And I am now the person who helps that happen. I'm not sure if I'm excited or just feel silly, but I am officially a bus driver as of this morning. I had to get this license so that I could drive as a coach. It has taken me since October... really August, but I didn't start trying til October. I only failed one test the first time and it was by 1 question. ARG! But I retook it immediately and did fine. All other 4 written tests were a whole lot easier and on my bus driving field test today, I made a 93!!!! (And that was after I forgot the procedure for picking kids up at a stop.)
We also had to parrallel park... a bus... yes, a bus!!! Its so crazy.
Anyhow, I am a bus driver now so tell your friends and family to get off the road... and since its a bus... the sidewalks too!!!
-coach b!
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
Mini-CAST
Anyone who is anyone in the science teaching world of Texas has heard of a little thing called CAST. It brings lots of science people from all over the state together once a year to share ideas on how to teach and what to use. I was able to attend the mini-CAST in my area this weekend and I had a ton of fun. I even used some of the stuff today.
There is a collaborative at UTD for the Geology unit. It extends from K through 8th grade and I received black line masters and materials to teach it. The cool thing is that they do really fun experiments. They taught plate tectonics using snacks.... icing, graham crackers, and fruit rollups. They told us great ways to teach convection... including what I am doing today as a review. I just put a beaker on a hot plate and put some paper holes in it. As the water boiled, the kids could see that the paper was sinking and floating as the water cooled and heated. Pretty neat!
I also sat through one about atoms. It went all through atoms without actually saying any of the key terms... which isn't helpful for TAKS, but is really helpful for having kids visualize atoms. They even gave us samples so that we could take it home and do it ourselves. SO SIMPLE!
I visited some helpful boothes. At one of them I bought a blow-up "beach ball" that has good geology review questions on it. I think it was more specifically about the rock cycle, but you could use it as an assessment, and also give it to kids when they are finished with regular work. I haven't opened it yet, but I am hoping I will get to make some of my owrn for other topics so that we can use them for our TAKS review days. At another one, I bought some cut outs that I have had laminated and my teacher aide is working on cutting them out (poor thing). But one set is used to draw out the rock cycle and another set we will use in the future to do the phases of the moon on a regular calendar. Its a whole class lesson. The last booth that I found really helpful was an Astronomy booth. These guys live pretty close by and they can either come to us or we can go to them and they will share their telescopes with us as well as let the kids take a picture of the stars and nebulas. HOW COOL! The pictures are then put on a disc for us to take back with us. One of the 7th grade teachers and I were thinking of starting an Astronomy club. This would be the perfect field trip for us and its free as long as we can drive there. (And guess who will have their CDL license at the end of the week. WHOOP!)
The last class I went to was about polymers. They introduced us to the concept and then showed us all kinds of experiments and demonstrations we can do with them. We did density in preforms (fat test tube looking things that were originally created to be blown into 2 liter coke bottles but have small defects which put them in the toss pile.) They gave us samples of fake snow, the chemical that soaks up and holds liquid in diapers, and some crystals that absorb so much water that they become 95% water, but when they dry out they return to the original size.
The only thing I noticed that dissapointed me was that there were not a lot of young teachers there. The age difference was HUGE! They kept referring to things that either happened before I was born or while I was too small to remember. I already feel out of place with my students sometimes but this was the other extreme. I know these teachers have been around forever and they want to teach us but I just want to find a way to get more young teachers involved in these conferences and stuff. Personally, I would not be successful if it weren't for the mentors that I have. It just makes me sad that other new teachers aren't taking the time and effort to make themselves and their students excel.
Have a great week... I know I will! -coach b!
There is a collaborative at UTD for the Geology unit. It extends from K through 8th grade and I received black line masters and materials to teach it. The cool thing is that they do really fun experiments. They taught plate tectonics using snacks.... icing, graham crackers, and fruit rollups. They told us great ways to teach convection... including what I am doing today as a review. I just put a beaker on a hot plate and put some paper holes in it. As the water boiled, the kids could see that the paper was sinking and floating as the water cooled and heated. Pretty neat!
I also sat through one about atoms. It went all through atoms without actually saying any of the key terms... which isn't helpful for TAKS, but is really helpful for having kids visualize atoms. They even gave us samples so that we could take it home and do it ourselves. SO SIMPLE!
I visited some helpful boothes. At one of them I bought a blow-up "beach ball" that has good geology review questions on it. I think it was more specifically about the rock cycle, but you could use it as an assessment, and also give it to kids when they are finished with regular work. I haven't opened it yet, but I am hoping I will get to make some of my owrn for other topics so that we can use them for our TAKS review days. At another one, I bought some cut outs that I have had laminated and my teacher aide is working on cutting them out (poor thing). But one set is used to draw out the rock cycle and another set we will use in the future to do the phases of the moon on a regular calendar. Its a whole class lesson. The last booth that I found really helpful was an Astronomy booth. These guys live pretty close by and they can either come to us or we can go to them and they will share their telescopes with us as well as let the kids take a picture of the stars and nebulas. HOW COOL! The pictures are then put on a disc for us to take back with us. One of the 7th grade teachers and I were thinking of starting an Astronomy club. This would be the perfect field trip for us and its free as long as we can drive there. (And guess who will have their CDL license at the end of the week. WHOOP!)
The last class I went to was about polymers. They introduced us to the concept and then showed us all kinds of experiments and demonstrations we can do with them. We did density in preforms (fat test tube looking things that were originally created to be blown into 2 liter coke bottles but have small defects which put them in the toss pile.) They gave us samples of fake snow, the chemical that soaks up and holds liquid in diapers, and some crystals that absorb so much water that they become 95% water, but when they dry out they return to the original size.
The only thing I noticed that dissapointed me was that there were not a lot of young teachers there. The age difference was HUGE! They kept referring to things that either happened before I was born or while I was too small to remember. I already feel out of place with my students sometimes but this was the other extreme. I know these teachers have been around forever and they want to teach us but I just want to find a way to get more young teachers involved in these conferences and stuff. Personally, I would not be successful if it weren't for the mentors that I have. It just makes me sad that other new teachers aren't taking the time and effort to make themselves and their students excel.
Have a great week... I know I will! -coach b!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Someone Needs a Hug
Well, yesterday I was called down to the pricipal's office. Hmmmm... Yes, that's what I was thinking. I was racking my brain to think of anything I had said or done that was not in line with standards. It ended up being about something I wasn't even expecting.
Without getting into toooooo many details (OK, this is a long story full of details about an angry parent... you've heard it all before!)
... An angry (and possibly crazy) mom received a text message from her daughter yesterday after practice. She told her mom that the coaches were running them too hard and a lot of girls were throwing up and stuff. She also told her mom that she blacked out while running. OK, so 1 girl threw up (she was looking pale for most of the morning before it happened)... 30 minutes after practice was over... because we had to end early so they could get their schedules for the new semester... and this was after they had come back from doing that. And.... crazy mom's kid never once told us about this blacking out bit.
This started a whirlwind of miscommunications from the daughter to the mother to the nurse to throw up girl to the coaches to the daughter back to the nurse and the mother and eventually to the principal. Apparently the mother said we were being too hard on her and blah blah blah.
Ok, this girl has no medical issues, has been cleared to do anything within reason and is never the last one. She is always middle of the pack... in conditioning, in game playing, in practice, in everything. She's not great, but she's doing a good job. I barely even notice her sometimes because she is a shy and quiet girl. So I don't understand why 3 weeks before the end of the season there is a huge problem with the mom-daughter combo.
I was eventually told by the principal to exercise caution when doing conditioning so that nothing happens... OK, not a problem. Then we had to decide on a consequence for using her cell phone in the locker room and usually we handle this with running, but under the circumstances, we thought that would be the worst thing to do. So we gave her a referral saying that she broke the rule of no cell phone use in the locker room... much less the school. (DUH!!!)
I brought her in and talked to her about it. I asked her to let me know if she doesn't feel well because I can't read her mind and we had a good talk. At the end I told her she was still receiving a consequence for the cell phone use and she signed the referral. She then asked to call her mom which of course I said yes too. Well... a few minutes later the mom wanted to talk to me. (I knew this was a bad idea but what do you do when a student is handing a phone to you and saying... here.) I took a deep breath and just calmly told her what was happening. Somehow in the middle of it she called me a liar 3 times and also accused me of not caring for her daughter as well as giving her an office referral for blacking out. I was so confused and agitated that I literally had to hang up on her right after I managed to say, "Ma'am, I'm hanging up now. Please call the office and we will set up an appointment to meet with the principal, athletic director and the two of us." I have no idea if she said anything else after that... I ran to meet the principal and warn him of what was about to happen and within 2 minutes she was calling him to say she was on her way up to school.
Now, this is where my part of the story kinda ends. I talked to the principal this afternoon and he said crazy mom (no, he didn't use those words) had been in his office for 2 hours and that I would not have to meet with her after all. He also told me that one of the attendance clerks was also called a liar more than once in the meeting they had with her. WHEW!!! So glad I didn't have to be there!
Oh, and I must add that this all happened during our Math TAKS simulation... you know, when everyone should be focusing on ALL the students and crazy mom's daughter went off to her test after being worked up by her mom.... I feel sorry for the whole family and I have decided I will never do well as a principal because I could not handle that.
I have also been reassured by the coaches and the office staff that I was in the right for working my kids hard and using running as discipline. After all, its athletics... and like they always say--- If you don't like it, get out.
WHEW! And that's the story of crazy mom... and her sweet daughter who will probably be just like her some day.
-coach b!
Without getting into toooooo many details (OK, this is a long story full of details about an angry parent... you've heard it all before!)
... An angry (and possibly crazy) mom received a text message from her daughter yesterday after practice. She told her mom that the coaches were running them too hard and a lot of girls were throwing up and stuff. She also told her mom that she blacked out while running. OK, so 1 girl threw up (she was looking pale for most of the morning before it happened)... 30 minutes after practice was over... because we had to end early so they could get their schedules for the new semester... and this was after they had come back from doing that. And.... crazy mom's kid never once told us about this blacking out bit.
This started a whirlwind of miscommunications from the daughter to the mother to the nurse to throw up girl to the coaches to the daughter back to the nurse and the mother and eventually to the principal. Apparently the mother said we were being too hard on her and blah blah blah.
Ok, this girl has no medical issues, has been cleared to do anything within reason and is never the last one. She is always middle of the pack... in conditioning, in game playing, in practice, in everything. She's not great, but she's doing a good job. I barely even notice her sometimes because she is a shy and quiet girl. So I don't understand why 3 weeks before the end of the season there is a huge problem with the mom-daughter combo.
I was eventually told by the principal to exercise caution when doing conditioning so that nothing happens... OK, not a problem. Then we had to decide on a consequence for using her cell phone in the locker room and usually we handle this with running, but under the circumstances, we thought that would be the worst thing to do. So we gave her a referral saying that she broke the rule of no cell phone use in the locker room... much less the school. (DUH!!!)
I brought her in and talked to her about it. I asked her to let me know if she doesn't feel well because I can't read her mind and we had a good talk. At the end I told her she was still receiving a consequence for the cell phone use and she signed the referral. She then asked to call her mom which of course I said yes too. Well... a few minutes later the mom wanted to talk to me. (I knew this was a bad idea but what do you do when a student is handing a phone to you and saying... here.) I took a deep breath and just calmly told her what was happening. Somehow in the middle of it she called me a liar 3 times and also accused me of not caring for her daughter as well as giving her an office referral for blacking out. I was so confused and agitated that I literally had to hang up on her right after I managed to say, "Ma'am, I'm hanging up now. Please call the office and we will set up an appointment to meet with the principal, athletic director and the two of us." I have no idea if she said anything else after that... I ran to meet the principal and warn him of what was about to happen and within 2 minutes she was calling him to say she was on her way up to school.
Now, this is where my part of the story kinda ends. I talked to the principal this afternoon and he said crazy mom (no, he didn't use those words) had been in his office for 2 hours and that I would not have to meet with her after all. He also told me that one of the attendance clerks was also called a liar more than once in the meeting they had with her. WHEW!!! So glad I didn't have to be there!
Oh, and I must add that this all happened during our Math TAKS simulation... you know, when everyone should be focusing on ALL the students and crazy mom's daughter went off to her test after being worked up by her mom.... I feel sorry for the whole family and I have decided I will never do well as a principal because I could not handle that.
I have also been reassured by the coaches and the office staff that I was in the right for working my kids hard and using running as discipline. After all, its athletics... and like they always say--- If you don't like it, get out.
WHEW! And that's the story of crazy mom... and her sweet daughter who will probably be just like her some day.
-coach b!
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
On Top!
Today we FINALLY found out the results of (MOST... I say most because the idiot scanner we have to grade these just happens to leave out some... but fortunately they are not ones that I particularly want to be counted) our TEKS check. My kids did the best out of all 4 science teachers. WOOOOO HOOOO!!!
I'm so excited for them. I even told some of my classes about it today and when I see the first half of the day I will tell them too! Ok, so I am pretty sure it is because we went over all these concepts the day before... so I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with being almost 10% higher in passing rate than any other teacher, but then I looked at the breakdowns and I don't feel so bad because my sub pops that I need to focus on are still doing poorly and as a whole I still only have on average a less than passing score. So, even though we went over these the day before, we still have some work to do. All my kids who failed this test will have mandatory tutoring during a two week span, at least 1 day each week... just so we can recover the concepts they are not so great at... or in other words... the whole test! Also, I really learned why question wording is so important. A whole bunch of my kids missed a question where the answer had the word "diminishing" in it. Well, my kids apparently see a word like that and then just pick a different answer. I would have thought that 8th graders would know this word, but.... no... this must be a very big vocab word. So, guess what word will be given some space on our next test or quiz?!?!?!
Tomorrow, we have a TAKS math simulation day. So I get to be a hall monitor because I am not technically certified yet. Can't decide if this is a good or bad thing yet, but I'm looking forward to not having to teach anything and kinda looking at my schedule for the next week or two.
My mom always says I jump too much from one thing to the next, so I will not go into other topics such as how I was called down to the principal's office today (and YES I still have a job) or 7th grade basketball, or projects as test grades, or first days of the new semester, or... well, you get the idea!!!
-coach b!
I'm so excited for them. I even told some of my classes about it today and when I see the first half of the day I will tell them too! Ok, so I am pretty sure it is because we went over all these concepts the day before... so I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with being almost 10% higher in passing rate than any other teacher, but then I looked at the breakdowns and I don't feel so bad because my sub pops that I need to focus on are still doing poorly and as a whole I still only have on average a less than passing score. So, even though we went over these the day before, we still have some work to do. All my kids who failed this test will have mandatory tutoring during a two week span, at least 1 day each week... just so we can recover the concepts they are not so great at... or in other words... the whole test! Also, I really learned why question wording is so important. A whole bunch of my kids missed a question where the answer had the word "diminishing" in it. Well, my kids apparently see a word like that and then just pick a different answer. I would have thought that 8th graders would know this word, but.... no... this must be a very big vocab word. So, guess what word will be given some space on our next test or quiz?!?!?!
Tomorrow, we have a TAKS math simulation day. So I get to be a hall monitor because I am not technically certified yet. Can't decide if this is a good or bad thing yet, but I'm looking forward to not having to teach anything and kinda looking at my schedule for the next week or two.
My mom always says I jump too much from one thing to the next, so I will not go into other topics such as how I was called down to the principal's office today (and YES I still have a job) or 7th grade basketball, or projects as test grades, or first days of the new semester, or... well, you get the idea!!!
-coach b!
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Floored!
Yesterday I found out, to my surprise, that 8th graders really do know more about science than they let on. After receiving the questions and answers for the TEKS check, I decided that my kids would never pass because out of 25 questions they knew about 5... that we had learned this year. Some of the questions were review from 7th grade but it seems like that was an awfully long time ago for them.... so I gave them a review.
Another teacher told my I shouldn't talk about doing that because its wrong, but I don't feel wrong about it. I didn't give any answers and I didn't even ask the questions on the test. However, I held the test in my hand and went over the different concepts that it covered. Perhaps this is wrong, but I don't think so.
It was amazing how much my kids knew about things we haven't covered yet this year. I would start out each thing by saying, "Tell me what you know about (earthquakes, hurricanes, food chains, etc.)." And then I would guide them to tell me more specifics.
In particular, some things I was surprised at:
*They were able to draw and label the rock cycle, which we had been going over, but never in a graphic form before.
*They knew that hurricanes were stronger over water because the warm ocean water would evaporate and give the hurricane more energy.
*They understood concepts like predation, habitat loss and generation cycles.
*They knew that rain water is filtered by soil and having cement on the ground makes pollutants run into the river.
*They could tell me about faults and mountains as well as how weathering and erosion could affect those things.
Let me tell you, I was so happy yesterday. I wish we could have days like that all the time. Each class was fully engaged and ready to answer the next question... no popsicle sticks needed! Now, as I type, my 3rd period class is working hard on this TEKS check, and I just hope they were able to retain some of that knowledge they shared with me yesterday.
I feel so prepared because I have all their semester exam reviews waiting for them to take. Tomorrow we are doing a mineral ID lab which should be pretty fun. Monday I won't be here and because of the crazy exam schedule next Tuesday, I will have different classes doing different things, but hopefully it will all work out. At the beginning of this week I was on a down. Seriously, I lost my keys for five hours and I thought I was having a mental breakdown, basketball was stressing me out and I felt like the whole world was against me. Today I am doing a whole lot better. We have basketball game tonight and even though we won't blow them away, I am pretty sure that my team has a bit of a clue now, so we should be ok. Yes, and I can't wait to start our new unit and be finished with all this talk about rocks!
Another teacher told my I shouldn't talk about doing that because its wrong, but I don't feel wrong about it. I didn't give any answers and I didn't even ask the questions on the test. However, I held the test in my hand and went over the different concepts that it covered. Perhaps this is wrong, but I don't think so.
It was amazing how much my kids knew about things we haven't covered yet this year. I would start out each thing by saying, "Tell me what you know about (earthquakes, hurricanes, food chains, etc.)." And then I would guide them to tell me more specifics.
In particular, some things I was surprised at:
*They were able to draw and label the rock cycle, which we had been going over, but never in a graphic form before.
*They knew that hurricanes were stronger over water because the warm ocean water would evaporate and give the hurricane more energy.
*They understood concepts like predation, habitat loss and generation cycles.
*They knew that rain water is filtered by soil and having cement on the ground makes pollutants run into the river.
*They could tell me about faults and mountains as well as how weathering and erosion could affect those things.
Let me tell you, I was so happy yesterday. I wish we could have days like that all the time. Each class was fully engaged and ready to answer the next question... no popsicle sticks needed! Now, as I type, my 3rd period class is working hard on this TEKS check, and I just hope they were able to retain some of that knowledge they shared with me yesterday.
I feel so prepared because I have all their semester exam reviews waiting for them to take. Tomorrow we are doing a mineral ID lab which should be pretty fun. Monday I won't be here and because of the crazy exam schedule next Tuesday, I will have different classes doing different things, but hopefully it will all work out. At the beginning of this week I was on a down. Seriously, I lost my keys for five hours and I thought I was having a mental breakdown, basketball was stressing me out and I felt like the whole world was against me. Today I am doing a whole lot better. We have basketball game tonight and even though we won't blow them away, I am pretty sure that my team has a bit of a clue now, so we should be ok. Yes, and I can't wait to start our new unit and be finished with all this talk about rocks!
Monday, January 7, 2008
Scheduling
We have our semester exams next week. No teachers have any clue about well, anything. Not that I am the most organized, but seriously, this is ridiculous.
I will be absent on Monday. These are the things I need to know hopefully by tomorrow...
Are we having basketball practice early in the mornign during exam days?
When are my kids taking the test?
When will they have time to review?
How long or short should the exam be?
Can I give them a review sheet? (Will I have time to do that?)
Meanwhile we are still trying to cram in the last bit of geology but I have a couple of cute little experiments to show them during this time... just to break up the monotony!
Life is good... teaching is hard... coaching 7th grade basketball causes night terrors!
-coach b!
I will be absent on Monday. These are the things I need to know hopefully by tomorrow...
Are we having basketball practice early in the mornign during exam days?
When are my kids taking the test?
When will they have time to review?
How long or short should the exam be?
Can I give them a review sheet? (Will I have time to do that?)
Meanwhile we are still trying to cram in the last bit of geology but I have a couple of cute little experiments to show them during this time... just to break up the monotony!
Life is good... teaching is hard... coaching 7th grade basketball causes night terrors!
-coach b!
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