weeks 24-29: stamps, sweetness, and saturday school

In teaching you cannot see the fruit of a day's work. It is invisible and remains so, maybe for twenty years. ~Jacques Barzun

Another summary! Sigh. Here we go, quick recap of the end of winter/beginnings of spring:

• In week 24-25, we began a NEW positive behavior system that revolved around self-inking stamps. Students keep their planners open on their desk during every class. They receive stamps from the teacher for all of the following, plus more: being on time to class, answering questions, following directions, taking the extra step to clean their area or help others, etc. At the end of each week, students can "buy" various privileges with their stamps like bathroom/dress down passes, eating lunch outside, a ticket to Worlds of Fun in May, etc. or they can "bank" their stamps with their Aztec homeroom teacher. Since then, we have seen a HUGE improvement in behavior across the board. Now the good kids are truly being rewarded, and some of them are racking up ginormous amounts of stamps. Our principal is frantically trying to find "big" enough privileges for some of these no-stamp-spenders by the end of the year!

• By the end of February, we had had a total of 10 snow days. TEN. I'm still waiting to hear what the state has decided on whether or not we have to make them all up. It's going to be a long spring anyway since our original last day of school was June 3. Now that we have all these days to make up - basically, we might as well just adopt a year-round school calendar at this rate. Unless the state will be merciful to us...here's hoping we don't go past June 6!

• We have had a breakout of drugs at the school. It's not clear who is selling and who is buying, but we are all watching any pairs or clumps of students vigilantly, especially if they seem to be passing anything to each other. We also have students drinking energy drinks that are actually depressants which mimic the effects of cough syrup. What pubescent male wants to take depressants?! At the very least it may be hero worship, at the worst, trying to offset the effects of stimulants. Knowing that my young students are exposed to drugs and are exposing each other to their dangers is stressful and heartbreaking.

• Spring fever is causing some turbulence to emerge among the students. The student who led the sexual harassment ring from last semester returned to school. He lasted for a week or two as far as good effort in class and respectful behavior. But now he is up to his old behaviors. Two students were suspended for fighting, 1 was suspended for directing sexually inappropriate comments toward female students, and 1 was suspended under mysterious circumstances. They're dropping like flies, and it's only March! We have 2 1/2 more months left...yikes...

• Parent-teacher conferences, round 2. This was in week 27 or 28. This time, I was the teacher that every single parent wanted to see, since many students were failing both my classes (homework, kids, do your homework!) and I also had NWEA test scores to share with parents. To quote a favorite YouTube video , "it's like one continuous stream of TALKING."

• My poetry unit took off like a marvelous rocket - these 6th graders are born writers. Some moreso than others, but for the most part everyone is willing to try their hand at poetry. We tried an activity I'd read about in college called "found poetry" - I cut up a bunch of random song lyrics intro strips, mixed them all up in a bag, and had students draw 4 strips out of the bag to glue onto some cardstock. They came up with titles on their own. I was so impressed by their arranging of the lines that I made a display outside my room:

• The reasons for the quote at the beginning of this post: In weeks 27-28 I had a young lady (who is one of our strongest readers and most talented writers) share her personal poetry with me. I read it, gave her compliments and constructive criticism. Our interactions were not movie-moment gushy. At least I didn't think so. But later I received a pleasant surprise from this student that indicated how profoundly young teens are affected by an adult showing interest in them and giving them affirmation. This week, week 29), the student informed me that she had a poem she'd written about me as a gift. Here it is, a lovely acrostic poem that totally made my week:

• Another student used her stamps at the end of this week (week 29) to "buy" a special lunch with me for next week! This is a new privilege that the principal came up with for this week. It costs a considerable amount of stamps. This student who wants to eat lunch with me is extremely QUIET. Air circulating in an empty classroom makes more noise than she does. Also, I have seen her smile once this school year. And that was a thin, close-lipped smile. We have not interacted that much, certainly not as much as I've interacted with other, louder students. Yet she wants to spend time together one-on-one next week. I literally can't wait for the chance to spend time with her and see past her serious facade.

• One of science teacher Ms. B's guinea pigs, Alvin Theodore, passed away in week 29. :( SO SAD!!! Ms. B and several students had an impromptu funeral outside the school. Most students showed appropriate serious respect - however, a few 6th graders did see the lighter side of the situation. One left a note on the secretary's desk that said, "I would like to apologize to Alvin Theodore for naming you after a chipmunk when you are a guinea pig." When instructed to write a poem about the passing of the guinea pig, here's what one student came up with: "Roses are red, the guinea pig is dead."

• And the final addition to the update: Saturday School. We decided to have 2 intensive MAP-preparation (another state test - sigh) Saturdays this semester. The first one happened today, March 12, and it was Language Arts skills that we targeted. Six teachers (including me) committed to teach six topics: root words, summarizing, inferences, context clues, figurative language, and writing constructed responses. I wrote lesson plans for 2 while the other LA teacher and our SPED teacher wrote the other 4. Each one was planned to last app. 25 minutes so the students could rotate between the teachers/topics and not get burned out. It was stressful preparing for this - I do not consider myself a good skill-targeted instructor, so it was difficult to fit lessons with input, practice, and authentic learning into 25-minute chunks. It took me too long to plan it and I tried unsuccessfully not to be stressed all the way through Friday evening.

• I knew I would get paid for Saturday School no matter the outcome, so I was prepared to put on a happy face when I walked into the building this morning. What I was not prepared for was how GREAT Saturday School would be. All of the students we asked to come, came. All 22 of them. Fresh-faced, even if pajama-clad. Ready to learn, even though it was the weekend. I had no idea how much FUN it would be to spend 25 minutes at a time with tiny groups of them - only 2-4 students at a time. I was amazed by how quickly the time passed. I may show up for next week's math-focused Saturday School, it was that great!

Spring is near, Daylight Savings Time is tomorrow, soon nature will start showing tangible growth and hopefully my students will, too. :)