This may strike you as odd, or offend your personal tastes and activities, but I HATE Arts and Crafts. I have never had the patience for them. For the last two days, I have been leading the Arts and Crafts project from hell in this classroom.
Imagine if you will, an overflowing class of 35 sixth graders. Their teacher moved to Seattle just before Spring Break, and they got a long-term substitute to finish the year out. The long-term sub got married last weekend and is on her honeymoon this week, so they have a sub for their sub. On top of that, this long-term sub must have previously taught elementary school because she left three (count em - THREE) arts and crafts projects for us to work on in Science this week. IN SCIENCE. Nevermind the learning process, let's make Rainmakers! And tear up little bits of green and blue paper to make a collage Earth! And paint coffee filters with water colors to make ANOTHER Earth! In her defense, it is Earth Week, but what about educating them on pollution, recycling, and being a good steward of our natural resources? Obviously, I'm a little frustrated. And I get that she has Open House Night coming up and doesn't have anything to show for it, but why do I have to be the craft master? She obviously LOVES crafts, and well... I obviously don't.
You should have seen the classroom. RICE EVERYWHERE. In addition to little bits of tinfoil, cardboard, glue, construction paper. Not to mention all of the boys who thought it was funny to beat each other with parts of their project when I was otherwise occupied. It was CRAZY. THEY were crazy.
Observation: In Middle School, when someone is hitting, kicking, touching or otherwise invading another's personal space, it's always the boys. It was CRAZY. THEY were crazy.
I'm done with crafts for today. Maybe for life. We'll see how I feel tomorrow, because right now I'm just DONE.
Showing posts with label Middle School. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Middle School. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Monday, April 5, 2010
Science Project Season.
Science Project Season is upon us!
Again.
On Friday, while subbing, I had this conversation with a 7th grade boy (who I've also had in an acting class).
7th Grader: "Ms. Farrell, you'll never guess what my friends and I are doing for our science project."
Me: "I'm sure I can't."
7th Grader: "Guess!"
Me: "I honestly have no clue. What?"
7th Grader: "We're making a BRA with POCKETS! Isn't that awesome?"
Me: "Wow. Are you sure that's okay for a science project?"
7th Grader: "YEP! We checked!!!!!"
Yes. This is my life.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Karma - it's a b*&%#! (I Hope)
So, to begin this post, I actually have to begin with a story from January, one that I debated posting on my blog at the time. Not only do I regularly sub performing arts and fine arts classes, I also sub for several Spanish teachers throughout the South Bay.
In the middle of one of our days of torrential rain in January, I was subbing for eighth grade Spanish. Because Torrance Schools are broke, and we rarely have rain in Southern California, schools are not equipped for rainy weather. When it rains, the schools go on what is called "Rainy Day Schedule" to minimize students getting drenched. What this means for teachers is that instead of a full lunch break, you get HALF of your lunch, and get stuck with students for the other half of their lunch break. So imagine... it's pouring rain, and a bunch of soaked eighth graders are forced to come BACK to your classroom for a 30 minute "advisement period". You are unprepared for this, and because they were pretty great during class (before lunch) decide to let them chat as long as they're sitting down. After all, that's what they'd normally be doing outside at this point in their lunch.
This particular class has some young women (who are really very pretty girls - at least on the outside... their insides? That's a different story) who are so obsessed with themselves that they put mirrors inside their textbooks and will try to spend their entire class period STARING at themselves. If you ask them to please look at their text and not their own faces, they act like you told them to run around the school naked. No joke.
These stellar young ladies (let's call them 1 and 2) are sitting with their buddies (there's only a few of them... no one else is "good" enough to hang out with them) at a table near the teacher's desk. I keep my ears open for general rumblings of dissent and madness, especially because unusual things seem to happen around me quite often.
1 and 2 get up from the desks they were sitting at and take the longest possible route around to the front of the classroom. Once there, I see them drop something on a young man's desk. Immediately he leaps up, backs away and starts this male version of a shriek. "Eek! Eww. Ahhh!"
It was a condom. Out of its package and stretched out. Here's the rest of the conversation:
Me: "Did you just drop a CONDOM on his desk?"
1: "It's not mine. She did it."
2: "It's not mine, either! I found it!"
Me: "Wait. You FOUND a condom, picked it up, hid it in your hand and thought it was a great idea to drop it on someone's desk?"
1: "Well, it's not mine."
Me: "I just want to be clear. You FOUND an open condom and thought, I want to pick that up. That's disgusting. It would have been better if you had brought an unopened one into class deliberately, opened it, and thrown it on his desk. Instead, you're now the girls who pick up used condoms."
1: "Well, she did it anyway. I didn't touch it."
*Obviously, you can tell which one is the Queen Bee and which one is her little minion.
So... I report it to Administration. They yank those girls out of their classes for the rest of the day. 1 and 2 immediately roll on their friends, turning them in, blaming them. Two delinquent teenagers in the principal's office becomes six, and I am the hero of every teacher on campus who hates those girls and can't do a thing about it for fear of losing their jobs. Or at least, I provide them with something to genuinely chuckle about. I also have the Vice Principal tell me that I win the award for the craziest thing happening in a classroom all year long.
Fast forward two months. I am back in this classroom for the first time since this has happened. The first thing that 1 and 2 say to me is... "Wait, are you our sub today?" (they're obviously very bright since I'm IN THEIR CLASSROOM). I say "Yes", which is all I really can say, because inside I'm thinking - If I was you, and I had been busted for being an IDIOT, I would be too embarassed to say a word. Their response: "Cool."
WHAT?!
Fifteen minutes into class, I see 1 grab all of her belongings and head for 2's desk. The conversation:
Me: "Hey. Where do you think you're going?"
1: "She lets us sit wherever we want."
Doubtful.
Me: "Well, regardless of what your teacher lets you do, I know how you are, and you need to get back to your own seat."
1 huffs back to her seat like a spoiled child.
-Ten minutes later.
Me: "Class is not makeup time. Put the mirror away and get to work on some Spanish."
2 mopes and pitches a mini fit, throwing things around at her desk.
Some kids just never learn. I can only hope that someday, somehow, they get theirs. After all, Karma is a bitch.
I feel guilty for hoping that.
In the middle of one of our days of torrential rain in January, I was subbing for eighth grade Spanish. Because Torrance Schools are broke, and we rarely have rain in Southern California, schools are not equipped for rainy weather. When it rains, the schools go on what is called "Rainy Day Schedule" to minimize students getting drenched. What this means for teachers is that instead of a full lunch break, you get HALF of your lunch, and get stuck with students for the other half of their lunch break. So imagine... it's pouring rain, and a bunch of soaked eighth graders are forced to come BACK to your classroom for a 30 minute "advisement period". You are unprepared for this, and because they were pretty great during class (before lunch) decide to let them chat as long as they're sitting down. After all, that's what they'd normally be doing outside at this point in their lunch.
This particular class has some young women (who are really very pretty girls - at least on the outside... their insides? That's a different story) who are so obsessed with themselves that they put mirrors inside their textbooks and will try to spend their entire class period STARING at themselves. If you ask them to please look at their text and not their own faces, they act like you told them to run around the school naked. No joke.
These stellar young ladies (let's call them 1 and 2) are sitting with their buddies (there's only a few of them... no one else is "good" enough to hang out with them) at a table near the teacher's desk. I keep my ears open for general rumblings of dissent and madness, especially because unusual things seem to happen around me quite often.
1 and 2 get up from the desks they were sitting at and take the longest possible route around to the front of the classroom. Once there, I see them drop something on a young man's desk. Immediately he leaps up, backs away and starts this male version of a shriek. "Eek! Eww. Ahhh!"
It was a condom. Out of its package and stretched out. Here's the rest of the conversation:
Me: "Did you just drop a CONDOM on his desk?"
1: "It's not mine. She did it."
2: "It's not mine, either! I found it!"
Me: "Wait. You FOUND a condom, picked it up, hid it in your hand and thought it was a great idea to drop it on someone's desk?"
1: "Well, it's not mine."
Me: "I just want to be clear. You FOUND an open condom and thought, I want to pick that up. That's disgusting. It would have been better if you had brought an unopened one into class deliberately, opened it, and thrown it on his desk. Instead, you're now the girls who pick up used condoms."
1: "Well, she did it anyway. I didn't touch it."
*Obviously, you can tell which one is the Queen Bee and which one is her little minion.
So... I report it to Administration. They yank those girls out of their classes for the rest of the day. 1 and 2 immediately roll on their friends, turning them in, blaming them. Two delinquent teenagers in the principal's office becomes six, and I am the hero of every teacher on campus who hates those girls and can't do a thing about it for fear of losing their jobs. Or at least, I provide them with something to genuinely chuckle about. I also have the Vice Principal tell me that I win the award for the craziest thing happening in a classroom all year long.
Fast forward two months. I am back in this classroom for the first time since this has happened. The first thing that 1 and 2 say to me is... "Wait, are you our sub today?" (they're obviously very bright since I'm IN THEIR CLASSROOM). I say "Yes", which is all I really can say, because inside I'm thinking - If I was you, and I had been busted for being an IDIOT, I would be too embarassed to say a word. Their response: "Cool."
WHAT?!
Fifteen minutes into class, I see 1 grab all of her belongings and head for 2's desk. The conversation:
Me: "Hey. Where do you think you're going?"
1: "She lets us sit wherever we want."
Doubtful.
Me: "Well, regardless of what your teacher lets you do, I know how you are, and you need to get back to your own seat."
1 huffs back to her seat like a spoiled child.
-Ten minutes later.
Me: "Class is not makeup time. Put the mirror away and get to work on some Spanish."
2 mopes and pitches a mini fit, throwing things around at her desk.
Some kids just never learn. I can only hope that someday, somehow, they get theirs. After all, Karma is a bitch.
I feel guilty for hoping that.
Monday, February 22, 2010
OVER-education?
So, I've noticed a disturbing trend in classrooms lately... OVER-education. It seems to me that we are demanding more "advanced" learning at younger and younger ages, and while we're raising a generation of students who can regurgitate more and more language and mathematical facts, we're also raising a generation that lacks the ability to wrap "knowledge" into concepts, or to really UNDERSTAND what they're learning. Regurgitating factoids doesn't show command of concepts, and I'm truly concerned that we're raising a generation of (forgive the term, I mean no offense) idiots.
Today for example... I was teaching 7th Grade Language Arts, and they're working on a short-story by Kurt Vonnegut, HARRISON BERGERON. Vonnegut is a master, certainly. And HARRISON BERGERON carries some serious political and social implications. But can a twelve year old really understand and GRASP Vonnegut? I didn't encounter Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. until I was sixteen! As a reasonably intelligent student, I STILL don't think I understood the implications of SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE. The blank faces on these seventh grade students just makes me wonder... is all of this "Advanced" education really helping? Or are they losing basic conceptual building blocks? Will they ever have the ability to really understand writers like Vonnegut if they're introduced to them too early?
I don't really know. But I am concerned.
One hour later....
Then there's an honors class that blows the whole idea out out of the water... They start asking super intelligent questions about the story. Questions that I believe Vonnegut intended the reader to ask. Deep questions that there are no real answers to. So... who really knows?
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