#adjectives #taketwo

No, I haven't quit the profession. My kids just haven't been super funny or super aggravating lately, hence the lack of posts.

Over Christmas Break, the weirdest thing happened: my brain shut off. Completely. I spent day after day, reading, crocheting, and watching ridiculous amounts of reality TV. (Ask me ANYTHING about the Real Housewives. Anything! For starters, Theresa is finally in prison, Lisa opened Pump, Kandi bought her mom a house, NeNe is considering Broadway, and Cynthia totally rocked the runway again!) I didn't plan, and I certainly didn't grade. It was awesome. Now that my brain has switched back on, I'd love to find that happy medium between a Housewives marathon and obsessing over adjectives...which is what I'm currently doing.

Honestly, if you'd asked me what topics would be simple for kids to grasp, I would probably have mentioned adjectives. They are easy. They are fun. They are super. They are fantastic. (See what I did there?)

Unfortunately, something went wonky (my new favorite word) today. I saw actual looks of terror on my Pre-AP kiddos' faces when they were given some sentences to analyze. I realize that part of the issue is that sometimes I forget how young they are, and fail to explain things sufficiently. The biggest issue today, though, was that the textbooks we have just don't cut it. They are nice to look at, but not nice for the kids. It's hard to explain, but I almost feel like the authors included 2-3 "exceptions to the rule" in every exercise they wrote. When kids are first learning a concept, there's no need to trip them (or the teacher!) up. I knew better than to use the books, but it's just so tempting! I mean, shouldn't I use the English books to teach English? Le sigh. It's back to the drawing board for today's lesson.

All in all (for lack of a better concluding transition), this year is definitely stretching me. The new 2 hour schedule, added planning, and having a very low class is fairly draining at times. There's a part of me that wishes  I had the same job title as last year so that I could simply refine and reuse my lessons. Then there's the part of me that knows that all that extra free time would result in a 37 scarves and Bachelor re-runs. Busy is better!

-Mrs. Combs

Before you go...
#wisewords

2 Truths and a Lie

1. Mrs. Combs overdid her coffee intake today.
2. Mrs. Combs lied to her students today.
3. Mrs. Combs showed up early to work today.

So which one is the lie?

None of them.  Gotcha!   I was definitely early to work, definitely had too much caffeine,  and most definitely lied to my kids.  FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES! ;)

Guess I should explain.  Today my traditional class started the book "Among the Hidden." It is a dystopian novel that centers around the idea that laws are in place preventing a 3rd or 4th child in a family.  Two is the limit.   Our main character, Luke, is a 3rd child who is forced into hiding.

In order to help them understand what that might feel like, I substituted my normal handshake for a sticker when they entered the room.  They either recieved yellow, green, or blue stickers.  I waited until after our library trip to explain why they had them.  I told the kids (very sternly, I might add) that in order to create a better classroom environment, we were trying something new.  I told the yellow and green stickers to sit at the front of the room and told blue stickers that they were not allowed to participate.  They were to go to the back of the room and be quiet.  No moving or talking allowed.  While the blues dutifully hid in the back, the rest of us played words games on the board and even tossed the ball outside! (As an end of the hall room, I can monitor both. No worries.)  It was crazy to see how quiet the blues were.  They didn't argue at all!  Throughout the short experiment, if a blue moved or raised their hand, I slapped 'em with a sticky note.  They were definitely freaked out.  Because, you know, sticky notes are terrifying!

Finally, I told them to return to their seats and write down what they thought about the new classroom structure.   I said that (cough.lie.cough) "Mr. Eidson wants some honest feedback about whether this is a good system or not. "

The answers I got were very interesting. Some almost made me cry!  Here is a sample:

*It really sucked and it felt like it was not fair and we felt left out. (Goal accomplished!)

*I liked it. I would like to try the blue stickers. (Haha..got us a lazy one!)

*I felt bored and left out. And like no one like me. (Tear!)

*It felt good and bad.  I felt good because I just got to hang out and relax.  I didn't like it because I didn't get to participate. (Nailed it.)

Of course the rest of my kids are all regular middle school souls who quite enjoyed knowing that THEY were the chosen ones.  They are all for kicking the blues out forever.  When I finally disclosed the real meaning of the activity, the blues were relieved and the others looked disappointed!

Needless to say, this book has already sparked some deep discussions.  Hopefully they aren't too emotionally scared!  Sorry, parents. Gotta be emotionally tough to make it through my class!

-Mrs. Combs

(I definitely can't take all the credit for this! My cohort and many teacher blogs gave me the general idea.)

Twerking 101

Good golly, I have some of the funniest kids on the planet.  Sometimes they intend to be funny, but other times they are completely oblivious.  Today I got to see a lot of both!

My Pre-AP class has finished Holes, and we are working on our end of novel projects.  I decided to let them have a little fun, and am having them use ToonDoo.com to make comic strips of certain scenes from the book.  It forces them to summarize rather than tell the story word for word.

I was honestly a little worried about starting the project today because with all of our computer issues, I just knew I'd be juggling incorrect logins and missing passwords in addition to the "I'm-raising-my-hand-because-I-like-to-hear-myself-talk" questions.  Fortunately, everything went smoothly!  

ToonDoo is an intense program with lots of options for editing characters. During the first hour of the block, I let them play around on the program to get use to it.  They were free to make whatever they wanted.  (Appropriately, of course.)  Watching them play with characters and change their bodies, faces, expressions, etc. was hilarious!  I saw some WEIRD creations.  Honestly, I think some of the kids are disturbed.  Every 30 seconds another kiddo was calling me over to look at their half baby/half demon or their incredibly fat dancing man. (Told you they were weird!)  We basically played and laughed for an hour.  I didn't think one girl was going to survive her laugh attack (inspired by a fat, pirate, demon baby)!  My favorite part of the day, however, was when I caught some girlies making some not-so-school appropriate cartoons.  I wish I could say I didn't laugh and take a picture...buuuut....I did.  Later on, I searched for them and found clear images for your viewing pleasure!

Hitler is apparently NOT a fan of twerking...

Even the Pope twerks!

Best. Day. Ever! I can't wait to show you the ACTUAL projects that they complete.  You know, the ones sans twerking.

Oh, and in case you were wondering why we have to learn to spell, I've finally nailed down the answer.

This.  This is why!

-Mrs. Combs

The M word

Sometimes the way we middle school teachers talk to kids makes me laugh.  We are trying to create responsible young adults, though we realize that we are still technically working with babies.  I have learned that the easiest way to achieve this is to phrase "hardcore" topics in baby terminology (much of this learned from other teachers!).

For example, we expect sixth graders to have some level of maturity.  If our novel has a curse word, we expect them to roll with it.  If the topics are deep, we need them handle them properly- not dramatically.  Somewhere along the line, I started referring to maturity as an object that the kids have.  "Okay kids, today you need your maturity.  Who brought theirs?" or "Alright, get your maturity out of your pocket.  We are going to use it!"  (Of course the kiddos WANT to be mature, so they don't call me out on how ridiculous I sound.)  

It is interesting to see how my classes use their maturity.  Pre-AP kids have theirs on them all the time.  They never leave it in their lockers.  My traditional English kiddos almost ALWAYS forget to bring theirs to class.  They need consistent reminders.  My 5th hour English?  Er, I don't think it was on the supply list.  I will have to add that next year.

What I love about it, is that they accept the fact that maturity is expected.  They know what it implies, even if they need reminders.  While reading our novel yesterday, a curse word did, in fact, appear.  Five wide-eyed kiddos looked at me to see what I would do.  All I needed to say was, "Oh, no worries. We brought our maturity, so we can handle this!"  They gave me big nods...almost as if to say, "Yes!  We ARE mature!"  

Another instance occurred today when I was attempting to explain the rules for Grudgeball- the world's most awesome classroom game.  When I looked around the room, I noticed that two kids had switched seats just to see what I would do. (Aren't they so clever!?)  I stopped mid-instruction and said "Ah man...I really hoped we could play today.  Unfortunately, this game requires maturity.  I see that some of us did not bring it today.  Bummer!  Looks like we will have to try again another day." Immediately, the room was silent.  The two kids swapped back, and NO ONE argued.  It was amazing.  They all just looked intensely disappointed in themselves.  (WIN! :)  

Maybe someday I'll get to play Grudgeball with that group.  I was actually really disappointed that we couldn't play!  They get so intensely competitive that they don't even realize they are learning.  Until then, I'll enjoy my FALL BREAK!

-Mrs. Combs

You're mine too, Tod

Since my last blog, our classroom's airconditioning has gone out two more times.  Seriously.  Thankfully, it hasn't taken weeks to fix as it did the first time around.  It IS frustrating not knowing whether I can wear boots and a scarf, or if I should stick to a dress and sandals though. :) #girlieteacherprobs

We have been having so much fun at Madison lately!  

On September 26, we had our yearly fundraiser, also known as the Painted Mustang Run.  It is a 5k color run for the kiddos that takes place during school hours.  On the day of the run, we basically shut down school and have a big ol' party!  I was able to go out and participate this year, and I am so glad I did!  I didn't run the 5k, but I DID get to throw color on kiddos as they ran by, which was extremely rewarding and therapeutic!  After the 5k, the party continued with inflatable games, dunk tanks, pizza, snowcones, carnival rides, the works!  My favorite part of the day was being able to just hang out.  Many of my original babies (this year's seventh graders) hung out with me and challenged me to several of the games.  It was such a messy, fun, day!  For pictures, check out this album from  Madison's Facebook page: Painted Mustang Run

Can you guess what color I threw? 

We also had a lot of fun dressing up for Homecoming this week!  Although I was gone for two of the days, I was able to participate in "Crazy Hat Day," "Professional Day," and "Decade Day" with the kids.  Decade Day was probably the most fun, even though this young lady and I accidently had matching hairdos.  Kids like her make my world go 'round! <3

You can find more goofy photos here!  (I am always very cautious about posting pictures of kids on my personal pages, but if the school has them posted, I'll gladly point you to them!)

I know I've said this before, but even though I really really really love my kids from last year, our group this year is just an easier, sweeter, group to work with.  This gives us more opportunity to have fun and try new things in class.  One thing I've started doing is allowing my Pre-AP kiddos to read outside during our MIRP time every so often.  They find a spot, get comfy, and read steadily for the entire 15-20 minutes.  (Last year, 3/4 might have read, while the other 1/4 would have dug holes or thrown dirt and bugs at eachother!)  The last time we had outdoor reading time, the cutest thing happened.  Those who follow my Facebook have already seen this picture, but it's too cute not to share again.  While all of the other students sat up against the building in rows, these buddies wanted to hang out on the grass.  It was a little chilly, so they used eachother to help stay warm.  My heart melted when I saw them!  They stayed together the entire time!

All I could think about was...

These kids make going to work easy!  Can ya tell I like 'em?  I can't wait to see them again on Monday.  Due to a Pre-AP conference, I was gone Thursday and Friday.  Being gone terrifies me because I assume they are going to push every boundary and destroy the room.  I mean, that's what WE did in school!  Not only was I gone, but I was gone for two days in a row.  In my head, that meant that the substitute would end up pulling her hair out, and books would be thrown around the room.  (Ok, so that's extreme.  I DID expect to find negative notes about several students and/or work not completed.)  When I checked out my room yesterday after the conference, I found that all of the assignments were neatly stacked on my desk with labels, the classroom was in order, and no negative notes were written at all!  I'm still in shock.  Let it be known, that on October 3, 2014, Mrs. Combs fell in love with 56 students, and found a substitute for life.  

-Mrs. Combs

TechNO

As far as weeks go, this past week was one of the more difficult school weeks I've had thus far.  First, our air conditioner went out, then my personal AND school computers crashed.  We were a HOT, technology starved mess.  It made me realize just how much I depended on my computer and Smart board!  I ended up getting to the point where I needed to tape signs to my "interactive" board.  Thankfully the librarian let us take over the library one day, and some coworkers lent me fans, so not all was lost.  I'm very grateful to have my personal computer fixed and a loaner school computer ready for use next week!  As for the air conditioner...I don't expect any changes soon. 

As far as teaching goes, I actually did have some fun with kids this week.  We are reading the book Holes, and I've been trying to find ways to make it come alive in our classroom.  Last year I mainly posted signs relating to the book; this year I stepped it up a bit.  I made a tent out of our doorway to give them the feeling of entering Camp Green Lake, and I brought in some water for the kids to roll play with.  In the book, kids dig holes all day in the desert.  Every so often, a camp leader brings the water truck around and fills their canteens.  I purchased cheap cups and a water dispenser from the camping section at Walmart, filled it with water, and assigned one student to be the person in charge.  It was really funny to see how the kids got excited about getting a tiny bit of tap water in their cups.  You would have thought it was soda.  Hey,  whatever works!  The real kicker is that I asked the student in charge to assume the personality of the leader currently giving out water in the book.  Our first character was "Mr. Sir," a temperamental guy who doesn't have much compassion... "You aren't in Girl Scouts anymore!"  I allowed to student in charge to be as stubborn and rude as they wanted.....though none of them did.  I had to step in and be bossy for them. :)

On a side note, the longer I teach, the more tricks I steal from other teachers.  My favorite new trick is used to combat exhausting kids who ask a question every 2 minutes.  After the first few questions,  let them know that all of your "Question answering energy" has been used up.  It will take a little while to build that back up.  Son of a gun...it works!  They will glare...but glares are better than exhausting, rapid fire questions.  I've even made it more specific...."Ah, man! My Jason question answering energy is ALL used up.  Darn!"

Teaching is weird.

-Mrs. Combs

Holes & Clubs

It's crazy to think that we have already been in school for an entire month!  Time has definitely flown by.  We are finally past the procedure learning part of the year and will be diving into our first novel this week!  I'm excited to try to teach Holes with our new schedule.  Having most of my classes for 2 hours in a row is amazing- and I'm sure we will be able to have 2x the fun that we did last year.

I don't have a whole lot to update as of right now- I think having fewer kiddos means I have fewer stories. :(  I WILL be starting up an after school club soon, though, so hopefully some fun posts will come from that experience.  Anyone have ideas for games I can play with them?  I've got Apples to Apples and classroom basketball on mind so far.  Fingers crossed that some of my 2013-14 kids join and come hang out with me. :)

-Mrs. C