emigrate

In case any of you were wondering, my Saturday workshop was only good as far as the getting paid was concerned. The presenter was knowledgeable, yes, but indeed boring! I sat at a table with another young female teacher and had a great time getting to know her and sharing classroom management ideas. I knew, however, that once Sunday came I'd be a nervous wreck for the upcoming week; I was observed today by the English Department chair (see below); I have 2 days of workshops with means only 3 more days to get my kids prepped for CRT's. I literally had a case of "Sunday Stomach" all day yesterday; I thought I was going to puke at church! Needless to say....

...what a difference a good dose of pepto and plenty of sleep will do for a worrier!

In all actuality, the day was super great. (Except for the fact that a student commented on my "hideous roots," which I'll explain more about later...) I decided last week to have one last go around on teaching the kids the list of 23 commonly confused words (sell, sale, cell; etc.) Today I assigned each one of them one of the words and they had to come up with a picture representation of that word. On their picture, they had to include the definition and use the word in the sentence. Then, I gave them extra credit for including a 'memory jogger,' which is like a hint to use to remember the word. Here's an example using one of the 8th grade commonly confused words:
EMIGRATE=to exit one's country and move somewhere else.
(The student draws a picture of two countries with a plane leaving one and flying into another)
(Sentence) "My family emigrated from Bosnia in 1995."
(Memory Jogger) Emigrate starts with the letter E; emigrate (as opposed to immigrate) means to "exit," which also starts with an E.
You get the idea. No further boredom in this post!!

About my observation: The chair of the English Department is a very, very wise and intelligent woman. She's nice as can be, but quite intimidating. I have enjoyed her help and advice when I've asked, but having her in my room was a whole different ball of wax. She approached me on Thursday about the possibility of dropping in sometime today. Of course, being the sweetheart that I am, I agreed (though, honestly, in the back of my mind I thought of a few choice expletives that I could have accidentally said aloud!). She said it wasn't intended to be a negative thing, but that she just wanted to see how things were going and get some ideas on my teaching style if there were ever a time when I needed a letter of recommendation. Luckily, I had the clever and unique (maybe) lesson planned for today, so it really was not a hassle coming up with something good.

I wasn't sure the exact period she was planning on 'dropping' in, but when I saw her moseying up the hall at the beginning of 5th period, I was panicked! You all remember, if you've paid any sort of attention to my posts, that 5th period is quite the challenge. She sat in the back and whipped out pen and paper. Oh gosh. Amazingly enough, I was able to get the kids to settle down and be quiet long enough to give them instructions and what not. I made sure to go over things real precisely and help each student as much as possible while they were working. I didn't have any major problems with behavior, except for the girl who was celebrating a birthday and felt it important to announce to everyone and ask everyone to sing and ask repeatedly for a hug. Bleh.

The long and short of Mrs. J's notes were this: No concerns. Nothing negative to say about what happened, but suggestions were given on other ways and ideas to handle procedures, ect. She said she'd give me a positive recommendation letter whenever wanted/needed. Yay. Go me.

Last week, one of my student's mothers passed away in a terrific car accident. (I know my use of the word "terrific" here sounds quite heartless but as I taught one student today, terrific also means, and I quote: "causing terror, terrifying.") He was out all week and the request came mid-week for homework to be sent home. I completely failed to complete this task and felt that I would maybe just excuse him from the work. I had the chance to meet with his mother on one occasion about his grades and knew that he was really doing the very best he could as it was. This morning, I was at my desk before the bell rang and in walks this student, happier than I've ever seen him, asking for his work. I saw a complete turn around with this student today in class; he worked, he helped others, he was on task. I wonder what the death of his mother has to do with this and hope that he's managing. I may put a phone call in to his house later this week to check up on things....

A few posts back, I mentioned that I had dyed my hair "Deep Burgundy Brown," but in all actuality, it turned out reddish. I've had mixed reactions to the hair change and myself have quite enjoyed the change. It's starting to fade and my roots are seriously growing back. There are several real 'girly girls' in my 7th period and they are never afraid to tell me if my looks are somehow out of place or askew in some way. Today, I guess my roots caused quite the uproar with these girls and near the end of class, they approached me and asked if I knew how "hideous" my hair looked. Ouch. Good thing I didn't have a pimple! I guess I will need to do some hair repair very soon!

Tomorrow and Tuesday I will be at the Jones Center in SLC for REACH training. I really couldn't tell you what REACH stands for, but I do know it has something to do with the ethical treatment of students or something blah blah blah. There are several other teachers from WL attending and I really hope I can have a good attitude about it. I'm looking forward to learning some new things. One thing that disappoints me about this 2 day workshop, is that I will be missing the faculty follies assembly, at which I was to perform the mighty cup game. Oh well. I guess I really do make a fool of myself just about every day, no need to make a big production of it.

That's all folks...