Cinderella Man

Midterms are over and all graded. Sadly my CP1 class average was a 73 and the class average for my Honors class was a 78. A little low, it was hard test, but I could tell some kids didn't study. However, some kids did crush the test. Two girls got 95s.

But now that those are all done, my classes have gotten back into the swing of things. Right now we're in the middle of the Great Depression. We're now watching the movie "Cinderella Man"

This is going to take us a few days to get through (easy week for me) and then we'll finish off the notes and take a test.

what's this like number 11?

Snow Day.

Now the exams that were supposed to be taken today have been pushed back to Monday. I'm still leaving for that field trip sunday morning. Someone else is going to have to proctor my exam. Plus, final grades for the semester are due tuesday morning now. (I don't get back until tuesday night, awesome).

Midterms - Round 1

I have successfully proctored and graded three classes worth of midterms. So far, I have been disappointed with the grades. I know it was a hard test, but I don't think the students properly studied for it.

So as the grades have broken down so far:

___________Average___Class High_____Class Low__

Period B______72.3_______85.0________51.0_____

Period C _____ 61.0_______80.0________48.0_____

Period D _____ 60.1_______73.0________47.0_____

[passing is a 65]

My plan is to scale the test, by how much and all that I really don't know yet

Things you hear while on Cafeteria Duty

There's a freshman girl and guy talking in the back corner of the cafeteria right now. I'm currently on after-school cafeteria duty.

These freshmen honestly have no idea how loud they are.

"Like really, I probably have only date one guy who has been relatively close to me age. Like ya' know, I only like to date guys who have gone through puberty."

This is ridiculously awkward, and somewhat funny. Mostly because they have no idea that everyone (there are probably only 15 people here right now) can hear their whole conversation. A few students have already turned to look at me with awkward faces to see if I also heard the same conversation. I did.

Midterms!

As a teacher, midterms are the greatest thing ever. Sure it was a pain to create them, and it will be a pain to grade them. BUT, the week dedicated to taking them is amazing. All we, as teachers, have to do is come in for a week of half days and proctor exams. No teaching, no lesson planning, nice and easy.

As a student midterms are a pain. Also a pain for students: Scantron sheets! However, for teachers, those seemingly endless lists of bubbles is the greatest invention ever. I have yet to actually send my scantron sheets through the machine, but honestly within minutes stacks of exams are graded for you. Amazing!

But yes, midterms are going on this week. Next week I have the first two days off from school. Back in September I was asked to be a chaperone on a three day overnight field trip to DC. So that will be fun, tiring, probably stressful, but mostly fun.

We'll see. I will update about how well or poorly my students do on the midterm. Hopefully good.

Snow Day

First Snow Day as a teacher. It's pretty awesome. Last night the lot of us stayed up late and just hung out, and today we are watching movies and then playing in the snow.

That's right ... we're grown up adults

Happy New Year!

Since getting back to school (last week) we have finished WWI and the Roaring Twenties. As of today, we just started the Great Depression. Things are going well. Midterms are next week so the kids are freaking out a little. But overall, things are good.

Also today all the kids are freaking out about the possible snow day tomorrow. It's been a little ridiculous, I've been trying to not get my hopes up so I keep adamantly saying we will have school tomorrow (hopefully not).

The semester and quarter are wrapping up and coming to a close. Surprisingly, the class averages have gone down in all of my classes. Maybe I've become a more demanding grader or the kids are not trying as hard. The averages are still good so I'm not too concerned.

What I wanted to share is a few excerpts from one of my students' reflection on the WWI Letters Project, it was hilarious.

"When this project was assigned, I planned on putting little effort into it, thinking it was just another writing assignment that I would not learn from anyway. Yet halfway into the project, that was simply not the case. I realized that that what I got out of this project depended upon how much I put in. So I went all out, I put myself in the shoes of a soldier involved in submarine warfare writing home to a significant other. i discovered so much not only about history, but about myself ...

"This project was an outlet for me. To vent about my day, life, love, hardship, and the everyday struggle. Regardless of whether we're soldiers in war or a bunch of angst-full teens, we all struggle. I cam to the realization that the people we read about are more than words in a history book, but they are actual people, with families, concerns, and fears. They are no different than us, only their situation is ... Much of the time I think we get caught up in the facts and we fail to see that these people were real, like you and I ..."