Oh, The Good 'Ole Days

I miss the days when I could pull a really late night getting things done at the last minute and only have to drag myself out of bed presentable enough to mope to class and either fall asleep or sit there in a stupor until returning to the comfy confines of my dorm room to take a nap with Law and Order playing all afternoon in the background.

I miss those days because last night I went up to the wire doing some classwork for ACE that was due at midnight. Then I still had to write two exams that I've given today. And I won't be able to sleep until AFTER I do basketball practice and write a test that I'm giving to 8th grade tomorrow.

Yesterday was fun because we had a new seating chart in all three classes. Only 4 people had to be sent to the office for absolutely refusing to move where they were told to sit. A whole lot more complained vociferously, so I think that means I may have done a good job with the new assignments.

I had just told someone two nights ago that I had yet to yell at any of my classes this semester. I promptly turned around and blew up on a kid yesterday. I don't really feel that bad about it, because it was only directed at one student. He never raises his hand, he "Mr Clarys" me incessantly. Until I stop what I'm saying to tell him to stop "Mr Clarying" me. Yesterday, I interrupted myself to stop him, and within 3 minutes he was back at it even louder. I didn't even pause, I just cranked up the volume (a lot) and yelled at him, "THAT IS NOT HOW YOU GET MY ATTENTION! STOP MR CLARYING ME!!!" Then 8th grade wasted the last five minutes of class. So I took them across the hall for dismissal and they kept wasting time. Fifteen minutes later, they were finally quiet (this is 15 minutes after they were supposed to be dismissed from class). By the time we got out, it was 3:25. We dismiss at 3:00. Unfortunately for the kid I came down on, his cell phone went off right before I dismissed him. I took it up (they aren't allowed to have them out or on until 3:30), and turned it in to the office. He was carpooling yesterday, so he couldn't get his phone back since his parents weren't picking him up.

Today I'm collecting 8th grade 10 minutes early from lunch to practice entering my room and sitting quietly. If we can't get it done in that amount of time, it'll be 15 minutes tomorrow. If that doesn't work, I may work out a way that I can take them during PE - all I would have to do is get someone to do something with my class for their extension class.

Crackdown Day

Well, 7th and 6th grades have both seen me. They got the message loud and clear. Apparently Mr Malone is also cracking down. He is being H-A-R-S-H on 6th grade at the moment. He also assigned a ton of homework to 8th grade last night as punishment. 7th grade got the message from me this morning, but they started playing on me at lunch/PE. The boys thought it would be funny to start leading the line from PE to lunch in the opposite way from the cafeteria. After I asked "Where are we going here?" and they all laughed and ran back to where they were supposed to be, I walked them in the wrong direction anyway. They insisted it had been a joke. I told them not to joke with me and that they should have realized I have no sense of humor today.

We ended up walking all the way to the opposite side of the campus. The girls got the message, walked back to the cafeteria, and sat nicely in our silent lunch formation. The boys took a little more time. But we made it. Most of the boys will be repeating silent lunch come Monday because they continued to try to play with me during their "silent" lunch.

8th grade is still coming in this afternoon. I have no idea how that period will go. We'll see.

Out of the Mouths of...Middle Schoolers (pt 2)

So, I was talking with three students whose rides were late picking them up after school. Let's call them Doug, Johnny, and Jill. Jill and Johnny are twins. Doug is a 7th grader. Doug mentioned that his mom was coming from Wal-Mart. Johnny asked me if I knew where the ghetto Wal-Mart is. I replied that since it's 15-20 minutes closer to my house than any other Wal-Mart, that's the one I use. They all laughed at me, and then Johnny told me not to go to a certain other one because "They be racists there." Jill said, "Why would he care?" I asked her what she meant. She gestured at me and said, "Who's gonna be a racist to you?" We all kind of laughed, but then Johnny said, "Naw, they would. We've blackified him."

So, I'm officially blackified, apparently. However, the process isn't complete because Johnny then informed me that they have to get me off "them country love songs" and on to the "black love songs."

Also, 8th grade was extremely attentive for a guest speaker. Like, perfect for 20 minutes. Then it took me 5 minutes to get any attention after the speaker left. Ugh. That's all right. I'm starting line boot camp tomorrow. And I'm also raining down hard on my 7th graders today. I love how they can come in and take stock of the situation and be silent within a minute. Then knew I meant business this afternoon. First of all, it took us about 10 minutes to move from PE to the cafeteria. Then another 15 to move from the cafeteria to the classroom (including two do-overs). Then, I had to take a student back to lunch after we came back (we're the last class scheduled to go), and found the tables we used A MESS. And that's after my two "table washers" had supposedly washed tables. I was just all-around unhappy with them. So tomorrow (Friday) is going to be a trial day. I'm going to be all business, and if they comply we'll cut it off next week. If they don't, it will continue for a while. (All business means no talking in class, no getting up in class, and silent lunch).

Out of the Mouths of...Middle Schoolers

This one is actually pretty cool. My 7th graders had a poster project due today. I was a little worried that they would forget about it because I haven't made a huge deal out of it lately. In fact, I only had it on the homework board this week - I haven't really gone into very much depth since last Wednesday, when I assigned it.

Perhaps not-so-surprisingly, a lot of the kids did bring them in. The first boy who brought it in today is one of my quieter students who I haven't really spoken to much this year. So I asked him if he thought a lot of people would bring them in. I honestly didn't know how many to expect this morning. His response caught me a little offguard - probably because for the past four years I was in an atmosphere in which the people around me placed an overly-high premium on GPAs. To the extent that I'm used to people having private celebrations about a classmate's poor performance in a class.

Anyway, this student said, "I hope everyone brings it in." I did a double-take and asked him why he said that. "Because everyone deserves an education." I was taken aback. I guess I still can't really say why, which is why my best description was what I said first it's just "cool."

Inauguration Notes

Last night was fun. Our small group kind of does whatever it wants. I had an awesome prime rib at dinner last night, and we went to the ball for about 20 minutes before leaving to return to the club. The club is in the basement of the restaurant where we ate dinner. We beat the line by talking to the general manager (that we had met earlier in the night at dinner) and asking him if there was a way to beat the line. He took us around the building to the alley and let us in the back door. It was a cool experience. We did that only after chatting to the couple in front of us in the line though, and hearing them talk about "All the old, rich people involved with the governor who are all over our hotel." I mentioned that there were some young ones too, and they missed the hint. They were pretty embarrassed when we said we were part of that group.

Today we had mass with the local bishop and the extended family. It was a very nice service - there was a children's choir in charge of the music, and it was REALLY entertaining. There was even a soloist who did the response. He couldn't have been more than 5 years old, but he was really good.

After mass, we went through a brunch buffet at the hotel and then went to the governor's office for a reception/luncheon. We sat in an enormous conference room with a movie-screen-sized projection screen on the back wall. The Cowboys-Vikings were on, and then the Governor came in and circled the room talking to everyone (except me and the guy I was sitting with).

Dinner tonight is going to be a small affair at the governor's mansion, so hopefully we'll get some face time there.

One more thing...

My basketball team (which lost 40-something to 15 last week) lost in a one-point game today. The girls' coach (who is also the PE teacher at school) coached them, and she said they played a fantastic game and did everything she asked.

So I'm pumped about that.

Never Put the New Guy in Charge of Detention

I was eaten alive. It was more chaotic than any lesson I've ever tried to get through. The kids basically rioted, yelled, laughed, joked, refused to sit down, refused to get to work, etc. Sister Nancy had to yell a few times, and it still didn't settle them down. (I maintained my New Year's resolution by refraining from yelling myself.) I spoke with several parents last night as I waited for my flight to depart Mobile.

I just watched Governor McDonnell be sworn in as the 71st Governor of Virginia this morning in Richmond, VA. It was a really cool ceremony, and he gave an awesome Inaugural Address. We have a Ball tonight and are visiting UVA tomorrow. I'm here with a few close friends from ND, and a few new friends from ND that I just met last night.

I was lucky to make it. I was a little distracted by a conversation I had with a parent last night, and I called my school's counselor on the phone during my layover in Charlotte. I got to my next gate and paced for a while before realizing I had walked off and left the bag I checked at the gate in Mobile. Just as I hurried off to get it back, they called my name at my gate to tell me I'd forgotten it. To make a long story short, I remained on the phone the entire time discussing school stuff, and in the end the plane departed 10 minutes late because they waited for me to get back. So, next time my flight is delayed 10 minutes or so, I will be much less impatient.

Line Camp!!!

So...I just developed Line Camp today for my 7th and 8th graders. It's a 3-Day Program (kind of).

Day 1: Copy the definition of a line. (It actually takes as many days as it takes to copy the whole definition - it's really really long.)

Day 2: Sit at a desk (without laying down or putting your head down) with nothing to do, and remain silent. Again, this may take as many days as needed before it is achieved.

Day 3: Walk in line back and forth to the cafeteria until it is done for the entire period silently and in line. Again, these are days more in the metaphorical creation story sense, not the literal "today" sense.

Tomorrow is day one, and I have 5 8th graders and a 7th grader signed up so far. I'm looking forward to it.

Also, my name plaque just went up outside my door. I guess that means I'm official.

Wow 8th Grade

Today the 7th and 8th grades were pretty rowdy and loud all day. 8th grade was unruly enough to merit being held in a class for 10 extra minutes before they would settle down enough to be dismissed. That led me to have to manage my 7th graders in a line in the hallway for those 10 minutes - that was a less than ideal situation. Then, at the end of the following period, 8th grade had to come down to the 90 minute block period they have with me at the very end of the day. Once again, it was 5 minutes before they could be dismissed. I was literally shaking with apprehension - they are usually pretty loud and unfocused in my class anyway. They came in, got their bellwork from me at the door, and the noise commenced. I could barely get kids' attention who walked by me without getting a paper. Then, I moved to the front of the room and said we would be quiet and focused or go out and line up again in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 - silence. Working. I was almost as surprised as I was impressed. Thankfully my principal was there, so she thinks that I have them under control...luckily she didn't stick around. "Focus time" was interspersed between lengthy periods of unwanted discussion, laughing, and yelling.

Oh well, I felt good anyway.

2nd Semester

Thanks to a not-so-subtle email from Dear Old Dad (not that he's old, just staying true to linguistic tradition), I'm back online.

My goal for the first few weeks of school will be to go back to the way I was doing things at the beginning of the year. At some point I stopped doing things the way that I started out, and it was at that point that the wheels came off. I've renewed my dedication to my clipboards, always printing off daily lesson plans, and keeping a "rough draft" gradebook on my clipboard. It adds some extra steps, but I just write down any grade on a copied sheet from my gradebook and then transfer it into the book later (when I put it in the computer).

I need to also start making some positive phone calls. I made one last week to a boy whose mom pulled him off the basketball team after my last phone call home. Speaking of basketball, we got shellacked on Saturday. We did nothing we practiced (except not listen to me), and nothing we tried to do during the game. However, we played the best team in the league (or so I've heard from several sources). They looked really good, and the teams that played right after us looked significantly worse. Hopefully a combination of motivation in practice this week (as a result of our loss) and a decrease in the quality of competition next week will make for a better game. I'm hopeful that it will go that way, but a few of my players were much more disrespectful than usual in class this morning, so the exact opposite may happen. They may all just ignore me and do their own thing.

Next weekend I am leaving town for Richmond to attend the inauguration of Governor-Elect McDonnell. I'm really looking forward to that - I'm going to see and spend time with some friends from Notre Dame. Plus, it'll be a great way to spend the 3-day weekend.

By the way, another way that I am hoping to be more like I was at the beginning of the year is to update this thing more often. I got way away from that over the course of last semester, so I'll be bringing this back too (hopefully).