A Glimpse...

...into my first full week at the start of my 29th year...

• A girl in the hallway helped another student in the hallway get to her class.
• A new student said "gracias" to me when I was able to use some Spanish to help her with her locker combination. (We've since talked a teeny bit more - C'mon, Duolingo - get me to conversational level!) She did chuckle when I muttered, "Algun dia..."
• Student to another student: "There's no proof that anyone walked on the moon." My thoughts: Oh no. Not again.
• One student walked across the room. Another took her Hokki stool. She complained. I said it was hers - she was sitting on it a minute ago. She said to the student who took it, "What am I supposed to do, glue it to my butt?" 
• When I called on one student, he replied, "Arf." This happened three times in one class. It hasn't happened again after that (yet).
• We have very few Black students. One of mine was sharing favorite breakfast foods, and then added, "...and of course, watermelon." As the other students said, "That's a stereotype," I took a deep breath. Then they all looked to see how I'd respond. I said, "I have to stop class right here. I do not think ___ meant any harm towards anyone here, but that type of stereotyping is not allowed in this class. I don't want anyone to say anything that could make another student feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way." He quickly apologized, and we moved on.
• This same student needed a book because they forgot theirs at home. They went to my nonfiction books and found Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's autobiography. They asked me who the author was. I said, "Kareem Abdul-Jabbar." I loved the look of surprise - and pride - on their face.
• I stand by my door during passing periods. A student who (I'll just say it) hated me last year walked past me in the hallway, shouting, "ELA is the worst class ever!" I had been smiling at the time, so I forced myself to laugh (trying to put it off as if I hadn't heard him and was laughing at something someone else in the hallway said). As I was forcing a laugh, a real laugh came, because the first one was contagious and I just thought it was a crazy situation that I was pretending to laugh - all around, middle school is a crazy situation anyway.
• One teacher put cold Diet Cokes on other teachers' desks in the morning with a note about having a "good day."
• On "Book-Trailer Tuesday," I heard from one student, "Wait... books have trailers?" In another class, a different student said, "We've had book trailers since second grade."
• One student was choosing which notebook to keep out for this quarter. He quietly used the "Eeenie meenie miney moe" rhyme. I encouraged him to find a new way to choose next time, as that rhyme has racist origins.
• Two students (with lots of energy) channeled their energy into sharing their silly and creative quick writes (choice writing in 5 min) with the class.
• We started talking about the behavior system for the school year, and as students started asking questions (EX: What if someone ...), I let them know I don't play the "What If" game.
• I'm still giving out a balloon for birthdays. The birthday girl blew hers up while I was reading two chapters from Ghost Boys for our First-Chapter Friday, and as she was very quietly and appropriately playing with it, it popped. After the shock, students looked to me. "Balloons pop sometimes," is all I said, and I kept reading (and they let me).
• A quiet student shared with me, "I liked that first chapter."
• A student is reading aloud one of our writing prompts: "You have just finished your first full week of 7th grade..." The rest of the class claps!
• During plan time, my co-planner friend was adding speech bubbles to photos of kids reading that she's putting into our slideshow for the next day... she's got this wicked laugh because she knows the students will laugh and will like seeing them.
• EIGHT students shared their writing today in front of the entire class.
• One student took out headphones and said, "I still have them from last year." I replied, "That's great you took care of them." A (normally) quiet student added, "Until they break, they're still useful."
• Student: "My brother says you're really nice."  Me: "How would he know? I never had him as a student." Student: "Well he's not wrong." 

Lots of "wins."

Lots of laughter.

Lots of stories.

I love the little snippets in my day. This is my way of saving them.

And... this pretty thing was on our butterfly bush a few times this week:

His words...

We were hesitating over taking the niece and nephew to camp - in our own trailer - in Holland, Michigan this summer. We'd had reservations since January (they're tough to get!), and the campground was open once again. It's something we'd done for many years in a row. We would bring our own food, have our own shower and toilet, and only swim in the waves. We'd be away from people. 

What did it matter? Why was the decision so huge? Because it was the summer of 2020.

I wanted to go so bad. We hadn't been anywhere all summer! I was so tired of this whole quarantine thing! Our niece and nephew wanted to go even more. I cried over what to do. They may have cried not knowing if we were even going. This year has brought "too many" cancellations and oh-so-many tears. Who has it not affected?

What helped me figure out what the right thing to do was my husband's words. We were sitting in the truck after visiting my parents in their backyard, exhausted from going back and forth on this decision. Finally, these words of his sunk in.

"If I'm wrong, we are all safe. If you're wrong..." 

We didn't know what would happen if I was wrong. It could affect us, my sister's family, my parents...

His words have helped steer my own decisions since that day. 

I truly hope that our school board made the correct decision in not having an adaptive pause for the last two weeks before winter break until the two weeks after winter break. (More numbers: Most students would only miss EIGHT days in the school building).

I truly hope more parents who travel will keep their children out of the schools for two weeks afterwards (even though this was not always the case after Thanksgiving - please, please, students, stop telling me where you went if you're going to show up in my classroom for 80 min of my day).

If an adaptive pause was wrong, at the very least we (students, staff... and my sensible spouse) were all safe.

I do not let my students know I worry - about my husband's physical health, along with my own mental health trying to be my best for all 75 students. At least during remote learning, I can break down between classes with no one knowing. While in front of students, I'm still acting like my "normal" teacher self. I have it easier than many teachers - every teacher I know is struggling. Every teacher I know is working on making it through.

I don't know the rates of cases in the community where I work. I do not live in the community where I work. Instead, I'll document here the rise in deaths in the US for the past weeks our district has been in hybrid mode: 

This piece was another story I had to make sure to document. Sometimes writing about struggles helps my heart and mind.

Day 75 - Future Reading

Wednesday, May 27, 2020

I'm saving these to read later...

CDC's Considerations for Schools

Superintendent's thoughts on re-opening....

What School Might Look Like from Jennifer Gonzalez...

Students Provide Feedback from Peter DeWitt... It's from EdWeek, so if you don't have a subscription and it won't let you read it, open it up under a different - or anonymous - account.

TikTok and a Shoulder to Cry On...

Op-Ed: Distance Learning? Even my students will tell you that's not the future.

We Need to Take the Chance Coronavirus Has Given Us to Reboot Education

A sign in our neighborhood. :)

Added after I published this post:

Education After COVID-19 Cannot Be Reimagined Without a Racial Justice Plan

What Will a Return to School during the COVID-19 Pandemic Look Like?

May

It's May.

The seventh graders tell me there are 14 more days of school.

Our "torturous" plans? Reading The Outsiders at their own pace, bringing six ideas or questions to discuss with their book club groups. The best way to end the school year in ELA - no fabricated worksheets, posters, dioramas, whole-class discussions...

And yet... here is a snippet of my day today... (I'll be using "they/them/their" instead of "he/she.")

I just received an email from a student asking me if I'd looked at their revisions. Hmm... Since I'm not a mind reader, no. I did not know he revised. I never saw his name on the clipboard, and he never told me in person. So... I went to his document to check the revision history. There have been no revisions since May 1st. That revision on May 1st? MINE. I left him video feedback to show him how he could improve his writing. So... I left him more video feedback, basically asking him to not waste time for both of us. I replied to his email with this new link, copying his parent.

I had to give a short lecture today with my last class about how I need to make more decisions to help them learn (I made the seating arrangement), since they are not making good decisions themselves. They were mad at me, but they worked much better today than yesterday.

One student does not work. In any class. This student has the countdown on their assignment notebook and announces it each day. Won't even listen to The Outsiders on audio. Won't give it a chance. Has every excuse in the book to not work.

During our 4-min break in my block class, I have to keep an eye on one student so they don't sneak food or candy to friends and/or throw another pencil into the ceiling. This may mean leaving the classroom where there are other students I don't even know visiting friends. Which can cause more trouble? I'm not sure.

I've been showing book trailers for a week now - right before independent reading. One student today, after watching one for The Final Four by Volponi, asks, "Is this true?" Peers told them that it's a book trailer, and that we've been watching them for a week now.

Yet I keep coming back for more... for these students...

One student left the class a present - sticky notes - and put them on the student station for all to use!

One student happily moved over the magnets for the new "check in" for the day that Mrs. Rehberger set up for our co-taught class.

One student thanked me for creating the seating chart for my last class.

One student said they'll miss me when summer comes.

One student revised their writing and let me know - this student just keeps plugging along!

I learned how to create a password-protected Google form, and one student thought I was a genius!

One student - who struggles so much to understand when they read - is tackling The Outsiders.

One student made our question of the day - last-minute - "Yanny or Laurel?" **

Fourteen more days to make a difference. I'll search for opportunities.

The new lilacs that were planted by the back entrance/exit are blooming, and they smell beautiful.

**Yanny or Laurel debate - I hear "Yanny." Hubby hears "Laurel." Crazy, folks. Just crazy.