Scholars
EM - 4th grade
MiniJ - 3rd grade
Uh-Uh-Uh - 3 grade grade
Grr! - 2nd grade
The Collector - former scholar
Wide - former scholar
Straw - former scholar
Leftside - former scholar
Floss - former scholar
Prophet - not sure of his grade, temporary scholar
Staff
Gnu - Teacher
Me - Instructional Assistant
Knew2 - Teacher
Oreo - Behavior Support
Duck - Behavior Support
Big B - In charge of the place
Open (replacing IvyL) - Behavior Support
The iPads that were purchased several weeks ago, by some very generous people, are really getting a workout. During our reading block we've been reading hard copy chapter books with great success. This past week Gnu switched to reading iBooks and now the scholars have to go on-line to read. Gnu downloaded the book, Bullfrog on Magnolia Circle, by Deborah Dennard and Illustrated by Kristin Kest, onto the iPads. When Gnu introduced the new book to the scholars they asked her for their copy of the book and she replied "you don't get a book this time." You could see immediately the scholars disappointment as they like to have their own copy of the book when we are reading. Gnu went on to say that in order to read this book you have to get an iPad so let's go get them. MiniJ speaking, "Mr. Schultz, Mr. Schultz, we are going to read a book on the iPad." "Great!" I say. "Remember to be careful when you get one from Gnu so you don't drop it."
Gnu and I are pretty certain that this is the first time any of the scholars read a book on-line so it was pretty interesting to watch them using the iPad. As we were reading the book they discovered the zoom in feature and their excitement escalated when they could zoom in on a picture of a bullfrog and other objects in the story. I should note at this point that the illustrations in this book were very impressive and even I enjoyed the zoom feature. The other item they learned about was Siri although we are having second thoughts about showing them how to use this iPad feature. The first search was for a bullfrog calling to a potential mate and next thing you know this is a chorus of bullfrog sounds coming from the iPads. The second search was for the size of a bullfrog and how long was it's tongue. I wish I kept track of the times I heard, "Miss Gnu or Mr. Schultz, did you hear that or see this" from the scholars. Despite the scholars enthusiasm with using the iPads for reading I also learned a little something myself as I walked around observing the scholars as one of the scholars, probably MiniJ, figured out how to post a background picture on the iPad. When I held up the iPad with a picture of an NBA player as the background I immediately got a "that's Stephen Curry, Mr. Schultz," from MiniJ and as he spoke he went into his best air-basketball imitation of Stephen Curry stepping back and knocking down a three. The picture of Stephen Curry was harmless but my radar detector went up to remind me to keep an eye on these enterprising young scholars to see what else they have been getting into on the iPad.
Real quick, speaking of basketball. EM and his teammates are undefeated at 2-0. He got to play an entire quarter in the last game and he informed me that the referee's didn't know what they were doing because he was called for traveling and he insisted that he wasn't traveling. It sure didn't take this young scholar long to learn how to complain about the referees.
A little while ago Gnu received a directive on how to properly record our daily attendance. The directive came from the our school corporation but was initiated by the state department of education. So you can see the nonsense that comes from pointy headed intellectuals at the highest levels of education in this state I'll outline the attendance policy for you. Before I get started, a little background information. We have six buses arrive every day. The scholars cannot get off the bus until 8:45am. From their they go immediately into the breakfast line and join all the car riders and walkers that are in line. All totaled 400+ so scholars get breakfast so it takes time to get them through the breakfast line.
This attendance policy will be followed or you risk getting your hand slapped!
- If a scholar arrives in the classroom at 9:05am or later, this scholar is tardy and you must record the scholar as tardy on your on-line attendance record.
- If this scholar that is tardy does not have a tardy pass from the front office you must send this scholar to the front office to get a tardy pass. With a tardy pass in hand, the scholar can now return to the classroom. When the scholar hands you the tardy pass you can throw it away.
- The person at the front office that issued the tardy pass can also now record the scholar as tardy on your on-line attendance record. Please check your on-line attendance record to confirm that this action took place.
- You must turn in your on-line attendance record for the first time by 9:30am.
- At the end of the school day, between 3:30pm and 4:00pm, you have to revisit your on-line attendance record and confirm that your on-line attendance record is accurate. If a scholar is listed as tardy but arrived at school you can now change the scholar to present. Once you have finalized your on-line attendance record for the day you are complete.
- As a reminder, this is how you will fill our your on-line attendance record every day of the year. If there is a pattern of non-compliance you will get you hand slapped.
To add to this nonsense, every day I record our attendance on a hard copy attendance record. It gets picked up daily by a scholar from our life skills class and it eventually gets dropped off at our front office. I've been keeping this hard copy attendance record for three and a half school years and I have no idea what the office personnel do with it. All I know is when I arrive at school the next day this hard copy attendance record is in Gnu's mailbox. I then pick it up, take it to the classroom and repeat the process for another day.
The school week that begins on November 30th is going to be interesting. First, their is a case conference for Prophet that will decide this scholar's future at our school. Second, there is the potential that we will get a new scholar from another school corporation. We've been told that this scholar has a pretty high volatility level and his present school corporation was going to move him to home bound (the scholar does not attend school, school work is delivered to the house is how I believe it works) because of his volatility level. However, because the parental unit for this scholar relocated into our school corporation, the home bound process is stopped, and he may attending our school and sitting in our classroom. Third, we may be getting a new scholar that will transfer to our classroom from our school. Twice recently, the school corporation police have visited our school due to this scholar's behavior. Fourth, a scholar from our school is being evaluated to determine if this scholar belongs in a classroom for emotionally handicapped scholars. I have mentioned this scholar previously, I referred to him as Tourette. Finally, another scholar from our school is being evaluated to determine if this scholar belongs in a classroom for emotionally handicapped scholars. I also know this scholar, a charming individual when not angry, but an obscenity machine when he is angry.
A case conference that will hopefully remove a scholar from our classroom and the potential for four new scholars in our classroom and please be advised that if you fail to properly maintain your on-line attendance record you will get your hand slapped. Do you think I'm getting agitated? You better believe it.
That's it for now. Off to buy some new workout shoes. I'll keep you posted on this week's activities. Thanks for continuing to read the musings of an old man that has a view from the back of a potentially really crowded classroom.
No comments:
Post a Comment