Blizzard Delivery

I wrote a grant because our habitat lab had no animals in it. I had arranged delivery to be midweek to allow time to get the animals settled in their new home before the weekend. It was a blustery winter day and the snow started accumulating. By the end of the day an announcement was made about school being called off for the next day. Dismissal was a disaster with students having a mega-snowball fight and cars getting stuck in the circle drive. By 4:00 PM most of the teachers had icicles dangling from their hair. I was called to the office to pick up my package. I was not in the mood to unpack my animals and didn't feel comfortable about leaving them in my outside portable building in my classroom with the arctic temperatures. I loaded the box into my car and headed home. At home I started unpacking my treasures to discover more animals than I had ordered. Instead of receiving 20 hermit crabs I received 30 of them. In addition, I had three leaking bags of fish, some aquarium frogs, tadpoles, mussels, and pond plants. At home I did not have an aquarium to put all of these things in so I loaded everything into my car and headed for the nearest pet store. I could barely see as I navigated the treacherous streets. Upon arrival I convinced the store manager to rescue my newly acquired pets. The next day I called the company to find out the mistake was all mine. Apparently an aquarium assortment does not mean the tank and equipment, but rather 30 assorted animals. We certainly have a plethora of animals for our habitat lab now. I simply cannot wait to see what actually arrives in our pending order for after Spring Break.

Uh Oh, Spaghetti-O's

It was PTA night which meant a very late night for the 6th grade teachers and no dinner. My stomach was growling, my feet were pounding, and I was irritated by having to stand in the hallway keeping 60 kids quiet. We had all the students gather in the classrooms and after a few last minute announcements about adjustments to the program, I cued up a science video. We had sent a trusty student to relay the message we needed only 5 minutes to get the students in line before our turn in the program. Almost immediately after the start of the video, word was sent for us to line up. We flew down the hall in two perfectly quiet and straight lines. All of a sudden we came to a stop as the music teacher greeted us and said, "Well, they aren't quite ready for us." We couldn't allow the students to talk because we were right outside the meeting. There was no air circulating in the hall and students were growing impatient by the minute. I was even getting a bad case of the grumps.

Finally, the line started moving and the students enthusiasm for performing spread like a contagion through the line. The students quickly found their places on the risers and I was blinded by the Paparazzi Parents, but somehow found my seat. The music began and the voices of children boomed. Tears filled my eyes at such a sight of sweet children singing their hearts out to their proud parents. They did such a fabulous job.

After the students finished performing, Family Math Night began. I sat on the back table sandwiched between two math teachers. We were handed a set of dominoes. None of us felt like playing, but I opened the package anyway and challenged the two of them to a game. We were making so much noise over our game, the assistant principal of the school came over and joined us. All of a sudden we heard a loud thud behind the assistant principal. She bent over and scooped up a crying toddler with a bloody nose. The mom came rushing over and we all headed to the school clinic. I grabbed some gloves and tissues and went to work. Fortunately, I had EMT training and bloody noses was my second nature. The assistant principal handed me an ice pack and the baby started to settle down in his mother's arms. The mother was so grateful for my help and I was thankful God put me in the right place at the right time.

When I returned to the cafeteria, there were only a few people cleaning up and I realized my purse was locked inside my portable building in the back of the school by a dark parking lot. I spotted a policeman still in the cafeteria and he agreed to escort me to my room. When I turned on the lights he said, "Wow! What do you teach?" He loved my tropical room and said, "I would love to be a kid in your room."

At the beginning of every school year I pray for God to use me to serve Him. My empty stomach and my pounding feet got in the way of remembering what a passion I have for teaching children. It took a little boy's, "Uh oh, spaghetti-o's" and a policeman on the night watch to remind me of that. Jesus was a teacher and so am I. I can't think of a greater profession in which to belong and serve Him.

Attitude...I am or Yes Ma'am

Nothing is more irrating to me than to hear a child tell me, "I am," after telling him to do some simple task. I am the adult and he is the child. There was one particular boy that had a terrible attitude in my class. He seemed to enjoy being the entertainer in class. If he would spend half his efforts on science class rather than pulling all his antics, he might have a chance at passing class.

I was circulating around the room looking over papers and answering questions. I rounded the corner to Dennis' desk when he looked up, "What?" I shook my head from side to side and put my finger to my lips, "Shhh!" I looked in his hand and saw one of my special pencils half broken in his hand and said, "Keep working." I turned my back to him to continue down the row and I heard something fly past me and sail into the bookshelf. I turned around and a little girl was picking up the broken pencil. "Dennis?" I said in a drawn out fashion. "What?" he said, "It wasn't me." Did he really think I wasn't going to notice the pencil he had had in his hand was clear across the room? "Well, Dennis, do you remember what kids who threw things in 4th grade would have to do when they threw things in my room?" He looked up with big eyes, "Uh no, I never threw anything back then." I positioned myself close to his chair and whispered in his ear, "They got the opportunity to clean everything off the ground in my classroom until I was no longer irritated by the situation. Guess what? I'm pretty irritated and I think I'm probably going to be irritated tomorrow. So, get up and take care of the floor." I walked off and started helping other students. I eventually glanced back and Dennis was still sitting in his desk. I said, "Dennis, you need to get started." He answered me, "I am!" I learned years ago not to get in a tug of war with students. However, I also learned that students that had no respect simply needed an attitude adjustment. I fell in love with a poem by Charles Swindoll about attitude. The poem ends with 'Life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.' My students also knew what assignment Dennis was about to be given and all eyes were focused on him anticipating the eruption. I said, "Uh oh! Wrong answer, Mister. The computer desk has paper, pencil, and the "Attitude" poem ready for you. When you finish copying it, you can reflect on it while you clean the floor." The class returned to quietly working.

I don't know what it is about kids, but they will always test your limits just to check. He knew what was expected of him and he knew he wouldn't get away with slinging a pencil across the room. After school Dennis made a point to come by where I was standing during after school dismissal to tell me goodbye and have a good day. I smiled and said, "I'll see you tomorrow and I'm becoming a little less irritated." He looked back and grinned from ear to ear as he ran to catch up with his friends.

I Told You So

Nothing is more enlightening to a teacher than Parent Conference Day. The common phrase I have heard throughout the years about kids and parents was, "That nut didn't fall far from the tree."

Jerry had already served 2 straight weeks of after school detentions and I was anxious to talk to his parents about his behavior. I had high hopes of sharing with them how each of Jerry's teachers had tried numerous strategies to get their child to turn the behavior around. Even still, despite our best efforst Jerry got in trouble just about everywhere he went. He had been in trouble on the school bus, art class, music class, P. E., the cafeteria and our 6th grade classrooms. The only place he didn't get in trouble was the boys' bathroom, but even that was becoming questionable after numerous urinals started overflowing after his visits.

After weeks and weeks of teachers communicating both the good and bad through the daily agenda MOOSE, I was especially anticipating with a hesitant eagerness to talk strategy with his parents. Mr. and Mrs. Cleaver walked in and looked like the typical all-American parents. I thought to myself, "This might really work out and starting tomorrow, we might just have a much better day after his parents hear what all he has been up to." All of those thoughts quickly vanished when Mr. Cleaver said, "Tell me why you have been keeping my child after school when he clearly hasn't done anything wrong. He tells me you can't prove anything he has done." I think my mouth dropped to the floor. Trying to recover I fumbled to speak, "What?" Seriously? The child had terrorized the art teacher and had gotten written up by a bus driver that normally didn't turn in names to the office. I calmly searched their faces thinking at any moment these parents would tell me, "April Fools" or something.

I tried to talk about the good characteristics their child displayed, although lately it was hard for me to find a positive to build on. With every agenda item I attempted to describe all the things we were trying to do to help their child, but instead I could hardly get a word in edge-wise on how I needed to try their strategies to get things under control. I finally shook my head and said, "No. Absolutely not. That is not how I operate my classroom and this is exactly what has been going on to help your child." As soon as I became forceful in the conversation, I was amazed at how the parents finally got quiet enough to hear what I was saying. I finally laid it out on the table outlining what we've tried, what hadn't worked, and where we were headed (to the office) if Jerry's behavior didn't improve. I think the Cleavers had been convinced by Jerry that no one at school liked him. As soon as the Cleavers learned that it wasn't a contest as to whether or not we liked him or not, they started listening. We all liked Jerry, but his behavior and choices he was making needed to change. By the end of the parent conference, I was being told how I was their child's favorite teacher.

Parents are really no different than mama bears. If they think they are cornered and their baby bear is threatened, they come out fighting. Parents just need to know that as a teacher, I care about their child just as much as they do. After they understand that, the rest of the conference is a piece of cake.

Rescue Ranger

After a six weeks of spending a great deal of time focusing on safety in the home and safety in the lab, I was excited to hear that something I taught actually sunk in to the brain. During the weekend some of my students were playing ball and it rolled into the street. Barney ran to go get the ball. Felix said, "He looked both ways before he crossed the street, but you know, there's no saying about 'look both ways on the way back across the street and that's what got him."

"Oh my goodness," I said, "what happened to Barney." Felix said, "He was fine on the way across the street, but he didn't look on the way back and a car hit him. I carried him to Frankie's house." Frankie interjected, "I thought they were playing, but that's when I saw his leg and said, 'whoa dude.' I asked, "What did you do?" Frankie and Felix started talking at the same time, but Frankie loudly said, "I knew to just pick up the phone and call 9-1-1." "Wait a minute," I said, "you dialed for help? What made you decide to do that?" Frankie said, "Because that's all I've heard you talk about since school started." I thought to myself, "Wow! He really was listening in between his weird remarks and sleeping in class." Most kids hear about calling 9-1-1, but many of them don't call for fear they shouldn't bother the emergency services. As an EMT, I've seen first hand where the call was delayed due to people being cautious about making the call. I have preached to my students, "give the guys something to do...they are bored and they just live for the sirens to go off." Of all the kids to call for help, I wouldn't have been betting on Frankie. "Did the accident happen right outside of your house," I asked. That was when Feliex couldn't hold it any longer, "No! I threw Barney over my shoulder and ran to Frankie's house." My mouth dropped open. "Why did you move him?" Felix said, "No one was around and the car had left, so I knew he needed help." He continued, "The cops came and so did the ambulance. The cops took me to go get Barney's parents and then the ambulance left for the hospital. He is messed up." I asked, "Is Barney okay?" Felix said, "Oh yes, but he's not coming to school for a couple of weeks because he's in a body cast. The cops kept saying I was a hero, but really I just did what he would do for me. The cops took me to my house and my mom thought I was in trouble, but then she was glad." I said, "I guess she was. You certainly did the right thing. You are a hero. You are both heroes for doing the right thing." I certainly am glad they were listening in science class to dial 9-1-1 and let the police or fire departments decide if it's serious or not.

I just love my "try-harders" class. They surprise me just about everyday!

Heads Down Thumbs Up

It was the perfect class with my "try-harders" class. They worked hard and we finished the review for the 6-weeks exam in record time. They even out-performed my Pre-Advanced Placement Science class. They were quietly focused on the task at hand. Even though I had created a Science Review in a computer game format of Jeopardy, the "try-harders" were totally engaged in the activity.

It was a Friday afternoon and I sensed that they were "done". They had given me all they could and had been as good as they could possibly be for as long as they could. I announced, "Heads down, thumbs up!" They complied quickly by hiding their eyes and putting up their thumbs. I scurried about and pushed down four thumbs. I said, "Heads up, stand up" which indicated to the chosen few to stand up and guess who selected them. I called on the first child and said, "Okay, who picked you?" She looked at me and then looked around the room so puzzled and shyly said, "You?" I said, "Correct!" I called on the second child and said, "Who picked you?" The child laughed and said, "Uh, You!" I laughed and said, "Correct." Then we played a few rounds of "Heads Down, Thumbs Up." When we were just about out of time at the end of the period, I ran around the room when all of the heads were down and selected everyone. No one figured out that there were too many people standing up for the game instead of the four kids who should have been selected. I chuckled and said, "Surprise, it's time to change classes!" Class had flown by and the students couldn't believe it was time to go.

I love being a teacher especially when I get to be a kid and play, too. I especially loved hearing, "I can't believe we have to leave Science class."

My Gummi Bear Needs CPR

During the gummi bear lab, students were to measure and weigh their bears. We were studying about density. I had put a gummi bear in a clear plastic cup and labelled it "control." Unfortunately, somebody ate the control bear. "Oh dear," I said, "we are never to eat anything in the science lab." All of the fingers pointed to Eddie who quickly objected, "It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" I put another gummi bear back in the cup for our control bear.

The day before students wrote down their calculations of their bears and then we put them in clear plastic cups containing water. The students hypothesized about what would happen to the bears. I was thinking students would write about the bears weighing more because they would absorb the water. Some students thought their bear would weigh less because it would dissolve. One group wrote, "We hypothesize that our gummi bear is going to drown." On day 2 they wrote, "We were right. Our bear drowned and now he is decomposing. He has lost his legs."

Another student, Howie, said, "This is so unfair." I went over to his table and he was picking out little pieces of his bear in the water. Some bears just dissolved faster than others. He said, "Man! This is just wrong. My bear is obliterated." I had to laugh.

"Boys and Girls, at first our gummi bears sunk to the bottom. The bears were very dense. On day 2 our bears floated and were buoyant. And our control bear..." I turned to show the cup and noticed the bear was gone again. I looked at Eddie and he raised both hands up, "It wasn't me." I looked over at another group of students that were busily working together. Then I overheard them trying to do fake CPR on their bear. I had to laugh. I had all of the students put their cups back on the shelf and then started again. I just love my 4th rotation of science students. They are so funny. They are a challenge to keep on task and stay focused on the learning objective. I think it's because they have been quiet and focused in all their other classes and when they finally hit science, their last core subject of the day, they just can't help themselves anymore.

It's Great to be the Queen of Science

I was on recess duty today and I asked Samantha, "Did you draw the reading teacher a picture and leave it on her door?" Samantha was a little girl I have watched grow up since she was in first grade at our school. She has captured the hearts of every teacher in our school. Samantha has struggled to learn her letters, numbers, or how to read. Despite our best efforts we are puzzled why Samantha has had such a hard time learning. Even still, she perseveres and tries hard every day. I will be in the middle of teaching and Samantha will get up out of her chair for no apparent reason and give me a hug. When she was in first grade she looked up at her teacher and said, "You're the queen. I'm the princess. Princess Samantha," she would say. The reading teacher had come up to me earlier in the day and showed me a crayon-colored picture that was shoved in the cracks in her door. It was a picture of the teacher holding the hands of a student. Both of the figures had crowns on their heads. I said, "Aren't you Samantha's reading teacher?" She shook her head and I knew she had been deemed Queen for the Day.

"Samantha," I said, "was that a picture of the reading teacher being queen?" Samantha smiled and said, "Yes, she's the queen and I'm the princess." I said, "I thought I was the queen. I'm even wearing a shirt that says 'Her Highness' on it." Samantha's little mind started scrambling for what to do, because she didn't want to hurt my feelings. I let her off the hook quickly, "Am I the Queen of Science?" A huge smile spread across her face, "That's right! You're the Queen of Science and she's the Queen of Reading." I said, "And you ARE the princess!"

The Pebble and the Boulder Day 2

The out of control freight train I had in my class from the previous day yielded a student in the office for the day. I really felt sorry for Eddie, but his behavior from the previous day earned him a serious consequence. However, if we didn't offer a serious intervention for this child, the boulder was certain to drop again. The sixth grade team of teachers consulted the administration on what to do and together we started chipping away at Eddie's boulder. We had the school counselor talk with him to get whatever "it" was off his chest. We got Eddie a mentor he could check in with each day, but most importantly we got him away from the boulder throwers. In offering him a move from his current homeroom to my homeroom, he was given a contract for him to uphold his end of the bargain. We needed him to work as hard as we were working for him.

Every child counts and every child is important. It's not about running away from problems as much as it is running toward a solution. I talked to my homeroom about welcoming our new student in our classroom and how everyone needs a fresh start. I had volunteers of students wanting to sit by him to help him get settled in. I had certain students assigned to be recess buddies and others assigned to be lunch buddies. I knew Eddie was emotionally fatigued from being bruised by the boulder throwers, so I had his buddies guard the situation. I said, "Take a break today and let your buddies take care of anything negative said to you. They are going to take care of you for awhile." Eddie said, "I can handle it." I said, "Oh! I know you can, but today your circle of friends have got it covered. You just need to relax and focus on school. Take a break from all that other stuff."

Eddie was given a class job. All of my students have jobs to teach them responsibility. Eddie was in charge of the morning lunch count and getting each student to sign it. Actually, it's a big task because I check and verify the attendance and get absentee make-up work together for missing kids.

Eddie's first day in class went great. He was perfectly behaved and looked as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. At the end of the day I was able to stamp his MOOSE with "Great Job" because he had followed all the expectations.

Eddie had a new circle of friends taking care of him. By the team of educators sending Eddie the message of "not being successful is simply not an option" and by removing his barriers, he was a totally different child. Sometimes we just need a "do over" in life.

Note: The homeroom teacher he had previously is very compassionate and tried everything she could to overcome the adverse conversations of a couple of students. It was like watching two beta fish in the same tank. They are both beautiful fish, but they shouldn't be in the same environment with each other.

Disclaimer: The names of all my blogs have been changed to protect the innocent children. The names used are my favorite TV characters of my youth.

The Pebble and the Boulder Day 1

(Disclaimer: The names of all children in all of my blogs have been changed to protect the innocent (or guilty) children. I have used the TV characters from shows of my youth.)

Eddie showed up on the second day of school without an adult to enroll him. He simply showed up. On his first day in sixth grade it was obvious we had a little boy crying out for help. He got in trouble everywhere he went. During the first week of school we focus on the positives of each child and complimenting students doing the right thing, but Eddie had me baffled. I had to go straight to, "This is not going to fly, mister!" I explained to him about our after school intervention we had available for anyone having five infractions in a week. It was as if he was shooting up flares saying, "sign me up, because I want to stay." He didn't have any school supplies, so we quickly gave him the supplies he needed. On his next day at school I noticed he was wearing the same clothes from the day before. Most kids come to school during the first week wearing a brand new outfit and sporting a new hairdo. Eddie came to school looking like his hair hadn't been cut all summer and wearing clothes that looked like he had slept in them.

By the third week of school Eddie had escalated his efforts to stay in trouble. I noticed him trying to be "bad to the bone", but he really had a good heart. So what exactly was his story? I I started noticing his short fuse with two specific boys in his class. I pulled Eddie aside and told him the story of the "Pebble and the Boulder".

"Eddie, you seem like a pretty tough boy. If Richie threw a pebble at you, would you be hurt?" I asked. Eddie replied with a strong no. "If Richie and his friend threw a pebble at you for an entire week, would you be hurt?" He replied, "Well, not really." I said, "Well, you might have a bruise, but you're a tough kid, so of course you wouldn't be hurt. So, what if the entire 6th grade threw a pebble at you? Would that hurt?" He thought for moment and I knew he was wanting to be tough and tell me how much he couldn't be hurt, but he replied, "Yeah, that would probably hurt." I said, "It would probably do more to hurt your heart than anything else, but what if Richie threw a boulder at you....would that hurt? Of course it would. You know, Eddie, you are probably one of the toughest kids in sixth grade. Why are you letting Richie throw boulders at you and have power over you? You have the power to say, "whatever dude" and walk away. Everytime you try to have a "comeback" Richie scores a point and the boulder scores a direct hit on you. I can see you can't take it anymore, so what are we going to do about it? I can't move you any further away from him in my room. I need you to do your very best to ignore him. Dude, just press the mute button on your remote control and don't listen to what he's selling. You have the power to turn him off. And Eddie, I know you have gotten to "After School Intervention" as fast as you possibly could, so be ready to have a serious plan for change. Be thinking about it because you are not leaving my room without a better plan for success."

About that time the whistle blew signaling the end of recess and Eddie was headed to lunch. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. I knew he was on a short fuse with Richie.

Later in the afternoon it was time for my last rotation of science for the day. Eddie stormed through my room like a runaway freight train. He started screaming, "Richie called me gay." I pulled Eddie aside and said, "That was so mean of him to say that." I shook my head from side to side and said, "That is a big problem and I'm going to do something about it. Right now I have a full lesson planned for class, so you try not to worry about it. We will get to the bottom of this soon."

I started teaching the demonstration lab. I had plans of plotting on a line graph different chemical changes. Each reaction had different timing with the last demonstration being an eruption of green slime. I was just beginning the first eruption when Eddie exploded instead. Evidently Richie was mouthing mean things to Eddie and he was ready to fight. I tried to calm him down but he continued to yell. Despite my best efforts, Eddie had to go to the office. Eddie got crushed by the boulder. It didn't hurt him physically, but his heart took a blow he could no longer handle.

I went home mentally and physically exhausted. I felt like the situation was a tremendous boulder on me. It was really hard for me to leave my emotions at school. I went to bed early thinking about what could be done to help Eddie.