The Coordinate Plane

Well, I certainly have used a lot that I learned during the summer in my classroom this year. During the summer, Lilly, Meredith, and I created a masking tape coordinate plane on the floor. It worked great in summer school! So, I decided to carry it over to this year. The kids loved it once again! When they walked into the room and saw the coordinate plane on the floor, they feel in love with it! They had a great time with it. We played games with it. In addition, it was a great review/ learning session for the kids. I am a huge believer in getting the kids actively involved. This way, it is easier for them to remember certain information. If you actually put a kid in something physically, they can easily remember it. It takes kids away from the norm of simply sitting in a desk and working problems. They are up and involved. Chances are that they will remember the information better.

Back to School

For an entire semester, I heard that September would be the
hardest, then October, then February.  I totally disagree.
To me, January is the hardest.  You get back after 17 days
off, and the kids are crazy!  They are absolutely wild!  It
is as if you have to start over with day one.  At times, it
was as if the break was not worth it.  You have to remind
them of rules and procedures.  The discipline problems were
across the board.  Within two days of returning, I had 6
students in ALC (In-School Suspension).  Not necessarily
because I put them there, but because they were causing
problems in other classes.  I spoke with several teachers,
and they all said that the kids were crazy when returning
from Christmas.  Overall, it was discipline problems
everywhere.  Since I teach mostly freshmen, I was told that
they would mature greatly over Christmas.  WRONG, WRONG,
WRONG!  I have seen little to no change in their attitudes.
Most of them still do not care about their grades or
attitudes.  In addition, those students who had discipline
problems, still are discipline problems.  The only sure
thing that I can say is that my 4th period class is much
better.  Overall, they are finally under control (knock on
wood).  I finally have a grasp on them, and I can half-way
begin to give them a little edge.  So, I am pleased with
that.  Since we have been back for almost a month, things
are greatly improving.  My classes are beginning to get a
little smaller.  At December, I had 169 students.  I now
have 149.  So, that’s a good thing.  February is already
getting off to a good start.  So, I am looking forward to
the next months.