It's Friday and the last day of school before Thanksgiving break. There is an all school assembly in the gym at 2:00pm and our scholars are going. Gnu, IvyL, and Oreo are escorting them to the assembly. After making butter, eating cornbread and pumpkin pie in the classroom I decide to stay in the room to clean up and put the room back in order. Our classroom is on the opposite side of the school from the gym so when I hear a real loud roar from the gym I'm wondering what is going on. Twice more I hear this roar and can't imagine what is getting several hundred scholars so excited. MiniJ is the first to arrive back in the room which is fairly typical as he is totally incapable of walking without someone holding his hand. "Mr. S, the principal got hit in the face with a pie". Within in a matter of a few seconds the other scholars come in the room and they are all wound up. "Mr. S, Mr. S, the principal got hit in the face with a pie." I don't know what the Big B's message was to the students but I have to believe that in the one hundred plus year history of our school there was never a louder roar from our gym. The Big B is an amazing leader. No, not because she was hit in the face with a pie but because when she first arrived we were an F school and after two years of her leadership we are a B school. Will we rise to the level of an A school? It's just a matter of time.
I met the two sixth grade teachers about four years ago when I was a volunteer. You should have a little familiarity with them as they have the Poet Tree outside their room. If you need to refresh your memory read the post titled Ladies It's A Dead Stick. A few weeks ago these two teachers organized a Veterans Day program for our school. The opening involved the ROTC carrying in the colors and placing them in a stand at the front of the gym. Their precision in doing this was amazing to watch. There were guest speakers that were veterans. One of the gentlemen that spoke spent twenty four years serving our country. He arrived in his full dress uniform. My experience in the military told me that the ribbons on this gentleman's uniform indicated that he risked his life a number of times defending our freedoms. The students played a role speaking, singing and playing musical instruments. Another ROTC group completed a very precise drill using their weapons that was truly impressive. To honor all of the fallen veterans a member of our school staff played taps. His trumpet permeated the gym and the entire student body plus guests were dead silent. The program these two teachers put together after school was out for the day made me proud to be a veteran and a colleague of theirs.
We have a school running club. As a reminder this is a PreK through 6th grade school centered in a low social economic neighborhood. We don't have a track surrounded by elaborate athletic fields. When the scholars were training for the 5K (3.1 mile) run they run the school hallways and when weather permitted they run laps around the school building. Not one scholar was wearing high tech running clothes or shoes, they run in what they wore to school. Through the concerted effort of teachers this running club of forty four scholars trained and then participated in the 5K portion of the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon. On the day of the race the running conditions were poor. It was cloudy and cold, not ideal conditions for any age group runner. Forty one of the fourth four runners showed up for the race. Forty one runners finished the race. Forty one runners came into school the next Monday with their participants medal hanging around their neck. Forty one runners had huge smiles on their face when they were asked to show someone their medal. By the way, I don't think any of the teachers are avid runs but day after day they spent their free time after school working with our scholars so they could participate in this running event.
I was going to stop with the runners club comment but decided to add one more. Hopefully this isn't too lengthy.
The school Parent Involvement Liaison in conjunction with our school Social Worker decided to start a food pantry with the Thanksgiving holiday approaching. Emails were sent to the entire staff and flyers were sent home with each of the school's scholars seeking donations. The donation request was for either food or if a parental units finances allowed, cash. The food pantry was set up in a vacant classroom right next to where I have my view from the back of the room so I watched daily to see what donations arrived. Slowly, the food pantry inventory grew. Daily I watched scholars arrive at school with one or two food items. Weekly I watched teachers bring in significant amounts of food. A church that a staff member worships at supported the pantry. About a week before Thanksgiving arrived our Parent Involvement Liaison was in the food pantry so I walked into the room. "Isn't this just absolutely wonderful," she said to me. I agreed as I looked around at all the food donations that came from school families that are predominately from a low social economic background. The morning after the food was donated I looked into our school's makeshift food pantry. The food was gone and the room sat empty. The huge commitment of time put in by our Parent Involvement Liaison and our school Social Worker turned into a real positive for many of our school families.
On Monday, December 1st, school will be back in session and the next challenge will face our Parent Involvement Liaison and school Social Worker, Christmas. It will be interesting to see if they take on such a huge task again with so little time. If they do I'll be there again to provide as much assistance as I can. I you are interested in..........
It's Thanksgiving evening. The meal has been consumed, dishes cleaned and now Christmas decorations are being removed from storage. My wife and I have a lot to be thankful for; good health, employment, a wonder family and so many life long friends. I also would like to thank the people who have continued to read my blog. The fact that so many people continue to read it is absolutely amazing. In a few minutes I'll hit the publish button for the seventy fourth time in the past eight months. I'll say it again, thanks everyone for reading my blog.
Thursday, November 27, 2014
Monday, November 24, 2014
Dear Parental Unit What The Hell Were You Thinking #3
I haven't done one of these in quite a while so here we go. Keep in mind I don't make this stuff up.
- Dear parental unit your scholar came to school today and he was real excited and wanted to ask me a question. When I spoke to him he asked me if I knew what a machete was. I said yes. He then proceeded to tell me that he had a real full sized machete and was out chopping up pumpkins with it. Dear parental unit are you even aware that your scholar, who has anger control issues, is playing with a full sized machete?
- Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar arrived at school today with two extra large Hersey chocolate candy bars. As he entered the room he had already consumed half of one of them. Dear parental unit should I take the candy away from he or just continue to let him eat the breakfast you prepared for him.
- Dear parental unit your scholar arrived at school today with a stuffed frog that measured approximately twelve inches wide and eighteen inches high. Dear parental unit if your scholar told you the teacher said it was ok to bring it to school your scholar is lying.
- Dear parental unit your scholar arrived at school today with six one liter bottles of water in his backpack. Dear parental unit I'm going to tell you how you can save your money for something more important than a grossly over priced bottle of water. We have a drinking fountain in our classroom.
- Dear parental unit are your aware that your scholar walked into the classroom at 9:00am and had already consumed a half of a medium sized bag of Nacho chips.
- Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar took a $5.00 bill out of his pocket this morning and showed it to me. Dear parental unit your scholar has been in the classroom with me for two school years and never once did he arrive at school with even a penny in his pocket.
- Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar arrived at school today with a remote control car in his backpack. Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar got very upset because I wouldn't let him take it out into the hallway and drive it around because the hallways were crowded with students.
- Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar arrived at school today with a squirt gun and a pocket knife in his backpack.
- Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar arrived at school today wearing only a sweat shirt and shorts when the outdoor temperature was nineteen degrees.
- Dear parental unit are you aware that your scholar arrived at school today with a stuffed monkey and one of your bed sheets in his backpack. Dear parental unit just so you know our timeout room is not available today because your scholar has it set up as a bedroom for his pet monkey that is now sleeping on the floor in your bedsheet.
- Dear parental unit your scholar was suspended from the bus today for inappropriate behavior. That means you will have to drive him to school tomorrow. Dear Mr. S, I'm sorry but I made plans for the day so my scholar will not be at school.
Dear parental unit do you even bother to get up out of bed in the morning to see what your scholar is putting in her/his backpack or are you just plain ignorant.
Friday, November 21, 2014
Good Things Do Happen In Our Classroom
First things first. With Grrr! now in the classroom I need to update the scorecard.
The Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
Wide - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
MiniJ - 2nd grade
NoFouls - 2nd grade
Grrr! - 1st grade
Note - we are expecting one more scholar but his arrival is on delay. He may arrive around winter break.
I've written so much lately about the volatility of our classroom that I hope no one gets that idea that it is all bad because that is not the case. Here are a few of the good points.
Gnu
Despite the volatility that happens and the frustration she feels when academics takes a back seat to chaos, Gnu continues to impress me with the effort she puts forth. For a number of weeks now she has had a theme for the week.
The Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
Wide - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
MiniJ - 2nd grade
NoFouls - 2nd grade
Grrr! - 1st grade
Note - we are expecting one more scholar but his arrival is on delay. He may arrive around winter break.
I've written so much lately about the volatility of our classroom that I hope no one gets that idea that it is all bad because that is not the case. Here are a few of the good points.
Gnu
Despite the volatility that happens and the frustration she feels when academics takes a back seat to chaos, Gnu continues to impress me with the effort she puts forth. For a number of weeks now she has had a theme for the week.
- Sequencing and cooking - the scholars learned about baking ingredients and where they came from plus the importance of doing things in the correct sequence. On Friday of that week all that was learned was put into motion as the scholars made chocolate chip cookies from scratch.
- Johnny Appleseed - applesauce made from scratch to include slicing and tasting three different kinds of apples. The apples were then put in a crock pot and cooked for four hours. They all complained about the taste of the applesauce but they all kept eating.
- Nate the Great - the detective story I wrote about a couple posts ago.
- The Great Pumpkin - yes, the Charlie Brown story. The pumpkins the scholars painted and decorated were impressive to see. When Gnu put them on display in the hallway for all the school to see you should have seen the smiles on their faces.
- Thanksgiving - the scholars had to create a poster board about the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth. They then had to bring their poster to the front of the room and show and tell what they discovered about the pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock. The scholars then made their own butter to put on cornbread and ate pumpkin pie. Surprisingly they didn't eat the whole pie so I finished it up.
Gnu and reading
The scholars found a bed sheet and wanted to make a tent. When reading started they wanted to read in the tent. That's fine when you are little but not when you are 5'8" tall. I have a picture of this event. Her head and shoulders are under the tent but her legs are sticking way out. She looked ridiculous but she's reading and they are listening so the objective was met.
Speaking of objectives I don't think I've ever mentioned what the objective is for our scholars. Sure academics is important and so is improving their socials skills but our number one task is to put them in a position to move back into a general education classroom. With the help of IvyL and Oreo we've had some success. The Collector has been going to a general education 4th grade class now for about four weeks without incident. On occasion he has asked for permission to stay with this class for a longer period of time. That is a huge step for The Collector. Uh-Uh-Uh has been venturing into a 2nd grade general education class but for a shorter period of time and with some degree of inconsistency. Recently she has been asking for permission to eat lunch with this class as she has made some friends. That is very important for two reasons. First, hopefully making friends will encourage her to go daily without having to be coerced. Second, she is the only girl in our room so making friends with other girls at school is huge for her. There is one more that I'm going to mention that might be a bit obscure but I feel is important for a couple readers of this blog who are no longer staff members at this school. CorP, who is in the 5th grade, has been going without incident, to a general education classroom. That is a big step for Corp because in the past he'd just refuse to go. That is progress BaseG and PhD(*)Sparty.
IvyL and Yoga
Yes, that yoga and with IvyL as our leader we do yoga daily. The class lasts from twenty to thirty minutes and includes both of the emotional disability classrooms. The objective is to teach the scholars a calming technique when their anger is escalating. It's been a very position experience and IvyL has taken the scholars to the point where they can recall all the yoga positions and do them. All the scholars are pretty successful doing the various yoga positions except MiniJ. As hard as he tries he struggles because he has practically no flexibility so the scholars have to help him get his body into the correct position. It's been interesting to watch as none of the scholars make fun of him or ridicule him about his lack of flexibility. They just patiently help him move his body into the correct position.
4th Grade Math Acquity Test
Although some may be stunned by this statement here goes, Yo! actually passed an acquity math test and with room to spare. Two things contributed to this amazing feat. First, his individual education plan now reads that he can use a calculator. Second, someone can read the test to him. This person is not allowed to help solve the problems, just read the text. Guess who sat with him as he took the test, me. The use of a calculator helped for the first couple problems but then it got interesting as the first story problem appeared. Yo! looked at me and said, "you can read this to me right". I said, "yes so pay attention." After I read the problem he immediately went into his defiant mode saying, "this is too hard". Doing my best to keep him focused I said, "let me read the problem again." Here is where it gets interesting as I may have broken a rule. Buying some time, I said, "let me turn the laptop a little so I can see the problem easier." As I'm doing this I thinking to myself I have no idea what the story problem said so I read it silently. What I read was a bunch of totally unnecessary words that were well above fourth grade level and did nothing but complicate a simple math problem. So the next time I read the problem I cut out all of those unnecessary words. When I finished he said to me, "Mr. Schultz's it's a division problem." I looked at him and said, "you know I can't answer that question as it will be cheating." I then watched him complete the problem and saw that he got it right. Did I break the rules by simplifying the question?. Not sure.
I've had conversations in the past with my wife about all of the statewide testing that is required and when I mentioned the acquity test I helped Yo! with she said now you know the reaction of both scholars and teachers when they see these tests. The wording in this question was ridiculous. At what point did the citizens of Indiana allow this nonsense to happen? I'm not sure but here is what I know needs to happen. The politicians and pointed heading intellectuals responsible for this crap should be required to sit in a room with scholars who are trying their best to answer story problems with wording that is so convoluted that they break down and cry. Maybe then they'll stop focusing on their self importance and eliminate this disaster waiting to happen that they created.
I'm on Thanksgiving break. No school for a week. Thanks again for reading my blog. I'm out.
The scholars found a bed sheet and wanted to make a tent. When reading started they wanted to read in the tent. That's fine when you are little but not when you are 5'8" tall. I have a picture of this event. Her head and shoulders are under the tent but her legs are sticking way out. She looked ridiculous but she's reading and they are listening so the objective was met.
Speaking of objectives I don't think I've ever mentioned what the objective is for our scholars. Sure academics is important and so is improving their socials skills but our number one task is to put them in a position to move back into a general education classroom. With the help of IvyL and Oreo we've had some success. The Collector has been going to a general education 4th grade class now for about four weeks without incident. On occasion he has asked for permission to stay with this class for a longer period of time. That is a huge step for The Collector. Uh-Uh-Uh has been venturing into a 2nd grade general education class but for a shorter period of time and with some degree of inconsistency. Recently she has been asking for permission to eat lunch with this class as she has made some friends. That is very important for two reasons. First, hopefully making friends will encourage her to go daily without having to be coerced. Second, she is the only girl in our room so making friends with other girls at school is huge for her. There is one more that I'm going to mention that might be a bit obscure but I feel is important for a couple readers of this blog who are no longer staff members at this school. CorP, who is in the 5th grade, has been going without incident, to a general education classroom. That is a big step for Corp because in the past he'd just refuse to go. That is progress BaseG and PhD(*)Sparty.
IvyL and Yoga
Yes, that yoga and with IvyL as our leader we do yoga daily. The class lasts from twenty to thirty minutes and includes both of the emotional disability classrooms. The objective is to teach the scholars a calming technique when their anger is escalating. It's been a very position experience and IvyL has taken the scholars to the point where they can recall all the yoga positions and do them. All the scholars are pretty successful doing the various yoga positions except MiniJ. As hard as he tries he struggles because he has practically no flexibility so the scholars have to help him get his body into the correct position. It's been interesting to watch as none of the scholars make fun of him or ridicule him about his lack of flexibility. They just patiently help him move his body into the correct position.
4th Grade Math Acquity Test
Although some may be stunned by this statement here goes, Yo! actually passed an acquity math test and with room to spare. Two things contributed to this amazing feat. First, his individual education plan now reads that he can use a calculator. Second, someone can read the test to him. This person is not allowed to help solve the problems, just read the text. Guess who sat with him as he took the test, me. The use of a calculator helped for the first couple problems but then it got interesting as the first story problem appeared. Yo! looked at me and said, "you can read this to me right". I said, "yes so pay attention." After I read the problem he immediately went into his defiant mode saying, "this is too hard". Doing my best to keep him focused I said, "let me read the problem again." Here is where it gets interesting as I may have broken a rule. Buying some time, I said, "let me turn the laptop a little so I can see the problem easier." As I'm doing this I thinking to myself I have no idea what the story problem said so I read it silently. What I read was a bunch of totally unnecessary words that were well above fourth grade level and did nothing but complicate a simple math problem. So the next time I read the problem I cut out all of those unnecessary words. When I finished he said to me, "Mr. Schultz's it's a division problem." I looked at him and said, "you know I can't answer that question as it will be cheating." I then watched him complete the problem and saw that he got it right. Did I break the rules by simplifying the question?. Not sure.
I've had conversations in the past with my wife about all of the statewide testing that is required and when I mentioned the acquity test I helped Yo! with she said now you know the reaction of both scholars and teachers when they see these tests. The wording in this question was ridiculous. At what point did the citizens of Indiana allow this nonsense to happen? I'm not sure but here is what I know needs to happen. The politicians and pointed heading intellectuals responsible for this crap should be required to sit in a room with scholars who are trying their best to answer story problems with wording that is so convoluted that they break down and cry. Maybe then they'll stop focusing on their self importance and eliminate this disaster waiting to happen that they created.
I'm on Thanksgiving break. No school for a week. Thanks again for reading my blog. I'm out.
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
I Told Him If He Didn't Feel Safe To Sit By Me
EM speaking a few weeks ago and again last week, "Miss Gnu I don't feel safe in this room."
"EM if you don't feel safe you can come sit by me or go by Mr. S."
On two separate occasions, EM says to me, "Mr. S I don't feel safe in this room."
"EM if you don't feel safe just come and sit by me."
It's recess and it is too cold to go outside. When this happens the PE teacher lets me bring the scholars into the gym for about fifteen minutes. Basketball is the game of choice but not for Yo!. because he is in his defiant and disruptive mode. When I inform him his behavior is inappropriate and he doesn't get to play basketball he heads for the door. Rather than going out the door on his right which leads to an inner hallway of the school he goes out the door on the left. Once out this door he is one exit door from being outside. Knowing this I head across the gym. When I get to the door, he sees me and heads to the exit door. I look back to check on the other scholars and everything is fine so I step outside the door to check on him. He is standing with his back to the exit door and is pushing on the door so it is slightly open. I take a couple steps back to look in the gym and I see NoFouls on top of EM and he is punching him. I know NoFouls punched him three times but I don't know how many times EM was hit before I noticed what was going on.
The next morning at approximately 8:30am the classroom phone rings. I recognized the ring as an outside call. Good morning Room ****, Mr. S speaking. Parental unit on the phone, why did my scholar come home from school with a bump under his eye?
By far EM is the least volatile scholar in the room and he got punched. I know I can't be in two places at once but when EM was in an unsafe situation there was no adult close to keep him safe.
"EM if you don't feel safe you can come sit by me or go by Mr. S."
On two separate occasions, EM says to me, "Mr. S I don't feel safe in this room."
"EM if you don't feel safe just come and sit by me."
It's recess and it is too cold to go outside. When this happens the PE teacher lets me bring the scholars into the gym for about fifteen minutes. Basketball is the game of choice but not for Yo!. because he is in his defiant and disruptive mode. When I inform him his behavior is inappropriate and he doesn't get to play basketball he heads for the door. Rather than going out the door on his right which leads to an inner hallway of the school he goes out the door on the left. Once out this door he is one exit door from being outside. Knowing this I head across the gym. When I get to the door, he sees me and heads to the exit door. I look back to check on the other scholars and everything is fine so I step outside the door to check on him. He is standing with his back to the exit door and is pushing on the door so it is slightly open. I take a couple steps back to look in the gym and I see NoFouls on top of EM and he is punching him. I know NoFouls punched him three times but I don't know how many times EM was hit before I noticed what was going on.
The next morning at approximately 8:30am the classroom phone rings. I recognized the ring as an outside call. Good morning Room ****, Mr. S speaking. Parental unit on the phone, why did my scholar come home from school with a bump under his eye?
By far EM is the least volatile scholar in the room and he got punched. I know I can't be in two places at once but when EM was in an unsafe situation there was no adult close to keep him safe.
This Scholar Could Cost A Teacher Her/His Job
It's now Friday in what may have been the worse week I've had in three years sitting with my view from the back of the room. I wasn't going to mention Friday's activities but I figured what the heck I'll share with everyone how my week ended.
1:10pm - Yo! is upset because he has to do a reading assignment. He walked into the time out room and is aggressively pounding on the window with his fists. So you know it is a wire meshed glass window that may crack but it will not break. Seeing that he is being completely ignored he walks out of the room but runs into Oreo who takes him to her office.
1:43pm - We are starting a writing/proofreading assignment and Yo! has a worksheet to complete. He is assigned to work with me. His first task is to proof read and make the two corrections to a nine word sentence. Here are the two corrections he needed to make. The first word in the sentence is "did". It is spelled with a lower case "d". At the end of the sentence there is no period. He needs to rewrite the sentence so there are no mistakes. Yo! says to me I need help writing the word "did". I say no. He starts slapping himself in the face saying this is to hard and I need help. As a reminder he is in the fourth grade. I say to him I will not help you. Do your own work. He then gets up and walks away from my table whining it is to hard.
1:55pm - Yo! is still in his work avoidance mode. He now informs me that the sentence is too long for the paper. I reply, use the next line to finish the sentence. He again says this is too hard. His next comment is I hate this school. All of this because he has to rewrite a sentence with nine words in it.
2:00pm - He still has not rewritten a nine word sentence. All I get from him is whining, moaning, and groaning. He is basically doing nothing.
2:03pm - He walks to his desk and picks up his backpack and said he is leaving. Good, I have the perfect destination for him, the in-school suspension room and that is where he stayed for the remainder of the day.
For twenty minutes Yo! could not rewrite a nine word sentence. Nine stinking words and you know what really irks me, he has to pass a statewide language arts test in the spring. What are the chances of his passing this test? Well, if he can't rewrite a nine word sentence over a twenty minute period of time I'd say NONE. And do you know what is scary about the word NONE? Teachers are evaluated based on the pass/fail rate of their students on this statewide test. Principals are evaluated on the student bodies ability to pass this statewide test. Our schools letter grade can drop if the fail rate is to high. Even scarier, teachers can loose their job because a young scholar gets an attitude and refuses to work.
An after the students left the classroom for the day meeting took place recently in my classroom. In attendance was Oreo and Gnu and I got to listen. The topic of conversation was Yo!'s parental unit. Apparently this parental unit is considering have Yo! placed back into the general education population. If this happens then Yo! would have to change schools. I've already started to say my Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
1:10pm - Yo! is upset because he has to do a reading assignment. He walked into the time out room and is aggressively pounding on the window with his fists. So you know it is a wire meshed glass window that may crack but it will not break. Seeing that he is being completely ignored he walks out of the room but runs into Oreo who takes him to her office.
1:43pm - We are starting a writing/proofreading assignment and Yo! has a worksheet to complete. He is assigned to work with me. His first task is to proof read and make the two corrections to a nine word sentence. Here are the two corrections he needed to make. The first word in the sentence is "did". It is spelled with a lower case "d". At the end of the sentence there is no period. He needs to rewrite the sentence so there are no mistakes. Yo! says to me I need help writing the word "did". I say no. He starts slapping himself in the face saying this is to hard and I need help. As a reminder he is in the fourth grade. I say to him I will not help you. Do your own work. He then gets up and walks away from my table whining it is to hard.
1:55pm - Yo! is still in his work avoidance mode. He now informs me that the sentence is too long for the paper. I reply, use the next line to finish the sentence. He again says this is too hard. His next comment is I hate this school. All of this because he has to rewrite a sentence with nine words in it.
2:00pm - He still has not rewritten a nine word sentence. All I get from him is whining, moaning, and groaning. He is basically doing nothing.
2:03pm - He walks to his desk and picks up his backpack and said he is leaving. Good, I have the perfect destination for him, the in-school suspension room and that is where he stayed for the remainder of the day.
For twenty minutes Yo! could not rewrite a nine word sentence. Nine stinking words and you know what really irks me, he has to pass a statewide language arts test in the spring. What are the chances of his passing this test? Well, if he can't rewrite a nine word sentence over a twenty minute period of time I'd say NONE. And do you know what is scary about the word NONE? Teachers are evaluated based on the pass/fail rate of their students on this statewide test. Principals are evaluated on the student bodies ability to pass this statewide test. Our schools letter grade can drop if the fail rate is to high. Even scarier, teachers can loose their job because a young scholar gets an attitude and refuses to work.
An after the students left the classroom for the day meeting took place recently in my classroom. In attendance was Oreo and Gnu and I got to listen. The topic of conversation was Yo!'s parental unit. Apparently this parental unit is considering have Yo! placed back into the general education population. If this happens then Yo! would have to change schools. I've already started to say my Our Fathers and Hail Marys.
Friday, November 14, 2014
Suspensions - One Down & Three To Go
It's Wednesday morning and the room is quiet. MiniJ was suspended on Tuesday for putting a major hit on NoFouls chest so he is out. Hopefully with one of the two major combatants missing the day will be peaceful.
During my first year as a paid employee the school received its first letter grade from the state of Indiana. I remember the looks on the faces of the teachers when it was announced that our school is an F school. While my time at this school as a paid employee was limited when this letter grade came out, I did spend a lot of time the previous year as a volunteer. As a volunteer I worked with teachers from the third through the sixth grade and I met some truly great teachers. I can say this in no uncertain terms, this is not an F school. Now I'm going to tell you what I think of the letter grading system used by the state of Indiana. Caution as I will be very blunt. This letter grade system is a bunch of bull shit made up by politicians who are only concerned about getting re-elected and pointy headed intellectuals who are so full of self importance they lost touch with reality. With that said I now feel better.
We were informed of our most recent letter grade a few weeks ago. I'm happy to report we are now a B school. I'm even happier to report that our improvement has caught the eye of one of the local television stations and they will be in the school today to interview the Big B and visit some classrooms. In case you haven't figured it out, this is a huge day for our school as we will be on television.
9:34am - Yo!, in his best defiant behavior is disrupting the classroom and not following instructions. He decides to walk out of the room and slams the door as he exits.
1:45pm - Yo! again leaves the room. He avoids adults who were trying to redirect him back to the classroom for several minutes. He is eventually trapped in a corner of the gym. A quick thanks to Duck for helping me out. He is taken to the Big B's office for a conversation and returns to the classroom at 2:00pm.
The local television station is now in the building and are interviewing the Big B. They are on the second floor.
2:30pm - Yo! and NoFouls leave the room and go sprinting down the hallway, turn the corner and head up to the second floor. I'm following them. When I reach the second floor they are already halfway down the hallway but run into an obstacle called Big B. They reverse direction and head back toward me. I choose not to stop them on the second floor so they sprint past me and head back to the classroom. Then enter the classroom and promptly disrupt IvyL's group session. She is highly animated and ejects them from the classroom. They are escorted to an empty classroom next to ours by Oreo. Both were launching chairs across the room as I walked into the room. With two angry scholars in the room with only two adults the numbers are not right so I call for assistance. The chair launching continues for a short time with me in the room but stops. Oreo then separates them to opposite sides of the room and goes into her animated conversation and then calls the parental units for both scholars. The adult help I requested arrives and it's the Big B. She is not a happy camper. One day suspension for Yo! and a one day suspension for NoFouls plus their parental units are at home awaiting their arrival.
It's now Thursday. Yo! and No Fouls are out but MiniJ has returned.
10:50 - MiniJ blurts out for no apparent reason and at no one in particular "I hate you" and then says "your mama."
10:55am - Wide is on overload. He leaves the room heading toward the cafeteria but sees a teacher and returns to the classroom. He is climbing up on the top of desks and chairs and finally stops moving when he is standing on his desk. Oreo is in the room and with a concern for his safety moves toward him to get him off the desk. As she nears him he kicks at her and just misses her chest and face. He is now on Gnu's front table. As I approach he threatens to hit me in the face with a book. Oreo is behind him and distracts him just long enough for me to get control of him. He is then placed in our timeout room to settle down.
1:08pm - It's right after lunch and recess and Wide is very active again and is disrupting the class.
1:09pm - MiniJ uses inappropriate language. He told another student to shut up N-word.
1:19pm - Wide is on the run again. He tries to hide in our parent lounge but I find him and he heads back to the classroom. Now back in the classroom he decides to throw some paper airplanes around.
2:10pm - Wide is again agitated and starts throwing Expo markers in the direction of MiniJ.
2:15pm - EM is irritated with all the noise and commotion and heads for the door. He stops, picks up a plastic file folder holder and tosses it on the floor and leaves the room.
2:17pm - MiniJ decides he also needs the plastic file folder holder and picks it up and promptly slams it on the floor and it breaks apart.
I'm now looking for EM. I find him and return to the room but Wide and MiniJ are out of the room. EM has settled down and he helps me reassemble the plastic file folder holder. As we are doing this Oreo walks in and said I'm needed next door where Wide and MiniJ are located. I'm greeted at the door by Gnu and she says to me that MiniJ hit Wide so hard he knocked him off of his feet. I move MiniJ back to the classroom and he goes and sits at his desk. Because of what happened to Wide his parental unit had to be contacted. Because a parental unit was called about a potential injury to their child the Big B also needed to be informed. MiniJ is suspended again for a day.
That makes four suspensions in three days. Sadly, an all time high.
You'll love this. We were informed that a new student will arrived on Monday morning. The new student is Grr! and he is in the first grade. We have seven scholars with emotional disabilities in the room right now. Guess why Grr! is joining us. Right, he is labeled as emotionally disabled and can't control his anger.
During my first year as a paid employee the school received its first letter grade from the state of Indiana. I remember the looks on the faces of the teachers when it was announced that our school is an F school. While my time at this school as a paid employee was limited when this letter grade came out, I did spend a lot of time the previous year as a volunteer. As a volunteer I worked with teachers from the third through the sixth grade and I met some truly great teachers. I can say this in no uncertain terms, this is not an F school. Now I'm going to tell you what I think of the letter grading system used by the state of Indiana. Caution as I will be very blunt. This letter grade system is a bunch of bull shit made up by politicians who are only concerned about getting re-elected and pointy headed intellectuals who are so full of self importance they lost touch with reality. With that said I now feel better.
We were informed of our most recent letter grade a few weeks ago. I'm happy to report we are now a B school. I'm even happier to report that our improvement has caught the eye of one of the local television stations and they will be in the school today to interview the Big B and visit some classrooms. In case you haven't figured it out, this is a huge day for our school as we will be on television.
9:34am - Yo!, in his best defiant behavior is disrupting the classroom and not following instructions. He decides to walk out of the room and slams the door as he exits.
1:45pm - Yo! again leaves the room. He avoids adults who were trying to redirect him back to the classroom for several minutes. He is eventually trapped in a corner of the gym. A quick thanks to Duck for helping me out. He is taken to the Big B's office for a conversation and returns to the classroom at 2:00pm.
The local television station is now in the building and are interviewing the Big B. They are on the second floor.
2:30pm - Yo! and NoFouls leave the room and go sprinting down the hallway, turn the corner and head up to the second floor. I'm following them. When I reach the second floor they are already halfway down the hallway but run into an obstacle called Big B. They reverse direction and head back toward me. I choose not to stop them on the second floor so they sprint past me and head back to the classroom. Then enter the classroom and promptly disrupt IvyL's group session. She is highly animated and ejects them from the classroom. They are escorted to an empty classroom next to ours by Oreo. Both were launching chairs across the room as I walked into the room. With two angry scholars in the room with only two adults the numbers are not right so I call for assistance. The chair launching continues for a short time with me in the room but stops. Oreo then separates them to opposite sides of the room and goes into her animated conversation and then calls the parental units for both scholars. The adult help I requested arrives and it's the Big B. She is not a happy camper. One day suspension for Yo! and a one day suspension for NoFouls plus their parental units are at home awaiting their arrival.
It's now Thursday. Yo! and No Fouls are out but MiniJ has returned.
10:50 - MiniJ blurts out for no apparent reason and at no one in particular "I hate you" and then says "your mama."
10:55am - Wide is on overload. He leaves the room heading toward the cafeteria but sees a teacher and returns to the classroom. He is climbing up on the top of desks and chairs and finally stops moving when he is standing on his desk. Oreo is in the room and with a concern for his safety moves toward him to get him off the desk. As she nears him he kicks at her and just misses her chest and face. He is now on Gnu's front table. As I approach he threatens to hit me in the face with a book. Oreo is behind him and distracts him just long enough for me to get control of him. He is then placed in our timeout room to settle down.
1:08pm - It's right after lunch and recess and Wide is very active again and is disrupting the class.
1:09pm - MiniJ uses inappropriate language. He told another student to shut up N-word.
1:19pm - Wide is on the run again. He tries to hide in our parent lounge but I find him and he heads back to the classroom. Now back in the classroom he decides to throw some paper airplanes around.
2:10pm - Wide is again agitated and starts throwing Expo markers in the direction of MiniJ.
2:15pm - EM is irritated with all the noise and commotion and heads for the door. He stops, picks up a plastic file folder holder and tosses it on the floor and leaves the room.
2:17pm - MiniJ decides he also needs the plastic file folder holder and picks it up and promptly slams it on the floor and it breaks apart.
I'm now looking for EM. I find him and return to the room but Wide and MiniJ are out of the room. EM has settled down and he helps me reassemble the plastic file folder holder. As we are doing this Oreo walks in and said I'm needed next door where Wide and MiniJ are located. I'm greeted at the door by Gnu and she says to me that MiniJ hit Wide so hard he knocked him off of his feet. I move MiniJ back to the classroom and he goes and sits at his desk. Because of what happened to Wide his parental unit had to be contacted. Because a parental unit was called about a potential injury to their child the Big B also needed to be informed. MiniJ is suspended again for a day.
That makes four suspensions in three days. Sadly, an all time high.
You'll love this. We were informed that a new student will arrived on Monday morning. The new student is Grr! and he is in the first grade. We have seven scholars with emotional disabilities in the room right now. Guess why Grr! is joining us. Right, he is labeled as emotionally disabled and can't control his anger.
Sunday, November 9, 2014
A Grand Entrance and A Volatile Exit
It's Monday and I say good morning and welcome to Room 106. We're doing math and after you hang up your coat you can stop by my desk and pick up your work sheet. The scholar stops at my desk and picks up the math worksheet and says to me, there is no way I'm doing that work it's to hard. My response, you are allowed to us a calculator. His response, that's cheating. Ok, I say but we need to get started. The scholar responds to me, there is no way you can get me to do that math. Well you just can't stand there and do nothing we have to get to work. You don't think I can't just stand here? Just watch me, I can stand in this exact spot all day and there is nothing you can do about it. You just met Wide our new fourth grade scholar and a truly wonderful addition to our already intense and over populated classroom. Lord, please give me the strength to carry on.
In addition to his presence in the room Wide brings an additional complication. He has a speech impediment and a very unusual voice. One of the scholars, Yo!, picked up on it immediately and said out loud he talks funny. Gnu shut that comment down quickly and aggressively. Fortunately Wide did not hear the comment as he also has limited hearing in one ear.
Tuesday of this past week was a frustrating day. First our special for the day was PE but the gym was occupied as it was Election Day and our school is a voting site so no PE. That stinks as PE is a running outlet for our scholars and they have energy to burn. No running today. Fortunately the weather was decent and we could get outside for recess. The scholars pick up a couple basketballs and before we head outside I give them instructions. People are arriving to vote so don't dribble the basketball until you enter the playground area. I might as well give those instructions to the brick wall we pass on the way to the playground. After twenty minutes of constant bicker as we have two basketballs and four scholars we head back in for our reading block. I have control of the basketballs but in doing so I can't get to my ID badge that is clipped to my shirt collar. I get EM's attention and tell him to take my ID badge from my collar and scan open the front door. He does as directed and you hear the door click. Immediately MiniJ and NoFouls start pushing and shoving for the right to open the door. MiniJ gets in first and NoFouls body language tell me bads things are about to happen. Sure enough the fight starts just inside the front door. Why? Because in NoFouls mind he is in charge of everything. It is done his way only, no questions asked. If he doesn't get what he wants he my charge someone. As a reminder he is in the second grade.
Fast forward about eighty minutes and we are in the classroom in our reading block. Yo! and the collector are working independent. Gnu has MiniJ and NoFouls. I'm with EM and Uh-Uh-Uh. There is commotion in front of me as MiniJ and NoFouls are at it. From what I hear MiniJ is upset because NoFouls moved his desk. How upset? He attacks NoFouls and lands a punch that hit NoFouls so hard in the chest I heard the thud. The classroom is evacuated. I'm blocking NoFouls to keep him from attacking MiniJ. Gnu is quickly moving everyone else to our safe room. I'm alone in the room with NoFouls. That is not supposed to happen when a scholar erupts. I hit the intercom button that goes to the front office and I request a crisis team member for support and to be a witness as NoFouls is so volatile I moved him to the time out room.
A few minutes pass and the Big B walks into the room. She looks at me and calmly says what happened. I explain what happened and find myself defending NoFouls a little as I don't know why hit got punched. I then do something I rarely do, I called the Big B by here first name and tell her this. The volatility in this room is excessive. If we want to keep our scholars safe either MiniJ or NoFouls needs to go. The Big B asks me if she needs to stay. I say no, NoFouls has tears running down his cheeks and that means the anger subsided. As she is leaving she says to me I'm emailing downtown and let them know what this room is like.
One suspension down and it's MiniJ and there are three to go. To quote Arnold, "I'll be back" soon to tell you about the next three. Any takers on who they will be?
In addition to his presence in the room Wide brings an additional complication. He has a speech impediment and a very unusual voice. One of the scholars, Yo!, picked up on it immediately and said out loud he talks funny. Gnu shut that comment down quickly and aggressively. Fortunately Wide did not hear the comment as he also has limited hearing in one ear.
Tuesday of this past week was a frustrating day. First our special for the day was PE but the gym was occupied as it was Election Day and our school is a voting site so no PE. That stinks as PE is a running outlet for our scholars and they have energy to burn. No running today. Fortunately the weather was decent and we could get outside for recess. The scholars pick up a couple basketballs and before we head outside I give them instructions. People are arriving to vote so don't dribble the basketball until you enter the playground area. I might as well give those instructions to the brick wall we pass on the way to the playground. After twenty minutes of constant bicker as we have two basketballs and four scholars we head back in for our reading block. I have control of the basketballs but in doing so I can't get to my ID badge that is clipped to my shirt collar. I get EM's attention and tell him to take my ID badge from my collar and scan open the front door. He does as directed and you hear the door click. Immediately MiniJ and NoFouls start pushing and shoving for the right to open the door. MiniJ gets in first and NoFouls body language tell me bads things are about to happen. Sure enough the fight starts just inside the front door. Why? Because in NoFouls mind he is in charge of everything. It is done his way only, no questions asked. If he doesn't get what he wants he my charge someone. As a reminder he is in the second grade.
Fast forward about eighty minutes and we are in the classroom in our reading block. Yo! and the collector are working independent. Gnu has MiniJ and NoFouls. I'm with EM and Uh-Uh-Uh. There is commotion in front of me as MiniJ and NoFouls are at it. From what I hear MiniJ is upset because NoFouls moved his desk. How upset? He attacks NoFouls and lands a punch that hit NoFouls so hard in the chest I heard the thud. The classroom is evacuated. I'm blocking NoFouls to keep him from attacking MiniJ. Gnu is quickly moving everyone else to our safe room. I'm alone in the room with NoFouls. That is not supposed to happen when a scholar erupts. I hit the intercom button that goes to the front office and I request a crisis team member for support and to be a witness as NoFouls is so volatile I moved him to the time out room.
A few minutes pass and the Big B walks into the room. She looks at me and calmly says what happened. I explain what happened and find myself defending NoFouls a little as I don't know why hit got punched. I then do something I rarely do, I called the Big B by here first name and tell her this. The volatility in this room is excessive. If we want to keep our scholars safe either MiniJ or NoFouls needs to go. The Big B asks me if she needs to stay. I say no, NoFouls has tears running down his cheeks and that means the anger subsided. As she is leaving she says to me I'm emailing downtown and let them know what this room is like.
One suspension down and it's MiniJ and there are three to go. To quote Arnold, "I'll be back" soon to tell you about the next three. Any takers on who they will be?
Friday, November 7, 2014
Fireballs, Gentlemen Callers, Wide and My Guardian Angel
Fireballs
I went out for drinks a few Friday's ago with the teachers and a group of individuals from a behavioral services organization that employs IvyL. While I've been invited to attend these functions on a number of occassions I rarely do. Why? In most cases I'm old enough to be everyone's father and in a number of instances I'm old enough to be their grandfather. The first time I joined the teachers was last year when I met BaseG, Gee, Mr. C. and his significant other Jade and PhD(*)Sparty at a Mexican restaurant in the historic Fountain Square District here in Indianapolis. I had a couple Sun King Wee Mac's and really enjoyed the time with my colleagues. The last invite I received came from IvyL and at first I politely declined. A couple days past and I thought the request to go out for drinks was over. Wrong! Sitting on my desk was another invite to attend the event that was being held at a place called the Ice House. This invite was in writing and at the bottom was this comment, "you better be there". It was signed by IvyL. I decided to go and found myself sitting at a table with a bunch of women; Gnu, Knew, Oreo who did bring her husband who is not really her husband (it's a long story that I'll save for another time), IvyL and some of her female colleagues. The first order of business, let's do some shots. Whoa! This could be an interesting evening. I agreed to do a shot. I immediately hear Schultz you're going to do a shot? Being polite I say "I'm Catholic and Polish, I grew up doing shots and PBR's so what are we drinking? The response, Fireballs. Oh my God, girl shots. For those not familiar with the drink I'll refer you to Wikipedia, a flavored Canadian whisky liqueur with a cinnamon flavor. I had two shots plus two Sun King Cream Ale's and some nachos. The truth be told, I had a real nice time.
Gentleman Callers
So as not to confuse anyone this is not the same gentleman caller that I mentioned last year. That Gentleman Call who I will refer to a Gentleman Caller #1 is an acquaintance of PhD*Sparty. Both of them now reside in another state. The new Gentleman Caller #2 arrived at the Ice House about an hour after everyone else. When he arrived he was greeting by IvyL who then escorted him to a seat right next to her. At first I thought he was a colleague from the same organization that employs her so I went about my business listening to the chatter of the hen festival. A few minutes later I notice some movement to my right and notice that IvyL is holding hands with Gentleman Caller #2. To quote Arte Johnson from the original Live from New York It's Saturday Night, interesting, very interesting. At an appropriate time I will ask IvyL some follow up questions. Assuming I won't get smacked up side the head for asking I'll keep you posted.
Wide
For the first time since my arrival in the classroom a couple years ago I'm worried about a scholar's safety. Although he is in the fourth grade Wide is short and thin. There is nothing about his stature that would indicate to someone not familiar with him that he is in the fourth grade. Given the volatility of MiniJ and NoFouls who regularly throw punches at each other I can seem them going after Wide the first time he erupts and starts yelling at them. I can also see Yo!, the stealthy bullying specialist, taking an interest in someone much smaller that him while outside on the playground or in large group activities like gym. Starting Monday morning the intensity of my job will increase so my guard will be up. We will have seven young scholars with serious anger control issues in the same classroom. Here is an even scarier thought. In less than two weeks we will have nine young scholars with serious anger control issues in the same classroom.
My Guardian Angel
I can say with all honesty that this year has been my toughest year. In previous years there was just one scholar erupting at a time. This year we've had two and three erupting on the same day. In previous years I'm having to think real hard to come up with a scholar who threw a punch. This year punches are exchanged just about everyday. Last year I made some pretty stupid mistakes that I was told were not stupid but simply human errors. The human errors comment came from PhD*Sparty and her timing in coming to my rescue when I was struggling was and still is greatly appreciated. Well, PhD*Sparty has moved on and is in pursuit of a PhD degree at a university in Michigan. So I wondered who would come to my rescue when I was struggling this year? Thankfully that person arrived at just the right time a few weeks ago when I thought the mix of scholars in the room was at its worse and my thoughts were turning to towards work in another area. Who might that be? Oreo, who is a behavior specialist at our school. Twice recently she walked in and sat down next to me to chat. "You can't leave" is what she said to me. You can't because of the value you bring to these very troubled young scholars. You can't because there is a first year teacher in the room who really relies on your judgement when dealing with the challenges these young scholars present. You can't leave because the academic level of these young scholars is so varied that one teacher can't teach all of them at the same time. This teacher needs another teacher in the room and that teacher is you. You can't leave, end of conversation.
Although you don't know it because all you see is text there was a long pause before I started this paragraph. I was rereading the last few sentences and thinking how wonderful it is to work with talented people like Oreo. I don't know how she knew it but she knew that I was struggling and on two separate occasions quietly approached me for our little pep talk and it worked. Because of her I'll continue on with my view from the back of the room.
The bar is open and I just cracked open a Blue Moon. Thanks again for reading the blog.
I went out for drinks a few Friday's ago with the teachers and a group of individuals from a behavioral services organization that employs IvyL. While I've been invited to attend these functions on a number of occassions I rarely do. Why? In most cases I'm old enough to be everyone's father and in a number of instances I'm old enough to be their grandfather. The first time I joined the teachers was last year when I met BaseG, Gee, Mr. C. and his significant other Jade and PhD(*)Sparty at a Mexican restaurant in the historic Fountain Square District here in Indianapolis. I had a couple Sun King Wee Mac's and really enjoyed the time with my colleagues. The last invite I received came from IvyL and at first I politely declined. A couple days past and I thought the request to go out for drinks was over. Wrong! Sitting on my desk was another invite to attend the event that was being held at a place called the Ice House. This invite was in writing and at the bottom was this comment, "you better be there". It was signed by IvyL. I decided to go and found myself sitting at a table with a bunch of women; Gnu, Knew, Oreo who did bring her husband who is not really her husband (it's a long story that I'll save for another time), IvyL and some of her female colleagues. The first order of business, let's do some shots. Whoa! This could be an interesting evening. I agreed to do a shot. I immediately hear Schultz you're going to do a shot? Being polite I say "I'm Catholic and Polish, I grew up doing shots and PBR's so what are we drinking? The response, Fireballs. Oh my God, girl shots. For those not familiar with the drink I'll refer you to Wikipedia, a flavored Canadian whisky liqueur with a cinnamon flavor. I had two shots plus two Sun King Cream Ale's and some nachos. The truth be told, I had a real nice time.
Gentleman Callers
So as not to confuse anyone this is not the same gentleman caller that I mentioned last year. That Gentleman Call who I will refer to a Gentleman Caller #1 is an acquaintance of PhD*Sparty. Both of them now reside in another state. The new Gentleman Caller #2 arrived at the Ice House about an hour after everyone else. When he arrived he was greeting by IvyL who then escorted him to a seat right next to her. At first I thought he was a colleague from the same organization that employs her so I went about my business listening to the chatter of the hen festival. A few minutes later I notice some movement to my right and notice that IvyL is holding hands with Gentleman Caller #2. To quote Arte Johnson from the original Live from New York It's Saturday Night, interesting, very interesting. At an appropriate time I will ask IvyL some follow up questions. Assuming I won't get smacked up side the head for asking I'll keep you posted.
Wide
For the first time since my arrival in the classroom a couple years ago I'm worried about a scholar's safety. Although he is in the fourth grade Wide is short and thin. There is nothing about his stature that would indicate to someone not familiar with him that he is in the fourth grade. Given the volatility of MiniJ and NoFouls who regularly throw punches at each other I can seem them going after Wide the first time he erupts and starts yelling at them. I can also see Yo!, the stealthy bullying specialist, taking an interest in someone much smaller that him while outside on the playground or in large group activities like gym. Starting Monday morning the intensity of my job will increase so my guard will be up. We will have seven young scholars with serious anger control issues in the same classroom. Here is an even scarier thought. In less than two weeks we will have nine young scholars with serious anger control issues in the same classroom.
My Guardian Angel
I can say with all honesty that this year has been my toughest year. In previous years there was just one scholar erupting at a time. This year we've had two and three erupting on the same day. In previous years I'm having to think real hard to come up with a scholar who threw a punch. This year punches are exchanged just about everyday. Last year I made some pretty stupid mistakes that I was told were not stupid but simply human errors. The human errors comment came from PhD*Sparty and her timing in coming to my rescue when I was struggling was and still is greatly appreciated. Well, PhD*Sparty has moved on and is in pursuit of a PhD degree at a university in Michigan. So I wondered who would come to my rescue when I was struggling this year? Thankfully that person arrived at just the right time a few weeks ago when I thought the mix of scholars in the room was at its worse and my thoughts were turning to towards work in another area. Who might that be? Oreo, who is a behavior specialist at our school. Twice recently she walked in and sat down next to me to chat. "You can't leave" is what she said to me. You can't because of the value you bring to these very troubled young scholars. You can't because there is a first year teacher in the room who really relies on your judgement when dealing with the challenges these young scholars present. You can't leave because the academic level of these young scholars is so varied that one teacher can't teach all of them at the same time. This teacher needs another teacher in the room and that teacher is you. You can't leave, end of conversation.
Although you don't know it because all you see is text there was a long pause before I started this paragraph. I was rereading the last few sentences and thinking how wonderful it is to work with talented people like Oreo. I don't know how she knew it but she knew that I was struggling and on two separate occasions quietly approached me for our little pep talk and it worked. Because of her I'll continue on with my view from the back of the room.
The bar is open and I just cracked open a Blue Moon. Thanks again for reading the blog.
Saturday, November 1, 2014
Promoted To A Detective
I need to get this off my chest real quick and then I'll proceed. Dear Overhead Person in my school corporation, you are seriously starting to tick me off for two reasons. First, you are receiving email messages from a teacher that I work with who has questions and needs information. Will you please explain to her first and then to me why you absolutely refuse to respond to her emails. Second, you told us to expect two new scholars in our classroom. Why on a Friday morning, with no notice at all, do you inform us that one of our new scholars will arrive on Monday morning and the name of this scholar is not one of the two you gave us? Dear Overhead Person do you know the difference between the number two and the number three?
A new scholar arrives in our classroom on Monday morning. He is in the fourth grade and I've decided to call him Wide. Below is an update to the scorecard. There will be more on Wide in the next blog post. If you are interested in a brief description of him here it is, volatile. Image that.
My Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
Wide - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
MiniJ - 2nd grade
NoFouls - 2nd grade
The Support Staff
IvyL - Behavior Therapist
Oreo - Behavior Specialist
Gnu - Teacher
Knew - Teacher for 5th and 6th grade EH scholars
Big B - Principal
For several weeks now on Monday morning Gnu picks out a book to read to the scholars. She takes her time reading and explaining the story line so that the story takes up the whole week and then on Friday of the week she does a hands on project with the scholars. When Friday arrived Gnu finished the story and then reviewed the material with the scholars and then moved on for the day. I'm thinking there was no hands on project but what can you do for a project with the story line is a detective named Nate the Great. Right after lunch I take the scholars outside for recess. It's a twenty minute process that sometime lasts twenty five or thirty minutes depending on how animated the scholars have been during the day. The worse their behavior the longer we stay out hopefully so they can burn off some energy. On the way back to the classroom MiniJ and NoFouls couldn't contain themselves and go sprinting down the hallway. Out of sight but still in hearing range I hear a shout, what the......? I'm thinking that can't be good. As I near the classroom I see black and yellow caution tape running across the entrance to the classroom. Gnu is standing at the door telling the scholars not to go in the classroom as a crime has been committed and she is waiting for the police to arrive. Please make a note of this, I have no idea what is going on. When the scholars enter the classroom she immediately tells them to stay away from her desk. Ya, right! They immediately head for the desk and sure enough their is a clue. On the floor is some flour with a foot print in it. Sadly they didn't recognize it as a clue, just some white stuff on the floor. With the scholars starting to go into high energy overload she convinces them to sit at their desks so they can settle down.
She then tells them that someone was in the classroom but she is not sure who it was. She then asks them if they want to help solve the mystery. They promptly all agree to help. She says great but before you help me you have to become detectives. She then hands each scholar a small wallet. When you flip it open the bottom half contains a detectives badge. The top half contains a blank card where the scholars can write their name. She also hands them a small spiral notebook for keeping track of clues and suspects. The scholars are now moving toward total overload and again she gets them settled down. Next there is a list of suspects on the white board. She tells the scholars that they have to go and talk to each suspect to see if they can figure out who was in our room. She also tells them that they can use our cell phones as we need to talk pictures of the bottom of the suspects shoes to see if their footprint matches the one in our classroom. Gnu takes one half or the scholars and I have the other half. Remember she says, when we are in the hallway we have to walk. Ya, right! Let the sprinting begin.
My detectives first stop is Oreo's office as she is a suspect. No waiting at the door, no knocking on the door, they just barge in. They show their badges and ask Oreo to take off her shoes so they can take a picture. Oreo played her role perfectly and denied doing anything and looked extremely nervous while denying her involvement. Next up is IvyL. The sprinting continues. Up the stairs they go to her office. Doors locked. Mr. Schultz where is she? Rather than keeping it simple and say I don't know I suggest that they head to Knew's classroom as IvyL may be in their doing a group session. Zoom, down the hallway they go. No waiting at the door, no knocking at the door they again barge in right into the middle of a group social skills session. IvyL plays her role perfectly and I apologize to Knew for the disruption. With the picture taken we are off to the next suspect who is a life skills teacher with the lower grade levels. The routine is repeated and we have all the pictures we need and head back to the classroom.
With everyone back in the classroom Gnu asks the scholars who they think is the guilty person. They don't have a clue. She then says to compare the pictures of the shoes they took with the footprint on the floor. They compare the two and say there is no match. What? Give me my phone and lets take another look. Finally with some help from me they all agree it's the life skills teacher. Mystery solved.
To all interested parties I am working with a truly talented first year school teacher in a classroom for scholars with serious anger control issues. This teacher's name is Gnu.
Dear Overhead Person, if you continue to ride on your high horse and refuse to respond to my colleagues emails then you will be hiring a new teacher for my classroom next year. Dear Overhead Person, if Gnu does not return then you will be hiring a new instructional assistant for my former classroom.
I'm getting to really dislike overhead personnel. I'm out. Thank you again for reading the blog.
A new scholar arrives in our classroom on Monday morning. He is in the fourth grade and I've decided to call him Wide. Below is an update to the scorecard. There will be more on Wide in the next blog post. If you are interested in a brief description of him here it is, volatile. Image that.
My Scholars
The Collector - 4th grade
Yo! - 4th grade
Wide - 4th grade
EM - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 2nd grade
MiniJ - 2nd grade
NoFouls - 2nd grade
The Support Staff
IvyL - Behavior Therapist
Oreo - Behavior Specialist
Gnu - Teacher
Knew - Teacher for 5th and 6th grade EH scholars
Big B - Principal
For several weeks now on Monday morning Gnu picks out a book to read to the scholars. She takes her time reading and explaining the story line so that the story takes up the whole week and then on Friday of the week she does a hands on project with the scholars. When Friday arrived Gnu finished the story and then reviewed the material with the scholars and then moved on for the day. I'm thinking there was no hands on project but what can you do for a project with the story line is a detective named Nate the Great. Right after lunch I take the scholars outside for recess. It's a twenty minute process that sometime lasts twenty five or thirty minutes depending on how animated the scholars have been during the day. The worse their behavior the longer we stay out hopefully so they can burn off some energy. On the way back to the classroom MiniJ and NoFouls couldn't contain themselves and go sprinting down the hallway. Out of sight but still in hearing range I hear a shout, what the......? I'm thinking that can't be good. As I near the classroom I see black and yellow caution tape running across the entrance to the classroom. Gnu is standing at the door telling the scholars not to go in the classroom as a crime has been committed and she is waiting for the police to arrive. Please make a note of this, I have no idea what is going on. When the scholars enter the classroom she immediately tells them to stay away from her desk. Ya, right! They immediately head for the desk and sure enough their is a clue. On the floor is some flour with a foot print in it. Sadly they didn't recognize it as a clue, just some white stuff on the floor. With the scholars starting to go into high energy overload she convinces them to sit at their desks so they can settle down.
She then tells them that someone was in the classroom but she is not sure who it was. She then asks them if they want to help solve the mystery. They promptly all agree to help. She says great but before you help me you have to become detectives. She then hands each scholar a small wallet. When you flip it open the bottom half contains a detectives badge. The top half contains a blank card where the scholars can write their name. She also hands them a small spiral notebook for keeping track of clues and suspects. The scholars are now moving toward total overload and again she gets them settled down. Next there is a list of suspects on the white board. She tells the scholars that they have to go and talk to each suspect to see if they can figure out who was in our room. She also tells them that they can use our cell phones as we need to talk pictures of the bottom of the suspects shoes to see if their footprint matches the one in our classroom. Gnu takes one half or the scholars and I have the other half. Remember she says, when we are in the hallway we have to walk. Ya, right! Let the sprinting begin.
My detectives first stop is Oreo's office as she is a suspect. No waiting at the door, no knocking on the door, they just barge in. They show their badges and ask Oreo to take off her shoes so they can take a picture. Oreo played her role perfectly and denied doing anything and looked extremely nervous while denying her involvement. Next up is IvyL. The sprinting continues. Up the stairs they go to her office. Doors locked. Mr. Schultz where is she? Rather than keeping it simple and say I don't know I suggest that they head to Knew's classroom as IvyL may be in their doing a group session. Zoom, down the hallway they go. No waiting at the door, no knocking at the door they again barge in right into the middle of a group social skills session. IvyL plays her role perfectly and I apologize to Knew for the disruption. With the picture taken we are off to the next suspect who is a life skills teacher with the lower grade levels. The routine is repeated and we have all the pictures we need and head back to the classroom.
With everyone back in the classroom Gnu asks the scholars who they think is the guilty person. They don't have a clue. She then says to compare the pictures of the shoes they took with the footprint on the floor. They compare the two and say there is no match. What? Give me my phone and lets take another look. Finally with some help from me they all agree it's the life skills teacher. Mystery solved.
To all interested parties I am working with a truly talented first year school teacher in a classroom for scholars with serious anger control issues. This teacher's name is Gnu.
Dear Overhead Person, if you continue to ride on your high horse and refuse to respond to my colleagues emails then you will be hiring a new teacher for my classroom next year. Dear Overhead Person, if Gnu does not return then you will be hiring a new instructional assistant for my former classroom.
I'm getting to really dislike overhead personnel. I'm out. Thank you again for reading the blog.
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