Silencio! No sabes espanol?

Lonnnnng week. So much going on outside of the normal school day to make the normal school day hard to get through.

Here is what happened the last week, as well as some highlights:

- I had administration support to help me solve the problems in my 5th period, it is now workable and improving.

- I had a meeting Monday night from 6-9pm, which is pretty much right after work (this means I didn't get to go to the gym).

- I had a meeting Tuesday from 6-7:30pm, so again I didn't get to go to the gym.

- Wednesday I was being observed for a full 45 minutes by our certification partner...let's talk about an overload of preparation and too little time because of meetings the previous 2 nights.

- Thursday I was observed by TFA for a full 45 minutes because I had asked them to in order to help with my 5th period issues. Things went well and I have some GREAT action steps to take going forward.

- Dan came into town Tuesday night, and I got to hang out with him each night after my gym and planning times (aka I spent way more money than I usually have, goodbye September paycheck!). But it was definitely worth it, I was calmed down a little bit because having someone from home around made me feel more comfortable and relaxed. Thanks for coming Dan!

- My students are beginning to be more comfortable with me and sharing some really personal information. I appreciate that they feel comfortable coming to me to speak, but I don't know what to say back! I have never had these rough experiences they are having or have had, and its difficult for me to sympathize with them. I'm sure I'll get better with this.

- I am still really struggling with the day-to-day planning and executing, hopefully some new strategies given to me will help me out, because this stress and lack of sleep is killing me!

- Friday was a test day (which means before school Brenna and I go to Starbucks to get a big iced coffee and sip on it and grade and students take their tests in silence (best days ever).

- One of my classes was a little rowdy as the test was being handed out, so I said "Silencio!" Some of my students were confused so I replied "No sabes espanol? Porque no?" Then another students replied "Clase, silencio por favor!" and I said "gracias". It was a little taste of using my Spanish-speaking skills and shocking my students because they still don't understand that this white boy knows Spanish.

- I assigned a project this week (draw a tesselation of congruent triangles into a bigger picture). Some of my students made some amazing tesselations, and then half of the class still forgot to turn it in although I gave them ALL week to do it AND any time after they completed the test. I need to figure this out...

Really, it was a super busy week, but I also didn't have any terrible experiences like previous weeks. Hopefully it's a sign that better things are to come? We'll see...

Rough Week 4

So, to start this week off I was pretty sure I had finally figured at least part of this teaching thing out. I was determined to have a good week for once-to be optimistic through it all.

So, to sum up how it went, I am going to give you my weekly list of stuff that happened:

- I was optimistic this week because I was getting one day off to do some professional training.

- This day of professional training was actually very fun and made me feel better about my teaching (much needed)

- I had to make subsititute plans for the first time, apparently they were too detailed because veteran teachers laughed at me when I showed them the one sheet of paper with instructions on it for the sub.

- My substitute plans apparently worked. I received work from every class like I asked, nothing was stolen, and nothing was in complete shambles when I got back that afternoon for tutoring.

- My students complained as I was walking in after school got out that class was boring without me there and they were thankful that I was back (ego boost!)

- I had one student come in for after school tutoring. It went great and I could see the light bulb turn on for him, he bragged to the class how helpful it was, too.

- Wednesday came to an end, and I had to start planning for the final 2 days of the week. This time well-rested.

- Thursday I was super optimistic, having fun conversations with my first 4 classes and everyone was having a great time.

- My 5th period came around. THE 5th period. Smallest class. Biggest problems.

- Someone called one of my special education students retarded. Then it turned into a tidal wave of students saying this student was dumb, retarded, and stupid. I was furious.

- I proceeded to do a very nontraditional approach to explaining to my students why we should not use offensive words/terms in my classroom. I wrote every single offensive word they could think of on the board, sternly told them that they would NEVER use any of these words again because I would not tolerate them.

- 5th period decided they would meet me with resistance, some students citing that the word "the" was offensive to them. Unacceptable.

- I allowed 5th period to sit in silence for the final 10 minutes of class while I did breathing exercises to regain my composure.

- I learned a lesson, this type of talk with my students needs to happen on day 1 next year.

- After school we had an emergency operations meeting, some things were said/done that deeply offended me and some friends. As this is a public blog, I will not go into detail. Ask me personally if you want to know more. Long story short, I was so offended by the end of it that I was nearly in tears.

- Friday comes back around, most of my classes go superbly.

- 5th period: talking + laughing + not following instructions + talking back + not reacting to my warnings or punishments at all + telling me they would love to go to the principal's office + telling me they will write the referral for me + me losing my composure = 2 written referrals for removal from classroom (one to a student whose name does NOT match the attitude in any way) and a very very angry Mr. Hart.

- I had to leave school during my conference period just to cool down. I hope that I can recapture my students in that class that really want to learn and are obviously frustrated with the few that keep them from enjoying it. Hopefully, I'll also capture those that don't care right now and hopefully I can help them change and make a difference in their lives.

- Immediately after school I left for Dallas (where I am now at the Starbucks in the Downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel), I had to get away from San Antonio for a little bit.

BUT, congratulations to my Golden Bear Football team for beating the Sam Houston Hurricanes last night!

Week 3

First off, I just want to say how excited I am that it is now football season. My TV will only take a break from football for the True Blood season finale tomorrow.

This week was rough. After an amazing, much-needed 3-day Labor Day weekend, I went into the week energized, optimistic, and excited that it was a test week (meaning one day for review and one day for a test). After the first 2 days I was sure I was going to break. Review day went terribly, and then finally I had my day of silence during the test.

So things that happened this week:

- Last week I mentioned to some of my classes that I was kind of addicted to a Katy Perry song (Teenage Dream). After the test this week, I turned on the radio and Teenage Dream was on, so I faked dancing a little bit and my students asked me if I went clubbing. I said "absolutely not, I don't have enough money, I dance at home". They believed me.

- The average test score of all my classes was 69% (one class had a 78% average)...and somehow I am actually kinda proud of this.

- 5th period, one of my students brought a 50-piece Chicken McNugget meal to class. The first 5 minutes of class then turned into a Chicken McNugget all-out feast instead of taking their test.

- One student who has only been to my class 3 times this semester whispered to a friend "I hate this class." I proceeded to stop what I was doing, look at this student and say "(Name here), you have been to this class only 3 times, how would you possibly know that you hate this class?" She stayed quiet and the rest of the class did an "Oh dannnnnggg" laughing.

- I was really happy when one of my students was having a bad day, because it meant they were quiet during class and did the work when asked.

- I asked students to write down what they learned so far in this class and what they struggle with and my student responses were all over the place:
- I learn a lot.
- The most important thing I've learned in my 15 years of life is how to learn.
- I struggle with...
- I learned lines and angles.
- I struggle with remembering things after class, I think I have dyslex in my head.
- I've learned more in this class than I did all last year.

Reading those responses, though it took forever, was easily the highlight of my week. But now, I need to do some grading, hasta luego!

Love Note!

__________

It's really hard to write this letter: I want it to be perfect like you . That last one felt really shallow, like I was trying to hard to copy yours and make it romantic, though every single word is true without a doubt!

You see, there are so many reasons why I love you, so many things that make you perfect and so many things I have to tell you! A thousand letters wouldn't be enough to describe there feelings. Of course there's generic reasons; your cute and smart and funny, but there's so much moer to you than meets the eye (on the side of the page: I love you more than anything in the world ). Conversations with you are never boring, you always have something interesting to say, whether we're talking about pokemon or the inside of a VCR. You're so cute too, not just appearance-wise, but the way you act. You're affectionate and so child-like! I love it!

Your really sensitive too. The smallest thing affects your mood. It's not a bad thing so don't worry! Your sensitivity is one of my favorite things about you. But there are times when you don't say things because you think you'll annoy me. < : / Don't think that anymore kay? You can tell me anything, even if it's really small like you stepped on a ladybug. I wanna know all about your day and what happened and why.

If only someone had written me this letter in high school, I would have been tied down so fast! And oh yeah, I also wish that whoever wrote this letter would have put as much effort into my class as they did writing it during class...oops.

Gotta love high school!

2 weeks down...about 2 years left

Wow. Talk about an emotional ride right now. Teaching is so much harder than I ever anticipated. It doesn't help that I only had 5 weeks of training before jumping in the classroom and being expected to follow a very structured curriculum while being told that I also need to push my students harder and beyond, and not leaving them with the bare minimum. Its supposed to be a 9-5 job, and I find myself having a 7:45 to 6 job. Ouch. That hurts my sleep a little bit.

So now that I ranted a little bit, I will give you all my weekly bullet points:

- My classroom management with classes of around 30 kids is excellent; with 13 kids its terrible.

- I have one period every day that I dread going to, this attitude needs to change or my year will be even worse.

- What happened to having time on the weekdays to watch TV or relax? I have not experienced it yet.

- One of my students told me that my class (3rd period) was the first class she had been to all day because she had a dentist appointment in the morning, but wanted to make sure she came because she liked my class.

- One of my students was promoted to the varsity football team this past week, and he gave me his jersey to wear on Friday!

- I started out the week really dreading going to school and nearly having a breakdown, then it finally rained and stormed and my attitude changed completely.

- 3 day weekends are amazing and should happen EVERY weekend.

- I told my students that my favorite song on the radio because its so catchy is Teenage Dream...all they said was "at least it's not pretty boy swag, Mr. Hart!" I then proceeded to try my best at doing the pretty boy swag.

- My students think I'm the biggest nerd in the world, and I love it. They also think that I'm in my late 20's or early 30's. HA!

- I am not completely dreading this week, as it is only 4 days and Friday I am giving a test (and most of the planning is already done! Way to go department collaboration.)

- When students say "all you have to do is grade" I want to punch them in the face. I know I used to say the same thing, but dang! Grading takes forever, as well as planning. I am now sorry to every teacher I told that to in my days as a student.

That's my weekly update! If you have any specific questions or would like to hear about a certain part of my new life, just ask me!