TCAP recap. heh. Standing, walking, looking over shoulders, shuttling tissues, picking up dropped papers and pencils. It takes a lot out of you. And the afternoons where the kids don't feel they need to learn or behave. And Friday, the worst, since the kids EXPECTED a party (even though the administration discouraged it, and like a little sheep I went along) but couldn't actually connect the concept to that of behavior. I was ready, though, to call my wife and have her swing by the Kroger and get $20 of drinks, chips, candy, etc. and bring them in before 2pm. But the kids were abominable. To the point where I have called several parents this weekend to ask their help in controlling their kids when they are in my class/homeroom. Yep, it is mainly my homeroom kids, acting out, talking constantly, talking back, then complaining because they "never get to do anything fun." Completely ignoring the fact that I have been urging them to create a coat-of-arms to qualify for a day out of school to attend a Memphis in May event. 100 kids will go from grades 6-8. I spelled out the rules, gave them the rubric so they could see how it would be scored and asked them to create a rough draft before I gave them the actual sheet to fill in. Half the kids lost the rubric/rules the first day. On Thursday when I finally gave them the crest, with smartboard outline so they could see what went where (because they didn't read the instructions), so many complained that they only had a day to do it....*ARGH* And then I think I got 4 or 5 out of a class of 25, few of which were what I would classify as "quality work." But they will go by default.
Decompressing over the weekend. Younger had Solo and Ensemble on Saturday morning, then we went to the Nature Center's annual plant sale (twice, as prices go to half after 2pm) and got an agave (yay tequila), two beautyberry trees, a Mexican sage, a black raspberry and a tomato plant (a weird dark red/black heirloom...fun stuff). Today was lazy day, with the usual chores, and prepping for the short week (Good Friday by default - at least I don't have to burn a personal day). Trying not to think ahead more than a day or so - eyes on the clock to quitting time - not thinking about the final observation/review/evaluation that probably won't happen for a while if at all (well, it HAS to happen, but I have low expectations). This week = short week. Next week is a "normal" week. The first week of May there are a couple of days where kids will be doing other things, such as a fund-raising carnival (think chaos) and the aforementioned trip to Memphis in May (which I would liked to have had more than half of my class attend, but alas, they do not cooperate). The week after that is my Jury Duty week (hopefully more than a day or two), then we are in the two-week cooldown to the end of it all. When I spell it out like this it doesn't sound half bad.
Deep breaths. Summer soon. Job hunt? Re-prepare for next year with lots more confidence and an actual plan? Time will tell.
No comments:
Post a Comment