How could I have forgotten? I sent the stapler around the classroom and asked the students to staple together their torn-out workbook pages from the reading workbook. No further directives. So I should not have been surprised when I received packets of paper with three staples down the left-hand side or one in each upper corner. (My least favorite is the one in the middle of the page. What good does THAT do anyone? You can't even turn the pages!). The worst part about this is that I knew better. Anyone who's been teaching for longer than a week knows you can't just send around a stapler and expect proper results! It doesn't matter how many packets with one staple neatly placed in the upper left-hand corner the kids have received over the course of their lives. It hasn't sunk in that THAT'S how you staple together papers. This, apparently, is something that must be taught, like other mundane September tasks taught to you by your fourth grade teacher.
Many kids have the need to staple their papers like a book. Oh, and the more staples, the better. Stapling must be fun to those who don't have a lot of experience with stapling, I guess. Ever since I started teaching, I've observed that kids are fascinated by stapling...and tape...oooh, and White Out...and highlighters...and post-it notes. All of these things need to be handled with extreme caution when working with children.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Friday, September 28, 2007
Connections or Lack Thereof
Yesterday we were reading a lesson in our science book about fungi. We got to a part about mold and, of course, the kids want to share every single encounter they've ever had with mold. While I encourage the children to make connections between what they read and their real life experiences, this can get totally out of hand quickly. So I chose only 3 people to call on. The first 2 told short, simple stories like about what happened when their mom accidentally left a container of cream cheese in the refrigerator for too long. Here's how the last kid's story went:
Kid: I once accidentally left a piece of bread out on the counter for a week, and...
Me: A week?
Kid: Yeah, a week. Anyway, it got covered in this furry stuff...
Me: You mean mold?
Kid: Yeah, mold, like in our book. Anyway, then my cat ate it and...
Me: Your cat ate it???
Kid: Yeah, my cat ate it and...(he goes on to talk about the mold some more and how there was hardly any bread left because the mold "ate" it -- which is true!)
Me: Was your cat okay?
Kid: I dunno.
Me: What do you mean you don't know?
Kid: I dunno if he was okay or not.
Me: Do you still have the cat?
Kid: Yeah
Me: Then he's okay!
He's such a cute kid, but totally clueless in some ways. That's another thing I love about kids. They just don't have enough life experience to connect the dots in ways that are so obvious to adults. Cat still alive = cat okay!
P.S. A small victory! They turned off the AC! My room was actually comfortable today. Nobody had to wear a coat or anything! This only happened because I went down to the useless chief engineer's office yesterday and asked him to pleeeeeeease turn off the air. His response: "You're cold?" I would've punched him had my hands not been to cold to form a fist. Apparently my word that it was too cold was not enough for him. The teacher next door to me told me that the useless chief engineer came up this morning to ask her if she was too cold, too. She obviously replied yes and the air was turned off! Voila!
Kid: I once accidentally left a piece of bread out on the counter for a week, and...
Me: A week?
Kid: Yeah, a week. Anyway, it got covered in this furry stuff...
Me: You mean mold?
Kid: Yeah, mold, like in our book. Anyway, then my cat ate it and...
Me: Your cat ate it???
Kid: Yeah, my cat ate it and...(he goes on to talk about the mold some more and how there was hardly any bread left because the mold "ate" it -- which is true!)
Me: Was your cat okay?
Kid: I dunno.
Me: What do you mean you don't know?
Kid: I dunno if he was okay or not.
Me: Do you still have the cat?
Kid: Yeah
Me: Then he's okay!
He's such a cute kid, but totally clueless in some ways. That's another thing I love about kids. They just don't have enough life experience to connect the dots in ways that are so obvious to adults. Cat still alive = cat okay!
P.S. A small victory! They turned off the AC! My room was actually comfortable today. Nobody had to wear a coat or anything! This only happened because I went down to the useless chief engineer's office yesterday and asked him to pleeeeeeease turn off the air. His response: "You're cold?" I would've punched him had my hands not been to cold to form a fist. Apparently my word that it was too cold was not enough for him. The teacher next door to me told me that the useless chief engineer came up this morning to ask her if she was too cold, too. She obviously replied yes and the air was turned off! Voila!
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Separation of What and What?
For a long time, I've known that the whole separation of church and state thing was pretty much for show. I mean, "In God We Trust" is written on our money and "...one nation, under God..." is in our Pledge of Allegience. However, these do not compare to what happened today.
We had a professional development day which usually means that we stay at our school and attend some kind of presentation about literacy. This year, however, all the schools in our "area" meet up at some location to have a professional development day. There are 22 schools in my area, which means about 800 people. Besides some major Chicago venue, such as Soldier Field or U.S. Cellular Field, I couldn't imagine where this event would be held. Lo and behold, the venue was merely 2 blocks from our school...at a church!
This place was immense. I almost don't even want to call it a church. It was more like a compound, which scares me. It was super nice, almost hotel-like...and, like I said, it was huuuuuge, plus they were in the middle of building an addition. The church donated their space, their employees' time, breakfast, and lunch! Obviously, this church as a lot of money. Did I mention that the neighborhood is impoverished? 86% of my schools' student body is low income. It just creeps me out that the church has all this money while the neighborhood around it doesn't.
I guess the fact that our school's professional devlopment event took place at a church isn't that big of a deal since they didn't include anything religious in the professional development activities. It was just...odd. I shouldn't be surprised considering our school pledge ends with the religious affirmation, "I am somebody because God made me." However, nobody else seems to find this inappropriate. It must be me.
We had a professional development day which usually means that we stay at our school and attend some kind of presentation about literacy. This year, however, all the schools in our "area" meet up at some location to have a professional development day. There are 22 schools in my area, which means about 800 people. Besides some major Chicago venue, such as Soldier Field or U.S. Cellular Field, I couldn't imagine where this event would be held. Lo and behold, the venue was merely 2 blocks from our school...at a church!
This place was immense. I almost don't even want to call it a church. It was more like a compound, which scares me. It was super nice, almost hotel-like...and, like I said, it was huuuuuge, plus they were in the middle of building an addition. The church donated their space, their employees' time, breakfast, and lunch! Obviously, this church as a lot of money. Did I mention that the neighborhood is impoverished? 86% of my schools' student body is low income. It just creeps me out that the church has all this money while the neighborhood around it doesn't.
I guess the fact that our school's professional devlopment event took place at a church isn't that big of a deal since they didn't include anything religious in the professional development activities. It was just...odd. I shouldn't be surprised considering our school pledge ends with the religious affirmation, "I am somebody because God made me." However, nobody else seems to find this inappropriate. It must be me.
Monday, September 24, 2007
97 Degrees and Freezing
Today's temperature broke records in Chicago today. It was something like 97 degrees, which is HOT for late September! I need it to cool off, but not for the reason you'd think. I need it to cool off outside so my classroom will HEAT UP!
This is my third year in my particular classroom. I spend half of the year freezing and the other half melting, and neither at the most obvious times. While it was 97 degrees outside today, my classroom was 62. It's always 62. 62 is c-o-l-d to be sitting in for 6 hours. By midday, I literally cannot feel my toes. Now you know if I, the teacher, am complaining to you all , you know the kids are complaining to me. It's annoying, but I've basically learned to ignore them. Actually I tell their parents to complain to the administration, but I don't think anybody has.
Every year I complain to the chief engineer, who I'm sorry to say, is useless. Every year he tells me it's because I have such a small room and it cools easily than the other "big" rooms. Then he goes over to the thermostat (which is literally under lock and key because god forbid they allow me to control my own temperature), adjusts the knob, and tells me it should warm up soon. It never does. Ever. Until winter.
In winter, my room is unbearably hot. I, who am usually cold, can't even stand it. I could probably wear a bikini and still be hot. So meanwhile it could be negative 12 out and we're boiling.
So last year in mid-January, I had just had it with the heat. I was hot, uncomfortable, and was about to LOSE IT! So I called the office through the intercom and asked them to send the engineer to my room. I was expecting the useless chief engineer, but up comes some guy I had never seen before. He identifies himself as someone from the regional engineering office. Ooooooooooh! I may get somewhere here! This guy's from the region! So I ask him to come into the sauna which is my classroom and tell him that I absolutely cannot stand it anymore. He unlocks the thermostat, starts to adjust it, and then remarks, "Hey, this thermostat's not even connected!" So for the past 3 years, stupid chief engineer man has been pretending to adjust the thermostat even though he KNEW it wasn't connected. Grrrrrrrr. The region guy never did anything to help me in the long run. He did turn off the whole heating system that day so we could get some relief, but it was right back on the next day so we could continue to melt.
Since then I've learned that the heating and cooling system have 2 settings: on and off, no inbetween. Seriously. I heard through the grapevine that when they built my wing (5 years ago), there was some kind of payoff to pass inspection in order to get the building done on time.
That's your tax dollars at work, Chicago!
This is my third year in my particular classroom. I spend half of the year freezing and the other half melting, and neither at the most obvious times. While it was 97 degrees outside today, my classroom was 62. It's always 62. 62 is c-o-l-d to be sitting in for 6 hours. By midday, I literally cannot feel my toes. Now you know if I, the teacher, am complaining to you all , you know the kids are complaining to me. It's annoying, but I've basically learned to ignore them. Actually I tell their parents to complain to the administration, but I don't think anybody has.
Every year I complain to the chief engineer, who I'm sorry to say, is useless. Every year he tells me it's because I have such a small room and it cools easily than the other "big" rooms. Then he goes over to the thermostat (which is literally under lock and key because god forbid they allow me to control my own temperature), adjusts the knob, and tells me it should warm up soon. It never does. Ever. Until winter.
In winter, my room is unbearably hot. I, who am usually cold, can't even stand it. I could probably wear a bikini and still be hot. So meanwhile it could be negative 12 out and we're boiling.
So last year in mid-January, I had just had it with the heat. I was hot, uncomfortable, and was about to LOSE IT! So I called the office through the intercom and asked them to send the engineer to my room. I was expecting the useless chief engineer, but up comes some guy I had never seen before. He identifies himself as someone from the regional engineering office. Ooooooooooh! I may get somewhere here! This guy's from the region! So I ask him to come into the sauna which is my classroom and tell him that I absolutely cannot stand it anymore. He unlocks the thermostat, starts to adjust it, and then remarks, "Hey, this thermostat's not even connected!" So for the past 3 years, stupid chief engineer man has been pretending to adjust the thermostat even though he KNEW it wasn't connected. Grrrrrrrr. The region guy never did anything to help me in the long run. He did turn off the whole heating system that day so we could get some relief, but it was right back on the next day so we could continue to melt.
Since then I've learned that the heating and cooling system have 2 settings: on and off, no inbetween. Seriously. I heard through the grapevine that when they built my wing (5 years ago), there was some kind of payoff to pass inspection in order to get the building done on time.
That's your tax dollars at work, Chicago!
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
He's Responsible AND Funny
I think I've pinpointed what it is I love about children. Children are genuinely funny. They're funny without trying to be funny...funny when nobody's looking.
For a writing assignment today, my students had to write in response to this question:
"In what ways can you prove that you are a responsible person?"
This is what one of my kids wrote:
"One way I can show I'm responsible is when I was 8, my mom and dad went out for dinner. I had to watch my sister for 4 hours! I thought they left and went out of town after the 2nd hour."
For a writing assignment today, my students had to write in response to this question:
"In what ways can you prove that you are a responsible person?"
This is what one of my kids wrote:
"One way I can show I'm responsible is when I was 8, my mom and dad went out for dinner. I had to watch my sister for 4 hours! I thought they left and went out of town after the 2nd hour."
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
Summer: A Time to Forget
Lately, there has been talk of year-round schools. This means that we would be in school for the same number of days, but they would be dispersed differently. Since times have changed and children's help isn't really needed around the farm during the busy summer months anymore, They (researchers, administrators, The Man?) think that children and teachers would benefit from a year-round school calendar. They give many convincing arguments for year-round schools, and it's not that I wouldn't like working for a month and then having 3 weeks off and so on, but it's just that 3 weeks isn't enough time to forget...to forget how much I stand and walk during a day of teaching...to forget how much my feet hurt.
Because summer gives me the opportunity to forget, I get to buy cute shoes! I used to buy high heels (not crazy high) and have moved down to cute kitten (or princess) heels.
These are the CUTE shoes I bought this summer. I usually leave the house wearing shoes like this in the morning:
These are the ugly shoes I usually come home wearing:
And for no reason, this is the random funny sticker I found on the bottom of my shoe yesterday:
So in short, I am against year-round schooling for reasons more than the foot pain and the excuse to buy cute shoes. That'll be another entry someday when I don't have pictures of stickers stuck to my shoes to share.
Because summer gives me the opportunity to forget, I get to buy cute shoes! I used to buy high heels (not crazy high) and have moved down to cute kitten (or princess) heels.
These are the CUTE shoes I bought this summer. I usually leave the house wearing shoes like this in the morning:
These are the ugly shoes I usually come home wearing:
And for no reason, this is the random funny sticker I found on the bottom of my shoe yesterday:
So in short, I am against year-round schooling for reasons more than the foot pain and the excuse to buy cute shoes. That'll be another entry someday when I don't have pictures of stickers stuck to my shoes to share.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Certain Death
Apparently there is such a thing as a "banana spider," and thank god the one in my classroom wasn't one! I'm not sure why my student thought the spider on our floor was called a banana spider, but if I EVER saw one of these, I would surely die.
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