Hedgetoad Teaching

Nine days left for Seniors! This year I finally remembered that I don't like grading final papers or extensive projects that require a lot of reading. It's only taken five years, but I did learn! Instead, my sophomores are creating newspapers devoted to Julius Casear. News articles are short and easy to read. Also, those who are creative (or desperately need an A) can be quite entertaining and fun to read. I've done this project before with Romeo and Juliet - some of the want-ads the students came up with were quite amusing and showed that they had picked up more details that I had thought.   AP Language students are creating games based on Catcher in the Rye. This is a class that will be very creative. Previously, I had done this with the Crucible and ended up with a CandyLand version of the going through the play, complete with "evil fungal bread" trying to over power "Wonder Bread" and cards that stopped players for a turn by saying that they had ...

By the end of the week, I should know what will happen with RtI next year. Whether or not we will be having reading and math intervention classes, whether or not we will have money for materials and hopefully, who will be teaching the courses. Hopefully, this year we will have someone before school starts so that we can come up with a curriculum before school starts rather than when school starts. (always a good idea) Cross your fingers for us. My AP students took their tests and AP Lang reported that it was "easy" and they "knew a lot more than they thought they knew"... I'm hoping that means I've found a sweet spot for getting the information into their brains and helped them find ways to process. The proof will be the scores. Who knows about the AP Lit? They were all thrilled that the Heart of Darkness was on the open prompt as we had just finished reading it. But they all felt weak on Literary terminology. If you're going to an AP conference this sum...

Ever sign up to do a project (perhaps even be responsible for it...) and then find out who you would be working with? And think "oh shit!"? Yah. And how diplomatic can you be as you back-peddle away real fast because the handwriting on the wall says the only way it will end up is FUBAR for you? Lord-luv-a-duck, summer cannot come soon enough.

I have to make a decision as to whether I should go on with the National Boards process. I did not receive a scholarship from the state to pay for a portion of the cost and I really DO NOT want to take out the proffered loan from the state to pay the tuition fee. I could take the money from my emergency fund and hope that I don't actually have an emergency over the next year or so. My other option is complete the pro-cert program in the fall. My certificate is due to expire next June, so I have to do something and the pro-cert program has changed to where I can simply take the culminating seminar and be done with it. Although it takes some work, it isn't nearly as taxing as doing National Boards and I would virtually be guaranteed to pass. There are so many things outside of teaching going on in my life, perhaps a break may be something to get me back on track. National Board certification has around a 40%(?) passing rate. Did I mention it would cost a fourth of National Board...

The deadline for RIF notifcation passed on Friday without any notices for me. At least I don't think there were any... I spent the day at a RtI training in Olympia, so I suppose that there could be a notice sitting in my school mailbox. But collegues at the training told me that teachers were notified on Thursday at their school, I'm assuming that I'm in the clear for the moment. There are exactly 6 weeks of school left. Next Friday is the first AP test. The WASL is over. I don't think I've ever been more ready to be done with school than this year. It's been a very reflective year for me, which I haven't really written about here (or any where, for that matter). There are a lot things that I need to change for myself, my sanity and my students, but I'm not sure if there is enough time to really make an effective change this year. It does look like my summer of planning is going to be a reality as summer school seems not have made the budget. I really wo...

The ASCD blog posted yesterday regarding a new economic report that basically stated that the achievement gap has a significant economic impact that has lead to recession and will keep up there, if not remedied. Of course, all the bigwigs have the remedy for this... data collection and breaking union contracts to get rid of all the super-bad teachers (of which there must be millions because everything wrong with education is due to contracts that keep super-bad teachers in their jobs). Really, I can only offer my anecdotal evidence that to a certain extent, the economic report is true. There are signifcant number of my students who are completely convinced that school is a boring waste of time until they get a JOB . Not a career, not a profession... a JOB. What the job will be is, well, at tad unrealistic. Part of this lack of reality is due to the fact that they're teenagers and everyone over the age of 25 is viewed as an idiot. No matter what is said, adults aren't really ...

1. First thing you wash in the shower? my hands 2. What color is your favorite hoodie? grey - they're all grey 3. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? no. 4. Do you plan outfits? sort of - I try not to miss-match and generally only wear my fav combo of green and red during the holiday season 5. How are you feeling RIGHT now? relaxed 6. What's the closest thing to you that's red? the scarf on my grizzly bear christmas ornament/computer montior topper 7. Tell me about the last dream you remember having? I dream a lot, but don't really put effort into remembering unless it's really weird... like the time I a co-worker borrow my foot for her medical school disection assignment. 8. Did you meet anybody new today? Luckily, no. But it's only the middle of the day. Usually all new students are dumped into my afternoon class. 9. What are you craving right now? Lunch. I forgot to bring on. 10. Do you floss? Yeah, but not as much as I should. 11. What comes...

The box was finally mailed off to the National Boards grading conglomerate (or is it conspiracy?). Life can begin again... Plus it's spring and we all know what that means! Yes! Shakespeare! Willie the Shake! Woot! Seriously, it's my favorite time of the year because this is when my students listen with rapt attention to almost every word I say. Especially if it's Romeo and Juliet. Can't get your students to pay attention to Shakespeare? Well, you are not focusing on the right spin. Bathroom habits, boys kissing boys and lots of dirty jokes. (once we had a grant to take students to SEE a professional show of Romeo and Juliet... the ones who didn't take my class were stunned at all the dirty jokes. My students giggled like 5 year olds.) If they're not listening, they may be insulted in words they don't understand or miss out on a joke. Yesterday, I started with my usual, "this is the globe theater. It has a floor and three tiers of seats. Unlike today, ...

I've made it passed the first half of the day - it's all down hill from here.   I ended up changing my plans at the last minute for the "class of evil" and the VP was so impressed with my idea*, he wants to see it in action tomorrow. I told him it will probably suck, as these students rarely do anything, but he was cool with it. I have to say that the coolness in work environment is one of the reasons why I like my job.    I'll find out if I get to keep it when the state legislature finalizes the budget.   Apparently, every school district in the state is thinking the same way because there are almost no jobs posted anywhere for the upcoming year. Not even in places where no one wants to live or the schools that have huge turn-overs. Nada. Granted it's early, but in five years, there has never been this few job posting for the state. Yes. I do check on a regular basis. You never know what will come up... and right now, it's nothing.   The Evil cl...

It's the last day of break and I really don't want to go back to school. Actually, I just don't want to attend one class - I can't say "teach", since I can't really say that I teach that class. I'm pretty sure that they have learned nothing during this year... certainly, there has been no improvement in their writing, grammar or reading skills. Eight months into the school year, they still cannot summarize anything they've read. Nor do they know the difference between summarize and paraphrase. Unless the answer is basically written out in the text, they cannot answer questions about anything they've read. Not that it matters since everything printed is "stupid" and "gay". After 8 months, only one out of 35 can tell me what a thesis sentence is (and I'm pretty sure he/she already knew) or why any supporting detail is needed in writing. If you asked, the best answer would be "'cause it's on the WASL". U...

no, not basketball... just rain, darkness and doom. Dare I write it? It was a dark and stormy day. Every day. March is when I loose my cool, my sanity and spend hours daydreaming of warmer climates where spring clothes can actually be worn in spring, instead of August (the only warm month). I actually attempted to ban the word "seriously" from one of my classes because it was driving me nuts. The word, not the class. This, of course, meant that for the next 20 minutes every student asked me "seriously?". Only the non-verbal headed my warning. Depressed and jaded as they are, there are days I love the non-verbal teen more than anything in the world. Thank heavens for Spring Break. No one has asked "seriously?" for last 48 hours. I've also not had to ask any one to: stop talking stop gossiping stop putting on makeup stop bringing food in the class stop throwing paper stop calling others names give me the food give me the cellphone give me the note get th...

Yup, it's that time of year again. Although I have to say that this round has been fairly easy. I don't have to proctor any tests and I'm getting some actually done.  Still working on getting my video re-done on Friday.   I've also started to read ACCESSing School by Jim Burke. So far, it's pretty straight forward and well organized. There is a bit of "philosophizing"... but mostly either practical information or personal reflections from various stakeholders in the program. We're still in the process of trying to figure out what to do with our low readers next year. Scheduling makes it hard to put them strictly leveled groups and we don't have tons of students who need the lower level  - budgets being what they are, it would be a hard sell to pay a teacher for a class of three. However, my RtI instructor keeps harping on "behavior problems only arise when there is a bad level placement"... kinda reminds me of "if you planned your...

there is no sound on the video. Thank heavens that Take One! participants have another month to get everything together.... meanwhile the write up is coming along. In another eight days I should know if I received a scholarship to pay for the whole enchilada. I know that tons of people are applying, so please rub a Buddah's belly for me.

Now I just have to figure out how to transfer it to a DVD, get it watched by someone else (who won't look at it and freak out because it's so bad), finish the write up and I'm done.   Oh yes, I have to figure out a way to explain why all of my students in the video are wearing casts, slings, braces, band-aids and using crutches (and a walker!). Today is "fake injury" day for the spirit week dress-up. It probably looks like I'm teacher a class full of school bus accident victims... or in a personal-injury lawyer's waiting room.

umm... yah... still haven't filmed anything worthwhile and March is just around the corner. I can barely post because of the shame.

Why is that midwinter brings about so many bad days? It must be semester change. I was so prepared for the semester change. I finished my grades early (!) and cleaned off my desk. (a student actually said to me today, "I didn't know that your desk was brown!" and this is her second year in my room). And then he walked in. THAT student. The one that is going to drive you up the wall and down the other side. The one that makes you serious wonder why you are doing this crap for little pay and even less respect. And seriously, he's the one that makes you realize that really there is no amount of money that would make it worth it. This is how I will be starting my day for next four months. Dear God, why have you forsaken me and why does the juvenile criminal system keep sending these kids back to our unsuspecting school population. Add that to overpopulated classes, parents who don't want their child to have any skill interventions and looming budget cuts. Oh, and Nati...

After school on Friday, I took off to a local Starbucks and graded all of the final tests. For the first time I remember, 5 students got perfect scores! Amazing! It has two response paragraph questions and I have the hardest time convincing students to actually write an entire paragraph on the test. Plus, only three students (out of 55) wrote that an allusion is something you see, but isn't actually there. It could be that I stressed that it wasn't several times over the past month or that it would definitely be on final. Even the student who has a 12% in class got it correct. Only 65 essays to left read.

I'm so hungry right now that I desperatly want to go home and eat (avoiding the vending machine of fat and the local fast-fat eatery across the street), but I told a student to have his/her parents call me at school saying that I would be here late grading finals.   And the teacher across the hall just came to offer me a donut!

For the past week, the sun has been shining and you can actually feel warm when sitting in the sun (as long as you're inside). Perfect reading weather. So far, I've finished the second Children of the Earth series and most of the third, an Alexander McCall book and Feed. The semester is almost over and that means.... grading! Yipee! This weekend is going to be a marathon session. In the meantime, if you were thinking of doing National Boards next year, the scholarship applications are out for WA state. (check OSPI) If you're in another state, you might want to check with your certification office.

OHMIGOSH! It is cold everywhere! And lucky me, I get a classroom with an air-blowing machine pretending to be a heater!   Student: Did you know this thing is blowing out COLD AIR!?!? Me: Um... yes, it always does. Student: We could freeze to death! Me: That's why I'm wearing longjohns. Aren't you?   Believe me sister, cold air is the least of our worries. On the docket as we speak is a plan in the legislature to cut about a million dollars in our budget next year. For a small school, that's enough to choke the proverbial horse. That's like the entire SpEd program, all the bus transportation, our entire paper budget, the electric bill, plus my salary. Yes, the funding for my job specifically will probably be cut.   Our illustrious superintendent has come up with a few cockamany schemes to save us all, but no one has saluted any of them. In fact, so far the only result has been photos of angry looking parents on the front page of the paper. Mea...