Hey everybody.....
Sorry I haven't wrote in a long time, I always start with ideas and things I want to do and after a couple of weeks I just either forget about them or move on.....But I am going to keep on trying to write on this blog every week so again I apologize for my laziness. :)
Lets start with school....
Everything is going very well so far in regards to teaching. I am learning something new everyday and its getting a lot easier. The school is so big and there are so many different departments and things I have to do outside of the actually classroom that the first six weeks I was floating a little bit. This school sends out report cards every six weeks so now that the first one is over I know what to expect. This marking period I failed 6 students, its weird having all the power, lol. In all actuality, I should have failed many....many.....more but I made some exceptions. Since the first 3 weeks were kind of crazy and I kept on changing things in my class like procedures and policies I felt that I owed it to the kids to keep on accepting late work. The way it works as of right now is that if a student doesn't turn in their work, lets say on a Monday, then it is due by friday for late credit. After that then they get the lowest grade I am allowed to give them which is a 50. So last marking period I kept on taking late work all the way up to the last day of the marking period and I would get like 10 assignments a day for the last 2 weeks because my kids are horrible at turning in their work on time.....by the way, I think I hate grading papers.....
I had two major problems during the last marking period. 1. I didn't even know a kid was in my class and he did not do ANYTHING for 4 weeks......I didn't have one single grade for him in my gradebook and the day before grades are due I called him up to my desk. I thought he was a new student or something and asked him when he got into my class....he goes coach I have been here since the second week.....I responded with "well what the hell have you been doing?" Long story short this little hispanic kid sat in the back of my room, never said a word and never did anything and I had to fail him, I never called his parents or anything, just had to fail him...sounds bad but the other teachers laughed and told me not to worry and that I am a rookie teacher and the Administration won't yell at me for messing up anything until next year........sweet. dumb ass kid.......
So far I feel like the kids really like my class and know what my expectations are. I haven't had to deal with many problems, the only main one so far is the not turning in work part. So........this marking period I started the first day with a little warning to all my classes.....this is basically what I said " So far this year I have been really nice to you guys, I have been taking work late and been giving you many opportunities to better your grade.....starting today, that all ends, There is no reason that I should be doing more work than you in my class to make you pass. You need to turn your work in and make the extra effort, your all adults and I not going to treat you like little babies anymore....so turn your work in get here on time and understand that if you don't do your work or get it in by the specified time then you get a 50...... After that little speel, the second week I had almost 25 kids come into my class during lunch on their own to retake their quiz and finish work.....that is awesome. On Friday I bought donuts for my first period class. I also have them all worked up and excited because the other day I hooked up my ant farm thing I got from brookstone and the ants are starting to dig tunnels, they love it.
Football......
So far my freshman team is 1-5, we suck......either I have bad luck with coaching or I am just awful...lol. My freshman team is very immature. They have no discipline and they can't remember crap. I have been teaching the same 5 plays to my offensive lineman for almost a month and a half now and they still don't know them.......it frustrates the hell out of me but whatever, I have to just keep on coaching. The varsity won their first district game this past friday, it was a nail biter. The score was 35-34 and it was an amazing game. They are currently 2-4. Overall, its going very well and I love it so far. I have good relationships with the players and coaches. We have 4 more games and the season is over so I will keep you all updated.
