Friday, February 22, 2008
Help me!
Since I'm new to blogging, I can not for the life of me get my blog to look good! If you're good at it, please e-mail me! I need help! :)
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Truth Hurts!
Because my school is on trimesters, today and tomorrow are the last days that I will see my students. I gave an end of course evaluation, because I truly wanted to know how the students felt about my teaching. It was a scary experience, but in the end, I feel that it was worth it.
Most of the comments were very nice and helpful. I think most students were genuine in their comments and suggestions. Some even made me tear up a little! :)
There was one boy in particular though whose evaluation was quite interesting. Of course, the evaluation was anonymous, and completely optional, but he was blunt and to the point. I asked for one negative thing about the class and he said "Well, you could have just broken my balls on day one instead of stretching it out throughout the entire twelve weeks." Given the handwriting, I'm 99% sure I know who the student is. His comment confuses me though. He ended up failing my class, but not because he couldn't do the work; rather, he wouldn't do the work. He is actually very intelligent, however, he is extremely lazy. I didn't give him too much of a hard time, but I did call his mom every now and then to give her an update. I'm thinking maybe his mom got to him, rather than me, and that's why he made the "breaking the balls" comment, but I'm not sure.
Many of the students said to do away with MLA research papers. While this obviously cannot be done, it kind of makes me feel good that they didn't have WORSE complaints. All in all, it was a good experience, and I'll do it again.
I'm going to give my seniors their evaluation tomorrow...eeek! We'll see what they have to say!
Friday, February 8, 2008
Senior Skip Day and Romeo and Juliet!
So, today was one of our senior skip days (yes, we have two--one for early graduates and one for the June graduates). I entirely expected an empty 4th period, because my students had been talking all week how they were going to magically "be sick" on Friday. To my surprise though, about half of my seniors showed up. I decided last night that I was going to make cookies for my seniors who made the choice to come to school, even though it could have been very easy for them not to. I made two batches and they devoured them! They seemed genuinely grateful though, so that was nice.
Since these were most of the "good kids," I decided to take a risk. They took a quiz, and after they were finished, I said "If I ask you guys something will you tell me the truth?" Most agreed that they would. I then asked, "Why do most of you hate this class so much?" They then proceeded to talk about the class--my class--for about 10 minutes. It was very reassuring to hear though, because they assurred me that it wasn't ME, it was THEM. They said, "We've been told that we are the worst senior class to come through this school;" "We are just so lazy;" "A lot of people actually do like this class, they just like to complain and act like they don't;" "You actually try to make this class interesting, but a lot of us just don't appreciate it because we've been through 12 years of schooling." Maybe they were just trying to make me feel better, but I hope they were being honest.
My freshmen, on the other hand, are finishing up Romeo and Juliet. I did a great assignment last trimester that made the students connect song lyrics of their choice to the play. They had to analyze the lyrics and find common themes between the play and their song. It was a class discussion that lasted half of the period, and it turned out very well. Because it was so successful last trimester, I was very excited to do the same assignment this trimester.
I gave out the assignment last week and the students seemed excited too. We practiced with two songs together, and they loved the idea that for homework they had to listen to music. Well, today was the class discussion, and I was disappointed because it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. In fact, 1/3 of 2nd period and 1/2 of 5th period didn't come to class prepared with their song lyrics. It was very disappointing. I don't know if it was me or the kids, but it just goes to show that one lesson doesn't work with all classes and students.
Since these were most of the "good kids," I decided to take a risk. They took a quiz, and after they were finished, I said "If I ask you guys something will you tell me the truth?" Most agreed that they would. I then asked, "Why do most of you hate this class so much?" They then proceeded to talk about the class--my class--for about 10 minutes. It was very reassuring to hear though, because they assurred me that it wasn't ME, it was THEM. They said, "We've been told that we are the worst senior class to come through this school;" "We are just so lazy;" "A lot of people actually do like this class, they just like to complain and act like they don't;" "You actually try to make this class interesting, but a lot of us just don't appreciate it because we've been through 12 years of schooling." Maybe they were just trying to make me feel better, but I hope they were being honest.
My freshmen, on the other hand, are finishing up Romeo and Juliet. I did a great assignment last trimester that made the students connect song lyrics of their choice to the play. They had to analyze the lyrics and find common themes between the play and their song. It was a class discussion that lasted half of the period, and it turned out very well. Because it was so successful last trimester, I was very excited to do the same assignment this trimester.
I gave out the assignment last week and the students seemed excited too. We practiced with two songs together, and they loved the idea that for homework they had to listen to music. Well, today was the class discussion, and I was disappointed because it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. In fact, 1/3 of 2nd period and 1/2 of 5th period didn't come to class prepared with their song lyrics. It was very disappointing. I don't know if it was me or the kids, but it just goes to show that one lesson doesn't work with all classes and students.
Free stuff for teachers!
I am a huge fan of the website www.donorschoose.org. I came across it this past summer and saw that it was a place where teachers could write proposals to get materials for their classrooms. I thought it was a long shot, but I decided to write a proposal to try to get a class set of dictionaries. With shipping and thirty $30 dollar dictionaries, the total cost of the proposal was over $900. I was very skeptical, but I thought, "What do I have to lose?" I'm glad I went through with it, because my proposal was funded within FOUR days. Before school started I had 30 brand new hard cover dictionaries.
With new found confidence, I submitted another proposal for around 50 books to add to my classroom library. Again, I thought I only got lucky once, but within a month and a half, my second proposal (worth over $500) was funded. I now have submitted a third proposal to get more books to add to my library. My students LOVED the new books that were added after my second proposal was funded.
The great part is that these people don't even know me, yet they spend hundreds of dollars to help teachers get the supplies they want/need for their classrooms. All donations are anonymous, and in a world full of hate, crime, and violence, it is quite touching to know that there are good people out there who don't want any recognition for their charity!
After getting two proposals funded, I think I've discovered some tips for people who would like to get their own proposals funded:
1) Write a detailed (but not boring) proposal. Make sure the donor would know where his/her money would be going, and make sure you explain what the materials would be used for.
2) Make it personal! Provide background for your readers! For instance, when I wrote the proposal for my dictionaries, I gave an example of receiving answers such as "IDK" (short for I don't know) on quizzes and tests. I stressed that because we live in such a technological world, students are used to text messaging and chatting online. As a result, they don't know how to spell, because they no longer take the time to use something as simple as a dictionary. By giving such personal examples from my classroom, I allow the donors to see that such materials truly are needed.
3) WRITE WELL! If you're not a talented writer, have someone proofread it. Make sure it's free of grammatical errors and misspellings.
With new found confidence, I submitted another proposal for around 50 books to add to my classroom library. Again, I thought I only got lucky once, but within a month and a half, my second proposal (worth over $500) was funded. I now have submitted a third proposal to get more books to add to my library. My students LOVED the new books that were added after my second proposal was funded.
The great part is that these people don't even know me, yet they spend hundreds of dollars to help teachers get the supplies they want/need for their classrooms. All donations are anonymous, and in a world full of hate, crime, and violence, it is quite touching to know that there are good people out there who don't want any recognition for their charity!
After getting two proposals funded, I think I've discovered some tips for people who would like to get their own proposals funded:
1) Write a detailed (but not boring) proposal. Make sure the donor would know where his/her money would be going, and make sure you explain what the materials would be used for.
2) Make it personal! Provide background for your readers! For instance, when I wrote the proposal for my dictionaries, I gave an example of receiving answers such as "IDK" (short for I don't know) on quizzes and tests. I stressed that because we live in such a technological world, students are used to text messaging and chatting online. As a result, they don't know how to spell, because they no longer take the time to use something as simple as a dictionary. By giving such personal examples from my classroom, I allow the donors to see that such materials truly are needed.
3) WRITE WELL! If you're not a talented writer, have someone proofread it. Make sure it's free of grammatical errors and misspellings.
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