The Challenge

Dkzody put out a challenge a while back for educators.

This challenge? Find, make or pull a picture which represents what you most want your students to take from your class. Share this picture and a brief explanation, then pass on the responsibility to five other bloggers.

I’ve been thinking about it for a long time now. What on earth do I want my students to take from my class? With the help of Sharkey, I came up with this:

Their lives are just beginning. I want them to have a sense of hope for the future. I want them to know that I see the amazing person that they are. Other people will see it, if they just let them. They have the potential to bloom and grow into whatever they want to be. And if their shoot gets stepped on or cut off, they still have a root system that will replenish them and continue to flourish even with setbacks.

I know that this has nothing to do with my subject matter.  But part of me writing this blog is to share that teaching is so much more than teaching your subject.  We all get into this profession because we want to make a difference.  In many cases, we do.  We may not know it at the time, or ever, for that matter.  But I will still hold onto the hope that I have somehow had a positive impact on those students that I’ve been lucky enough to call mine.

Proslackinate

My students came up with a new word this week.  It’s a combination of procrastinate and slacker.  I’m not sure if it’s procrastination due to being a slacker or the fact that being a slacker leads to procrastination.  They were putting off doing their homework until they were home and not using their class time wisely.  But they knew that they were procrastinating, yet they were feeling like being slackers.   These are boys that usually have their homework done every day.  So I wasn’t too worried about them.  But it was interesting that they had come up with a name for their behavior.

Letters of Recommendation

To Whom It May Concern:

I am writing to caution you on accepting Joe Smith to your program. Although he is a very nice, pleasant student, he needs to mature before moving onto higher education. I have known Joe for the past year as he has been in my math class. Often he comes ill prepared for class. He also performs poorly on tests. When given the opportunity to get extra help, it is not taken. I have very strong reservations on his ability to succeed in your program.

Sincerely,

Teacher with the Reality Check

You could never write or send a letter like this. Someone would probably sue you for bruising the ego of their kid. The thing that I don’t get is that the kid who does poorly in your class should know better than to ask for a letter of recommendation. But in this case, his parent is the one who doesn’t know any better.

Today I got an email from a parent asking me to write a letter of recommendation for her son. Her son passed my class by the skin of his teeth and I can’t honestly say that I think he deserved to pass. He certainly will not be able to pass an entrance exam for college that tests his high school math skills. To top it off, the letter is due April 1st. I respectfully declined to write the letter when I replied to the email.

I really don’t get it. This parent is one of the pair that spurred me to write my Bursting the Bubble post last December. The other parent basically tried to bully me at the time of the post. And they want me to write a letter of recommendation for their kid? Huh? What on earth do they think I’m going to write? Plus, if the kid needs a letter, the kid needs to ask.

I suppose the lesson here is to learn how to decline writing letters when you know you can’t write a good one. In most cases, the kid asking deserves a great letter and I am completely fine with writing one.

I won’t be around when the student has to fight his own battles and make it on his own. I really hope he can. But in the meantime, his parents sure aren’t helping him.

Soup’s On

Tonight was my Soup class. We made six different soups. There were only six of us in the class, so we paired up and each pair did two soups.

Let me tell ya… I’m not going to meet my dream man at a Community Ed cooking class. I was paired up with an older gentleman who happens to have the same name as one of our former presidents. However, I did not ask him if his middle initial was “F”. He obviously couldn’t remember my name and referred to me as “kiddo” the entire night.

We made Pumpkin Soup and French Beef Stew in Red Wine. Both turned out well and the Beef Stew (Beef Burgundy) looked rather impressive at the end. The others made New England Clam Chowder, Cream of Wild Rice, Split Pea with Ham and Corn Bisque with Rosemary. With only six of us, there was plenty to go around. I should know better than to eat anything before one of these classes. Even with everyone tasting them all, I still ended up with 7 bags of soup. I guess I’ve got my lunches for the rest of the week!

Calling the Sun Goddess

Please! Make it go away!

This is the view out my front door. A week ago, you could see the grass. Now I have a pile of snow from my driveway AGAIN. The good thing about March snowfalls is that it does go away fairly soon after it comes. But enough is enough! We ushered in the first full day of spring with 4 inches of snow. That’s nothing compared to other places. At this time of the year, we’re all tired of it and just want it to go away.

I was going to write about my challenge to myself this week. Then I realized how it tied in with the snow. I’ve been doing yoga for about three years. I have a wonderful teacher and I always feel so much better after I’ve gone to class. I’ve been trying to discipline myself to do yoga at home. I have a mat and various props. But my practice is very hit or miss. So this week my challenge to myself is to do 2 Sun Salutations in the morning. It may not sound like a lot. But my triceps will be killing me within a day of starting it. This is what it looks like:

The inchworm type move in the upper right is what gets the triceps. You have to keep your arms parallel to your body.

I’m not saying that my Sun Salutation will have any effect on melting the snow. But no matter what, it will help me.

Community Education

Over the last year I’ve made a point to take some community education classes. It’s a great way to learn new things and doesn’t cost much. So far I’ve only tried out the cooking classes. I’ve learned how to make Sushi, Appetizers, Chicken and More Chicken, Chocolate Truffles, Thai Food and I’ll learn about Soups on Tuesday this week.

The Sushi class was cool. But I decided that it’s worth it to go to a restaurant. It’s just too putzy for me – and I completely suck at rolling it. The Appetizer class was fun because we made about 20 different ones and got to try them all. The Chicken class was a lot of chicken in one night. I had chicken to eat for the whole week. But it gave me ideas on how to cook it and I’m not afraid to try my own thing. The Truffle class was great! Making chocolate truffles is not that hard and I could give them away as gifts. I haven’t tried to make any of the Thai food yet. But I learned about using lemon grass, chili peppers, curry paste and a bunch of other stuff. The soup class should be good, but we’re getting out of the soup season. We’ll see how that goes…

The new catalog came out this past week. I’m trying something new this time. Don’t laugh. Belly Dancing. My massage therapist recommended trying it for shoulder movement. I’ve been wanting to take a dance class, but had never thought of belly dancing. I guess this solves the problem of not having a partner… A friend of mine took it a few years ago and liked it. But she also said to watch out because I might have the same problem as her… moving like a white woman. I probably will. But it will definitely be interesting!

Learning the Lingo

“My calculator be hatin’ on me.”

“Really? I didn’t know a calculator could be *emo.”

“But it’s hatin’ on me. I need a new one.”

Yep. That’s what I heard today in Pre Calc. The calculator was using the order of operations according to what he had typed. Since he was missing a set of parenthesis, he got the wrong answer.

My calculator be hatin’ on me sounds like rap/hip-hop lyrics. I’ve got Chris Brown’s Kiss Kiss in my head now… They hating on me | They wanna diss this, kiss-kiss | Cause she mine and so fine | And thick as can be I just looked up the lyrics on-line. Sometimes it’s better not knowing…

The idea of using proper English is a complete afterthought. And they all talk that way without thinking anything of it. I’m not even going to tell you the ethnicity of the kid. It’s not what you’d expect. But it doesn’t really matter because it’s an example of how this way of talking has permeated society. Heck! I just heard a commercial for the Shane Company and Tom Shane was talking about how his sales people won’t get up into your grill when you’re looking for a diamond ring. It doesn’t quite sound right when Tom says it though…

Three years ago I had a student in another Pre Calc class. Calculators are quite heavily used in that class. This student made an observation that was so profound, that I had to write it down. There is a sign in my classroom that says, “The calculator is only as smart as the user.” I credit the student and the day that he said it – 3/23/05.

I have referred to that quote many times in the last 3 years. After the calculator hatin’ on me comment we just had to talk about it. It definitely makes the point that you need to know how to use your calculator in order for it to spit out the correct answers. Of course, I had another student pipe up, “I think my calculator is definitely smarter than me!” Yep.

*emo = emotional

My Bad.

It’s a birth mark! A while back I wrote this post about kids marking their territory. I have a student that has this mark that looks like a hickey just above her left breast. She always wears these low cut tops, so you see it all the time…

I was out with some of my buddies on Friday. After mentioning this, one of them asked, “Could it be a birth mark?” I didn’t think so. But today, she was sitting by herself and there was hardly anyone in the room. So I said, “Mary? Is that a birth mark?” in my best innocently asking voice… “Yes. It’s not a hickey. Everyone thinks it’s a hickey.”

The Puke Shield

Imagine one of those clear, Plexiglas shields in front of you. You can see through it. But it’s also protecting you from whatever is coming your way.

The puke shield analogy is one that was told to me by a very wise woman, my mother. She is a retired teacher. She taught in the Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) program in my district. I’m pretty lucky to have a mom that is an expert on parenting and child development. Since all of her kids are responsible adults that are “normal” without too many quirks, I think she’s walked the walk as well as talked the talk.

One of the benefits to having a parent in the same field is that you can talk about the job with someone who gets it. I happen to have both parents that are retired teachers. I can ask my dad about my content area since he was a math teacher. But when I talk with my mom, it’s more about people management and skills to deal with the odd behavior that teachers regularly handle.

Several years ago she gave me the puke shield analogy. The idea can be used in any situation where you are dealing with someone in an adversarial mode. The gist of it is that you pretend that you have a clear shield in front of you. Whatever word vomit is coming your way is stopped by the shield. It’s your imaginary protector. The shield, in turn, protects the person on the other side. It’s also there to remind you to not inflict your word vomit on them. Even though you feel like saying something back, you know that it won’t really accomplish what you want. Plus, you’ll feel like crap for saying something that you know you can’t take back.

When she first told me about this puke shield she actually had a story to go with it. She was reminded to tell me about the puke shield because of what had happened in one of her classes. There was a grandmother there with her grandchild. The grandchild was in the other room with the Early Childhood teacher and my mom was with the parents, or caregiver in this case. The woman had some health issues so she was in a wheelchair. During the class, she got sick. She must have wheeled over to the garbage can in time to throw up. But she had dentures. As you can guess, there went the dentures! She reached out in time to catch them before they launched into the trash.

I’ve told many people about the puke shield. I usually don’t include the actual puke story. But it’s a useful idea when you’re dealing with people. We all have our buttons that people learn to push. As a result of this analogy and other advice from the wise woman, I’ve become a master at not letting those buttons get pushed. And if they are pushed, my reaction is quite controlled. The word vomit may be in my head or voiced, jokingly to my lunch buddies, but it’s not ever heard by the kid.

For any of my readers – even if you’re not in education, the puke shield analogy is one that has helped me through many situations. You can use it with your spouse, your kids, a co-worker or anyone that you’re having trouble with. I don’t know where my mom heard this one. But it has definitely been useful.

Signs of Hope

Fifty in March is way different than 50 in October. Degrees, that is. I just walked to the nearby grocery store and got a few things. It’s only about a mile away. I should be doing that more often. As I walked, I thought about my ability to go green. I actually could walk or ride my bike more often. I may need to get used to taking my backpack with me and going more often for fewer items. I actually could ride my bike and leave it at the bike shop (where I bought it) while I run my errands. Hmm… Now that I think about it, I could probably do rather well.

I’m actually not trying to talk about going green in this post. I needed to get outside and have some fresh air. It was our first 50 degree day since November. I always have a better outlook after I have gone for a walk. I like walking because it gives me time to think. I needed that today.

My day started with giving a test in my Algebra 1 class. When I told a kid that I wouldn’t help him, he had some nice things to say to me. I tuned it out as I told him to head down to his Assistant Principal. There was something with an “F” word and something about me being an awful teacher since I wouldn’t help him with a TEST. I guess he doesn’t understand the concept of what a test is all about. Oh well. I guess that’s one less test to correct. Zero.

There’s something about being outside that makes me feel better about a day like today. The snow is melting. You hear the trickling of water down the storm drains. There’s enough sand left on the streets to make your own beach. But yet, it’s too soon for the street cleaners to do their thing. There aren’t any buds on the trees, but you know their coming. The grass peaks out from under the snow. There is hope. Spring is coming. With the Spring comes the end of 3rd quarter. (And the end of my Algebra 1 class – yippee!!!) Spring break comes in a two weeks. Fourth quarter will start and the end of the tunnel is in sight.