something totally different

I have definitely been an angry teacher this week. My 4th day of no caffeine. I don't know why I decided to give it up, the choice was completely random.

OH my poor poor babies. They have suffered my wrath. But then, they have been total sh**heads this week too. I chewed them out yesterday, saying how lazy, disrespectful, rude, and uncooperative they all are.

about my break:
I did have an amazing thanksgiving despite my initial concerns. Usually family get togethers are strained and tense. But I got to see my beautiful nephew for the first time, and see my brother and his wife since a year +.  and I also hung out for 4 hours with my best friends in the entire world and I already miss their faces.


back to teaching:
It is so hard being a "nice" teacher without losing respect. Some of my classes really click with me and we get along fine, even on bad days. But a couple of my classes, well, really just 4th period takes a lot of my energy out of me. Plus the whole Re-do thing really got to me today. I felt like I was back at waitressing in college where you have 1000000 million things going on at once. I was a bit frazzled to say the least.

something totally different:
I am re-reading Eat, Pray, Love for the second time, and I love it just as much as the first time I read it. She inspired me to take up meditation again. I used to meditate a lot more, nowadays, I rarely do even though I have the time. So I set my alarm clock 15 minutes earlier today, woke up and wrapped up in my blanket on my bed and meditated for 15 minutes. It was a little hard because I'm out of practice, but refreshing. I highly suggest you learn some meditation techniques if you don't know any. An "easy" mantra is "Ham, So" or "so, hum" the ham is your in breath, the so is your out breath. it means I am that, that I am

simple and encompassing at the same time.


that's all!

and I have another dinner date with the girls this week! I'm baking something, I just don't know what yet. I bought pumpkin, chocolate chips and molasses. I know that with that combo, I can make anything delicious. I'm excited!

-tha angry teacher (for real)

"Redo" Explained...basics

I guess I could finally explain our Redo Policy at the school.

Basically, all students have to achieve an 80 or above on ALL assignments except final exams and Benchmarks given by the state. If a student is in Advanced classes, like mine, they must get a 90 or above on their work.

For example, Johnny does a quiz and gets a grade of 56, then he will go to “Lunch Bunch” the next day. During Lunch Bunch, Johnny will re-attempt the quiz. At the end of the day, the paper is given back to the teacher to grade and hopefully Johnny made at least an 80. But he didn’t. So he goes again to Lunch Bunch the next day again. This time he makes a 94.

Now, if Johnny’s second day in Lunch Bunch wasn’t successful, he would have to go to Encore. Encore is basically academic ISS. The kid is pulled from all regular classes that day until he/she can finish the assignment with an 80+ grade.

The 94 is the grade that goes in the gradebook. But if Johnny were an overachiever, he could redo all his assignments and tests until he got 100s on everything.

In theory, it is a perfect idea. In practice, it takes months to figure out the kinks. This is our second year of Redo at the school and compared to last year, it is so much better. Last year’s Redo sucked. Kids never went to Lunch Bunch and the ladies who ran LB didn’t know who was supposed to show up and who wasn’t.

This year we started a List on Google Docs that the teachers update everyday or every hour if necessary. So all the teachers in the school know if any student is missing work.

We don’t let kids get away with “forgetting” their homework and receiving a zero: the easy way out. We don’t take off 10 points for no heading. We don’t give extra credit for bringing 10 cans for the food drive. We don’t have free 100s for taking Mom or Dad to Parent Nite.

The kids HAVE to earn their grades here.

Of course there are many kinks in the system still. When I need kids pulled for Encore, it usually doesn’t happen soon, and the students that are going through Redo for the second time around (they were 7^th graders last year, so all 8^th graders this year) are seeing that this is the way to really get under teachers and admins’ skins. Don’t work.

One of my Trio has even been kicked out of Lunch Bunch because he refuses to work.  

That’s it in a gist. It is super time consuming for us teachers, a lot of paperwork, and usually a headache trying to organize redos, but worth it for the kids. Their grades are better, they are forced to understand the material covered in classes, and the program won us a national award this past spring.

TGIF…..payday and a week holiday next week! Everyone have a GREAT Holiday!

-thaangryteacher

IF.silent

a quick sketch of mi perro silently watching for squirrels.

friends in the country

It’s surprising what an hour or two in friendly company can do for a person. Last weekend I went dancing with my coworker, and last night I had dinner with two teachers from the high school down the road.

Living out in the middle of nowhere is bittersweet. I love the sunsets, the open sky, and the orange, red, fusia painted autumn trees. Life here is tranquil and slow. There isn’t too much rushing, no traffic to speak of, and the cost of living is super cheap.

But I do miss the ability to window shop at the mall, not plan trips to “the city” for organic/vegetarian groceries or for a single pair of work pants. And honestly, the tranquility of the country life gets boring quickly. There’s a Wal-Mart, a Hastings, and a small movie theater. Not much else for 30 miles.

and yeah, last night I might have ran over a possum. no big deal right?

That said, I haven’t made many friends here because 1. I’m quiet 2. Small towns are extremely cliquish 3. There’s rarely an opportunity to meet people here.

So these past few days are a blessing for me to actually interact with different people from different backgrounds yet whom share similar outlooks on life as me. Although I might have scared them off by saying the F-word while telling a story. Hey, it was something one of my professors back in college yelled at me and I was only repeating it for truth’s sake…I don’t cuss…that’s a naughty thing bad people do!

All in all, I’m really at peace today.

I hope you are having a peaceful day as well,

-tha angry teacher

PS: If you ever get the opportunity to go to a Mexican Club and dance Tribal or Cumbia, DO IT! So. Much. Fun!

I've got a problem...three actually

I haven’t written in a week + because well, I don’t know, but I’m going to make up for it by posting every day this week! What-what??

 Like most teachers, I have a few problem children. And like most teachers, they are in the same class period together. That makes for a long 55 minutes.

But, compared to last year, I still consider myself blessed with my students. Even those three boys have something I like about them, even if I dislike most of their antics. I have the feeling that outside of the classroom, they wouldn’t be completely awful teenagers to be around.

The main problem is that none of the Trio like to work. They sit, they talk, they eat candy, they stare at the ceiling, they giggle across the room at each other, they do ANYTHING they can to not work in class. I’m not offended because I know this happens in other teacher’s rooms as well with them. The members of the Trio are prone to ISS(in school suspension), going to the principal’s office, or being yelled at by teachers.

It’s actually sort of amusing to see how thirteen year old boys can get under grown women and mens’ skins. Sorta. Like when it’s not my classroom that they are being brats in.

I didn’t mention, but these boys aren’t really even friends. They don’t hang out together or seem to be anything other than acquaintances outside the classroom. But man, when you get them together in a 40 sq foot area, hell breaks loose.

I’m more worried about them than I am angry. I’m frustrated that they just don’t give a shit about anything. When I pulled Troublemaker # 1 into the hall yesterday to ask him why he wasn’t working, the only response I received was: “Meh” “grunt” *shoulder shrug* *lip smack* 

What is going to happen to these boys if they can’t find life interesting or open up with what they are struggling with? I’m super concerned about them, and it feels like there’s nothing I can do.

-tha angry teacher

Illustration Friday.Scary

I drew/sketched this a couple years ago when I had taken out the trash to the alley dumpster, it was dark, the sky was threatening rain, and in a sudden burst of lightning, this ferocious black dog was lit up, it's mouth wide open and growling at me.

I high-tailed it back to my yard and slammed the gate shut. I remember being absolutely scared at what had just happened.



Anger Isn't Productive

Yesterday I had a rough day.

I was placed in the shoes of my students by some overbearing coworkers.

This is how the situation went down…

We have a thing called Re-Do at our school. I will have to do a whole separate post or two on that topic…well I’m innocently eating my lunch- homemade chili-and the Redo aid (she’s not even a teacher) storms into the lounge with her hands thrown up(seriously) and asks pretty rudely, “So are you going to send any work [for your students]??”

I guilty jump out of my chair and mutter an apologetic “Oh, yes!” and rush to my classroom to retrieve the work for my students.

I say a prayer ‘cause I am pretty pissed at this lady for being such a bitch to me…unfortunately, the prayer didn’t change my heart like it should have and I walked into the Library, shoot the woman a death glance, and hand the papers out to my kids. I did apologize to the other woman who runs the Redo, but when I walked out of the Library, Bitch walked past me and I completely ignored her.

I felt exactly, exactly like a small child who was chastised by mommy and was now sulking and giving mommy an attitude.

So wrong.

Second incident (same day, two hours later): The counselor calls me up asking for some scantrons that I sent down LAST THURSDAY because I wanted them in on time, actually a little bit early.

“Ms. Angryteacher, you are our holdout, you are the only one we haven’t received the scantrons from.”

I replied with the aforementioned statement but added, “I did send them down to your box with a trustworthy student.”

She paused, “Maybe the kid thought the other counselor’s box, let me go check.” Five minutes later lo and behold, that’s exactly what my “trustworthy” students had done.

Counselor’s parting words over the telephone, a frazzled and admonishing, “Don’t ever send a child down with completed scantrons!!” Click.

Again! I’m getting in trouble again!! Ahh, I felt like a naughty child being yelled at by their teacher! I almost cried (okay, maybe I’m PMS too..)

Later when I saw her, I was abrupt and had a bad attitude. It’s been awhile since I’ve been on the receiving side of a lecture; I’m usually the one giving lectures nowdays.

Lesson learned: Yeah, we are human, and we are going to be frustrated with other people, especially kids who are rude, stupid, stubborn, troublemakers, tardy, etc. but yelling or even worse, being condescending doesn’t help. Our natural reaction is to become defensive and pissed off.

And you never know when a kid just got in trouble in  another teacher’s class. What happens when you also get on to them about something, even if it’s very important? Most likely, the kid will be angrier than normal and resent you for days/weeks/ months to come.

What your mouths is all I’m trying to say.

-thaangryteacher