Exciting School Activities

1) Prom was last night and I decided to be a chaperone for it. I wore the dress I wore to my last ball at Howard and all the students there loved it. It was very excciting to see the students dressed up and just excited to be ending one phase in their life and starting another phase soon. I don't teach upperclassmen and so they only ones that I knew there were the ones that speak to me in the hallway randomly. The prom was in Oxford and it was an outdoor venue.

2) There is going to be Awards Day in two weeks and the Activities coordinator is asking that all teachers give awards to their students. I am thinking about giving a high average award Gold, Silver and Bronze and then a Most Improved Award and then a Hardest Working Award.

3) Due to Katrina and us missing one day of school the students end school on May 26th and we have to go back to school for one more day...the Tuesday after Memorial Day. AHHHH....I was planning on taking a vacation from the Friday we get out until the night before we have to be back in class. Look like I have to spend another holiday in SLOOOOWWWW Mississippi.

Final Thoughts....

I now have 4 more weeks of school left. State tests just finished and the students looked so relieved. They are ready for school to end as I am too. The principal decided to move finals up one week, so they are now the week before the last week of school. I don't know how the last week is going to turn out?? But I am anxious to see. My more advanced students are starting to ask for Algebra I work and of course since I really like math, I am making worksheets for them and teaching stuff to them on the side. I am done with my after school JBHM Tutoring and I do miss my students from those Tuesdays and Thursdays. I also am thinking about switching to another school district for next year. The Delta is very slow and I am ready for a change. I will let you know if I do.

8 more weeks

We have 8 more weeks left of school this year, equivalent to two months (April and May). I am going to concentrate on polynomials and graphing for the rest of the year. I have had to buckle down on my students more and have been calling more parents because some just don't want to listen at all!!! I have also been having to enforce my consequences daily and in all of my classes. I also have let them stop doing partner/group work because most of them can not handle it. Since I teach freshman, if the class is good for the day I will give them the last 5-6 minutes to study thir Biology I notes. I have realized after this year that i enjoy my 5th period class the most, my Transition to Algebra (10th graders). I think freshman are in a transition state and very immature. Although I do have to say that I enjoy my 4th period class which is my biggest class wtih 23 kids and 3 repeater students. Out of the 20 freshman about 16 are accelerated and we usually fly through the work faster than my other Pre-Algebra classes and then they are always the only class that ask me about other problems in the textbook...usually the Critical Thinking problems. It amazes me sometime how the dynamic of this class is so much different than the rest of my classess.

T.I.M.E

What is time??? The Item in My life that there is not Enough of...that is T.I.M.E. I work from 7-3:30 and get home by 4:30, depending on the time I leave school. I run a few (1-2) errands and then all of a sudden it is 10pm at night and time for me to go back to sleep so I can be fully rested for the next day. My students are starting to get a little bit restless. I think they would rather be outside instead of listening to ME teach. There have also been at least two fights each week at my school since we have gotten back from spring break. My tutoring gig is going GREAT...I am learning a lot myself about the kids as well as Algebra I state tested material. My first check came through for it...wHOA!!! I put it in my credit union account with ole miss. I am planning on investing in some c.d.s this summer to make my money grow. My T.I.M.E. is so valuable and I love all of it, I just have to figure out a way to put everything I need to do in it.