School got off to a late start yesterday. The students were searched again, probably to surprise them since they had been searched on Wednesday. Lots of cell phones were found. The highlight of my day came before the first class had even started. The girl that is suing the school got searched and security found something pretty interesting. Apparently, she knew she was going to get drug tested and she knew she was going to fail, so she had a vial of somebody else's urine stuffed in her pants. I wish I could have seen the "pissed off" look on her face when they found it!
Because the searches took so long, my first class didn't start until around 8:40. Needless to say, I didn't get a whole lot of work done with them. Second period ran relatively smoothly, even though my candy bar man wasn't there again. I guess he got suspended. Good kid, but doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut. Anyways, I finally have access to a projector, so I had my lesson on powerpoint. It was a lot neater and easier than writing out a bunch of transparencies. I tried to dumb down how to graph a line as much as possible, but most still have no idea. I am surprised that some of the kids even know how to count.
Third period was pretty interesting. I kicked out one kid for talking and being disrespectful. I can never understand a word that he says because he mumbles so much. He is probably the second smartest student in that class, but he rarely shows up and always has a remark for everything. I got him out of there, and then some other students started acting up. I asked one student (looks just like Michael Strahan) to move to another desk and he started complaining. I calmly told him that he had a choice to make. He could either move or he could write me a check. He kept complaining and finally changed desks, then muttered something. All I could make out was "...and that's why nobody respects you." I gave him a check and he whined some more. Then other students piped in, and one boy just proudly said, "Obama's president!" They think that somehow because we have a black president that they have won over me or something.
Fourth period went alright. I had one girl that answered every question while the rest of them sat there and did nothing except talk. I consider it a success if I can get through to one student per class per day.
My last class was my most interesting. It was a packed house (for them) and I had 8 or 9 of them in there. That's about 7 or 8 more than I can handle. I was trying to show them the basics of graphing lines and every time I turned my back, somebody loudly popped their gum. I asked them to stop, but it continued for several minutes. Finally, I went to the door and said, "Everybody out." They went out in the hallway and the security guard checked all of them. Of course, the guilty party surely just swallowed it. Two minutes later, we were back in the room and it happened again. Fed up, I went outside my room and said pretty angrily, "Just run them all." For the next 15 or 20 minutes, I had a sergeant in my room as well as the customer service rep. That got the gum-popping to stop. I think the students were afraid that they were going to have to run, so most of them really started to work. Believe it or not, I was getting through to them. One student in particular caught on quickly and was even walking around trying to help other people figure it out. Each student had a grid board and a dry erase marker to graph on. The big kid in camo gave up and put his head down. "Man, I ain't never gonna be able to do this. It's too complicated. You ain't even teachin'," he said. Once everybody else started to get it and I was passing out candy, he made more of an effort. Ten minutes later, he knew what he was doing, and said, "Yeah, this is pretty easy." These kids give up so easily.
Last night was fun. I went to the Bucks-Hornets basketball game. Milwaukee erased an 17 point fourth quarter deficit, but New Orleans won by a point on a last-second tip in. It was a fun game to watch. We went out to Bourbon Street, which was a good time. Not as packed as last weekend, but I still saw plenty of beads and plenty of boobs and could still smell the vomit. I think I texted about 100 people last night. I apologize for keeping up the one person who responded to all of them. Today, my uncle, his friend and I walked around the French Quarter and watched some street performers. They were really good. I also got to cross something off of my list of things to eat: gator. Delicious.
I would write more, but I am absolutely exhausted. Didn't get in until after 4 AM last night. It's nap time.
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Volunteering?
Day 15. I was looking forward to this day for one reason and one reason only: collecting my first paycheck. My attitude has worsened the last few days of work. I am starting to really get fed up with the level of disrespect that the kids are showing me. I struggle with this job due to two of my biggest faults: 1) I am really hard on others and even harder on myself, and 2) I care way too much.
First period started my day off with a challenge. The class was noisier than usual and grew restless when they didn't immediately understand the material. I gave one girl (check-slapper) a warning, and then out of nowhere, her friend went off on me. It was the same girl that started shouting at me yesterday when I wouldn't let her finish the test. Today, she started yelling at me because her friend wasn't the only one that was talking. This girl has a volume-control problem. She's always shouting. I gave her a warning, then she kept yelling at me. I had no idea what she was saying, but I didn't appreciate the volume, so I gave her a check. She immediately threw it on the floor as she said, "Man, I ain't writing no check." At this point, I knew she wouldn't last much longer in my classroom. I gave her another check, and once again, in a matter of maybe one second, it found its' way to the ground. She then dropped the f bomb. "Fuck your checks," she said. I was starting to heat up a bit, and simply said, "Get out of my room," in a firm tone. "We don't have any fucking money anyways," she exclaimed as she exited. I've gotten to the point right now that this behavior no longer shocks me, so I resumed teaching before the door slammed closed. Unfortunately, other students didn't get the memo that mindless chatter was not going to be acceptable today. The same girl that always seems to get in trouble was talking once again to the same girl she always talks to. And when I warned her, she had the same response she always has. And when I gave her a check, she had the same reaction she always has. "I ain't writing no check." I happily gave her another one, which she refused to write, so I happily threw her out of my room. Again. Next time she refused to write a check, I will make sure to document everything she has been doing and she will be suspended. I can't say she is one of my favorite students.
I later learned that the first girl that I threw out had her grandmother come to school. As is typical with these kids, she denied any wrongdoing in my class. Her grandmother is a classic enabler, taking her granddaughter's side. Luckily, my uncle had done his research. I wrote her up, and he got statements from about five students in my class. Apparently, she didn't "do nothing".
Second period was interesting again. My candy bar man was absent today, but I had all of my favorite ladies in class (sarcasm is harder to detect when typing, but here it is appropriate). It is hard to teach this class, because as soon as something is confusing to them, they give up and complain. The girls were busy chatting away in back. Still heated from first period, I made two of the girls move to the other side of the room. They were both black. At this point, there were two white girls in the room. The third white girl ("suing the school") was outside, because she needed to "cool down". I have been instructed to let her out of the room whenever she asks, be it to go to the bathroom or to calm down. I think she spent less than ten minutes in class today. Anyways, the black girls were complaining how I was racist because I made the black girls move and the white girls got to stay put. If anything, it is the other way around in that class. I loathe the white girls.
I was busy "teaching", and the two white girls were busy talking to one another, and I warned them. About a minute later, they were still talking, so I handed them a check. Then shit hit the fan. One of the girls reluctantly wrote her check, while the other started complaining about how boring my class was and she always wanted to sleep. I told her that I didn't care if it was boring, she needed to know how to do these things to pass her LEAP test and advance to the ninth grade. She told me that it was the job of the teacher to make class fun and interesting. Her voice continued to raise as she said, "Maybe, that's telling you that you aren't doing a very good job." As she continued to talk, I finally gave up and said, "Just get out." Her mouth never closed as she continued to lay into me as she headed for the door.
The one thing I truly enjoy about this school is I don't need to hold my tongue with these kids. If they are acting like punks, you can treat them like punks. I had a smartass comment prepared for her, and I wasn't going to bite my lip. I've grown tired of doing such, so as she reached the doorway, I said, "Enjoy repeating 8th grade next year." She could only muster two words: "Shut up" as she exited the room.
Third period was pretty nondescript. They were much better today than they have been lately, albeit extremely slow. I am still on my Wednesday lesson plans, which shouldn't surprise me at all. It is frustrating, because I don't think I'll cover more than half of their LEAP test before they have to take it. Behavior was pretty good today, though, so I felt a bit better going into lunch.
Fourth period ran smoothly, but they are by far my worst class. It is honestly like I am talking to myself for an hour. I am trying to dumb everything down, but it is difficult for somebody that passed their college entrance exam in 6th grade to relate to somebody that doesn't know that 3 - 5 = -2. My suit guy was sleeping in class today, which was a bit disappointing. As always, he was dressed to kill (no pun intended).
The ho kid was still absent from fifth period. I think that he got suspended or something. Kind of disappointing, because he is one of my favorites and I can tell that he actually likes me, believe it or not. The guy that reminds me of my teammate was back in class today along with the kid I kick out nearly every day. While they were working on their "bellringer", I spoke candidly to them about what they wanted from school. I learned that both are 16 and played football. From what I've heard, one of them is quite an athlete. They told me that even if they work hard and pass their LEAP test, they have missed so much school that they won't be sent back to their old school. At 17, they can drop out and get jobs. It made it a bit harder to teach them after that. I don't have the same mindframe, but I can't say that I don't understand where they are coming from.
I like both of them, and I shouldn't. They are constantly clowning around. I do think this may be my most talented class, but they are also my laziest and most undisciplined. The big kid in camo (reminds me of my teammate) ended up in the hallway, but it pains me to send him there. Every time he cuts up in class, he just says, "Come on, Mr. Captaine. We supposed to be dawgs." I know that we aren't supposed to be, but I think we kind of are. Eventually, I had to put my foot down and kick him out. He does little work, is always out of his seat, and tries to push my hand away every time I am about to give him a check. It isn't in a threatening way, but this is clearly a kid that tries to get by on his charm. Not going to fall for that.
I am getting more and more stressed out with this job. I'm trying to do the best that I can do, but I'm always left wondering what difference it truly makes. The kids that don't belong there will pass and get out, and those that do will keep screwing around. I don't know if I'm really getting through to many, or any, of them yet. Hopefully, I'll find out that I am.
The math coach gave me some new ideas to make lecture more engaging, but it is a totally different ballgame teaching to these kind of kids. For example, I instituted something new today. Last night, I bought more pencils again. So today, I decided to count up how many pencils the kids borrowed. Then I wrote the number on the board. After the horn sounded, I stood in the doorway and wouldn't let anybody pass until I had that number of pencils in my hand. It sounds ridiculous, but if I don't do something like that, I'll lose 20-30 pencils a week. These kids take everything.
To the important thing...PAYDAY!!! For some stupid reason, teachers here are only paid the 26th of every month. I have been working since the 4th, so I've really been hurting for some money. Actually, I've been hurting for some money for far longer than that. Anyways, after the principal was done handing out the paychecks to everybody else, she motioned for me to come out of the room. Apparently, I don't get paid for another month. On the plus side, I will still be getting paid into the summer when I am done working. Unfortunately, this means that I have to go another month without making a cent from this job. If any of my readers feel sorry for me, I will be accepting donations...
Tomorrow is Friday, and I am going to the Bucks-Hornets game and Bourbon Street after work. Definitely looking forward to it. Hopefully, the rest of the weekend will give me an opportunity to recharge for a full week, because even though this week's a short one, it has already taken a lot out of me.
First period started my day off with a challenge. The class was noisier than usual and grew restless when they didn't immediately understand the material. I gave one girl (check-slapper) a warning, and then out of nowhere, her friend went off on me. It was the same girl that started shouting at me yesterday when I wouldn't let her finish the test. Today, she started yelling at me because her friend wasn't the only one that was talking. This girl has a volume-control problem. She's always shouting. I gave her a warning, then she kept yelling at me. I had no idea what she was saying, but I didn't appreciate the volume, so I gave her a check. She immediately threw it on the floor as she said, "Man, I ain't writing no check." At this point, I knew she wouldn't last much longer in my classroom. I gave her another check, and once again, in a matter of maybe one second, it found its' way to the ground. She then dropped the f bomb. "Fuck your checks," she said. I was starting to heat up a bit, and simply said, "Get out of my room," in a firm tone. "We don't have any fucking money anyways," she exclaimed as she exited. I've gotten to the point right now that this behavior no longer shocks me, so I resumed teaching before the door slammed closed. Unfortunately, other students didn't get the memo that mindless chatter was not going to be acceptable today. The same girl that always seems to get in trouble was talking once again to the same girl she always talks to. And when I warned her, she had the same response she always has. And when I gave her a check, she had the same reaction she always has. "I ain't writing no check." I happily gave her another one, which she refused to write, so I happily threw her out of my room. Again. Next time she refused to write a check, I will make sure to document everything she has been doing and she will be suspended. I can't say she is one of my favorite students.
I later learned that the first girl that I threw out had her grandmother come to school. As is typical with these kids, she denied any wrongdoing in my class. Her grandmother is a classic enabler, taking her granddaughter's side. Luckily, my uncle had done his research. I wrote her up, and he got statements from about five students in my class. Apparently, she didn't "do nothing".
Second period was interesting again. My candy bar man was absent today, but I had all of my favorite ladies in class (sarcasm is harder to detect when typing, but here it is appropriate). It is hard to teach this class, because as soon as something is confusing to them, they give up and complain. The girls were busy chatting away in back. Still heated from first period, I made two of the girls move to the other side of the room. They were both black. At this point, there were two white girls in the room. The third white girl ("suing the school") was outside, because she needed to "cool down". I have been instructed to let her out of the room whenever she asks, be it to go to the bathroom or to calm down. I think she spent less than ten minutes in class today. Anyways, the black girls were complaining how I was racist because I made the black girls move and the white girls got to stay put. If anything, it is the other way around in that class. I loathe the white girls.
I was busy "teaching", and the two white girls were busy talking to one another, and I warned them. About a minute later, they were still talking, so I handed them a check. Then shit hit the fan. One of the girls reluctantly wrote her check, while the other started complaining about how boring my class was and she always wanted to sleep. I told her that I didn't care if it was boring, she needed to know how to do these things to pass her LEAP test and advance to the ninth grade. She told me that it was the job of the teacher to make class fun and interesting. Her voice continued to raise as she said, "Maybe, that's telling you that you aren't doing a very good job." As she continued to talk, I finally gave up and said, "Just get out." Her mouth never closed as she continued to lay into me as she headed for the door.
The one thing I truly enjoy about this school is I don't need to hold my tongue with these kids. If they are acting like punks, you can treat them like punks. I had a smartass comment prepared for her, and I wasn't going to bite my lip. I've grown tired of doing such, so as she reached the doorway, I said, "Enjoy repeating 8th grade next year." She could only muster two words: "Shut up" as she exited the room.
Third period was pretty nondescript. They were much better today than they have been lately, albeit extremely slow. I am still on my Wednesday lesson plans, which shouldn't surprise me at all. It is frustrating, because I don't think I'll cover more than half of their LEAP test before they have to take it. Behavior was pretty good today, though, so I felt a bit better going into lunch.
Fourth period ran smoothly, but they are by far my worst class. It is honestly like I am talking to myself for an hour. I am trying to dumb everything down, but it is difficult for somebody that passed their college entrance exam in 6th grade to relate to somebody that doesn't know that 3 - 5 = -2. My suit guy was sleeping in class today, which was a bit disappointing. As always, he was dressed to kill (no pun intended).
The ho kid was still absent from fifth period. I think that he got suspended or something. Kind of disappointing, because he is one of my favorites and I can tell that he actually likes me, believe it or not. The guy that reminds me of my teammate was back in class today along with the kid I kick out nearly every day. While they were working on their "bellringer", I spoke candidly to them about what they wanted from school. I learned that both are 16 and played football. From what I've heard, one of them is quite an athlete. They told me that even if they work hard and pass their LEAP test, they have missed so much school that they won't be sent back to their old school. At 17, they can drop out and get jobs. It made it a bit harder to teach them after that. I don't have the same mindframe, but I can't say that I don't understand where they are coming from.
I like both of them, and I shouldn't. They are constantly clowning around. I do think this may be my most talented class, but they are also my laziest and most undisciplined. The big kid in camo (reminds me of my teammate) ended up in the hallway, but it pains me to send him there. Every time he cuts up in class, he just says, "Come on, Mr. Captaine. We supposed to be dawgs." I know that we aren't supposed to be, but I think we kind of are. Eventually, I had to put my foot down and kick him out. He does little work, is always out of his seat, and tries to push my hand away every time I am about to give him a check. It isn't in a threatening way, but this is clearly a kid that tries to get by on his charm. Not going to fall for that.
I am getting more and more stressed out with this job. I'm trying to do the best that I can do, but I'm always left wondering what difference it truly makes. The kids that don't belong there will pass and get out, and those that do will keep screwing around. I don't know if I'm really getting through to many, or any, of them yet. Hopefully, I'll find out that I am.
The math coach gave me some new ideas to make lecture more engaging, but it is a totally different ballgame teaching to these kind of kids. For example, I instituted something new today. Last night, I bought more pencils again. So today, I decided to count up how many pencils the kids borrowed. Then I wrote the number on the board. After the horn sounded, I stood in the doorway and wouldn't let anybody pass until I had that number of pencils in my hand. It sounds ridiculous, but if I don't do something like that, I'll lose 20-30 pencils a week. These kids take everything.
To the important thing...PAYDAY!!! For some stupid reason, teachers here are only paid the 26th of every month. I have been working since the 4th, so I've really been hurting for some money. Actually, I've been hurting for some money for far longer than that. Anyways, after the principal was done handing out the paychecks to everybody else, she motioned for me to come out of the room. Apparently, I don't get paid for another month. On the plus side, I will still be getting paid into the summer when I am done working. Unfortunately, this means that I have to go another month without making a cent from this job. If any of my readers feel sorry for me, I will be accepting donations...
Tomorrow is Friday, and I am going to the Bucks-Hornets game and Bourbon Street after work. Definitely looking forward to it. Hopefully, the rest of the weekend will give me an opportunity to recharge for a full week, because even though this week's a short one, it has already taken a lot out of me.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Speaking to a brick wall...
I was a bit apprehensive about today because the students were coming off a 4-day weekend, and even after two days off, it seems like they forget how to act at school. That is, if they ever knew how to act in the first place.
In my mailbox was a list of students that were either returning from suspensions or about to serve them. As I ran down the list, I noticed that 8 of them had been suspended for something that they did in my class.
My day got off to a late start because they searched every single student outside of the cafeteria in the morning. My uncle had asked me to help, so I made my way over there after our morning briefing. It's a pretty interesting sight: the kids, for the most part, don't talk. When I walked in, I heard the hardass sergeant laughing maniacally. "You're never gonna learn!" he chuckled as he led a kid out into the yard. It wouldn't be the last time today that that particular student was in trouble.
One sergeant and one security guard did all the searching on the boys' side. It was my job to motion to have the boys sent out when they were ready for them. They only did two at a time, so it took quite a while. They made the students empty their pockets and checked everywhere imaginable, including the students' shoes. After a while, I had to go back and wait for my students to start arriving to class. The searches took a really long time, which ate away most of my first period. Finally, I let the students filter into the room and get going on their bell ringer problem.
Only 11 students showed up to my class, which usually has somewhere between 15-18. I guess some decided to take an even longer weekend. Because class got off to a late start, I just gave them their tests back and allowed them about 10 minutes to go over the problems they got wrong. I hoped by doing this, they could see their own mistakes without me telling them and fix them. Throughout the day, I found that between 60 and 75% of the "second chances" were correct, which was promising. I still haven't decided how I'm going to go about grading/curving the test.
Second hour was interesting because it was all girls. My candy bar man walked into class before it started with the customer service rep. Apparently, he'll be spending a couple of days in ISS. Disappointing. I gave him some work to do and then waited for my favorite ladies to come in.
I was pretty pleased that the ringleader wasn't there. Maybe she is too busy preparing her lawsuit to come to school anymore. Anyways, as soon as I started talking, the girls were complaining about how I should give them candy, because I gave it to the boys one time, which is true. Unfortunately, I had purchased a bunch of Snickers bars to reward students that did well on the test. Four girls tied with a score of 8, so I got all four of them regular sized Snickers bars. One of the girls even thanked me, which was shocking. Of course, another complained about how bad the Snickers bar was. Oh well.
One of the girls that always talks the most commented on how I must be in a good mood because I was smiling. The foreign expression on my face was probably do to the fact that I was fifteen minutes into class and none of those girls had told me how I was a horrible teacher. Then that same girl said, "When you smile, it looks like you frown a little bit." No clue what that meant, but I just responded with, "That's because I hate being happy."
My mood started to change when I was standing up in front of them, lecturing to the back wall. The job is extremely frustrating because everytime I think that I've gotten through to them, I realize it is short-lived. They had no clue how to do anything. They couldn't even remember the stuff we worked on last week. I have no idea how I am going to get any of them to pass that test. Even if I teach them the algebraic steps, they have no idea "how to think". This is when the complaining started. I am still working on making the connection.
Third period was an absolute mess. Half of the kids that showed up hadn't been in class on Friday to take the test. Right away when the students came in, a girl hit a boy in the back of the head. For the first five minutes of class, they never stopped talking. I had the boy move to another seat in the corner. He then proceeded to talk to another girl. He is normally a pretty good kid, but he does have a tendancy to talk too much. I handed out checks to the boy and both girls. They started complaining about how I had changed. Anyways, then another boy piped in asking for tissue. He is a kid with really dark skin that shows up maybe once a week. There are always moments where he shows that he has potential, but also those times when he shows how he will undoubtedly squander it. Every time I tell him to stop talking, he mumbles under his breath something I can never understand. Today, he kept begging for tissue. I had some that I was planning on using to wipe off an overhead grid that I had made. I handed it to him, then he started complaining about how it was dirty tissue and somehow, that meant that I thought he was trash. Probably a true statement, but not the message i intended to parlay. I got the class going on correcting their tests and went to the bathroom to grab some more tissue while the customer service rep watched over the kids.
When I returned, I saw that the student who had gotten in trouble for talking had handed his test to the kid behind him. The kid holding the test in his hand hadn't been in class on Friday. I have been told that any student suspended for a test couldn't make it up, but with others, I could use my discretion. I know that absences are hardly excused, so I decided to just let these students finish what they could in the 10-15 minutes I allowed others to correct what they had wrong. I couldn't believe that he had given his test to somebody and immediately asked about what compelled him to do it. He just told me the other student didn't know how to do the problems. I asked him why he didn't quietly work on fixing the problems he got wrong. He simply told me he didn't know how. I was puzzled, seeing how I told them that I would give them credit for any answers they fixed. They knew the problems that were incorrect, and the entire test was multiple choice. I kicked him out and a few minutes later, he returned with the customer service rep, who told me the kid was "confused as to what he was supposed to be doing." It wouldn't surprise me either way. At any rate, I wasn't about to give him a candy bar to commend him for his test results. Instead, I had a candy bar for lunch. Today was the first time I've eaten lunch since I've been at NHS.
Fourth period was disappointing as always. I had a father shadowing his son. With his dad present, the kid actually behaved fairly well, but as soon as the dad stepped out, he started kicking under the chair of the girl in front of him. I had him moved and warned.
My fourth period is the dumbest group of kids I have ever seen. Every period, I stop a few times during lecture and just stand in amazement. They are in the 9th or 10th grade and are below any 8th grade class that I have. Most do not know how to solve the following: x + 7 = 12. I always wonder why I even bother teaching them. None of them have any chance at all at passing their test.
I had a student absolutely blow up at me during this class. She had been absent all of last week, so she didn't take her test. She is also in my first class. My first class consists of Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry students. None of them know how to do any of it, so I teach it as one class. My fourth period is Algebra I students, so I teach using the same lesson plans from my first class. I have two students that sit through both classes. One is the girl who got suspended for slapping the checks out of my hand and the other is this girl. I let her work on her test during my first period. Afterwards, I went over how to do all of the problems with the class. When my fourth period was correcting their tests, I let her work on her test once again, even though she had already been exposed to the solutions. After their ten minutes, I collected their tests and was ready to start with the lecture. She raised her hand and asked if she could finish her test. When I said no, she erupted and started yelling at me. She didn't understand how unfair it would be for me to count all of the questions she got right after she had been exposed to the answers. I have no problem putting in extra work to help students out, but these kids don't come to school simply because they don't feel like it. Her voice raised and she started getting out of her seat. I motioned towards to door and she stormed out. A few minutes later, somebody came in for some work for her. I let her finish the test just to see how she did. Ended up getting 11 out 12. Not quite so difficult when you're given the answers.
I was disappointed to learn that my ho man wasn't in class today. He's probably still perusing Bourbon Street looking for loving. I haven't decided if I'll give him extra credit yet if he finds anything for me. I had three troublemakers in that class today. Only kicked two of them out, which was surprising. One of the kids was the student who had been kicked out of the cafeteria earlier in the day. He hasn't lasted an entire class period with me yet. Every time he gets in trouble, he says, "What'd I doooo? What'd I doooo?" He always sounds like he's on the verge of tears, and then says, "Man, I didn't no nuffin," as he winces. Same story every time. He was complaining with the other kid that I ended up throwing out, and the other boy said, "Man, they need to send him back where he came from." I simply said, "I'm not going anywhere, but you can go back where you came from. Out in the hallway." I was pretty pleased with myself. A few minutes later, his friend joined him out in the hallway. I would be shocked if both aren't suspended for something that they will do within the next two weeks. As unpredictable as NHS is, some of the kids are very predictable.
After class, I went outside to see what goes on during PE for the first time. It actually resembles recess a bit. Some kids were tossing around a football, while others were walking and talking. I spotted my candy bar man and told him I needed him in class and he couldn't be getting in trouble anymore. He immediately went to the man in charge of ISS and said, "See man? Mr. C---onn says I need to be in class. I can't be in FLC (ISS) no more." Made me chuckle. I guess he misunderstood what I meant. He was disappointed to learn that I had candy in class for the students. "Oh, damn. You gonna have it on Friday?" We will see.
All told, it was a frustrating day. I really didn't touch my lesson plans after spending four or five hours yesterday getting ready for the week. I am guessing the work I did yesterday will probably be sufficient for the next two weeks with these kids because we go so slow. At any rate, the material will easily get me through the rest of the week, and I should have another fun weekend to look forward to.
In my mailbox was a list of students that were either returning from suspensions or about to serve them. As I ran down the list, I noticed that 8 of them had been suspended for something that they did in my class.
My day got off to a late start because they searched every single student outside of the cafeteria in the morning. My uncle had asked me to help, so I made my way over there after our morning briefing. It's a pretty interesting sight: the kids, for the most part, don't talk. When I walked in, I heard the hardass sergeant laughing maniacally. "You're never gonna learn!" he chuckled as he led a kid out into the yard. It wouldn't be the last time today that that particular student was in trouble.
One sergeant and one security guard did all the searching on the boys' side. It was my job to motion to have the boys sent out when they were ready for them. They only did two at a time, so it took quite a while. They made the students empty their pockets and checked everywhere imaginable, including the students' shoes. After a while, I had to go back and wait for my students to start arriving to class. The searches took a really long time, which ate away most of my first period. Finally, I let the students filter into the room and get going on their bell ringer problem.
Only 11 students showed up to my class, which usually has somewhere between 15-18. I guess some decided to take an even longer weekend. Because class got off to a late start, I just gave them their tests back and allowed them about 10 minutes to go over the problems they got wrong. I hoped by doing this, they could see their own mistakes without me telling them and fix them. Throughout the day, I found that between 60 and 75% of the "second chances" were correct, which was promising. I still haven't decided how I'm going to go about grading/curving the test.
Second hour was interesting because it was all girls. My candy bar man walked into class before it started with the customer service rep. Apparently, he'll be spending a couple of days in ISS. Disappointing. I gave him some work to do and then waited for my favorite ladies to come in.
I was pretty pleased that the ringleader wasn't there. Maybe she is too busy preparing her lawsuit to come to school anymore. Anyways, as soon as I started talking, the girls were complaining about how I should give them candy, because I gave it to the boys one time, which is true. Unfortunately, I had purchased a bunch of Snickers bars to reward students that did well on the test. Four girls tied with a score of 8, so I got all four of them regular sized Snickers bars. One of the girls even thanked me, which was shocking. Of course, another complained about how bad the Snickers bar was. Oh well.
One of the girls that always talks the most commented on how I must be in a good mood because I was smiling. The foreign expression on my face was probably do to the fact that I was fifteen minutes into class and none of those girls had told me how I was a horrible teacher. Then that same girl said, "When you smile, it looks like you frown a little bit." No clue what that meant, but I just responded with, "That's because I hate being happy."
My mood started to change when I was standing up in front of them, lecturing to the back wall. The job is extremely frustrating because everytime I think that I've gotten through to them, I realize it is short-lived. They had no clue how to do anything. They couldn't even remember the stuff we worked on last week. I have no idea how I am going to get any of them to pass that test. Even if I teach them the algebraic steps, they have no idea "how to think". This is when the complaining started. I am still working on making the connection.
Third period was an absolute mess. Half of the kids that showed up hadn't been in class on Friday to take the test. Right away when the students came in, a girl hit a boy in the back of the head. For the first five minutes of class, they never stopped talking. I had the boy move to another seat in the corner. He then proceeded to talk to another girl. He is normally a pretty good kid, but he does have a tendancy to talk too much. I handed out checks to the boy and both girls. They started complaining about how I had changed. Anyways, then another boy piped in asking for tissue. He is a kid with really dark skin that shows up maybe once a week. There are always moments where he shows that he has potential, but also those times when he shows how he will undoubtedly squander it. Every time I tell him to stop talking, he mumbles under his breath something I can never understand. Today, he kept begging for tissue. I had some that I was planning on using to wipe off an overhead grid that I had made. I handed it to him, then he started complaining about how it was dirty tissue and somehow, that meant that I thought he was trash. Probably a true statement, but not the message i intended to parlay. I got the class going on correcting their tests and went to the bathroom to grab some more tissue while the customer service rep watched over the kids.
When I returned, I saw that the student who had gotten in trouble for talking had handed his test to the kid behind him. The kid holding the test in his hand hadn't been in class on Friday. I have been told that any student suspended for a test couldn't make it up, but with others, I could use my discretion. I know that absences are hardly excused, so I decided to just let these students finish what they could in the 10-15 minutes I allowed others to correct what they had wrong. I couldn't believe that he had given his test to somebody and immediately asked about what compelled him to do it. He just told me the other student didn't know how to do the problems. I asked him why he didn't quietly work on fixing the problems he got wrong. He simply told me he didn't know how. I was puzzled, seeing how I told them that I would give them credit for any answers they fixed. They knew the problems that were incorrect, and the entire test was multiple choice. I kicked him out and a few minutes later, he returned with the customer service rep, who told me the kid was "confused as to what he was supposed to be doing." It wouldn't surprise me either way. At any rate, I wasn't about to give him a candy bar to commend him for his test results. Instead, I had a candy bar for lunch. Today was the first time I've eaten lunch since I've been at NHS.
Fourth period was disappointing as always. I had a father shadowing his son. With his dad present, the kid actually behaved fairly well, but as soon as the dad stepped out, he started kicking under the chair of the girl in front of him. I had him moved and warned.
My fourth period is the dumbest group of kids I have ever seen. Every period, I stop a few times during lecture and just stand in amazement. They are in the 9th or 10th grade and are below any 8th grade class that I have. Most do not know how to solve the following: x + 7 = 12. I always wonder why I even bother teaching them. None of them have any chance at all at passing their test.
I had a student absolutely blow up at me during this class. She had been absent all of last week, so she didn't take her test. She is also in my first class. My first class consists of Algebra I, Algebra II, and Geometry students. None of them know how to do any of it, so I teach it as one class. My fourth period is Algebra I students, so I teach using the same lesson plans from my first class. I have two students that sit through both classes. One is the girl who got suspended for slapping the checks out of my hand and the other is this girl. I let her work on her test during my first period. Afterwards, I went over how to do all of the problems with the class. When my fourth period was correcting their tests, I let her work on her test once again, even though she had already been exposed to the solutions. After their ten minutes, I collected their tests and was ready to start with the lecture. She raised her hand and asked if she could finish her test. When I said no, she erupted and started yelling at me. She didn't understand how unfair it would be for me to count all of the questions she got right after she had been exposed to the answers. I have no problem putting in extra work to help students out, but these kids don't come to school simply because they don't feel like it. Her voice raised and she started getting out of her seat. I motioned towards to door and she stormed out. A few minutes later, somebody came in for some work for her. I let her finish the test just to see how she did. Ended up getting 11 out 12. Not quite so difficult when you're given the answers.
I was disappointed to learn that my ho man wasn't in class today. He's probably still perusing Bourbon Street looking for loving. I haven't decided if I'll give him extra credit yet if he finds anything for me. I had three troublemakers in that class today. Only kicked two of them out, which was surprising. One of the kids was the student who had been kicked out of the cafeteria earlier in the day. He hasn't lasted an entire class period with me yet. Every time he gets in trouble, he says, "What'd I doooo? What'd I doooo?" He always sounds like he's on the verge of tears, and then says, "Man, I didn't no nuffin," as he winces. Same story every time. He was complaining with the other kid that I ended up throwing out, and the other boy said, "Man, they need to send him back where he came from." I simply said, "I'm not going anywhere, but you can go back where you came from. Out in the hallway." I was pretty pleased with myself. A few minutes later, his friend joined him out in the hallway. I would be shocked if both aren't suspended for something that they will do within the next two weeks. As unpredictable as NHS is, some of the kids are very predictable.
After class, I went outside to see what goes on during PE for the first time. It actually resembles recess a bit. Some kids were tossing around a football, while others were walking and talking. I spotted my candy bar man and told him I needed him in class and he couldn't be getting in trouble anymore. He immediately went to the man in charge of ISS and said, "See man? Mr. C---onn says I need to be in class. I can't be in FLC (ISS) no more." Made me chuckle. I guess he misunderstood what I meant. He was disappointed to learn that I had candy in class for the students. "Oh, damn. You gonna have it on Friday?" We will see.
All told, it was a frustrating day. I really didn't touch my lesson plans after spending four or five hours yesterday getting ready for the week. I am guessing the work I did yesterday will probably be sufficient for the next two weeks with these kids because we go so slow. At any rate, the material will easily get me through the rest of the week, and I should have another fun weekend to look forward to.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Bacchus, Beads, Boobs, Butter, and Bourbon Street...
Yesterday, I drove back down to New Orleans for my second experience with Mardi Gras, and I must say, it was a lot better than last weekend. I met up with the same teacher from before and spent the day with her family. I got off to a rough start, getting turned around about five times. Surprisingly, I found a parking spot in a garage with relative ease, and it only cost $10 and was one block away from where we watched the parades on St. Charles.
Arriving shortly before noon, I got there just in time to watch parade number one of the day. I grabbed a Coors Light and was ready to fight for some beads. Mardi Gras is an indescribable experience. The route is about six miles long and people line both sides of the street. At night, the crowd was atleast 15-20 deep. So basically, you have hundreds of thousands of people going crazy for these worthless little trinkets. I can tell you how ridiculous it is, but I was right alongside them.
Anyways, the first parade was similar to what I saw last week, consisting of maybe 15 floats. There are also marching bands of varying skill, horses, dance teams, and cars full of jazz and blues bands as well. All of the parades have themes. I can't say I remember any of them besides the last one of the night. I got right up to the front and made a pretty good haul.
After the first parade, I played football with the teacher's son. He is 13 and a really nice kid. At this point, a younger boy came up to me and asked, "Mr. Matt, can I pweez pway wiff you?" Of course, I said yes and threw him the ball. It took about three minutes for me to come up with the nickname of "Butter" for him because in the entire day, he may have caught that ball five times. I learned that he is a 6 year old who came in from Washington for the week. His mother is friends with the teacher's brother-in-law, who was also down with his family.
The second parade started shortly after the first one finished, and it was more of the same: fun, but I wasn't understanding why Mardi Gras was such a big deal yet. After the second parade finished, we stopped by the bar and I ordered a Crown Royal and Diet Coke. I must admit, it felt pretty good to be drinking Crown Royal at 2 PM on a Sunday afternoon in a t-shirt.
It was during parade # 3 that I first met Butter's mom. She was yelling at him because he kept following me around and she couldn't find him. Butter's mom reminded me a lot of Courtney Love in terms of appearance as well as parenting skills. I saw Butter take off his hat and noticed he has a mohawk. Pretty interesting for a six year old.
The third parade finished around 4, and the Bacchus ("God of Wine") parade wasn't to start for atleast two hours. We went back to the bar and got some more drinks and food. I tried my first Po-Boy sandwich. It tastes a lot like a sub, only better. Mine has sauteed shrimp and loads of mozzarella cheese on it. Delicious.
We tossed the ball around a bit more, and Butter told me that I was his best bud. I told him that I had another friend named Butter, more specifically Butter Sandwich. He decided to give me the nickname, "Samwich". He also picked up the habit of folding his arms, striking a pose, and saying, "That's how Butter rolls" while nodding his head. Pretty cute.
Bacchus started a little after six and lasted for atleast 3 hours, maybe more. My concept of time was kind of skewed. We maneuvered to the front and prepared for more beads. I started spotting a lot of really pretty girls. In particular, we were next to about four of them that appeared to be around my age, two blondes and two brunettes. They were all really nice, but one of the brunettes was so drunk that when she gave me a hug, she started screaming because she was hugging somebody from Wisconsin. Her voice also sounded exactly like the woman in Seinfeld that dated Kramer and heckled Jerry.
Bacchus is apparently one of the biggest parades that Mardi Gras has. To give you an idea, the biggest parade that I saw last week had 400 riders. Bacchus had 3400. All of the bands were extremely good and many of the floats were multi-leveled and really elaborate. Val Kilmer was the king of this parade, sitting atop the "King's Float." I guess the night before, Kid Rock was on a float. We were absolutely packed. I was a little nervous because we were so close together and people were leaning for beads. It wouldn't take much to knock over fifty people.
The teacher's husband had a flask-sized bottle of whiskey which I was drinking from. Luckily, he went back to his cooler and got some Coke. I tried drinking it straight. I don't think I'll ever know how I was able to down ten whiskeys on the rocks in one night. I do know that I'll never try that again.
The actual parade was quite a bit different than I imagined it would be. I always thought Mardi Gras would be like "Girls Gone Wild". Boobs and beads. I have heard that St. Charles, which is closer to the beginning of the parade trail, is more family-oriented while Bourbon Street is where all the madness happens. The only boobs I actually saw during the parade where on the last float, a woman pulled down her shirt.
My friends will be happy to know that even though I am trying a lot of new things and changing a lot, I still have absolutely no game when it comes to women. It's pretty sad when I have somebody who has been married for ten years (teacher's brother-in-law) trying to hook me up with a girl. She was one of the girls that was standing by us. Really cute blond who works as a kindergarten teacher. She got dumped three days ago and lives in Hammond, where I live. Talk about coincidence.
I have a friend whose boyfriend does a little trick when he takes a girl's hand and kisses his own. I tried the move on her and I got the weirdest look ever. I guess it works better for him than me. Then I actually kissed hers, which was probably even creepier. For the rest of the night, everybody gave me advice on what to text her. The good news: she did give her real number and I did get responses from her. The bad news: in three text messages, she sent four words. I'm not going to get my hopes up with that one. However, it would be nice to get to know some people around my age here.
The girls left the parade and my hookup turned to some other girls behind us, and asked, "How old are you?" He didn't even wait until they were finished replying, "Sixteen," before saying, "Thanks," and turning around and walking away. He quickly said to me, "Stay away."
I haven't counted up my beads yet, but I will say that I can't even imagine how many beads they go through at Mardi Gras. I must have atleast 50-100, and I was one of hundreds of thousands of people catching them.
Bacchus was a really fun time. I'm glad that I decided to come down for Mardi Gras for a second time, because honestly, I was a bit disappointed last weekend. Can't say I was disappointed this time.
We decided to go out for some more food and drinks at a bar called Cooter Brown's. The teacher's husband had worked their during college. Before getting in the car, I saw Butter come up to me, crying. My hookup's wife said, "Could you give him a hug?" So I bent down and tried to console him, no clue what was going on. Sobbing, Butter said, "I'm really going to miss you when you're gone." It immediately made me think of my students. To my knowledge, Butter doesn't have a father figure in his life and clearly has some male attachment problems. I felt really bad for him. He's clearly got some issues. He calmed down when I told him we were going to get to hang out some more and have fun.
I ate Po-Boy #2 of the night at Cooter Brown's. This time, it was of the fried oyster variety. Once again, very good. It took a while to get our food, so I waited inside and downed a beer. When I got my sandwich and cheese fries, I went outside to sit and eat. Butter was still a mess, crying to me, "I don't like it when you're gone for so long." It makes me wonder how my friends in Oshkosh are handling life without me. I must be hard to get over.
My hookup and his wife split a dozen raw oysters. They let me try a couple. I ate the first oyster plain and was surprised to learn that I liked it. You just suck on them and let it slide down your throat. Weird texture and not a lot of flavor, but not too shabby. For my second oyster, I ate it on a cracker with horseradish. It was probably the spiciest thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. My eyes immediately started to water. Holy cow.
It was around 11:30 when we got back to the hotel that everybody was staying at. The two guys (teacher's husband and his brother/my hoookup) decided that they'd take me down Bourbon Street for some more drinks. I was really excited, and we started making our way towards the French Quarter before midnight.
Even before reaching Bourbon Street, I saw things I'd never seen before. Women wearing skirts that covered up nothing and guys slowly driving their cars, attempting to solicit them. When we were getting close, they started talking about the side streets. Both guys had lived in New Orleans before, so I'm sure they have spent a decent amount of time there and know quite a bit about the different places. We were walking by these spas, and they said, "Notice the camera and the lock on the door. You wouldn't get your typical massage here. More of a deep tissue massage." Lots of the strip clubs on the side streets are run by the mafia and anything goes, whereas the ones that are actually on Bourbon are more expensive and ritzy.
Our first stop of the night was at an oyster bar. A man shucked out the oysters and we sucked 'em down. A few minutes later, we went to a sex shop. Some weird stuff there and a bit different than the places I had seen in Oshkosh. We started making our way down the famed road.
Bourbon Street is indescribable. It's something that everybody should experience. I had been told to throw away the shoes you wear when you're down there. Your feet stick a little bit with every step, because the ground is covered with beer, liquor, and other fluids which I don't even care to know about. In some areas, it was so packed that the crowd was carrying me.
This was more what I expected from Mardi Gras. I saw lots of people out on the balconies and women sitting on shoulders. Chants of "Show your tits!" were met with skin, beads, and cheers. I saw a guy wearing nothing but a thong rubbing against the ground. I must say that I enjoyed seeing the women more.
We stopped at a bar called "The Hole in the Wall". It was the one bar that never closed during Katrina. We saw a woman and man doing body shots and making out. She was wearing next to nothing and they told us they had met just a few hours earlier. From the looks of things, they would be getting to know each other better shortly.
We made a brief trip to a karaoke bar. It looked like a lot of fun. Somebody was on stage singing "Living on a Prayer". I didn't really know what we were doing there at first, but I found out quickly when a woman grabbed my head and slammed it between her breasts. She had a vial placed between them, and I hit my nose on it so hard that I thought it was broken. I'm still not sure how she did what she did, but the vial was in my mouth and hers, and then I ended up getting a shot. I think I would need to see it again in slow motion to figure out what happened. After that, we left the bar and continued on our way.
I got to try the two drinks that everybody has told me I needed to try: a Hurricane and a Hand Grenade. Both tasted very good, but they were also really strong and sweet. I don't think I could handle very many of them. Everything was really expensive there, but I must say it was most certainly worth it.
We stopped abruptly at an intersection and the guys told me that I had a choice. We had reached the end of the "straight" Bourbon Steet, and the next two blocks were all the gay bars. I looked across the street and saw several men walking hand in hand. Many were shirtless and wearing leather bands, skimpy underwear, etc. They said we could go down that way if I wanted or I could turn around. If I could make the choice over again, I think I would probably walked down there and tried to get some free drinks, but I decided we should stick to the straight side for my first time on Bourbon.
I ran into a problem when all the liquid hit and I needed to use a restroom. You can't use a restroom there without ordering atleast one drink. We finally stopped at a bar that the guys thought would have a "relatively clean" bathroom. I paid $8 for a Miller Lite and didn't even wait to get served before running for the Men's room. I saw the "Closed" sign and a man told me that it had flooded. Too late to get my eight bucks back.
I finally got to a bathroom, and it was one of the highlights of my night. I had little concept of time and knew I wouldn't be driving that night. We made one more stop before heading home. It's a place called "Dixie Chicks", and the teacher's husand told me, "Lots of 'Dixie', not so many 'Chicks.'" I sat down and had another drink. There was a "woman" in skimpy clothes dancing on the bar. I was sitting by another stripper, who I believe was a woman, but I'm not positive. The guys told her that I was losing my Mardi Gras virginity, and she grabbed my hand, stuck it in a pile of dollar bills, then pushed it towards the stripper's panties on stage. Three times. I had a couple of thoughts at that moment: 1) The stripper actually was a woman. I was relieved. 2) It wasn't my money, so I was alright with it. If it was, there would be no way in hell it would go where it went. 3) You would think that a woman who earns a living dancing and having men touch her would be sure to have certain hygiene and "upkeep" practices (trying to keep this as mild and appropriate as possible). She didn't. 4) I must have been pretty drunk because I didn't wash my hands immediately afterwards.
We stopped for coffee and some French "donutlike" things on the walk home. We arrived at the hotel right around 4 AM. I passed out in a chair almost immediately. Woke up around 9:30 this morning and said my goodbyes a little after 10. I was really pleased that Butter didn't cry when I said goodbye for the last time. I gave him a stuffed animal crab that I caught at Bacchus. My hookup gave me a ride to my car (had to pay $30 to get a spot a few blocks from the hotel, by the way) and I got back to Hammond just before noon today.
All told, I dropped about $150 last night, but I really had a great time so I don't feel bad about that at all. I met some really neat people and experienced several different aspects of Mardi Gras. Hangover wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I think I will be back down on Bourbon next weekend after the Bucks/Hornets game.
With a job like I have that is high stress, I need to have things to look forward to. Mardi Gras served that purpose and exceeded my expectations. I kept thinking how much my friends would have loved it. Maybe a road trip next year...
We have off of school today and tomorrow, so I will use that time to recover, relax, and get a little prep time in for the short week. As always, I will be expecting the unexpected and I'm sure Wednesday will bring me something crazy to write about.
Arriving shortly before noon, I got there just in time to watch parade number one of the day. I grabbed a Coors Light and was ready to fight for some beads. Mardi Gras is an indescribable experience. The route is about six miles long and people line both sides of the street. At night, the crowd was atleast 15-20 deep. So basically, you have hundreds of thousands of people going crazy for these worthless little trinkets. I can tell you how ridiculous it is, but I was right alongside them.
Anyways, the first parade was similar to what I saw last week, consisting of maybe 15 floats. There are also marching bands of varying skill, horses, dance teams, and cars full of jazz and blues bands as well. All of the parades have themes. I can't say I remember any of them besides the last one of the night. I got right up to the front and made a pretty good haul.
After the first parade, I played football with the teacher's son. He is 13 and a really nice kid. At this point, a younger boy came up to me and asked, "Mr. Matt, can I pweez pway wiff you?" Of course, I said yes and threw him the ball. It took about three minutes for me to come up with the nickname of "Butter" for him because in the entire day, he may have caught that ball five times. I learned that he is a 6 year old who came in from Washington for the week. His mother is friends with the teacher's brother-in-law, who was also down with his family.
The second parade started shortly after the first one finished, and it was more of the same: fun, but I wasn't understanding why Mardi Gras was such a big deal yet. After the second parade finished, we stopped by the bar and I ordered a Crown Royal and Diet Coke. I must admit, it felt pretty good to be drinking Crown Royal at 2 PM on a Sunday afternoon in a t-shirt.
It was during parade # 3 that I first met Butter's mom. She was yelling at him because he kept following me around and she couldn't find him. Butter's mom reminded me a lot of Courtney Love in terms of appearance as well as parenting skills. I saw Butter take off his hat and noticed he has a mohawk. Pretty interesting for a six year old.
The third parade finished around 4, and the Bacchus ("God of Wine") parade wasn't to start for atleast two hours. We went back to the bar and got some more drinks and food. I tried my first Po-Boy sandwich. It tastes a lot like a sub, only better. Mine has sauteed shrimp and loads of mozzarella cheese on it. Delicious.
We tossed the ball around a bit more, and Butter told me that I was his best bud. I told him that I had another friend named Butter, more specifically Butter Sandwich. He decided to give me the nickname, "Samwich". He also picked up the habit of folding his arms, striking a pose, and saying, "That's how Butter rolls" while nodding his head. Pretty cute.
Bacchus started a little after six and lasted for atleast 3 hours, maybe more. My concept of time was kind of skewed. We maneuvered to the front and prepared for more beads. I started spotting a lot of really pretty girls. In particular, we were next to about four of them that appeared to be around my age, two blondes and two brunettes. They were all really nice, but one of the brunettes was so drunk that when she gave me a hug, she started screaming because she was hugging somebody from Wisconsin. Her voice also sounded exactly like the woman in Seinfeld that dated Kramer and heckled Jerry.
Bacchus is apparently one of the biggest parades that Mardi Gras has. To give you an idea, the biggest parade that I saw last week had 400 riders. Bacchus had 3400. All of the bands were extremely good and many of the floats were multi-leveled and really elaborate. Val Kilmer was the king of this parade, sitting atop the "King's Float." I guess the night before, Kid Rock was on a float. We were absolutely packed. I was a little nervous because we were so close together and people were leaning for beads. It wouldn't take much to knock over fifty people.
The teacher's husband had a flask-sized bottle of whiskey which I was drinking from. Luckily, he went back to his cooler and got some Coke. I tried drinking it straight. I don't think I'll ever know how I was able to down ten whiskeys on the rocks in one night. I do know that I'll never try that again.
The actual parade was quite a bit different than I imagined it would be. I always thought Mardi Gras would be like "Girls Gone Wild". Boobs and beads. I have heard that St. Charles, which is closer to the beginning of the parade trail, is more family-oriented while Bourbon Street is where all the madness happens. The only boobs I actually saw during the parade where on the last float, a woman pulled down her shirt.
My friends will be happy to know that even though I am trying a lot of new things and changing a lot, I still have absolutely no game when it comes to women. It's pretty sad when I have somebody who has been married for ten years (teacher's brother-in-law) trying to hook me up with a girl. She was one of the girls that was standing by us. Really cute blond who works as a kindergarten teacher. She got dumped three days ago and lives in Hammond, where I live. Talk about coincidence.
I have a friend whose boyfriend does a little trick when he takes a girl's hand and kisses his own. I tried the move on her and I got the weirdest look ever. I guess it works better for him than me. Then I actually kissed hers, which was probably even creepier. For the rest of the night, everybody gave me advice on what to text her. The good news: she did give her real number and I did get responses from her. The bad news: in three text messages, she sent four words. I'm not going to get my hopes up with that one. However, it would be nice to get to know some people around my age here.
The girls left the parade and my hookup turned to some other girls behind us, and asked, "How old are you?" He didn't even wait until they were finished replying, "Sixteen," before saying, "Thanks," and turning around and walking away. He quickly said to me, "Stay away."
I haven't counted up my beads yet, but I will say that I can't even imagine how many beads they go through at Mardi Gras. I must have atleast 50-100, and I was one of hundreds of thousands of people catching them.
Bacchus was a really fun time. I'm glad that I decided to come down for Mardi Gras for a second time, because honestly, I was a bit disappointed last weekend. Can't say I was disappointed this time.
We decided to go out for some more food and drinks at a bar called Cooter Brown's. The teacher's husband had worked their during college. Before getting in the car, I saw Butter come up to me, crying. My hookup's wife said, "Could you give him a hug?" So I bent down and tried to console him, no clue what was going on. Sobbing, Butter said, "I'm really going to miss you when you're gone." It immediately made me think of my students. To my knowledge, Butter doesn't have a father figure in his life and clearly has some male attachment problems. I felt really bad for him. He's clearly got some issues. He calmed down when I told him we were going to get to hang out some more and have fun.
I ate Po-Boy #2 of the night at Cooter Brown's. This time, it was of the fried oyster variety. Once again, very good. It took a while to get our food, so I waited inside and downed a beer. When I got my sandwich and cheese fries, I went outside to sit and eat. Butter was still a mess, crying to me, "I don't like it when you're gone for so long." It makes me wonder how my friends in Oshkosh are handling life without me. I must be hard to get over.
My hookup and his wife split a dozen raw oysters. They let me try a couple. I ate the first oyster plain and was surprised to learn that I liked it. You just suck on them and let it slide down your throat. Weird texture and not a lot of flavor, but not too shabby. For my second oyster, I ate it on a cracker with horseradish. It was probably the spiciest thing I've ever eaten in my entire life. My eyes immediately started to water. Holy cow.
It was around 11:30 when we got back to the hotel that everybody was staying at. The two guys (teacher's husband and his brother/my hoookup) decided that they'd take me down Bourbon Street for some more drinks. I was really excited, and we started making our way towards the French Quarter before midnight.
Even before reaching Bourbon Street, I saw things I'd never seen before. Women wearing skirts that covered up nothing and guys slowly driving their cars, attempting to solicit them. When we were getting close, they started talking about the side streets. Both guys had lived in New Orleans before, so I'm sure they have spent a decent amount of time there and know quite a bit about the different places. We were walking by these spas, and they said, "Notice the camera and the lock on the door. You wouldn't get your typical massage here. More of a deep tissue massage." Lots of the strip clubs on the side streets are run by the mafia and anything goes, whereas the ones that are actually on Bourbon are more expensive and ritzy.
Our first stop of the night was at an oyster bar. A man shucked out the oysters and we sucked 'em down. A few minutes later, we went to a sex shop. Some weird stuff there and a bit different than the places I had seen in Oshkosh. We started making our way down the famed road.
Bourbon Street is indescribable. It's something that everybody should experience. I had been told to throw away the shoes you wear when you're down there. Your feet stick a little bit with every step, because the ground is covered with beer, liquor, and other fluids which I don't even care to know about. In some areas, it was so packed that the crowd was carrying me.
This was more what I expected from Mardi Gras. I saw lots of people out on the balconies and women sitting on shoulders. Chants of "Show your tits!" were met with skin, beads, and cheers. I saw a guy wearing nothing but a thong rubbing against the ground. I must say that I enjoyed seeing the women more.
We stopped at a bar called "The Hole in the Wall". It was the one bar that never closed during Katrina. We saw a woman and man doing body shots and making out. She was wearing next to nothing and they told us they had met just a few hours earlier. From the looks of things, they would be getting to know each other better shortly.
We made a brief trip to a karaoke bar. It looked like a lot of fun. Somebody was on stage singing "Living on a Prayer". I didn't really know what we were doing there at first, but I found out quickly when a woman grabbed my head and slammed it between her breasts. She had a vial placed between them, and I hit my nose on it so hard that I thought it was broken. I'm still not sure how she did what she did, but the vial was in my mouth and hers, and then I ended up getting a shot. I think I would need to see it again in slow motion to figure out what happened. After that, we left the bar and continued on our way.
I got to try the two drinks that everybody has told me I needed to try: a Hurricane and a Hand Grenade. Both tasted very good, but they were also really strong and sweet. I don't think I could handle very many of them. Everything was really expensive there, but I must say it was most certainly worth it.
We stopped abruptly at an intersection and the guys told me that I had a choice. We had reached the end of the "straight" Bourbon Steet, and the next two blocks were all the gay bars. I looked across the street and saw several men walking hand in hand. Many were shirtless and wearing leather bands, skimpy underwear, etc. They said we could go down that way if I wanted or I could turn around. If I could make the choice over again, I think I would probably walked down there and tried to get some free drinks, but I decided we should stick to the straight side for my first time on Bourbon.
I ran into a problem when all the liquid hit and I needed to use a restroom. You can't use a restroom there without ordering atleast one drink. We finally stopped at a bar that the guys thought would have a "relatively clean" bathroom. I paid $8 for a Miller Lite and didn't even wait to get served before running for the Men's room. I saw the "Closed" sign and a man told me that it had flooded. Too late to get my eight bucks back.
I finally got to a bathroom, and it was one of the highlights of my night. I had little concept of time and knew I wouldn't be driving that night. We made one more stop before heading home. It's a place called "Dixie Chicks", and the teacher's husand told me, "Lots of 'Dixie', not so many 'Chicks.'" I sat down and had another drink. There was a "woman" in skimpy clothes dancing on the bar. I was sitting by another stripper, who I believe was a woman, but I'm not positive. The guys told her that I was losing my Mardi Gras virginity, and she grabbed my hand, stuck it in a pile of dollar bills, then pushed it towards the stripper's panties on stage. Three times. I had a couple of thoughts at that moment: 1) The stripper actually was a woman. I was relieved. 2) It wasn't my money, so I was alright with it. If it was, there would be no way in hell it would go where it went. 3) You would think that a woman who earns a living dancing and having men touch her would be sure to have certain hygiene and "upkeep" practices (trying to keep this as mild and appropriate as possible). She didn't. 4) I must have been pretty drunk because I didn't wash my hands immediately afterwards.
We stopped for coffee and some French "donutlike" things on the walk home. We arrived at the hotel right around 4 AM. I passed out in a chair almost immediately. Woke up around 9:30 this morning and said my goodbyes a little after 10. I was really pleased that Butter didn't cry when I said goodbye for the last time. I gave him a stuffed animal crab that I caught at Bacchus. My hookup gave me a ride to my car (had to pay $30 to get a spot a few blocks from the hotel, by the way) and I got back to Hammond just before noon today.
All told, I dropped about $150 last night, but I really had a great time so I don't feel bad about that at all. I met some really neat people and experienced several different aspects of Mardi Gras. Hangover wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I think I will be back down on Bourbon next weekend after the Bucks/Hornets game.
With a job like I have that is high stress, I need to have things to look forward to. Mardi Gras served that purpose and exceeded my expectations. I kept thinking how much my friends would have loved it. Maybe a road trip next year...
We have off of school today and tomorrow, so I will use that time to recover, relax, and get a little prep time in for the short week. As always, I will be expecting the unexpected and I'm sure Wednesday will bring me something crazy to write about.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Graded the tests...
8th Grade Avg. - 7.58/12
High Score - 11/12
Low Score - 4/12
10th Grade Avg. - 6.14/12
High Score - 10/12
Low Score - 3/12
Not sure what to make of it at this point. I do know that they did a heck of a lot better than they would have a couple of weeks ago. I think the main problem is understanding the questions I am asking. I do think that I can get some of these kids to pass their LEAP test.
And for the record, when I was grading the tests tonight, I was drinking Crown Royal and Diet Coke and I tipped over my drink and it spilled on some of the tests. Not only do I feel like an idiot, but I am afraid that some of my students will know what that smell is right away...
High Score - 11/12
Low Score - 4/12
10th Grade Avg. - 6.14/12
High Score - 10/12
Low Score - 3/12
Not sure what to make of it at this point. I do know that they did a heck of a lot better than they would have a couple of weeks ago. I think the main problem is understanding the questions I am asking. I do think that I can get some of these kids to pass their LEAP test.
And for the record, when I was grading the tests tonight, I was drinking Crown Royal and Diet Coke and I tipped over my drink and it spilled on some of the tests. Not only do I feel like an idiot, but I am afraid that some of my students will know what that smell is right away...
Friday, February 20, 2009
8th Grade Remedial Math Exam # 1/ Algebra and Geometry Exam # 1
The formatting got screwed up for both tests because I used MathType for fractions, radicals, etc. For reference sqrt() means "the square root of" and n^3 means "n to the third power". The actual test looks a lot prettier. Submit your answers and if you get them all right, I'll give you a fun size Butterfingers. Kidding. Hopefully this will give you a good idea of what they are supposed to know...
8th Grade Exam # 1
1. Solve for x: 4x – 2 = 14
A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
2. Solve for x: x + 7 = 13
A) 3
B) 6
C) 9
D) 20
3. Solve for x: 3x + 4 = 13
A) 3
B) 4
C) 5
D) 17/3
4. Solve for x: 8 – 2x = 0
A) -4
B) -2
C) 2
D) 4
5. Solve for x: 25/x = 5
A) 2
B) 5
C) 25
D) 125
6. Solve for x: 10x + 20 = 90
A) 3
B) 7
C) 11
D) 110
7. 3 + 5 x 5 =
A) 13
B) 28
C) 40
D) 75
8. 30 / (5 + 1) =
A) 5
B) 6
C) 7
D) 36
9. 355 - 500=
A) -855
B) -145
C) 145
D) 855
10. - 225 + 450=
A) -665
B) -225
C) 225
D) 675
11. A car travels 600 miles, maintaining a constant speed of 40 miles per hour. How long was the car on the road?
A) 2 hours
B) 8 hours
C) 15 hours
D) 24,000 minutes
12. Tbe Guinness Book of World Records has Ricky Brown aka “No Clue” listed as the world’s fasted rapper. He is credited with rapping over 600 syllables in 45 seconds. Approximately how many syllables per minute did he rap?
A) 400 syllables per minute
B) 800 syllables per minute
C) 1,000 syllables per minute
D) 6,000 syllables per minute
CANDY BAR QUESTIONS (Ex. Cred.)
EC1. Solve for x:
3(sqrt (x)) + 2 = 11
EC2. Write an expression for the following pattern: 2, 5, 8, 11, …
9th, 10th, 11th Grade Math Exam 1
1. Simplify sqrt(45).
A) 4 x (sqrt(5))
B) 3 x (sqrt(5))
C) 5 x (sqrt(3))
D) 9 x (sqrt(5))
2. Omitted – free question
3. Write an expression for the pattern:
2, 5, 8, 11, 14, …
A) 2n + 2
B) 3n – 1
C) 3n-6
D) 4n – 2
4. Evaluate 2/5 x 1/3 .
A) 3/8
B) 6/5
C) 2/15
D) 3/5
5. Evaluate 1/5 + 2/3.
A) 13/15
B) 3/8
C) 1/5
D) 3/5
6. Simplify sqrt(200) .
A) 2 x (sqrt(10))
B) 8 x (sqrt(4))
C) 10 x (sqrt(2))
D) 20 x (sqrt(2))
7. It is recommended that people sleep for atleast 8 hours every night. If the life expectancy is currently at approximately 75 years, how many years would the normal person sleep for if they followed this advice?
A) 600
B) 25
C) 50
D) 9.375
8. Write an expression for the pattern:
-3, 3, 9, 15, …
A) 6n – 9
B) -3n
C) 3n + 6
D) 6n – 3
9. The New Orleans Saints pass on 60% of their offensive plays. If a game consists of 60 offensive plays for the Saints, how many passes do they throw?
A) 36
B) 360
C) 10
D) 24
10. Write an expression for the pattern:
15, 13, 11, 9, …
A) 10n + 5
B) 2n + 13
C) -2n + 17
D) 5n + 1
11. Write an expression for the pattern:
4, 7, 12, 19, 28, …
A) 3n + 1
B) n^3 + 5
C) sqrt(16n)
D) n^2 + 3
12. Write an expression for the pattern:
8, 12, 16, 20, …
A) 4n + 8
B) 2n + 6
C) 4n + 4
D) 3n + 5
CANDY BAR QUESTIONS (Ex. Cred.)
EC1. Write the 50th term in the following pattern:
5, 9, 13, 17, 21, …
EC2. How many seconds are in one year? (Set up. Do not need to solve.)
8th Grade Exam # 1
1. Solve for x: 4x – 2 = 14
A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
2. Solve for x: x + 7 = 13
A) 3
B) 6
C) 9
D) 20
3. Solve for x: 3x + 4 = 13
A) 3
B) 4
C) 5
D) 17/3
4. Solve for x: 8 – 2x = 0
A) -4
B) -2
C) 2
D) 4
5. Solve for x: 25/x = 5
A) 2
B) 5
C) 25
D) 125
6. Solve for x: 10x + 20 = 90
A) 3
B) 7
C) 11
D) 110
7. 3 + 5 x 5 =
A) 13
B) 28
C) 40
D) 75
8. 30 / (5 + 1) =
A) 5
B) 6
C) 7
D) 36
9. 355 - 500=
A) -855
B) -145
C) 145
D) 855
10. - 225 + 450=
A) -665
B) -225
C) 225
D) 675
11. A car travels 600 miles, maintaining a constant speed of 40 miles per hour. How long was the car on the road?
A) 2 hours
B) 8 hours
C) 15 hours
D) 24,000 minutes
12. Tbe Guinness Book of World Records has Ricky Brown aka “No Clue” listed as the world’s fasted rapper. He is credited with rapping over 600 syllables in 45 seconds. Approximately how many syllables per minute did he rap?
A) 400 syllables per minute
B) 800 syllables per minute
C) 1,000 syllables per minute
D) 6,000 syllables per minute
CANDY BAR QUESTIONS (Ex. Cred.)
EC1. Solve for x:
3(sqrt (x)) + 2 = 11
EC2. Write an expression for the following pattern: 2, 5, 8, 11, …
9th, 10th, 11th Grade Math Exam 1
1. Simplify sqrt(45).
A) 4 x (sqrt(5))
B) 3 x (sqrt(5))
C) 5 x (sqrt(3))
D) 9 x (sqrt(5))
2. Omitted – free question
3. Write an expression for the pattern:
2, 5, 8, 11, 14, …
A) 2n + 2
B) 3n – 1
C) 3n-6
D) 4n – 2
4. Evaluate 2/5 x 1/3 .
A) 3/8
B) 6/5
C) 2/15
D) 3/5
5. Evaluate 1/5 + 2/3.
A) 13/15
B) 3/8
C) 1/5
D) 3/5
6. Simplify sqrt(200) .
A) 2 x (sqrt(10))
B) 8 x (sqrt(4))
C) 10 x (sqrt(2))
D) 20 x (sqrt(2))
7. It is recommended that people sleep for atleast 8 hours every night. If the life expectancy is currently at approximately 75 years, how many years would the normal person sleep for if they followed this advice?
A) 600
B) 25
C) 50
D) 9.375
8. Write an expression for the pattern:
-3, 3, 9, 15, …
A) 6n – 9
B) -3n
C) 3n + 6
D) 6n – 3
9. The New Orleans Saints pass on 60% of their offensive plays. If a game consists of 60 offensive plays for the Saints, how many passes do they throw?
A) 36
B) 360
C) 10
D) 24
10. Write an expression for the pattern:
15, 13, 11, 9, …
A) 10n + 5
B) 2n + 13
C) -2n + 17
D) 5n + 1
11. Write an expression for the pattern:
4, 7, 12, 19, 28, …
A) 3n + 1
B) n^3 + 5
C) sqrt(16n)
D) n^2 + 3
12. Write an expression for the pattern:
8, 12, 16, 20, …
A) 4n + 8
B) 2n + 6
C) 4n + 4
D) 3n + 5
CANDY BAR QUESTIONS (Ex. Cred.)
EC1. Write the 50th term in the following pattern:
5, 9, 13, 17, 21, …
EC2. How many seconds are in one year? (Set up. Do not need to solve.)
Test Day
I was filled with nervous excitement as I prepared for my first test. I actually really enjoyed making it. I had no idea what to expect, and I certainly got the unexpected.
Before school, the girl who got kicked out of my first hour came into my room to grab her folder. Wouldn't make eye contact with me. I guess I'm not the most popular teacher yet. Oh well.
During first hour, I realized that the day would be more difficult that I thought. Even during a test, the kids still talk. Some students finished in ten minutes and others took forty. I printed up some beginner sudoka puzzles for those who got done early, but most students didn't even understand what the objective of them was, much less how to complete one. As soon as people started finishing up, the volume began to rise. Some students became unruly, and I kicked one out. As he got up to leave, he let out a "fuck you". I made sure to write him up. I kicked out another girl who was talking to two other students and refused to write a check. She said, "You can write me up. I ain't gonna write it." It was surprising because I've never heard her talk before. I guess she had to do something bad to get kicked of her old school, so I shouldn't be surprised by anything anybody does.
Somebody from the state was in to observe today. The teachers all seemed pretty nervous. I have heard that if test scores do not improve, the school will shut down next year. The state is constantly breathing down our necks. I thought it was a bit ridiculous to come in the day before a four day weekend, especially considering we were assessed yesterday, too. Oh well. A woman who looked to be in her late twenties came into my room towards the end of my first class. I am sure she could tell I was getting frustrated when everybody was finished with their tests with about ten minutes remaining and I attempted to teach until the bell. Several students had their heads down and talking persisted. I raised my voice a few times and was about ready to sit down and give up. Finally, the horn sounded and I was 1/5 done with my Friday.
My second period was rowdy from the start. Today, the girls were quiet and the guys wouldn't shut up. It got so bad that as I was trying to explain the bell ringer (problem that the students are supposed to do when they first sit down), the woman from the state turned around before leaving the room and started jacking the students. "He doesn't need to pass his LEAP test. You do! So shut your mouths and listen! He is trying to teach you! Stop acting like fools!" she exclaimed before walking out the door. Can't say I saw that coming, but it made me smile.
A girl in my class always complains about how she has to go to the bathroom. It's funny because this was five minutes after her passing time, which is the students' window to use the restroom. I generally tell her no, and she always says, "But Mr. C-------, I have to go! I have lady problems!" I have the same response every single time: "So do I" as I crack a smile. Today was worse than normal, so I finally gave in and said that she had one minute.
Three minutes later, she returned and the class was ready to start the test. My most animated student (candy bar man) was dancing with "excitement". I made a snide comment about his dancing, and he immediately stopped and started to emulate the way he thought I would dance, singing "Who Let the Dogs Out?" as he moved. I passed out their test and was able to relax for a minute behind my desk. I told them that if they got every question correct, I would buy them whatever candy bar they wanted. Five minutes later, my candy bar man walked back to me and said, "Mr. C-------, just tell me if I'm doing this one right and then I'll know how to do the rest of them. I simply smiled and said, "I don't know." He grew impatient and said, "Please, Mr. C-------, I need that ButterFingers. My mom's out of food stamps." Probably true, but I wasn't budging. About ten minutes later, he came back to my desk with every question answered, and he asked me if every question was correct. I looked at his paper and quickly saw that several of his answers were wrong. I attemped to conceal my laughter, but I failed. I just choked out a "I dunno. Just do what you think." He dropped his shoulders and said, "Oh man, Mr. C-------. You dogging me." He quickly changed a few answers and sat back down. I wonder how many of these kids are totally guessing.
The tests starting coming in and once again, that same young man returned to my desk, ready to hand in his test. He quickly snatched it away from me and changed an answer. A moment later, I realized he had probably seen another test and noticed that his answer for question number two didn't match the top paper in the stack. He changed it and was ready to hand in his paper when his best buddy handed me his test. Once again, candy bar man took back his test and changed the answer to number two once again. I should get angry because I know he was cheating, but he also changed it to an incorrect answer. It's one thing to be dumb enough not to know that when 3x - 2 = 10, x = 4. It's another thing to be so stupid that you are copying off of a kid who is 8th grade for the third time.
I attempted to teach with the remaining ten minutes, but once again, it didn't go well. "But Mr. C-------, it's Friday!" I agreed with them that I didn't want to work either, but I said that they needed to pass their test, not me, and I was willing to help. They still were reluctant, and oddly enough, the guys complained that I was favoring the girls. Two days earlier, the girls had made the opposite claim.
After that class ended, the customer service rep came in to talk about the girl that I sent out during my first class. Thirty seconds later, I was out in the hallway watching my next class line up. All of a sudden, I saw two kids speeding by me. It was a dead sprint. One of the boys, I didn't recognize. The other is a nice student in my third class. He was punched in the head from behind. I had never seen somebody attack another like that. It was insane, and I was instantly in shock, unable to move. The principal came storming out and yelled for the teachers to get their students in the classroom. It made it incredibly difficult for me to get them settled down. Somehow, I got them calm enough to start their test about fifteen minutes later. About fifteen minutes after that, the victim in the fight showed up in my room. His hand was heavily bandaged. Apparently, the aggressor, who wasn't even supposed to be in school because he got in a fight the day before, stabbed him with a pencil. I forgave my student's sloppy handwriting.
I spent most of lunch walking around the hallway. The teacher that I talk to the most was absent today. Her substitute had an interesting outlook on the school. A white woman, she told another staff member that the work ethic of the students was so poor because they are all "lazy niggers". Interesting...
My fourth period drove me nuts. Apparently, they didn't get the memo that it wasn't a group test. They were constantly talking, and I handed out a few checks in that class. It should have been more. I was attempting to teach after they finished, and not one of them was paying attention. I sat down for a few minutes and even threw a marker at the board. One girl asked if this meant I was going to quit the job and they'd have a new math teacher. I said, "Of course not," and then I layed into them pretty good, saying that every single one of them was going to fail their test, and if they didn't care, I didn't care. I would get paid either way. It's a difficult line to tow. I think in order to be a good teacher, you have to care. Teachers certainly aren't motivated by the money or status. It's all about the impact. There are few jobs that are as important as shaping the minds and lives of young people. However, I have learned that you need to have some level of disconnect, especially here, or it will break you. One of the hardest things I have realized is that I want the kids to succeed more than they do (according to my uncle, that's a "Dick Bennett-ism").
These kids have a long way to go before they can pass that test. I can teach them the steps, but they need to learn how to think. For example, on my tenth grade test, one of the problems read as follows: It is recommended that people sleep for atleast 8 hours every night. If the life expectancy is currently at approximately 75 years, for how many years would the normal person sleep if they followed this advice?
A) 600
B) 25
C) 50
D) 9.375
Over twenty students saw this problem, and not a single one got it correct. Worse yet, every single student besides two marked "A". Now, even non-math people should realize that if a person is alive for 75 years, it is impossible for the answer to be greater than 75. Logically, the answer couldn't be 50 either, unless somebody spends the majority of their time sleeping. It's frustrating because no matter how much math I teach them, I don't know if I'll ever get through to that logical part of their brain. I think if I read the test to most of them, they would do far better.
My last class was interesting as always. The big fella in camo wasn't there today. Apparently, he thinks this stuff is too easy, so he'll just take a zero on his test. A student that had been kicked out a few days ago began the period by asking me why I lied on the discipline referral form. I gave him a warning, to which he replied, "I'm ready to fight." Then I gave him a check, which he addressed to "Mr. C------- Crunch". Check two. He ended up finding a discipline referral form lying on the ground and jokingly filled it out with his name. I kicked him out. I don't know if he's made it through many of my classes without getting the boot.
I was once again asked what I'm doing on Monday and Tuesday, and my buddy said, "So are we chillin', brah?" I just smiled and turned away. I could probably write a book about what a day with this kid would entail. A few minutes later, he asked if he could go drop off two checks he had to write for another teacher. I said he could and told the class we would wait for his return before beginning the test. Five minutes had passed and he still wasn't back. I told the class to begin without him, knowing that this kid could get lost walking down the hall. They worked pretty diligently, and I grew confused. I had somebody watch my class for a minute as I walked down the hall. I asked the security officer where he had gone, and she said he was outside running. While he was in the other man's room, a student was being disciplined and forced to run outside. My student told the security lady that "he's too pretty to run". She decided that he should join the pretty boy outside. I left the test materials down in that room and returned to class.
I was really pleased with the way one of my students performed on the test. He only got one answer wrong on the test, and it was just because he forgot a negative sign. I was really pleased.
Overall, there were some that did well and some that did not so well. I haven't decided how I am going to grade it yet. I know that they did a lot better than they would have two weeks ago, which gives me hope for their LEAP test. I will post the tests soon so everybody can see if they are smarter than a Northwood student. I sincerely hope that you are...
Before school, the girl who got kicked out of my first hour came into my room to grab her folder. Wouldn't make eye contact with me. I guess I'm not the most popular teacher yet. Oh well.
During first hour, I realized that the day would be more difficult that I thought. Even during a test, the kids still talk. Some students finished in ten minutes and others took forty. I printed up some beginner sudoka puzzles for those who got done early, but most students didn't even understand what the objective of them was, much less how to complete one. As soon as people started finishing up, the volume began to rise. Some students became unruly, and I kicked one out. As he got up to leave, he let out a "fuck you". I made sure to write him up. I kicked out another girl who was talking to two other students and refused to write a check. She said, "You can write me up. I ain't gonna write it." It was surprising because I've never heard her talk before. I guess she had to do something bad to get kicked of her old school, so I shouldn't be surprised by anything anybody does.
Somebody from the state was in to observe today. The teachers all seemed pretty nervous. I have heard that if test scores do not improve, the school will shut down next year. The state is constantly breathing down our necks. I thought it was a bit ridiculous to come in the day before a four day weekend, especially considering we were assessed yesterday, too. Oh well. A woman who looked to be in her late twenties came into my room towards the end of my first class. I am sure she could tell I was getting frustrated when everybody was finished with their tests with about ten minutes remaining and I attempted to teach until the bell. Several students had their heads down and talking persisted. I raised my voice a few times and was about ready to sit down and give up. Finally, the horn sounded and I was 1/5 done with my Friday.
My second period was rowdy from the start. Today, the girls were quiet and the guys wouldn't shut up. It got so bad that as I was trying to explain the bell ringer (problem that the students are supposed to do when they first sit down), the woman from the state turned around before leaving the room and started jacking the students. "He doesn't need to pass his LEAP test. You do! So shut your mouths and listen! He is trying to teach you! Stop acting like fools!" she exclaimed before walking out the door. Can't say I saw that coming, but it made me smile.
A girl in my class always complains about how she has to go to the bathroom. It's funny because this was five minutes after her passing time, which is the students' window to use the restroom. I generally tell her no, and she always says, "But Mr. C-------, I have to go! I have lady problems!" I have the same response every single time: "So do I" as I crack a smile. Today was worse than normal, so I finally gave in and said that she had one minute.
Three minutes later, she returned and the class was ready to start the test. My most animated student (candy bar man) was dancing with "excitement". I made a snide comment about his dancing, and he immediately stopped and started to emulate the way he thought I would dance, singing "Who Let the Dogs Out?" as he moved. I passed out their test and was able to relax for a minute behind my desk. I told them that if they got every question correct, I would buy them whatever candy bar they wanted. Five minutes later, my candy bar man walked back to me and said, "Mr. C-------, just tell me if I'm doing this one right and then I'll know how to do the rest of them. I simply smiled and said, "I don't know." He grew impatient and said, "Please, Mr. C-------, I need that ButterFingers. My mom's out of food stamps." Probably true, but I wasn't budging. About ten minutes later, he came back to my desk with every question answered, and he asked me if every question was correct. I looked at his paper and quickly saw that several of his answers were wrong. I attemped to conceal my laughter, but I failed. I just choked out a "I dunno. Just do what you think." He dropped his shoulders and said, "Oh man, Mr. C-------. You dogging me." He quickly changed a few answers and sat back down. I wonder how many of these kids are totally guessing.
The tests starting coming in and once again, that same young man returned to my desk, ready to hand in his test. He quickly snatched it away from me and changed an answer. A moment later, I realized he had probably seen another test and noticed that his answer for question number two didn't match the top paper in the stack. He changed it and was ready to hand in his paper when his best buddy handed me his test. Once again, candy bar man took back his test and changed the answer to number two once again. I should get angry because I know he was cheating, but he also changed it to an incorrect answer. It's one thing to be dumb enough not to know that when 3x - 2 = 10, x = 4. It's another thing to be so stupid that you are copying off of a kid who is 8th grade for the third time.
I attempted to teach with the remaining ten minutes, but once again, it didn't go well. "But Mr. C-------, it's Friday!" I agreed with them that I didn't want to work either, but I said that they needed to pass their test, not me, and I was willing to help. They still were reluctant, and oddly enough, the guys complained that I was favoring the girls. Two days earlier, the girls had made the opposite claim.
After that class ended, the customer service rep came in to talk about the girl that I sent out during my first class. Thirty seconds later, I was out in the hallway watching my next class line up. All of a sudden, I saw two kids speeding by me. It was a dead sprint. One of the boys, I didn't recognize. The other is a nice student in my third class. He was punched in the head from behind. I had never seen somebody attack another like that. It was insane, and I was instantly in shock, unable to move. The principal came storming out and yelled for the teachers to get their students in the classroom. It made it incredibly difficult for me to get them settled down. Somehow, I got them calm enough to start their test about fifteen minutes later. About fifteen minutes after that, the victim in the fight showed up in my room. His hand was heavily bandaged. Apparently, the aggressor, who wasn't even supposed to be in school because he got in a fight the day before, stabbed him with a pencil. I forgave my student's sloppy handwriting.
I spent most of lunch walking around the hallway. The teacher that I talk to the most was absent today. Her substitute had an interesting outlook on the school. A white woman, she told another staff member that the work ethic of the students was so poor because they are all "lazy niggers". Interesting...
My fourth period drove me nuts. Apparently, they didn't get the memo that it wasn't a group test. They were constantly talking, and I handed out a few checks in that class. It should have been more. I was attempting to teach after they finished, and not one of them was paying attention. I sat down for a few minutes and even threw a marker at the board. One girl asked if this meant I was going to quit the job and they'd have a new math teacher. I said, "Of course not," and then I layed into them pretty good, saying that every single one of them was going to fail their test, and if they didn't care, I didn't care. I would get paid either way. It's a difficult line to tow. I think in order to be a good teacher, you have to care. Teachers certainly aren't motivated by the money or status. It's all about the impact. There are few jobs that are as important as shaping the minds and lives of young people. However, I have learned that you need to have some level of disconnect, especially here, or it will break you. One of the hardest things I have realized is that I want the kids to succeed more than they do (according to my uncle, that's a "Dick Bennett-ism").
These kids have a long way to go before they can pass that test. I can teach them the steps, but they need to learn how to think. For example, on my tenth grade test, one of the problems read as follows: It is recommended that people sleep for atleast 8 hours every night. If the life expectancy is currently at approximately 75 years, for how many years would the normal person sleep if they followed this advice?
A) 600
B) 25
C) 50
D) 9.375
Over twenty students saw this problem, and not a single one got it correct. Worse yet, every single student besides two marked "A". Now, even non-math people should realize that if a person is alive for 75 years, it is impossible for the answer to be greater than 75. Logically, the answer couldn't be 50 either, unless somebody spends the majority of their time sleeping. It's frustrating because no matter how much math I teach them, I don't know if I'll ever get through to that logical part of their brain. I think if I read the test to most of them, they would do far better.
My last class was interesting as always. The big fella in camo wasn't there today. Apparently, he thinks this stuff is too easy, so he'll just take a zero on his test. A student that had been kicked out a few days ago began the period by asking me why I lied on the discipline referral form. I gave him a warning, to which he replied, "I'm ready to fight." Then I gave him a check, which he addressed to "Mr. C------- Crunch". Check two. He ended up finding a discipline referral form lying on the ground and jokingly filled it out with his name. I kicked him out. I don't know if he's made it through many of my classes without getting the boot.
I was once again asked what I'm doing on Monday and Tuesday, and my buddy said, "So are we chillin', brah?" I just smiled and turned away. I could probably write a book about what a day with this kid would entail. A few minutes later, he asked if he could go drop off two checks he had to write for another teacher. I said he could and told the class we would wait for his return before beginning the test. Five minutes had passed and he still wasn't back. I told the class to begin without him, knowing that this kid could get lost walking down the hall. They worked pretty diligently, and I grew confused. I had somebody watch my class for a minute as I walked down the hall. I asked the security officer where he had gone, and she said he was outside running. While he was in the other man's room, a student was being disciplined and forced to run outside. My student told the security lady that "he's too pretty to run". She decided that he should join the pretty boy outside. I left the test materials down in that room and returned to class.
I was really pleased with the way one of my students performed on the test. He only got one answer wrong on the test, and it was just because he forgot a negative sign. I was really pleased.
Overall, there were some that did well and some that did not so well. I haven't decided how I am going to grade it yet. I know that they did a lot better than they would have two weeks ago, which gives me hope for their LEAP test. I will post the tests soon so everybody can see if they are smarter than a Northwood student. I sincerely hope that you are...
Thursday, February 19, 2009
True love at NHS?
I think I may have met my true love today. Actually I have it narrowed down to two young women.
The day started interestingly enough. I learned that the hardass sergeant had to take his wife to the hospital (she's okay) and wouldn't be there. My first period got in late because there was a big fight early in the morning. None of my students were involved. However, I did have a girl from my first period involved in a fight yesterday afternoon and she is suspended. I was kind of surprised to learn this, because she had always seemed pretty sharp and I really liked her. Sometimes I forget that all of these kids got kicked out of their old high schools. Even if they are the best of the worst, they were the worst somewhere.
Enter true love number one. This girl from first period is constantly complaining every time I call on her to answer a question. "Man, I don't know," she exclaims EVERY single time I ask her any question. She is always talking and complains about how nothing that I say makes sense. Today, I was attempting to get my students prepared for their first exam tomorrow.
I didn't feel like putting up with the talking, so I was a little shorter with my
students than usual. I was issuing checks like nobody's business, and this girl
immediately said, "What I do? I wasn't talking!" The one thing that irritates me
is when these students don't take responsibility for their actions. After she refused to write the check, I gave her another one and then quickly kicked her and another student out. It was the first time I have kicked her out, but I have to admit, it felt really good. Some of my kids in first period seem to get it and some don't. At all. Tomorrow will be interesting.
Enter love interest number two. My candy bar man wasn't there today. I guess he was probably in trouble for smarting off. It doesn't surprise me because his buddy is off suspension again. Anyways, the girls in this class absolutely loathe me. One of the girls had her mother shadowing today. It was a little awkward. The mother kept trying to answer questions that I was asking. I am not sure what I was supposed to say. "Congratulations, you are a C student in a 6th grade math class???" However, another girl really made me day...
She constantly complains about how bad of a teacher I am. "Mr. C-------, you don't make no sense. You don't know how to teach. I don't get it. Then, as soon as I try to take a different angle to explain a problem, she turns her back to me. Everytime I say her name, she screams, "WHAT!!!?" at me. She has been in my class three days this week, and I have kicked her out in the hallways three times. I wish she would just go away. Today, she refused to do her work because the room was too hot, but she also refused to take her coat off. I wonder how she'll do on the logic unit...
Anyways, my third period did a pretty decent job today. One of the students told me I was one of only two teachers in the school that actually taught. I can't say that I could blame the other teachers. It is really difficult working hard day after day, knowing that I care a lot more about the students' success than they do. Besides having to separate a couple of students because they were talking too much, there weren't really any issues with that class.
My fourth period was small and uneventful. I have a couple of pretty smart students in there and a couple of bricks. It's hard to teach people when they are there once a week. I think at this point, I have to let them go and work with the ones that show up.
Fifth period was a bit more interesting. Two of my most memorable students were busy running laps outside (my "ho" man and the guy in camo that reminds me of a former teammate). Anyways, I had a kid in there that I haven't seen in a week. I am pretty sure that I got him suspended. He was talking constantly and always makes fun of me for my "Jamaican" accent. I'm not sure where he gets that from. Two other boys were threatening to fight over whether or not one of them is black or not. He says he is, but the other boy says that he is a wannabe and was going to kick his ass after class. Atleast that is what I gathered. I can't understand half of what most of them say and about 98% of what this particular kid says. Every time he does work on the board, he says, "And then you go ehhhh, and then ehhhhhhhhhh, and ehhhhhhh, and ehhhhh ehhhh ehhhh!"
Anyways, I had another small item thrown at me in this class. I threatened to kick somebody out again, but I still am not good at catching them in the act. It's a frustrating class, because some of them are actually pretty smart, but they just don't care at all. I have decided that I will make a deal: anybody that passes their LEAP test gets a candy bar. Maybe I'll sweeten the deal and offer a soda as well.
Homeroom was interesting. I let one student (sex in the weightroom) take his test early because he has an appointment tomorrow. He did pretty well and I showed him his corrected test. Another student (the one who said he was looking for a fight yesterday) started asking him about the test. I simply warned "Sex in Weightroom" not to tell "Looking for Fight" about the lest. "Looking for Fight" went berserk and started telling everybody that I told another student not to talk to him. He is constantly complaining about me, so I gave him a check. As soon as I returned to my desk, love interest # 1 started saying, "Man, he gives out checks for no reason." I decided to follow cue and handed her a check. She threw it to the ground, saying, "I didn't do nothing." I gladly gave her another one and she kept complaining so I got security and my uncle came in as well. They did a good job of putting her in her place. I still need to work on that. Damn, it would have felt good. It's becoming harder and harder not to play favorites, because I would love to send some people out every day.
I later learned that love interest # 2 has decided to sue the school district because they aren't doing enough to help her. My uncle and the principal have both been subpoenaed.
So at this point, I am a bit confused. I found two lovely ladies, and I don't know who to choose. I have always wanted an ex-wife that I just hated, and I know these are two prime candidates. The question is: can I hate them before I marry them? Only time will tell.
After work, I went over to a teacher's house for dinner - catfish. It was really good. I still like everything that I've tried. Afterwards, we went out for drinks with the principal. I can tell she is getting a bit burned out. After ten years at this school, I can't say that I blame her. I expect to be fully spent by the end of my four months.
Tomorrow, I am giving my first test. I am excited, but also nervous. It's going to be a big day. Time to rest up for it.
The day started interestingly enough. I learned that the hardass sergeant had to take his wife to the hospital (she's okay) and wouldn't be there. My first period got in late because there was a big fight early in the morning. None of my students were involved. However, I did have a girl from my first period involved in a fight yesterday afternoon and she is suspended. I was kind of surprised to learn this, because she had always seemed pretty sharp and I really liked her. Sometimes I forget that all of these kids got kicked out of their old high schools. Even if they are the best of the worst, they were the worst somewhere.
Enter true love number one. This girl from first period is constantly complaining every time I call on her to answer a question. "Man, I don't know," she exclaims EVERY single time I ask her any question. She is always talking and complains about how nothing that I say makes sense. Today, I was attempting to get my students prepared for their first exam tomorrow.
I didn't feel like putting up with the talking, so I was a little shorter with my
students than usual. I was issuing checks like nobody's business, and this girl
immediately said, "What I do? I wasn't talking!" The one thing that irritates me
is when these students don't take responsibility for their actions. After she refused to write the check, I gave her another one and then quickly kicked her and another student out. It was the first time I have kicked her out, but I have to admit, it felt really good. Some of my kids in first period seem to get it and some don't. At all. Tomorrow will be interesting.
Enter love interest number two. My candy bar man wasn't there today. I guess he was probably in trouble for smarting off. It doesn't surprise me because his buddy is off suspension again. Anyways, the girls in this class absolutely loathe me. One of the girls had her mother shadowing today. It was a little awkward. The mother kept trying to answer questions that I was asking. I am not sure what I was supposed to say. "Congratulations, you are a C student in a 6th grade math class???" However, another girl really made me day...
She constantly complains about how bad of a teacher I am. "Mr. C-------, you don't make no sense. You don't know how to teach. I don't get it. Then, as soon as I try to take a different angle to explain a problem, she turns her back to me. Everytime I say her name, she screams, "WHAT!!!?" at me. She has been in my class three days this week, and I have kicked her out in the hallways three times. I wish she would just go away. Today, she refused to do her work because the room was too hot, but she also refused to take her coat off. I wonder how she'll do on the logic unit...
Anyways, my third period did a pretty decent job today. One of the students told me I was one of only two teachers in the school that actually taught. I can't say that I could blame the other teachers. It is really difficult working hard day after day, knowing that I care a lot more about the students' success than they do. Besides having to separate a couple of students because they were talking too much, there weren't really any issues with that class.
My fourth period was small and uneventful. I have a couple of pretty smart students in there and a couple of bricks. It's hard to teach people when they are there once a week. I think at this point, I have to let them go and work with the ones that show up.
Fifth period was a bit more interesting. Two of my most memorable students were busy running laps outside (my "ho" man and the guy in camo that reminds me of a former teammate). Anyways, I had a kid in there that I haven't seen in a week. I am pretty sure that I got him suspended. He was talking constantly and always makes fun of me for my "Jamaican" accent. I'm not sure where he gets that from. Two other boys were threatening to fight over whether or not one of them is black or not. He says he is, but the other boy says that he is a wannabe and was going to kick his ass after class. Atleast that is what I gathered. I can't understand half of what most of them say and about 98% of what this particular kid says. Every time he does work on the board, he says, "And then you go ehhhh, and then ehhhhhhhhhh, and ehhhhhhh, and ehhhhh ehhhh ehhhh!"
Anyways, I had another small item thrown at me in this class. I threatened to kick somebody out again, but I still am not good at catching them in the act. It's a frustrating class, because some of them are actually pretty smart, but they just don't care at all. I have decided that I will make a deal: anybody that passes their LEAP test gets a candy bar. Maybe I'll sweeten the deal and offer a soda as well.
Homeroom was interesting. I let one student (sex in the weightroom) take his test early because he has an appointment tomorrow. He did pretty well and I showed him his corrected test. Another student (the one who said he was looking for a fight yesterday) started asking him about the test. I simply warned "Sex in Weightroom" not to tell "Looking for Fight" about the lest. "Looking for Fight" went berserk and started telling everybody that I told another student not to talk to him. He is constantly complaining about me, so I gave him a check. As soon as I returned to my desk, love interest # 1 started saying, "Man, he gives out checks for no reason." I decided to follow cue and handed her a check. She threw it to the ground, saying, "I didn't do nothing." I gladly gave her another one and she kept complaining so I got security and my uncle came in as well. They did a good job of putting her in her place. I still need to work on that. Damn, it would have felt good. It's becoming harder and harder not to play favorites, because I would love to send some people out every day.
I later learned that love interest # 2 has decided to sue the school district because they aren't doing enough to help her. My uncle and the principal have both been subpoenaed.
So at this point, I am a bit confused. I found two lovely ladies, and I don't know who to choose. I have always wanted an ex-wife that I just hated, and I know these are two prime candidates. The question is: can I hate them before I marry them? Only time will tell.
After work, I went over to a teacher's house for dinner - catfish. It was really good. I still like everything that I've tried. Afterwards, we went out for drinks with the principal. I can tell she is getting a bit burned out. After ten years at this school, I can't say that I blame her. I expect to be fully spent by the end of my four months.
Tomorrow, I am giving my first test. I am excited, but also nervous. It's going to be a big day. Time to rest up for it.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
The calm before/after the storm?
After the first two days this week, I was ready to bring out Psycho C on these kids, but surprisingly, today went really well. The math teaching coach was in again today and she always has a lot of positive things to say about me, so that makes me feel good. I saw the sergeant right before the kids came for their first class. "C-------!" he boomed, "I got two more today." He listed off the two kids that had been suspected of throwing the pencil at me yesterday and told me not to let them come into class. "Send them to the cafeteria," he said, "and I'll take care of them." I found out later that by midday, he had twenty kids out running and brought them back to the cafeteria, refusing to let them sit down. Those that tried resting against the table met additional punishment. "Put yo' feet on the chair, boy," he yelled as he forced them to do situps. They might not have passing math grades, but they'll have rock-hard abs.
My first period had the best class they have had the entire year. I think it is starting to click for most of them, which is really exciting to see. Today, I actually got to teach, which was fun. There weren't any serious disciplinary problems with that class. Part of this may have to do with the fact that another teacher was observing me. Most students really like her and act differently in her class. I am still working on building that respect.
I have two new students in that class, and one is a big boy who won't shut up. There are now two kids in my first class that have homosexual tendancies. I can't imagine being black, poor, and gay with a record. To top it off, one of them is fat and the other is left-handed.
It is a difficult task getting people caught up, but then again, I guess we are moving so slowly that they should be fine. I am still on last Tuesday's lesson plan. It's a bit different from college where you are doing something new every single day. I can come up with a problem off the top of my head that takes them fifteen minutes to figure out. It makes lesson plans easier than I thought they would be.
Second period went smoothly as well. The girls that tend to cause trouble were absent, although my candy bar kid's right hand man was back again, which led to more talking. However, when I asked him to be quiet and eventually handed him a check, he replied with an "Okay, Mr. C---one". He made a comment about how he thought my pants looked tight, and I replied, "Well, I think your pants look loose." He looked shocked. "Man, what you say!?" He was still volunteering to go to the board and work on problems every 30 seconds. The problem with this particular young man is as soon as I think he is understanding things, he throws a curveball in there. For example, we are working on solving algebraic expressions (3x + 5 = 14). He will correctly subtract five from both sides, leaving him with 3x = 9. Then I will ask him what he wants to do next to get x. He will say subtract, and I will have to correct him. After fifteen seconds, he'll say, "Divide. Divide. You divide!" Then I will simply say, "By what?" and he'll blurt out, "Five!" No clue where that comes from. He'll just say, "No! No! I'm trippin'." He did get one problem correct, which shocked the hell out of me. I shook his hand and he was beaming. C---one got through to somebody.
My third period was the most surprising. A student that got kicked out yesterday was back in class today. He was better behaved, but still talking. I gave him a warning for talking and he blurted out, "But I wasn't talking..." Before he could finish his statement, I placed a check on his desk. I expect him to erupt, and say, "I ain't signing this!" Instead, he simply took the check and said, "Thank you, sir," and quietly wrote it out. The Sarge must have worked him pretty hard.
I didn't kick out any students in my fourth period. My guy in the suit was sick today. I saw him at the end of the day and he said he'd try to tough it out for tomorrow. I still got my daily handshake, so I'm satisfied. They are really far behind. I don't know how they are going to do on their test on Friday. I have revised and revised, trying to simplify it. I want them to succeed on their first test. Again, my problem students were absent, so it was a pretty easy day.
The last class is always interesting. The big guy in the camo was complaining about how easy and boring class was again, so I told him to get out and take his LEAP practice test. It was very apparent that he didn't feel like working. I corrected the 30 question sample test he completed. In order to pass the actual LEAP test, a student must get atleast half the questions correct. He was correct on 9 of the first 10, but ended up with only 14/30. I think I can get him to pass. When he came back towards the end of class, he was talking, and I gave him a check. He seemed a little upset and said, "But Mr. C-------, we supposed to be dawgs!" I kicked out one kid in class for talking and clowning around. When I asked him to write a check, he wrote down my name as "Mr. Crunch." Then when I gave him another check, he threw it to the ground. I was happy to remove him from class. I think there may have been one day that he's been in class where I didn't kick him out. I don't foresee many days when I wouldn't.
I discovered today why the kid who is trying to find me some action is in this school: he's an idiot. He was good all day today, working really hard. He has impressed me with how much he has learned so far. We were in the last minute of class and he was up by the board. He just got finished writing something on the board, and for no reason at all, he decided to punch the board as hard as he possibly could. I jumped and am still shocked he didn't put a hole in it. I looked at him with amazement and just said, "That's a check." I handed it to him and he filled it out nonchalantly. After he got done, I said, "Don't make those bad decisions. You're a good kid. Don't do that." He simply said, "OK" and that was that. I still don't know where that came from.
Homeroom ran long today because it was raining outside. No "physical exercise" for the "associates" (students). I have a student in my homeroom who still resents me for kicking him out a week ago. I guess he ended up being suspended after that, so apparently, I got him suspended. Somebody was randomly talking about fighting and he said, "Yeah, I'm looking for a fight. I'm just waiting for him to say something." I gave him a check. That sounded a lot like a threat to me. He's a skinny kid. I think I could take him.
The best part of the day was the fact that the principal got my paperwork in. I had to go down to the jail to get my fingerprints taken. I should be set to get paid on the 26th. We only get paid once a month here. I can't say that I'm a fan of that, but if I make as much as I've been told, it will be the biggest paycheck of my life by far. Then I can blow it all on crawfish and beer. Can't wait!
Today was the most boring day I've had at NHS for a while, and I have to say I couldn't be happier that this entry is a little bit dry. One thing I've learned is that you never know what to expect. I think a lot of people are impressed that I'm actually teaching and some of the students are learning. Test day is on Friday. I am excited and a little nervous to see how they perform. I have learned not to go into a day with any expectations, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.
My first period had the best class they have had the entire year. I think it is starting to click for most of them, which is really exciting to see. Today, I actually got to teach, which was fun. There weren't any serious disciplinary problems with that class. Part of this may have to do with the fact that another teacher was observing me. Most students really like her and act differently in her class. I am still working on building that respect.
I have two new students in that class, and one is a big boy who won't shut up. There are now two kids in my first class that have homosexual tendancies. I can't imagine being black, poor, and gay with a record. To top it off, one of them is fat and the other is left-handed.
It is a difficult task getting people caught up, but then again, I guess we are moving so slowly that they should be fine. I am still on last Tuesday's lesson plan. It's a bit different from college where you are doing something new every single day. I can come up with a problem off the top of my head that takes them fifteen minutes to figure out. It makes lesson plans easier than I thought they would be.
Second period went smoothly as well. The girls that tend to cause trouble were absent, although my candy bar kid's right hand man was back again, which led to more talking. However, when I asked him to be quiet and eventually handed him a check, he replied with an "Okay, Mr. C---one". He made a comment about how he thought my pants looked tight, and I replied, "Well, I think your pants look loose." He looked shocked. "Man, what you say!?" He was still volunteering to go to the board and work on problems every 30 seconds. The problem with this particular young man is as soon as I think he is understanding things, he throws a curveball in there. For example, we are working on solving algebraic expressions (3x + 5 = 14). He will correctly subtract five from both sides, leaving him with 3x = 9. Then I will ask him what he wants to do next to get x. He will say subtract, and I will have to correct him. After fifteen seconds, he'll say, "Divide. Divide. You divide!" Then I will simply say, "By what?" and he'll blurt out, "Five!" No clue where that comes from. He'll just say, "No! No! I'm trippin'." He did get one problem correct, which shocked the hell out of me. I shook his hand and he was beaming. C---one got through to somebody.
My third period was the most surprising. A student that got kicked out yesterday was back in class today. He was better behaved, but still talking. I gave him a warning for talking and he blurted out, "But I wasn't talking..." Before he could finish his statement, I placed a check on his desk. I expect him to erupt, and say, "I ain't signing this!" Instead, he simply took the check and said, "Thank you, sir," and quietly wrote it out. The Sarge must have worked him pretty hard.
I didn't kick out any students in my fourth period. My guy in the suit was sick today. I saw him at the end of the day and he said he'd try to tough it out for tomorrow. I still got my daily handshake, so I'm satisfied. They are really far behind. I don't know how they are going to do on their test on Friday. I have revised and revised, trying to simplify it. I want them to succeed on their first test. Again, my problem students were absent, so it was a pretty easy day.
The last class is always interesting. The big guy in the camo was complaining about how easy and boring class was again, so I told him to get out and take his LEAP practice test. It was very apparent that he didn't feel like working. I corrected the 30 question sample test he completed. In order to pass the actual LEAP test, a student must get atleast half the questions correct. He was correct on 9 of the first 10, but ended up with only 14/30. I think I can get him to pass. When he came back towards the end of class, he was talking, and I gave him a check. He seemed a little upset and said, "But Mr. C-------, we supposed to be dawgs!" I kicked out one kid in class for talking and clowning around. When I asked him to write a check, he wrote down my name as "Mr. Crunch." Then when I gave him another check, he threw it to the ground. I was happy to remove him from class. I think there may have been one day that he's been in class where I didn't kick him out. I don't foresee many days when I wouldn't.
I discovered today why the kid who is trying to find me some action is in this school: he's an idiot. He was good all day today, working really hard. He has impressed me with how much he has learned so far. We were in the last minute of class and he was up by the board. He just got finished writing something on the board, and for no reason at all, he decided to punch the board as hard as he possibly could. I jumped and am still shocked he didn't put a hole in it. I looked at him with amazement and just said, "That's a check." I handed it to him and he filled it out nonchalantly. After he got done, I said, "Don't make those bad decisions. You're a good kid. Don't do that." He simply said, "OK" and that was that. I still don't know where that came from.
Homeroom ran long today because it was raining outside. No "physical exercise" for the "associates" (students). I have a student in my homeroom who still resents me for kicking him out a week ago. I guess he ended up being suspended after that, so apparently, I got him suspended. Somebody was randomly talking about fighting and he said, "Yeah, I'm looking for a fight. I'm just waiting for him to say something." I gave him a check. That sounded a lot like a threat to me. He's a skinny kid. I think I could take him.
The best part of the day was the fact that the principal got my paperwork in. I had to go down to the jail to get my fingerprints taken. I should be set to get paid on the 26th. We only get paid once a month here. I can't say that I'm a fan of that, but if I make as much as I've been told, it will be the biggest paycheck of my life by far. Then I can blow it all on crawfish and beer. Can't wait!
Today was the most boring day I've had at NHS for a while, and I have to say I couldn't be happier that this entry is a little bit dry. One thing I've learned is that you never know what to expect. I think a lot of people are impressed that I'm actually teaching and some of the students are learning. Test day is on Friday. I am excited and a little nervous to see how they perform. I have learned not to go into a day with any expectations, because you never know what tomorrow will bring.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
One for the ages
If yesterday was two steps forward, one step back, today would constitute backpedalling. Wow.
This day was almost as shocking as my first day. Everything that could seemingly happen, happened today. My day got off to an ominous start as it took me about ten tries to print off the worksheets I had typed up for class today. I have been told that I need to stop doing so much work and let the students show me what they know. I spoke with the hardass sergeant early in the morning about sitting in on a meeting he had scheduled with a student and a parent. It was the girl who had slapped the checks from my hand. He said, "If things go as planned, we'll get her out for a while and we ain't gonna stop until we get every last one of them." From his mouth, I believed it. I learned today that there are a lot of them to get. Another sergeant asked me how things were going and told me to keep sending out the troublemakers because they were going to be "doing some cleansing."
The first student I saw lined up outside of my door is probably my least favorite in my first hour. He has a smart mouth and is always talking. He's the one that told me to "move or I'll punch you in the face." Anyways, it was very apparent that he had smoked pot before coming to school today. He sat in the back of the class and mumbled the entire time. The new customer service representative (supposed to go from classroom to classroom and handle discipline problems) walked into my room and immediately kicked him out. Besides that, my first period was manageable. A lot of them got through a good portion of the expressing patterns worksheet I had made the previous night.
I was in my second period for about ten or fifteen minutes before I was told to meet with the sergeant to handle the situation with the student who had slapped the checks from out of my hand. I went to the office with them and sat down. The sergeant asked me to tell my side of the story and I recapped what the girl had done earlier in the day and then the incident involving the checks. He then asked the girl if she had slapped the checks from my hand. She said, "No sir." I am not great at reading people, but I know people have lied to me in the past and I think I am getting to the point where I can tell. Dead giveaway: Not looking the person in the eye. She never made eye contact with anybody in the room. In a growl, the sergeant said he was going to side with me, because he didn't know why a college graduate and certified math teacher (that's a lie!) would make up some elaborate story like that. He said he would believe me until he had reason not to. The girl is suspended for the rest of the week and faces harsher punishment if she doesn't straighten up soon, including possible expulsion and going to a juvenile detention center. He also went on to give her some advice about meaning it when you apologize and working with people that you don't like. "I don't like him," he said, "but I have to work with him. I do my work and then I go home..." It took me about 20 seconds for me to realize that he was speaking from her point of view and not his own. It would have hurt a bit, considering I already have such a good impression of him down to a T. My uncle later said that the sergeant said, "That new math teacher, what's his name? He's going to be alright. He just can't turn his back. He needs some new tactics." It's funny how I look at the students as people I have to work with and the sergeants look at them as the enemy.
I went back into my second period class. The girls were chatting away, as usual. The guys were chattier than usual, but still better behaved than the girls. I handed out my fair share of checks, and this one girl in particular was getting on my nerves. Defiance is the big problem with most students at this school. When I asked the girl to write a check, she refused. She was on her last warning and said that she was talking to the girl next to her because her friend was explaining the math to her. Apparently, I wasn't a good teacher. Slap in the face, but I let it slide. I told her that if I heard her talk about anything other than math, I was going to kick her out of class. She agreed. Two minutes later, I heard her discussing her heart monitor and showing another girl what it did. Gave her the boot. As she left, she complained about how I was a horrible teacher and she was going to talk to the principal and tell her that she refuses to be in my class. Sounded like a win-win to me.
One of the boys pretended to be sleeping in his desk. I asked him nicely to stay awake, but he kept putting his head down. This was only minutes after I had re-entered the room from my meeting with the sergeant, and I later heard from the students that he was arguing with the person that was watching my class. Finally, I kicked him out of the class and he decided to lie down in the middle of the hallway. A minute later, my candybar man said, "He ain't sleeping no more." I looked out the window and saw him running outside. Made me feel better.
The girl that got kicked out returned and apologized. She said down and was complaining less than 5 minutes later about how another boy was supposed to write out two checks. It started with them saying that the other teacher that was watching my class had given them to him when I was gone. Then she claimed that I gave the checks to the kid. I thought I would remember. At this moment, my uncle came through the door and I just looked at him and said, "Get her out of here." The kid that had been running returned and was kicked out a few minutes later when the customer service rep came back in and saw him clowning around once again. He hasn't made it through an entire class period of mine without getting kicked out. I wish he would be expelled. He's a waste of space.
Third period: The class was really loud. I started raising my voice. Finally, I got to the point that I said, "This is a class warning. The next person that talks will be getting a check." Thirty seconds later, the kid sitting in the front turned around and started talking. When I walked over to his desk to hand him a check, he looked stunned. "What'd I do?" he demanded as he threw the check to the ground. I handed him another one and calmly said,"You were talking." After he threw that one to the ground, I told him that he had two options, write the checks or leave. He kept complaining. I gave him several chances. He wasn't writing, so finally I went to the door and told him to get out. It took a while, but he finally got up and glared as he walked by. Five minutes later, he "apologized" and wrote out the checks. Another student was kicked out when my uncle was in because he was being disrepectful to me. My voice was pretty loud, but it was necessary to talk over the noise. He told me to lower his voice and said that "ain't nobody comin' at me like that." He was pulled a few seconds later. I hope he doesn't come back.
Later in the class, I was handing a check to a decent student for sleeping. As I turned to go to the front of the room, a paper ball whizzed by my head. I looked to my right and told a kid to get up and get out. He looked shocked. Truth be told, I didn't know if he did it or not, but I am really getting sick of people throwing things at me, and I figured that people will cover their own behinds. I knew he would rat out the perpetrator if it meant saving himself. He refused to leave, so I motioned for security. She came in and kicked out everybody except the two people sitting on the other side of the room. I think they narrowed it down to two students by the end and both of them might be getting suspended.
Kicked two kids out of my fourth period. The first is a girl that has only been in class two or three times. She still doesn't know my name, instead calling me "Mr. Sir". I heard the expression "but mistuh suh" every thirty seconds for the first thirty minutes of class. This girl tried to pick a fight with "suit guy" upon entering the room. This girl is so dumb that she can't even spell her last name. She asked another student how to spell it. Finally, after constant chattering, I told her to get out. She smiled and cackled as she walked out. "Mistuh suh" means business.
This class is frustrating because they are SOOO slow. I put 2+b=2 on the board and they don't know what b is. I should have just said, "What are the chances that you'll pass your LEAP test?" and they probably would have found that the easier way to get to the answer.
The second student that I threw out is one of those guys that just looks like an idiot. He kept talking and talking and was rapping and tapping on his desk. He tried to make fun of the way I talk. For some reason, many of my students think I am a) from Canada or b) from London. He passed gas extremely loudly and I told him to get out as the sound was still echoing. A few minutes later, the big guy in charge of in-school suspension told me that if he made another sound to send him back down to FLC (focused learning center or ISS) and he would be there for the rest of the week. A minute later, this kid sat in front of a girl and turned around and started talking to her. I stood in front of him, and finally tapped him on the shoulder and told him to get out. Won't be seeing him for a few days.
The math teaching coach was in to observe my last class of the day. It started off well enough. My main hookup asked me what I was doing on Monday and invited me to a cookout. Not sure if he wants to roast me or find me a piece of meat. Anyways, one student that is absent a lot was in attendance for the second day in a row. He has a smart mouth. Another student who has to wear camo that reminds me of a former teammate was chatting away with him. I had to tell them on several occasions to stop talking. I kicked out the student in camo when he was complaining about how boring class is (it is) and how easy the work is (it is). The problem is, every time I throw in one little thing, they are totally lost. We need to go at a snail's pace to get anything done.
Everybody in class was getting a good hold on the problems except for one kid. He isn't there much, and when he is, he tends to get thrown out. He had done a good job yesterday and I even said something to him after class about it. Today was a different story. He was out of his desk, crawling around on the floor and constantly talking. After kicking the first boy out, I gave a short speech about the importance of what I was teaching them and told them that I was happy they thought it was so easy for them and that it would get harder, but I needed to lay the foundation first. The kid immediately said it was really hard and I offered to go over the problem we had just worked on. Immediately as I started writing on the board, his head went down. I told him to pick it up, which he did. As I began writing again, the head went down. I stopped, set the marker down, and said, "Just get out of here." He immediately grew extremely angry. I walked over to the door and held it open for him. After about a minute of complaining, he got up and walked over to the door. He stopped in front of me. My eyes were off in the distance, but I knew he was staring me down. "Crazy nigger," he said as he walked out the door. Immediately after the altercation, the math coach left the room to have the incident reported. Apparently I am getting a pretty nice tan in Louisiana.
To top off the day, I noticed that the rest of my candy bars were stolen from my desk. I guess my new reward for students who do what they are supposed to do will be simple: not getting thrown out of class. All told, I had to discipline 17 students today. I am starting to get fed up with a lot of them and tomorrow, I am going to do something I am not that good at: I'm going to be an asshole.
This day was almost as shocking as my first day. Everything that could seemingly happen, happened today. My day got off to an ominous start as it took me about ten tries to print off the worksheets I had typed up for class today. I have been told that I need to stop doing so much work and let the students show me what they know. I spoke with the hardass sergeant early in the morning about sitting in on a meeting he had scheduled with a student and a parent. It was the girl who had slapped the checks from my hand. He said, "If things go as planned, we'll get her out for a while and we ain't gonna stop until we get every last one of them." From his mouth, I believed it. I learned today that there are a lot of them to get. Another sergeant asked me how things were going and told me to keep sending out the troublemakers because they were going to be "doing some cleansing."
The first student I saw lined up outside of my door is probably my least favorite in my first hour. He has a smart mouth and is always talking. He's the one that told me to "move or I'll punch you in the face." Anyways, it was very apparent that he had smoked pot before coming to school today. He sat in the back of the class and mumbled the entire time. The new customer service representative (supposed to go from classroom to classroom and handle discipline problems) walked into my room and immediately kicked him out. Besides that, my first period was manageable. A lot of them got through a good portion of the expressing patterns worksheet I had made the previous night.
I was in my second period for about ten or fifteen minutes before I was told to meet with the sergeant to handle the situation with the student who had slapped the checks from out of my hand. I went to the office with them and sat down. The sergeant asked me to tell my side of the story and I recapped what the girl had done earlier in the day and then the incident involving the checks. He then asked the girl if she had slapped the checks from my hand. She said, "No sir." I am not great at reading people, but I know people have lied to me in the past and I think I am getting to the point where I can tell. Dead giveaway: Not looking the person in the eye. She never made eye contact with anybody in the room. In a growl, the sergeant said he was going to side with me, because he didn't know why a college graduate and certified math teacher (that's a lie!) would make up some elaborate story like that. He said he would believe me until he had reason not to. The girl is suspended for the rest of the week and faces harsher punishment if she doesn't straighten up soon, including possible expulsion and going to a juvenile detention center. He also went on to give her some advice about meaning it when you apologize and working with people that you don't like. "I don't like him," he said, "but I have to work with him. I do my work and then I go home..." It took me about 20 seconds for me to realize that he was speaking from her point of view and not his own. It would have hurt a bit, considering I already have such a good impression of him down to a T. My uncle later said that the sergeant said, "That new math teacher, what's his name? He's going to be alright. He just can't turn his back. He needs some new tactics." It's funny how I look at the students as people I have to work with and the sergeants look at them as the enemy.
I went back into my second period class. The girls were chatting away, as usual. The guys were chattier than usual, but still better behaved than the girls. I handed out my fair share of checks, and this one girl in particular was getting on my nerves. Defiance is the big problem with most students at this school. When I asked the girl to write a check, she refused. She was on her last warning and said that she was talking to the girl next to her because her friend was explaining the math to her. Apparently, I wasn't a good teacher. Slap in the face, but I let it slide. I told her that if I heard her talk about anything other than math, I was going to kick her out of class. She agreed. Two minutes later, I heard her discussing her heart monitor and showing another girl what it did. Gave her the boot. As she left, she complained about how I was a horrible teacher and she was going to talk to the principal and tell her that she refuses to be in my class. Sounded like a win-win to me.
One of the boys pretended to be sleeping in his desk. I asked him nicely to stay awake, but he kept putting his head down. This was only minutes after I had re-entered the room from my meeting with the sergeant, and I later heard from the students that he was arguing with the person that was watching my class. Finally, I kicked him out of the class and he decided to lie down in the middle of the hallway. A minute later, my candybar man said, "He ain't sleeping no more." I looked out the window and saw him running outside. Made me feel better.
The girl that got kicked out returned and apologized. She said down and was complaining less than 5 minutes later about how another boy was supposed to write out two checks. It started with them saying that the other teacher that was watching my class had given them to him when I was gone. Then she claimed that I gave the checks to the kid. I thought I would remember. At this moment, my uncle came through the door and I just looked at him and said, "Get her out of here." The kid that had been running returned and was kicked out a few minutes later when the customer service rep came back in and saw him clowning around once again. He hasn't made it through an entire class period of mine without getting kicked out. I wish he would be expelled. He's a waste of space.
Third period: The class was really loud. I started raising my voice. Finally, I got to the point that I said, "This is a class warning. The next person that talks will be getting a check." Thirty seconds later, the kid sitting in the front turned around and started talking. When I walked over to his desk to hand him a check, he looked stunned. "What'd I do?" he demanded as he threw the check to the ground. I handed him another one and calmly said,"You were talking." After he threw that one to the ground, I told him that he had two options, write the checks or leave. He kept complaining. I gave him several chances. He wasn't writing, so finally I went to the door and told him to get out. It took a while, but he finally got up and glared as he walked by. Five minutes later, he "apologized" and wrote out the checks. Another student was kicked out when my uncle was in because he was being disrepectful to me. My voice was pretty loud, but it was necessary to talk over the noise. He told me to lower his voice and said that "ain't nobody comin' at me like that." He was pulled a few seconds later. I hope he doesn't come back.
Later in the class, I was handing a check to a decent student for sleeping. As I turned to go to the front of the room, a paper ball whizzed by my head. I looked to my right and told a kid to get up and get out. He looked shocked. Truth be told, I didn't know if he did it or not, but I am really getting sick of people throwing things at me, and I figured that people will cover their own behinds. I knew he would rat out the perpetrator if it meant saving himself. He refused to leave, so I motioned for security. She came in and kicked out everybody except the two people sitting on the other side of the room. I think they narrowed it down to two students by the end and both of them might be getting suspended.
Kicked two kids out of my fourth period. The first is a girl that has only been in class two or three times. She still doesn't know my name, instead calling me "Mr. Sir". I heard the expression "but mistuh suh" every thirty seconds for the first thirty minutes of class. This girl tried to pick a fight with "suit guy" upon entering the room. This girl is so dumb that she can't even spell her last name. She asked another student how to spell it. Finally, after constant chattering, I told her to get out. She smiled and cackled as she walked out. "Mistuh suh" means business.
This class is frustrating because they are SOOO slow. I put 2+b=2 on the board and they don't know what b is. I should have just said, "What are the chances that you'll pass your LEAP test?" and they probably would have found that the easier way to get to the answer.
The second student that I threw out is one of those guys that just looks like an idiot. He kept talking and talking and was rapping and tapping on his desk. He tried to make fun of the way I talk. For some reason, many of my students think I am a) from Canada or b) from London. He passed gas extremely loudly and I told him to get out as the sound was still echoing. A few minutes later, the big guy in charge of in-school suspension told me that if he made another sound to send him back down to FLC (focused learning center or ISS) and he would be there for the rest of the week. A minute later, this kid sat in front of a girl and turned around and started talking to her. I stood in front of him, and finally tapped him on the shoulder and told him to get out. Won't be seeing him for a few days.
The math teaching coach was in to observe my last class of the day. It started off well enough. My main hookup asked me what I was doing on Monday and invited me to a cookout. Not sure if he wants to roast me or find me a piece of meat. Anyways, one student that is absent a lot was in attendance for the second day in a row. He has a smart mouth. Another student who has to wear camo that reminds me of a former teammate was chatting away with him. I had to tell them on several occasions to stop talking. I kicked out the student in camo when he was complaining about how boring class is (it is) and how easy the work is (it is). The problem is, every time I throw in one little thing, they are totally lost. We need to go at a snail's pace to get anything done.
Everybody in class was getting a good hold on the problems except for one kid. He isn't there much, and when he is, he tends to get thrown out. He had done a good job yesterday and I even said something to him after class about it. Today was a different story. He was out of his desk, crawling around on the floor and constantly talking. After kicking the first boy out, I gave a short speech about the importance of what I was teaching them and told them that I was happy they thought it was so easy for them and that it would get harder, but I needed to lay the foundation first. The kid immediately said it was really hard and I offered to go over the problem we had just worked on. Immediately as I started writing on the board, his head went down. I told him to pick it up, which he did. As I began writing again, the head went down. I stopped, set the marker down, and said, "Just get out of here." He immediately grew extremely angry. I walked over to the door and held it open for him. After about a minute of complaining, he got up and walked over to the door. He stopped in front of me. My eyes were off in the distance, but I knew he was staring me down. "Crazy nigger," he said as he walked out the door. Immediately after the altercation, the math coach left the room to have the incident reported. Apparently I am getting a pretty nice tan in Louisiana.
To top off the day, I noticed that the rest of my candy bars were stolen from my desk. I guess my new reward for students who do what they are supposed to do will be simple: not getting thrown out of class. All told, I had to discipline 17 students today. I am starting to get fed up with a lot of them and tomorrow, I am going to do something I am not that good at: I'm going to be an asshole.
Monday, February 16, 2009
A case of the Mondays...
Two steps forward, one step back. Today was a trying day.
It started off promising enough. You know that sergeant I always talk about? I was walking outside the office and walking by, he showed a wave without turning his head. Then suddenly, he stopped on a dime and walked up to me, growling, "What's your name?" After I told him and shook his hand, he said, "C-------? There was an incident in your class on Friday? Some girl was slapping checks out of your hand?" He asked me her name and when I had her. I knew the class periods but for some reason, I couldn't remember her name. He said, "Well, she ain't gonna be in there today." He walked briskly away as I went in to look at my roster, quickly remembering the name. I chased after him, and after turning to return to my classroom, I heard him screaming at some kid for God knows what. "What you doing, boy!?"
One problem that I have is my first class is really big. Today, I had 17 in there, which might not sound like that much, but with these kids, anything over 5 is really hard to handle. There was talking. I stopped at several points just and stood silent for about 30 seconds to get them to stop. It reached a boiling point when I got pelted with two pencils. I threw out two kids that had thrown stuff at me last week. I later found out I was 0-2 today. Two other boys had done it. The class was called out row by row, and it wasn't until they were threatened with running that some of them snitched. Five day suspensions were handed out. The girl who had slapped the checks from my hand returned towards the end of class. The expression on her face looked like she had been beaten with a lead pipe. I cracked a smile.
There was a bright spot to my first period. One of my new students is actually really intelligent. By really intelligent, I mean he is a genius. By a genius, I mean that he is at 10th grade comprehension level. At the end of the day, he asked for extra work because class was pretty boring and easy for him (understandably so). Curious, I asked why he was at the school. He told me some story about getting in a shoving match with the coach at his school. I later found out that he got expelled for having sex in the weight room. Not sure why he would lie to me. I'd be proud.
I gave my student from second period a KitKat bar. Being a gentleman, he shared it with his classmates. It is funny, because for the first couple of days, he was a troublemaker. Somehow, I won him over and now he works his butt off for me. Pretty neat. I guess first impressions aren't always right. The girls were a nuisance in that class again, constantly chattering. If they are nearly as bad tomorrow, I have to put my foot down and kick them out.
Third period went alright. They are never completely on task, but they don't really cause serious problems since the infamous "book tossing incident". My fourth period went much better than it has been in recent days. My buddy on the suit was back on task today. I told him that if he talked as much as he had in previous days, he was going to be tossed. He promised me that he'd be better behaved and shook on it. Kept his word.
My fifth class was interesting as always. The first thing the big guy said to me in class was, "So Mr. C-------, did you find a ho?" I smiled and said that I hadn't. He went on to ask me what I was doing on Friday and offered to get me some action. I should yell at him, but that whole class cracks me up. A student that hadn't been there much was back today, and as expected, he caused problems. Most of the time, I have no clue what these kids are talking about. Today, one kid kept claiming that this troublemaker was talking about his mama. The one kid started crying, so I didn't know what to do. In hindsight, they both should have gone out in the hallway and got it straightened out. I later found out that he wasn't doing anything and the crier was acting the whole time. Another kid was constantly causing trouble and I think he threw a pencil at me, but I can't be sure. I really need to work on disciplining him. It is hard, because he is extremely charming and reminds me of a certain defensive lineman that I played with in high school.
To cap off my day, I found out that somebody had gone into my desk and stolen about 25 fun size Butterfinger bars. They weren't expensive ($4 for 32 of them) but I am pretty pissed that I had my privacy violated. I probably won't be buying any candy bars for a while.
I hope that tomorrow goes better. I am finding out that we really don't get through much material here. The eighth grade has been on solving multi-step equations for a week and the tenth grade has been working with writing expressions for patterns for atleast that long as well. I will need to edit the tests that I started to write. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the week plays out.
It started off promising enough. You know that sergeant I always talk about? I was walking outside the office and walking by, he showed a wave without turning his head. Then suddenly, he stopped on a dime and walked up to me, growling, "What's your name?" After I told him and shook his hand, he said, "C-------? There was an incident in your class on Friday? Some girl was slapping checks out of your hand?" He asked me her name and when I had her. I knew the class periods but for some reason, I couldn't remember her name. He said, "Well, she ain't gonna be in there today." He walked briskly away as I went in to look at my roster, quickly remembering the name. I chased after him, and after turning to return to my classroom, I heard him screaming at some kid for God knows what. "What you doing, boy!?"
One problem that I have is my first class is really big. Today, I had 17 in there, which might not sound like that much, but with these kids, anything over 5 is really hard to handle. There was talking. I stopped at several points just and stood silent for about 30 seconds to get them to stop. It reached a boiling point when I got pelted with two pencils. I threw out two kids that had thrown stuff at me last week. I later found out I was 0-2 today. Two other boys had done it. The class was called out row by row, and it wasn't until they were threatened with running that some of them snitched. Five day suspensions were handed out. The girl who had slapped the checks from my hand returned towards the end of class. The expression on her face looked like she had been beaten with a lead pipe. I cracked a smile.
There was a bright spot to my first period. One of my new students is actually really intelligent. By really intelligent, I mean he is a genius. By a genius, I mean that he is at 10th grade comprehension level. At the end of the day, he asked for extra work because class was pretty boring and easy for him (understandably so). Curious, I asked why he was at the school. He told me some story about getting in a shoving match with the coach at his school. I later found out that he got expelled for having sex in the weight room. Not sure why he would lie to me. I'd be proud.
I gave my student from second period a KitKat bar. Being a gentleman, he shared it with his classmates. It is funny, because for the first couple of days, he was a troublemaker. Somehow, I won him over and now he works his butt off for me. Pretty neat. I guess first impressions aren't always right. The girls were a nuisance in that class again, constantly chattering. If they are nearly as bad tomorrow, I have to put my foot down and kick them out.
Third period went alright. They are never completely on task, but they don't really cause serious problems since the infamous "book tossing incident". My fourth period went much better than it has been in recent days. My buddy on the suit was back on task today. I told him that if he talked as much as he had in previous days, he was going to be tossed. He promised me that he'd be better behaved and shook on it. Kept his word.
My fifth class was interesting as always. The first thing the big guy said to me in class was, "So Mr. C-------, did you find a ho?" I smiled and said that I hadn't. He went on to ask me what I was doing on Friday and offered to get me some action. I should yell at him, but that whole class cracks me up. A student that hadn't been there much was back today, and as expected, he caused problems. Most of the time, I have no clue what these kids are talking about. Today, one kid kept claiming that this troublemaker was talking about his mama. The one kid started crying, so I didn't know what to do. In hindsight, they both should have gone out in the hallway and got it straightened out. I later found out that he wasn't doing anything and the crier was acting the whole time. Another kid was constantly causing trouble and I think he threw a pencil at me, but I can't be sure. I really need to work on disciplining him. It is hard, because he is extremely charming and reminds me of a certain defensive lineman that I played with in high school.
To cap off my day, I found out that somebody had gone into my desk and stolen about 25 fun size Butterfinger bars. They weren't expensive ($4 for 32 of them) but I am pretty pissed that I had my privacy violated. I probably won't be buying any candy bars for a while.
I hope that tomorrow goes better. I am finding out that we really don't get through much material here. The eighth grade has been on solving multi-step equations for a week and the tenth grade has been working with writing expressions for patterns for atleast that long as well. I will need to edit the tests that I started to write. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the week plays out.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
No hos...
Sadly, I didn't find a ho in Nawlins. It was a fun time, but not really what I expected at all. We met up with another teacher and her family. They found a spot pretty far from downtown, which could have been the reason for the lack of boobs. I guess our spot was more family oriented and the closer you are to Bourbon Street, the rowdier the crowd is. At any rate, it is pretty interesting that along lots of the streets, there are tables with food and beer and it is all free. I felt like an idiot for spending so much money on food when they had all of this great stuff sitting out for free. Before the parades started, I tried jambalaya for the first time and really enjoyed it.
I was pretty competitive with my bead grabbing and was pleased with what I took away. I have noticed that in our particular area, the people on the floats mainly threw the beads at little kids. At one point, I was standing behind the teacher's son, snatching the prizes from above his head several times in a row. I saw three different parades and a total of about 40 floats and many bands and dance groups. My experience with Mardi Gras was quite a bit different than what you see on television, but technically, Mardi Gras isn't actually until a week from Tuesday, so I guess the parades keep getting bigger and bigger. Next weekend will be bigger than this weekend. I have been invited back next weekend with the same teacher and am contemplating stopping down for atleast a day. If anybody wants to come with, you'd have a place to stay and I'd make sure we'd find a spot where all the action is.
So far, one of my favorite aspects of the south is the food. This weekend, I ate jambalaya, crawfish enchiladas, and gumbo and really enjoyed all of it. I even liked oysters when I tried them a couple of weeks ago. I still need to try gator, catfish, whole crawfish (where I get to suck the heads), and probably a bunch of other things I've never heard of before. I have been told that people eat possum here, but I'm not sure if I believe that yet.
It should be another interesting week. I am going to give my first test on Friday. I have been advised to make it extremely easy, because I need these students to believe that they can pass or else they will just give up. I am going to let them use notes on the test and it will be multiple choice, probably 10 to 12 questions. I am a little nervous to see how that goes. I am also nervous about some students coming back from suspension. It is amazing how differently people act depending on their surroundings. I hope that a certain student that I purchased a candy bar for only hours ago will not revert back to his old ways because his friend is no longer suspended. I guess we will see. My uncle said the over-under for me staying was 7 days, and I've already made it through 8, so the rest is just gravy. I suppose it's time for me to rest up and get ready for another week of unpredictable challenges.
I was pretty competitive with my bead grabbing and was pleased with what I took away. I have noticed that in our particular area, the people on the floats mainly threw the beads at little kids. At one point, I was standing behind the teacher's son, snatching the prizes from above his head several times in a row. I saw three different parades and a total of about 40 floats and many bands and dance groups. My experience with Mardi Gras was quite a bit different than what you see on television, but technically, Mardi Gras isn't actually until a week from Tuesday, so I guess the parades keep getting bigger and bigger. Next weekend will be bigger than this weekend. I have been invited back next weekend with the same teacher and am contemplating stopping down for atleast a day. If anybody wants to come with, you'd have a place to stay and I'd make sure we'd find a spot where all the action is.
So far, one of my favorite aspects of the south is the food. This weekend, I ate jambalaya, crawfish enchiladas, and gumbo and really enjoyed all of it. I even liked oysters when I tried them a couple of weeks ago. I still need to try gator, catfish, whole crawfish (where I get to suck the heads), and probably a bunch of other things I've never heard of before. I have been told that people eat possum here, but I'm not sure if I believe that yet.
It should be another interesting week. I am going to give my first test on Friday. I have been advised to make it extremely easy, because I need these students to believe that they can pass or else they will just give up. I am going to let them use notes on the test and it will be multiple choice, probably 10 to 12 questions. I am a little nervous to see how that goes. I am also nervous about some students coming back from suspension. It is amazing how differently people act depending on their surroundings. I hope that a certain student that I purchased a candy bar for only hours ago will not revert back to his old ways because his friend is no longer suspended. I guess we will see. My uncle said the over-under for me staying was 7 days, and I've already made it through 8, so the rest is just gravy. I suppose it's time for me to rest up and get ready for another week of unpredictable challenges.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Friday the 13th
Another good day. This job keeps getting easier. I started crying once today and almost cried two other times...
I had a "math teaching coach" come in today to observe and offer suggestions. She seemed impressed, so that made me feel good. My first class was pretty good, as usual. It was a bit frustrating because the high school girls were held late in the cafeteria to go over the uniform policy, so I only got to really teach for about 35 minutes. They are probably my most talented class, although some of the girls are really disrespectful towards me. The two kids that threw things yesterday weren't in class today. Probably suspended.
My second period only had four students. Three of the kids weren't interested at all, but the kid who called me a "pretty good teacher" was answering every question I asked. Granted, most of his answers were wrong, but I was so pleased with his effort. None of my kids knew how to do long division. Pretty sad for 8th graders. Anyways, I did a bunch of examples, and then the one guy got up to the board, and after talking him through an example by himself, he let out an exuberant, "I get it!" He did the next problem all by himself and got it right. I had a beaming smile on my face and shook his hand. Then he said, "Man, this is fun. Give me another one." This kid needs to use his fingers to add, but he was actuallye excited about math. I gave him another problem and then was so happy, I had to turn away because I was afraid I was going to start crying. I asked him to stay after class. He asked me if he was in trouble. I just wrote on a note that I owed him a candy bar and said he did a great job in my class. My uncle said that he was bragging about the note and showing it off to other teachers. I'll have to go buy some more candy this weekend. It'll be worth it. I got through to somebody. I now understand why people decide to be teachers.
My third period always talks a bunch, and the best-behaved student in that class was absent today. It is very apparent that she wants to be a teacher, because she often spends her lunch period in my room, and makes up problems on the overhead. She offers to pass out papers at the beginning of class and when answering a question on the board the other day, she even made up another problem. Anyways, I notice that I quickly get thrown off topic by my classes, because every time I try to teach them something, I realize there are ten other things that they need to know in order to accomplish that task. Unfortunately, more often than not, they don't have the background information to do what I want them to do. Anyways, I spent fifteen minutes trying to explain to one student how he was doing his long division wrong. He kept saying his way was easier. He was doing the exact same as me, but he didn't write any 0's in his answer, instead skipping a space. For example, he would write 492 and said it meant the same as 4,092. He said he was able to do this because he would add a comma (4,92). Didn't make sense to me either.
Two students stayed in my class during lunch. One worked on solving algebraic equations. I didn't ask him to stay in, but I was happy to help. I can't believe he wanted to know how to do something I was trying to teach. He opened up to me and told me how he acts differently in my class because he thinks I'm cool and he respects me, whereas in another class, he "acts a fool."
Fourth period was disappointing once again. Constantly talking. I sent one girl out in the hallway because she refused to write out checks for talking. Each student gets "paid" $25 every day they come to school. Rent is $95 a week. That means the students have an extra 30 bucks. The way the checking system is as follows: A verbal warning is issued first. Next, a check for $5 is requested. Then, a second check for an additional $5 must be filled out. Finally, the student is kicked out of class if the behavior doesn't change. If the student can't pay rent, they are dropped a "behavior level". If they get down to a certain level, they are kicked out of school. Anyways, back to my point: This girl kept talking incessantly. Actually, the entire class did. Finally, I had had enough and wrote out a check for this girl, because she was talking immediately (less than 2 seconds) after I yelled at the entire class. She threw the check on my desk, so I handed her another one. After she threw that check on my desk, I kicked her out. After a minute, she came back in and apologized. Sadly, I softened up and let her back in for a final chance. She didn't act much differently. I need to toughen up, but I redeemed myself later in the day.
Near-cry number two: My buddy in the suit has been acting up lately. He will not shut up. Anyways, his "girlfriend" is in my fourth period class as well. As he puts it, she is a girl and she's a friend. As I found out later, these kids have a different idea of "dating" than I do (I suppose so do the people that I have dated in the past though, too). He said something to her that I didn't hear, but for most of class, she was in tears. Finally, I asked her if she wanted to go out in the hallway. At my insistance, she left the room. She sat down next to the door, and as I was turning around to re-enter my class, the sergeant walked up to us. If I ever saw a "WTF" look, it was at that moment. He looked at her, and with his deep, booming voice said, "What you doin' out here!?" She continued crying, so he looked at me, and after I simply shrugged my shoulders, he yelled at her, "Come with me." I can't imagine this man being sympathetic at all. He suspended an entire class for five days for talking in the hallway. I am laughing again just thinking about it. I asked my uncle if he thought this man had ever shed a tear in his entire life, and he said, "I don't think he cried when he was born." I walked back in my classroom, still angry at my class for screwing off, but every time I looked at the girl's empty desk, all I could think about was the look on the sergeant's face as he saw her crying in the hallway. I had to turn away from my class several times so they couldn't see me laughing. I was choking back tears for a good five minutes. She returned to the class about ten minutes later and had dry eyes. I wish I knew what he said to her.
My fifth period was the one that finally got me. It is a small class, so I tend to teach it a lot differently. They are wild and rough, but they do their work for the most part. My buddy that looks like he is 25 was sitting quietly at his desk, when his head shot up and he asked, "Mr. C-------, you ever been to Mardi Gras?" I told him that I hadn't but I was excited to be going to New Orleans this weekend. He then asked, being completely serious, "Oh, you gonna pick up a ho down there?" Thrown off by his question, I just answered with a startled, "No!" He asked if I was married and I held up my left hand, showing him that I didn't have a ring. He then asked me if I was a virgin. I looked on in horror. I couldn't believe he just asked me that. The thing is, he didn't mean to offend me or anything. That's just the way he talks. Then he said, "Oh man! You must give your hand hell at night!" I started crying. I still can't believe that comment came from this guy's mouth. I am still laughing thinking about it. A minute later, he said, "Mr. C-------, I need to get you some." I would be interested to see who (or what) he would try to set me up with. I realize that I should have probably told him that the statement was inappropriate, but I thought it was the funniest thing I've ever heard. I am not much older than a lot of these guys, and they still look at things completely differently than I do. The neatest thing is when I can connect with them over something, whether it be me singing a Boyz II Men song with this particular kid yesterday or teaching the guy from 2nd period long division.
Homeroom is always a mess, and today was really no different. Cell phones are prohibited on campus. I have seen several students with them, and normally, I just tell them that I don't want to see them again. If I do, then they are confiscated. During my last few minutes of the day with students, I heard the girl from 4th period who had been kicked out briefly asking another girl to use her cell phone. I said, "You aren't supposed to have cell phones at school." I don't know how strict the other teachers are with this policy, but I am pretty lenient thus far. I just didn't want to see a cell phone. The girl glared at me and yelled, "Listen! I wasn't even talking to you!" I calmly got up walked to the front of the room, grabbed a check, walked back to her and held it out for her to take. She slapped my hand away and the check fell to the ground. Still maintaining my cool, I walked back to the front of the room and grabbed a second check and did the same thing. Once again, she slapped it out of my hand. I looked her in the eye and said, "Get out." Complaining, she jumped up and stormed out of the room. I was pretty proud of the way I handled that. At this point, my math coach was back in my room (she had been there for my first three classes and the end of my fifth). She told me afterwards that she gave me credit and didn't think she could handle being at this school. I'm starting to like it.
The week ended a lot better than it started. I still need to buy a candy bar for my 2nd period student. I am thinking Butterfingers. I'm going to buy him a big one. He made my day. Tomorrow is New Orleans. I am really excited. Wish me luck in finding my ho...
I had a "math teaching coach" come in today to observe and offer suggestions. She seemed impressed, so that made me feel good. My first class was pretty good, as usual. It was a bit frustrating because the high school girls were held late in the cafeteria to go over the uniform policy, so I only got to really teach for about 35 minutes. They are probably my most talented class, although some of the girls are really disrespectful towards me. The two kids that threw things yesterday weren't in class today. Probably suspended.
My second period only had four students. Three of the kids weren't interested at all, but the kid who called me a "pretty good teacher" was answering every question I asked. Granted, most of his answers were wrong, but I was so pleased with his effort. None of my kids knew how to do long division. Pretty sad for 8th graders. Anyways, I did a bunch of examples, and then the one guy got up to the board, and after talking him through an example by himself, he let out an exuberant, "I get it!" He did the next problem all by himself and got it right. I had a beaming smile on my face and shook his hand. Then he said, "Man, this is fun. Give me another one." This kid needs to use his fingers to add, but he was actuallye excited about math. I gave him another problem and then was so happy, I had to turn away because I was afraid I was going to start crying. I asked him to stay after class. He asked me if he was in trouble. I just wrote on a note that I owed him a candy bar and said he did a great job in my class. My uncle said that he was bragging about the note and showing it off to other teachers. I'll have to go buy some more candy this weekend. It'll be worth it. I got through to somebody. I now understand why people decide to be teachers.
My third period always talks a bunch, and the best-behaved student in that class was absent today. It is very apparent that she wants to be a teacher, because she often spends her lunch period in my room, and makes up problems on the overhead. She offers to pass out papers at the beginning of class and when answering a question on the board the other day, she even made up another problem. Anyways, I notice that I quickly get thrown off topic by my classes, because every time I try to teach them something, I realize there are ten other things that they need to know in order to accomplish that task. Unfortunately, more often than not, they don't have the background information to do what I want them to do. Anyways, I spent fifteen minutes trying to explain to one student how he was doing his long division wrong. He kept saying his way was easier. He was doing the exact same as me, but he didn't write any 0's in his answer, instead skipping a space. For example, he would write 492 and said it meant the same as 4,092. He said he was able to do this because he would add a comma (4,92). Didn't make sense to me either.
Two students stayed in my class during lunch. One worked on solving algebraic equations. I didn't ask him to stay in, but I was happy to help. I can't believe he wanted to know how to do something I was trying to teach. He opened up to me and told me how he acts differently in my class because he thinks I'm cool and he respects me, whereas in another class, he "acts a fool."
Fourth period was disappointing once again. Constantly talking. I sent one girl out in the hallway because she refused to write out checks for talking. Each student gets "paid" $25 every day they come to school. Rent is $95 a week. That means the students have an extra 30 bucks. The way the checking system is as follows: A verbal warning is issued first. Next, a check for $5 is requested. Then, a second check for an additional $5 must be filled out. Finally, the student is kicked out of class if the behavior doesn't change. If the student can't pay rent, they are dropped a "behavior level". If they get down to a certain level, they are kicked out of school. Anyways, back to my point: This girl kept talking incessantly. Actually, the entire class did. Finally, I had had enough and wrote out a check for this girl, because she was talking immediately (less than 2 seconds) after I yelled at the entire class. She threw the check on my desk, so I handed her another one. After she threw that check on my desk, I kicked her out. After a minute, she came back in and apologized. Sadly, I softened up and let her back in for a final chance. She didn't act much differently. I need to toughen up, but I redeemed myself later in the day.
Near-cry number two: My buddy in the suit has been acting up lately. He will not shut up. Anyways, his "girlfriend" is in my fourth period class as well. As he puts it, she is a girl and she's a friend. As I found out later, these kids have a different idea of "dating" than I do (I suppose so do the people that I have dated in the past though, too). He said something to her that I didn't hear, but for most of class, she was in tears. Finally, I asked her if she wanted to go out in the hallway. At my insistance, she left the room. She sat down next to the door, and as I was turning around to re-enter my class, the sergeant walked up to us. If I ever saw a "WTF" look, it was at that moment. He looked at her, and with his deep, booming voice said, "What you doin' out here!?" She continued crying, so he looked at me, and after I simply shrugged my shoulders, he yelled at her, "Come with me." I can't imagine this man being sympathetic at all. He suspended an entire class for five days for talking in the hallway. I am laughing again just thinking about it. I asked my uncle if he thought this man had ever shed a tear in his entire life, and he said, "I don't think he cried when he was born." I walked back in my classroom, still angry at my class for screwing off, but every time I looked at the girl's empty desk, all I could think about was the look on the sergeant's face as he saw her crying in the hallway. I had to turn away from my class several times so they couldn't see me laughing. I was choking back tears for a good five minutes. She returned to the class about ten minutes later and had dry eyes. I wish I knew what he said to her.
My fifth period was the one that finally got me. It is a small class, so I tend to teach it a lot differently. They are wild and rough, but they do their work for the most part. My buddy that looks like he is 25 was sitting quietly at his desk, when his head shot up and he asked, "Mr. C-------, you ever been to Mardi Gras?" I told him that I hadn't but I was excited to be going to New Orleans this weekend. He then asked, being completely serious, "Oh, you gonna pick up a ho down there?" Thrown off by his question, I just answered with a startled, "No!" He asked if I was married and I held up my left hand, showing him that I didn't have a ring. He then asked me if I was a virgin. I looked on in horror. I couldn't believe he just asked me that. The thing is, he didn't mean to offend me or anything. That's just the way he talks. Then he said, "Oh man! You must give your hand hell at night!" I started crying. I still can't believe that comment came from this guy's mouth. I am still laughing thinking about it. A minute later, he said, "Mr. C-------, I need to get you some." I would be interested to see who (or what) he would try to set me up with. I realize that I should have probably told him that the statement was inappropriate, but I thought it was the funniest thing I've ever heard. I am not much older than a lot of these guys, and they still look at things completely differently than I do. The neatest thing is when I can connect with them over something, whether it be me singing a Boyz II Men song with this particular kid yesterday or teaching the guy from 2nd period long division.
Homeroom is always a mess, and today was really no different. Cell phones are prohibited on campus. I have seen several students with them, and normally, I just tell them that I don't want to see them again. If I do, then they are confiscated. During my last few minutes of the day with students, I heard the girl from 4th period who had been kicked out briefly asking another girl to use her cell phone. I said, "You aren't supposed to have cell phones at school." I don't know how strict the other teachers are with this policy, but I am pretty lenient thus far. I just didn't want to see a cell phone. The girl glared at me and yelled, "Listen! I wasn't even talking to you!" I calmly got up walked to the front of the room, grabbed a check, walked back to her and held it out for her to take. She slapped my hand away and the check fell to the ground. Still maintaining my cool, I walked back to the front of the room and grabbed a second check and did the same thing. Once again, she slapped it out of my hand. I looked her in the eye and said, "Get out." Complaining, she jumped up and stormed out of the room. I was pretty proud of the way I handled that. At this point, my math coach was back in my room (she had been there for my first three classes and the end of my fifth). She told me afterwards that she gave me credit and didn't think she could handle being at this school. I'm starting to like it.
The week ended a lot better than it started. I still need to buy a candy bar for my 2nd period student. I am thinking Butterfingers. I'm going to buy him a big one. He made my day. Tomorrow is New Orleans. I am really excited. Wish me luck in finding my ho...
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