Not Good Bye But See You Later

As the senior silver-haired one of the group, I wanted to say that this blog thing has been a lot of fun as well as an encouragement to me. Special thanks to Dr. J and to Jessie who pushed us into this challenging new cutting edge technology. You both have been wonderful in the classroom and given us an amazing amount of knowledge and guidance. I would hate to see where I would be without it. I feel I have the tools I need. Now I want the time to develop them. I hope that every now and then everyone will feel the urge to type out a blog to the group. I plan to check it occasionally. It has been painful this year but well worth the pain. I will miss you all but not the weekly trips to GSU! I look forward to seeing you all at conferences and trainings from time to time. You are a super group of people! I feel blessed to have shared this experience with you.

Honored

I'm a teacher and I realize that some students hate my guts. On the other hand, there are students who respect and appreciate me. The latter are the students that spur me out of bed and off to work each day. I have one student I have gotten to know better than most because she rode with me two consecutive days to a HOSA conference, one and a half hours each way. She also worked closely with me coordinating our blood drive. I have been very impressed with her from the beginning. She is pleasant, self-motivated, and exhibits exceptional teamwork and leadership skills. She also excels academically. Back in late February this student asked me to write letters of recommendation for her as she sought admission to a radiology school and a scholarship from the hospital where I worked until 11 months ago. I was proud to write recommendations on her behalf. We even drove to that hospital on our way to the HOSA conference and hand delivered her scholarship application to get it turned in on time.

In the past two weeks things have really come together for this student. She received letters saying that she has been granted the largest scholarship the hospital offers as well as acceptance into the radiology program of her choice. Additionally, it was announced at school that she has earned the honor of a Top Ten Senior based on her GPA. With each new piece of news she came running to me and we rejoiced! One day she came to say I had better not have any plans for the evening of May 10th. As a top ten student she got to choose one teacher from the 5th grade to the present that she felt was especially influential in her life. She named me and asked that I attend the Top Ten Banquet with her on the stated May evening. I received a formal invitation this week. To my surprise, the teachers chosen by the Top Ten Seniors are being honored as the Top Ten Teachers at the same banquet. I had no idea. What an honor! At least not all students hate my guts.

The pressure is on......

After a post evaluation conference with my administrator, I realize that I am expected to start a HOSA club and begin industry certification. I thought that HOSA was only required if I was receiving the extended day grant and it seems that receiving that grant is expected of me whether I want it or not. And when has industry certification become a requirement?

SkillsUSA has been an established club at Marietta for quite some time and I don't want to break away from the group. I have been told from administration that I should just maintain 2 clubs using the same officers for each. Why do I have to change when this change isn't necessarily good?
Oh, the pressure is on!!!!

Why bother?

Well, I spent some time putting together lesson plans for my students relocated while I proctored the GHSGT. Since they were going to be in the media center for 2 days anyway, I thought it would be good for them to begin their research for their oral presentation on diseases of the skeletal system. I left sign up sheets and rubrics and since my students had done this sort of thing before I knew they would have no trouble following the instructions. There was going to be a parapro to take role, give instructions and supervise all students relocated. To make a long story short, the parapro never showed up and no one gave my students any instructions. Needless to say, no lesson plan was followed and my students are going to be a week behind. How can this happen? How frustrating to take the time to plan when there is no one to follow through. Again, I feel as if what my students are studying is of no importance to anyone else. Why are we not instructed to just let our students have a "free" day? Why do I even bother?

IEP Cop-out

Am I the only one who thinks a lot of students use their IEP as a cop-out to get away with bad behavior and laziness? I assigned new groups in all my classes Monday when we came back from spring break. Today two girls got into a mild argument while doing a test review worksheet in their group. I took the two out into the hall away from the audience. One of them has a perpetual bad attitude. Out in the hall Miss Bad Attitude proceded to informed me she could not work in that group because she had anger management problems and would get in a fight if she remained in that group. (The emphasis was hers. I wish I could show you the body language that went with the words, but I'm sure you have seen it before.) Since this was eight minutes before the bell, I told her to go to her seat and do the worksheet on her own until the end of class. She informed me that I had to put her in a new group that she could work in, now! Her reason was that she couldn't work by herself because she works best in a group. She informed me that if I would read her IEP I would know all that stuff about her. I told her that I had read her IEP several times and that I would put her in another work group but not right now,so close to the bell. She informed me that she would send her case worker to tell me a thing or two. I said I would love to talk to her case worker. She informed me that I couldn't because the case worker is out on maternity leave. She still wanted to argue but I simply walked back into the classroom. You know, "It takes two to argue," so I ended it just like I am ending this blog.

Technology: Ya Gotta Love It

For the past two days I've been trying to do my blog for this week. You know, get it done early so I don't have to stress over finishing it by midnight on Friday. Anyhow, my computer has been giving me problems lately. The screen keeps getting wavy and freezing up like there is a virus but Norton says it finds no viruses. I even bought a new monitor thinking that was the problem. It wasn't. So, I turn it on and off over and over hoping one time it will work. (Maybe this is the time!) I will have to break down and take it to the geeks but I was really hoping to make it through this semester first. I truly can't get along without it until the semester's end. My computer at school has too many blocks for me to do NTI work. Besides, who wants to stay at school until bedtime night after night! I stay too late as it is already.

My real classroom issue with technology right now is not the blocks on my internet access. My frustration is the beautiful interactive board that has been sitting there since before I entered the classroom for the first time on July 20, 2006. The first excuse I got from the county office was the absence of an LCD projector with which to hook it up. A few months into school the principal got involved and saw that an LCD was ordered and delivered. I contacted the county office again. I even got training in the use of the interactive board. Still nothing happened regarding hooking it up. Oh the plans I have for using that board! Yet, so far I have only used it as a display board, as an overhead transparency screen, even as a white board. I contacted the county office prior to Fall Break, Thanksgiving Break, Christmas Break, Winter Break, and now Spring Break. When I e-mailed before Spring Break, I copied it to my department head, assistant principal, and principal. That must have helped. Within two days I got a reply saying they had brought in a guy to give them an estimate how much it would cost to install it. I haven't heard any more. So, I am wondering when I get back to school Monday after Spring Break if the interactive board will be up and running. Dreamer, right?! I know one thing for sure; I will not be holding my breath. If it is installed though, I may have to get training in its use all over again to do all those wonderful things I have planned for its use.

Taking Care of Ourselves

There is one topic has not been addressed in NTI. Starting this week of Spring Break I have thought about this subject a lot. It is actually a Biblical principle. What is that topic? If you read my title, you know the answer. We must consciously take actions to preserve our physical, mental, spiritual, social, and emotional well being. I don't know about the rest of you, but I have clearly flunked in this category since starting NTI.

I read an oye-opening book a few years ago called, Margin - Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives, written by, Richard A. Swenson, M.D. In it he said that just as each page in a book has a margin around the edge, our daily lives need many kinds of reserves or we will experience overload and pain. I have gone bankrupt of rest, relaxation, and enjoyment over the past ten months. I am dedicating this week to getting caught up on NTI homeworkand doing taxes but also to sleep, exercise, eat healthy, read my Bible and pray more, enjoy my friends and family, work in my house and yard, ride the motorcycle with my husband, sing, shop, and what ever else I find enjoyable to do. Dr. Swenson would be proud. I look forward to being proud of myself when it is all done.

The Clinic is Open

Do I miss hands-on patient care? How could I! I do nursing of some sort every day at school. No, I am not the school nurse, yet there must be an invisible shingle hanging at my classroom door announcing, "Joyce D, RN, BSN. The Clinic is Open. " Students come to me regularly to ask about their ailment of the day. Before school is the peak time for visits. Sometimes the waiting room is bustling. Kids I don't even know come to the clinic. I give out bandaids, triple antibiotic cream, and medical/first aid tips daily. I look at every kind of bump, bruise, burn, and boo-boo imaginable. I do more listening than anything. I hear about students' and their family members' trips to the doctor or hospital. I hear details about injuries, even to pets. They tell me about medical things or non-medical things they have heard or have seen especially on TV. These conversations occur hourly in my classroom clinic.

The talk in my room usually begins something like this: "Can you feel if I have a fever?" "Would you take my blood pressure?" "What do you think is making my eye swell shut?" "My friend hurt her foot and it's all swollen up. Is it broken?" "What do you think these bites are from? They itch real bad!" "Is my belly button infected? I just got it pierced last week. I don't want to take it out!" "Look at this bump and tell me what it is." "I jammed my finger. What should I do? I can't even see my knuckle and it really hurts." "I have a pain right here. What's it from?" "What should I put on this sunburn?" I make a few comments or suggestions, but mostly, I look, smile, and I listen.

Yesterday a student stayed after class to talk to me privately. I was expecting something very profound. I had to mask a large grin when she asked if there was a medical treatment she could take to become taller. She wants to be a model and feels she can never reach her goal at the height of 5'2". She was very serious.

I went to the school counselor a few months back about a student's confession of depression and burning himself. This student occasionally comes by the "clinic" to talk even after finishing weeks of counseling. Several students invited me to the library to hear them as they read poems they had written. The recovering depressed student and others I knew spilled their guts as they read their poesm. I was an honored guest and they thanked me for listening.

Two of my students are pregnant. They have asked about fetal development and child birth. Another student confided she was afraid she had gotten pregnant over the weekend and wanted to know long until a home pregnancy test would give a reliable result. One senior was going for her first pap smear and wanted to know what to expect. She didn't want to ask her mom. Students tell me what they know and inquire if they are on target. I do explain some things to them, but most of all I lovingly affirm them and listen.

Even teachers come to the "clinic" at times. Several come regularly to weigh in on our scale. One is loosing too much weight stressing while her husband is in Iran. Some want their blood pressure checked and are concerned about their medication not working. I have been summoned several times by a teacher or administrator to respond when a student was having a seizure and the school nurse was not present. The student and their parents want to talk, to hear details about what happened, and to know what to communicate to their doctor.

One day last week a coach came running into the room asking for the wheelchair. One of our student athletes has a BKA (above the knee amputation) and a prosthetic leg. His "leg" broke at the ankle. He needed a way to get around school. They took the chair to him. At the end of the day the student came to return the wheelchair saying he had to go to a track meet. I asked how he would get around. He said he could hop. Until his prosthesis is fixed he is using our department's crutches after school and wheelchair during school. Every morning and afternoon he comes by to make the exchange and to talk.

You know, as a nurse in the school setting, I find things really aren't much different than they were in the hospital. There are a lot of people in both places that need someone to care for them but more than anything to listen.

Failed Test

After all the instruction we have received on writing tests, I should be doing a wonderful job of writing them, but I'm not. I gave a test this week and to my utter horror, half of my students failed. When my "A" students fail a test, I know there is a major problem. I believe that the problem this time was primarily me. The test looked flawless. All the directions were precisely written. The multiple choice and matching answers were all in alphabetical order. I used capital letters where there were supposed to be capitals. The multiple choice included one extra answer, to be sure students knew the material. All the columns were properly labeled. That test looked like a piece of art.

So where did I go wrong? For one thing, I didn't have time to write the test before teaching the material. I perfected the form of the test but not the content. Also, in teaching this particular unit, I used very little lecture. I thought it would be best not to bore them with listening to me teach a subject that they had previously covered in middle school, in biology, and etc. Students wrote vocabulary words with definitions to study. They did some wonderful activities to solidify the material in their brains, or so I thought. When I graded the tests I found that my students did not know what I believed they knew. I learned that I needed to spend more time in lecture and review of the material. Thankfully, this test was only given to my two smaller classes; students I have had all year. I love them and they know it and love me back, shortcomings and all.

What should one do after messing up so badly? Here's what I did. First, I apologized to my students and told them I felt I was largely at fault for the poor grades. I thanked them for being such good sports over breaking in a first year teacher who was learning many things the hard way at their expense, including the writing of tests. I told them that starting Monday, after I have the weekend to write a new and appropriate test, we will take a few days to cover the material be certain they understand know what is expectedof them. They will all take the new test and I will take the better score of the two tests. Being the great bunch of students that they are, they were very happy with this plan. More than that, they were happy that tomorrow is Friday and we are going to go ahead with our plans to do the "Autopsy of a Pickle" project to the body planes and directions. (I wish I could take credit for the pickle idea but it is not a Joyce original.) Anyway, the students aren't the only ones happy that tomorrow is Friday!

Roller Coaster

This is going to be long. I'm pretty wound up tonight. I've had some of the lowest and highest days of my short teaching career packed into the past ten days. I feel as though I've been on a roller coaster with my emotions going through radical ups and downs. Let me share some of the events.

Having prepared lesson plans for a sub, I traveled back and forth to Athens for the HOSA conference a week ago Thursday, Friday, and again on Saturday. One student, whom I'll call SP, went to the conference with me. It was fun seeing how excited she became when infected by the enthusiasm of other HOSA teens in attendance from throughout Georgia. SP had a tennis match in Athens on Friday afternoon so we skipped out of the conference for a few hours. It was an away (far away) match for our high school tennis team. Besides the two coaches, I was the only spectator cheering for them. Three of my students played that evening. My rapport with those three improved significantly and all the students seemed genuinely appreciative of my attendance and attention.

Monday morning I was at school an hour early to meet the American Red Cross truck. It was the day of our HOSA-sponsored blood drive. HOSA members were the volunteers to work at the drive because I had classes to teach. I was back and forth to the auditorium every spare minute and stayed to clean up afterward. It went well and we ended up 10 units over our goal.

Halfway through Monday morning, the teacher across the hall came to see how I was taking the news about the behavior of my students while I was gone Thursday and Friday. Having been tied up with the blood drive, I had not yet read all the notes from the sub so my co-worker filled me in. There were several incidents but the worse was when one female and one male student in my last period class got into a verbal altercation. She eventually swung at him and hit him in the face. He did not hit back but gave her a piece of his mind. The sub stepped out of the room to deal with those two students and someone stole his MP3 player off of my desk. It took two administrators to sort through that mess. The girl was suspended for three days and the guy got three days of ISS but not until after they both attended my class on Monday. I read the long note from the sub to them and told them I had expected much better from them. The guy was very quiet but the girl was just as mouthy and obnoxious as ever.

About 5:00 that afternoon I finally got to sit down at my computer to read e-mails and put in the electronic attendance for the day. It was then that I learned that an e-mail had gone out on Friday while I was gone saying several of us were to sign up for GPS training sometime Monday morning. By then (5 PM) I had more e-mails from my department head saying she hoped we had all gotten signed up. So I tried to do just that, only the internet was blocked and I could not get on to do register. That was when I lost it. I cried and cried. I had worked non-stop for days with little sleep and no time for myself or my family including my son who was home from FSU for Spring break. Now I find there is more training I must have and I am late signing up.

Well, that was just Monday. Tuesday and the rest of the week wasn't much better - like the fiasco the day we tried to tape my class for NTI - but since this is getting so long I won't bore you with all that. I'll move on to the good stuff that happened. On Wednesday afternoon, SP who had gone to the HOSA conference with me came to see me. She said, "I sure hope you have the evening of May 10 open after our HOSA meeting." She had just learned she is one of the top 10 (GPA) graduates this year. She was told to choose one special teacher from 5th grade to the present to attend a banquet with her in honor of the top 10 students. She chose me.

My students knew I was upset over the behavior issue while I was gone. Also, some of them know that teachers have to sign and turn in contracts by next Monday. I received two notes from students telling me how much I mean to them and telling me to be sure to stay. The student I wrote about last week who appologized to me has been good as gold all week. He was really genuine in his appology for his behavior. Several students I had last semester but not this semester have come to see me just to say, "Hi!" (Or , "Hey," as they say here in the South.) One guy told me I am the only teacher who likes him. Another student came to me before school this morning and asked me to wear her soccer jersey all day. The soccer coach asked each of her team members to get a favorite teacher to wear their jersey the days of home games. This is to advertise the game. I felt so honored that she asked me to wear her jersey for the second time.

It is those little things that make it worth getting out of bed and going to work in the morning. Every day is not a bad day. My daughter is also a teacher. Just this evening she suggested I write the good things down and take pictures to put with those writings so I'll have something to look at and remind me when the roller coster of teaching has taken me into a deep dip. Those reminders would be proof that there truly are highs to come just around the bend.

Adolescents Never Cease to Amaze Me

I have so many new students this semester it feels like I'm starting the year all over again trying to get to know 90 new adolescents. One of those new-to-me students is a good looking, well dressed, seemingly popular guy whose grades are not so hot. He's the type you have to be careful about because his smile could melt the heart of any grandmotherly type like me and he tries to use that charm to get away with murder. He really tried me the first few weeks. We all have students like him. He's not a bad kid, just playful, manipulative, and very social.

Monday morning before class this student came to me when no one was standing close by. He looked me in the eyes and said the most amazing thing to me! "I want to apologize to you for the way I have behaved the past few weeks. I know I gave you a rough time, and I was wrong. I've had some junk going on at home, and I acted that way here because of it. I'm sorry. I will behave after this, you'll see." My response was, (pause, heart-please start beating again) "Thank you. :-) Apology accepted." I was amazed and stunned. I'm surprised I was able to say anything at all. That is absolutely the last thing in the world I expected to hear out of him.

All week this kid has been so quiet and well behaved it scares me. I would like to see just a little of his spunk back in the classroom. I'm curious how the remainder of the semester will go, and I hope to have an opportunity to speak with him again soon. He may need a listening ear.

Well, I'm off to Athens for day 2 of the HOSA Spring Leadership Conference. Blog ya'll later.

Dumping Ground

Our department had several lengthy meetings last week. One topic on the agenda was to come up with a plan for getting students into our CTE programs who want to be there. Our classes have become a dumping ground. Many of my students tell me they did not sign up for my class. They were not consulted about their area of interest. They were just placed in the elective of the counselor's choosing. I fail to understand this practice. These misplaced students spend their energy disrupting the class in which they resent having been placed. Our students were told they could not change their schedules just because they did not want a particular class. Do any of you do anything special at your school that works to get students registered for the CTE program of their choosing?

Our school is on a traditional schedule. In one of the above mentioned department meetings we discussed our problem of just getting started on a lab when it is time to clean up and move on to the next period. We wonder how other schools with CTE programs manage labs with traditional hour-long class periods. We suggested asking administration to make our classes 2 periods long. Of course they will probably say, "No," but we can ask. I solicit input from any of you who teach in a traditional schedule and have labs to conduct.

It's a pleasure blogging with you.

Acronyms

Today and tomorrow are early release days at our school. Today we had faculty and department meetings from 1:30 until 4:00 this afternoon. Tomorrow the meetings start again at 1:30 and last until .... It's anyones' guess how long we'll work. And what are we working on you might ask? Well, we are working on ... I'm sure most of them know what we're working on but it's largely a mystery to me. Educators have a language all their own to which I have not yet been able to cracked the code. I feel like I'm in a foreign country when I am with my co-workers because I do not yet know the language.

In medicine there many abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols. It is understood that there is a learning curve and that it will take time to learn. I remember the struggle I had in nursing school trying to learn medical terminology. However, just like a tourist to a foreign country carries a dictionary to help with interpretation, I kept my medicine dictionary readily available. It was an invaluable resource. In education it seems that no one remembers that new teachers (especially those who haven't had the benefit of a degree in education) do not yet have the skill needed to decipher their codes. It is assumed that everyone knows what they are saying when educators throw around all their terminology.

I wish there was a resource for new teachers. It would defined acronyms and terminology, identify DOE programs, organizations, and explain other important miscellaneous items so one could look them up a time or two or three until they were solidly known and understood when used in conversation. I realize the resource would have to be revised every month or two because that is how often the state seems to come up with new and wonderful ideas to change how things are done. This has become a real struggle for me. Never mind that I have trouble processing normal language; I hve grown weary of interrupting meetings to ask for yet another explanation of an acronym or program. Does anyone else struggle with this or is it just me?

I'm trying to be positive here!

Ahoy there mates!

Here goes my initial attempt at blogging. I'll try not to whine although that is what my human side wants very much to do. Honestly, I am in the same boat as the rest of you...a sinking ship. Somebody, please throw me a life jacket! Trying to create a Google account alone resulted in 200 more silver hairs on my head. (I like the sound of silver better than gray. It sounds treasure-like.) That's better than pulling them all out, don't you think? I also feel like a fish out of water when it comes to computer technology. But then, if I truly was a fish I wouldn't have the already mentioned sinking feeling. SOS! Enough of that nonsense! Here goes my positive story. (:-)

I tried a new plan for teaching the history of healthcare this semester that I want to share with you. My three Introduction A classes enjoyed making timelines of the history of healthcare. Students had a lot of fexibility with this project. Each class was divided into eight groups and each group was assigned a time period to research. Given art supplies, the students were required to include the title, dates, life expectancy, and important events and people for their time period. They created and labeled gingerbread-like men and women to represent important people. They drew scrolls, clouds, and other shapes in which to write important events. Some got creative drawing a sword or a mummy to represent their time period. All these small pieces were assembled on a very long sheet of bright paper. Once the layout was complete we glued it all down and drew dividing lines between time periods. We displayed the finished time lines (all three of them) in the classroom.

Next I had a gallery tour handout for them. They completed the handout while viewing the timelines. This way they learned about each time period. All the timelines were displayed for a week. Finally I had my Intro. B students choose the best selections from the three time lines, one for each time period. We cut the timelines apart and assembled the best together in a new timeline. It is now laminated and displayed in our classroom. My students are very proud of their work and learned much more through this activity than any lecture could have offered them.

Additionally, my students each researched a different person in medical history, wrote a paper about that individual, and then presented their findings to the class. Tomorrow my students are watching the video, "Greatest Discoveries in Medicine," which will reinforce many of the people and events they researched.

While I don't always feel good about my lesson plans and activities, based on my students' reactions, I feel this unit was a success.

Catch you all later,
Chicken of the sea,
Joyce