Bu ve şu
Our ballroom dance team won second place out of ten teams competing! But we probably can't afford to have the program next year. And given that I am feeling unwanted at my school at present, it makes me just slightly bitter to remember that I was the one who had the idea and made the initial phone calls that got our school involved. Then, the 8th grade teachers, our parent coordinator, and others took over and did a lot of hard work to make it happen. *sigh*
*****
The sixth graders are making a giant periodic table of the elements. Each student drew the name of one element out of a beaker. We don't have enough kids to do every single element, but we'll have about 80 of the elements covered. They researched their elements and made small posters (8 1/2 by 11 inches), following a common format. When they turn in their final drafts on Friday, I'll attach all the squares together to make a giant table. I'm extremely excited about it, especially because their first drafts were pretty good.
*****
Points of grammar for the sixth graders:
temperature, not tempture, tempature, tempeture, temprature... temp-er-a-ture
find/found, found/founded, discovered
it's/its
appearance, not -ence
*****
The sixth graders drew coats of arms in social studies. They had to write their name - Lord Rodriguez, Lady Walton, etc. - at the bottom of the coat of arms. Most kids used their own names, but someone wrote, "Lady Frizzle Smartypants" beneath their coat of arms. The social studies teacher is still trying to figure out who...
*****
And in the seventh grade, it's diagrams and tables and graphs (oh my!), practicing the skills needed to look at an unfamiliar presentation of information and puzzle out its meaning. We're looking at the well-known CO2 graph from Mauna Loa, a table of data about different greenhouse gases, and several graphs showing climate variability over different periods of time. I told my students that they could be smarter than President Clinton. How? I told them about his comment about climate change causing increased hurricanes and tsunamis. What causes tsunamis? I asked. Earthquakes, and plates moving, they said. Is that related to climate? No - it's plate tectonics!
I'm doing the best teaching of my life, and I feel like all people see are the moments of frustration that I have with the adults I work with. My school is a cauldron to work in, both in good and bad ways. I want to handle stress perfectly, but I don't. All I can do is try. But I think I'm unwanted.
*****
The sixth graders are making a giant periodic table of the elements. Each student drew the name of one element out of a beaker. We don't have enough kids to do every single element, but we'll have about 80 of the elements covered. They researched their elements and made small posters (8 1/2 by 11 inches), following a common format. When they turn in their final drafts on Friday, I'll attach all the squares together to make a giant table. I'm extremely excited about it, especially because their first drafts were pretty good.
*****
Points of grammar for the sixth graders:
temperature, not tempture, tempature, tempeture, temprature... temp-er-a-ture
find/found, found/founded, discovered
it's/its
appearance, not -ence
*****
The sixth graders drew coats of arms in social studies. They had to write their name - Lord Rodriguez, Lady Walton, etc. - at the bottom of the coat of arms. Most kids used their own names, but someone wrote, "Lady Frizzle Smartypants" beneath their coat of arms. The social studies teacher is still trying to figure out who...
*****
And in the seventh grade, it's diagrams and tables and graphs (oh my!), practicing the skills needed to look at an unfamiliar presentation of information and puzzle out its meaning. We're looking at the well-known CO2 graph from Mauna Loa, a table of data about different greenhouse gases, and several graphs showing climate variability over different periods of time. I told my students that they could be smarter than President Clinton. How? I told them about his comment about climate change causing increased hurricanes and tsunamis. What causes tsunamis? I asked. Earthquakes, and plates moving, they said. Is that related to climate? No - it's plate tectonics!
I'm doing the best teaching of my life, and I feel like all people see are the moments of frustration that I have with the adults I work with. My school is a cauldron to work in, both in good and bad ways. I want to handle stress perfectly, but I don't. All I can do is try. But I think I'm unwanted.
posted by ms. v. at 8:08 PM
5 Comments:
Try to remember: it's not the kids, it's everyone else.
We all have good days and bad days, try to shrug it off and know yourself that you have accomplished a lot this year (and you have!).
appearance, not -ence
Thanks! As an engineer, I ain't got no use for proper speak. :)
You're almost making me wish I hadn't abandoned a general science minor for middle school teaching. Almost.
I worship the Frizzly ground you walk on. Plate Teutonics be damned!
I can think of at least one place that you're wanted... ;)
Plate Teutonics? Is that Meissen?
8-)
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