Day 159

I am frustrated.

We came back from the Film Festival yesterday and lets just say that I'm not as thrilled as I was going into it. My students were super excited to go up there and get to hear from the two speakers and then see if they had won anything.

We get to the film festival a little late because of bus trouble but that's okay. When we sat down and started listening to the first speaker, my students started zoning. Quite frankly so did I. He wasn't all that great to listen to. Yeah he brought examples of what he had done, but they weren't relevant to what the kids had in mind. Also, as one of my students had pointed out, his manner of speech lead to more innuendos than I think he realized.

When the second speaker came on stage my students got a bit more excited because he was part of an animation company and they wanted to see what he had. He really didn't connect with too many students.

Then came what my students had been waiting for; the awards. I had already seen a list of winners. How the awards go are as follows: they show the top three videos in order from 3rd to 1st along with the school and the students who completed them then the students go up on stage and receive their award. There are of course the stupid antics that some students do (luckily enough they weren't my students. I had told them that their attitude and professionalism for this event goes on their grade). Now as they are showing the videos I hear my students begin to chat. Not overly loud, but they're chatting. I was going to put a stop to it until I overheard what they were chatting about: how the videos did/didn't follow the rules. Great, they're having a discussion, is what went through my head. We had to leave early in order to get the students back before the end of school.

On the bus the students wanted to chat. I had never had them willingly do a discussion before so I was a little pleased. They wanted to know if I would give their feedback to the event organizers and I said I would. One of their concerns was the fact that many of the videos didn't follow the rules of the festival, yet they placed. That really bugged me as well. I was such a stickler for them to follow the rules and make sure everything was within the time guidelines and following the rules. I actually didn't allow a few videos through because they didn't follow 1 particular rule. Then I see that the videos that are winning are the ones that broke rules. This did not make me happy. It didn't sit well with my student either.

Something else that my students weren't happy about was the judging. One category had the "student advisory council" judging. That, I think, is unacceptable. The problem I see with that is the fact that student will almost always default to voting for their friends. These students judged the "comedy" category and they only awarded 2 places. Their reasoning? The others broke 1 rule or another. I know FOR A FACT that the video I submitted for my students in that category did not break any of the rules: it was under time, clean, and made me laugh (which is a feat in itself). They did like that supposed "experts" in the different genres are the ones that judged the films, but it seems that they didn't judge the films according to the guidelines.

If that is the way that things are going to be judged I have a mind to not even look at the rules and just tell my students the time limits and say "go at it" and just let them do whatever. I guess the one thing that I am most "proud" on is the fact that my students picked up the fact that there was something off about the entries and wanted to discuss it.

There are 2 pages worth of suggestions, comments, and concerns that came from my students just from the discussion on the bus. And that is just from them. I haven't added what I think yet.

But I do need to recognize the fact that they did win a couple of awards. 1 student placed first in the scholarship PSA to win a $4,000 scholarship and a group of boys won Director's Choice for their digital animation (not cgi). Not the turn out that I was hoping for but hopefully things can change.

Day 157

I can't believe information and instructions can leak out of student's brains for the 20 steps that they take to their seats. I was amazed at how many questions I got about the instructions 1 minute after giving them. Unbelievable! The instructions were to send an e-mail to the person sitting next to them using the school's e-mail system and to CC it to me. The instructions are written on the board plus my e-mail address. I got so many questions about what to do I had each of the students tell me what I had just said and what their neighbor had just said. I feel like a bloody broken record today! Ugg! I can't believe it.

I know that by now most students are sick of being in a classroom and to be honest, so are most of the teachers. That is one of the reasons why on the weekends if I see one of my students, I don't say anything to them. I really don't want to be bothered yet again. Many of my students are good students. But it is those few who are a pain in the classroom that I don't want to see on the weekends that I do end up seeing. It is kind of nice not living in the same town that I teach, but most of the entertainment is in that town so I do end up seeing them.

I cannot believe the amount of problems my students are beginning to give me. It is insane! After talking with my mom who is also an educator, she gave me some research that shows that most youth brains begin to shut down around the first few weeks in May if they are on a year long schedule. Think of how the teachers feel. We're sick of all the complaining and the problems that are coming from the students.

I had the interview with the principal and the administrators. I think I did okay. I wasn't as confident as I could have been, but then again my anxiety got the best of me. I wasn't *completely* ready for the interview, but they seemed confident in how I answered stuff. The one thing I didn't believe was what one of the interviewees wanted to do. I heard this from the secretary afterward. After my interview I came back up to class to continue to teach. I had someone covering my class so I relieved them and continued teaching. What was happening down in the office was the other interviewee wanted to come up and look at my classroom and see the programs that I've been teaching. WHILE I was in class. Luckily the secretary is on my side about keeping me and she said that it wasn't appropriate and very unprofessional to do that because it would send the wrong message to me.

Now I play the waiting game.

At least I'll know if any of my students placed in the film festival tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to taking a few of them up there, but at least I don't have too much to worry about.

Day 154

Happy Earth Day.

I was called down to the office today. Now normally that isn't too big of a deal, however today was a bit different. They wanted to schedule an interview time with me for the position next year. All the times open I am teaching, but they opened up a slot for me so I'm able to make it during my prep period. While I was looking at the times available, I glanced at the other names on the list and that entire list is for my current position. There are 5 other names on that list. I am getting worried. 2 of the names I know. They went through the university program with me. The other 3 I don't recognize. When I was leaving I guess some of my worry and stress showed on my face because the Principal gave me a shoulder squeeze and a wink. I don't know if that means I have nothing to worry about or if I've got a battle a head of me.

Ugg. My stomach is turning already.

Day 151

It is amazing how many times the students want to check their grades within a class period. Half the time they check them when they log on to the computer, then check them again in the middle of class (when they think I'm not looking), and then again at the end of the period thinking that they have changed.

I do put grades in when they are taking a test. It helps me see who has taken the test and who hasn't. But other than that, I wait until the end of the day to put in grades. It is when I have more time and when I can do it all at once instead of getting interrupted multiple times with questions I've already answered for them.

I have 3 students who are competing for votes for scholarship money. Be Money Smart and Facebook UHEAA competition (vote for Josh Fletcher).

I am excited to see how my students did in the main film festival happening next week. I've seen some of the other videos and I'm optimistic about my student's chances.

But as the semester is coming to a close, I can see those students who will be retaking the class because they didn't have the drive or the devotion to get things done the first time around. I have been telling them that it is easier the first time around to get things done but many of them don't believe me. I also had one student say that he doesn't care about taking it again because he'll already have the work finished. What he doesn't realize is that we change the work ever year and we clear out their network drives in June. Overall, there are 29 class days left in the semester and although it doesn't seem like much, it feels a lot longer than it looks.

I have had students tell their parents lies about me recently. I had one parent come and talk to me saying that his son says I pick on him in class. When I found out who the student was, I asked the father to stay in the classroom in the back and watch the reason why he thinks I "pick" on him. So the father did. His son came in and the first thing he did was to pull the plug from the wall and kill the power to the row of computers then say that he didn't do it and since there aren't any open computer he didn't have to do any work. Luckily enough I saw him do it, so I just plugged it back in and said sarcastically "Wow, look at that. The computer needs to be plugged in! It's working again!". The boy didn't even look at the back of the classroom. A few minutes later he asked a question that I had just answered for his neighbor so I told the student next to him to teach him and when that student did, the boy didn't even pay attention and tried to ask me the same question a few seconds later. When I ignored him, he leaned back in his chair and started whistling. I asked him to stop, and he just turned to me and started whistling louder. That is when the dad interrupted. The look on the boy's face was priceless. I just can't believe the amount of disrespect that I get from students and the fact that parents are quick to believe their student but don't dare believe the teacher.

I'm also beginning to get a bit nervous. I know I shouldn't be, but all the same, I think about the fact that they haven't said anything about my job situation next year (none of the districts that I've applied to have said anything yet).

Day 150

The 48 hr shootout with my students went better than planned. They were really diligent with getting their footage finished and set to go. I only had one student not get with me and I no one has heard anything from him. He won't even answer his phone and I've had the school secretaries call along with me calling him. The 2 films that I have seen have some major potential, so it'll be interesting to see how things go.

But as school is getting closer and closer to being finished, I am getting more and more antsy for an answer to the question of whether or not I will have a job come fall. I've applied to a couple of different opportunities, so at least there are options out there. However the problem is most of them are out of the city and I really don't want to commute a huge distance every day. Maybe when commuter-rail is up and running I won't have such a problem with it, but right now, I do.

It is amazing what students will do. For instance, yesterday in the school it started smelling like smoke and wood burning. There was an announcement that came on saying not to worry, the school isn't on fire. Later that day we found out that a student had put a wooden spoon in the microwave in the food's room and it was charred black. Not that I mind the smell of burning wood, but when I'm trying to teach and all my students are "complaining" about the smell, it does start to get a bit annoying.

I'm excited to see the results of the film festival in 2 weeks. I think my students did a good job with their entries and while we didn't have as many as other schools, I think they did a stellar job. I don't say it often enough to them, but I am proud of what they have accomplished.

Day 146

34 more days until school is over. The students find it funny that I am keeping a countdown on my board. I don't think they realize that it is just as exciting for the teachers as it is for the students for school to be over. Yes, we've got workshops and meetings randomly through the summer, but for the most part, we are free until August.

But I can't believe it is already day 146 and I'm that far into the semester. It feels good to know that I seem to actually be able to survive my first year of teaching without too many stumbles. Now that I've put that down in writing I know something is going to happen. But at least I did my first year.

The job situation for next year is still up in the air. They district needs to hire a teacher, but they are waiting for the final "I'm not coming back" from the teacher that used to be here. From everything I've heard from other people, the principal wants to keep me here and I want to stay here, but I have applied to other schools as a just-in-case.

But my students have been doing rather well the past little bit. All the entries into the film festival have been submitted and while it wasn't the showing that I wanted from the, I think the ones that have been submitted are good and they have a chance. The entries for doodle-4-google went through but I don't think any of my students are going to move past the first round. Same thing goes for the multimedia festival. While my student's works are good, I think they rushed through them to get something submitted. I didn't require it and I didn't get the forms to fill out until really late (almost last minute), so that didn't help any. All the classes are preparing for the state testing that happens next month and hopefully will go smoother than before.

But one thing I have noticed is the fact that I seem to be repeating myself more and more in class. I tell them one thing and then the 20 step walk from their seat to their computer, it seems to dribble out their ears and they ask me what I had just told them no more than 2 minutes ago. Maybe it is the fact that they just came back from break and they really don't want to be here with the nice weather outside or the fact that it is getting close to the end of the year and they just want to be done; or it is that they don't pay attention thinking they know everything and when they get stuck they panic.

I think I'm doing well as a teacher. I haven't had any major problems or blunders on my part. My students seem to respect me (although it is getting worse as the semester rolls on). It is amazing how many of them just don't care or don't see the connection between the way they act in class towards their teacher and their grade and then later in life, their successes. I actually attach their attitude onto their grade. You'd be amazed at how many parents have complained to the principal (not me) about my grading practices. No wonder students act the way they do. Ugg.

I'm just grateful that the next few weeks aren't a lot of heavy teaching on my part and more like guiding. They have final projects coming up including a final class film, digital portfolios, and a powerpoint presentation for my comp tech kids.

Day 144

Well, this next week off for Spring Break is well deserved. I'm really ready for a break. It'll be nice to be able to catch up on some of the projects that I need in order to make this last term work.

That, and I've just re-applied for my job. Kind of stressful. I went around and asked a few of my co-workers to write me letters of recommendation, and the Principal even said that he was pulling for me to stay, they just have to open the position and go though all that stuff again.

We'll see in about a week and a half

Day 143

Happy April. That means 2 more months before the schools let out for summer. Yay!

Now, try this excuse on for size. A girl came up to me today.

"We have a quiz today, right?" she said.
"Yes, over Unit 3," I replied.
"Well, I have a mild concussion and I can't take the quiz. Can I take it on Monday after we get back?"

I just stood there. I've had mild concussions before and they don't affect your long term memory, just your concentration and focus. I've heard other excuses, but this is a new one.