End of Year Awesomeness

We officially have 2 days of school left. I don't know if anyone thought we were actually going to make it here, but we have, and it's wonderful, despite the fact that Philadelphia keeps kids in school 2 weeks or so past the point when grades are due, so its been a struggle to get kids to do anything in my room. We've been playing a lot of Apples to Apples, which I like to play off as educational, even though my Program Director says it's not.

What's making the end of this year even better for me is the number of kids I teach who scored advanced or proficient on their PSSAs! It just goes to show what they can do when they really buckle down and try. Even though these kids have driven me crazy, and probably will continue to drive me crazy on Monday when we have their moving up ceremony, I will miss them- after all, I think all teachers probably think back with a mix of fondness and horror on their first class :)

It's the Final Countdown!

It's time. 2 (and kind of a half) weeks of school left. We can do this. We can so do this.

Grammar Mastery- Check!

Yesterday morning in my 7th grade class, as we were beginning our daily edit, one of my students announces:

'Guess what, Ms. D? Because of you and this daily edit thing, I got grammar master on the facebook grammar quiz! It was like, thirty questions!"

It's good to know I'm having an impact :)

Lunchtime at Duckrey

For the past couple of weeks, I've had a group of kids in my room at lunch rehearsing for their dance in our school's field day performances on June 12. They're currently teaching 2 new kids the dance, and I am continually amazed by how talented and quick to learn these students are when it comes to dancing. As a teacher, I think we often forget how talented our kids can be in ways outside the classroom, and it is nice to be reminded every once in awhile. It better be one of the better acts on field day, because they have worked damn hard on making it look good.

Its June!

And yet, life is still crazy! Grades went in yesterday, and the assistant principal made the mistake of announcing this over the loudspeaker during the end of day announcements yesterday. So of course, today:

"What happens if I don't do this project, Ms. D?"

"It hurts your grade."

"But grades are already turned in..."

And here, I had to fumble to lie (I'm not great at lying) that they could be changed at a later date, when in reality I know that only the assistant principal can change them, and she will only do that for a small number of students. And I very much doubt she will change them down.

I can only hope that I make it through the next 15 days alive and sane. Today was clearly not a great predictor of this, but I'm just going to keep the finish line in sight...

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.