Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Stream of Consciousness

Writing about what I am going to change next year is really rough right now. I am just trying to make it to the end of this year in one piece. Yes I have had thoughts about how I am going to change things in the middle of class, but I haven’t really sat down and thought about it. I am not sure even where I will be next year. That’s what the summer is for. But here goes nothing…

…I will be stricter with calculators. They wont steal batteries. They will each have numbers assigned to them and the numbers will not change…

…I will not teach calculator programs until the very end. I wish I had hammered the basics even more. I should have stayed on some subjects longer…

…I want to plan out my own schedule for the year. The kids will know when every test is for the fall and spring semesters separately. The fall semester I would randomly just say we are having a test this week or next Monday. This semester I have gotten better at but not what I want…

…I want to have better organization on the walls in my room. I want the room to have less white space. I have decorated school doors since the 5th grade. My best friend and I use to do it all the time because our mom’s worked in the school. I LOVE decorating classrooms. I had such high hopes for my room. However I quickly learned to change those hopes because my students would ripe them down or write curse words on them. Next year I want stuff up all the time…

…I am sticking with rewards…I need to be more consistent with my consequences. I have noticed that I am not fair. Its not on purpose but its because I have started to make up my own consequences on the fly rather than sticking to a ladder. I want to create a ladder again so everyone knows when they are getting what and why. Because of variables that were not in my control, this was not possible this year, but I am looking to change that next year.

…My overall goal is for the students to take on more responsibility in my classroom from the beginning. They will have organized notebooks. They will write things down and I will do less. They will take attendance. They will work in groups and answer each other’s questions. I am not your mamas!!! That’s what I say these days. I don’t buy your pencils. I don’t keep track of your id. I don’t make sure you aren’t cheating. That’s wasting my energy. You have got to wake up and want to learn. Otherwise its all pointless. …that’s the tail end of a speech that I was giving my classes today….they were off the chain. I cancelled tutoring because I was so tired. I felt guilty.

Paradise aka HAWAII

For spring break Charlie and I went to Hawaii. We could not have made a better decision for so many reasons.

First of all, it was my first visit to the island. I have always wanted to go and I can’t believe I made that dream a reality. It’s crazy that Hawaii is part of the US. You get there and you feel like you are in another country! And Hawaii met all my expectations and more. The people as well as the general atmosphere were very chill and relaxing. The beaches were gorgeous. The views were to die for. The food was scrumptious. BUT best of all, I was able to relax.

This is the second reason why Hawaii was an excellent decision. Yes it was spring break and I would have probably been happy just about anywhere outside of the state of Mississippi, however, being in Hawaii I completely forgot about EVERYTHING. I forgot about being cursed out and dealing with children who just don’t care. I did not think of the delta once! I got some much needed sleep. I woke up when I wanted to. I just felt so much better! I wasn’t holding any stress in my shoulders. Life was gooooood.

What did we do?
- Sunday: we climbed Diamond Head! It was more of a hike than I thought. But the view at the top was to die for!!! Plus I love hiking.
- Monday: Iolani Palace! I love royalty. It was fun
- Tuesday: Tour of the island. Because of the tsunami the waves on the north shore were ridiculous!! I have always wanted to see big waves and they were out of control. We got to go to a pineapple fame (DOLE). Pineapple is my favorite fruit so that was awesome. Do you know how pineapple grows?
- Wednesday: We went to a market. I love markets.
- Thursday: Polynesian Culture Center. WOOOHOOO. I love the Mormons just for building this place. I learned so much. I had so much fun. It made me want to go to all the other islands! The whole center was centered around different Polynesian islands and their cultures. We saw performances from all the countries as well!!
- Friday: We spent ALL day at the beach. We were leaving and we wanted to soak in as much sun as possible

Yes the end was horrible to leave, however Charlie and I came to a realization. We work in hell. We go to work every day even though we hate it just so we can go to places like this. And it was all worth it. I would go back in a heart beat. In fact as we were traveling to the airport I started shooting questions at a local about life on the island and how much it actually costs, etc. Perhaps I am headed to Hawaii post Mississippi delta? Ha.

Oh and pineapple grows on a bush about 3 feet off the ground, not in a tree or in the ground.