Watch Dog Math

It was Thursday and the routine begins as usual, except for seeing two of my kiddos and their dad/uncle on the morning broadcast. This means that they will be visiting my classroom for the next hour. (I always hope they take the initiative to help the kids with their work and maintain classroom order...some think that hour is about them entertaining the class.) Luckily, this dad and uncle were on top of things. They made their way around the classroom helping students with their morning math problems. I told them I would be reviewing a lesson on transformations. They both looked at me puzzled..."I am good at math, but I don't know what you are talking about." I told them they could look at the chart we had created the day before to brush up.

When the lesson began, I had the kids remind the dad and uncle what each transformation meant (translation, reflection, rotation). The kids were loving this. They were so excited they knew something that these grown men did not. I stretched out the lesson as long as possible, having the kids wait to give answers until the dad/uncle had theirs as well. It was funny. The best part was when they would get an answer wrong. The kids had a great time and learned even more through explaining it to these dads...but in a more fun way than explaining it back to me.

Sometimes I'm annoyed with the dads that come to be Watch Dogs because they don't know how to interact with the kids and think it's just a day of playing with the kids, even when they are in the classroom during learning time. I don't mind having the dads that know how to make their way around the room helping kids and maintaining order.

I need the spray!

Richard is a "character" in my class that keeps me on my toes and thinking, "What will he say next?" Here are a few examples of today's randomness...

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Scenario #1:
We are at recess and I see Richard walking up with his arms out like Jesus and his wrists are clenched tightly.
Richard: "I NEED THE SPRAY!"
Me: "What are you talking about?"
Richard: "I AM BURNING!"
Me: "What are you talking about?"
Richard: (whispering in a pain-filled voice) "My back is sunburned."
Me: (looking at his shoulders)
Richard: (whisper again) "Other side!"
Me: "Okay, go to the nurse and get the spray."
Richard: (walks inside with his arm still stretched out and wrists clenched)

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Scenario #2
We are talking about transformations (math-->translation, rotation, reflection) and Richard was having a problem seeing the figures in the book as congruent. The key to the lesson was that the shapes had to be congruent to even be considered as a transformation.
Richard: "Ms. L, number 10 is not congruent."
Me: "I disagree. It is on a chart to show you it is congruent."
Class: "Yeah Richard...those are congruent."
Richard: "No! Look closely! This one is on the line and this one is barely right under the line. That means they aren't the same size. They aren't congruent, so they aren't any type of transformation."
Me: "No. It is on the graph paper. I see them both exactly on the line. Remember that I said if they were NOT congruent, you would be able to tell with a glance. The pictures will show a large enough difference in the size that it won't even be a doubt in your mind."
Richard: "But these aren't the same size. This one is right under the line and that one is on the line."
Me: "Richard! I promise you those are congruent shapes. They will not make the shapes a half of a millimeter smaller. It will be something you will notice immediately. You are staring at the picture too much. Look away and then look back and tell me if they are the same size."
Richard: "They aren't!!!!! This one is just a tiny tiny bit bigger than that one."
Me: "Okay! Take my word for it that they are congruent. What type of transformation is that??? Even if you don't agree that they are congruent, what transformation is it?"
Richard: "But it's not..."
Me: "Yes it is! Let's move on!"

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Scenario #3
I was doing a guided reading lesson during Explorer Time (aka intervention time), when Richard approached with something he HAD to tell me.
Richard: "Ms. L, this dice is a cheating dice." (No, he doesn't know it's called a die.)
Me: "What are you talking about?"
Richard: "This dice is a cheating dice. It only goes up to three."
Me: "I guess that's all the game needs...is three."
Richard: "But it's a cheating dice."
Me: "I still don't understand."
Richard: "If they get six, then I can only get three. It's a cheating dice."
Me: "I don't know how they will get six when the die only goes to three."
Richard: (begins walking away) "All I wanted to tell you is that this is a cheating dice. IT'S A CHEATING DICE!"
Me: "Okay."

Why would you do that?

A conversation I overhead during book clubs while I was working with another group:

Richard: "Why would you turn in your paper when you know that your answers are wrong?"
Elliot: "I don't know the answer."
Richard: "That doesn't mean you should turn in your paper with the wrong answers. Why don't you look through the book and find the right answers. I just don't see why you would turn it in knowing you have the wrong answers. That's not very smart."
Elliot: (looks at Richard annoyingly)
Richard: "Why don't you try to get the right answers. Turning it in doesn't make sense. You're not trying."
Elliot: (still sitting in silence and staring at Richard very annoyed at this point) "I'm just going to turn it in."
Richard: "WHY????"
Elliot: "Cause I can't do it. I don't know the answer."
Richard: "Well, get your paper and look in your book. You shouldn't just turn in your paper because you don't know. You're not trying."
Elliot: (goes to turn in his paper)
Richard: "That's not very smart. You shouldn't do that."

At this point, I step in and tell Elliot that Richard has a point and that I don't want any papers in the basket to be graded that you know are incorrect. The response of course is a grunt and a devilish stare...not at Richard, but at me. Come on...Richard was the one grilling you and giving you the third degree. It's because of him that I knew what was going on.

It's that time again...

...for the end of the 9 weeks awards ceremony. You all know that I have a class that is a bit sensitive. I don't even think "a bit sensitive" begins to describe how sensitive they really are. It's quite ridiculous. Ever since our first awards ceremony, I dread these days. It never fails that I have a student crying because they didn't get the awards they wanted or they didn't get any award at all.

Here goes the speech I give before or after each awards ceremony:
"I can tell that there are some people who are upset about the award they received or that they didn't receive any award at all. Remember that the last 9 weeks began on Monday. If you are unhappy, you have 9 weeks to prove that you deserve one of those awards. It's never too late. To show me that you deserve an award, you should be completing quality work, turning in ALL of your work and giving 100% effort. If you are doing all of those things, I can promise your efforts will be recognized in one way or another (honor roll or hustle award). Remember that the harder you work, the better your report card will be and the better chance you'll have at earning an award...and blah blah blah and so on, so on, so on!"

FYI: I had 3 criers.

Just change it!!!

It was Friday, which meant we were doing a reading passage to practice for TAKS. This can sometimes cause some drama when students don't get the 100 they are working for. This is especially true for Victor.

He brought his passage up for me to grade. (I grade these right away so the students can see where they made mistakes. Most of the time it was careless and they know the right answer.) I began grading and by the time I got to the second page, had already circled 3 for being wrong. I glanced at the rest of the paper and there were no more incorrect answers. He grabbed the paper from my hands and insanity ensued:

Victor: "No, these are right! Change them! They are right!"
Me: "I'm sorry, but they are not."
V: "Yes they are! Change them!!!"
Me: "Change them to what?"
V: "They are right, change them!"
Me: "What do you want me to do?" (He has now changed the answers to the correct choice.)
V: "Change these!!"
Me: "Okay, I will change them. You got them correct now."
V: "I want to start over!!!"
Me: "Do you want me to get you a new packet and you can do it again?"
V: "I just want to do it again."
Me: "Okay, I'll get another one. You can start over."
V: (gets my pen from my desk and scribbles out the marks I wrote on his paper)
Me: "Is that better?" ((Please keep in mind that the rest of the class is in the room and we are stacking and packing getting ready to head home for the weekend!))
V: "What's my grade? Give me a 100!"
Me: "I can't give you a 100." (Even though this would have probably made the whole situation go away, it would have set a president for the upcoming weeks of practice reading passages.)
V: "Give me a 100!"
Me: (I wrote 75 on the paper, crossed it out, and wrote 'corrected'.)
V: "NO!!!!!!!!! Give me a 100! I'm never going to pass TAKS!"
Me: "You will pass TAKS. You made a 75 on this. That is a passing grade. You would have passed TAKS with that grade."
V: "NOOOOO!!!! I'm never going to pass TAKS. This is not a good grade."
Me: "It's time to go. You have to go home now."
V: "I need a 100 first. I don't want to go. I want to get a 100."
Me: "I'm sorry. I have to go with the other kids. Ms. O will take you to your bus."

April Fool's!

As an April Fool's surprise for the kiddos at our school, our principal approved anyone who wanted to switch places. My portable mate and I jumped at the chance to change places with the PE coaches for a day. So we arrived at school in our athletic wear (one of the biggest perks of the day) and went to the gym, but instead of picking up our classes and heading to our rooms, we lingered. The kids weren't sure what was going on. We told them to just be patient (while the PE coaches finished up their morning duties). And so the spiel began...

"Ms. D, the principal, has decided that she is going to try a new program. She thinks it's important for teachers to be able to teach anything. Because of that, she made some changes. This is something that will stay this way for the rest of the year. Ms. H and Ms. L are now Coach H and Coach L and the coaches now teach 4th grade. You may also notice some other teachers that have been switched as well."

All was well for a while this morning. My portable mate and I were in the gym doing our thing, having so much fun, while I was hearing murmurs of what was happening in my classroom. I was hearing that my class already knew what the joke was. The PE coach in my room was set on them not knowing because it ruined the fun. So when he took them to specials, he told the art teacher that they had caught on. She made it perfectly clear that this was not a joke. What happened next? They all cried of course! "We love Ms. L! Bring her back!" "NO!!!!!! This isn't true!"

The news spread..."Who's class was crying because of the switch?" THAT WOULD BE MINE. In a way, I feel so loved that they cried at the thought of me not being their teacher anymore, but my immediate response was, "What a bunch of sissies!" Seriously...as 'Sparkles' put it, "Can't they take a joke?" Was I embarrassed that my class was the only class that couldn't take the joke that many other people in the school were doing as well...a little bit. But what really touched my heart was when I saw Victor in the hall and he said with a pitiful voice, "Ms. L, I miss you!"

The day ended and I was worn out, but felt good because I had been so active all day. I'm seriously considering taking the PE certification test just to have on paper so that when I get tired of worrying about test scores, I can not worry about anything and teach PE. That job was a piece of cake...and if I taught PE and ran around all day, I could eat all the cake I ever wanted. Hmmmmm....(that's the sound of serious consideration)...