That's a (W)rap...

I have never been more grateful for a Saturday. At least not in recent memory. Maybe if I dug deep into the trenches of my brain, back to those first few weeks and months of school, I would find a memory that told me otherwise. But since I have tried to black those months out, I won't even go there.

As you may have read in my last post, this week was absolute misery, chaos, and never-ending pain. By the time Friday rolled around, I was ready for the normal schedule again. But alas, nothing can ever go according to schedule. There was still make-up testing to be done, so we had to hold our homerooms yet again, for another long 7 hours. Luckily, I had organized some Math Olympic Games the night before, and even though the kids complained about having to "do work" (umm, welcome to school my friends), we had a blast (for about 45 minutes). I was also prepared with a movie and episodes of the Cosby Show, plus decks of cards to entertain my little hustlers. I even joined in on some of the card games, surprising my kids when I beat them in a game of what they call "tump", but what you probably know as rummy. I must admit, it was satisfying to hear the shock in their voices when they said, "Dang, Miss H know how to play cards!" They also spent some time working on their EOG rap, which you can see below.

My roommates and I have celebrated the newest milestone--we are in the "teens" when it comes to the number of days we have left of school. It would feel great, except that there are so many hurdles to jump before then. We are hoping to have their EOG scores by Monday, which will tell us how many students passed and how many have to re-test. Students that have to re-test will be assigned to remediation groups, and the teachers will have to work together to try to cram in 9 months worth of instruction into one week. We insist that if they don't pass the EOG they won't move on to the next grade, but they know we are just using good ol' fashioned scare tactics. They know that over half of our students failed the EOG last year and still moved on to the next grade. Problem #346 with the state of education.

Next week promises to be filled with challenges, especially those stemming from unmotivated and lackadaisical students who didn't care for the first nine months, and likely still won't care for the next five days. But on top of that comes our next biggest issue, one that is found only in a school district as impoverished and limited as ours: we are forbidden from making any more copies at school. Most Hanover or Henrico County schools would never dream of denying teachers resources as fundamental as copies. But we apparently have no choice; budget restraints have gotten the best of Halifax County. No more worksheets, practice problems, study guides, etc, unless they are at our own expense. How we are supposed to remediate for 5 days with no access to copies is beyond me. My parents have been generous enough to buy me a copy machine of my own, but the upkeep is expensive on a teacher's salary. I hold my breath every time I print a document or run something through my copier, praying that I won't get an error message that reads, "Toner Empty". Oh, how my problems have changed so dramatically in just one year's time.

But as always, we will make it. I think these last few weeks will be similar to the first few weeks: I'll be in total survival mode, doing whatever it takes just to make it through one more day, until the glorious day that is June 8th arrives.

Bittersweet Symphony

By far the most bittersweet week in my 9-month teacher career, EOG testing week is finally here. At the moment, the “bitter” is much more apparent than the “sweet”. It’s Thursday, the last day of testing, and my students will not. stop. talking. It’s hard to blame them, considering that for the past 3 days, they’ve had to be quiet for almost 4 hours straight. They’ve taken a 9 passage, 62 question long reading test followed by a two-part, 82 question math test. They’re tired, I know. They’re ansty, I know. But do they have to be so LOUD?

We’re encouraged to still use the time after the test to teach. Ummmmm....yeah right. I’ve spent the past 3 days trying to come up with creative ways to keep them entertained, because, oh yeah, I have the same 21 kids all day long. From 7:45 to 3:00, with a 30 minute lunch break . This must be illegal--the teachers have no break! My only escape is when my proctor watches my class while I go turn in my official test materials, which takes all of 2 minutes. The 7th graders eat lunch last, which has been around 2:00 these past two days. I can’t eat in front of them, so by about 12:00 (if not earlier) we’re all cranky and it becomes unbearable. Yesterday I taught them a logic puzzle using pennies and organized a tournament bracket. I also showed an episode of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and we practiced some math problems that I created to go with the episode.

Since today is the last day, I decided to show a movie to keep them quiet but also celebrate the fact that they’re done. But still, the talking is out of control. Some are complaining about not being able to hear the movie, others are complaining because they are bored, and still others are begging to switch classes. Honeys, I don’t want you here anymore than you want to be here. It is absolutely miserable for all of us.

My only saving grace is the fact that we (the teachers) are supposed to be pulled out early to work on organizing/processing test materials. I’m praying that they are on time and that I get rescued from this pit in the next two hours.

But the worst is yet to come. Most school districts hold off on testing until the end of the year, so there is ample time to prepare and little time left over after testing. Halifax County, however, has a different system in place. We spend a week in May testing, a week remediating those who do not pass the test the first time, and a week retesting. So basically, I get to go through this week all over again. Then, we’ll have a week and 3 days after the test and before the last day of school. Who in the WORLD thought that was a good idea? Or productive, or efficient, or a good use of time?

You may be wondering where the “sweet” is in all of this. The “sweet” came in yesterday at 3:00, when every kid was on the bus, and I knew I could go home with no worries or obligations. I didn’t have to lesson plan or prepare activities for a lesson. Instead, I laid in the sun, made phone calls, went for a run, baked cookies, painted my toenails, read a little, and watched Modern Family stress-free. In the moments where the memory of the day has faded away, all of that free time feels worth the epic 7-hour struggle.

And then 7:45 am comes, and I’m singing a different tune.

Good Read

Here's a good article one of my TFA friends linked on her facebook--it brings up some interesting points, I'm sure some of which people may contest. However, it's an opinion article, so take it as such.

The High Cost of Low Teacher Salaries

Testing starts tomorrow. AH!

Love in unexpected places

I want so desperately to dignify the content of this particular entry with a well-written post, because it deserves the fanfare and the glory. However, my bedtime has come and gone, and I’m too tired to make it fancy. So here it goes:

I LOVE MY EIGHTH PERIOD.

Yup, you read it right. I. Love. My. Eighth. Period.

Ummmm..what?

I wish, oh how I wish I could time travel back to October or November with a printed copy of this post and show it to myself. Heck, even the February Miss H wouldn’t believe it. An optimist would have gleamed hope from the words and continued to push forward. But I, much to my own dismay, am a pessimist by nature, and would have surely dismissed the words as a typo or a momentary lapse of sanity. No way would I ever, ever, EVER have believed it.

Believe it, my friends. It’s true.

Over the past few weeks, my 8^th period has become my (second) favorite class (the honors class always wins out merely because there is a certain sense of peace that is found in a room full of intrinsically motivated, albeit hormonally charged, teenagers). I’ll admit—much of my success with this class has to do with the fact that they are completely invested in my “row points” system—they’ll do anything for the possibility of one of my famous “bangin’” strawberry cupcakes or sugar cookies. Basically, students have the possibility of earning points for their rows for sitting quietly, answering questions, getting out materials quickly, etc. All it takes is one or two students who really want that treat at the end of the week to get their whole row on board and keep them in line. It’s peer pressure at its finest: no one wants to be the one who keeps his or her row from earning those 5,000 points for being quiet. And in 8^th period, almost every student is motivated by the system.

My favorite by-product of the row points system? The character-building that is happening slowly but surely in this 8^th period class. One day at lunch, I was standing in the lunch line to help with crowd control, and I was disappointed by the fact that I only heard one kid say “Thank you” to the lunch ladies. When we got back to the classroom, I shouted out that kid and gave his row 2,000 extra points for his politeness. The next day, I heard 4 more students use their manners as they went through the line. Now, over a week later, almost every student is saying “Thank you” at lunch! Granted, most kids do it more for the points than anything else, but you have to start somewhere, right? I’m hoping that soon it will become second nature.

It is a combination of the row points, my renewed attitude, and the absence of a couple “key players” that has gotten me to the point of actually looking forward to my 8^th period class. I had several students out the week before break because of suspensions, and the class was even more peaceful and well-behaved. I even surprised them with a special activity that week: while all the other classes reviewed data and statistics from the workbooks, they got to do an M&Ms lab instead! I loved being able to treat them to a special activity that none of the other classes got to enjoy, and they loved the free chocolate :)

This is our last week of review before our standardized testing, and I have to admit that although we’ve made some HUGE progress in these last few weeks, it’s not nearly enough to make up for all the lost time from the rest of the school year. Plus, the students who were suspended are back now, disturbing the peace that was oh-so-beautiful. And sadly, most of my 8th period students still won’t pass the EOG. Regardless, I am so proud of how far we’ve come and am grateful for a turn of events and a change of heart that has made my last hour at school each day one of the best.