on the sick day, i got a call at about 4:30 from a fellow teacher who felt like she should fill me in on what had happened in my class at the end of the day.
i still don't have all the details, but it involved a toy - but VERY real looking - gun (i saw it), threats, a suspension, parents up at the school ... who then blamed me for some IEP non-compliance business. total garbage, but still, so annoying. this parent says she has asked me "multiple times" to redo her son's IEP and place him in a more restrictive environment. umm, she has never called me. not once. stopped up at school once to pick him up when he got arrested, which resulted in his father coming into my classroom and telling (yelling) the whole class that he would F* them and their parents the f* up if they f*ing messed with his son anymore.
yep. my fault. yeah right.
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
sick day 2
i didn't go to school on monday. i had sore muscles (from alllll the strenuous exercise i've been doing lately. um, wait. well ... anyway) and could literally not get out of bed.
on tuesday, my kids told me ALL day long about how much fun they had - why couldn't i be sick again, why don't we have free time all day, why don't we watch movies??????
they watched a movie called "nightmare on drug street." they said it taught them not to use drugs. and then they asked if they could watch it again. i asked them to tell me why they shouldn't use drugs. they gave me some good reasons, and so i concluded, sounds like you learned what you needed from that movie. i don't think you need to watch it again. they flipped out.
geez louise. who knew that me taking a day off would be so great for all of us?
on tuesday, my kids told me ALL day long about how much fun they had - why couldn't i be sick again, why don't we have free time all day, why don't we watch movies??????
they watched a movie called "nightmare on drug street." they said it taught them not to use drugs. and then they asked if they could watch it again. i asked them to tell me why they shouldn't use drugs. they gave me some good reasons, and so i concluded, sounds like you learned what you needed from that movie. i don't think you need to watch it again. they flipped out.
geez louise. who knew that me taking a day off would be so great for all of us?
the gameboy
the gameboy belonged to one of my girls (the one who calls me matthew - who also knows all the 10 commandments).
when she realized it was gone, she was upset, but more indignant that someone had the audacity to steal something. she kept saying, it won't be my problem when God judges them for bein' a thief. he says not to steal and you disobey well then you just gonna burn and if you wanna do that then that's your problem and it's just a gameboy why would you want to disobey God just for a gameboy ... (and on and on, rambling for, oh 20 minutes or so)
i told her i really appreciated her attitude about it.
when she realized it was gone, she was upset, but more indignant that someone had the audacity to steal something. she kept saying, it won't be my problem when God judges them for bein' a thief. he says not to steal and you disobey well then you just gonna burn and if you wanna do that then that's your problem and it's just a gameboy why would you want to disobey God just for a gameboy ... (and on and on, rambling for, oh 20 minutes or so)
i told her i really appreciated her attitude about it.
new kid
i have a new kid in my class. this is his second week. he hasn't stayed in the classroom for longer than 20 minutes at any given time. he hasn't done any work, and the first words he used toward me were curse words. special.
he got kicked out of his other school for stealing, i think.
since he's been in our classroom, a calculator and a gameboy have gone missing.
awesome.
he got kicked out of his other school for stealing, i think.
since he's been in our classroom, a calculator and a gameboy have gone missing.
awesome.
i love
days when it is just quiet and chill in my classroom.
today, 2 kids were suspended, 1 was absent, 1 ran around in the halls all day, and 1 was next door in another class all day.
that means 5 kids, all day long. we just hung out ... read together, did some math, played some games, set up a science experiment (sprouting seeds) ... just fun.
today, 2 kids were suspended, 1 was absent, 1 ran around in the halls all day, and 1 was next door in another class all day.
that means 5 kids, all day long. we just hung out ... read together, did some math, played some games, set up a science experiment (sprouting seeds) ... just fun.
the countdown
man oh man. we are well under one month away from the end of school.
16 full days, 2 half days of school left. glory glory.
16 full days, 2 half days of school left. glory glory.
Monday, May 15, 2006
mmm.
hail is falling now
blue-yellow, our sky seems green
i love these spring dusks
(my haiku about the weather)
blue-yellow, our sky seems green
i love these spring dusks
(my haiku about the weather)
sigh part II
big big big ol' fight today. lasted off and on for the last 40 minutes of the day. two boys in my class at each others' throats, over nothing. just some rude-ish words exchanged, and then their tempers took over.
in the course of the fighting, another student threw a chair at a TSS worker, who is pressing charges - the student left school in handcuffs today.
absolutely unbelievable.
in the course of the fighting, another student threw a chair at a TSS worker, who is pressing charges - the student left school in handcuffs today.
absolutely unbelievable.
sigh.
today i got a new kid. he got kicked out of his other school for his "sticky fingers."
he knows all the boys in my class from elementary school and is as rowdy as they are.
man oh man.
he knows all the boys in my class from elementary school and is as rowdy as they are.
man oh man.
Monday, May 08, 2006
black eye
kid had a black eye today.
another kid asked him who hit him.
his answer: my dad.
i asked him later and he told me "i got in a fight and got beat up."
with your dad?
another kid asked him who hit him.
his answer: my dad.
i asked him later and he told me "i got in a fight and got beat up."
with your dad?
why did i wait?
i've been considering moving my desk from the back to the front of the room since, um, october? yes, since october. never got around to doing it, until last friday, when, with only 7 kids, we chilled out for a lot of the day. they wanted to rearrange the room, so my compromise was that i'd "let" them move my desk to the location to which i have been wanting to move it anyway.
i feel like it's a whole new classroom. i LOVE sitting at my desk (something i haven't done all year because i had to push the desk against the wall about the 4th week of school because the kids kept stealing stuff from it). it is so great.
i feel like it's a whole new classroom. i LOVE sitting at my desk (something i haven't done all year because i had to push the desk against the wall about the 4th week of school because the kids kept stealing stuff from it). it is so great.
mummies
by the way - we made paper mache mummies on friday.
i thought that was worth mentioning. we used hugs containers (those nasty kid juices in plastic barrels), scrunched 'em up real good, and went to town with paste and newspaper strips. then we did the last few layers in paper towel, all the while talking about natron and embalming.
one girl had to go sit in the back, she was grossed out by the paste. really thought she was for sure going to puke.
but everyone else LOVED it.
i thought that was worth mentioning. we used hugs containers (those nasty kid juices in plastic barrels), scrunched 'em up real good, and went to town with paste and newspaper strips. then we did the last few layers in paper towel, all the while talking about natron and embalming.
one girl had to go sit in the back, she was grossed out by the paste. really thought she was for sure going to puke.
but everyone else LOVED it.
reasons
oh, but one of the reasons for today's marvelous-ness is ... 3 kids absent.
and by absent, i mean suspended.
and by absent, i mean suspended.
planning
planning really makes a difference. last night i decided at about 11 that i should be a good teacher today and actually plan some good things for the kids to do. so i did.
and it was lovely. one of the students even said, wow, ms. matthews decided to get real real good at the end of the year. why'd you wait? i said, why'd you wait so long to behave? (he still is not all that well-behaved).
we even did a science experiment (literally the second of the year. oops.)!
and it was lovely. one of the students even said, wow, ms. matthews decided to get real real good at the end of the year. why'd you wait? i said, why'd you wait so long to behave? (he still is not all that well-behaved).
we even did a science experiment (literally the second of the year. oops.)!
sunday afternoon ...
trips to the museum.
wow.
a few apologies are in order:
1. to the penn museum staff member who had to pull one of my students off of an exhibit.
3. to the other museum visitors if you were trying to concentrate on an exhibit.
4. to all the random people student #3 kept saying things to as we walked down locust walk and baltimore avenue (can i have a drink? can i play? are you racing (to bikers) - who's winning? ... and on and on)
and many thanks:
1. to my four students who came.
2. to my precious gal who brought her mom, cousin, brother and sister. and who fell asleep at one point on a bench. and who still calls me matthew. i love that girl.
3. to sally, allison, reid, and kates who came and saved me from having to be the only adult in charge of the kids. AND for pairing up with the boys one on one to take them around the museum. seriously saved my life there, friends. not kidding when i say i don't know what i would have done without you.
4. to the egyptians who chose to preserve their dead in such a fascinating way.
wow.
a few apologies are in order:
1. to the penn museum staff member who had to pull one of my students off of an exhibit.
3. to the other museum visitors if you were trying to concentrate on an exhibit.
4. to all the random people student #3 kept saying things to as we walked down locust walk and baltimore avenue (can i have a drink? can i play? are you racing (to bikers) - who's winning? ... and on and on)
and many thanks:
1. to my four students who came.
2. to my precious gal who brought her mom, cousin, brother and sister. and who fell asleep at one point on a bench. and who still calls me matthew. i love that girl.
3. to sally, allison, reid, and kates who came and saved me from having to be the only adult in charge of the kids. AND for pairing up with the boys one on one to take them around the museum. seriously saved my life there, friends. not kidding when i say i don't know what i would have done without you.
4. to the egyptians who chose to preserve their dead in such a fascinating way.
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
remember when
i looked out the window one winter morning before school and i saw one of my students (the one who calls me matthew). she waved to me and yelled for me to watch. she took a big flat cafeteria crate and "sledded" down the concrete steps on the side of the school. i only watched for a few rounds but she kept at it for 15 minutes or so.
i want to remember that moment.
i want to remember that moment.
makes me want to
argh. at the end of the school day, the principal announced (in a mean, you're in trouble tone) "all teachers who took their classes outside today, report to my office immediately."
a few of my kids still in the room after having just returned from ... outside (uh oh) groaned and (of course) immediately started "ms. matthews! aahh! you're in trouble."
i go down to the office and got reamed along w/ a few others for taking my kids outside. "this is a middle school. we do not have recess - " over and over and over. the principal was so unbelievably rude.
it's the most absurd thing ever. i have 11 year olds in my class who might as well be 6. recess is the only thing that gets us through some days because we won't go outside unless we have finished all of our work. it was one of the only redeeming things about the rest of the school year - that i can count on the weather enough to plan to go outside often.
i am really sad. it makes me want to take my kids on a "nature walk" (an alternative that, with administrative approval, would be acceptable ... but i have no desire to lead my kids around on the sidewalk. i want them to play.) and be gone ALL day.
a few of my kids still in the room after having just returned from ... outside (uh oh) groaned and (of course) immediately started "ms. matthews! aahh! you're in trouble."
i go down to the office and got reamed along w/ a few others for taking my kids outside. "this is a middle school. we do not have recess - " over and over and over. the principal was so unbelievably rude.
it's the most absurd thing ever. i have 11 year olds in my class who might as well be 6. recess is the only thing that gets us through some days because we won't go outside unless we have finished all of our work. it was one of the only redeeming things about the rest of the school year - that i can count on the weather enough to plan to go outside often.
i am really sad. it makes me want to take my kids on a "nature walk" (an alternative that, with administrative approval, would be acceptable ... but i have no desire to lead my kids around on the sidewalk. i want them to play.) and be gone ALL day.
Friday, April 28, 2006
the last few days
complete washes as far as anything academic goes. we haven't done ANYTHING.
wednesday: a fashion show assembly that was supposed to be about african pride/awareness ... yet every outfit was just a hoochied version of something the kids already wear. lasted over an hour.
yesterday: make decorations for special ed. assembly. read a short story. start math lesson. do about 5 problems. hang up decorations. lunch. outburst jr. with 3 kids (the rest were all over the place). open house/assembly (parents came), where each class had a performance (ours was a little langston hughes poetry - my 'actor' memorized and recited. quite a good job, he did). play outside. go to gym/art/music.
today: only had half my class. silent reading. lunch. everyone ran out or was taking benchmark tests, so i read to one girl while 2 boys played a game. music. computer. early dismissal - 12:19.
:)
wednesday: a fashion show assembly that was supposed to be about african pride/awareness ... yet every outfit was just a hoochied version of something the kids already wear. lasted over an hour.
yesterday: make decorations for special ed. assembly. read a short story. start math lesson. do about 5 problems. hang up decorations. lunch. outburst jr. with 3 kids (the rest were all over the place). open house/assembly (parents came), where each class had a performance (ours was a little langston hughes poetry - my 'actor' memorized and recited. quite a good job, he did). play outside. go to gym/art/music.
today: only had half my class. silent reading. lunch. everyone ran out or was taking benchmark tests, so i read to one girl while 2 boys played a game. music. computer. early dismissal - 12:19.
:)
long past
remember my kid who auditioned for a play at his community center?
he got a part ... as a dope fiend (spelling?).
he was happy about getting the part, but thought it was pretty lame that he had to play a dope fiend. he said, "ms. matthews, you see, i'm not tryin' to be like that."
so he went and talked to the guys in charge. they gave him a new part -
a banker.
he did a little dance when he told me the news.
he got a part ... as a dope fiend (spelling?).
he was happy about getting the part, but thought it was pretty lame that he had to play a dope fiend. he said, "ms. matthews, you see, i'm not tryin' to be like that."
so he went and talked to the guys in charge. they gave him a new part -
a banker.
he did a little dance when he told me the news.
Thursday, April 27, 2006
a dream deferred
what happens to a dream deferred?
does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
or fester like a sore-
and then run?
does it stink like rotten meat?
or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?
maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
or does it explode?
does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
or fester like a sore-
and then run?
does it stink like rotten meat?
or crust and sugar over-
like a syrupy sweet?
maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.
or does it explode?