2nd, 3rd, and 6th grade oh my!

I'm back! I know I said I would post more often and that I would let you know how the Crock Pot Enchiladas were...things have been busy. The enchiladas were delicious and pretty close to my mom's (She still won't give me the exact recipe). You can find the recipe at www.crockpot365.blogspot.com . It's a blog by Stephanie O'Dea. She decided to use her Crock Pot EVERY SINGLE day during 2008 and did not repeat any recipes! If you click on Jan. 9-Enchilada Casserole you will find her recipe. I highly recommend it!

So what have I been up to lately? Still on the job search track. Since my long-term 2nd grade sub job ended, I have been doing Language Arts and Math Intervention. It's been interesting. I feel like the hermit crab from Eric Carle's A House for Hermit Crab every day because I now take a black rolling cart everywhere I go. Luckily, one of the 2nd grade teachers has been gracious enough to allow me to stash it in her classroom during my lunch break and assemblies. My day currently consists of a small group of 3rd grade Language Arts in the morning followed by some 6th grade math. Then I move on to 2nd grade where I do another Language Arts group focused on High Frequency Words and Fluency. Then I get lunch. After that, I head back to 6th grade math for an hour then I turn around and head back to 2nd grade. This time I work with a group of 8 students on comprehension and standards. I end the day by working with another group of 6th graders focusing on Multiplication skills. Craziness!

My 2nd grade and 3rd grade groups are my favorite. They are always happy to see me and we have fun during our short time together. Sixth grade has been a little more challenging. I have to remember what proportions are and probability and when to subtract or add with positive and negative integers! It's been quite some time since I had to do those things. Luckily, I do have a copy of the teachers edition so I can study it during my down time. And thank goodness for You Tube! I've found some very helpful videos of how to explain GCF (greatest common factor).

My how things have changed since I was in 6th grade!

The Crock Pot

Today I am attempting to use the Crock Pot by myself for the second time. Hoping the food doesn't burn this time! For those of you who are adept at cooking, you are probably wondering, "What's the big deal?" For me, this is a big deal. Actually, I am always surprised EVERY single time that I cook and it is not only edible but also delicious. This is because up until about a year ago, I barely used my kitchen. I am an Undomestic Goddess.

When I was growing up, my mom cooked. I did my homework, went to ballet, played piano, read many wonderful books and never once picked up on much of anything she prepared in the kitchen. My mom made dinner basically every night. Then I went to college and basically lived off cereal and McDonald's Happy Meals until about age 30. That's when things changed.

First of all, my roommate and best friend was a fantastic cook! When she wasn't around, I forged for food-cereal and Baker's. I had been dating my boyfriend for about 6 months by then. He is a fantastic cook! He was astounded that when he asked me to chop something up or buy some meat at the grocery store I gave him blank stares. He was amazed that this woman who went to college and had a Master's degree knew absolutely nothing about cooking.  That was when the cooking lessons began and soon, I had prepped my first lobster to be barbecued all by myself. I now own several cookbooks and cooking magazines that I actually use. I have a fridge full of ingredients to make delicious meals with.

But still, I have to go shopping for meat with him because I don't know what all the different cuts are or exactly how to use them. And then there's the Crock Pot!

My boyfriend has made many delicious recipes in the Crock Pot and it all looks so easy. So, about a week ago, I decided I would give it a try. I was going to make pulled pork sandwiches. It seemed so easy. Threw in the pork. Threw in the BBQ sauce. Set it on low and headed out the door to work. When I came home I was in disbelief! It was ALL burned!!! I still don't know what went wrong. I followed all the steps. Needless to say, I threw it away and we had hamburgers for dinner.

Tonight I am making enchiladas in the Crock Pot. I will let you know how it goes!

The Pulled Pork Catastrophe

Redirecting

I am redirecting this blog. It is true, things are very dismal in the education profession right now. Not much has changed with my work situation right now. So I am redirecting this blog for my mental well-being. While things basically are crappy professionally, on other fronts...they are great!

I'm going to start writing about the other aspects of my life. Those topics will include the garden my boyfriend started on my apartment balcony that was supposed to be small but has since morphed into a jungle, picking up my crochet hook again to make some Christmas gifts made with love, and new found ability to cook. There are other things happening in my life that it is time to be thankful for and share.

So watch for a new and improved blog dear friends! Happy Monday!

Losing Hope

I hate to sound so negative and down in the dumps with every post but it seems that when it rains it does not just pour. It's just a hurricane! Just when I thought things would be okay, I find that I was wrong.
Yesterday I posted about the possibility that I would not be long term substituting in 6th grade next. Today as I was walking to the staff lounge at recess who should stop me on my way to pee but the principal! Apparently he's been interviewing people for that position and yesterday he found someone. He told me the sob story. He feels bad, it's what is best for the kids, they have experience teaching 6th grade. Then he said it. It's what is best for them to pass the test!!!
Really? Seriously! While our fearless leaders preach to us at every staff meeting about how we shouldn't teach to the test. The test is not the reason why we work hard. Apparently everything we do is for the test. We must live and breathe the test.
I couldn't believe it! What has happened? It is sad to think that when these kids look back on their elementary years instead of remembering the fun projects they did, they will remember all the tests they took and whether or not they were proficient.

Swamped!

Dear friends,

       I know I planned on blogging more often this school year however, I am SWAMPED! I completed my first long-term substitute assignment about two weeks ago now. I miss my kiddos! I felt that I was planting little seeds of knowledge about multiple meaning words, nouns, and fluency. We were also collectively making progress learning high frequency words. And then reality struck. I had to move on and head to a new group of students. I was sad and the kiddos were sad.
       I am proud to say that when their teacher returned she was excited that routines were established and the classroom was "turn-key ready." Now that she's back, she is able to pick up where I left off, establish her own routines, and move them along.
      On to my new group of kids. The first week was definately a period of adjustment. They had another substitute for two weeks before I was able to transition (their teacher went out on maternity leave earlier than expected). This time when I walked in I was faced with the task of restoring order to the chaos that ensued for two weeks prior to my arrival. And of course I had an informal observation by administration on my first day with this new group of kids! WTH? Seriously!?!
     Now that we have been together for two weeks, things are going much smoother. Students are beginning to learn about my expectations. I am beginning to learn about them and what they need. We have restored the routines set up by their teacher and added a few of our own. I am looking forward to starting small group time with them next week. I am also learning about students with SST's and their needs.
      I am very grateful to the team I am currently with. I feel that I have learned so much more about 2nd grade this year than last year. I wish I had known the things I know now about effectively teaching 2nd grade. It really would have helped me out last year.  So far, long-term subbing with this team and at this school has been a positive and rewarding experience. I am enjoying my time here and soaking up all of the knowledge I can.
      'Till next time.....happy teaching!

Good News!

I have an announcement to make. Drumroll please...I have a long-term substitute teaching position in a 2nd grade classroom! While it is not the contracted position I was hoping for, I am very excited for this opportunity. I will potentially have a long-term position for the entire school year and that is something to be excited about. I get to continue teaching, gain more experience, and do what I love. This year will be trying because of the decrease in pay but I am still hopeful that it may lead to a contracted position. In the meantime, it will be consistent work and that is very important. I'm looking forward to blogging about my adventures this year!

So Stressed My Hair Is Falling Out!!!

If you had told me three years ago that I would be in the position of being an unemployed teacher, I never would have believed you. Naive, I know. However, this is the current position I am in and it saddens me. And stresses me out. In fact, I am so stressed that my hair is falling out and I now have a small bald patch on the top of my head! My hair stylist says it's because of stress. In fact, she had a client last week who is going through the same thing and in the same profession-teaching. Crazy!

I have absolutely NO FRIGGIN' IDEA what is going to happen next or how I am going to pay the rent come September 1. That is also a huge source of stress for me. So now what? Where the hell do I go from here? I know I'm a good teacher. I know that I care about my students and that it shows in my teaching. I know that I do everything I can to help my students develop into good citizens and academic scholars. Teaching is taking a huge hit everywhere...every which way. It's absolutely ridiculous the things we have to go through and the crap that gets talked about us. But where would ANY of those people be (who are making crazy decisions and the crap talking people) without a teacher-public, private, or parochial?

This is the first summer in a long time that I have not enjoyed. I spend my time combing the Internet looking for jobs, writing cover letters, writing several drafts of my resume. I never thought I would be in this position...but here I am. I cannot wait for school to start in August so that I can get as many substitute jobs as possible so that I can pay my rent and bills. It's an exhausting and depressing process.

A Glimmer of Hope....I Hope!

Today I received an email from my school district's human resources department. It seems that on Monday, there will be a 5 day window of opportunity to apply for a spot on the eligibility list for a teaching position for the upcoming school year. While I welcome this opportunity with open arms, I am also thankful that I got my lazy butt off the couch and checked my district email which thankfully still works! Can you imagine if I had missed this! It's not like they call all the teachers who had contracts and no longer have contracts to alert us to this window of opportunity! So, I have been making sure that I have my paperwork in order, especially my letters of recommendation.

On a side note, I went to Target last week and saw from a distance that the beautiful, shiny, new school supplies are out. Today, some of them went on sale. This is only something a teacher would understand. I do feel sad that I am unable to partake in the festivities of purchasing new school supplies for my students. This is my favorite time of year. It's a fresh start and a chance to try new ways of teaching. I'm hoping I get a call and a chance to teach full-time again.

Unemployment Hell

Many things have happened since my last post. Below are the top 10 highlights of the last 2 weeks.

1. I found out that I do not have a teaching job for the 2011-2012 school year.
2. Survived the naughty boys in my summer school class.
3. Raised the fluency scores of 90% of my summer school students.
4. Successfully kept my cool during the daily district walk-throughs of my summer school class.
5. Received MANY complements from district officials about my teaching and classroom management abilities but STILL....no job!
6. I filed for unemployment.
7. I applied for 30+ non-teaching jobs that I am not fully sure I am qualified for.
8. I came to the realization that instead of spending my college years pursuing a career in teaching, I should have become a nurse, social worker, or therapist (there seems to be an abundance of jobs for these people).
9. Experienced a week of depression over the fact that I am a 30 year old, college educated woman with a Masters and I STILL can't get a job.
10. Have had to explain the reasons for my unemployment despite my qualifications to family and friends more times than I would like to count only to be told, "But they say they need teachers ALL the time!"

Here's to hoping something good comes my way and soon!

Summer School-Week 1

So, I decided to teach summer school intervention this year for two reasons. 1. I still do not know if I have a job for the 2011-2012 school year and 2. I wanted to make some extra money. As it turned out, it was a good thing I applied for the position since I still don't know if I have a job for the upcoming school year.

This was the first week of summer school and I have to say it has been the most exhausting 4 days I've experienced for quite some time. I'm teaching 3rd grade intervention. These students will be in 4th grade next year and maybe it's just me but I just don't see how. Let me back up. I have 17 boys and 5 girls in my class. Did I mention there are 17 boys!!!! Holy moly...my work is cut out for me. And there are only 3 weeks left!

As a whole, the boys in this group are the most exasperating bunch I have encountered in my short teaching career. I have tried many things but nothing has worked yet. The following are the techniques I and my aide (even with an aide they are crazy monkey children) have tried to no avail.
1. Establishing class rules and consequences as a class.
2. Developing teams for cooperative learning/table groupings-at the end of the week the team with the most points gets to go to the treasure box. Teams can earn or lose points depending on their behavior and ability to work as a team.
3. Proximity to students making poor choices (shouting out, distracting others, laying down on the desk).
4. Temporarily taking away chairs from students who are not sitting correctly.
5. Time out in the classroom.
6. Losing recess time.
7. Giving M&M's to reward students who are on task, participating, and good citizens.
8. The class earns time to play Study Island, Around the World, and Spelling Bee.

None of it has worked. Select students have even been pulled out to have serious discussions regarding behavior with the Summer School Principal...and yes, parents have been informed.  So where do I go from there? It is impossible to motivate a student or students who do not care about their learning. These students do not even care how their poor choices affect other students learning in the class. I think it is very sad and disappointing to see this type of attitude in such young students. I have 3 more weeks with this group. This is my challenge to teach the students who do care and attempt to motivate the students who do not care to change their negative attitude to a positive one. I welcome your suggestions!

It's That Time of Year Yet Again!

This school year was a blur. I can't believe how quickly 180 days can go by. It began with a transition to yet another new school and grade level in my district. I began the year hopeful and full of excitement that I had finally found a school to put some roots in. I was full of great ideas about how I would be a super 2nd grade teacher, even though I had absolutely no knowledge of 2nd grade curriculum. The year started off great and then the testing season began. It seemed I had only had my students for 4 weeks. They were troopers but by the time the CST came in April, they were done...and so was I! I had never experienced so much testing in my life! Synonyms, antonyms, multiple meaning words, compare and contrast, predicting, revising sentences...and that was just the language arts portion! They were tested in math, science, and writing. It seemed our days leading up to the CST were filled with test prep. Every spare moment was spent reviewing how to use the UNRAAVEL strategy when faced with a reading passage and it's accompanying comprehension questions. The year seemed to move even faster once the CST was over. Before I knew it, I was being handed my 3rd pink slip. I was told yet again that I would not be picked up for the coming school year at the school I had so hoped to stay at for more than 180 days. Despite this sad news, I had to keep moving forward. I still had several days of teaching left, interviews to seek out, and packing to begin.

I have now been on 10 interviews for teaching positions in my district. While some may have given up hope, I am still hopeful. I am not done teaching yet. I am not done making a difference in someone else's life. I am determined and as I have learned over the past 3 years...resilient. I think that is the most important lesson that I can teach my students. No matter what curve ball life throws at you, you will pick yourself up and keep going.

As I sit here writing and thinking, I remember all the lives I have touched and those who have touched mine whether they were teachers, office staff, administrators, or students. Most importantly, I remember the students. I have literally taught well over 200 students in my relatively short teaching career. It all began when I was a tutor for the America Reads program at Cal Poly Pomona. I never thought I would have the desire to be a teacher. I remember thinking at the time it was just a way to get some financial aid. I am so glad I chose this path. It has not always been easy, but it has ALWAYS been rewarding.

It is with a hopeful heart that I look forward to my next adventure in education....whatever that may be.