Most Humbling Experience

Before I became a middle school teacher, I was an elementary school teacher. Recently, one of my former 5th grade students came by to see me. She told me that she was graduating from Nursing School in December. I told her I was very proud of her. Then she tells me this.
Mr. Jones, I wrote an essay about you awhile back. The essay was entitled "My Most Influential Person". I won scholarship money because of that and it helped me finish school.
I was very humbled and I couldn't help it. With joy, like a river, they flowed down my face and onto my school shirt. I love what I do. I am so blessed to be a teacher.

Best Line about Scripted EPs

I heard this comment:
"It must be pretty easy to teach a scripted program."

I heard this reponse:
"Yeah, it is, but the students aren't scripted."

Inservice for 9 days!

I was on inservice for 9 days! I missed my kids. I could tell they missed me because of all the little notes I got from the substitute, all the little notes I got from my principal team, and all the little notes I got from the At Risk Coordinator. I am back now and can take good care of my children.

Two Week Inservice

I have two weeks of inservice. That means my kids have a sub for two weeks. I know my kids are saying YESSSSS! This is the third week of the first six weeks. I teach 4 different subjects. I teach TAKS Reading, Alternative Reading, Dyslexia Reading and I have a "normal" or "regular" 8th grade Language Arts Block.
I can't wait to get back to my kids!

Do the Lizard to Me!

My kids must really like me, because when I came outside the cafeteria today two of them tried to do the lizard to me. One comes up and says, "Hey Mr. Jones! How are you?" While he says this he sticks out his hand. His little accomplice sneaks up on me and tries to drop the lizard on my arm, but little buddy misses! It was hilarious! We were laughing up a storm. That test I thought about leaving til Monday just got moved up to Friday!

Mozilla

I found an older version of Mozilla and have installed it on 6 of my Emac OS9 computers. It seems very stable with the Google accounts, and keeps asking for certificates, but after about 3 or 4 uses, the certificate issue is gone.
When I set up my students on the email accounts, we will be able to use Google documents to respond to literature and be able to save our work. So far the backup plan is working. I only have 15 more Emacs to install the Mozilla on.
An option I don't have right now would be to upgrade the Emacs to OS10, but I am a little pressed for time. Benchmarks are coming soon.

Not Fair! 80/20 Rule - Replay the Good Stuff!

I am doing this backwards! I am spending 80% of my time on the 20% of my students who are disruptive, disrespectful and who disregard the classroom rules! That is not fair to the 80% of my students who are READY TO LEARN!
Instead of allowing this to continue, I am going to take advantage of my adminstrators, the In School Suspension teacher, the Alternative teacher, the At Risk counselor and the parents of these students. I am also going to make home visits!
When I go home at night, way late at night, I think about the bad behaving students. I have a particular class of 26 and 2 are not READY TO LEARN! But I have 24 who are READY TO LEARN!
I don't reflect on what a great response J had about narratives and what a good answer D gave about Venn diagrams. I don't reflect on how C and Y were composing and editing their paragraphs and using the vocabulary words from this week and from last week. But I need to develop the habit of thinking about the positive stuff! Of course, I am still going to be concerned about my students who need more attention. But I need to replay the good stuff too!

Home Visits! Venn Diagrams!

I made two home visits this week! The results were encouraging. The behavior I got in class ,after those two visits, was much improved.
We also had a blast comparing different types of music and identifying what makes one music this type and what makes another that type. We were comparing and contrasting using a Venn diagram. We decided that if we could find the similarities and the differences between two stories about music, we could apply those skills to the 8th grade TAKS reading passages. Sometimes on the TAKS reading test, two stories are related or connected and the questions after the passages are asking about both stories.
Hopefully, we can repeat the level of enthusiasm and increase the level of understanding for next time.

Way to Go 5th period!

I know it is hard to sit and read, especially if you don't like it! But I appreciate the efforts my students made to make it through the period and try to complete the work.
Tomorrow we complete the rest of the practice pages and create our powerpoint based on the practice pages. Plot, summary, characters, setting, and vocabulary. Way to go 5th period!