The Adventures of Mr. Mirsky

Alright.

This week has already started off awfully. I was working in the library yesterday morning when I found out a close family friend had passed away and the funeral would be on Monday. I would really like to go to the funeral, but I told my parents I couldn’t because of solo week…… I was really tempted to ask you if I could move my solo week back one day and continue it on Monday, but I realized i have so much of the classes work and papers and everything with me right now, so I would be screwing everything up for them on monday. I just really hate the way everything happens all the same time.

Thursday and Friday in the classroom were fine, if not a bit stressful. I could really use one of those magic metal rods. I’m going to see if I can buy one at walmart, or perhaps just a loud bell. I might need one this week.

Kim asked me to type up all of my remade lesson plans for the Unit plan for her. That’s fine. No problem. I was going to do it anyway. She also asked me Thursday afternoon if I could give her all of my solo week plans ON FRIDAY. I told her I would do my best, but I hadn’t started writing my plans out yet…. how ridiculous that she ask me for all that with less than a days notice. Technically, I don’t think I even have to write anything up for her to see. I mean yes, I obviously should, but I was going to do it over the weekend. My last placement the teacher pretty much let me be for solo week and when I had problems I would go to her with them and she was very helpful…. I don’t think it’s going to be like that this placement.

I couldn’t give her all my plans on Friday, because it would have just been too much… Instead I typed up a basic outline of what I planned to be doing at all times. She didn’t seem to happy with it, but at this point I don’t care.

She also observed me on Friday, and the lesson didn’t go nearly as well as I had planned. I had to split it up over 2 half hour blocks 2 hours apart from one another, and it really didn’t work very well. The kids retention wasn’t up, they weren’t paying as much attention as they usually would (maybe because it was a Friday afternoon) and I was just very flustered with Kim and the activity. On top of all that – the lesson was reading Tomie DePaolas “The Legend of the Poinsettia” and then making our own using paint, and I had brought in a real one for the class to see, only it froze to death the night before on my window sil. Retrospectively, I think I’ve had a pretty awful last few days.

When Kim didnt like the schedule I gave her on Friday she told me she wanted a more detailed one, which I would have given her had she given me the weekend to work on it…. only she asked that I include on it standards for EVERY SINGLE THING I WOULD BE DOING – even the things that I’ve been doing for the past few weeks, without providing any standards. She told me by writing out all the standards it would help me to meet my objectives better. That’s fine – but she must know, as a former student herself, that no one actually writes down all the standards…. you find it on the pdf file… copy, and paste. And that’s exactly what I’ve done. As of right now I’ve written up an intricate outline of solo week through Wednesday with standards for every single thing I will be doing.

Does that sound ridiculous to you? It kind of does to me, but maybe I’m looking at this all wrong.

Thursday at 10:15 will be a great time to observe me. I’m going to be prepping the kids on Wednesday for the project, and we’re all going to be making murals for the principles of Kwanzaa. They can include coloring, cut outs from magazines, and more. It will make more sense to you when you get the lesson plan, though.

Also – I know you want to see our completed portfolios on Thursday, but hte BIPs arent’d due until Friday. Is it okay if the BIP is not yet in the portfolio on the 11th? I will still have it to you by that Friday, though. Just a quick preview – It hasn’t been working… I don’t know how to get Siavaija to do her homework.

I suppose that’s all I have to say right now. I have a very busy week coming up and I’m not looking forward to it. I was scared before my last solo week. Now I’m just frustrated. Amazing how things can change in under 2 months. I’m just sooo done with 42. The sooner the better. I always knew I didn’t want to teach in Rochester (mainly because I’m not from here,) but now I feel like I’ve just been scared away even further from the prospect. Out of state it is!

Justin

A few quick notes, then it’s off to do work.

1) My favorite flavor is probably traditional Vanilla, although these past few nights I’ve been enjoying Birthday Cake flavor, which sounds kind of disgusting, but isn’t bad.

2) I will make note to retype my lesson plans for the portfolio. That gives me some more breathing room.

3) The time slot I mentioned yesterday will not work. Do you have anything Thursday? It will be much easier for me to schedule as of this Sunday, when I’ve planned out my entire solo-week. I don’t mind waiting til the last minute to schedule, even if it means I have fewer open slots.

4) I took a half-day off today. I got to school and was feeling sick, with a definite cold coming on, and decided that it would be in my best interest to go home, make some tea and rest. Normally I’d just get over it, but I didn’t want to take any chances with solo-week coming up. I was sick my last solo week and it wasn’t very fun. I didn’t call the School of Ed, because I didn’t think it mattered as long as I was there half the day. Kim, as well as the rest of the teachers, all understood and there were no problems. It was also an early dismissal day, so I didn’t feel I would be missing as much.

5) I was sharpening a pencil this morning when Sudan started to make the most obnoxious noise imaginable. I stopped sharpening, to ask him to stop, but he did without me asking. It was then I realized he was imitating the pencil sharpener. Probably the funniest thing ever.

That’s all. I’m off to write lessons.

Kim was out today until 1:30, so it really is like i’m getting great practice for solo-week this week.

I’m not going to update about easy Tuesdays are again, I’ll just say I’ve got them down to an art form.

I’ve gotten into the horrible habit of napping when I get home, which makes me stay up late, and feel like crap in the morning. It’s a terrible habit that I may need some caffine to break.

On the subject of my Unit plan. I’ve finished teaching in school my re-done lessons on Diwali, and it’s nothing like the first one I’ve typed up. Do you want me to type up what I REALLY did in the proper format? I probably will eventually for my portfolio, cause I like the way the classroom is decorated and it will make for good pictures. That reminds me, I need to bring my camera in.

I’m also going to redo completely the Posadas and Kwanzaaa lesson plan. Hanukkah will get some tweaking too. Speaking of Hanukkah, which lesson did you want to observe? The one where I read them the story and teach a little bit about israel? That’s the one I’m going to tweak a little. I’d love to have it observed, but I need to figure out exactly when I’m going to be able to teach it, plus I need to figure out how I’m tweaking it. Regardless, the only time that really fits my schedule that you mentioned is 12/10, 10:40 – 11:50, and I’ll even have to double check on that tomorrow. The tuesday times don’t work beause of the messed up scheduling with computers and extra music. I can be flexible if I need to in the end, though.

Alright… Like yesterday, I’m off to get some ice cream. It’s going to be that kind of week.

Justin

I meant to update over break once, but I was annoyed because Kim asked me to redo 4 of my lessons in my unit plan. I understand why, though, as they were too lecturey, and not enough hands on activites.

I’ve already remedied the Diwali lesson, teaching the kids using the orignal lesson plan, but integrating in decorating the classroom with door decorations, taping flowers all over the room, cleaning the classroom, and exchanging candy wrapped in silver paper (tin foil.) It gave the kids something to hold on to, and link to Diwali, that way they remember it. It went really well, and I’m going to redo the Las Posadas lesson plan for Friday, while Kim observes me.

I’m going to try to figure out when I’m teaching my Hannukah lesson plans during my solo week, so you can come in and observe. I’ll let you know when things are figured out.

My break went well, aside from the 10.5 hour drive up…. should have been 6 hours… ridiculous. I’m glad to be back at Geneseo, only because it means im so close to winter break. Is it bad that I’m looking forward to having a break from student teaching? I don’t hate teaching, that’s not the case at all, in fact I love it… but I’m really looking forward to not having to do it for a few more months.

I also started to look into the future over the break… I think I’m going to apply for Grad school in Queens and go for Library Information Science, Media Specialist. I’d go full time and try to get it done as quickly as possible. If I have to strech it into 3 semesters, I can do 2 full semesters, a summer session and a third part time semester, as I start to teach full time in Fall of 2010. That doesn’t seem bad at all. We’ll see how things go.

Today went great, though. The kids really enjoyed learning about India and Diwali. I was in charge of the class the entire day for the most part, so it realy felt like a solo week. I’m not nervous about solo week at all at the moment. That will change though.

I also began my BIP intervention with Siavaija, explaining to her the reward system for doing her homework on time and how she needs to get an adult to sign when she does her homework. She was very enthusiastic about it.

That’s all for now, I think. I’m going to get some ice cream.

Justin

Corinna is moving to Tenesee. Seriously. And when I mean moving, I don’t mean at the end of the school year – I mean on December 5th. Woah.

I actually got news of this last Friday, but it was still a little bit unclear and fuzzy, but her parents came in for a conference this morning and we got the full scoop. Her father’s parents are sick in TN, so they’re going to move there temporarily. If they like it, they will stay – but they haven’t sold their house in Rochester yet, so if they don’t like it they can still move back.

It’s crazy that they sprung it on everyone so quickly. Corinna has been with Kim for 5 years now, and to pull her away with little notice like that is terrible. The schools in Tenesee are going to have a handful of work to do. I hope they don’t immediately place her in gen ed, to see how she does. She needs the 12:1:1 environment. It will be very upsetting to see her go.

I finished my Unit Plan this weekend and I will hand it in to you tomorrow at our meeting. I figured it’s easier to read when it’s printed out, and make notes on as well.

Today was one of those days where you’re just kinda trudging along. Reading groups went well. I’m still having some trouble with George and Kajanee. They can both read at the same level, but at totally different paces, so it’s sometimes dificult to juggle them, especially when George is being George. I’m getting better at pointing out what strategies they’re using and what strategies they need to use, though.

We also made applesauce today, for our Thanksgiving feast tomorrow. I hate apples. Now I hate them even more.

Tomorrow is Tuesday. Hooray!

Justin

So I just got home a few minutes ago and picked up the mail. My housemate that isn’t Trevor had a letter from his mom, an elementary school teacher in Syracuse. He opened up the letter and said it was for myself and Trevor. His mom had sent him an article from a paper she gets – the same article you showed us yesterday, and contributed to. I thought you would enjoy that anecdote.

Today was sooo much better than the rest of the week has been. Kim and I didn’t talk most of the day. I explained to her about the DPR in the morning, so that seems to be under control now. In the afternoon, though, when the kids were at chorus, we talked about my Unit more, and that went pretty well. I think I’ve got everything understood and under control – finally.

I also had a meeting with the speech push in teacher, and I sorted things out for when she pushes in on the 8th, 9th and 11th during my solo week. I’ve got some fun activities planned, including teaching the kids to play dreidel, and making menorahs and kinaras out of wood blocks, glue and nuts (the metal type, not from trees.) I have to make one over thanksgiving, though, because no one could visualized what I was thinking of, but I understood it perfectly. They’ll like it when they see it.

I don’t know if you noticed or not, but we have a bathroom in our class, and sometimes kids from other classes nearby will come by to use it if the other bathroom in the hall is in use. Today during special a little girl came to use the bathroom. About 15 minutes later Mrs. B comes into the room with Sudan, and he has to use the bathroom. We let him in, both Kim and I thinking that the girl had left. 10 minutes letter Sudan peaks his head out and asks for Mrs. B….. then the little girl comes out. Neither of them had said anything about the other being in there. We asked her what she was doing and why she took so long, and she said she had been washing her hands. She was in Kindergarten and didn’t see a problem with Sudan walking in. Sudan, being himself, didn’t see a problem with anything either. He had waited in the bathroom for the girl to finish, but couldn’t hold it in and had an accident. It’s crazy the things that happen in the class.

After school I stopped up in Mr. Daniels/Mrs. Massa’s room, because Nicole was visiting. I spent only 10 minutes there, but immediately felt more welcome and comfortable there than I have all placement. It’s comforting to know that there are still some teachers in the school that get along well.

I’m off. Busy weekend of school-related things.

Justin

I wasn’t going to update today, because I got home from the seminar and was just too tired… but I just read your comments on my last update and wanted to respond, briefly.

On the subject of giving Kim my plans in advance: I’ve been e-mailing her my reading group plans for the week every Sunday, and she’s never had anything negative to say about them.

On the subject of discussing planning during my solo week: I’d be up for that, but I don’t want to seem confrontational, nor do I want to risk losing any of the peace in the classroom, in the sense that although there’s some frustration, everything is getting done (and well in my opinion…)

On the subject of the DPR and IEP: Yes, I’m much more comfortable right now than I was just a few hours ago before our conversation. I’m still a little bit confused about the IEP. I spoke to Nicole F from the last school 42 placement and she mentioned to me that she did have to write an IEP, but then you said we didn’t and we really only have to include objectives/goals in the DPR. We can discuss this more on Tuesday, though, because it’s a lot easier discuss in person.

Thank you for being so helpful and responsive. I’m off to type up the tech-report from last Tuesday’s observation, and take some quick notes and brainstorm ideas for my speech push-in plan time tomorrow.

Justin

To quote Tom Petty, “the waiting is the hardest part.”

I could really use Thanksgiving right now. I feel like I’m going to crash.

I’m really glad my observation went well this morning. I guess you mentioned it to Mrs. Uter, because she came over to me and congratulated me, which was really sweet of her. I like her a lot, although the other day she confused me for a parent in the school looking for a child… but I’m sure it was as an accident, because she’s recognized me every other time I’ve seen her around.

Today went pretty well… or so I thought. Let me start from the beginning, because I have another rant and I’m cranky again.

I’ve been doing the reading groups every day since the second week, which you know already, because I’ve mentioned it here a number of times. Each week I’ve added another reading group to what I’m in control of. I started out with just the Level E readers, then I added Level D, and finally this week I added Levels H and K, which are combined, because there’s just three of them total (two Hs and one K.)

Kim wasn’t in the room today when we started reading groups, so I set up the four stations and I had group HK start with me, then Group E, then group D, and then Group Pre-A.

Like I said, Kim wasn’t in the room when we started. I don’t know where she was. The HK group is interesting, because even though the levels are different, the groups have the same story, just with different text. Previously, when I was not in control of the group, I would watch when Kim worked with them, and she would let me take Eric (the K reader) and work one on one with him. It worked well, because the text of the stories were different.

She wasn’t there, though, and I expected her to be, which was kind of frustrating. I did the best I could with the combined group and the kids seemed fine. We did a picture walk today, because the books had the same pictures in them (although they were in a different order… the book was about jobs you can have when you grow up and for some reason the pictures were the same but in a different order. I don’t know why.)

I then did group E, and that went just fine. We took a break for lunch and special. When we got back, we continued reading groups and I worked with group D. Kim was here this time, on the computer, kinda checking on things over her shoulder as I was teaching. Half way through the lesson, one of the two kids in the group was pulled for speech and I was left alone with one boy. I had a reading a-z hand out planned to use with the group, but I didn’t want to start it and leave the girl who was pulled in the dust, so I took another reading a-z hand out that had less academic importance, and more “draw a picture of what you read” importance, so that no one would fall far behind for tomorrow’s lesson.

I thought everything was fine.

At the end of the day Kim asked me to make sure I plan more carefully when I’m doing reading groups. I really don’t mind criticism, but I don’t think this was justified, because she wasn’t there for 2/3rds of my lesson. I had mentioned to her that the HK group went by roughly because I was expecting her to be there to help me with the split group, like I helped her, but she told me that she’s going to treat me as if it is solo-week because it’s my second placement and she shouldn’t have to be on top of everything.

I understand where she’s coming from – sort of. It is my second placement, but granted, School 42 is FAR different than Pavilion – especially going from a 5th grade no inclusion class to a 12:1:1. It’s also not my solo-week yet. It’s my first week with HK. I helped her with the split group, so I was kind of hoping/expecting her to be there to help me with them.

She brought up the fact that we had discussed possibly creating 5 groups when I’m doing reading groups solo. There was no set plan in place, though, and as far as I know there was no precedent for anything like that. All the reading groups are led by either a 1 on 1, or Mrs. I, the para in the classroom. So I guess the 5th reading group would be an individual reading group. That’s fine.

Then I brought up the fact that there would be big implications for the scheduling and time structure of groups. Right now the groups are 15 minutes each, and I asked if I should shorten the groups to maybe 12 minutes, which would keep the minute total at 60… which to me makes a lot of sense.

She pointed out, though, that we do have a lot of extra time and we could still do 15 minute groups. That’s fine. I just need her to help me a little bit. Tell me what she would do. Guide me a little bit. It’s still her classroom, and it’s not yet my solo-week.

I also felt that she implied that I didn’t do any prep work the night before. Well – she’s kind of right. It wasn’t the night before. I planned everything for the week this Sunday in the library. I took all of the reading folders home, though, to at least create the illusion of night-before prepping, but I already know what I have to do.

While I’m on my bitter tirade, I want to get a few more things off my chest.

I keep asking her for help/ideas for the DPR. I understand it is my project, but I would still like some guidance. She has mentioned on a number of occaisions that she will show me some of her past student teachers DPRs that she saved… but when I asked her about it today she told me that she wasn’t sure what Geneseo expected me to do, so I had to figure things out myself. She suggested that I do a running reading record (love the alliteration) with one of the students.

I wasn’t sure what the RRR was, though, and asked her to explain it… except she wasn’t very clear. She told me that she would just periodically check the reading of the students, when they read alone, and mark down any errors they make. Sounds to me like miscue analysis. She also said you keep track of the strategies they use and the strategies they SHOULD be using. Alright I can do that. But what exactly is periodically? That’s kind of a vague term and I’m pressed for time slightly, due to the fact that the placement is already more than half way over.

I asked if that meant once a week, but she said that would be too often. I’m going to do it once a week, though, because I can’t honestly see how to get enough data if I only do it once every other week, considering there are only about 2 and a half weeks left.

….. and I’m not done ranting. I’m sorry…I feel bad making you read anything I type when I’m angry and haven’t cooled off yet.

We only teach math about once a week. At most. I’m not even kidding. I don’t know if you realized it, but very often do the words “math” or “numbers” come up. The kids in the class LOVE math though. Any time we do it, the kids are so excited and into it. They’re always asking me to give them number problems to solve. When we did do math on Monday, Kim, kind of joking said… “wow, they do like math… I’m an awful teacher for never teaching it.”

Well… yes, the comment was sarcastic… but you should be teaching it more. I look at the schedule and see math there quite often, far less frequently than we actually do math. Whenever it says math, we usually just read to the kids. I love reading to the kids, don’t get me wrong… but there is a severe lack of math taught in the classroom and it’s unsettling. When I do my solo week I’m going to make sure I plan some math activities for it.

Okay. Deep breath. I’m done ranting. Really sorr you had to read that. I wish I could say I’m happy with everything right now… and I should be. I love my class, I really enjoy working with Mrs. I, Mrs. B, and even Mr. T when he’s in the classroom…. but I’m just not clicking on any level with Kim. I’ll keep trying, though.

I’m going to talk to her at the end of the week. It’s not that we have extremely far a part teaching philosophies, it’s that we have different student teaching philosophies. I would prefer her to give me a little bit more guidance and advice, and even some justified (in my opinion) criticism.

I don’t think she would call me a bad teacher, because she’s told me that I work really well with the kids. Maybe a bad student teacher, though. Our ideas of expected understanding and direction are just on totally different pages.

Justin

My computer almost exploded late last night, which makes me really worried that it will try to explode again right before the observation tomorrow. I have faith, though – and en extension cord in case I need to hook up the LCD projector to another computer.

I tested everything out today and it all works. I just hope the kids are working too. It’s early in the day, but I think they’ll be pretty awake, and I tried testing their competitiveness today with some hang man, which is my favorite game to kill time with.

I’m going to be reading Caps for Sale to the kids, one of my favorite childhood books. I wasn’t happy with any of my books, so Macy let me borrow a few of hers and as soon as I saw it a rush of childhood memories swarmed me and I knew I had to use the book.

Today was an easy school day though. Lexia computers, extra-music, gym. And between the election in class still going on, and some of the ridiculous things the kids say I had quite a number of good laughs. One of the girls slogans for vice president is “ready to take over” but her supporter accidentally read it as “ready to take over the world” and then proceedd to chant it… It was quite entertaining.

We asked the kids to bring in a few cheap food items, like a box of stuffing, can of corn, bottle of juice or instant mashed potatos for our thanskgiving feast next Tuesday, but a lot of the kids came in saying theyre parents weren’t sure if they could get the things in time….. I don’t know how I feel about that. Kim spends so much time with the kids, bakes them goodies and brings them treats all the time, and even pays for some of their field trips when they can’t afford it… but when she asks for something that costs no more than $2 (we checked, everything is under that) and they say they can’t do it, it’s really frustrating. I understand a lot of the families aren’t in the best situation economically, but when your student’s teacher does so much for your kids and asks for very little in return, it’d be nice to at least get that very little.

Alright – that was my mini-rant. I’m off to the land of making hand outs.

Justin