speaking of that drama

I brought my friend, who is also a teacher, to help me pack the classroom and check out of my room. Turned in my keys. Everything had to be boxed due to painting, and I left the moving for later. We get some time in the fall to take care of the room changes. I get a different room, and like I said, will teach a different course in the new 7th grade team.

I don't know why it seems more stressful at the end of the year, but hearing about room and position changes caused SO MUCH DRAMA. Some of the teachers felt it was a personal attack to change the teams. I have never seen anything like it. Mistrust over a big misunderstanding.

The worst part of Drama is that it spreads. Gotta recognize it quickly so you can let it go.
Oh that's right. I am home for the summer. No worries.

Good job, teacher.

first year teaching: completed

Let me tell you; I feel jubilant.

Plus one for me. Or plus a trillion. My last day was full of rocky bumps which further proved to me how much I've grown. We had an emergency situation and one student asked me "why are you so calm?" I should have said, "because I know it'll be all right," but I just said "I'm making sure everyone else stays calm."

This being the last day, I tried to keep them busy by asking them to help me move stuff out of the room and into storage in the lockers outside. That was awesome, free manual labor. Something I will always remember about sixth grade is the chorus of "me! me! me!" if I ask for volunteers without instructing them to raise a hand.

I say "always remember" because I was told this morning that I might be teaching seventh grade next year. If so, I will teach the same kids for a second year, which I postulated about in an earlier post. Now it might happen. I think several teachers are really upset with the situation, and are trying to have it reversed. Strange entities begin to form when changes happen. Groups, unions, teams, coalitions, panels, boards, what? What about the communities? The patrons and employees of the school have only part of the voice of their school. The rest belongs to administration or supervisors. In many ways, teaching is just like any job.

At least I felt really good about fulfilling my contract. I casually noticed some of the kids' letters to (whom were going to be) my new sixth graders next year. The ones that said I was their favorite teacher really choked me up, so I'll read them tomorrow when I'm all alone in my empty room.

JK I ain't gonna cry! Now, two days to pack up and enter grades. How do I say goodbye to the teachers? I'll have to do it and stay out of the drama at the same time. :P

FREEEDOMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

Celebrate

In my kitchen is a 2-gallon size freezer bag full of homemade trail mix. Rice chex, pretzels, raisins, peanuts, and about a pound of blue m&m's. I tracked down the "blue ones" in the mall because that's what the characters in our book ate. If somebody can't eat nuts I have just plain corn chips.

Tomorrow I will have my students check their study guides, ask questions about the final, and celebrate what we have learned this year. I've never been the teacher on the last day, but I imagine it will feel like most any other day. I still have to pack up my room but am planning to just tear everything down and sort it on our staff day without 6th graders. I will save the treats and the games for the last 15 minutes. And then my week is done.

Monday we are supposed to have finals. I have learned a lot this year that can't be tested and I know the same is true about the kids. I'm giving them a novel test and asking them to write a letter to next year's students. I have felt emotional about this day for a while, but now I feel less anxious. I look forward to ending the year smoothly and with warm feelings. Asking the kids what they will do this summer was a brilliant idea today, because with only two full days left, no one can ignore that vacation is here.

But I have to GO

Sometimes I have to follow through with a threat just on principle. Today I wrote a discipline referral because a student walked out of my class to go to the bathroom. It normally wouldn't come to that because I would let them go pretty freely in the past. Two weeks ago I enforced a no-passes rule in my 7th hour because I felt it was being abused (at least ten students would want to go each day. I let it go on a lot longer than it should have.) So today someone tested that and asked me to go after class had started.

I feel a bit like a hypocrite because since the rule went into effect, I have made small concessions like letting them "take a tardy" to rush out at the beginning of class. They don't go before my class because they don't want to be late, but they think I will always allow them to go.

Also, note to kids: arguing about it makes it worse. If she had talked to me about her problem privately, respected my rules, and still had to rush out to pee, then I still should have followed through with a school policy. No student leaves without permission.

Next year I may charge for a bathroom visit. Owe time after school? One tardy and one freebie? There are a lot of ways to handle this. At the end of the school year it's hard to redo the rules and procedures in your classroom. I find my demeanor becoming stricter because I didn't design my classroom management to be airtight in the first place. With five days left to go, I have so much miscellaneous business to take care of. I am trying to give the kids a rewarding experience, but they come to school pretty much uninterested in anything but saying goodbye to their friends. I want to give them time for that sort of thing. Time to plan my celebration day.

Changes Fast

My coworkers have been hinting that, for the last two weeks of school, kids would try to get away with breaking the rules, and the administration would start asking students not to return to finish the year.

I think a more accurate description of this must mention that our senses are heightened. We've been operating at full throttle for months now, and we are weeding out kids who are failing and not following reasonable social conventions. One of my students has ended his year today. I didn't know this at first. I found out after I stood in the office with the suspended student and told him that, yes, he could make his final project using whatever materials he could find. And that I'd accept extra credit if he could really blow me away with the project. And as much as I was like "he will never do this" in the back of my mind, the thought that he would at least consider doing something for my class makes me smile.

Anyway, he's gone, so I'm going to focus my energies where they are best applied: to the kids under my charge until May 17th. I have planned to read a book and host literature-circle activities around it for the next 10 days. We are solving a mystery together and it's fascinating to hear the students' theories. Blue Balliet was right: kids are able to form patterns and theories with more skill and creativity than you can fathom.

So much is going to change next year. Things floating around in my head, I could fret about them all day. I'd rather write 'em down and let it be what it is: my hours split into two schools (it gets better), larger class sizes, six classes instead of five, collaborative transition into two teachers of ENGLISH 6 which combines Reading 6 & Language Arts 6, new national standards, new standardized tests, new coworkers (principal, team leader, special ed support). It's hard to say if I want to charge back into next school year because it will not even be the same job - not to mention the kids. Next year's sixth graders are numerous and opinionated. I know; I met some of them at open house. I made them hula hoop and some of them are naturals.