I quit

I have decided to quit blogging for now. I may come back to it in the future when I feel that I have something more important to say. But for now, I think I am all dried out.

Thinking

They buried on of our honors students yesterday. She died in a car accident on Friday in a storm. A tree fell in the road in front of her mother's car and she died in the crash. No one else in the car was hurt.
It makes me think. She was an honors student, a ballet dancer, flute player in the Eastern District Honor's band, head of our Academic Challenge team (which is 2nd in the state), a junior scholar, a member of the national junior honors society, a member of her church's youth choir, and an all around good person. She was one the kids who gives me hope for the future, and now that is gone. I am so frightened of what our world will be like in 20 years because of a severe lack of people like her.

Only 2 weeks 4 days and 5 hours left to go

I do believe that our school has nearly reached critical mass on middle schoolers who think that summer vacation has already begun and we're on the verge of a nuclear reaction that some of us are never going to forget.

Let's see we have a lame duck principal who is being demoted to assistant principal at an entirely different school (with many less "problems"). We have a lame duck assistant principal who will not be returning as any kind of administrator. We have another assistant who will be back (but only because he felt like staying). The principal is actually abdiacting the throne.

The kids know all this. They've really known it all year. Because they started out the year with "The principal is not a real principal, right?" And my all time favorite "I like in school suspension, it's fun! Can I go back?" Or "I'll slap that principal/teacher/nurse/guidance counselor if they get in my face again."

I actually had four kids refuse to work yesterday because they said they should get a break before PACT starts next week and not have to do anything for a couple of days. (I thought that was the purpose of the weekend.)

On top of that 4 or 5 of them have court dates coming up next week (mostly for being incorrigable). And then there are the two of my students who were arrested for rape about a month ago. Now since it was part of a gang intiation for the girl, they think they should get off for it. (But the admin says there are only about 20 students in our school in a gang out of 900, well I guess 6 of them are in my class, because they have been caught and admitted to it. Not to mention that 10 of my books are so full of gang signs that you can barely read the cover page.)

I have also been yelled at by no less than 6 students this week because I put them in time out, my new invention for our class. Yes, I know it is middle school, but they're only 7th graders for screaming out loud. Yes, I know most of my 7th graders are actually 14, but who really cares. (Actally 2 of them are getting a car over the summer and will be driving themselves to 8th grade.) They act plenty immature enough to have time out. (Heck if it works for my 2 year old, maybe it will work for them!)

And OH THE JOY, THE UNSPEAKABLE RAPTURE of PACT tests. I can't wait to stand in front of a room of 18 students for 3-4 hours administering a test where I can't sit for too long, can't read anything, can't grade papers, can't write anything, can't use my computer, or anything remotely entertaining.

I guess I just have summeritis too. Which makes no sense, because I'll be teaching summer school, just a glutton for punishment I guess (or trying to save the money for a down payment on a house, whatever.)

Why do I blog?

Here is my response to a post by EdSpresso located here. http://www.edspresso.com/2006/04/teachers_blogging_anonymously.htm


I started blogging to try to connect to other educators with valuable experience that I was lacking as I have only been teaching for 2 years. There was (and is) very little support in place for new teachers at the school and district that I am currently working in. I also blog to vent my frustration with the daily difficulties of being a middle school teacher.

I am not very concerned that anyone will find out who I am, but I avoid mentioning around my colleagues that I have a blog. I also do not use my real name (only a nickname that my parents use for me), and I avoid being specific about where I teach (only mention the state).

I try to avoid blogging about any one person at my school in particular, but it can't be avoided sometimes. Some things are so rediculous that they need to be brought out for everyone to see. Also, this is the last year that my current school will be in existence. My adminstration will be completely different.

Not sure what my best blogging moment or worst has been. I feel fairly new to the whole thing.

Drama

I had to remove 3 girls and 1 boy over a fight about somebody's boyfriend in first period. I mean a physical fight. I am so tired of this drama.
I know to expect drama with middle school kids, but it just seems like the end of the year is going to hell in a handbasket on a bullet train with no turns in the tracks and downhill all the way.

School Shootings

Education Wonks just posted about recent school shooting attempts in the last couple of days.

This is one of my worst nightmares. I live in constant fear that one of these kids is going to come to school and take out a few dozen teachers and students. They threaten to do it all the time. We even had one teacher last year who said, "If I wind up dead, so and so did it." And she wasn't kidding.

So what is causing all of this violence all of a sudden....

What kind of positions are the stars in right now? (not that I'm into astrology, but what the heck>?)
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Common Astro-Factors in School Shootings
In addition to confirming familiar astrological principles, this study revealed factors that are more surprising and suggest new avenues for further research. For instance, Mars retrograde (when Mars appears to be moving backward as seen from Earth) was found to appear in twice as many charts as it would normally be expected to occur. Four times as many events as would normally be expected took place when Mars was close to perihelion (the position in its orbit when a planet is closest to the Sun).

Compared to expected frequency, seven times as many charts took place close to a planetary station (when a planet appears to “stop” to change direction). The largest deviation from expected frequency was found with the cycle of Venus. In eight years, the period of this study, we could normally expect that one of the 33 events would occur near the time when Venus is at perihelion or aphelion (its position furthest from the Sun). A total of thirteen charts showed this feature! The Littleton, Colorado, event (probably the most notorious school shooting) occurred on the very day that Venus reached perihelion.

Getting back to more familiar astrological factors, one feature we might expect in charts of violent events is aspects (significant angular relationships) between any two of the three planets Mars (war, anger), Saturn (rules, structure) and Pluto (power). In an impressive confirmation of astrological theory, every one of the 33 charts showed at least one aspect between two of these planets; two thirds of them (22) showed two or more aspects.
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http://www.stariq.com/Main/Articles/P0002265.HTM


Hmm... could it be in the stars?

Just trying to lighten things up. Not coming off as too crunchy (flaky) I hope. I don't really believe in astrology, but it must be a full moon or something, because these kids are nuts.

Quote for the day

Here's one that will give you something to think about. As a parent, it makes me think about my son.


A child educated only at school is an uneducated child. ~ George Santayana