Apr 03 2007
On Vacation
It’s been a while since I’ve posted – almost a month – wow! 3rd quarter ended and we’re almost 3 weeks into 4th quarter. I’m on Spring Break now. I took last Thursday and Friday off to go to Disney with my cousin and her four children (ages 12 ½, 11, 8 and 3½) on Thursday – needed Friday to recover. I have this week and next Monday off! When I return to school there will be about 8 weeks left in the school year. I can’t believe how fast it’s gone by.
Overall, it’s been a good year – my reading classes are great – a few individuals who I could do without, but mostly a great bunch of kids. Academically, I think they did well and we’ll be very happy with their state test scores. My 7th grade computer kids have also been awesome – I have accomplished much more with them this year than in previous years. Unfortunately, I attribute that to the fact that we got all the lowest level kids in a block reading class, which means they don’t get to take an elective. What it meant for me is that I got to teach at a higher level. For some reason, though that didn’t hold true for the 6th graders. Maybe they just aren’t mature enough – it’s no secret that I don’t have the patience for 6th grade silliness. I’d much rather teach 7th or 8th graders. Speaking of 8th graders- oy! I went from the best class ever (last year) to one of my most challenging classes in a long time. And it’s only a few kids who are ruining it. We had a day a month or so ago, when all the instigators were out on the same day! The rest of the class remarked at how much fun we had that day 
I had one student go overboard last week. I separated three big talkers and one girl kept on going by saying “Now who will I talk to?” I pulled her out into the hall and let her know that she had gone too far and that she’d better get herself under control. She admitted that it was uncalled for. We went back into the classroom and I warned everyone that anymore behavior issues and they would be off the final field trip and not be allowed to attend the 8th grade formal. I wasn’t making this up – that’s coming from administration. I hope they behaved on those two days that I was out before vacation…..
Anyway – I’m on vacation and I’m going to spend the rest of the week relaxing, and catching up on cleaning my house and of course at some point I’ll be grading and writing lesson plans
