Happy Holidays

Christmas Break has arrived! I am officially on my first day of break, and it has hit me like a ton of bricks! I have a cold...It caught up to me on Monday, as I woke with a very bad sore throat. It quickly changed into a congested nose and relentless cough. But at least I can rest up and come back healthy to start 2013.

The last week and a half with my kiddos was great! It shocks me to think how little time I have actually had with my students--not even a full month yet. But I feels like it has gone so fast. One day it is Monday, and the next thing I know it's Thursday! Weeks go by with a blink of my eye. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I love how quickly things move in my life right now. It creates a familiarity and constant in life that I can always expect. I even know what to expect from my students, and am working hard to beat them to the punch before problems arise.

Come the New Year, I think I need to slow down a bit with my students. Given the fact that we have a lot of "getting to know you" to do still, I should probably do some re-teaching about classroom expectations. Starting in the middle of a semester has its challenges, like wanting to get up-and-running with the curriculum, but also needing to slow down to teach the kids my expectations about classroom procedures and behavior. The only problem is I'm not sure how to re-teach expectations in an engaging way. Day one with my kids we went over a powerpoint, and had a classroom discussion, but this time around I do not want to lecture them about it, but am not sure what else to do. Got any suggestions? I have a bulletin board with the "Safe, Respectful, Responsible" school theme ideas we came up with each period, and I can point that out to them again. Maybe a signed contract? Please, oh please send me some ideas if you have any tricks. Even you elementary school teachers--middle schoolers still love some of the elementary ideas because they are in between two worlds.

A new seating chart is in order for the new year, and that will definitely help out with behavior management. I also have tons of little drawers around my room, that kids open up (even though it is an automatic detention if caught in them), but I recently received tens of little keys that have locked many of the drawers already. YAY! One problem is almost solved :-) And I am getting savvy at seating arrangements too.

I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season. My beau and I got our first Christmas tree. We have such a little apartment, full of both our junk, but we found a corner for the tree and are so happy to come home to the refreshing pine scent. It makes the season that much more merrier to have our own mini-Christmas tree.

Week 2

So week 2 is now over, and I am starting to get into a groove. The kids know my expectations and I am following through with behavior consequences. Even my most challenging class is starting to figure it all out.

Progress reports went home on Thursday, November 6. D's and F's were also mailed home. I have to make parent/guardian contact by December 14th for those students who are not passing...this is so much work, which I didn't realize teachers had to do! When I got the email about this, I didn't even have my grades set-up. At this point, I have made about half the calls/emails, but on top of everything else I have to do, it is hard to sit on the phone with parents/guardians and talk about why their child is not being successful in class.

For example, I sat on the phone with a parent for 45 minutes discussing her child's behavior and missing assignments. She then called the very next day to ask if the child's grade had gotten better..."umm...no. Your child needs to schedule time with me before or after school to make up the missing labs. Otherwise, your child's grade will not change. And, P.S We have a quiz on Tuesday."

So on top of getting to school an hour or more early, I haven't been leaving until 5:30 pm (school ends at 2:40 pm). If I get lucky though, I call during my planning period, so I can just leave a message ;-)  Don't get me wrong, I think that having conversations with parents about how their child can be more successful in my class is positive and valuable, but if I have to talk to each one for 45 minutes, I won't get any other work done. I guess teachers just win some (summers off) and lose some...

In the mean time, I am trying to get all my planning done for the upcoming week in order to leave school at a more reasonable hour. So far, I have everything done for this coming week. We'll see how it goes. Only 1 week and 2 days until Christmas break!!!