Google: Lord and Master Turned Enemy

I've always been a fan of Google and the right to access infinite knowledge. However, when an innocent College and Career Week activity results in a student nearly calling my dad's business . . . well, then a girl has to reevaluate her self-proclaimed Google-philia.

For the first day of College and Career Week, faculty was encouraged to wear representation for their alma mater. So despite the near-80 degree weather, I donned my bright, pink Pace sweatshirt. Advisory teachers, including myself, were asked to have our students decorate our classroom doors to represent our respective schools.

It sounded perfectly reasonable and one mass email later, I had the necessary blue and gold construction paper to showcase Pace University.

The "raven croaked itself hoarse" when I asked my students to conduct online research about Pace to give them decoration ideas. An inquisitive, "Miss, how old are you?" and a mischevious, "36 or 62 or whatever age you want me to be," resulted in the following horrifyingly hilarious moments:

1. "Is this you? It's on the school website," in response to an article on the School of Education site.

2. "Oh, you write poems, Miss..." and then proceeds to regale the class with my bad art.

3. "Miss, I know how old you are! You're 23, turning 24. Or are you 24 already?"

4. "Miss, you've been to Japan?!" "What? No, but I watch Japanese shows and blog and stuff..."

5. "Miss, who's Mohamed?" " What? My dad! What are you ladies doing, anyway?!"

6. "Miss, by the end of tonight, I'm going to know everything about you," as if that's not creepy at all.

7. "Who's Arabdgshs," butchering my poor mother's name. (Digression: I celebrated Mother's Day by flooding the bathroom and I remain un-disowned. My mom is more awesome than yours!)

8. Student at phone: "Miss, I'm calling your phone!" "Lemme see the number.... T, stop, you're calling my dad's business! That's it--you all have a problem and I'm cutting you off!"

Just a typical day with my crazy, yet loveable kiddos.

Laters,
Fatuma

Students Say: Ego-centrism and Chill Mode

The fact that I'd had to take an Adolescent Psychology class as part of my Education degree came up in class today and one of my students was all, "so, what'd you learn about us?"

"You're all egocentric and mostly see the world from only your own perspective."

"Facts." Nods head sagaciously.

At least, she's aware of her own flaws. =)

https://beinglatino.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/egocentrism_pic.jpg

Another--

"Miss, you're mad chill when you're in a good mood."

"I'm always in a good mood until you all frustrate me by talking. How about we aim to frustrate Miss less? And she can stay as chilly as ice."

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfchgbaCpO1qf82rr.jpg

Sub Adventures #3: 6th Science in Brooklyn

Today was another half day assignment covering 6th grade science, again. I'm not sure what's going on with the 6th grade science teachers around the city, but three in a row seems like more than coincidence.

The students weren't the most pleasant and downright insubordinate at some points of the day, but the dean of the school was pretty darn scary and was extremely helpful to me in dealing with the students. After making sure that I knew that she was just a phone call away, I threw her name around as a threat whenever the kids were too rowdy or noisy.

Picking the students up from lunch and taking them to their Mandarin class (Mandarin! How cool is that?!) was a total chore. After walking a small group up, I explain to the dean that the rest of them were running amuck.

When I picked them up from Mandarin to take them to science, I threatened to walk by the dean's office to drop a few of them off if they couldn't be quietly line up and remain silent during walk back to classroom. They shut up so quickly, I'm sure I heard some teeth clink. If only, I could have half of the dean's scare power.

At the end of the day, she came in and gave the class a riot act. She even asked me to point out who was in the group I walked up. Everyone who wasn't . . . was pulled from the class and suspended. Woah! Even I was terrified of this woman, but I guess that's what makes her a dean.

On a more positive note, the school is absolutely gorgeous! I mean, stunning. It's such a colorful and welcoming place and I don't think the students realize or appreciate how special that is. I went to schools with barf-green paint that shouldn't be sold, let alone put on walls. Seeing a school where every inch of wall, it seemed, was covered with posters, student projects, motivational quotes, and more was heartening to see. I even discovered a reading nook in the stairway, in between the 2nd and 3rd floors. A reading nook, I say! 

On another positive note, my travels in Brooklyn were a lot more pleasant today. Google navigation took perfect care of me and the train station and school were easily found. No more getting lost for me. I hope.

Well, that's my adventure for today. Tomorrow I'm off to cover 9th and 10th grade Health/P.E. in the Bronx!

Sub Adventures #2: 6th Grade Science in Washington Heights

Once again, I was a sub for 6th grade science. This time, it was only a half day. As the school was located in Washington Heights, it was a much shorter commute for me.

The kids were pretty pleasant. A few of them did try to test me a little, but as soon as I informed them that I knew about "restitutions" and they could still serve detention the next day, they settled down. I appreciated the teacher's preparation of not only student work to complete, but seating charts and disciplinary system of the school. It was extremely helpful.

A great benefit of substitute teaching in general is the chance to visit different school and classrooms and receiving a quick glimpse of how they do things. It's an excellent way for an inexperienced teacher like myself to collect great ideas.

The teacher for today's assignment has a great classroom. It's well-organized and comfortable. I loved it so much that I might have crossed a line and snapped a few pics. There were a few great classroom ideas that I would love to potentially implement in my own future classroom.

My fave is this large pocket hanging organizer to store a month's worth of handouts/student work. I mean, how useful is that! It'll be a great way to plan/prepare work ahead of time as well as provide students with a place to find assignments from long ago.

 

The classroom has what's called a "Peace Corner." I'm assuming it's for disruptive students to be able to step away and calm down before returning to their seats and to work. I also got a kick out of the painted tree curtain to give the area the necessary peaceful feeling.

Lastly, the teacher writes the essential questions for a particular unit on a wall to remain up for the entirety of the unit. I think that's a great way to ensure students remain focused and continuously consider the essential questions.

I hope that I haven't breached any privacy with this post/pictures. I tried to make sure to capture the pictures in a way that wouldn't reveal the identity of either the teacher or any students. If I've missed something, please mention it in the comments.

WTH: Can I have some of your soda?

This is a new series (one I'd like to continue) to detail the strange, unusual, odd, and just plain weird happenings in the classroom.

For the past seven weeks, students (from my student teacher placement in the 8th grade) have been working steadily on a biographical research project. Today, they began creating podcasts about their chosen individuals (using Keynote). As students worked independently, I circled the classroom, checking in, keeping students on task, and answering any questions that arose.

About half way through the period, I hear another "Miss Hydara" from a male student. I turn around and the "Yes. What's up?" freezes on my lips.

He's holding my soda. My opened Sierra Mist, matching lime green bendy straw inserted, that had been sitting on my desk . . . in this student's hand. 

"Miss Hydara, can I have a sip of this?"

"What . . . " the heck? "No. Just . . . no. Put that down."

"I'm not going to drink from the straw. I'm just going to go like this," as he mimes tipping the can back into his mouth.

"No, just . . . no. No, no, no... you are crossing so many boundaries right now. Just put down the soda and get back to work."

I was absolutely perplexed and obviously not very articulate. I didn't know how to respond because his question broke what I thought was an extremely clear unwritten rule--you don't ask to share food or drinks with your teacher or any person you aren't totally, like, BFF's with, you just don't. Or is that just the germophobe in me?

Wake-up, Wake-up, I Say! (Dealing with Sleepy Students)

Today, I shocked my students by yelling in class. They were looking all droopy-eyed and lackadaisical (previous Word of the Day reference). It was the quiet Period G, 10th grade co-taught class that is right after both my and the students' lunch. I was feeling pretty sleepy myself and I just couldn't take it anymore: the asking of the probing questions and the receiving of the blank stares and silence was driving me batty. So I verbalized my frustration in the only way possible: "Asdhddjdjdbeosjh!!! Guys you're killing me, wake up!" They jumped. Some at least two feet out of their chairs, but my sudden shout woke them up and after some laughter--nervous and slightly frightened from them and amusement from me--we continued our riveting discussion of Jack Finney's Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket.

Mean Teacher Pants? Check! (Dealing with Chatty/Off-Task Students)

Today, I had to put on my big-girl-mean-teacher -pants for Period E Freshman Writing Seminar. Yesterday, students were doing in-class revisions of their persuasive essays. As they worked on revisions, I called students up one by one to discuss two major concerns or questions they currently had about their essays. As I was trying to do this however, the rest of the students were going out of their ever loving noggins! Side conversation, giggling, and distracting behaviors galore, as if it was going out of style. My mentor teacher had to step in with a, "You think she's bad cop? Well, I'm worse cop. If you need even more work to do, I can certainly give you some," as she preceded to do so.

However, today I wanted to take matters into my own hands.

While my mentor teacher wasn't in the room (total coincidence, promise), I gave the students a serious talking to:

"Your behavior yesterday was completely unacceptable. The constant side conversations need to stop NOW. These one on one conferences? I don't have to do them. They're to your benefit. So, let me tell you what we're going to do today. We're going to continue revision and conferences. However, if I hear a word out of any of you, I. Will. Skip. You. Not only that, you will lose points on your final paper. What that means is that if by some miraculous power you turn in a perfect paper, you'll still be starting from a 95. Do I make myself clear?"

A "Yes, Miss Hydara!" was heard from each student. I think I made some of them piss their pants.

Me? I was shaking in my damn ballet flats! The Libra in me absolutely abhors confrontation, even with inept 9th graders. (Inept was our word of the today today inspired by Period E's shenanigans the day before. Nothing is more brutal than subtle English teacher revenge). But guess what? They were absolutely silent during the entire period as I continued conferences. So there!