Confessions from the Couch

I’m on Day 2 of my collapse.  I never imagined that I could sleep this much.  *sigh*

Today is the last day of summer school . . .and what makes me mad:  I’m up at 4:34 in the morning. 4:34 !!!  I can actually get up when I want and show up when I want . . .and my body wakes me up at the “butt crack of dawn”  (coined from one of my BFFs).  So immediately my brain went into action thinking about school.

1. Today, I get to spend most of the morning in my new classroom working.  Yaaah, when I come back, all I will need to do is decorate!  The plan is to not step into the building again until July 27.  But I’ll be working during that time, I have AP training and I’ve got to get most of my plans for the week complete and change my classroom management plan . … yada yada yada.
2. I went to several starbucks as one person suggested and was able to obtain no milk crates.  None at the dollar tree.  Was thinking about going to walmart early this morning and seeing if they would give up a few.  Or Whole Foods.  The problem: The milk distributors in this area recycle them.  They come by and pick them up to reuse.  I think the stores make some sort of recycling fee. . . I said I would also roll by the back docks of some neighborhood schools and see if I could collect them like I did at my own.  I need about 10 more.  Preferably in black.
3. I thought I’d come up with a theme for my room, but maybe I haven’t.  I was thinking of doing some sort of play off of MTVs Road Rules.  I had planned to decorate with a green, white and black theme.  I had hoped that all of my major signs would be made of faux street signs (you know the green and white ones).  I spent a lot of time yesterday searching, for faux blank signs and didn’t find it.  All of the ones I could find would be the customizable aluminum ones at approx $10 a piece.  I even went to our local teacher store, picked up a catolog. . . nothing.  Today, I’ll try local craft stores and Lowes and Home Depot.  If I don’t find paper street signs in the next week, I’ll abandon the whole concept.  Maybe. . .. mmmhh… a “King of Pop” theme. . . you know he has a song for EVERYTHING!  LOL!  And finding microphones and music stuff may not be as difficult. *sigh*

Right now, it seems like very little is going my way in the realm of teacher preparation (maybe I’m fighting against the natural flow of things–b/c I am supposed to be on vacation)  . . .maybe this is why can’t find anything I want.

I grew up listening to MJ. . .he wasn’t a child star anymore by the time I came along, instead he was singing stuff like Beat It and Thriller, but one of my favorite songs was Heal The World.  One of my friends said ALL of her best memories happened to an MJ song. . .yep. . .as much as we have joked about him, he is our beloved MJ.  My tribute will be a back to school video using his music.

I did some planning today for AAH–West African culture. I’ve been searching ALL of YouTube trying to find a good African griot performance in English or with subtitles.  While searching for it, I ran across this.  I was sucked into it b/c what she said described me:

It reminded me that this past year, my students wrote lifted line poetry.  I know I was supposed to post it.  Just never got around to it.  Maybe I’ll get around to it this summer.    Anyway, I realized that these def poets are contemporary griots.  I make my students complete griot presentations  separate from their introduction to the class. . . this year, I am changing it.  Instead, they can choose any format:   def poetry, music or rap (despite my disdain for the art form), to present themselves to the class.  I may even allow some groups to form for their presentation.

Amazing, how stuff that interests you personally can turn into a wonderful lesson.

Yesterday, I posted about making a classroom library out of egg or milk crates.  I wanted to show a pictures of what I’m attempting to achieve.  With permission, I am posting pictures of co-teacher’s classroom library.

Keep in mind, she is storing some boxes and other items off the floor for the cleaning crew.  They are not normally there during the school year.   But I Love the look of her library.  ABSOLUTELY love it.  I like that she has globes and other decorative items sitting on top.

Another teacher was the inspiration for her to do this.  Take a look.

Personally, I hate this look.  It’s to OCD for me, it doesn’t look natural or like anyone has ever used it.

I’m interested to hear what my readers think of these kinds of set ups.

I’ve been tagged twice to complete the following meme.   So I guess I better hop to it.

Directions

Summer can be a great time for professional development. It is an opportunity to learn more about a topic, read a particular work or the works of a particular author, beef up an existing unit of instruction, advance one’s technical skills, work on that advanced degree or certification, pick up a new hobby, and finish many of the other items on our ever-growing To Do Lists. Let’s make Summer 2009 a time when we actually get to accomplish a few of those things and enjoy the thrill of marking them off our lists.

The Rules

NOTE: You do NOT have to wait to be tagged to participate in this meme.

1. Pick 1-3 professional development goals and commit to achieving them this summer.
2. For the purposes of this activity the end of summer will be Labor Day (09/07/09).
3. Post the above directions along with your 1-3 goals on your blog.
4. Title your post Professional Development Meme 2009 and link back/trackback to http://clifmims.com/blog/archives/2447.
5. Use the following tag/ keyword/ category on your post: pdmeme09.
6. Tag 5-8 others to participate in the meme.
7. Achieve your goals and “develop professionally.”
8. Commit to sharing your results on your blog during early or mid-September

My summer  PD goals:

1. Attend AP World History training in Houston.
2. Attend FHAO training
3. Get a foldable book and read it.
4. Purchasing Graphic Organizer book by Jim Burke & reading it.

I wish I had more time to attend PD this summer (I actually had planned to attend a tech workshop), but after summer school I’ll be wiped.  It would be unreasonable to do more.  Next summer, I’m hoping that I can attend another workshop by Marcia Tate or a Dinah Zike workshop.

Earlier a teacher friend of mine’s facebook status read:  is not doing anything and nothing is on my mind.  I asked her to teach me her ways!  I’m dying to know if it is possible–not to think about anything.  My mind does not know how to go on vacation.  It just doesn’t. . . and it doesn’t help that I’m anxious about the new year.  I keep thinking about all that has to be done.

• Completely prepping a new room
• Prepping 4 subjects
• Revamping my classroom management plan to reflect the freshmen academy “team” . . .even though, we haven’t decided ANYTHING as a group and probably won’t until the 1st week back. *sigh*  Every year I tweek my plan, I have plans to tweek it this year . . .I hate COLLABORATION!!!

On Friday, the custodians came by my summer school class to tell me that my new room was ready.  (I had asked them earlier when I could get in to decorate for the new year.)    They suggested that I get summer school boys to help me configure the furniture for the new year.  Well, you know me, I took advantage of that advice.

Here are pictures of the new space .

This is a picture from the door way.   This room seems soooo much smaller than my last one.  But I WILL make it work!

I am moving my desk by the AC unit this year.  I’m tired of the complaints about it being cold and I can’t function when it is hot.   So, this way the none of the kids have to sit by the unit.  I’ll have to buy a ton of extension cords and wires, but I’ll be happy and hopefully students will be happier with the temperature.

My classroom library will be under the windows.  I am planning to build a book case out of egg crates (idea stolen from co-teacher).   I’m hoping to do something similar to this.   I’m thinking that I will need a total of 18 crates to make it all work.  It will hold the actually library, classroom set of texts and dictionaries.

That brown board over there is an old chalk board.  Yep, we still have chalk boards in our building.  I put in an order for a white board before the school year ended.  If it doesn’t show up in time.  I will be painting it white.

I’m thinking this will be the focal point–projector will face this way, etc.   If I do things the other way, it will be a room of LONG rows and that will kill me!  You know, I kind of wish I had tables in my room.

Random thoughts about this room:

• Where do I get enough crates without paying a WHOLE bunch of money?  I’ve “borrowed” 5 from the cafeteria.  But I need more.  And these crates are about $5 a pop at  Walmart.
• I need a new color scheme.  Last year, I a had a collage of colors through out my room.  It was just one big OLE RAINBOW.  I love bright colors.  I loved the light blue & yellow.  However, I want a consistent theme.  Miss CF said she’d like come up with something (she hates my collagey style), but her brain is on vacation and does not want to talk about school.
• Does anyone know about a fabric guard that protects against sun bleaching?  When I took down all of my stuff, the fabric (used as the background on all of my bulletin boards) was two different shades.  I hadn’t really noticed it during the school year.  I had to throw it away.  In the future I’d like to reuse the fabric.

So, I’ve been watching this video OVER and OVER again.

It cracks me up every single time.  I think I’ll be using that video through out the year!  Maybe, it can be a motivational thing.  I KNOW I’m going to find a way to integrate it into my course introduction/rules video.

Maybe it should be a MOTTO!!! WOOO HEEEE.  I LOVE HISTORY!!!!

Last night, I had a nightmare.  Seriously, it is my first in a long time. . . . it wasn’t anything that I ate. My mom says she thinks nightmares are often a response to something we have eaten or seen before bedtime.  I didn’t eat anything and I NEVER watch horror movies–I think they steal people’s innocence.

Personally, I think my anxiety exists due to insecurities about next school year.  I’m SCARED.  Let me tell you about the nightmare.  I dreamed the following

• I was at a new school.  A more rigorous school. . . one that encouraged critical thinking.  Everything around me was new.  Didn’t know a soul!
• I was teaching 5 preps–they were throwing in US History
• I danced in a choreographed routine before the whole school body and it stunk.  The dream jumped sooo much.  This is the strangest thing.
• It was the first day and I was NOT on my game.  Not at all!  I didn’t understand the schedule.
• Someone else had lead my class before I arrived and had not taught classroom procedures.  I didn’t teach procedures/rules.  Kids were talking and not following my procedures and I felt so helpless.  Every time a student asked a question, I did not know the answer.  It was frustrating.

My subconscious knowing the impending reality warned me this morning.  Why I think I woke up this morning scared:

• I talk with Principal this week and I’ll have 4 preps FOR SURE this year.  Freshman World History, AP World, AAH, FHAO.  I think I’d be fine if I didn’t have the FHAO.
• Nothing is prepped for the new year.  Summer school is more work than I thought.  Even though, I have a month & 1/2 before its time to go back to school, I’ve done very little in the way of preparations.  Everytime, I look up, the summer school office is asking for additional paper work or I have to help students or I have to do this or that.  So, nothing has gone according to what everyone said about it.  By the time the afternoon rolls around, I’m so tired I can’t function . . . When I actually have a moment to prep, I’m to tired to think.
• I am so overwhelmed with all that needs to be done for my classes that I don’t know WHERE to begin and with which subject.  I have a dream, that I will create all of my ancillaries and unit plans and put them in a binder . .. and all I’ll have to do is, show up to work everyday . . . (also, i don’t know when I’m teaching what as far as what semester.)
• In all the meetings we’ve had for our freshman academy, we have produced NOTHING.  They want us to have uniform rules and uniform this and that. . .as I start thinking/restructuring my procedures to fit requirements of Freshman Academy, I feel like if I create all of this stuff, it will be voided by the beginning of the year.   I suggested we get a google group so that we could discuss things over the summer and come to a consensus about a few of the operations.  AP has done nothing of the sort and does not seem to care.
• I want to do my resume and portfolio so that I can get out.

Maybe, if I worked ALL day and night on everything I’d be ready in time by the time school starts.  Needless to say, my anxiety is through the roof.  I’m scared. Paniked.  Freaked out.  Maybe if I made my “to do” list smaller.   Or maybe, I just need a starting place.    I’m scared.  I’m worried. Paniked.  Freaked Out.

And I keep thinking:  Am I good enough for AP?  Do I have enough tools in my pocket to engage students in critical thinking?  Am I crazy?  Maybe I should just quit everything.  Or maybe, I need to figure out a “type A” organization system to keep my world peaceful. . . but what happens when things don’t go according to plan?

I’m scared.  I’m worried. Paniked.  Freaked Out.  I’m feeling like I just don’t have enough information!

AP training is July 6-10 and I’ll arrive on the 5th. What can I expect when I’m there?

I think I need a vacation. For real, after coming back from Houston, I’m thinking I need to make reservations to just go anywhere and do nothing and lay on the beach and see the sights and do nothing. Anyone got any suggestions? Wish I had a traveling buddy. I just want to experience a week of quiet, children free bliss. And do nothing and lay on the beach and waddle in the ocean or pool. . .

So, I’m sitting here today EXCITED , but extremely LETHARGIC . . . .I don’t want to be here and I’m kicking myself the rear b/c I could be at home.  I signed up for this.  I allowed a few dollars to interfere with my summertime chillin’.  I know better next time.  Here are thoughts running through my head as I babysit, beg kids to work and wistfully think about my bed & tv & couch. . ..

1. I spoke with my friend about her interview.  It was exciting to hear all about it.  She made me pump the air quite a few times as she told me the questions and her responses.  They DID ask about classroom management, why she wanted to be a teacher, her strengths & weakness etc.  I learned a lot from her experience–thinking about starting the job hunt next year.  I don’t want to leave my kids and where I’m comfortable, but I’ve got the itch to see and do something new.
2. I love the teaching profession and most of my colleagues.  Here is what I love most:  The free sharing of ideas and the helpfulness of others.  This is the only job I’ve really ever had this experience.  In other jobs, it was like how can I outshine my co-workers.  And online people are especially helpful! I figure we do this because all teachers want the best for students everywhere.  The only issues I have with sharing:  those who don’t reciprocate.  Speaking of which, this might be a problem in the fall.  We are supposed to collaborate in & across teams next fall in the Freshman Academy.  There are only 2 World History teachers.  The other teacher is has been teaching for at least 10 years, but EVERY SINGLE TIME we have to collaborate, she brings nothing.  Not even ideas.  I think there is an expectation that I will do for the both of us.  Nope.  Collaborating means we BOTH work.
3. Last night, I spoke with friend . . .and we asked: Where is the enthusiasm we had when we first started teaching?  I’ve been thinking about it all day.  Honestly, I think it gets drowned out by the administrative functions of the job:  calling parents, documenting, dealing with behavior, meetings, late days.  Every year I get excited about the start of new year-look at my blog, you can see the enthusiasm.  I love decorating the classroom, planning and PD.  But something happens in about February . . . . even after the long Christmas break.  Does anyone else ever go through this?  Have these feelings?
4. I’ve been loosing my voice a lot lately.  I haven’t been straining it or anything.   My allergies don’t seem to be inflamed.  Yet, when I talk and I hear myself, I sound like a dude!  Does anyone have any ideas about this?  I’m not sore or sick.. . guess I need to see the doc . hhmm  *sigh*

I have a friend who is preping for her first interview for a teaching job.  She asked me for advice.   After I stopped screaming with excitement, here is the advice I gave:

1. I can guarantee they are going to ask about your classroom management philosophy/plan. They always do, especially with new teachers. (At least they do in my district) Clarify it in your own head, even if you don’t have anything written!  And be prepared to defend it!  Even if its untraditional.  Make sure you KNOW what you’ve written, if its in written form. Plan to tell them how you would implement it/or how it would look in your classroom. P.S. Never say that classroom management will be your weakness (they know you are 1st year), come up with something else!
2. Use educational jargon: cooperative learning (everyone is into this), technology, differentiation, motivation and talk about how you implement it in your classroom.  And it always help if you can back it up in your portfolio . .. showing examples of these things.
3. To stand out:  COME PREPARED!!!  (can you believe some people come with nothing?)   Portfolio. . . know where the stuff is in your portfolio . ex: “if you’ll turn to page 25, you’ll see a lesson that offers differentiation. It has . .. ” Plan to leave something behind-along with your resume & philosophy. That something should be the something that will WOW them. If you leave a CD, make sure that it something that is really organized and that people can follow really easily. Consider compiling pictures, lessons, philosphies, strengths into a powerpoint . That way everything is in one presentation and they don’t have to click and open several different files.  The great thing about powerpoint is you can build links to other files-videos, word docs, etc. Don’t forget to put directions on the label.
4. Study the school or school district.  If they have a different/unique philosophy, you NEED to know it, so that you can show how fit into it.
5. Don’t forget to send a thank you letter.  Prepare it before the interview, so that you’ll have it ready to send via fax and/or email after the interview.  This way, all you’ll need to do after the interview is add 1 or 2 lines reiterating something you talked about in the interview.

Beyond this, I’m stumped. . . really, stumped.  So, I need your help.  What are somethings she can do to leave a LASTING impact and win the job?  Please give some concrete ideas of what people look for when their hiring.

I honestly do not have much to post about.

• There is little going on, other than summer school.   Students are finishing the summer school tutorials (its all computer based), but won’t be allowed to take the exam for at least another week! Well, you know what students do when they think there is nothing else to do–they chat and disrupt.  What am I to do?  The site manager tells me to ask them to study quietly.  This plan is not working.
• I’m excited and pumped about my AP training.
• Feel a growing sense of Anticipation and frustration and EXCITEMENT  about this fall.  We’re  starting a “Freshman Academy,” which I am apart of  . .. but I have no  idea what my teaching load will look like.  Went by to talk with Principal today and HE STILL has no idea either!  Urggghhh . . .there isn’t even confidence that I will be teaching AP World!    I just don’t know what to do as far is planning goes.  I know that I could clean up my World History units and plan for AAH . . . and read for AP, but who wants to do all of that when you’re not sure!  Can you see where I’m going with this  .  . . or maybe I’m just making excuses to take the place of my procrastination.

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David shared the following post with me and it really affirms what I try to do in my own classroom.  I hope to have this down in the next few years of teaching.

Next year, our district is converting all of the high schools to an A/B block schedule-friday will be a rotating day.  I’m not sure how all of this will work.  The math teachers seem to think we’ll lose about 20 hours of instruction for the year.  The administrators say class sizes will decrease and we’ll have more QUALITY TIME with our students    They keep assuring us that we’ll get a conference/ planning period every day. . . me, I’m excited, but confused.  When I do the math, same number of teachers, same classes, it just doesn’t add up.  Nevertheless, I am excited:

• It will be exciting to complete an entire lesson in one class.  No more of this saying, “we’ll finish it tomorrow.”  When I plan a big lesson, we’ll be able to finish it.  There will finally be closure.
• We can really do some indepth activities.  I have ruled out a lot of things because of the time constraints.

Things I’ve been thinking about:

• Homework will be necessary.  I don’t see how I can teach, do reinforcement activities and cover the entire curriculum along with the mandates of freshman academy such as motivation and life skills.  One of the things my kids have loved is “No Homework” policy. With the new block scheduling, my classtime definitely needs to be more produce.  My issue:  structure of the homework.  I was thinking of doing chapter packets of some sort.  Or doing targets (from David)  and having them due in at the end of the week.    But I worry about cheating–this is why I stopped assigning homework a long time ago.  Cheating . . . or homework could be to study.  And I could pop quiz the students on broad topics to see to check for studying/reading. . . uuuugghhh.  Such a hard decision.   What types of things do you assign for homework?
• Format of my block time.  I am thinking:  20 minute increments for all activities.  Standard days would consist of :

10 minutes for bw, discussion & announcement

20 min for lecture/discussion/reading (content delivery time)

20 minutes for some type of hands-on/game,

20 minutes independent practice/activity/new instruction,

15 minutes review/discussion/collaborative activity

5 minutes closure/motivational moment

• I will need to have several back up plans/alternative lessons if stuff does not work out  or my timing is off.

These are just my ideas. . . no experience whatsoever with this.  How do you divide up your block.  They gave us this book on blocks on the last day of school.  I haven’t looked at it.  I guess, I’ll jump into it tonight.

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When you put yourself out there on the net, you really open yourself up to criticism. In my tenure here, there has been a lot of good and it has outweighed the all of bad. After reading some negative comments toward me and commenters on this blog, I found myself  asking, “Why in the world do I keep doing this to myself? If I’m truly doing this for myself, why don’t I go private?”

But the reality is, I like the conversation that exists here.  I love when people post ideas, I have tried quite a few things in my classroom as a result of readers who post.  Yet, there are so many cruel people out there!  People who say ugly & inconsiderate things.  Yes, I delete their comments before they post, but I still had to read them.

*sigh*

Angela Powell at The Cornerstone linked me on her blog for my year end reflections.  I realized, in the midst of all of my personal postings of late, that it would be extremely difficult to find what she was looking for.  So, here is a post with all of the links for my year end reflections:

The link for the reflection document completed by my students or check it out on ScribD!

Year End Reflections pt 1 (Songs & Motivation)
The Internet is My Friend (Best Activities of the Year)
Videos and Reflections (Student’s Favorite Topics)
A Working Summer (If Students Could Create Assignments)
Things my students hated
Words of Warning

So, I’ve given this a lot of thought-bloggin about personal issues, thoughts, just the general craziness that exists in my life in conjunction with my professional development.  What helped me to make this decision was MMT’s comment:

Aren’t you a teacher even when you’re “off duty”? Aren’t you a human being even in the classroom? Why try to separate yourself into little pieces? You are who you are–all of you! And I’m glad to read of your struggles in and triumphs in ALL parts of your life!

I’ve decided that I will password protect those posts.  So, now there will be 3 categories of posts on this blog.

• School/Academic–teaching strategies, classroom management discussions, lesson plans, funny stories etc.
• VENTs-stuff that went on at school (the current password will work for this stuff)  Remember, these are just expressions. . . no solutions needed.
• Therapy-stuff going on in my personal life:  weight, dating, debt management. . . probably, a lot of stuff about weight.  (this will have a separate password)

This will be how I compartmentalize my life. . . so that the general focus is still my teaching life; however, I’ll get an opportunity to express the total me.