Etch 'n Sketch Reflections

For the past few years, there is something that I have really looked forward to at this time year--the Senior Showcase. Every year, the high school seniors have a senior project that they spend all year researching, planning, and preparing for. The projects are centered around areas of interest for the students. I've looked forward to it for the last few years because, well, I've been teaching 3rd grade long enough that my students are graduating! The students set up in the hallways, commons, and cafeteria (with even a few outside) with displays of their projects. In years past, it was easier to find my former students because there was a "program" and map of the students and their project locations. So this year was a bit trickier. Some of my students were easy to spot because they still have some similar facial features, but others were more challenging. Some of them were surprised that I had even remembered them. One former student saw me and said, "Hey, Mr. ...

I had some frustrations this week, and most of them could have been solved with that one little word. Recess issues happen. Every day. In (I would imagine) every classroom. And, at times, those recess issues spill back into the classroom because someone's feelings are hurt and they don't think the other person's behaviors have received enough adult attention. We had one of these instances earlier this week, unfortunately, and what made it difficult was that one student involved in the situation is a student who lacks the ability to see the fault in her actions...ever (I will call her Student A). Typically recess issues can be solved with a quiet conversation just outside the classroom door. In this case, the two individuals in question made a very public display of their dislike for each other, and it was right at the beginning of my TRIBES time as we were just getting into a community circle. I informed them that I would offer my services to help them solve their dispute w...

Well, this week is our week for Forward testing (our state assessments), and tomorrow we wrap it up with our 2nd math session. I have to give kudos to my kids-they have really worked hard and put a lot of effort into their tests. There are a few of them who still need to work on following directions and not clicking the start button before being instructed...but when I consider the students in question, I can't say I'm overly surprised! We began our testing with the writing portion, and I'll be honest, I was a little worried about this one. I wasn't sure what to expect when it came to how much the students would write to answer the question given to them. We discussed the expectations that the test would require paragraphs to fully answer the question, not just a sentence. I explained the importance of fully showing your thinking and using examples from the stories they had to read. And, I am happy to report, the students blew me away! I didn't have a single stude...

That's the best way I can describe this week because it was not your ordinary week. For starters we didn't have school on Monday, as it was our last day of our Spring/Easter break. I really appreciate having the Monday after Easter off, and I am going to miss this day next year (next year we have a separate week dedicated to Spring Break, so we won't have a longer break around Easter). So that led to our week starting on Tuesday, and the threat of SNOW was already imminent.  Last time I checked, it was supposed to be, "April showers  bring May flowers." What does April snow bring? Kids who seemingly have never seen snow before and HAVE to point it out when they spot it out the window. All joking aside, Tuesday was actually a pretty good day, and the students weren't bad because the snow didn't start until the later part of the day. What DID stink, however, was having bus duty at the end of the day and being pelted with icy snowflakes... So, that snow that...