Academically is was a roller coaster week. I've sat in the same room with EM for three years now and my frustration level with him hit a high point this week. We were doing a reading worksheet and for whatever reason his ability to focus on what he was doing was very limited. As he was reading one of the questions on the worksheet he said to me, "I don't know that word, Mr. Schultz." I responded, "it's one of your vocabulary words so put your finger under the word, look at it carefully and then sound it out." EM immediately put his head down on my desk, pull his shirt up over his head and I knew I just lost him as he crawled into his shell. I almost most lost it with him because this was a word he knew and read numerous times before without any coaching. Why he went into his shell is beyond me, so rather than push him to continue, I just moved to the other side of my desk to work with MiniJ. After the scholars left for the day, I walked over to Gnu who was sitting at her front table. "I can't work with EM any more, I wish the end of the school year would arrive and he can move on to the fifth grade," I said to her. "You're frustrated, when he was at my reading station he needed help on the word 'angry' so I helped him sound it out," Gnu responded. "He then came across the same word five more times and he still could not pronounce the word. I don't know what else I can do to help him. For whatever reason he just goes into these memory lapses. You would think if he saw the same work six times in a very short period of time he'd remember the word." The school year is winding down and Gnu and I are frustrated but for different reasons. I'm frustrated because for three years I've worked with EM, he has not advanced passed beginning reader. Gnu is frustrated because EM, as well as the other scholars have to take the Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) test soon, and if they fail to reach the end of the year goal she set for them, her annual salary increase will be at risk.
The final NWEA test is upon us and a lot is at stake for Gnu. At the start of the school year our third and fourth grade scholars took the NWEA test to establish a benchmark score for reading. With the benchmark score set, Gnu had to determine a mid year score and an end of the year score for each third and fourth grade scholar. Once she set the end of the year score, she truly owned that score and if the scholars failed to reach the end of the year score her ability to teach would be questioned and any salary increase she was due could be denied. Gnu decided to take Uh-Uh-Uh first so I got to move to the front of the room to do the academics with the other scholars. About forty five minutes later Gnu walked in with Uh-Uh-Uh. When Gnu reached the front table, where I was sitting, she handed me a pink piece of paper with a number on it. The number, if I recall correctly, was 424. The smile on my face had to be huge. Uh-Uh-Uh just beat her end of the year goal for reading by twenty-four points. That my friends is absolutely awesome and we are off to a good start. One by one, the remaining third and fourth grade scholars took the test. One by one, they either met or exceeded, their end of the year score. Although I can't recall the exact timing of what I'm about to share with you, I do know this, the day was over and I was at home. My cell phone beeped and I knew it was a text message and I saw that it was from Gnu. "A years growth is 10 points on that test. We have kids that grew by 30 points from the beginning of the year. EM grew 21 points from December alone. For once I'm somewhat pleased, lol." My response was, "you should be real proud of what you accomplished." Gnu response came back quickly and it was just one word, "WE!"
Our field trip to the park went well. Our PE teacher did an outstanding job of setting up games for all of the scholars. We did have to walk but it was an uneventful walk with the exception that it was a real warm day. Gnu also decided to let ShortTime join us on the field trip and I volunteered to walk him back to school early as he leaves at 12:00 noon. Gnu was taking a chance with ShortTime as this is the first time she let him go on a field trip. As a reminder, ShortTime has a big time ADHD issue with a little ODD added so taking him was a bit of a risk. ShortTime's first field trip was a success. There were no issues and we had the nicest conversation walking back to school. At about 1:15pm, Gnu and the remaining scholars returned to the classroom. Gnu speaking, "this scholars are a bunch of wimps. All the way back to school they complained about how hot it was and how far they had to walk." "So, how did the day go after I left with ShortTime," I asked. "They decided they didn't want to participate in any more of the organized games," Gnu responded. "All they wanted to do was roll down a hill. You should have seen them. Rolling down the hill screaming and laughing and doing it over and over," she said. That put a smile on my face. Despite all of the challenges these scholar face daily, with parental units that perform poorly as a parental unit, with all of the emotional issues that they have to face, they are just kids and laughing and having fun is what they should be doing every day.
Despite it being Memorial Day, I checked my school email to see if a replacement for the BigB was found. Our school corporation's board of directors met on May 26th and everyone was certain that the board will finalize the decision on who our next BigB will be. While our school board approved the promotion of four people to principal, none were for our school. That, I'm certain, will cause our current BigB some discomfort as she was hoping her replacement would be named my May 31st. It's now apparent that we'll have to wait a little long to see who will lead the school next school year.
As I stated earlier, it's Memorial Day and I'm in my favorite blogging spot. My part time editor, part time consultant and full time spouse just put some steaks on the grill. I'm sipping on a New Age wine in a glass with ice cubes and a slice of lime. Pretty tasty stuff. I'm taking a personal day on May 31st as it's a use it or lose it situation and I'm not going to lose it. Gnu is aware and so are PhD(*)Pete and Hill'sGirl. Both PhD(*)Pete and Hill'sGirl have slow days on May 31st so they committed to me that they would both spend time with Gnu during my absence. I'm hoping the day will go well but I can tell you they will be in my thoughts all day.
That's it. Check off another blog post. When I walk into the classroom on Wednesday there will only be six school days left. I know that real soon someone will approach me about signing that piece of paper that states I will return for another school year. I'm still thinking about it because I'm not exactly sure what Gnu will be doing next year.
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