Much Needed Breather/ Time of Thankful Reflection

After a WONDERFUL (and I'm sure all of us can say that it was) week off, I'm missing my kids.  While we're not terribly ready to go back to work full-time tomorrow, the Thanksgiving break was definitely something to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for my students.  I am.  That sounds much less meaningful than it is.  I am so ready to see my kids and hear all about their breaks.  I know many of them got to see family they don't frequently see, and some even got to go on vacations.  One student, J, was so excited for the break because it meant she got to travel and see her dad in jail.  She doesn't have any memories of her dad before he was sentenced, and she's hoping he'll be released sometime next year for good behavior.  At any rate, she adores her dad and carries around a picture of the two of them in her bookbag.  I hope her visit was good, and not too painful.

I'm thankful that I got to spend time with my family this holiday.  Many of my friends (especially those serving overseas) did not get such a wonderful time to reunite with family and friends.

Most of all, I'm thankful that there are ONLY THREE WEEKS until Winter Break!!  At least in our house, the countdown is on and a plethora of Christmas movies is waiting to be watched.  I know that our three weeks will be tough getting back into the swing of school and then the whole week leading up to Winter Break, but I'm confident that we'll make it and that our spirits (and those of our students) will be high.

Erin, Heather, and I will be starting a new adventure this week.  Monday thru Thursday, we'll be tutoring a small class from 3-4 and another from 4-5.  We'll be working with the students who are performing significantly below grade level on their MAP tests.  This will be interesting because our students will be grouped based on their ability level, and not their grade.  On the plus side, no more crazy homework club and no more dance for Erin and Heather.  Wish us luck and patience!

My family has found our perfect Christmas tree and started decorating to get in the spirit.  Best wishes for your search for trees and decorations.

~Ms. Brown

Our First Holiday Apart...

It's our very first holiday separated from our students and as wonderful and needed as this break is, I miss my kids. Don't get me wrong, I definitely need 5 more days away so that I can get my life together and regain my patience but I do miss those crazy kids. As I was reflecting on what they might be doing on their days off (hopefully not gangs or drugs, not kidding) I began to think of how thankful I am this Thanksgiving. So here is my school Thanksgiving list for 2010:

1) I am thankful for a job. As difficult as it is, working at a first year charter school,  I regret complaining all the time. I am so thankful to have a job.

2)  I am thankful for working with such great people.  The plus to working at a first year charter school is that there are a lot of first year teachers so this is to Terrence, Heather, Meg, Katherine, Carmen, Kalena, Betsy and adopted Jennifer. I definitely would not be surviving this year without you!

3)  I am thankful for first year roomies! What would we do if we could not throw open the door, grab a beer, sit down, and vent?? I am so thankful that whether it's a high day or a low day, my roomies understand every frustration and usually have a funny comparing story to go with it.  So many thanks to Amy and Sallie!!

4) I am thankful for food and family.  My students are constant reminders that I had/have an amazing life growing up. A student this week wrote her journal on how she was worried because her mom has had trouble with money and they didn't know how they were going to get food to eat this week. Talk about breaking your heart. Terrence and I did something for her but still...the fear that child must hold over food and wondering if she'll have dinner that night. I am blessed.

5)  I am thankful for my amazing team. In middle school you teach in teams and this was probably one of my top fears for getting a teaching job.  Thankfully, I work with three males. One, how awesome to have that many on just one team and two, they are fantastic! Terrence (history) is a first year but he's 28 with a family. Chuck and Steve are veterans and most often total opposites. They keep me laughing all the time while supporting me in every move. Chuck is my school dad, Terrence is my school husband, and Steve, well Steve and I talk about drinking. haha Love them all! ...and thanks to the 5th grade team for providing female interactions.

6) I am thankful for laughter. I love middle school aged kids but yes they can get obnoxious. I was thinking about a student in particular and even though he drives me absolutely up the wall, at least three days a week, he also makes me laugh constantly. Most of the time it's because I'm at my wit's end but that laughter is medicine.

7) I am thankful for little moments.  I love Heather's blog from the other day because those moments where you feel like you taught something and got through to a difficult child are priceless. Also, Amy's blog because the days where you have to laugh at goof off's is just middle school and those are priceless too.

8) I'm thankful for stupid questions. Yes there is such a thing. I tell my kids there are none but it's a lie. Example: "Ms. Boland, why are we numbering our paper? Do we have a test today?"...yes, I'm going to pretend you didn't ask that and you studied all night. As absolutely frustrating as stupid questions are they let you know who you need to help focus the most.

9) I'm thankful for kids who care.  A lot of my students do not grow up in households that stress grades. My kids could care less about failing every test, quiz, studying, etc. The few that have that inner competitiveness....God Bless them. They make me keep going and help me try to help those who don't want to help themselves.

10) I'm thankful for school. As broken as our education system might be I'm thankful that I have an opportunity to do what I was born to do.  Nothing else has ever felt like a good fit so I'm very thankful...

Sorry it's a long one...again. Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!!

The Small Things

I have to post something inspiring today.  I would go through all the stressful and frustrating moments just to have one of these moments over and over again...


I have a child that is a struggle at the least.  I feel like I am always worrying about behavior with him and not academics because he cannot even sit in his seat long enough to write one word nonetheless a paragraph.  But today, we had a moment.  Yesterday, I taught some vocabulary words, and then we read a story that had those words in them.  One of the words was gleam.  This was a very complicated word for my students to grasp, and we spent a while discussing it until I felt like they understood the word.  Today, the student that is continuously a struggle and behavior problem was cleaning my white board for me for community service.  He comes running up to me and says, "Ms. Sox, Ms. Sox!!! There is a GLEAM on the white board from the sun!"  I responded with the most high pitched, excited voice, "YES THERE IS!!!!"  I couldn't get the smile off my face.  


This seems so small and trivial, but you would be surprised how much of an impact these moments have on my morale and passion to continue to be a teacher.  


Ms. Sox

Words of wisdom...or not.

Here's a nugget of information for all you first year/ soon-to-be teachers: middle schoolers, particularly seventh graders are weird.

That's it. They're weird.  Some amusing examples to follow.

1) The darkest child in the seventh grade wearing a t-shirt that said "I'm the original blonde."

2) Fill in the blank test question: J.J. Thomson discovered electrons through his __science___ experiments.  Good answer, kid, good answer. I marked it correct.  I didn't have the heart to mark it wrong.  I mean, it IS true.

3)Student: "Ms. Green, wanna know what all the students say about you?"
Me: A little nervous, but curious "Sure."
Student: "You have a really big butt.  Like, you have a donk. Insert lyrics, tune, and dance moves to 'she's got a donk'."
Me: "Okay then. Moving on..."
The rest of that class was interesting.

More to come.  Sorry for any grammatical errors to the ELA teachers out there.  I've got a running list, just can't remember them all now.
~Ms. Brown

PS- Today, one of my students took the stickers off his Axe deoderant and stuck them across the bridge of his glasses/ his nose.  I was teaching, and when he answered his question, I looked at him and cracked up.  I did get a picture, so hopefully you'll be able to get a good laugh.

Words of Wisdom

We do a lot of journaling in my class (5th grade English).  Sometimes I allow my kids to "free write," which means that they get to write about anything they would like to write about as long as they are writing for the entire 10 minutes.  After this time, the students are allowed to share their journal entry with the class if they want to.  Naturally, several of my students like to write raps or funny stories; therefore, it is safe to say that this is always a very interesting time in my class.  This entry is not a rap, but I will forever believe that it is one of the most classic pieces of writing I have and will ever read...

Ms. Sox's Glasses

Ms. Sox got new glasses. They are so FRESH.  They are black,gold, and clear.  She got them from Sansbury.  I love Ms. Sox's new glasses.  (I wish that I could insert the very high pitched accent that this was spoken in).

This entry is coming from the same child that shouted, "Pickle on my dickle," in class and compliments me by saying, "Ms. Sox, you look untacky today."  Talk about trying to keep a straight face...

Short but hope you enjoy it!

Ms. Sox

Thank you Jesus...

So we're not very good at this blogging thing yet, but we'll get there. I did feel the need to write today to share my excitement.


Tomorrow is my last day teaching dance with Heather Sox. As much as we love dance and teaching together, we were not prepared for what we signed up for. Every week I dread 4-5 on Mondays and Wednesdays. You would think two eager teachers teaching the art of dance (aka hip hop because that's all our kids want to do and these two un-cultured skinny white girls can't step) to kids who have had little to no dance experience would be fun. We did too. Quickly, we realized a random group of 5-9 graders (many our own students) did not necessarily sign on for a dance education. They chose dance because they did not want to learn Spanish, Drama, Art, or do Fitness Club. They just want social hour with their friends. Our own students are well aware of the fact that we are dead by 4:00 and I'm pretty sure they thought about that when signing up. So instead of dancing we spend the first ten minutes trying to get them to shut up which continues into the gym. After four months, twice a week, you would think they could come in and get in lines and start stretching but no. Thus, we continue to scream to be heard over the noise (silent treatment does not work with our kids so don't judge).  Pretty much dance consists of screaming, more screaming, yelling while stretching, kicking kids out to stand or sit around the gym, to practicing the dance 3 times through. Then it's time to go. Yes, pretty much NO dancing. Out of the now 35ish kids in dance about 10 actually behave and try.  That's right, 35 crazy middle schoolers vs. 2 teachers. INSANE. Earlier in the year we had less kids but now we have tons of kids that don't want to be there because their after school teacher quit. Great. 


I've been thinking about quitting for about 10 reasons but to me the schedule and not getting paid for dance was the main issue. Thankfully, DANCE will be no more. Starting next Monday we will have after school tutoring to help students with low MAP scores. Heather and I will both be tutoring for $20 every day M-Th. HOLLA!! Our days will go till 5 and we'll still have to work out 3 days a week for 30 minutes but at least I won't have to lose my voice by Monday night, scream for an hour straight, deal with girl fights, kids missing, drama, etc. every other day OH and how could I forget....CAR LINE aka duty. I HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE car line. I almost cried doing it on Monday. Maybe it was because I knew I was so close to never doing it again but I about lost it. Due to basketball try outs I was working car line by myself with students (last name A -M). I had to chase after 5 kids who were being rude and ignoring me (nothing new with the 8th graders), take a belt from a 5th grader who was hitting people with it (it was "P" boy actually, haha), make 2 of my 6th graders sit separately after lecturing them, talk to 2 parents in their vehicles about how their child isn't doing crap in my class or any of his/her other classes, and it just went on from there. Oh and at 5:15 we take the "left-over kids" to the office where we sit with them until someone comes to get them. It's usually 5:35 around then and then we have to go workout for 30 minutes (part of our charter/contract).  Keep in mind please this is was the morning that I woke up 30 minutes late, got stuck behind the train, got a nose bleed on the way, and then passed a flipped SUV and had to call 911. MONDAY SUCKED. 


So here is to tomorrow being my VERY LAST day of dance and car line by myself. Hooray!! Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday and if it's 4-5:30 .... say a prayer for us.


Much love - Ms. B