Donate Now So here it is, the middle of the week, and I find myself thinking about why I joined TFA, and how far I’ve come.  I suppose its on my mind because of recent events.  As you probably know, my year of TFA in Kansas City was our first here in the city.  I…

Donate Now “I’ve got a bitter pot of je ne sais quoi”  So starts the song Genius by Warren Zevon.  Since I kind of became a huge Zevon fan over the course of this year, I figured I’d start my final post of the 2008-2009 TFA school year with that quote.  With a little French,…

Another song title as my title here… We just completed the MAP on thursday, and I have to say that overall, I am pretty excited with how my students did.  The vast majority seemed excited to see what they could do, worked hard, checked their answers, and overall did their best.  I had maybe two…

So, today was the second day of MAP (Missouri Assessment Program) testing for my students.  Thus far, they’ve behaved quite well (for the most part), and the vast majority seem to be taking it very seriously.  Students are checking their work, and really their best (or so I hope).  I just hope all those hours…

Sorry for the title, just felt like being poetic.  I guess I am just frustrated with a few select students.  I had three fantastic lessons today, I’d say 85% of my class did outstanding, but its that insane 15% that is making life hard. I have a couple of girls that just love to slap…

So I am writing this merry posting on St. Patrick’s Day, and I hope everyone has tipped a pint of something today just because.  Its the middle of out Spring break here in Kansas City, and I must say that having time to get some time and distance here has been refreshing.  I love teaching. …

So, yesterday, a student went into my desk and stole my phone.  Now, granted, this wasn’t the greatest phone, but it was mine, and it was my one and only source for phone numbers.  I literally now have no one’s numbers.  I think I maybe know two or three numbers off the top of my…

Like the classic Beatles song, it seems like I have a revolving door in my classroom.  The minute that I get one student back from suspension or illness, another one or two go.  Yesterday, I had a new low-light.  I already had two students gone for fighting (for the second time), and K decided to…

So today, a little hectic, yet inspiring in a crazy sort of way.  Sometimes, just walking into the school in the morning, you can feel the energy of the students.  When I get here in the morning, sometimes there are only one or two students here for extended day, but usually I just get a…

Ok, not going to be a long post, but today was a very frustrating day.  I had one of my students bring in his Sony PSP, which he knows he isn’t allowed to bring.  This has occured several times, and I have heard him stating that he might sell it to a seventh grader.  In…

So, I’m back in KC, ready to roll.  I am in my classroom (where the temp is at least 95 degrees, gotta love those radiators…) and wondering where the break went…  I know today is going to be pretty busy, but I wanted to reflect about the break.  It took forever to get home, and…

Well, just to update people, I arrived Xmas day in New England.  The plan was to leave the 23rd (after school), drive as late as I could, then get up early the 24th and arrive that night.  Instead, it rained all day on Tuesday, so the roads were ICY…  I saw two trucks flipped over…

Hellow to one and all!  It is the night of the 22nd, and I am frantically packing, cleaning, and doing whatever else needs to be done before leaving one’s apartment for an extended stay…  Tomorrow, I’ll teach the normal day, change into some comy clothes, and proceed to drive through a hellish storm that apparently…

So this week was a tough one, in more ways than one.  First off, it was the last full week before xmas break, and that means that my students were wayyy too excited about the fact that they were nearing break…  That meant that I had some behavior issues.  Also, there was the consequences of…

Well, its sunday night, and the snow is falling here in KC.  I love teaching, but I kinda hope that we don’t have school tomorrow.  Its not that I don’t want to teach, but my experience last week with a day that ought to have been cancelled was that I had almost no kids and the…

Well, today in class, I had my first epic brawl.  Not going to go into too many details, but lets just say that two students got into it pretty badly, and I was on the phone for backup about three seconds in.  Its funny, you almost develop a sixth sense with these things.  You can…

So, back at it once again.  I am writing this in the few minutes I have while my class is in art.  I need to go make some copies in a minute, then drop off some things in the office and get my students.  I just wanted to reflect a little bit on Thanksgiving.  I really…

So, today I finally know what I am going to be doing for Thanksgiving.  I was a little worried that I couldn’t make it home for turkey day.  That means I’ll miss the best and worst of the day with my family.  No great food, no family, no relaxing and catching up.  But, it also…

So today, one of my students found a loaded gun on school grounds…  This a mere three days after we found out a gang broke into the school…  Not gonna lie, this stuff doesn’t happen in Maine.  That being said, I was so proud to hear that all the TFA teachers are going to be…

So here I am, sitting in my (very hot) classroom, drinking a diet sam’s cola and writing a blog entry on teaching.  Wow, sad picture, yet I am oddly satisfied.  It’s been a few months since I started teaching, and I have to say that I like this job a lot.  I have done a…

So today was a hard, sad day.  One of the nicest people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing, a fellow teacher at my school, passed away today on her way to school.  The students are being told tomorrow, but today was brutal.  I know its tough, but she literally was (to use her favorite…

So today, I gave a test on North American Geography.  Of my 30 or so students, I had 95% of them get As or A+s!  That includes my entire homeroom class, who all made the 100 club on this test.  I told them that I would buy them a pizza lunch if they could do…

So, its been a few weeks at this point, and I’m starting to feel like I have some control over my classroom.  Don’t get me wrong, there are certainly times when students say or do things that are shocking or disrespectful, but my data shows that they are learning.  Thus far, we’ve progressed from not…

So, today was a bit hectic.  First off, I had a student curse me out.  I also had a student who may or may not have been trying to jump off the second floor staircase down thirty feet rather than see that he failed the social studies quiz that he didn’t study for (yet somehow…

So, tomorrow I’ll be giving my class their next set of quizzes.  Last Friday, I tested both my sixth and seventh graders on a map of the midwest after we spent the better part of a week on geography, specifically that region.  The results were that about eight out of roughly twenty five students got…