”. They said I won an award called “A Day Made Better” that is given to teachers who “make days better.” The office staff nominated me!--- and I WON! They gave me a NEW*** teacher chair (leather!) and two huge boxes (2.5’ cubes!) of supplies for my kids. Hole punches, label makers, pencil boxes for all of my kids--- honestly--- so much I couldn’t even list it right now. They took a million pictures of me and my students and me in my new chair (heehee)! I am SO grateful. During lunch, Shannin gave me a card and a gift, and Lessita made me spinach dip and brought an ice cream cake, plus made a picture frame where people have been writing flattering traits on. Can you believe this? I am so blessed!

Kiss-ups and Cuteness

Me: It's a good thing you're cute.
Jonathan: I know, right?

Brown-nosing child of the year: You may not have given me candy, Miss Sells, but I win any way. I have the best teacher in the world.

Student: Please forgive me, Miss Sells. A minute ago I spoke Spanish. I know we're not supposed to. Please forgive me.
Me: What did you say?
Student: I said, "please forgive me..."
Me: No, what did you say in Spanish?
Student: Gracias.
Me: I think I'll let you off the hook this time. Thanks for telling me.

Student: Miss Sells. Please forgive me. A minute ago, I played with my ruler right after you told us they were tools and not toys. I'm sorry.

Check out my school on the statewide news! You can't see it, but one of my kids made a sign that says, "I love my school because my teacher teach me English." http://media.myfoxphoenix.com/KSAZ/hilites/whirlybird.html First three videos (M.C. Cash School)

Thank you!

Thank you to my friends who remind me that, though I'm a teacher, that's not all I am. I appreciate knowing that I am a friend, a sister, a daughter, and a teacher. My job is incredibly important to me, but it's not my entire identity.

Time is no friend of mine!

Third year teacher. I should have my ducks in a row by now. I shouldn't be in the classroom on Sunday at 5:00 prepping for the week. I shouldn't be ready to strangle my students (CPS, I am far from the actual action).

I have no time for anything. I have to prioritize my necessary activities and choose only the ones who must be done, life or death. I am taking classes, trying (and not succeeding) in leading the PTO, TEACHING 29 students how to speak, write, and read English, do math, and become effective citizens. I am exhausted. It's only the fourth week of school.

Ugh.

First Week Finished!

I have officially survived the first week of school, though it's been rough. I really miss my students from last year, and this batch needs a LOT of help- in in-class behavior, focusing, writing, spelling, math- pretty much everything but virtue. Does that make sense? They are all pretty good kids, but they don't know how to keep their hands out of their desk, pay attention to a lesson/story/speaker, raise their hand, stay quiet during independent work, etc.

I have thirty students, as of right now, but it may flop upwards of 35 by September! It's this new ELD structure the state of Arizona has applied this year- I am only allowed to take in ELD students, and the rest of the third grade teachers are teaching non-ELD, which means any new enrollments who are ELD get automatically placed in my class! YIKES!

Ughhhhhh!

I officially hate teaching! Okay, I don't hate it, but I'm getting really frustrated. I go back to work next week and the following week is the first week of school. Although I worked at home to prepare and this will be my third year teaching, I'm completely overwhelmed and I forgot about all the crap that goes with this: new schedules, changing schedules, new staff members who don't care, new standards, new state mandates, huge class numbers (I'm already at thirty), shortages of supplies, broken promises.... The kids- the real reason I put up with this stuff- aren't here to remind me of my calling, so I'm just becoming embittered- after only one day working in the classroom.

Grrrrrrrrr!

Summer time, and the living's easy!

Wow... this is the time that I really love being a teacher. Though finances are tight, and I still had to teach summer school and get another part-time job to make these distant ends meet, I am loving the lazy days of summer. I can read whatever I want, [technically] get up whenever I want (Karma actually makes sure I get up earlier for our morning walk, but then I just take a nap afterwards, so does it really count?), and basically just lounge around the house, thinking, watching mindless television, etc. Right now I'm in the classroom, just making sure that when I return in the end of July I won't have a million loose ends. My goals for today are: 1) organize all of my overhead paraphenelia (I can't believe how the overhead has changed since I was in school... such a simple piece of technology that can be manipulated in a trillion ways) and 2) file all the papers I decided did not need to be filed right away during the school year.

In educational news, a state mandate was passed that says that all ELD students need to have four hours of reading instruction, divided in specific segments depending on their ranking (Pre-emergent, Emergent, Basic, Intermediate). I don't have the numbers in front of me, but it makes lesson planning a little more difficult, with specific minutes for conversation, writing, reading, verbal, and grammar. Plus, all ELD students are supposed to be in the same class, so I will have only ELD students in my class (which isn't a far cry from my class last year).

Karma after hair-cut:

Non-school related

Here's the newest addition to my household!

Meet Karma!

Summer School

Day Two of Summer School:

Although I have the largest summer school class in the school (14 students enrolled), this has been my most positive experience yet. I'm finally organized, prepared, and armed for anything summer-school-related. Last year, when I foolishly expected given curriculum and/or general expectations on what I was to teach, I found myself scrambling for something to fill what seemed like an eternal four hours of school. Now, my students are saying, "We go home now?" as if we'd only been in class for an hour.

For those of you on a similar conflict, here is my schedule:
8:00- Attendance and Sonday System (phonics review program)
8:30- Computer
8:55- Journal writing with Mix-Pair-Share
9:30- Centers (while I pull them for reading fluency testing)
9:55- Reading of decodable book, copied so they can take home
10:30- Make Your Own (a time where we make our own flashcards)
10:50- Math (On a stroke of pure genius, I have purchased a set of playing cards for each student from the dollar store. Each day, I teach them a new review game they can play with the cards. Then, they can take it home and practice the games... So far, so good!)
11:30- Lunch
11:50- Review
12:00- Dismissal

P.S. I am picking up my dog at 2:30 today! News to come on that front, I suspect!

Letter

May 16, 2008

Dear Miss Sells,

I will shure miss you. I want to stay with you. I don't want to go too fourth grade. I don't want the year to end. All of my other teachers were great but you're the best. You where soposed to get it on Wednesday, but I just want to give it to you early.

Love,

Macario

(with attached address and phone number, "in case you want to call")

Tangled Web We Weave

Well, AIMS, our state testing, is over, after a lot of headache, heartache, blood, sweat, and tears. Therapy should be on our health insurance.

In order to motivate students to do well on AIMS prep we did the weeks before AIMS, we did this big plan where a certain goal met on math and reading AIMS prep, allowed for the student to receive one "vote" for a teacher to play in a teacher vs. student basketball game and another vote for a teacher to get a pie in the face during this game's half-time. I was the only one to sign up and possible player/pie-receiver for this Hoops for High Scores.

The game is on Monday and it will be absolutely crazy! I've been voted as both a basketball player for the younger game and a receiver of the pie during half-time (one of my students, Angelie, will be pieing me). I can't believe it's actually happening, but anything to get our students revved up for five days of exhaustive testing.

Also, we're having Wacky Wednesday, which is kept a secret from our students until the actual day. It's a professional development half-day, so the school day ends at 12. Our professional development is vertical alignment that will hopefully help grade levels communicate better. In order to help this take place, all teachers are switching grade levels. They're putting our big, bad junior high teachers in kindergarten and who knows what they'll do with the rest of us. We find out on Monday.

My school is crazy!

Amazing Things

The students are working on research projects on incredible Americans in history. Teresa is studying Eleanor Roosevelt, and she told our librarian all about her life- her alcoholic father, the deaths of her parents and brother, etc.

Here is her wise-beyond-her-years wisdom: "It just goes to show you: You can still do amazing things even if your life is all messed up."

Cockroaches and Craziness

Yesterday, after recess, Diana suddenly raised her hand and said calmly, "I see a cockroach."

I replied with, "Is it alive or dead?" (We often have cockroaches come out to just die).

"It's alive."

Angelie jumps on her chair, but I go on over, asking Alex to bring me a cup. It's a LARGE cockroach... about four inches long. I ask Alex if he can put the cup on top of the cockroach. He tries twice, both times having the cockroach flip the cup off itself. I grab a nearby bowl and set it on top of the cup once it's in place, though the cockroach is still fighting. A couple of the kids are trying to get a better look, so I have to tell them to sit, etc. Finally, I ask, "Who would be willing to squash the cockroach?" Alex is right next to me, and says "I will, I will!" but after he realizes the idea of putting his foot on top of that giant monster, he says, "Never mind... I change my mind." Samantha then volunteers, and comes over smiling.

Me: "Samantha, are you sure about this? I don't want you to change your mind after we lift the cup."

Samantha: "No, I'm sure."

So, we lift the cup, and Samantha, true to her word, smashes that bastard cockroach with no mercy. The kids are cheering, and the cockroach's guts are splayed about. Before I could do anything, Samantha lifts her shoe and ... SNIFFS it. Gross.

After everything is back in place and we're back to our seats, Samantha gets a worried look on her face. "Miss Sells, am I going to get rabies now?"


Later in the day, Marck asks, "Miss Sells, why do you always get the crazy kids?"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Marck: "Every year you get the weird kids."

Me: "I think the real question is, do I get the crazy kids, or do I just bring out the craziness in you?"

Teresa: "Yes! That has to be it! I was not crazy in second grade and NOW look at me!!"


I love my job.

Don't Underestimate the Coniving Eight-Year-Old

So, I have this fabulous student named Samantha, who I absolutely adore. In fact, I had her brother last year.

Her brother had an attention problem and was a resource student. I remember one time when I took him outside to talk to him privately about listening and following directions. When I asked, "Do you understand what I'm telling you?" he looked at me and said, "Your hair looks funny in the wind."

Anyway, Samantha is MUCH brighter than her brother, but has similar tendencies toward distraction. She's constantly playing with her hair or looking closely at her shoes, etc. She's very bright, but I've also caught her several times being malicious. The first week of school, one of my students was reading in a chair and she walked over and simply pushed him off of it. I still have no idea why.

Yesterday, I was having problems with her during centers cheating at the games or laughing when other people only rolled a one, etc. I pulled her aside to talk to her about her behavior. Her eyes began welling up with tears and she took on this wounded puppy dog look. It was heartbreaking, but I get a special thrill when my talks result in an emotional response. As I was finishing, I saw her lips quiver and suddenly she BEGAN LAUGHING. She was FAKE crying. She had learned already how to fake cry. I could not believe it.

So- sweet little girl, or spawn of Satan? Hard to say.

(On a tangental note, this reminded me of my youth when I cried over everything [I still do]. My dad used to tell me I was "turning on the waterworks", but I honestly felt like my crying was justified every time-- him telling me I was faking just made me feel even more sorry for myself and cry harder. This child really does just turn it on.)

Run-In with the Cynical

Sort-of funny story:

Yesterday, I was a perusing a new-find new and used bookstore, and I just happened to be in the education section, browsing. A woman walked by and said, "If you're considering a job in teaching, you should think again." Surprised, I just kind of looked at her, and she added, "Unless you're already in it..."

"Yes, I'm afraid it's too late for me!"

Woman: What do you teach?

Me: Third grade.

Woman: Me too. How long have you been teaching?

Me: This is my second year.

Woman: I've been teaching seven years.

Me: What makes you already advising others to stay away from the profession?

Woman: I love the kids. It's everything else that's driving me crazy. Especially the testing. I never thought I'd be like this, so early on in my career... And I have a hard time leaving things at home.

Me: I am having trouble with that, too.

Woman: No kidding! It's a Sunday, you're in a bookstore, and you're stuck in the Education section!

Anyway, it was interesting! Someone so against their OWN career that they would advise a complete stranger to stay away. I hope I didn't just see a future version of myself!

Solo surrounded by people

It's incredibly difficult to be in this position: a job where you are surrounded by people (parents, colleagues, and, of course, students), yet your regular, outside-of-work life is incredibly lonely. I've had (rather nosey) colleagues ask me if I go out, why I don't have a boyfriend, what I do with my time. In all honesty, I don't go out. I know no one outside of work. I don't have a boyfriend for a trillion reasons, some of the most prominent being my unattractiveness, my lack of time, and simply not knowing anyone. Even if I was completely gorgeous, is it possible to meet anyone if the only time you're away from work is your monthly trips to the grocery store or your daily trips to the mailbox? Without my job, I'd be a hermit; a shut-in; a talentless Emily Dickinson; a "New York death" in Phoenix. I wish someone would just pick me up and set me down in an already created life of friends and family. As a student, school was a natural way to make friends, but now, as a teacher, it's the opposite. I have zero local friends apart from colleagues. What do I do? Honestly, what do I do?

Because they said so...

"I don't play games with strangers, only strange people." - Diana

"Don't blame me, Miss Sells! You know me- I'm just lazy!" - Alex

Me: "Plug in the word into the sentence and tell me how it would sound."
Steven: "Whirrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"

In writing, comparing me to their last year's teacher:

Arnulfo: Miss Sells is not bore, but my last teacher man was she a bore.

Aranza: Miss Sells looked nice when I first saw her. Ms. ____ looked evil when I first saw her. Miss Sells is fun. Ms. ____ is annoying.

Luis: Last year's teacher was well I would said she was a little fat. Miss Sells is skinne.

Alexis: Now I have a teacher who dances all the time. I have never seen such a thing.

Valentine's Day: The Happiest Time of the Year for Eight-Year-Olds

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since the beginning of the year, I've been stressing how much I LOVE fractions with my kids. They responded at first with, "Why don't you marry them?" and I, in the most serious of all voices, said, "I would if it asked."

At about 7:30 this morning, I got a call from the office. Linda (our secretary) told me that there was something waiting for me in the office. When I got there there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Linda said, “They’re from fractions. That was what I was told to say. I have no idea.”

Isn’t that hilarious!? One of my colleagues had bought me flowers, and knew that I had been telling my students, practically daily, of my love. Some of the kids still don’t believe me, but I’m actually not lying when I tell them that Linda had said they were from fractions.

Also, I've received more than I ever have from Christmas or my birthday. Chocolates, stuffed gorillas, bears, dogs, singing frogs, fake flowers, coffee mugs. I joked with, "Is this give Miss Sells presents day?" One of darlings responded with, "Yes. Yes, it is."

This morning, our journal topic was "What is love?" Joe read it and started singing: "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me, don't hurt me, no more..." complete with head bobbing.

Alexis' response was "Love is when a boy gives a girl something with the word 'love' on it." Well, hopefully that's not all love is!

Spread the love, people!

Parades, pushing, pooped

A couple of things:

First, the red half circle outside of classroom doors are NOT A SUGGESTION. One of my students split her head open on the doorknob when a child whipped the door open from the inside (she was also being pushed by someone behind her).

Second, when you think of a "brilliant idea" of how to teach letter writing, make sure the prep time and money doesn't outdo the acutal influence of the project. Our root beer float taste contest (writing to the company we thought had the best root beer) was fun, but it took me a total of an hour to prep, and I had to purchase cups, ice cream, and root beer.

Two of my students and I got to walk in a parade today! Our community, Laveen, had a parade where the principals of each school rode in classic cars and students handed out candy. It was really fun!

I'm exhausted, once again, and lonely again, too. I'm in my classroom and it's nearing 6 p.m. on a SATURDAY. I'm pretty sure there's another teacher here, though, because he promised he would call before he left... My life is sad.

Flying balls!

Poor Jose!

Dropping my kids off at music for specials on Friday, we had to wait outside until the teacher finished with the last class. The bathroom is around the corner from the music classroom and it happened to be unlocked for Coach's kids. I let Jose go to the bathroom while we waited. A few moments later, Coach appears saying, "Miss Sells! I'll watch your class; one of your kids is hurt."

I run around the corner and Jose is against the wall next to the bathroom, crying his eyes out.

"Jose, what happened!?"

He just bluthered through his tears. Coach, who was standing at the corner so he could watch his kids and mine said, "Miss Sells, I keep tellin' those kids not to throw the balls against the wall..."

Apparently, the kids at recess were playing with small rubber balls against the wall. One student missed the wall and the ball went flying into the bathroom, hitting Jose in the head as he prepared to do his business.

I walked Jose to the nurse's office (the nurse was absent), tried to find him an ice pack in the adjoining teacher's lounge, but only found an Otter Pop. When I returned to him, the secretary had found him an ice pack, so I gave him the OtterPop to help calm him down. He sat there, and we looked at a book of rattlesnakes together as he told me all he knew about snakes.

Man, I love that kid. Hopefully, he's not scarred for the rest of his life against using the school bathroom. He has a welt to prove the trauma of the experience.

Some musings

Yesterday we had a Pretzel Party in class to celebrate all of the students passing their Binky words (the first set of sight words they practice; they are categorized by Arthur characters- the lowest is Binky, the highest is Bionic Bunny)! It was a proud moment for me, since the last one to move from Binky to Prunella was my resource student. The other members of his group worked with him daily since the day he came (about two weeks ago) to help him pass. It warms my heart!

So, my life revolves around school, as you all know. But--- the date of my dog-getting is fast-approaching. I want to make sure I have enough time to bond with him/her, so I'm going to get her the day after the last day of the school year: mid-May! Thanks for asking, Melissa!

Super-embarassing moment: Before school yesterday, I was in the office and the secretary (a woman who's been working at the school for forever, and speaks very bluntly) asked me if I had a boyfriend. When I answered in the negative, she asked why. What am I supposed to say? I do nothing but work? I don't have a life? Guys don't find me attractive? Well, I forget what I mumbled out, but then she asked if I was interested in anyone "around here." At first I thought she meant the Phoenix-area, but she meant within the school! First of all, even if I was interested in someone, how unprofessional would it be to tell our school secretary that? She began to list through the men at our school (most who are either married or in some other form of relationship). Those few minutes seemed to last FOREVER. Why must it be so hard to be single in a life of people who look down on singlehood?

Frustrating

The new law that forces employers to have correct papers on their employees is making our school dwindle. Unable to put up the needed paperwork, families are leaving for Mexico by the truckload. It's very upsetting to me, as I see my students (present and past) leave after making such growth in their English, only to know it will soon go to wayside after being immersed in the Spanish language daily. Right now, I only have twenty-four students, and a few other students are telling me their parents are planning on moving soon. Stupid rules and regulations.

This job is so frustrating! Unlike other jobs where it is actually possible to do everything right and be a complete success, teachers never really know how much of a success they are, or sometimes even what they may be doing wrong. There will always be room for improvement, especially since a lot of teaching is conjecture. Are cooperative learning groups better than the traditional school setting? Should 8-year-olds be taught completely differently than 9-year-olds should be taught, since they are technically at different developmental levels? More technology in the classroom or less?

And yet... I love it!

Back to School

Though my sleep pattern is in shock from having no pattern at all over the last few weeks, coming back to school has been a relatively smooth transition. My kids were tired, but amiable yesterday, and even though it was a rainy day schedule (a rarity in Phoenix), they were on their best behavior.

Unfortunately, my monolingual (or should I call her my "quasi-monolingual" since she was picking up the language?) had her last day in my classroom yesterday. I'm very sad to see her leave, but it seems to be a positive move for her. She's moving from her cousin's trailer into a rental home with her parents. If she was moving to Mexico, I would probably would have torn my hair out- all of that work in vain! Anyway, I hate to call her my favorite, but she was close to being that. After losing Cipriano last year, in the middle-to-end of the year, I'm trying not to grow too attached with any of my students, knowing that this community is very mobile and the new laws are causing families to move back to Mexico. Now I'm down to a small 25 students, but I'm sure those two spots will fill up quickly; they always do!