The New Year Blues

Hello followers. It's been so long since I have written anything and I apologize but it is due to a "first year teacher lesson" that well, I just had to experience. I am going to call it "The New Year Blues." This refers to the time frame of the first day back from Christmas Break to the beginning of March. Some might even include March but I am feeling much more up-beat this month.  The "NYB" was the most depressing, ill, and dark time period in my year so far. Kids drop like flies due to the flu/cold, the weather is awful, the days are SUPER long, you need to plan because you did nothing over Christmas break, and now you are settling in the realization that everything you made it through last semester is about to start all over again. I tried to see the bright side and think, "Hey! I can do it! I made it through my first semester. It's down hill from here, right?" WRONG.  I don't even think I can think of a week that went well for the past two months.  It was due to a lot of things at school that I won't discuss but my biggest issue is...why do parents expect us to raise their kids? I am appalled at how ill behaved the kids at my school are. It's not because the teachers don't have good classroom management. If 18 of my 20 kids work well in my room and the other two have lost their ever-loving minds, I don't think that is poor management.  It's MARCH!!!! Why have they not learned by now to 1) Not talk back, 2) Tuck in their freaking shirt (they have to at my school), 3) Stop bullying each other, 4) Stop the drama and most importantly DO THEIR DLR!!!! Since August, my students have practiced my "bell work" routine. DLR is Daily Language Review. It's five simple questions that I use for good grammar practice.  It's a handout that they get off my table every Monday and turn in on Thursdays. Here is how this works:

Step 1: Come in quietly and get out your DLR.
Step 2: Get out a pencil and complete your DLR to the best of your ability. You have "2 minutes."
Step 3: When I begin going over the DLR put away your pencil and get out a pen to correct/fill in your answers. Make sure your pencil is put away so I can see that you checked your answers and did not wait on me to give them to you.
Step 4: Once you have made corrections, put it away and hold on to it till Thursday.

Am I crazy?? Is that asking too much?? I do not understand how it is MARCH, MARCH!!!, and every day I still have to tell them to get it out. I have started doing positive reinforcement for those who come in and do what they are supposed to. Of course, it's the same kids that have been doing that since August but whatever it has helped a little bit. Sadly, I still have kids that sit there like they don't know what is going on, don't know where they are, and act shocked every week when I ask them "Where's the pen on here?" Others participate, follow along, and act like they did their work, then on Thursday....blank paper or its lost.  BLOWS. MY. MIND.  Thankfully I have one period that usually gets it right and sets each other straight.

Thanks for letting me vent blog.  To everyone else- CONGRATS! It's March! It really is downhill from here. :D

- Ms. B