We lost twenty-eight days due to illness. Yes, you read that correctly, a total of twenty-eight days of school was missed due to various illnesses. Only three scholars managed to stay healthy, MiniJ, S&T and Tourette. The rest of us were dropping like flies. Knapper started it out by missing four days. I believe Gnu was next as she missed a day so I got to move to the front of the classroom. Next was Uh-Uh-Uh, who hit a temperature of 101 degrees, before her parental units arrived to remove her from school. Grr! was next as he missed three days and Knapper, again fell ill, and missed an entire week. Uh-Uh-Uh return for two days and she was out again. Huey missed a day. Big House missed a day. Grr!, after making it for two days in a row missed an entire week. Grr!'s parental unit sent Gnu a text on his first day of absence stating his temperature reached 104 degrees. Knapper came back for a short time and then missed four more days, as he had hearing related issues. I felt like crap on Tuesday of last week, missed Wednesday, and managed to survive Thursday and Friday. We've had illness in the classroom before but this was just crazy and to make matters worse, we lost a ton of academic time with the Indiana Stupid Testing and Education Process (ISTEP) starting on February 28th.
Two quick items about ISTEP and then I'm going to move on. First, Knapper was placed on the ISTEP bubble by the BigB2. This meant that he had a good chance and passing the math portion of ISTEP and the BigB2 was certain to let Gnu know what her position was on Knapper passing this test. Sadly, Knapper must missed fourteen days of school due to illness, lost all of the scheduled math review time, lost out on taking the ISTEP practice math test and his chances of passing the test just took a serious hit. Next, I received via email, a copy of the ISTEP Examiner's Manual and security form. In order to read the document I had to download it. Because the scholars had not arrived for the day I click on the download button was going to start to read the manual. As I sat at my table waiting for the document to download I thought to myself that it was taking a long time. When the download completed I stated scrolling down the document to see how many pages I had to read. As I scrolled and scrolled and scrolled I thought to my self, this is ridiculous, so I stopped and open up the table of contents. Again, I started to scroll down and this time reached the end quickly only to see that the manual was three hundred and twenty-four pages long. I'll let you decide if I read all three hundred and twenty-four pages.
With ISTEP just around the corner we did have a bit of good news. BigHouse became a Mighty Multiplier as he passed the final phase of learning how to multiple. In order to become a Mighty Multiplier, BigHouse had to correctly answer a combination of multiplication and division problems. There were seventy-two problems in all and he only had six minutes to answer them. He managed to do so with time to spare and has officially joined all of the other scholars in the fourth grade that are Mighty Multipliers. For the record, no student, since my arrival at this school, from an EH classroom has ever met his goal. So yes, this is a really big deal, and both Gnu and I were real excited the day BigHouse passed the test.
S&T was the topic of conversation a short while ago as two events occurred in his life and did so almost simultaneously. The first event was regarding the child advocate that was assigned to S&T. Gnu informed me one morning that she received a very nice letter from S&T's child advocate complementing her on how much S&T has improved in the two years that he has been in her classroom. In fact, the child advocate was so complementary of Gnu that her letter ran on for over a page and a half. Unfortunately, the child advocate's letter ended on a bit of a sad note as she informed Gnu that she was retiring. That's not exactly the type of news that you want to hear especially when I tell you about the next event that took place in S&T's life.
The school day was just about over when there was a knock on the classroom door. I looked over at the door and waved to let the person know that it was alright to enter the classroom. As the classroom door opened, two women walked into the classroom and I had no idea who they were. Gnu saw the two women standing in the back of the room and announced to S&T that his parental unit had just arrived to pick him up from school. Whoa! The lady standing closest to me is S&T's real parental unit and this is the first time I've seen her. So I stood up and walked over to introduce myself. I shook S&T's real parental units hand and then the other women in the room introduced herself to me. Unfortunately, in my surprise at meeting S&T's real parental unit, I didn't catch the other person's name but she did say to me that S&T's just calls her grandma. Right after the hand shaking, S&T arrived in the back of the classroom. He walked up to his mother and said, "I miss you mom." A short while later, S&T left for the day with his real parental unit and the lady he calls grandma.
At the end of the day Gnu informed me as to what was going on with S&T. The real parental unit, who lives out of state, and the reason we've never seen her before, has returned to try and get back custody of S&T. Apparently, a court hearing date has been set for sometime this May. As Gnu and I discussed the situation it became apparent that there was a reason S&T's real parental unit lost custody as she has some baggage. So, now we wait until May to see what happens. As we both wait, we know this, S&T is in the third grade and he is in his ninth school. Since his arrival in our school he has made remarkable improvement based on the information we've received from his now retiring child advocate. Two years worth of work with S&T. During those two years so much progress has been made. During those two years, Gnu will tell you that S&T has gone from a major project to her most favorite student. In May of this year, a court room will decide the fate of S&T. I hope they choose wisely.
One more quick story and then I'm out. Gnu was working on expository stories with all of the scholars. During this one particular lesson, we were reading about the Earth's moon. At one point in the reading, the author mentioned Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon. As Gnu was reading about Neil Armstrong, she started to read his quote as he stepped onto the moon's surface for the first time. "That's one small step for man, one," and before Gnu could continue, Huey spoke up and finished the quote, "one giant leap for mankind." The look on Gnu's face was priceless. I was stunned and for whatever reason, Huey, a second grade scholar, who struggles academically, just finished one of the most famous quotes in NASA's history.
ISTEP begins shortly and the pressure for our scholars to do well will build. Compounding the added pressure of doing well on ISTEP is this little bit a information. On Monday, we are supposed to have a new scholar walk into the classroom. A scholar with a history of fighting with his classmates and spewing forth a string of obscenities when angry. Just exactly what we need as we are about to undertake the most important test of the year. That's it for now. Thank you for following along. Next week will be interesting and you'll know about it in about seven days.
Sunday, February 26, 2017
Saturday, February 18, 2017
What's In His Future?
My part time editor, part time consultant, and full time spouse and I had family in town last weekend. The occasion was our granddaughter's first birthday and between family and birthday I lost track of time and failed to post a blog. This same situation is going to take place this weekend as the other side of the family is in town to celebrate the birthday. So, for the first time, I'm writing this blog on a Saturday morning and hopefully I'll have it finished and posted this weekend.
Despite being in this classroom for over four and a half years, things occur that often have me think about the future of some of our young scholars. A couple weeks ago, in a span of three days, one of our scholars did things that make we wonder if he will make it through high school. Gnu and I had the scholars outside as it was recess. Tourette, who usually doesn't get to go outside for recess, improved his behavior enough that Gnu allowed him to join his classmates. Because MiniJ has a safety plan in place due to inappropriate behavior directed at other students, I'm charged with watching him and him only during recess. With my single focus being MiniJ, I didn't see exactly what happened but when I saw another teacher on top of the playground equipment separating scholars I knew something bad happened so I headed toward the altercation. Right in the middle was Tourette who was very upset and was being directed to move off the playground equipment to serve a timeout along the fence that surrounds the playground. Rather that follow this simple instruction, Tourette began to argue with the teacher until he saw me approach him. My instructions to him were simple, move away and take a timeout at the fence. The response I got was, "I didn't do anything." When I looked over at the teacher, he informed me that Tourette was fighting with another student. Tourette again responded, "that boy was talking about and making fun of my mother." "Do you know that boy," I asked Tourette. "No," was his response. "If you don't even know that boy, how would that boy know anything about your mother?" Tourette paused for a moment and then said to me, "that boy was bullying my little brother." "How is that possible," I asked him. "Your brother doesn't even have recess as this time of the day." My response was met with silence. "Now Tourette, you need to move to the fence and get yourself under control." Again, silence plus a lack of movement. "If you want outdoor recess for the rest of the week than I suggest you MOVE."
Advancing the calendar two days and it is approximately 12:50pm and Tourette's day ends at 1:00pm. On a couple of previous occasions, when Tourette's behavior has been acceptable, Gnu will let him spend the last few minutes of his day with FBG. As a reminder FBG is a behavior specialists so Tourette going to talk with him is a good thing. "Miss Gnu, can I go up to FBG office for a little while before I get on the bus?" "Sure," Gnu responded, "but call him first to see if he is in his office." Because this is a somewhat regular event, I'm half paying attention as Tourette dials the telephone number. After a brief moment, Tourette hangs up the telephone and heads out the door. It took a while but then I thought to myself I didn't hear any talking on the telephone. Realizing what scholar I'm dealing with I pull out my cellphone and text FBG telling him Tourette is heading his way. "Sorry, can't talk to him now, I'm out of my office dealing with two other scholars," was the response I received. It's now 1:00pm and I'm heading to a general education math classroom with MiniJ and Uh-Uh-Uh. As I step into the classroom, immediately to my right is Tourette. "What are you doing in here," I asked him. "Mr. FBG said is was alright for me to be here." "How is that possible as you never talked to Mr. FBG," I respond back. He came back at me quickly and I could see the anger building, "yes I did." I took out my cellphone and showed it to him. "Mr. FBG is the red text, I'm the blue text. It says right here," as I'm showing him the text messages, "Mr. FBG never talked to you and never said you could come to this classroom." Tourette is now silent. "You are now late for your bus. I suggest you get out of this classroom and head for your bus before the bus driver leaves you." I then turn to the general education math teacher and tell her that if he ever shows up on your classroom again, throw him out.
Lies, lies, lies. They just keeping coming from this scholar. "Mr. Schultz, look, I got this diamond for $800.00. It's the size of a golf ball and it's plastic. "Miss Gnu, look at this gold neckless I have. I paid $100.00 for it." It wasn't even metal. Speaking to the scholars in general, "look at all of these coins. They are real silver and worth a lot of money." They were from Harrah's casino, the old $1.00 tokens that you used to get from slot machines. Lies, lies, lies, from a third grade scholar. Unless the behavior therapists, behavior specialist, and classroom teacher work miracles with this scholars he's heading from a major train wreck as some point in this life.
After two and a half years in the classroom, it finally happened and Gnu was so excited. "Schultz, someone is taking my lunch and recess duty so I can eat in total quite. Can you believe it? This has not happened in two and a half years." "So, who is taking your lunch and recess duty?" "Mr. FBG." Gnu arrives early and stays late every day. Every day she eats her lunch with our scholars and then takes them outside for recess. I join her at recess to keep an eye on MiniJ. I can say this with a great deal of certainty, no other teacher eats lunch with their scholars and then takes them to recess. In fact, no other teacher goes the entire day without any prep time. So, for the first time in two and a half years, I hope Gnu enjoyed the forty minutes of peace and quite in our classroom.
Our run started on January 3rd and went all the way to February 17th. We were in a good rhythm both academically and behaviorally. All of the scholars except Huey and Tourette were spending part of their day in a general education classroom and there were no major issues. Then we got hit with both barrels. Ka-Boom! "Schultz, we may be getting up to three new scholars." As of right now, Gnu has information on two of the scholars. One will be a returning scholar, Oil. As a reminder, Oil has an oppositional defiant disorder, something that Gnu and I don't do well with, plus he will run out of the classroom every chance he gets. Oil's parental unit moved while he was in our classroom but he is still in our school corporation in an EH classroom. The question that has been asked, and overhead personnel refused to answer, is why is Oil returning to our school if he is in an EH classroom? There are serious doubts that his parental unit wants him to return here because she was quite clear on his departure that she didn't like our school. So, why is he returning? We do have information on the second scholar that may be heading our way. He has a history of starting fights with his classmates. There is no information on the third scholar, except that he may be heading our way.
We are within two weeks of starting the Indiana Stupid Testing and Educational Process (ISTEP). We've been on a great run and just like that our world will come crashing down especially if all three scholars arrive. Gnu has been fighting the process, especially for Oil and the scholar that starts fights with his classmates. She is trying to convince the overhead personnel that the last thing she needs, at the sixth month pregnant level, are scholars with a history of violence in her classroom. So far, the overhead personnel have been non-responsive. When crap like this happens it really irritates me and causes me to pause and think about my future at this school. Maybe Gnu is right, with her out of the classroom for the first ninety days of the next school year, I'd be crazy to return.
That's it for today. As I said at the beginning, my granddaughter is celebrating her first birthday for the second time today and I need to get cleaned up and ready to go. Thank you again for following along. See you next week. Bye!
Despite being in this classroom for over four and a half years, things occur that often have me think about the future of some of our young scholars. A couple weeks ago, in a span of three days, one of our scholars did things that make we wonder if he will make it through high school. Gnu and I had the scholars outside as it was recess. Tourette, who usually doesn't get to go outside for recess, improved his behavior enough that Gnu allowed him to join his classmates. Because MiniJ has a safety plan in place due to inappropriate behavior directed at other students, I'm charged with watching him and him only during recess. With my single focus being MiniJ, I didn't see exactly what happened but when I saw another teacher on top of the playground equipment separating scholars I knew something bad happened so I headed toward the altercation. Right in the middle was Tourette who was very upset and was being directed to move off the playground equipment to serve a timeout along the fence that surrounds the playground. Rather that follow this simple instruction, Tourette began to argue with the teacher until he saw me approach him. My instructions to him were simple, move away and take a timeout at the fence. The response I got was, "I didn't do anything." When I looked over at the teacher, he informed me that Tourette was fighting with another student. Tourette again responded, "that boy was talking about and making fun of my mother." "Do you know that boy," I asked Tourette. "No," was his response. "If you don't even know that boy, how would that boy know anything about your mother?" Tourette paused for a moment and then said to me, "that boy was bullying my little brother." "How is that possible," I asked him. "Your brother doesn't even have recess as this time of the day." My response was met with silence. "Now Tourette, you need to move to the fence and get yourself under control." Again, silence plus a lack of movement. "If you want outdoor recess for the rest of the week than I suggest you MOVE."
Advancing the calendar two days and it is approximately 12:50pm and Tourette's day ends at 1:00pm. On a couple of previous occasions, when Tourette's behavior has been acceptable, Gnu will let him spend the last few minutes of his day with FBG. As a reminder FBG is a behavior specialists so Tourette going to talk with him is a good thing. "Miss Gnu, can I go up to FBG office for a little while before I get on the bus?" "Sure," Gnu responded, "but call him first to see if he is in his office." Because this is a somewhat regular event, I'm half paying attention as Tourette dials the telephone number. After a brief moment, Tourette hangs up the telephone and heads out the door. It took a while but then I thought to myself I didn't hear any talking on the telephone. Realizing what scholar I'm dealing with I pull out my cellphone and text FBG telling him Tourette is heading his way. "Sorry, can't talk to him now, I'm out of my office dealing with two other scholars," was the response I received. It's now 1:00pm and I'm heading to a general education math classroom with MiniJ and Uh-Uh-Uh. As I step into the classroom, immediately to my right is Tourette. "What are you doing in here," I asked him. "Mr. FBG said is was alright for me to be here." "How is that possible as you never talked to Mr. FBG," I respond back. He came back at me quickly and I could see the anger building, "yes I did." I took out my cellphone and showed it to him. "Mr. FBG is the red text, I'm the blue text. It says right here," as I'm showing him the text messages, "Mr. FBG never talked to you and never said you could come to this classroom." Tourette is now silent. "You are now late for your bus. I suggest you get out of this classroom and head for your bus before the bus driver leaves you." I then turn to the general education math teacher and tell her that if he ever shows up on your classroom again, throw him out.
Lies, lies, lies. They just keeping coming from this scholar. "Mr. Schultz, look, I got this diamond for $800.00. It's the size of a golf ball and it's plastic. "Miss Gnu, look at this gold neckless I have. I paid $100.00 for it." It wasn't even metal. Speaking to the scholars in general, "look at all of these coins. They are real silver and worth a lot of money." They were from Harrah's casino, the old $1.00 tokens that you used to get from slot machines. Lies, lies, lies, from a third grade scholar. Unless the behavior therapists, behavior specialist, and classroom teacher work miracles with this scholars he's heading from a major train wreck as some point in this life.
After two and a half years in the classroom, it finally happened and Gnu was so excited. "Schultz, someone is taking my lunch and recess duty so I can eat in total quite. Can you believe it? This has not happened in two and a half years." "So, who is taking your lunch and recess duty?" "Mr. FBG." Gnu arrives early and stays late every day. Every day she eats her lunch with our scholars and then takes them outside for recess. I join her at recess to keep an eye on MiniJ. I can say this with a great deal of certainty, no other teacher eats lunch with their scholars and then takes them to recess. In fact, no other teacher goes the entire day without any prep time. So, for the first time in two and a half years, I hope Gnu enjoyed the forty minutes of peace and quite in our classroom.
Our run started on January 3rd and went all the way to February 17th. We were in a good rhythm both academically and behaviorally. All of the scholars except Huey and Tourette were spending part of their day in a general education classroom and there were no major issues. Then we got hit with both barrels. Ka-Boom! "Schultz, we may be getting up to three new scholars." As of right now, Gnu has information on two of the scholars. One will be a returning scholar, Oil. As a reminder, Oil has an oppositional defiant disorder, something that Gnu and I don't do well with, plus he will run out of the classroom every chance he gets. Oil's parental unit moved while he was in our classroom but he is still in our school corporation in an EH classroom. The question that has been asked, and overhead personnel refused to answer, is why is Oil returning to our school if he is in an EH classroom? There are serious doubts that his parental unit wants him to return here because she was quite clear on his departure that she didn't like our school. So, why is he returning? We do have information on the second scholar that may be heading our way. He has a history of starting fights with his classmates. There is no information on the third scholar, except that he may be heading our way.
We are within two weeks of starting the Indiana Stupid Testing and Educational Process (ISTEP). We've been on a great run and just like that our world will come crashing down especially if all three scholars arrive. Gnu has been fighting the process, especially for Oil and the scholar that starts fights with his classmates. She is trying to convince the overhead personnel that the last thing she needs, at the sixth month pregnant level, are scholars with a history of violence in her classroom. So far, the overhead personnel have been non-responsive. When crap like this happens it really irritates me and causes me to pause and think about my future at this school. Maybe Gnu is right, with her out of the classroom for the first ninety days of the next school year, I'd be crazy to return.
That's it for today. As I said at the beginning, my granddaughter is celebrating her first birthday for the second time today and I need to get cleaned up and ready to go. Thank you again for following along. See you next week. Bye!
Sunday, February 5, 2017
The Biographies
Gnu speaking to the scholars. "We will be reading and discussing biographies this week. Who can tell me the definition of the word biography?" Silence, no takers, not even a single guess. Not the best of starts but Gnu was prepared. Sitting on her table at the front of the room is a stack of biographies. One by one she holds up a biography, tells the scholars who the biography is about, and then asks the question again. Multiple hands go up with the right response. Progress and now starts the real challenge. One by one Gnu calls the scholars up to her front table and hands them a biography. With their biography in hand, the scholars are given the following directions. You are to read the biography. Fourth graders, (MiniJ, Knapper, BigHouse, Uh-Uh-Uh) and Tourette get no reading help. The remainder of the scholars, Grr!, S&T, and Huey can ask an adult for help but only with words they cannot read. After reading the biography, you will do a book report. The book report must have a beginning, middle, and ending. No one will get any help with the initial writing of their book report. When you finish you first writing you can get help editing the book report. After the editing is complete, you will rewrite the book report in your best penmanship. When I feel that you have written your book report in your best penmanship, you will then be allowed to type your book report on one of the laptops and print it out. When everyone has finished typing their book report you will come up to the front of the classroom, one by one, and give an oral presentation on the biography you read.
Here is a list of the scholars and their biography. I'll also tell you what they know about the person in their biography.
MiniJ - Jackie Robinson, some familiarity
BigHouse - Harry Houdini, not a clue
Knapper - Thomas Edison, not a clue
Uh-Uh-Uh - Betsy Ross, not a clue
Tourette - The Wright Brothers, not a clue
S&T - Jesse Owens, not a clue
Huey - Thomas Jefferson, not a clue
Grr! - Abraham Lincoln, a president
With their assigned book in hand, the scholars are told to begin reading. As I looked around the room, the scholars were reading as best they could because Gnu had the foresight to pick out biographies that were written at the second grade or maybe the third grade level. Eventually, even though they were told this was an independent project, they started drifting toward Gnu's front table and my back table. "Mr. Schultz, I don't know what to do?" "Did you read the book?" "I read the first couple pages but I don't know what to do?" "Did you find out anything interesting about your person?" "Yes." "Show me what you found in the book." "I found this Mr. Schultz." "Do you think this is important information?" "Yes, Mr. Schultz." Then go get your notebook and write it down. When you find five or six other items that you think are important, write them down in your notebook."
The process was painstakingly slow but they all continued to work. As they were approaching their final, best penmanship version, Gnu told they that they could either use the internet to put a picture on their final typed version or make a prop of some type that would go along with their character. This got them real excited and construction paper, colored pencils, colored markers, crayons, scissors and glue sticks were in high demand. When they reached the final step, the typing part of the process, it slowed them all down. S&T was the first one to ask for help. "Mr. Schultz, can you help me? There are red lines under my words and I don't know what to do." "Bring me your laptop and I'll take a look at it." When S&T sat the laptop in front of me the first thing I noticed was that he was using a size eight font. "How can you read this," I asked him, "the letters are too small." "I can read it just fine Mr. Schultz." "Well, I can't and if you want me to help you I need to make the letters bigger." I pulled down the font drop box, selected font size twenty-six, made the changes, and pushed the laptop back towards S&T. When he looked at the screen he said to me with a smile on his face, "Mr. Schultz that's a lot better."
After almost two weeks, the book reports are ready. "Who wants to go first," Gnu asked and Huey raised his hand. Below is the book report presentation order. As you read on please remember these are THOSE kids in THAT classroom.
Huey was Thomas Jefferson. He used the following props with his presentation. A nickel, a quill made out of construction paper as Thomas Jefferson was holding a quill in the book and finally, with help from Gnu, he had pictures of Thomas Jefferson's home on the internet that he put up on the big overhead screen.
MiniJ was next with Jackie Robinson. From my standpoint, this was going to be the most interesting presentation. Two years ago, if given this assignment, there is no way MiniJ would get up in front of the classroom and give a presentation. Although he didn't have a prop, he stood in front of the room and gave his presentation. There was no shyness, no hesitation, he read his book report from the front of the classroom as if he had done it a dozen times before. When he finished, Gnu started applauding and so did I because we both knew what just happened.
S&T followed MiniJ with Jesse Owens. His prop was a gold medal that he made out of construction paper and yarn. Although he struggled with the reading, he did his best and when he finished Gnu and I applauded again.
BigHouse walked up next as Harry Houdini. A chain made from black construction paper was his prop. He had the chain wrapped all around his body as he read his report. Easily the best reader in the class, BigHouse did a real nice job.
Uh-Uh-Uh followed as Betsy Ross. She recreated the first flag using construction paper and crayons. Probably the second best reader in the class, Uh-Uh-Uh also did a real nice job.
Tourette had the Wright Brothers and he followed Uh-Uh-Uh. Tourette worked on his prop the longest and it was easily the most impressive as he patiently put together a bi-plane using Legos that was absolutely amazing.
Knapper, unfortunately, did not finish his assignment as he was absent from school for four consecutive days.
Finally, it's Grr!'s turn and neither Gnu nor I knew what to expect as Grr! missed a lot of time doing this project as he spends his afternoons in a general education classroom. When Gnu asked Grr! if he wanted to give his presentation he said, "yes". So, despite the fact that he did no have a book report to read, he slowly made his way to the front of the classroom. As he was walking to the front of the room he put on his props that were made out of black construction paper. First was the stove pipe hat that was held together with scotch tape. Second was the black beard with an opening for his mouth that was held to his face with piece of yarn. Finally, again, using scotch tape, he stuck a black tie on the front of his shirt. So there he stood, in the front of the room with nothing to read and then he began. I recognized immediately what he was doing and I sat straight up and listened. As he spoke I thought to myself, "oh my God, he's giving his presentation in the first person." When he finished talking, he took a deep bow and walked back to his desk. One of THOSE scholars in THAT room just blew me away with a first person presentation about the sixteenth president of the United States without any notes in his hand.
When each scholar finished their presentation, Gnu had them stand in the front of the classroom holding their book report and their props and took a picture of them. A couple days later when she had everyone's picture developed, she took the book report and the pictures out in the corridor and hung them on our bulletin board for all to see. As she did so, the smiles on the scholars faces was priceless. Once again, I'm going to say it. I'm working with an wonderful teacher who, in a classroom full of THOSE kids, gets them to do some amazing things.
The decision or should I say my decision about the next school year has not been made due to unforeseen complications. I'm going to give you the abridged version as the full length story would double the length of this blog post. To start with, the BigB2 had a panicked look on her face when I told her I may not be returning for the next school year. Shortly after, I informed Gnu about my conversation with the BigB2 and she caught me off guard with this statement, "as much as I want you to be in this classroom, I don't think you should return next year given the circumstances." Finally, and what may be the real deal breaker, the school corporation, based on a decision made by the school board, is changing the start time and end time of the school day at my school. As I said previously, it's complicated so I guess you'll have to wait until next week to hear the rest of the story.
Check off another blog posting. Next up is the Super Bowl and I'm thinking popcorn and a Sun King Wee Mac adult beverage. Until next week, enjoy life despite all of the insanity that is going on in the United States following the recent presidential election.
Here is a list of the scholars and their biography. I'll also tell you what they know about the person in their biography.
MiniJ - Jackie Robinson, some familiarity
BigHouse - Harry Houdini, not a clue
Knapper - Thomas Edison, not a clue
Uh-Uh-Uh - Betsy Ross, not a clue
Tourette - The Wright Brothers, not a clue
S&T - Jesse Owens, not a clue
Huey - Thomas Jefferson, not a clue
Grr! - Abraham Lincoln, a president
With their assigned book in hand, the scholars are told to begin reading. As I looked around the room, the scholars were reading as best they could because Gnu had the foresight to pick out biographies that were written at the second grade or maybe the third grade level. Eventually, even though they were told this was an independent project, they started drifting toward Gnu's front table and my back table. "Mr. Schultz, I don't know what to do?" "Did you read the book?" "I read the first couple pages but I don't know what to do?" "Did you find out anything interesting about your person?" "Yes." "Show me what you found in the book." "I found this Mr. Schultz." "Do you think this is important information?" "Yes, Mr. Schultz." Then go get your notebook and write it down. When you find five or six other items that you think are important, write them down in your notebook."
The process was painstakingly slow but they all continued to work. As they were approaching their final, best penmanship version, Gnu told they that they could either use the internet to put a picture on their final typed version or make a prop of some type that would go along with their character. This got them real excited and construction paper, colored pencils, colored markers, crayons, scissors and glue sticks were in high demand. When they reached the final step, the typing part of the process, it slowed them all down. S&T was the first one to ask for help. "Mr. Schultz, can you help me? There are red lines under my words and I don't know what to do." "Bring me your laptop and I'll take a look at it." When S&T sat the laptop in front of me the first thing I noticed was that he was using a size eight font. "How can you read this," I asked him, "the letters are too small." "I can read it just fine Mr. Schultz." "Well, I can't and if you want me to help you I need to make the letters bigger." I pulled down the font drop box, selected font size twenty-six, made the changes, and pushed the laptop back towards S&T. When he looked at the screen he said to me with a smile on his face, "Mr. Schultz that's a lot better."
After almost two weeks, the book reports are ready. "Who wants to go first," Gnu asked and Huey raised his hand. Below is the book report presentation order. As you read on please remember these are THOSE kids in THAT classroom.
Huey was Thomas Jefferson. He used the following props with his presentation. A nickel, a quill made out of construction paper as Thomas Jefferson was holding a quill in the book and finally, with help from Gnu, he had pictures of Thomas Jefferson's home on the internet that he put up on the big overhead screen.
MiniJ was next with Jackie Robinson. From my standpoint, this was going to be the most interesting presentation. Two years ago, if given this assignment, there is no way MiniJ would get up in front of the classroom and give a presentation. Although he didn't have a prop, he stood in front of the room and gave his presentation. There was no shyness, no hesitation, he read his book report from the front of the classroom as if he had done it a dozen times before. When he finished, Gnu started applauding and so did I because we both knew what just happened.
S&T followed MiniJ with Jesse Owens. His prop was a gold medal that he made out of construction paper and yarn. Although he struggled with the reading, he did his best and when he finished Gnu and I applauded again.
BigHouse walked up next as Harry Houdini. A chain made from black construction paper was his prop. He had the chain wrapped all around his body as he read his report. Easily the best reader in the class, BigHouse did a real nice job.
Uh-Uh-Uh followed as Betsy Ross. She recreated the first flag using construction paper and crayons. Probably the second best reader in the class, Uh-Uh-Uh also did a real nice job.
Tourette had the Wright Brothers and he followed Uh-Uh-Uh. Tourette worked on his prop the longest and it was easily the most impressive as he patiently put together a bi-plane using Legos that was absolutely amazing.
Knapper, unfortunately, did not finish his assignment as he was absent from school for four consecutive days.
Finally, it's Grr!'s turn and neither Gnu nor I knew what to expect as Grr! missed a lot of time doing this project as he spends his afternoons in a general education classroom. When Gnu asked Grr! if he wanted to give his presentation he said, "yes". So, despite the fact that he did no have a book report to read, he slowly made his way to the front of the classroom. As he was walking to the front of the room he put on his props that were made out of black construction paper. First was the stove pipe hat that was held together with scotch tape. Second was the black beard with an opening for his mouth that was held to his face with piece of yarn. Finally, again, using scotch tape, he stuck a black tie on the front of his shirt. So there he stood, in the front of the room with nothing to read and then he began. I recognized immediately what he was doing and I sat straight up and listened. As he spoke I thought to myself, "oh my God, he's giving his presentation in the first person." When he finished talking, he took a deep bow and walked back to his desk. One of THOSE scholars in THAT room just blew me away with a first person presentation about the sixteenth president of the United States without any notes in his hand.
When each scholar finished their presentation, Gnu had them stand in the front of the classroom holding their book report and their props and took a picture of them. A couple days later when she had everyone's picture developed, she took the book report and the pictures out in the corridor and hung them on our bulletin board for all to see. As she did so, the smiles on the scholars faces was priceless. Once again, I'm going to say it. I'm working with an wonderful teacher who, in a classroom full of THOSE kids, gets them to do some amazing things.
The decision or should I say my decision about the next school year has not been made due to unforeseen complications. I'm going to give you the abridged version as the full length story would double the length of this blog post. To start with, the BigB2 had a panicked look on her face when I told her I may not be returning for the next school year. Shortly after, I informed Gnu about my conversation with the BigB2 and she caught me off guard with this statement, "as much as I want you to be in this classroom, I don't think you should return next year given the circumstances." Finally, and what may be the real deal breaker, the school corporation, based on a decision made by the school board, is changing the start time and end time of the school day at my school. As I said previously, it's complicated so I guess you'll have to wait until next week to hear the rest of the story.
Check off another blog posting. Next up is the Super Bowl and I'm thinking popcorn and a Sun King Wee Mac adult beverage. Until next week, enjoy life despite all of the insanity that is going on in the United States following the recent presidential election.
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