music appreciation

One more music-related story (hey, it's a theme)... And not surprisingly, it comes from the same child that I blogged about yesterday and the day before.

Since we were (FINALLY!!!) done with standardized testing and there is no class on Monday due to report card conferences, we spent today catching up on unfinished work and cleaning the classroom. Today's musical selection was something I dug out of my bedroom closet at my parents' house earlier in the week. I had been trying to locate the movie "Fantasia," when I found a storage box of old cassette tapes. Score! Among them was my beat up copy of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem. I figured it was nothing my kids had ever heard before, so I played it while we were finishing up a writing activity. My little Music Man approached me and asked, "Is this opera?"

Given that Sarah Brightman hits some mighty high notes, it was a reasonable question. (And bonus points to him for knowing what opera is!) I told him it was sort of like opera.

"Ok," he nodded. "It sounds like something they'd play when someone dies."

At this point, I was more than a little shocked. I can't imagine that he'd ever heard Webber's Requiem played anywhere before... it's not very well known, and I don't believe it's ever been used in a movie. But it does have that certain eerie sound to it, seeing as how it was composed for a funeral Mass.

I pulled him aside to show him the cassette cover. "That word requiem is Latin for rest," I explained. "This actually IS music they would play when someone dies. How did you know that?"

He shrugged. "I dunno," he replied. "Just sounds like it."

I think the boy has a real gift.

Fab!

Today during testing, my kids asked if I was going to put on music again.

"What do you wanna hear?" I asked.

"Beatles," replied one child promptly. (He's the one who requested Vivaldi yesterday... clearly the boy has good taste.)

"I'll only play the music without words during the test, kiddo," I said. "I have the instrumental Beatles that we listened to yesterday."

He frowned. "I like it better with the words," he said.

"I know, but the singing might be distracting during a test."

"That's okay," he informed me. "Me and you are the only ones who know the words, and I won't sing along."

Gotta love it!

Why I LOVE my kids...

After a long and grueling morning of standardized testing (math section today... UGH), I let my kids do some fun creative writing in the afternoon. One of my girls asked if I could put music on, as I often do while they work. (During testing today, I played Debussy. Yesterday's test called for some instrumental Beatles. We're very well-rounded in first grade.)

"What do you want to hear?" I asked.

"Vivaldi!" requested one boy.

Another boy waved his hand in the air. "And after that, how about some Charlie Parker?"

I was more than happy to oblige :)

In the absence of children.

Since I have a snow day, I figured it would be a good time to catch up on posting. And luckily, I have something to write about! Every time my kids say something funny, I jot it down on scrap paper and shove it in my teacher bag... where, of course, it gets lost until I clean the bag out. Which is what I did last night. I found several little pieces of paper with stories and quotes scribbled on them. Sigh.

I figured I should actually post them on here to remind myself that my kids ARE pretty damn cute... even the ones who drive me nuts.

So here is today's installment, both from the same girl. She's extremely cute and very bright. She's also one of the few blondes I've taught at this school (our population is mostly Hispanic, so I get a lot of brown and black haired kiddos). Her combination of cuteness and friendliness makes her quite popular with the other kids. Her mom once told me that she "plays" me at home... lines her stuffed animals up and teaches them. I bet that's cute to see.

One day, one of my kids did something that struck me as funny, so I laughed. Blondie smiled and said, "You always laugh. I like when you laugh. It makes me laugh." Which of course made me laugh again :)

Later that day, I overheard her correcting a boy who had used the word "ain't" in conversation.

"Ain't isn't a word!", she chastised.

"Yes it is," her friend insisted.

She shook her head. "No, it's not... my mom teached me."

I didn't have the heart to tell her that "teached" is just as bad as "ain't." Another lesson for another time, lol.

Snow day!

All weekend long the buzz has been "the BIG snow" headed our way. I didn't think it was gonna happen (why get my hopes up?), but it's almost 11 PM and the snow has been falling for about 5 hours. It's laying on the grass and cars and just barely coating the streets. And as of about an hour ago, the news stations announced that schools are CLOSED TOMORROW!

Part of me is very happy to know about it ahead of time. It means I don't have to set my alarm. I can sleep in a little and not have to worry about getting everything ready for work tomorrow, "just in case." On the other hand, it takes some of the fun out of a snow day... the anticipation of waking up and peeking out the window to see how much snow has fallen, waiting for the radio to say the magic words, "All public and archdiocesan schools are closed." And then being able to roll over and go back to bed.

But either way, it's all good.

I intend to spend my snow day ignoring my to-do list. A snow day is like a freebie, and I think I should take advantage of that. I think I'll curl up on the sofa with a hot cup of coffee, a book, and a warm blanket, watching the snow fall outside. Then maybe watch some bad daytime TV with my lunch (homemade potato soup, saved for just such an occasion). Maybe I'll do laundry, maybe I won't. I've got time to figure it out. It's gonna be great :)

Happy Snow Day, if you've got one!

Phantastic!

Today was one of those crazy, crazy days where no actual teaching gets done... but it was SO much fun.

Our second grade class entered a contest called Be a Phanatic About Reading, which is sponsored by the Philadelphia Phillies... and they won!!! Their prize was a school visit from the Phillies' mascot, the Phillie Phanatic. If you're not familiar with our mascot, he's kind of a cross between a bird and an anteater... big and green with a long snout and giant feet... I dunno, he's goofy-looking, but he's one of THE icons of the city. Anyway, the Phanatic came to our school today and he brought the WORLD SERIES TROPHY!!! It was awesome.

The Phanatic paraded through our school cafetorium with the trophy, followed by the second grade contest winners. Then our principal read a book about the World Series parade while the Phanatic acted it out.


The kids LOVED every minute of it (and so did the teachers, lol). When the presentation was over, each class had their picture taken with the trophy. It was amazing to see it up close.

I'm glad the second graders won the contest. They were so enthusiastic about books and reading in first grade, and they deserved to be in the spotlight for this.

Change.

A few notes on today's inauguration... (I had planned on a longer post, but a head cold has my brain a bit addled and I'm heading to bed early tonight.)

~ I had actual lesson plans for today, but as soon as I pulled up Inauguration Day coverage on cnn.com, my kids were flocking to the laptop, hoping for a glimpse of our soon-to-be 44th president. I let them drift over to my desk during centers and writers' workshop, but by snack time I could see that we weren't going to get any book-learning done. I moved the laptop to a desk in the back of the room, hooked up the external speakers, and we sat to watch history unfold.

~ When the motorcade drove past, one of my girls asked, "Why are the cops chasing him?" Cue impromptu lesson on Secret Service Men...

~ During the introduction of former presidents, one student asked if Teddy Roosevelt would be there. Not sure how he knows that name, but I think I confused him even more when I tried to explain why Teddy wouldn't be in attendance.

~ Around 11:30, the whole school went down to the cafetorium to watch the ceremony on the projection screen. I expected the kids to get antsy or bored, but the majority of them sat and watched the whole thing with nary a peep. Impressive.

~ I was pretty sure I was gonna cry... and I did. But not during the oath or the speech (which is when I figured it would happen). No, the two moments that moved me to tears were completely unexpected ones. As Biden was being introduced, the cameras got a shot of Obama walking down the corridor, held held high... as soon as he appeared on the screen, the entire school erupted in applause. It was powerful. The second thing that made me cry was during the invocation prayer delivered by Rev. Rick Warren. At the end of the invocation, he began the Lord's Prayer ("Our Father, who art in heaven..."). Every single one of my students joined him in the prayer. I didn't expect that to happen (and, quite frankly, I was surprised that they were still paying attention!), and hearing their voices got me choked up while I was praying.

So even though our entire schedule for the morning was thrown out the window, I like to think my kids learned a lot today.

Lazy days

Reason #652 that I LOVE having a day off: I'm spending a lazy Monday morning in my pajamas, drinking coffee and checking up on blogs. Sheer bliss. Anyway, on The Book Whisperer's site I found a link to something called Wordle. It lets you create "word clouds" and then change the font, color and layout. For a word-nerd like me, it's hours of entertainment :) Just thought I'd share the goodness with the rest of you.

And since it happens to be flurrying, I created my first word cloud about snow. Not my best work, but it gives you an idea of what the site does. (Click on the picture for a clearer view...)

Let the chips fall where they may.

Kids come up with the best excuses... but this one takes the cake.

One of my boys brought a gallon sized ziploc bag to school with two packaged snacks in it (peanut butter crackers and a small bag of chips). He took it out at snack time and asked if he could eat it. I told him he wasn't allowed to have a snack from home at recess time (school rule - kids get pretzel and juice snack), so he put it back in his schoolbag.

When it was time to line up for lunch, I saw the same boy in line holding the ziploc bag again.

"Are you cold lunch?" I asked. (Most of our kids qualify for the free hot lunch. Others choose to bring a "cold lunch," which is a lunch brought from home.)

He shook his head no.

"Well, you can't bring a snack if you're hot lunch," I said. "You get a snack with your lunch downstairs. Go put it back in your schoolbag, you can eat it at home."

He shuffled into the coat closet and then rejoined the line.

When we got downstairs, one of my girls came over and tugged on my shirt. "He's got something in his pocket," she whispered.

I called him over to me. "Empty your pockets," I requested.

He looked at me and made a show of patting himself down.

"No... EMPTY them," I repeated.

He pulled the lining out of one of his pockets and then looked at me expectantly.

"And the other one?"

He lifted his shirttail and looked down at his other pocket. A red foil package of potato chips was peeking out. He stared at the pocket, then looked at me, then looked back at the pocket. He seemed genuinely surprised to find it there.

He then spent about three minutes tugging the bag out of the pocket. (God knows how he managed to shove it in there in the first place.)

"What did I tell you to do with your snacks?" I asked.

"Put them in my schoolbag," he mumbled.

"And....?"

"I did," he said. "They fell in my pocket."

I had to make sure I heard him right. "They FELL in your POCKET?"

He nodded.

"How did that happen?"

"I was putting them in my schoolbag, and the chips fell down," he explained.

"And they fell in your pocket?" I questioned.

Another nod.

"And you didn't know that they fell in your pocket until just now?" I persisted.

He shook his head.

I took a deep breath. "So, you're telling me that your bag of chips fell out of a closed ziploc bag and into the pocket of your pants, and you didn't notice it until just now?"

He nodded.

The funny thing is, he stuck by the story for the rest of the day. And he told it without the smiles, laughs or smirks that normally accompany a first grader who pulled one over on his teacher. I don't know whether to be impressed or scared.

I should have joined the circus.

This year, I have the smallest class I've ever had: 14 students.

But there are two boys in my room that have enough energy to make it seem like I'm teaching 20 kids.

Very condensed synopsis of the boys: One boy has severe ADHD and has been evaluated, parents were supposed to make doctors appointments and have regular meetings with school counselor, but they haven't followed through. He loves to help in the classroom, but he's extremely disorganized, rarely completes assignments, and is currently failing 2 subjects. The other boy is the youngest of three (his next oldest brother is in high school), mom tends to baby him, he thrives on attention and seems to think that everyone and everything should revolve around him. He's very bright, imaginative and loves to write. Both boys are impulsive, hyper, loud and energetic. They rarely stay in their seats and are often in fights with each other.

Both boys have been this way since Pre-K, and I've spent the first 4 months of the year trying to manage their behavior through parent meetings, individualized behavior charts, positive reinforcement, classroom rewards (i.e. extra computer time, class jobs that they enjoy), school-issued consequences (i.e. lunch detention, incident reports), and in the case of one of the boys, an evaluation with the school psychologist.

Despite my efforts, not much has changed in the classroom. And now every day I'm faced with a dilemma. There are some days when I see that one of the boys is trying hard, and I go out of my way to encourage him so that he can bring good news back to his mother. Some days I am so frustrated with the CONSTANT interruptions, and I crack down on them everytime they start up. And then there are the days like today... when I feel so bad for the other 12 kids in my room that I want to ignore their noise (and arguing, seat-leaving, calling out, etc) and just teach over it.

I know consistency is the key to working with children. But it's starting to feel like I'm attacking them when I single them out for their behavior. On the other hand, the rest of my students don't have behavior problems as severe as those boys. And if I don't correct the boys when they do these things, I might be sending the wrong message to them, and to my other students.

And the bigger question... Is it wrong that I sometimes want to ignore them? Does that make me a bad teacher? I certainly don't claim to be the perfect teacher, but classroom management has always been my strong point. When everything I've tried isn't working, what do I do? Is it more important to teach the children who are doing the right thing? Or is it better to interrupt my lessons every few minutes to correct the ones who aren't? Is there something I haven't tried?

This is my 9th year teaching and it's still like a constant juggling act - trying to monitor all of my students, praise the good behavior, correct the disruptive behavior, AND teach ... oh yes, let's not forget the job that I was actually hired to do, lol. I have to do all of this (and more) and not lose my cool. Can you blame me if I drop a ball once in awhile?

Get to know Mo.

Do you know Mo? Mo Willems, that is.

He is an amazingly talented award-winning children's author and illustrator. I became familiar with his work five years ago - reluctantly, I might add - after a student brought one his books into my classroom. A book about a rather two dimensional, stick-figure bird, which is entitled Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus. And I was convinced (based on the cover and title) that the book would be... well, stupid. As a book lover and future reading specialist, I couldn't waste my time on something that wasn't "quality" literature. But Justin kept coming in with this book, and giggling over it at recess. So one day I picked it up and flipped through it... and laughed right out loud. Since then, I have been on a mission to find everything that Mo has ever written.

The beauty of Mo's books is that he keeps them simple, but at the same time, highly entertaining. I read an article where Mo said he want his pictures to be so simple that a five year old could draw them. The books in his Elephant and Piggie Easy Reader series use a limited amount of words, which makes them perfect for my first graders to practice reading. His "harder" books are better for read-alouds, but still encourage lots of audience participation (which my students do gleefully). And the pictures are priceless. Mo does much of his story-telling through the characters' body language and facial expressions.

Mo is currently on tour promoting his newest book, Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed. (Gotta love an author who knows that the word "naked" will cause children to erupt in contagious giggles...) Today I had a chance to see him at a local Barnes and Noble for a reading and signing. He read two books, answered some questions, and then signed books. I was highly impressed - he was as funny and engaging as his books. Unfortunately, flash photography was prohibited, so the pic of him reading came out blurry...

I got two books signed... including the book that got me hooked in the first place:

If you're a teacher (or a mother of young children), I urge you to get your hands on some of Mo's books. You can thank me later.

Moving on

I've been back for two days, and I think I'm doing well with getting the kids into routine. I implemented a schedule poster (which I made several years ago and never really used) to plan our day... which reduces the number of times I have to hear the inevitable, "Miss M? When is lunch??" or "Do we have art today?" At one student's request, I write a T next to any activity where talking is allowed (such as recess, center time, writer's workshop). The schedule has been keeping me on track, and I feel like we've gotten a lot accomplished since we've been back.

I'm also trying to get my classroom back in order. With all the holiday craziness, I feel like there wasn't any time to clean or organize or file anything... so my room is filled with piles of papers that need my attention. I figured I'd start with the easiest task - undecorate my classroom. I managed to get all of that done today, which means tomorrow I can start putting up the winter-themed bulletin boards (one for the New Year, one for the snowman theme). I'm glad the hustle and bustle is over, but my room really did look nice for Christmas.

Candy canes made by the kids (a lesson on patterns as well as the legend of the candy cane).


Poinsettias made by the kids (after reading The Legend of the Poinsettia, by Tomie dePaola).

This is a project I do every year... I send home a plain green Christmas tree cut-out, and they decorate it with their parents. I'm always amazed at how creative they get!

But, all of that is gone now. Gotta make room for the new stuff. I'll post pics of the new bulletin boards once they're up.

Happy 2009!

Happy New Year!

Since I was on a break from work, I also took a break from blogging... with the exception of my last post about the car. Aside from that, there was nothing really worth blogging about. Christmas was peaceful and uneventful (just the way I like it!) and New Year's Eve was a relatively quiet night spent eating fondue, drinking beer and playing board games with a few good friends. In between, I spent my time catching up on all the things I haven't had a chance to do since the school year started: sleep (I think I took a nap every day, and it was fabulous!), visit friends, clean the apartment, watch bad daytime TV, and read. I enjoyed EVERY minute of it! And most importantly, I don't feel guilty for not thinking about work :-)

The car situation has finally been sorted out. My insurance company deemed my pretty red Toyota Rav 4 a total loss, which I was expecting. I used the insurance money to help get my new car, which is a 2008 Hyundai Elantra. It's also red, but only because they only had two '08s on the lot, and the red one was in my price range. I'm very happy with the car... I had an '03 Elantra before I bought the Toyota, so I know they're reliable and safe.

Well, the last few hours of my break are winding down. Tomorrow I'll be back at work, but without the kids. We have a faculty meeting and then we get some time to work in our classrooms. The kids start back on Tuesday. With any luck, I'll be able to get back on schedule by the end of the week. I think the bigger challenge is getting the kids back on schedule. They've had almost 2 weeks of later bedtimes, TV, video games, and sugary treats. Kinda hard to get back into routine after that.

I hope everyone else has a good week back!

Merry Christmas (?)

My roommate woke me up at 3 AM to tell me that our neighbors were buzzing our door... apparently, someone's car spun out on the ice and slammed into my car (and the car in front of me). It was bad. Very bad.

So my Christmas Eve was spent calling my insurance company, taking pictures of the damage, cleaning out the car, waiting for the tow truck, and calling my parents to arrange for a ride. Ugh.

The good news (if you can call it that) is that the police have the guy who hit the cars. He was taken away in a police car before I even got outside. I don't know all the details yet. After the accident, it was about a half an hour before a neighbor came out who knew that the car belonged to me. So she buzzed our apartment until she managed to wake up my roommate, who went out to see the damage before coming to wake me up. By the time I got out there, the police officer was already finished writing up the report.

I have to wait to hear from the insurance company, but I'm fairly sure I'll have to start shopping for a new car soon. Oh, the timing...

The end is in sight!

Tonight was our annual Peace Vigil, so that's one more thing I can cross off of my to-do list :)

The Peace Vigil is a schoolwide prayer service that we hold the week before Christmas. All of the families are invited to the church to watch each class sing a song about peace or Christmas, and there is a peace prayer in between each song. It's a beautiful way to get in the holiday spirit. My kids did a SPECTACULAR job, and I'm not just saying that because I'm biased. They sang "Keep Christmas With You (All Through the Year)" from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. If you've seen the movie, you know that Linda teaches the neighborhood kids the song in sign language to surprise Bob. (If you haven't seen the movie, shame on you! It's a classic!) In October, I started teaching my students a sign at the end of each day until we knew enough to put together a verse of the song. By the time this week rolled around, they were pros. Tonight they outdid themselves. They were better than they'd been in any of our practices. They sang loud and clear, they didn't miss a sign, and they looked adorable.

Earlier today, we finished decorating the gingerbread house (which is actually Snoopy's doghouse from A Charlie Brown Christmas). It doesn't look too bad.

Also, here's a pic of the finished potpourri jars. I'm really impressed with the way they turned out. I'll have to keep the idea in mind for the future... maybe Mother's Day gifts or something.

Well, tomorrow is Friday. FINALLY. I'm looking forward to the faculty Christmas party after work and then... the weekend!!!

One day at a time

I spent the last two days banging out things on my to-do list:

The kids know ALL their songs (for their various performances) inside and out, and even if they screw up, they're still gonna look damn precious :)

The mini potpourri jars for the craft sale at this weekend's Lunch with Santa are done. I glued all the ribbons on today and they look spectacular.

The ornaments that the kids are making for their parents (foam snowman picture frame from Oriental Trading) FINALLY arrived in the mail today. I still need to take pics of the kids (wearing a Santa hat, lol) and then the ornaments need to be assembled. Hopefully that won't take long. They can go home on Monday if I need an extra day or two.

I started the gingerbread house. The walls and roof are in place, and it needs to dry overnight before we can decorate. So far, so good...

I bought the ingredients for my chicken enchilada dip for the faculty Christmas party. I can assemble it Thursday night and microwave it Friday afternoon right before the party.

I bought the gift for the Pirate Party gift swap. The limit was $15, and I think I did a pretty decent job. I got this fleece blanket ($9.99) and a CD of holiday tunes ($5.99... and $2 of that gets donated to Salvation Army). I'm a whole whopping dollar over the limit, but... eh... what can you do?

And - just because I was bitching about not taking time to enjoy the holidays - I decided to use some leftovers in my kitchen to produce these lovely treats :)

Who can be stressed when there are chocolate covered pretzels in the house?

Tapped out

I'm not feeling Christmas this year.

It's going on around me, but I haven't been able to take the time to enjoy it. I feel the whole "overworked and underpaid" thing a lot more now than I used to, and it's starting to interfere with the things I used to enjoy. Like Christmas. And my job. And my job at Christmas.

Our principal has been asking us for a lot lately. I know it's the season of giving... but I feel like I do that all year long. I give and I give and I give. It's the life of a teacher. Especially a Catholic school teacher in a poor parish. I should be used to it, but this year has been harder on me. (And on a lot of other teachers in my school, I'm sure.)

Every class has to have a song to perform for our annual Peace Vigil. (Done and done... my kids learned "Keep Christmas With You," from Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. In sign language, no less. They rock.) We also have to have a song for our Christmas caroling day next week. (Also done. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Easy and fun.)

Lunch with Santa is this Saturday. Each class was asked to make some sort of craft that can be sold at the lunch. My class made potpourri jars out of baby food jars (donated), lace (leftover), ribbon and potpourri (purchased by me). They turned out pretty cute, but of course I wound up doing most of the work to assemble them. Each class also has to put together and decorate a gingerbread house (kit provided by the school) to be raffled off at Lunch with Santa. Sounds like fun, but try doing it with 14 kids in the room. Lol... last year's house was disastrous. I think it'll be easier this year now that I know what I'm doing. But I have to find some way to occupy the bulk of my kids while I let two or three kids at a time put the candy decorations on.

Moving on... Our faculty Christmas party is on Friday after work. Everyone was asked to bring either an appetizer or a dessert. We also have to get a gift for our Pirate Pollyanna. (Fun stuff... Everyone brings a wrapped gift and we put them in a pile. Then we each pick a number. Whoever gets #1 picks a present from the pile and unwraps it. Then #2 can steal 1's gift, or pick a new one from the pile... and so on... It always winds up being a really good time.) I'm fine with bringing the food and present, but the Peace Vigil is the night before the party, which means I'll be at work ALL day (from 7:30 AM til at least 8 PM), so I have to make sure whatever food I'm bringing is ready to go by Wednesday night.

We're supposed to buy a present for our classroom lunch mother - but I have no idea who she is, since she never shows up. I refuse to buy a gift for someone who doesn't do her job.

Each teacher also has an Advent Angel. It's kind of like Secret Santa - we leave little gifts anonymously for another teacher during the season of Advent. Since Advent is 4 weeks long, we usually leave about one gift per week. It's a nice idea, and I usually enjoy it. It's fun to be surprised by a candy bar in my mailbox or a cute little snowman notepad left on my desk. However, it's the 3rd week of Advent and I've only gotten one thing - a bag of Hershey kisses on my desk 2 weeks ago. Money is tight for me, but I've managed to find some cute gifts for my Advent Angel... and I wrap them up all fancy, just to make it more special. I've already left 3 gifts for my Angel. I don't know who has me (obviously), but I'm really feeling underappreciated.

And THEN... today our principal asked the teachers to bake cupcakes for Lunch with Santa. I don't know when I'm supposed to find time to make cupcakes before Friday (since I'm not going to Lunch with Santa this year)... and quite frankly, I don't want to do it. My financial situation is extremely bad this year, and I barely have enough money to pay bills and buy Christmas presents. I feel like every time I turn around, the school is asking me for more. I can't do it. I'm tapped out... financially, physically, emotionally.

It just doesn't feel like Christmas to me right now. I'm trying to find ways to enjoy the holiday season, but they're few and far between. I don't want the best parts of Christmas to get buried under my massive to-do lists. I'm completely running on empty right now. And the head cold I acquired from someone at work isn't helping...

You know what I need? I need one night of good old fashioned Christmas-ing. I need to put on my cozy flannel pj's and make some hot cocoa and spend the night wrapping presents while I watch the Grinch's heart grows three times it's size. I need to get in the car and crank up the Christmas tunes (even the really cheesy annoying ones) and sing along at the top of my lungs while I drive through the neighborhood looking at lights. I need to go to my parents' house and bake cookies with my mom. I don't know when I plan to do all those things, but I know I NEED to do them in order to preserve my sanity.

Ugh. It's time for a dose of NyQuil and a (hopefully) good night's sleep. I've got a long day ahead of me tomorrow.

Out of the mouths of babes

One of my boys came up to me today and said, "Miss M, remember I said my mom was in the hospital?"

"No," I replied. "Is she okay? Is she sick?"

He shook his head. "No, she's not sick."

He then put his hands in front of his chest and said, "These? They were too small. She wanted bigger."

"Um... what?" I asked.

He nodded and moved his hands out, to indicate a more... busty... physique.

I believe it was the first time this year a child has rendered me speechless.

Parents, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: DO NOT tell your child anything that you don't want the entire world to know. Because your kids? They like to talk.

What's in a name?

During center time today, one of my girls was "reading the room" with a pointer. She got to my desk and read my nameplate out loud: "Mrs. M."

I called across the room, "MISS M, not Mrs.!"

She gave me a blank look. "But there are two s's in that word... so it's Mrs."

"Well, that does make sense, but that word is Miss. Mrs. is only for ladies who are married." I held up my hand. "See? No wedding ring."

"Oh," she said. "But you look grown up. You should have a husband!"

Ah, the logic of a first grader.

a flurry of activity.

I'm not a fan of Christmas music before the holiday season. (And when I say "before," I mean playing Christmas music the day after Halloween.) But it was flurrying when I drove home today, so I switched on one of the two (!?) radio stations in the city that are playing nothing but "holiday music" (read: "Christmas music"... since I've yet to hear a Kwanzaa or Hanukkah song). And I sang at the top of my lungs to "Feliz Navidad" (the Jose Feliciano version, of course, not the subpar Celine Dion rendition) while the snowflakes fell around me. Okay, in all fairness, it was as much rain as it was snow... but still. It was enough to make me want to load my mp3 player with winter songs, along the lines of "Let it Snow," and "Winter Wonderland" and "Baby, it's Cold Outside." Still too early for the hymns and carols, though.

Anyway. I've been busy, as always. I took a personal day on Monday to go to a screening interview for a Very Distinguished School District. I had applied for a teaching position there back in August, and they contacted me in October to invite me to this interview. There were about twenty other people there (not applying for any specific position... just trying to get into the district), and the whole thing lasted about two hours. First, an overview of the district and an explanation of their hiring process. Then we each had an individual interview with a district principal (the guy who interviewed me was AWESOME and happened to grow up in the same neighborhood as me, so we had a nice conversation about that). And finally, we headed to the computer lab, where we had 30 minutes to complete a writing sample. There was nothing personalized about any of it. The interview questions were the same for all of us, as was the writing prompt ("What are the qualities of an ideal teacher?"). If they like me, I'll be placed on a district list... and then I have to wait to see if a principal in the district is interested in interviewing me for an actual teaching position. It's all very complicated... but there's a reason they're such a good district. They're extremely particular about who gets in. Fingers crossed.

Last Thursday was the long-awaited meeting for my ADHD boy. His parents did show up, which made me very happy. But it was all downhill from there. The school psychologist led the discussion using the results from his evaluation. He told the parents that the boy should go to an ADHD clinic, where they will most likely recommend a combination of meds and behavior modification. He gave the parents a huge list of things to do, including: make another appointment with his pediatrician, make an appointment with the ADHD clinic at a local hospital, buy and read a parent's guide to ADHD, establish clear and consistent rewards and consequences for the boy at home.

The parents listened, but didn't say much, and I got the impression that they weren't going to follow through on everything he said. Our counselor asked about getting a wrap-around for him in school, since he needs such frequent monitoring, but that would also be the parents' responsibility. The counselor also pointed out that there's a 6 month waiting list for an appointment at the ADHD clinic. She asked, "What is Miss M supposed to do in the meantime? She has him for 6 hours a day, 5 days a week... and right now, he isn't learning." (Not to mention that I have a very difficult time teaching. And the other kids in my room are disrupted every few minutes by his noise, tapping, calling out, throwing things, etc...) The psychologist's suggestion? I should make a personalized behavior chart for the boy, broken into small time periods, and reward him when he stays on task. Great. He already has a chart like that, which I started at the beginning of October. The parents initial it every night. It hasn't changed anything.

The counselor offered to meet with the parents once a week to follow up on the appointments and see if they need any help. She scheduled the first meeting for this past Tuesday, which both parents agreed to. They didn't come. And when she called the house, the father said they "forgot" about the meeting. He also said he wasn't sure if his wife had tried to make any of the phone calls to set up doctor's appointments.

The boy was absent yesterday, and the class was SO calm. I got a ridiculous amount of teaching done. One of my kids even said, "Everyone's being so GOOD today! No one had to sign the behavior book!" I think they all felt the difference.

I'm not hopeful that anything will be done to resolve this issue. I think I'm going to spend the rest of the year trying to find ways to keep him focused and on-task so that he actually learns something. And honestly, I'm not sure it's something I can accomplish on my own. I've got a lot of teaching experience and I'm special ed certified, but there's only so much I can do with the limited resources we have in our school. His needs are definitely not being met. If I had him in a smaller classroom, or if he had a wrap-around... then maybe. But that's not the case. Sometimes this job is so frustrating.