[CCW] I May Have Copy-Catted Her

This Week's Caped Crusader of the Week is Mrs. R.  Sadly, I can't tell you much about her as I've never gotten to teach with her. She teaches at a nearby middle school, and sometimes I get students that were in her class before they were "asked" to leave her school. They have all liked her and speak fondly of her when they come to me. This sounds innocuous, but it isn't an easy feat with my little twinkle-tots. They're quite certain teachers are out to get them, and whichever school they've come from just didn't like them. Not so with Mrs. R. In fact, this mini-convo happened today:

Student A:  Remember Mrs. R?
Student B:  Who?
Student A:  Mrs. R--the cool one?
Student B:  Oh yeah!  I liked her!
Student A:  Yeah!


So there you have it, out of the mouths of... punk kids. She loves her kiddos, she loves to teach, and she treats them honestly and with dignity. She should have a cape--one of these days I'll get off my lazy bum and make her one. Or a hat. But not slippers.

Here's another thing about Mrs. R--I'm pretty certain she had purple hair before I did. I didn't see it, and can honestly maintain that I did not copy her, but I'm pretty sure she was first. That's how cool she is.

So there you have it.  Another caped crusader, and this one actually teaches in my zip code!

[Classroom Necessities] Bossy McBosserton

Given to me by a student this morning:

Heh.

[Friday Free Day] Periodic Space-age

Some of the blogs I like and follow (Ahem, follow... because Following a blog shows you like it, and keeps the blogger from thinking she is sad and alone in the blog-o-sphere) have a weekly post with music or something interesting like a Music Monday, Saturday Stash, or a Tunes-Day. So...

Introducing the Friday Free Day! (this week on a Saturday!)

On Friday Free Day I will talk about whatever I want. I realize I do that every other day, but I think I'll try to keep it to Fridays now, and focus on actual cape-wearing on the other days. Some teachers or school programs have a Friday Free Day in their classrooms. I don't. I think it wastes a whole day. So this is not a blog post about what to do on a Friday Free Day.

Today (yesterday), I want to talk about the number of spaces to put after a type-written period. When I was forced to take typing in middle school (waaaay back in the 80's), we were taught to use two spaces. I have done this ever since. Until yesterday. My Caped Brother sent me an article about the silliness of this habit. The actual article irritated me because the guy was kind of an ass in it, but the idea reminded me that I had heard this somewhere before. I did some research, as I am wont to do. It turns out that in this computerized era, the fonts do the work for you. They are proportional and make the extra space unnecessary (articles here and here). This sounds vaguely familiar, and I have noticed that my posts can sometimes look wonky online. I am wondering if this is due to my extra space-age.

Now comes the hard part. How do I stop putting two spaces in?  Since yesterday I have done a lot of writing and used two spaces almost EVERY time. That last period I didn't, but I literally had to lift my thumb off of the space bar and twirl it a little to keep myself from doing it. I also had to cut and paste my most recent post in to a Word document and find/replace all of my double spaces with single spaces. Creature of habit? Yes.

I just had to go back into that paragraph and fix the spacing. Arg. Those last two periods, too.  Pffft.

I looked about some information on changing a habit. I've read before that it takes between 21 and 28 days. Perhaps if I post every single day for 21 days I'll fix it? Actually, I'll be doing a lot of writing in the next couple of months for my National Board Renewal. Maybe that will fix it? Argh! I just did it again. This is going to be very difficult.... :(

[Student Story] Hanging on a Telephone Wire

So, I asked what you would do in the case of a set of Pants on Fire. Thank you for the suggestions and ideas. Here is what went down:

I put Phone-Borrower in a room away from everyone for awhile (if I say how long it will sound mean). I tried dialing the phone to see if she was silly enough to leave it on--no luck. I went back in and again explained the facts of the situation. Everything pointed to the obvious answer that she was not telling the truth. I never quite said "you are lying" because accusations seem to shut them down more quickly than anything else. I said that I wanted to believe her, but that the facts were not supporting her. I said she could clear her name if she would let us call her grandparents and they could bring the phone (since she was saying it was at home). This is where she started to lose ground. She didn't want us to call. She wanted to bring it the next day. I hounded her with the idea of clearing her name by making sure we had it back. She finally broke down and said someone else was holding it for her but she didn't want them to get in trouble. Eventually, we got the name of that person and we got the phone back. 

THEN I told her that she lied. I said it very clearly and showed my disappointment. I told her that the next step was to lose the attitude, stop trying to back her way out of the lie, and own up to the people that mattered. I told her that I expected her to talk to her mom that evening and own up to what she did. I made sure she knew that even in her lie other students backed her up, and she owed them an apology, too (since they would now be in trouble as well).

Did it work? Well... I thought it may have had an impact. But, the next day when she came to serve her In-School Suspension she was a jerk. I decided to be a hard-ass and put her in ISS again the next day. She started out with an attitude, but adjusted it slightly. At the end of the day it was discovered she had taken the iPod of a family member and given it to another student in our program. Yesterday, she was awful again. So no, it didn't "work." However, she is on a path of some kind and this is a step on that path. She is begging for boundaries and we are working with the family to make sure they are there when she pushes against them. I found out a little more about what might be going at home that is triggering this, and its bad enough that I can't share it here. She needs hugs and loves as much as she needs clear limits and consequences. We'll keep trying to give her both. Hey Mom and Dad--sound familiar?

As for Phone-Lender. We worked with him to call his mom and admit he had not "lost" the phone and that he had given it to Phone-Borrower. I asked him what the "valuable life lesson" was and he immediately said "don't lend out your phone." Well done my little Poodle-head. 

[Student Behavior] 8th Grade Moonies

I am the opposite of cerebral.  I am intuitive, imaginative, and impractical.  I am loosey-goosey, dreamy, and have a casual relationship with time.  BUT.  I prefer provable facts over what-ifs or maybes.  If I am going to make a statement or declaration, I look it up first.
That said,  I am fixin' to make a declaration.  Actually two. Neither one of them have any support or proof that I would consider true, scientific, or accurate.  I feel like they should, and I'm going to go out on a limb.  Actually, I'm going to put my statements on a limb.

First,

My poodle-heads have 8th Grade Disease

and,

The Full Moon is making their 8th Grade disease worse.  

This week I thought my kiddos had 8th Grade Disease.  Looking back in my archives I see that I have never adequately explained this.  I will.  Just not today.  Short version?  8th graders appear to have a genetic mutation that causes them to turn in to monsters.  I don't know if I discovered this disease, just happened to name it (quite creatively I might add), or stole it from someone smarter and wittier.  I just know it exists.  It exists and it started running wild through the ranks this week.  

It got so bad today that I had to take pause.  This didn't seem like your typical illness breakout.  There had to be something else going on.  I checked the calendar, and it appears there will be a Full Moon in one week.  A week away is kind of a stretch for the Full Moonies, I realize that.  Perhaps 8th Grade Disease is compounded by the Full Moon thereby creating a new strain of the disease?  The 8th Grade Moonies?

I sure hope so. Otherwise I've lost my touch.  With my super powers AND reality.  

[Student Story] Pants on Fire

What is the right thing to do?

Kidlet #1 is despondent.  He finally lets me know that he has let another student "borrow" his cell phone and she has not returned it for nearly a week.  He is in big trouble at home, but will only tell his mom that the phone is "lost."  He just wants the phone back.  I make a plan with Phone-Lender Kidlet that I will talk to Phone-Borrower Kidlet, but I will make sure she knows he did not "snitch."

In the meantime, I check my voice mail at work.  Phone-Borrower Kidlet's mom had called checking if she was at school the day before since Phone-Borrower Kidlet is, apparently, also Run-Away-From-Home Kidlet. When I returned her mom's call, I also found out that yes, indeed, Phone-Borrower had a phone and the number of the phone she had matches Phone-Lender's number.  Easy-peasy, right?

I talk to Phone-Borrower and she calmly explains that she did borrow the phone, but it is at home.  She is contrite, she will return it, all will be well.  I call her mom to let her know all is taken care of.  Her mom is confused though, because Phone-Borrower has just sent her mother a text message telling her that she should not have "snitched" on her.  Her mom ensures me that the text was sent and arrived in the last hour (11:41 am exactly).

I talk to Phone-Borrower again.  She swears the phone is not in her possession.  I know this trick, so I ask if it is in someone else's possession, or on campus in any way.  She swears it is not.  I ask her how the text message was sent.  She swears she does not know.  I explain how when the facts are pointing straight at you, it is best to just own up.  She stands by her assertion that the phone is not in her possession, it is not on campus, and she does not know how it managed to send a text message to her mom disguised as her.

So.  What would you do at this point?

[CCW] She's So Super She's a Little Scary

But she will appreciate the alliterative title.

Huzzah to my second Caped Crusader of the Week*, Annie!

I met Annie back in 1997.  We were both Teaching Team Leaders (or some such title) for a summer program. The first day of training kicked off with some touchy-feely-trusty blindfolded garbage that was NOT cool with me.  I cast my eyes around the room (keeping a cool, interested look just in case) looking for an escape hatch. What I found instead was the incredulous face of the teacher across the room.  She was clearly as unamused with the direction our training was taking as I was.   I don't remember exactly how it went after that, other than an overwhelming memory of cheesy training, very little actual information, and the realization that Annie was, indeed, a kindred teacher.  As the summer progressed our friendship grew exponentially (as did our dislike of the structure and leadership of the summer program).

 While I would gladly teach with her any time, I know I'd be a little scared, too.  She is one of the very best teachers I have ever met. She is crazy-smart, has incredible energy, and has amazing taste in music, food, and shoes.  Not only can Annie teach the socks off of most people in the world, she is also able to share that ability as a mentor teacher.  That last line sounds like a sentence from a cover letter, but the truth is, not many good teachers know how to help other teachers be good.  Annie knows how to do it, does it, AND runs a program for her district to help other mentors do it, too.

Did I mention that Annie has an amazing family, beautiful and intelligent kids, can knit, can cook, and know the lyrics to songs I've never heard of? It's true. I'm telling ya, she ROCKS!

I am quite certain our society, our schools are better places because of Annie.  I am even more certain that she was the best thing to come out of that Summer program so long ago.


*Note--While I did name this series "Caped Crusader of the Week," I hope I did not imply to any of you that this would be happening EVERY week.  It just means that it will happen periodically .  And when it does happen, it will be during a week. Kapish?

Quote of the Week #15

Our quote this week is of the "awwwww" variety.

The counselor was playing the Ungame with a small group.  J. (of the Mr. Sketch Marker) was in the group, as was R.   It is important to note that R.'s first day of school EVER was this August.  The short version is this: he has not had any formal instruction and is just now learning the basics.   On the whole my little kiddos have quietly and supportively helped R. and his sister learn their school skills.  They have never pointed out the severe deficits in their skills, and they tactfully help out when needed without making it obvious that they are helping.  In this instance, J. had taken on the role of "question reader" when it was R's turn without any direction from the counselor or discomfort for R.  (that's "awwwww" #1).*

Counselor (reading a question from the game): "Who is your favorite teacher?"
R. (thinks for quite a while...): "Ms. M."
Counselor: "Why?"
R. with J.'s help to explain: "Because she's so understanding."

Awwwww #2.

Now, I must do a wee bit of math for you.  R. has never been to school.  The only teachers he has ever had are the ones he has this year.  That brings the total number of teachers he has to choose from to... two.  I fully realize I had a 50/50 chance here (even less if you count the phase of the moon and the shifting tides of adolescent favoritism).  What makes me happy is not the status (yes, that would be numero uno out of... dos), it's that their reasoning is something I am proud to be favorited for!

I so very much want them to feel understood. I want them to feel cared about and cared for.  I want them to know they have someone in their corner.  This does not mean I become their bestie and give them what they want all the time (or bust out Cee-Lo songs like Gwynth Paltrow). I try mightily to fight the good fight and do what is right by them whether they like it or not.  I tell them often that I love them enough to nag them if I need to, and that I am willing for them to be angry at me or dislike me if it is best for them.

So for today, bless their pickled little hearts for being able to articulate what I want so much for them to feel.

Today it feels like I'm doing my job, and that is quite a powerful feeling.


*Note--I completely understand the need for R. to read things himself.  It is a fine line we are walking to teach him the skills while keeping him equally involved in what the other kids are doing.  I feel this topic requires more depth than this notelet.  Just trust that it was appropriate for this situation.