A Week's Worth of Wins

I haven't posted for over a week.  Here's a week's worth of wins and losses:

WINS

• Students posted fascinating questions on Question Board such as, If the earth is rotating so fast, how can an airplane keep up with it when you fly a great distance?  
• Presented with the other Classroom Management Committee members a well-received workshop on constructive praise the the growth mindset.
• Student who is identified as having "ODD" and ADHD once again has their medication.  
• Wrote individual paragraphs to each of my 6th graders and their parents about the student's writing ON TIME FOR PROGRESS REPORTS
• Found the Waterville High School football field (NOT EASY) on time for kickoff.
• Went zip lining with my son and father.
• Finished a readers' theater piece my students will be performing when we go to the Flagstaff Hut this week for an overnight.

LOSES

• Students who were out for four days due to suspension are LOST when it comes to plate tectonics
• Just before presentation on constructive praise, a co-worker told me that she has known about this for years and it's a complete waste of time for her.
• As I was writing comments about my 6th graders' writing, I discovered one student had not put a single piece in her portfolio.  I admittedly did some head scratching, dredged up what little I could remember about her work in general and whipped out the B.S. skills.  Not proud, but hey,  it's the first half of the first quarter.  I'm sure I'll get to know her as a writer.
• I am concerned that I am becoming one of those teachers who would rather have a drugged quiet student who doesn't disrupt my class than a coherent student who is a pain in the neck.
• I didn't really make it to the field in time for kick off, and I missed my son score the 2 point conversion.  It's okay, he made some other great plays that I saw.
• No losses in zip lining, really.  My 12 year old gave me grief because I didn't get a pic of him hanging upside down.  And I realized that (while breathing deeply so as not to explode in rage, and say something like, "Listen you thankless little brat...") this is one reason that people can't stand FaceBook--it's all about Look at me!  Look at me!  Two years ago my son couldn't have cared less about pictures, but now it's all about the post.  
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AM I BLOGGING YET?

According to Will Richardson, I have not been blogging.  Blogging is "Links with analysis and synthesis that articulate a deeper understanding or relationship to the content being linked and written with potential audience response in mind".

One of my favorite blogs' posts are very little more than links.  http://pjmedia.com/instapundit/

And another of my long-time favorites, that used to make me laugh so hard I would choke, http://www.fupenguin.com/  doesn't usually have any links.

Maybe neither is a "real" blog.  I use food blogs a lot, but have very little patience for the back story.  Honestly, I don't care where you are, who first made this for you, or what it is "reminiscent of"  (gag).  Just show me the photos, tell me it's good and how to make it.  I guess it's like porn.  Just skip the shitty story and get on with it.

In any case, here are a few of my favorite food blogs. Spoon Fork Bacon
                                                                                       Gina's Skinny Recipes
                                                                                       Hungry Again

Am I blogging NOW?  

Weekend Hedonism: Dreaming

I stayed at a loft reserved for cooks or grounds keepers on North Haven Island this weekend.  The people who own the INCREDIBLE estate were not present, so my friend and I freely roamed the grounds taking photos and cutting flowers for bouquets.  Many of our photos started with, "Take my photo on my private beach"  or "Take my photo on my dock as I watch for my sail boat to return" or "Take my photo as I sit at my granite table in my gazebo overlooking the harbor."  It's so much fun to daydream. 

On my private beach 

 One of the gardens at my summer home on the island

The sheep--a hobby

Second bit of cheap hedonism:  brandywine tomatoes, when baked with a little garlic and oil are one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted.  Really.

No Orienteering! Pleeeaseee!

WINS:  Used register tape that I have been hanging onto for about 5 years.  Had students sketch what they think the Earth looks like beneath them, all the way to the core.  1cm = 100km.  Shared in small groups, then flipped over and used textbook to draw an accurate model of the interior of the earth.   My son's fever went down.  I don't have to water my neglected tomatoes because it has been pouring all day.

LOSSES:  WAY more students than I had thought did not finish the last lab.  Polled one of my classes on interest in orienteering...out of 22 only 2 have interest in learning how to use a map with a compass.  Wow.  And they answered with heavily drawn, even block lettered, "NO!"  At least I know and won't waste our time because it's not required.  I just usually teach it for fun and so students can show off.  BLOG LOSS:  Every time I edit my page because I reread it and it needs revision and editing it appears to my fictitious readers as an update.  That's so dorky and annoying to my imaginary readers.   

Open House and Fevers

WINS:  At Open House last night more than the needed number of chaperones signed up for our upcoming field trip to the Flagstaff Hut, part of the Huts and Trails system.  Also, my team mate and I talked with all the 8th grade parents at once rather than having them wander from one room to the other and repeating ourselves and just mingling, trying to politely say that Open House isn't the venue to discuss their child's progress.  It was much more productive this way.  New (for me)Classroom Management Strategy:  This one happens outside the classroom:   the "two-minute relationship builder".  You spend two minutes every day for 10 days talking with a student about non-school things.  You target kids who have had a lot of undesirable behaviors in the past.  I've been doing this with two students in particular.  It's easy because they are in my homeroom, but I need to make time for one student in particular who is not in my homeroom.  

LOSSES:  Only about 1/5 of our students attended Open House.  The numbers seem to get lower and lower the higher the grade level.  My son is home sick...possibly with hand foot and mouth disease (what a wretched name).  Seven students in his class have been out this week, some with this diagnosis.  Sore throat, body aches, fever...watch out!

Clap once if you can hear me. Clap twice.

WINS:  Today's wins were around classroom management.  Remembered to use "clap once" for attention instead of raising my voice.  It's such a simple thing, why do I ever get out of the habit?  They say it takes 10 days to make a behavior a habit.   Also a strategy new for me this year is having students practice undesired behavior.  I had kids come back after lunch to practice coming to class prepared.  It was practice, not punishment.  We did it with a light heart, and now it is in their head:  "binder, notebook, pencil, book".  Finally, and I don't know WHY I haven't done this sooner, I set up an easel at my door with the message, "STOP.  Have you remembered your (with the list of materials needed listed below)."  AND all of my students except for three out of 52 can read contour lines on a topo to tell the direction of water flow, elevation, and slope.  Not bad.

LOSSES:  At one point in science, while everyone was at different stations, and students were bombarding me for extra papers, instructions because they were absent, claiming they passed their paper in already (nevermind, here it is, Mrs. McCluskey!), and with questions about the content, I noticed three boys chasing one another around a table. (CLEARLY, they must have forgotten about the safety contract they signed.)  As I walked over to speak with them, I simultaneously stepped in a big wad of oily modeling clay and smashed my leg on the corner of a table.  So...a little loss of control there.  I saw the students after class and delivered a consequence. We'll see if it makes a difference tomorrow.

Daily Wins and Losses, Resources, and a Little Weekly Hedonism

In a day of teaching there are a hundred small wins and losses. I will post mine here to entertain myself, reflect and most importantly, improve my teaching.

This is also a platform to share those books that are so fantastic, so helpful, so influential I want to share them with everyone that teaches.  

And finally, on the weekend, a little cheap, well-deserved hedonism.  

It's the weekend! 

Hedonism:  Walmart has really affordable (like $5 a bottle), tasty wine and an entire isle of it.  AND...
Don't miss out on a great swimming hole just because you don't have a suit.  Sneakers, socks, shorts--it all dries.

I didn't know how to add a video to a post, so I found this video of how to add a video...is that meta, or what?  And the gentleman's voice is very soothing to listen to.  I have to warn you, the subject matter for his blog post is back acne.  I suppose someone out there is blogging about everything!