It's Friday!

It has been an incredibly long week. There have been far too many moments of frustration this week, including yet another pointless faculty meeting. Especially the pointless faculty meeting. But I've tried very hard to find at least a few moments of joy. Does it surprise anyone that those moments became easier to find the closer I got to Friday?

I didn't think so.

Yesterday afternoon, during my prep time, I walked over to the office for a meeting with the boss. She wasn't there. She forgot about our meeting that she'd just made about 30 minutes before. I took a deep breath and walked back across campus toward my classroom passing my seventh grade boys who were playing volleyball during P.E. (well, I'm not sure "playing" is the right word to use here, but it'll do until someone comes up with a new term that describes what the boys were doing).

"McTeach, come on! You HAVE to play with us!"

I don't have to do anything.

"Come on!! You know you want to!"

I know no such thing.

About five minutes after I got back to my classroom (did I mention it's a long walk from my room to the office?), the boss called and asked me to return to the office. I took a deep breath (or ten) and headed back over.

"Yay! McTeach changed her mind!"

Not exactly.

My "meeting" lasted all of about 30 seconds, and could have been accomplished via email. Or even a phone call.

When I started heading back across campus again toward my classroom, I heard Devin call out again, "Come on, McTeach...just one serve!!"

Oh yeah, I thought to myself, I'm ready to hit something!

I wound up playing volleyball with the boys for about ten minutes and had a wonderful time! Granted, I was the only one who seemed to know how to hit the ball, but that just made me feel even more like a rock star!!

Pretty cool way to end my day.

What a Lovely Shade of Red

I'm just sitting here in my nice quiet classroom trying to do a little reflecting on my day, and I'm really not sure what to make of it. Today had moments that made me want to pull my hair out (which I'm really trying to avoid as I'm letting my hair grow out right now), moments of joy and laughter, and moments of total embarrassment for the teacher. Well, just one embarrassing moment, really, but it was a good one!

Where to begin...

I began my day by introducing the seventh graders to a new website that I think is pretty slick for research, and showing them a quick video that explains some of the new changes in Google Docs. I'm not sure which one we were more excited about! Google has finally added a chat feature for Docs, so now my students can chat while working on a document. You know middle schoolers will love anything that includes the word "chat"!

We're also very excited about now having real-time collaboration abilities in Docs. My students will be able to see the changes their group-mates are making on a document as they're making them. We've had too many issues with students writing over one another in Docs because they can't tell where another person is writing at any given time. That has been changed! This is the video I showed my seventh graders this morning that explains these changes as well as the addition of Google Drawings:



I'm not sure what it says about me, but the fact that Google is adding rulers and tab stops to its documents made me happier than the new chat feature made my students. [It is NOT necessary for any students of mine who may happen upon this blog to offer their opinions of what this says about their teacher! Thank you.]


What I showed the kids next is a website I can't wait to start using with them! I'd heard about this new search engine when it came out, but the best I could do at the time was to bookmark it for checking into later. Late last night I watched one of the videos posted on the WolframAlpha site that explains how teachers can use this new tool. I found my way there after clicking on the link that Shannon Smith shared on Plurk. Turns out, Shannon and her mom, Nancy Brachbill, are two of the teachers in the video which I just thought was too cool for words! You can find the videos at WolframAlpha for Educators.

After watching one of the videos last night, I decided to play with the site a little bit [it was almost midnight...I really should have been asleep by then, but you know what they say about us edtech geeks and our new "toys"!] One of the first things I searched for was my date of birth. I know, I know...it's all about me, isn't it! So, I typed in this:

And the first thing I saw:


Oh, come on...you know it's the first thing you're going to do when you check out the site, aren't you!

Well, one of the first things that Shannon mentioned in her video was using WolframAlpha to search for vocabulary words. What a great idea! So, this morning when I was demonstrating the site for my seventh graders, I asked one of them to give me one of their words; you can see the results here:

As someone who enjoys writing poetry, I was especially excited to see, and show my students, that the search results include a list of words that rhyme with the search term. [Stick with me...this will come back to bite me later in the morning.] Of course, mentioning to my seventh graders that it provided rhyming words led at least one boy to call out, "Type in 'orange'!!"

Oh brother.

My seventh graders are currently finishing up giving their presentations about Africa. Each student researched a different African country and created a powerpoint to share what they'd learned in their research. I'm so proud of my students; they have done an amazing job with their presentations! But it took me all of about 30 seconds using WolframAlpha to realize that their research time probably could have been cut in half if we would have been using this wonderful tool. Here, try this and see what information just one search can provide you:

I'm sure you'll have roughly the same reaction that my seventh graders and I had this morning. Whoa! "Dude, that's totally awesome!!" Yeah, thanks Devin.

I tried to avoid the gazes of those students who were shooting me death glares. "You couldn't have found out about this before we spent 50 gazillion hours on this project???"

Sorry.

Fast forward about two hours...time for eighth graders. They are currently working on a research project about the Civil War, so I wanted to share with them this same website. I shared with them the birth date search...middle schoolers just love hearing how old and decrepit their teacher is. Then I asked for someone to give me a name to search for. "Bob."

Sigh.

I think I need a little more than that.

"Robert."

No, seriously. I swear I live in a cartoon. I'm just waiting for that darn anvil to drop. [It's coming, by the way.]

I decided to show them how to search for their vocabulary words. I asked an eighth grader to give me one of their words, and the first one that came to mind was "vex." [Don't get ahead of me, here.]

Now, picture me standing there in front of my ActivBoard, sharing this wonderful new website, thinking it's just the coolest thing since the invention of the modem; I haven't a clue. No, it doesn't even enter my mind that I am about to show a list of words that rhyme with "vex" to 34 soon-to-be giggling eighth graders. No, no...I proceed with "so if you're writing some fabulous poetry and you need to find a word that rhymes with 'vex'..."

That's when I saw it. The word that shall not be named. At least not in my blog that would eventually be spammed by who-knows-how-many who-knows-what-kinds of websites. I kept my face turned toward the board for a moment or two, but I'm sure the bright red glow from my face bounced right off that board toward all of my now-giggling students.

I tried to make like I had planned that all along by quickly adding, "Of course, I'm not really sure any of us wants to see what kinds of poems you can create with these words." But my brain was already composing a limerick or two while they continued to giggle.

Ok, one last search...somebody give me the name of a battle. [Quick!!]

"Wilderness!"

God love ya, George and Zane!


Joy and Laughter

There were at least a few moments of joy and laughter today. One of my favorites occurred during lunch recess. No, I wasn't shooting hoops, although I really wanted to. I had my camera in hand, and didn't feel like risking dropping it. I was taking some pictures when Kate ran by me, chasing after another student and yelling in a "we're just regular kids having some good old-fashioned 'tag you're it' kind of fun." Well, she nearly took out the teacher as she ran by, so I yelled out "Kate!!" That's when this quietest of quiet, reserved to the point of being almost hidden, students stopped, turned, ran back to me, threw her arms around me, and yelled "I love you, McTeach!!"

Oh, geez. "I love you, too. Now, get off!"

Laughter ensued.

"Oh, McTeachy!!"

Sigh.

Just another typical day in middle school.

March 29: The Madness Continues

I hadn't really planned on shooting any hoops today, although I am determined to get better at this. But as I was walking back to my classroom during recess one of the kids tossed me the ball. "Take a shot, McTeach!" I couldn't help myself...I think I'm addicted. I would have stayed out there all day shooting hoops if I could figure out a way to teach grammar to thirty-six screaming seventh graders at the same time.

I'll work on that.

Anyway...I took the shot and...

Clank.

Great.

"No, no, no! We talked about this, remember?!"

Wait...which one of us is the teacher?

Taylor proceeded to give me a review of how to properly shoot the basketball. Elbows in, knees bent, jump and shoot. Got it.

Boy, did I get it! My second shot...SWISH!!

They probably heard me screaming from the office! What a great feeling! Thanks for the lessons, Taylor!

March 25th: March Madness CTK-Style

I'm not sure how to begin to explain the negative mood I've been in for awhile now. My seventh graders are getting to that point where they start looking at each other as more than just the classmates they've known since kindergarten. It's the whole boy-girl thing. The girls are maturing faster than the boys, so they want to talk everything out. The boys just want to throw things. Preferably AT the girls.

The girls would like to hold on to this sense of family that they've created, especially since our visit to Camp Caritas in the fall. The boys just want to throw things. The more they focus on any one problem that they think the class has, the more of that problem we stumble into.

And then there's the teacher. I spend so much of my energy focused on schoolwork that never gets completed, that I feel like I'm losing my sense of self. And, of course, the more I focus on the negative aspects of my job, the more negativity finds me. So I talked to the kids today about this and I told them that we need to let go of the negativity and Find the Joy once again! I mean, it feels like it's been far too long since I made my students laugh...something that has always brought me joy; something that I'm really good at! But I've been so unhappy lately, that my sense of humor had even failed me.

As I was speaking to the kids this morning about letting go of the negativity, I realized that I wasn't really saying it for them. I was saying it for me! I'm the one who needs to Find the Joy again. It needs to start with someone; might as well be me!

So I took matters into my own hands today...literally. During lunch recess, I was walking over to the office and decided to stop where a couple of the boys were playing basketball. I took the ball from one of them and took the shot. It wasn't pretty. "Hey, Miss McMillan, try again!" Another ball was handed to me and I took another shot. Clank! Ooops.

Before I knew it, almost the entire seventh grade as well as a few eighth graders were surrounding me, cheering me on. And each time I'd miss, someone would throw the ball back to me. For future reference, it really pays to try and keep track of where every basketball is at any given time. You never know when one might come flying in at you from a totally unexpected source and hit you...where you don't want to be hit. All I can say is it's a good thing I had my sunglasses on, because the tears started welling up right away. That hurt!! It still hurts! But I didn't want the boy who hit me to feel horrible, so I picked up the ball and started shooting again.

Clank!

Oops.

"Try again, McTeachy!"

"Yeah, you can't give up!"

"What's with the elbow, McTizzo?"

Wait...what's wrong with my elbow?

"It's way up in the air. It should be tucked into your side."

Ohhhhh...I've gone back into softball mode and am holding a bat with my elbow up!

"Well, don't."

Thanks, Taylor. Good advice.

Well, I did manage to stink up the place, but I had a wonderful time doing it. The best part was the reaction of the kids. Each time I'd miss (which was every time!), the kids would shout out "Ohhhhh!!!" And then they'd throw me the ball and say, "Try again!" And I did...over and over and over. And, for a few minutes, we just had fun. Me...my kids...and some hoops.

Great stuff!

I did have one shot - my last shot - that was heading right for the basket. I could almost hear the "Swish!" when another ball came flying in from the right and...WHAM! knocked my ball right out of the line to the basket! The same boy who'd hit me with the basketball had thrown another ball toward the same basket and prevented the most beautiful swish ever!

So I chased him off the court.

Laughter ensued. What a beautiful sound!

February 23rd: Goofballs, All Y'All!

Ah, seventh graders. So often they make me want to cry. Whether it's because they're so frustrating or because they're so endearing is a toss-up on any given day. Today it was definitely the latter. Well, for most of the day anyway.

How can you not feel good about yourself when you're being followed by three seventh grade girls who are arguing about which of them loves you the most!

"I love you, McTeachy!"

"No, I love you, McTeachy!"

"Well, I love you more than both of them!!"

This conversation lasted the entire walk over from the office to middle school; that's several minutes of my life being forced to listen to adolescents stating how much they love me! I'll take it!

Then there's the student who has been teaching herself sign language, and has learned it at a remarkable rate! Yesterday she informed me that she's figured out how to sign "McTeachy." Ok, actually, it's more along the lines of "McTeacher" but it's close enough. I'm not sure how I feel about her teaching ALL of her classmates the sign...I'll have to get back to you on that.

By the way, what do you do about a student who raises her hand in the middle of a discussion on African history and, when called on, says, "I love you."

Answer: "I love you, too. Now, can we get back to the Shona Empire?"

February 22nd: Kindnesses Abound!

I think I'm just going to have to accept the fact that I can't keep up with two blog posts per day. And I'm okay with that. Part of being a grown-up is knowing my limitations, right? Not wallowing in them and letting them get the best of me, but knowing how much I can handle and not pushing myself beyond it. This I can live with.

I do still try to focus on at least one positive thing per day; that was my goal when I began this project and that continues to be my goal each and every day. I'm just running out of time each day to get everything done AND get some sleep. [It's 11:15 p.m. as I'm writing this and the alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. I may not be a math teacher, but even I can figure out that those figures don't add up to enough sleep!]

I love writing, however, and I love being able to share parts of my day with those who happen to stop by here. So I will continue to write as much and as often as I can.

Let's start with today. Last week was Random Acts of Kindness week. To celebrate, I asked each of my seventh graders to make one card. Actually, they were more like large notes...one for each and every person who works on our campus. The notes were to be anonymous and had to contain some sort of positive message for all the people at our school who make a difference in the lives of our children. We would deliver them in secret, hopefully, leaving them someplace that their recipient would find them and, again...hopefully...enjoy a moment of appreciation.

Each of my students drew a name out of a hat. Well, not so much a "hat" as a small cardboard box that I just happened to have on my desk. I made note of which student had each member of the faculty and staff, and the students set about making their cards. While I was walking around the room, one of the girls asked me if my name was in the box. I told her I'd kept my name out as we had more grown-ups on campus than I had students.

Care to guess what that student did?

Wait...I'm getting ahead of myself. More on that later.

So today we delivered our notes. All over campus! It was quite amusing to watch these goofy seventh graders trying to tape large notes to classroom doors without being spotted! I even had to run interference for one pair who was trying to tape a note to the Health Room door with its recipient sitting about two feet from them! The two boys got the biggest kick out of that. You would have thought we were secret agents or something.

One of my favorite moments came when I was standing in the computer lab and watched as three of my students delivered their notes to the small office off of the library (we call it the Hot Dog Room for some reason). These students were practically giddy as they snuck into the small room. I had thought they were just going to tape their notes to the door, as we had discussed, but they decided to take advantage of the fact that no one was in that office at the time. They taped three notes to the door and then ventured inside to deliver two more notes.



We had our note adventures late in the day today, so we haven't yet heard any reaction from anyone on campus except for our school secretary. The student who drew Mrs. Wilson's name actually taped her note to the large window that Mrs. Wilson sits behind. Nothing secret agent-like about that one, I'm afraid.

Tomorrow I'm going to ask my students to write a reflection on this experience and then ask members of the faculty and staff to share their thoughts as well. You can count on hearing more about this...hopefully tomorrow!

Oh, I guess before I sign off I should share with you what was waiting for me on my door when we got back from computers:


McTeachy. [sigh]

February 10th: So, Where Was I?

I've gotten a bit off-track with this blog, and I have to let myself be okay with that. Life has been quite crazy lately, and I've not been able to fit everything in. Last week was Catholic Schools Week which is just craziness defined. Add preparing for a big presentation at the end of that week (totally unrelated to Catholic Schools Week, it was on Personal Learning Networks) and you can imagine how exhausted I was by Sunday morning.

So, this morning I have a two-for-one offer for you. Two positive thoughts for the cost of one blog post.

Monday

Monday morning I arrived at school, still exhausted, still wanting to be in bed with the warm, cozy blankets pulled over my head and the even warmer furball named George next to me (the closeness of which is determined by how hungry he is), and I discovered someone has decorated my classroom door. Two of my seventh grade girls had been at school on Saturday for some sports-related activity, and they came over to my classroom to see if I was there and to say "hello." I am quite often in my classroom on Saturdays, so they were sure that they would find me there. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), I was at East Bay CUE giving my PLN presentation, so I missed their visit. They decided to leave me a note or two. I don't know where they found the materials needed to do this (I don't know any seventh graders who carry around masking tape!), but it made my day, Monday!! Imagine starting not only your day, but your entire week seeing this:

...and this...


I don't know how "McTeach" became "McTeachy," but I'll take it! So my Monday began with a big smile which, I'm sure you'll agree, is a major accomplishment! Oh, and just so you know, I took a Sharpie to their sign. The pencil they'd used originally didn't photograph well.

Tuesday

Tuesday's positive moment was brief, but it made me smile, once again. I was walking back to my classroom as the lower grades were returning to their classrooms after lunch. As I started to walk past the first graders who were waiting in line for their teacher to come retrieve them, young Michael stopped me, saying, "Hi!!!" in that sing-song kind of voice that lasts for about five minutes. Michael comes into my classroom about once a week for Faith Families activities; he is just the cutest thing! The last day before Christmas break Michael showed up wearing nicely-pressed pants and shirt, and the cutest little Christmas tie!

But back to yesterday. After he stopped singing, "Hi!!!" I stopped and responded, "Hi, Michael! How are you?" And this was the best part...he answered me with, "I'm fine, thank you. How are you?"

Thank you.

How are you?

Isn't that just the cutest thing ever?! Such a polite young man...I hope I get to see that same polite young man when he arrives in my classroom in five or six years.