Quick hits time

Ah, so very nice to have a day off from school. Not exactly a restful day, as I spent it moving boxes and furniture out of my house and into storage and my fiance's condo. But still, nice to have the time to do that.

I played volleyball on Wednesday for the first time in months, and it was a doubleheader at that. Naturally, my whole body now feels like it's on fire. Every time I sit down, it's a struggle to stand back up. Makes moving boxes even MORE fun!

TAKS scores came in today, and they were exactly what I had been expecting. I had 8 kids that didn't pass. They weren't exactly the 8 kids that I had expected, though. 2 kids that I didn't think would pass did (nice surprise), and 2 kids that I thought WOULD pass, did not (not so nice surprise). Those 2 kids who I thought would pass, one missed passing by one question, the other missed it by two. I did have 3 kids who got a perfect score, so that's nice.

One of my favorite shows of all time ends this weekend. Lost has just had a fantastic run, full of mystery, adventure, and jaw-dropping awesomeness. I will totally be glued to the tv this Sunday. One of my favorite NEW shows, Flashforward, has already been cancelled. I honestly don't get how people don't love this show. It has a great premise, great writing, nice twists, and plenty of jaw-dropping awesomeness. Oh well, if only I could be a Nielson family.

The Learn Me Good Facebook fan page is only 5 members away from 200! Come and "Like" it if you haven't already!

T Minus 1

To paraphrase Jack Bauer -- this week is going to be the longest week of my life...

TAKS week is finally upon us. Today was actually the easy day. Tomorrow and Wednesday are all day testing -- standing and walking around the room, watching kids take a test. Thursday will be something new for me. I am giving a test one-on-one to a kid. This kid is special ed and requires the test to be read to him, and I volunteered to do it because this kid also comes from a culture that does not promote respect to women. He is HORRIBLE for his 3 teachers (all women), but when he gets put in my room for time-out or to finish a test, he is usually no problem for me. So I stepped up to administer this test. At least I'll get to sit down.

Today was pretty nice. After full-on review all of last week, today we just did a few morning math problems and then some fun and relaxing stuff. We measured how tall everybody was, for a reference point to help with any height questions that may arise. Everybody stood on a scale to get a reference point for any weight problem that may arise. Then we had a bull session about the test. The kids asked questions and I answered. All capped off with the fan favorite -- Math Quiz Game Show.

Now I can only keep my fingers crossed that they play the way we've practiced.

A little light TAKS practice

I have not been blogging with my regular frequency, as I have been incredibly busy. I am trying to get my house ready to sell, so I've been painting and prepping; I'm (marginally) involved with the wedding planning; and I'm jumping through all the TAKS hoops that my school is putting up in front of me.

So if you've said to yourself, "Dang, Mister Teacher hasn't said anything funny in a while!" well you're right.

But I'm here writing now. 4th grade took their Writing TAKS test today, and thankfully 3rd grade did not have one, but we gave practice TAKS tests on Monday and Tuesday. The results are both hopeful and depressing at once.

Within my classes, I had some very high scores. Even 2 kids who got a perfect score and several who missed less than 3. By far, the majority of my kids passed with above a 70. But I also had some very low kids -- 30s and 40s -- and I honestly don't see how I'm going to get them to pass.

So much of it seems to be attitude with these kids too. They know how to do the problems that they are missing, but when it's a test and/or I am not in the room, they don't show any work, they don't do the steps, and so they get the answers wrong.

The ones that REALLY bug me are the questions that ask what is 30,000+2,000+70+3, and some kids are too lazy to just frakkin ADD IT UP AND SEE WHAT YOU GET!!! They would rather just pick the first answer they see that has a 3 at the front.

Anyway, most of you are probably saying, "Dang, Mister Teacher STILL hasn't said anything funny in a while!" and you're right.

So this is for you -- some funny things to say.

Egg McMuffin
Studs Terkel
Dick Trickle
Pound Puppies Posed Provocatively
Expired Vienna Sausages
Shinola
My bowels be runnin'
West Virgina

One Blogging Moment

Alack and alas, March Madness is officially over. The Tournament has ended, with the dreaded North Carolina making it a lopsided, and incredibly boring, victory. However, this was good news for Joel of So You Want to Teach, who correctly picked UNC as the winner. His "Mariachi Madness" entry in the ESPN pool has won him the History Channel DVD set! Joel, I'll send that spinning your way sometime in the next few weeks.

Even more exciting than that, CBS must have read my letter and listened, because the One Shining Moment video was great! It was by far the best one I've seen in over a decade, marred only slightly by the croaking of Clark "Frosted" Kellogg at the end. Thank you, CBS!!

Today was the 5th grade math TAKS test, and it was an INCREDIBLY long day for someone who had to monitor the exam. Like me.

I'm going to watch One Shining Moment one more time, then I'm going to bed.

Should I be worried?

Today's after-school tutoring went a bit more smoothly than last week's (AND, I managed to clean the blood spot off my wall from where I had banged my head!), though there are still a few things that make my spine tingle...

We have less than 4 weeks left until the TAKS math test. Is it wrong for me to be concerned that some of my kids add 2 dimes, 3 nickels, and 4 pennies by adding 2+3+4???

Or that when solving an Area problem, one girl counted the number 1 twice? ie, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8?

Or even that one little boy didn't notice the large pictograph key, and merely counted pictures by 1''s?