A Very Pleasant Surprise

Yesterday we took our 8th grade class trip to Cape May, NJ. All the teachers were a bit on edge for this trip for several reasons, the foremost being that our trip company had already messed up our dates. The previous day, we had gathered all the kids at school at 7:45, only to realize by 8am that we had no bus, and when we called the tour company they told us we were in fact scheduled for Friday the 29th, even though our confirmation said Thursday. Needless to say, we had a lot of very angry 8th graders to deal with.

However, on Friday when I got to school, our coach bus was just pulling up to the school, which was clearly a good sign. Our 8th graders all showed up on time, and there were no major incidents as we boarded the bus (except for the assistant principal running up right as we were about to pull out- she was supposed to be chaperoning and only barely made it). The kids all looked great and seemed to be excited (although whether that was to go whale-watching or just to be out of school, I'll never know) On our hour and a half bus ride to the Cape May zoo, the kids were quiet, and the chaperons got to relax up in the front of the bus.

At the zoo, which is in the middle of a park in Cape May, I got the dubious honor of trying to find the entrance to the zoo, which was surprisingly unclear. However, I followed the parents with young children and it seemed to be a good bet, as we did make it to the zoo. It was unfortunate, though, the number of looks our kids were getting from others, as if at any second they would fulfill all stereotypes associated with urban black teenagers. They were being really great, so its truly unfair that people always expect the worst from them.

At the zoo, I had my group of 5 of my favorite 8th graders, and I loaned one of them my camera since she wants to be a photographer when she gets older. She did a great job of taking photos, like these:

I think that's a snow leopard in the background.

Another good one:The kids got to see a lot of cool animals, from giraffes to lions to different creepy crawly reptiles.

We were back on the bus by noon to drive over to the Cape May whale-watching company. Thankfully, the day was getting nice and sunny out, and the boat was really nice- carpeted floors downstairs, and padded benches and lounge chairs on the top deck. All our kids headed for the top deck, and were putting on "We're not freaked out" faces until the boat began to pull away from the dock, at which point I was able to take a great series of photos of freaked out kids that I have promised not to share :) There were a few schools on board, and of course, immediately all the kids started to get rowdy, but after the teachers and I spoke to them once about how that was a) more likely to make them fall overboard, and b) more likely to make them seasick, they chilled out. The kids were fine on the boat, and ate their free pizza as we headed down the Cape May canal, but as soon as we got into open water, they started to freak out. They wanted to know where we were going and how the captain knew where to go when there was nothing to look at, especially since it was very foggy out. I tried to explain some of these things from what I remember about navigation from my boating course, but it didn't do much to allay their fears that we were already hopelessly lost at sea. Plus, we had about 3 kids who were already looking green, so the teachers were beginning to worry that this would be a bust.

However, all that changed when we stopped to look for dolphins. Even our toughest boys were running from one side of the boat to the other to try to get a good look at the dolphins we had found. According to the boat captain, we saw about 100 dolphins over the course of our trip, and a few calves. Here are some of the shots I got, although I was always a split second too late for the best photos.
Unfortunately, we didn't see any whales, but the kids LOVED the boat anyway. They all said it was their favorite part. A lot of them liked standing out as far as they could get on the prow trying to touch the splash, and giving me minor heart attacks when I kept thinking they were going to fall overboard.

We ended the day with a stop at Old Country Buffet, where they announced that it was the birthday of one of the girls in my homeroom, which was exciting. Feeling sleepy and full, we made our way back to Philly, and the kids even cleaned the bus without having to be asked. We were super impressed, and I'm glad we were able to go on a trip, despite how much the 8th grade has driven me crazy this year.

Breakthrough

I discovered today that the only way to make one of my special ed kids pay attention during guided reading was to make him track my finger as we read. This is the first time he has paid attention through an entire guided reading session ALL YEAR. Too bad I didn't discover this method before the second to last chapter of our last book of the year.

Fashion Advice 101

Yesterday at school, one of my 8th graders took a look at me as we were sitting doing our guided reading.

"Ms. D, do you realize you're wearing white, black, and gray in that outfit?" she asked me.

"Uh yes, I picked it out myself this morning," I replied.

She didn't even answer, just rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book. Now I know how my mother must have felt when my sister and I commented on her clothes. Next time, I'll call up my middle school fashion consultant before coming to work.

The School District of Philadelphia: Inefficiency in One Easy Vignette

Today we had an all-day professional development. I was supposed to be getting an all-day training on a reading program we're in the process of implementing, but they canceled on us last minute. Instead of coming up with something meaningful for me to do, or, letting me go home where I swear I would have been more productive about school, I sat around all day. Doing nothing. I couldn't even clean my classroom because the K-3 professional development was in my room. Fail, SDP, major fail.

Frustration

This week was one frustration after the other. First, having to give benchmarks and reading level tests in the same week was a management nightmare. If looks could kill, I'd be dead by now thanks to my students. They were not happy to have to take 2 standardized tests in one week (and while I can't blame them, I still wish they would complain less...)

Then, I got observed for my certification on Thursday, and instead of celebrating my progress this year (and recognizing that mid-May of 8th grade will certainly not be the best time to observe...), I felt as though only my management mistakes were being pointed out, and believe me, I'm fully aware of things I should have done differently from the start. On the same day, though, my 7th graders were their usual awesome selves, and I got a stellar observation from my assistant principal. I am doing some things much better than I used to, and I wish that had been acknowledged.

And then, I had the same child swear at me twice in the same day, so I wrote him up, causing his mother to fly into an outrage, call the school, and then hang up on the middle school dean. Friday morning, I had to have a meeting with the family to "settle the matter," during which the child lied and said he didn't swear, his parents believed him, wanted to call his friends in as "witnesses" (though we all know they won't say anything about their friend), and basically insinuated that I was out to get this child. This is the second time this has been an issue in my class, where this child has said something and then lied to his parents and said I made it up, and it just boggles my mind that they believe him. My assistant principal launched an "investigation," in which all the other kids (predictably) said they didn't hear anything (or they heard something that may have been disrespectful but they're not sure), so instead of getting a suspension (which is what another child got when he was disrespectful to the principal) he got detention on Monday. It's a bad precedent to set in my classroom and I am not happy about it.

And finally, some of my 7th graders stole the answer sheet to the reading level test, which made me angry because I feel like I have a better relationship with them than that. It did get returned, anonymously, at the end of the day, so at least that's a bright spot.

But it was one of those weeks where I can see why these schools have trouble keeping teachers, especially if they don't really feel like the administrators have their backs. When there's a double standard for disrespect to the teacher and to the principal, that sends a pretty awful message to the students about the teachers. It's really too bad that, with all the issues urban districts face, a lot of the times the schools are shooting themselves in the foot.

Teacher Appreciation Day

Today is Teacher Appreciation Day, and all across the country, teachers are being appreciated by their students and principals. Duckrey also recognized its teachers, with breakfast in the morning, and cupcakes this afternoon. I also got some of my first teachery desk supplies, complete with cheesy sayings about teachers touching the lives of their students. It made me smile :)

However, this day also makes me think about all the teachers I have had, both employed by schools and colleges and those people who taught me valuable life lessons. Though I think most of them probably don't read this blog, here's thanks to them as well. I don't think I realized how hard it was to teach someone until I started trying, so for all my awesome teachers out there, thanks for what you're doing and keep on doing it...I don't think you screwed up anything too badly with me ;)

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

I mean to post this on Friday, but I decided to actually have kind of a social life this weekend in between working, so here it is now...

On Friday we were taking a quiz in class on our Holocaust novels, and this is always a management disaster. Keeping the louds kids quiet so that everyone can concentrate on their quizzes is a little bit like playing tug of war with a gorilla. But I did eventually manage to get things quiet in my last period class, and was walking among the desks when one of my hyperactive students yells out, in reference to the girl sitting near him

"Miss, she's saying that I have a small penis!"

Now, the first thing that came to my mind was that this girl is pretty studious and is unlikely to be whispering this under her breath as we're taking a quiz, so I said, "I'm pretty certain that's a lie."

Oops. Didn't think through that one. My class burst into laughter, and thankfully, it was time for us to break for lunch, because there's just no way you can follow up on that one.