Wednesday, August 27, 2008

That call and response.....

Ok, so this is the third day and it went a lot smoother than the second. For one, I got to dive into instruction, so that was great. The students don’t have books yet but please man, I don’t even NEED books. I got activities, and they got paper to take notes. BOOM, head shot. Anyways, todays objectives were to identify scientific problems, come up with problem statements/questions and hypotheses. Don’t worry, we WILL be focusing on this HARD CORE for the next three days and ALL the time during the year because we will do labs at least once a week. I got to remember to review---I was asking some of the students what they didn’t like about their last year’s science class and that was a major thing, teacher didn’t review. Which I’m like “dang...how can you not review?”

Anyways, the example I used to go over the Scientific method was the story “me and my dog roscoe” I went through all the motions of saying that everyday after school, when I come he is barking. I then go through EACH step of the method using that example, making sure I hit those key vocab words. I was like “I think he is hungry” THAT IS MY HYPOTHESIS, and i made sure I pointed to hypothesis on the board. Of course, I made my story very colorful and they were really into it (I was actually kinda surprised) And you know me, I’m a comedian, and a GOOD comedian just feeds off her crowd....so I rolled with it. lol I would be like “So I walk through the door, and what do I hear!?” and the class was like “WOOF WOOF!” lol That’s that call and response for ya. But don’t trip, they were learning. I explained to them that I was now in the “re-test” phase...whenever your hypothesis is wrong, you go BACK and try something else. After I took my problem question/statement “Why is Roscoe barking when I get home” thru the scientific method, I made them come up with their own, which the MAJORITY did. Matter of fact, I was supposed to take their folders home and provide feedback on ‘em, my bad. Today was a really good day, so tomorrow their warm up will be straight away to come up with a problem statement and a hypothesis. In fact, for those who didn’t do it in class---that was their homework. Anyways, all of periods were able to get through the lesson and I made some good timing. With my GT class I made REALLY good timing and they actually have a leg up on the other classes and did it in less time (class is cut in half by lunch, and they take 5 mins for a bathroom break). I think its because I started them straight out with a problem statement for a warm up instead of definitions like I did for the other classes.

Ok now for discipline issues---I had to son a couple of kids, but it was really just for minor stuff, ain’t nobody cussin’ or throwing chairs or tellin’ me what they ain’t gon’ do. Just kids who have a hard time not making side comments, which I understand---shoot, that’s me all the way lol. One lil’ boy I had to send him out for a a minute or two to regroup, and when he came back he was straight. he go try and play me about the scientific method, which about that, CAN WE COME UP WITH ONE UNIFIED METHOD!? Why some places its 7, others its 4, some its like 10, I”m like “wtf?” At one point I said “Well this ain’t last year...in MY class, these are the steps you need” lol I was tired of goin’ back and forth, then they can’t even come to agreement on what the steps are. Gon’ roll they eyes like I’M wrong...ha! Anyways, my crazy periods were still my crazy periods (3rd and 7th) lol 7th period just has a problem in the hallway...in the class it ain’t really an issue. Now other teachers, namely this sweet old lady are havin’ issues wit’ people IN the classroom. One lil’ boy, who I heard was bad in other classes yesterday, was straight in mine today AND yesterday. He said to me “I’m being good Ms. Brown” and I’m like “yea, in MY class but you need to be good in everybody’s class” One lil’ boy, which I was surprised, already had a call home. Again, he be pretty straight in my class, he’s called out a couple times, but it was to answer a question. (which if I have to tell someone to raise their hand one more time to answer a question, lol I’mma.....eh, I’mma tell him to stop callin’ out lol. I just be glad they involved, I honestly don’t care if they call out. Long as its about learning....can I even be mad?) Anyways, I’mma have a chat wit’ him when he come to my class tomorrow and express my disdain in what I heard.

Dr. W---I had to have a lil’ pow-wow wit’ him today as well. Actin’ a fool in the line, tryna be the class clown.....eh, he ain’t trying, he is. Cuz what he says gets a rise out of the line, so he does something, they laugh, and they stand in the hallway. Stressing to these kids to TAKE responsibility and NOT do what is expected is hard. It’s like “ok, if he is talking to you, look away and don’t respond” “if you know he tryna be funny, DON’T LAUGH” It’s hard though...so, I just made him my line monitor, so now he GOT to be quiet cuz he has to set the example. I'll let ya'll know if this works or not. Other than that, he is cool. He reminds me of myself, STAY wit’ a joke on lips and an excuse right after it. I told him that I was picking on him...he know he be doin’ wrong and he still do it. This girl Dr. D, she got a lil’ temper---A LOT of these kids do, be always gettin’ buck wit’ somebody tellin’ them “you NEED to not” it’s like, ok.....so you think you bad. lol ALWAYS especially the girls....rollin’ the eys, rollin’ the necks....I just laugh lol.

what else, OH, why I leave my room keys at home this morning? I discovered this at 7:20 and school starts at 7:45. Thank God I don’t stay far away and was SPEEEEEEEEDDIIIIIIIN’ down the road. 20 mph in a school zone? SIKE. lol People who know me, I KNOW ya’ll ain’t surprised. I also forgot to tell my class to switch and they got to PE about 10 minutes late lol. Of course I was like “why ya’ll ain’t tell me ya’ll had to switch!?” LOL I hope I didn’t say “ain’t” but I’m pretty sure I did. lol I gotta work on that.......

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