A few simple gift ideas

My girlfriend, er, I mean FIANCE and I are travelling to her folks' house for Thanksgiving this year. Her parents do have internet, but it runs at roughly the same speed as Rosie O'Donnell. So I won't be blogging for a while.

In the meantime, though, I wanted to put forth a couple of suggestions for anyone looking for some fun gifts for loved ones or co-workers this year.

Readers on your list? Why not start by giving the gift of humor in book form? Check out my own Learn Me Good, the more recent It's Not All Flowers and Sausages by Mrs. Mimi, or the hot-off-the-presses How to Lose Your Self of Steam by Carol at Bellringers! (I just got my copy of Self of Steam in the mail and will be reading it at the future in-law's!)

Seen enough books at school? How about a T-shirt or 2? Good news -- you're in luck! Check out the wide assortment of funny and witty shirts at my Speadshirt store. Here are a few of the designs:





















Savings available for the thrifty shopper! Take advantage of these deals from Spreadshirt!



Want mugs? Tree ornaments? Magnets? Check out my Cafepress store!




Safe shopping as always, and Happy Thanksgiving!!

Things to be Thankful for

Hey everybody, welcome to the first day of Thanksgiving break!!

I know that some schools are still in session through Tuesday or Wednesday of next week, but the Dallas school district for the past few years has combined the Thanksgiving holiday with a couple of staff development days so that if you got your mandatory training done over the summer, you get the whole week off!

So I thought I'd be a little interactive here. I want to know, what are you thankful for this year? Please leave your response in the comment section and/or post to your own site.

Personally, I am thankful for the following things:

• Well of course, the fact that the 10 day break from school and the kids is finally here!! (Can I get a "Whup whup!!")
• A beautiful, loving, wonderfully bubbly fiance
• A new wallpaper picture on my phone of Nutcracker Darth Vader
• Incredible friends and family
• The fact that I've returned to playing volleyball without my back breaking in two
• The 2 most awesome sci-fi schows on TV right now -- Flashforward and Fringe
• Turkey and stuffing
• SOME students in my class that actually listen to what I say and apply it
• Black cherry vodka and Mountain Dew (I call it a "Black Mountain")
• My health and job security

I look forward to seeing what YOU are thankful for this year!!

Bookends

My day (the Friday before break! WOOHOO!!) was bookended by a very rude parent, and it's a woman I can't even remember seeing before today.

It was raining pretty hard when I arrived at school this morning, but I have no doubt that this woman didn't need that as an excuse to pull into our assistant principal's parking spot in the staff parking lot. I would be very surprised if this wasn't a regular occurrence.

Anyway, as I was nearing the building, this lady was walking her kindergarten daughter up to the same door. I said to her -- very politely, I thought -- that since it was raining, her daughter could come inside today through those doors, but that the signs on the door very clearly announced to parents that those doors were for staff only and that children and parents needed to enter through the front doors.

Of course, at right around the point where I was pointing to the large signs, she turned her back on me and walked away. I wonder if she heard me.

I had kind of forgotten about her until the very END of the day, when all of the kids were on the bus, and I was standing on the sidewalk waiting for my bus to leave. I noticed that about 5o feet away, a familiar looking blue car had parked across the street, with its rear end angled out into the street. The driver's side door was wide open, and a familiar looking parent was walking across the street and in front of the bus. I wondered why there were no teachers at that bus to stop this woman from taking her daughter off of the bus -- if not illegal, I'm pretty sure that's at least against school policy -- but I guess since the bus doors HAD been closed, the teachers had left already. I then saw the woman walk her daughter right out into traffic again and across the street before doing a 3 point turn and speeding off.

Now I'm no Nostradamus, but I just have a feeling that by the time that girl gets to us in the 3rd grade, she might just have a hard time following the rules.

Judging by her role model at home, anyway...

The shape of things to come

Today was truly an exercise in patience. As usual, I found myself wanting...

Since we discussed and classified 2-dimensional shapes yesterday -- and the explanation for yesterday's debacle was merely, "I sat on it" -- today we talked about 3-dimensional shapes. Not only did we talk about them, I gave each student a net to cut out and paste together to create a geometric figure.

My morning class (MUCH easier to handle) did pretty well. The only real problem was convincing the kids that their finished product should look like one of the pre-made shapes on my counter, and NOT like a wadded up Kleenex. Sure, a wadded up Kleenex is, technically, three-dimensional, but that's not the point of the lesson.

Then came the afternoon class. Before I could even get the kids started on cutting out the nets, I had to stop several times to review scissor safety and how you do NOT clip the shears back and forth in front of your face. I then had to place not one, but TWO kids in time out for immediately clipping the shears back and forth in front of their faces.

After the kids had created their figures, I began the unenviable task of coaxing them to explore the attributes. How many faces? What 2-D shapes are the faces? How many edges? How many vertices?

As usual, I had about 4 kids that were actively participating and trying to answer the questions while the others did their best showroom window mannequin impersonation.

Finally, the end of the day came around and it was time to dismiss the kids. As I called them to line up, the first boy in line held out the metal part of a pen that holds the tip in place. He said, "Look, this is a cone."

I tend to be a very impatient person and I will be the first to declare that I am SOO ready for a break from this year, this school, these kids.

However, in that moment right before dismissal, one child demonstrated that he HAD learned something today and that he could apply that knowledge to a real-world object.

It's always nice to be reassured that SOMETHING is working...

It's all fun and games until somebody gets a toothpick stuck in their ass

Today's activity was creating 2-dimensional shapes using marshmallows and toothpicks. The marshmallows were the points and the toothpicks were the line segments.

Things were going swimmingly, we had covered angles, lines, rays, quadrilaterals, all sorts of shapes. We were nearing the end of the lesson, creating the final shape of the day, when disaster struck.

I had just asked the kids to make an 8-sided figure. Suddenly, this little boy was standing and howling. He was crying so hard the tears were shooting out of his eyes. My first thought was that he had EATEN one of the marshmallows and that it had still had a toothpick in it or something.

I asked him what was wrong, and as I scanned him up and down, I noticed a toothpick protruding from the side (towards the rear) of the boy's pants. It kind of looked like an Amazon native had shot a blow-dart at him.

I so badly wanted to ask how the toothpick had gotten there -- I mean, after all, they are flimsy little things. I would have thought the toothpick would break or lay flat even if sat upon -- kind of like a straw can't go through a tree unless driven by hurricane-force winds.

But more pressing was the fact that the toothpick was still stuck in his ass. Since he was making no move whatsoever to remove the problem himself, I pulled it out myself. I was amazed by how hard I had to pull to actually dislodge it.

This was the end of class so I never did find out exactly how the incident happened. I sent him to the bathroom to clean himself up and then it was about time to go. Maybe tomorrow when things have settled down and the wound has had a chance to heal, he might tell me.

I only hope it wasn't intentional...

Bars, and Pictures, and Tallies, oh my!

We just ended the 2nd six weeks' grading period, and the last topic of research was graphs. Bar graphs, tally charts, pictographs, you name it.

It was a pretty fun topic to teach AND practice, and the kids seemed to be getting it pretty well. They really had no problem identifying the numbers that went with the bars, and little to no problem skip counting by whatever the key said on pictographs. Even early on, most seemed able to take some data and create their own graphs!

But then came the test yesterday. Despite the fact that we had looked at graph after graph, created graph after graph, made up question after question ABOUT said graphs, I still thought the results of the test were pretty disappointing.

Year after year, there is a question that merely asks "Sebastian had 16 of which type of coin?" Year after year, every single child correctly labels the bars on this graph -- 12 on the bar for quarters, 8 on the bar for dimes, 10 on the bar for nickels, and 16 on the bar for pennies. Year after year, more than a handful of kids choose quarters as their answer. Nevermind the fact that they themselves have written a "16" above the penny.

SO FRUSTRATING!!!

The last question of the test was a pictograph with pictures of boxes of pet food. The key stated that each picture represented 5 pets. Every child in my class correctly labelled the pictograph to show 45 dogs, 35 cats, etc, etc.

The question below asked "What is the total number of dogs that are pets in Juan and Carl's classroom?"

Almost 10 kids totally ignored the fact that they had written 45 next to the line for dogs and picked the answer "9" -- the number of pictures.

SO FRUSTRATING!!!

On the flip side, our 6-weeks' project was fun. The kids created a survey, polled other students, and then used that data to create charts and graphs. The end result was a large piece of construction paper divided into four sections. The first section was their original tally chart showing their topic ("Favorite _________") and the four choices, the second section was that data represented in bar graph form, the third section was the data in pictograph form, and the last section was three student-created questions about the data.

As per usual, the few kids who chose "Favorite Movies" as their topic chose 4 of the worst movies imaginable to survey fellow third-graders about. Movies like Saw IV, Halloween, Texas Chainsaw Massacre, etc. But other topics were fun, such as "Favorite book we've read," "Favorite Food," and "Favorite Teacher."

The graphs were good for the most part. But I was impressed with a lot of the questions being generated. Things like, "What is the difference in the number of blue and red?" And "How many kids were surveyed in all?"

Then, there were some questions that weren't exactly what I was looking for. One boy who had chosen "Favorite Cars" had these 3 questions:
1) How come everybody chose lamborginis?
2) Why didn't they choose the mustangs?
3) Nobody likes Cadillacs.

Hey, at least he was commenting on the data, right?

Speaking engagement

Short post tonight, but very important...


Mister Teacher is engaged!!!!

What are they breathing on the bus?

I may have mentioned it before once or twice, but at my school, we all have bus duty at 3:00. Since about 90% of our kids ride a bus to get home, we have roughly 10 buses, and we all have to get the kids loaded up and shipped home.

Most of these kids have been riding a bus since kindergarten. You would think they would have gotten the routine down by now. Of course, you would think they would also know by now that they are not supposed to climb on toilets, talk during tests, or draw obscene pictures on their own faces. Go figure.

Anyway, I have duty on one of the "better" buses. By that, I mean that the kids aren't particularly violent or disrespectful. They don't hang out the windows cussing at everyone within 50 feet. They don't throw dense fruit (which the school now helpfully passes out every Tuesday) at each other on the bus.

However, they also seem to step onto the bus and lose all rationality. Which makes me wonder if perhaps the bus exhausts are actually pointed INTO the cabin of the bus somehow? Maybe my friend The Bus Driver can weigh in here...

I get on the bus to help get the kids in place. I see kids turned around, peering over the back of their seat. I have seen kids STANDING on the seat. Today, there was a kid rolling his (eaten) apple core across the floor. There are girls that come in and sit 3 to a seat, with the 3rd turned so her legs block the aisle, not allowing other kids to pass by.

If I had a nickel for every time I told a kid to sit down on the bus, I would never want for ketchup again.

rags and riches

Fate can be a fickle thing. Sometimes it showers you with money, sometimes it drenches you in... well, let me take a step back.

Today was an average Friday. One kid out for truly bizarre reasons, one kid tattling on another for something he didn't even witness, one horribly written math common assessment.

First of all, when a question says, "How many miles do Mr. Pride still need to drive?" somebody needs to call out the grammar police. But when the very first question doesn't even have a correct answer choice to go with it, I just get really upset for even having to waste my time giving the test.

The question read, "Donna invited 20 friends and 6 relatives to her birthday party. Only 13 of her friends could come to the party. Which is the best way to find the total number of people who came to Donna's party?"
A) 20+6-13
B) 20-6-13
C) 20-+6+13
D) 20-6+13

Nevermind the fact that Donna herself would be at the party, the correct answer should have been 13+6. To get answer A, which is undoubtedly the answer the writer was going for, the question should have said that 13 of her friend could NOT come to the party.

Ugh.

Anyway, after the school day was over, I was treated to the discovery of two quite opposite findings.

First, as I reached the bus that I have duty at, I noticed an election sign lying on the grass. Several kids were standing around it, pointing and gibbering, and some of them were stomping on it. I went over to move it, but as I grabbed it and picked it up by the paper portion, one kid started shouting, "NO NO NO!!" I thought, ooh, maybe somebody put it there to mark an ant mound, I better watch out. But no, as I looked down, there were no ants. Merely 4 of the biggest, beefiest dog turds I had ever seen. Apparently, the sign had been holding back the smell as well as the sight of these cylinders, so I carefully put the sign back in place.

Later though, on my way out of the school, I found a dollar bill lying in the middle of the hallway. The only teacher nearby laid no claim on it, so I seized it as my own!

From dog poop to greenbacks, all in the course of a school day. What a life.

Brand new carnival

This week's Carnival of Education is being hosted at I'm a Dreamer, and the host was gracious enough to include a last minute entry by yours truly. My post of What's the Difference is part of the midway. But not only that, the entry by Mr. D of I Want to Teach Forever also references me -- along with a great game to play with kids of low number sense (LNS).

Check it out!

Feeling the Monday blahs

At least I hope it is just the Monday blahs. I have felt really down today. Maybe it is partly because I am recovering from a cold. Maybe it is partly because I feel sore all over (either from volleyball or pulling weeds?). Maybe it is because I didn't sleep well last night.

But I think it is mostly due to the fact that I came into my classroom - after being absent on Friday - to find chairs in disarray, desks with papers falling out, a whole box of kleenex gone, a bottle of hand sanitizer broken and empty...

And then I have the kids that just beat me down this year. The kids who fail the tests, who don't do their homework, who don't pay attention, and who just don't care. I know that there are always kids who struggle, but I think part of my mini-depression is that we have spent a solid 2 weeks on subtraction and regrouping, and I had 6 kids who absolutely BOMBED the test. Despite the fact that I worked extensively with these kids in small groups, and they could do it when they were with me, they just didn't care enough to do it the right way on the test!

I feel like the average to high kids in my class are really getting gypped because I am always having to slow down to get one of these lower kids back on track, or just onto the track in the first place. Yet I am not quite at a point where I just want to leave these low kids to totally fall behind.

I'm just frustrated. Incredibly frustrated. And unlike previous years, I am having a lot of trouble finding the humor in daily activities with this group.

I also saw the future of some of my kids today after work. I stopped by Subway, and the guy making my sandwich made me think of how some of my kids are going to be in about 10 years. This guy didn't have a clue as to what he was doing. I had to point out that he hadn't put enough slices of turkey on the bread, and he seemed to be having trouble counting out the tomatoes. Thankfully, someone else was working the cash register.

Maybe Tuesday will be kinder and gentler...

What's the Difference?

Well, we gave a subtraction test this past Thursday, and MOST of my kids did pretty well. Which is a good thing, since we've been practicing subtraction pretty extensively for the past 2 weeks!!

The good news is that I started the year with about 4/5 of my kids thinking that 2-8=6 (not regrouping), and now I only have 4 or 5 kids that still do that on a regular basis. In fact, one of the questions on the test was "How do you know when you are supposed to regroup on a subtraction question?" I am pleased to say that all but about 3 of the kids answered something to the effect of "When you have a tiny top and a big bottom."

Of course, some of my kids who still don't regroup got that question correct, so they KNOW when they are supposed to regroup in theory, they just don't put it into practice...

What disappointed me was the other short answer question. Much like on our addition test, where I was looking for the word 'SUM,' I posed a similar question on this test:

What is the math word that means "the answer to a subtraction problem?"

The answer, of course, is "Difference." This is something that we have talked about repeatedly, used in word problems, and it was even up on the board on a Clue Word list. However, I only had 16 kids (out of 40) that got this question correct.

Wrong answers included the following:

Sum (I guess they missed it on the last test and hoped to jump on the bandwagon this time)

Check your work (Good advice, but does not answer the question)

How many more

Take away

Compare

Left (These words at least are subtraction clue words, but still don't answer my question)

Subtract (Too obvious, kid)

And my personal favorite (*SARCASM ALERT!!*):

Addition.

Yeah, the answer to a SUBTRACTION problem is called "The Addition."

Just when I thought we had mastered the concept of opposites...

Linking while sick

I called in sick today for the first time this year. I very rarely miss school, but I was just feeling horrible yesterday, and being able to sleep in till 11 this morning certainly seemed to help that some. I'm still stuffed up and I still have a sore throat and a headache, but at least I'm not having to deal with unruly children on top of that.

So, since I'm home, I figured I'd go ahead and make a new blog post, pointing over to our good friend Tom deRosa's page -- I Want to Teach Forever (FAME!). Tom has hosted the Carnival of Education this week, and it's got some great posts, including Sum Wrong Answers from here at Learn Me Good. Now if Mr. D would just add me to his blogroll! :)

I've also been slowly coming into my own in the Twitter-verse, but I'm still learning gradually. I know there are lots of you out there that are using Twitter that I have not hooked up with yet, so I wanted to send an open invite to anyone reading this to follow me @learnmegood and to leave a comment on this post with your twitter name so that I can follow you.

Twitter Me Good!

Powers of Observations

I had my first observation today. Don't know if I can call it an official or unofficial obervation, but the principal walked in midway through math class and sat in the back and watched.

At the time, I was throwing tennis balls at one kid while calling him unflattering names, so I don't know how that will look in print.

J/K!!

Actually, at the time, the kids were practicing 3-digit subtraction across zeroes with whiteboards, so it looked a little like controlled chaos. I was walking around the room as kids randomly held up their board for me to see that they had done a problem, checked it by adding the bottom two numbers, and verified that their answer matched.

It was a lot of me nodding across the room and pointing, saying, "Good. OK. Yep. Right. Good."

At one point, a girl at the table closest to the principal was having trouble with one question so I went over to help her. (Helping, while occasionally glancing around at the whiteboards around the room, quietly nodding, "Good. Yep. Right on.")

While I was trying to help her, she seemed mesmerized by the principal. I would ask her (the student) where to get more tens from, and she would glance at her board, then gaze at the principal. I would ask her again, and she would answer Hundreds, then borrow one from the hundreds place, then look up and gaze at the principal.

Finally, even the principal said, "Child! Focus on your work!!"

20 great online sites for kids' education

Once again, Karen Schweitzer -- Guest Poster Extraordinaire -- is at it again! This time, she has contributed a list that can help teachers and kids who have internet access at home or nearby.

Her list is titled, "20 Online Tools and Sites to Engage Students in Learning," and without any further ado, here it is!

The Internet is loaded with tools and websites that teachers can use to engage their students in math lessons, language arts, history, art, music, and other subjects. Here are 20 online tools and sites to try throughout the school year:

Math

Numbernut.com - Rader's Numbernut.com is an excellent mathematics site with fun and interactive games, exercises, and activities. Resources are designed for students who are working with basic to advanced math concepts.

Math.com - Math.com is an online mathematics site where students can play games, practice math, use online calculators, and get homework help. This math site is a great way for students to learn about math while having a fun and engaging experience.

AplusMath.com - Developed specifically to help math students, AplusMath uses interactive games, flashcards, puzzles, and worksheets to encourage effective learning and better grades.

Gamequarium - Gamequarium offers free online tools and games that are wonderful for helping students learn math. The site provides tools for general math, calculators, and converters along with multiple interactive math games.

Language Arts

The Story Home - This site features classic and original audio stories designed for younger students. The stories can be listened to on the computer or transferred to a CD or MP3 player.

WordAhead - WordAhead provides free online vocabulary videos for college bound high school students. Users of this site can browse through the videos, watch them in the study room, and read word lists. The site also features a word of the day and useful study widgets.

Visuwords - This graphical dictionary makes it easy to see how words relate to one another. Visuwords can be used by students and teachers as an interactive dictionary and thesaurus.

Bookwink - Bookwink uses podcasting and videos to connect elementary and middle school students with books they may find interesting. The monthly updated videos take an average of three minutes to watch.

History

HyperHistory - This impressive history site features thousands of files that cover about 3,000 years of world history. HyperHistory has links for people, events, and maps. Hard copies can also be printed.

KidsPast.com - KidsPast.com has unique history games that are designed to entertain students while teaching important history facts. The site also features online history activities for reviewing previously learned facts.

History Matters - Designed for students and teachers, this history site provides innovative teaching materials, primary documents, and historical evidence guides.

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History - The Smithsonian Museum has several interactive tools and resources that students can use for studying natural history. Resources include lesson plans, web-based student activities, and classroom resources.

Arts and Music

Artopia - This comprehensive art site for middle school students concentrates on visual and performing arts. Artopia allows students to study imported works while taking part in activities that teach principles, styles, and processes.

Canvastic.net - Canvastic.net is a free online tool that students can use to get in touch with their creative side through drawing, painting, and writing. This mess-free site can be used without installing any software.

DSO Kids - The DSO Kids site offers games and activities that engage students in the art of music. Just a few of the games worth trying are time machine, music match, and picture paint.

Glogster - This free beta site makes it easy for students to express their creative side through mixing images, text, music, and videos.

Miscellaneous

Nota - Nota is a free collaborative web tool that can be used for collaborating, creating, and sharing online material. The site allows you to integrate text, maps, video, photos, clip art, and much more.

Bugscope - This free interactive online microscope allows K-12 students around the world to explore insects under a scanning electron microscope. Teachers wanting to sign their class up for a session need to apply six weeks in advance. However, five previous sessions can be found online.

BrainPop - BrainPop is an educational site that provides curriculum-based games for engaging students in learning. Throughout this site, you can find educational games for science, social studies, English, math, art, music, health, and technology.

Cyberbee - Cyberbee encourages students to discover educational content on the Internet through a series of treasure hunts. The site also provides teachers with curriculum ideas, postcards, research tools, web links, and web projects.

Guest post from education writer Karen Schweitzer. Karen is the About.com Guide to Business School. She also writes about online degree programs for OnlineDegreePrograms.org.

Early release? For the kids maybe...

Tomorrow is an early release day for DISD. At least for the kids, who get to leave at 12:30.

For the teachers, early release day usually turns out to be a LONGER day than most, because after the kids go free, the teachers meet to analyze the recent benchmark (BM) tests.

Joy.

I can't wait to spend hours poring over why my English as a second language kids didn't get an elaborate word problem involving division. Could it be that there was more trickeration on the question than usual? Could it be that we haven't begun to teach division yet? Could it be that the kids aren't good readers?

Joy.

Docents and gallery walks

Today was a really good day for math class. We had designated it as a Problem Solving day, so I had the kids work in groups to solve word problems. We've been going over subtraction for the past couple of weeks, so I had written up 5 subtraction word problems -- none of which used the word "left" -- and gave one to each group.

The groups then copied the problem onto a larger piece of posterboard and went through the steps of solving the problem.

For the most part, the kids worked well together, talked out the problems, and took their fair share of the work. We had made up a rubric for groupwork beforehand, and the kids graded themselves and their partners after they were done with the problem.

After that, though, the really enjoyable part began. I posted the problems on the walls around the room and had each group choose a "docent" -- a group member to stand by the poster and answer any questions or explain the process to the groups that would rotate around during the gallery walk.

Once the gallery walk began and groups were checking out each other's work, I walked around and listened in. I really enjoyed hearing discussions of which number in the problem was the "whole" and which were the "parts;" how "difference" means the same thing as "how many more;" how you are supposed to round numbers if the question has the word "about" in it; how there is no possible way 38 dogs still need to be fed if there were only 21 dogs to begin with and 17 of them have already been fed.

I still have some incredibly low kids in my class, there is no way around that. But I also have a large group of kids that are really beginning to show great thinking skills and the ability to share their reasoning.

I'll turn the lights off...

My partner and I have been working hard to meet this year's decree that we have to conference with every student's parents. While some teachers are choosing to take this at its most literal level -- ie, hello, how are you? Nice to meet you, thanks for coming by, take care, great conference -- we are sitting down for 15-30 minutes with each parent and going over grades, benchmarks, expectations, etc.

Last Thursday night was the "official" parent conference night, and we met with 15 students' parents that day. The next day, we were at school till almost 6 meeting with more parents. Yes, on a Friday. Today, we were at school till almost 6 again.

At least I can say that the end is in sight. We have about 5 more scheduled for tomorrow, and then we have about 6 more than we haven't been able to schedule yet.

I'm glad we don't have to do this EVERY time report cards come out...

Ghost in the Machine

For the past couple of weeks, my overhead machine has been bugging the crap out of me. On a daily basis, there comes a time when I touch it just so, or put a little bit of pressure in a certain place, or just LOOK at it the wrong way, and it goes off. But then I touch it again, and it comes back on. And goes off. And comes back on.

This usually continues until I do either:

a) the mature and professional thing -- push the on/off button, open the lid, close it firmly, and push the on/off button again.

or

b) the immature "Fonzie" thing and pound it with a closed fist, bringing it back on.

After about the 4th day of this (when I wasn't nearly as aggravated by it), when the light would start going off and on, I jokingly referred to it as "the ghost." That got a laugh from the kids.

NOW, after about the 20th day of it, it happens, and all the kids immediately shout, "The ghost!!" While I mutter about wanting to kick the ghost in the family jewels.

I keep meaning to look into this in more detail, except that I've been inundated with meetings, parent conferences, etc. I don't know if there is a short in the machine or if the light bulb is faulty, and I just haven't followed up on either of those yet.

And so the ghost lives on. I'm about ready to cross the streams on this sucker though...

One Crazy Night

Tonight was parent-teacher conference night, and things were a bit hectic, to say the least.

Actually, it goes back to last week, when we were told that we needed to meet with EVERY parent within a 2-week window. 44 parents is a lot of parents to contact, set up a meeting with, and then actually meet with. It certainly cannot be done in 4 hours on one night, so we scheduled certain people for certain time slots.

In fact, it was a TA helping us by calling parents and scheduling them, so I really didn't know exactly who we were going to be meeting with tonight until just today.

But for the past 2 days, there have been announcements over the speaker saying, "Remember! It's parent-teacher conference night! We want to see you there! Bring your parents!!"

And kids saying, "HUH???" because we hadn't yet gotten ahold of their parents to schedule a conference!

At any rate, my partner and I met with 3 parents during our planning period and lunch (I wolfed down a tray of frito chili pie in ten minutes) and then 12 more this evening. We had to turn away 5 parents, scheduling them for a later date.

Only one of them seemed to take it harshly, saying she would not be back (but I think she was an aunt anyway, and we weren't really sure why she was there and not the mom or dad...).

Tomorrow, we are signed up for conferences till 5:00! On a Friday! Ughh....

Big Tex says Howdy!

This week's Carnival of Education is being hosted by Carol over at Bell Ringers, and it's got a great midway! Go check out the sites, read the posts, and leave a few comments! Oh, and stay away from the deep fried butter.

Sum wrong answers

I gave a math test today, and the subject was addition. There were several computation problems to allow the kids to show (or disprove) their mastery of basic facts and regrouping, a couple of word problems, and one short answer question.

The question was, "What is the math word that means 'the answer to an addition problem?'"

I even talked about this question for a bit before the kids got started on the test. I told them that I just wanted one word that is another name for the answer we get when we add. This is definitely something that we have discussed before.

Out of 40 kids that took the test, I believe I had 15 that got the correct answer, "sum."

Here are the wrong answers I got:

Add (so obvious, yet so wrong)

The sain (in the membrane?)

Math addition (as opposed to social studies addition?)

Equal (nope, it's different)

Altogether (the process, but not the answer)

Standard Form (the answer is IN standard form, but that's not what it's called)

Fourty thousand ninety three (only for a VERY specific addition problem)

Add saharats (????)

The plus sign (the ANSWER is not called the plus sign!!)

Shug you whorek (I found this somewhat offending when I first read it, but then I realized he meant Show your work)

Regroup (Another random math word that does not answer the question)


Ah, vocabulary, my old nemesis, you win again!

Benchmark stumpers

Last week was Benchmark week at my school. Or, as I like to refer to it -- BM week. Four benchmarks! Four subjects! Four mornings of absolute joy!!!

I don't particularly care for benchmark tests. First of all, they often seem to be written by someone who hasn't spoken to a child in 10 years, much less actually TAUGHT one. The story problems always have really weird names in them (and believe me, I teach at a school with some really weird names) like Azcaputle and Terrenicavia. They contain questions that cover concepts that we have not even taught yet. And there is SO much reading involved that a lot of my kids who are good at math but not so great at reading just get swamped by all the verbiage.

Oh, and since we teachers are all a bunch of lying, cheating, stuck up, scruffy looking nerf herders, we certainly cannot be trusted to administer these tests to our own students. So I found myself in another 3rd grade teacher's room for those four mornings, watching her kids (and trying SO very hard not to tell them all the answers and fill in the bubble sheets for them!).

A few observations:

On the Social Studies test, a couple of kids said that a Good Citizen destroys property and breaks laws.

On the Science test, a few students said that it was ok to drink a strange laboratory liquid to identify it.

On the math test, 3 kids were absolutely stumped by the first page. They were not able to move forward until I pointed out to them that that was just the measurement page with rulers and unit conversions, and that question number ONE was on the following page...

Baby Twitting

I have a couple of disturbing trends to report here today.

First, I have been to see several movie that are distinctly in the "adults-only-and-even-then-only-SOME-adults" category, yet each time, I am seated almost directly next to a child under the age of four!!!

My buddy and I went to see District 9 about a month ago, and there was a kid about 3 years old sitting 5 seats down from us! That was an awesome movie, but NOT for a child!!

Even worse, my girlfriend and I went to see Paranormal Activity on Friday night, and there was a ONE-YEAR-OLD sitting 6 seats away!!! That movie was scary as hell! What parent in their right mind takes a baby to see a movie like that???

The next disturbing trend is one I have decided to stick my toe into, and that is the world of Twitter. Yes, I have opened a Twitter account. So I invite all of you to "follow me" as I impart my words of wisdom. Yeah. :)

My user name is @learnmegood, and I hope to Tweet you soon!

Wanted?

Ed U Cater has an excellent Help Wanted ad up on his site today. It sums up all of the things that he is being asked to do beyond the actual act of teaching students, and he's looking for a personal assistant.

Just in case anyone is interested in filling the position. Come to think of it, I could use one of those assistants, too.

Looking up

Our first 6 weeks grading period ended last Friday, and the grades are officially locked in place. We gave a cumulative math exam on Friday, and I was pretty pleased with the results overall. In my morning class, all 22 kids passed (above 70), and in the afternoon class, I still had a 30, a 45, and a few in the 60s, but the others did well -- and that one kid went from a 17 to an 80!

I'm starting to think there's hope yet.

This week has been rough, as we've given benchmark tests every morning. However, for the limited time we've had, the kids have done pretty well each day. Granted, we are going over 2 and 3 digit addition with regrouping, something that should be pretty easy for them. But they are all showing their work and making the effort, so that's nice to see.

Tomorrow is the math benchmark. Typically, these things are atrocious, especially the first one of the year, but I have high hopes. My kids know place value. They know how to round. They know how to write a number in word form and expanded form. Most of them understand how to find a missing number in a pattern. These are the things that should be tested. The problem usually arises in the wording of the questions. Some of them are ridiculously over-worded or use vocabulary that nobody outside of Harvard would ever use.

I seem to recall a question one year that asked, "What time does Tommy go to folklorien class?"

What The Folk-lorien???

Finally, some motivation that works!!

I think I have finally struck upon some valid motivation for one of my super-low kids!!

Let me explain the back-story. This kid is heavy-set, academically low, a talker, a player, a does-not-pay-attentioner, and generally all-around "slug." On the first math test, this kid got a 20-something. On the second math test, he got a 17. And these were not hard math tests, or unfair tests. He just was not trying at all, and it showed.

Conversely, a lot of my other kids HAVE been picking it up and trying harder. I am finally starting to get through to them that paying attention and doing their work the way we practice in class really CAN help them get the right answers and get better grades.

In my morning class, every single one of my kids who had scored low on the first test dramatically improved their grade on the second test, and the kids who had done well on the first test, also did well on the second.

In my afternoon class, which contains the "slug" (and several others), there wasn't quite the same dramatic results, but there were a few kids who improved and several others who passed both tests.

So I decided to make a really big deal about this. At the very beginning of school, I had gotten stacks of "Buy one adult meal, get a kid's meal free" cards from Denny's, Golden Corral, and Popeye's. So I took the time to fill them out with the kids' names, my name, our school name, etc along with the phrase "Math Improvement!" if they had improved their score, or "Math Skills!" if they had passed both tests.

I gave these out on Tuesday. Everybody in my first class got one, and they loved it. Somewhere around 60% of my second class got one, as there were still several kids with very poor grades.

On Wednesday, my "slug" started paying attention. He was raising his hand to answer questions. Correctly!! He brought the homework in on Thursday morning with work shown and completed. The kids took the 6-weeks cumulative assessment on Thursday, and this kid, while not having everything correct, had work shown for every question. He had labeled his coins, he had shown me his addition when he needed to, he had drawn place value charts.

When I graded the tests, I found that this "slug" -- who had made a 20-something on his first test, and a 17 on the second -- had scored an 80 on the 6-weeks test. An EIGHTY!!

Now maybe the planets aligned just right for him to finally get with the program. Maybe something I said about effort finally seeped through.

But I have a feeling it was the idea of free food that finally jump-started his engine.

And you know what, I'm ok with that.

Somebody will definitely be getting a Golden Corral coupon come Monday morning.

Who's driving the car?

There has been massive craziness going on at my school, and perhaps in my whole district. You know the saying, "When you fail to plan, you plan to fail?" Maybe that needs to be posted out in front of the school.

Everything is short notice. THIS is happening tomorrow. I need THAT by the end of the day. THE OTHER is due an hour from now.

This particular week is a 3-day week for us in Dallas ISD. We had a student holiday/staff development day on Monday, and Friday is elementary school Fair Day. So we get 3 days with the students. The students who aren't out sick, anyway.

But then we're told that several of us are going to be required to attend an off campus subject-level meeting today, on Wednesday. Granted, we were told this LAST week, not just yesterday, but we were also told that somebody would cover our classes and teach the kids in our absence.

That was changed, and instead my kids just went to the auditorium to watch a movie from 1:45-3:00, along with all of the other kids whose teachers got pulled out for one of these meetings.

Talk about a waste of instructional time!!

Then there was the whole fiasco of what the meetings were actually going to be ABOUT! We knew that there would be discussions of the common assessments that were given about 3 weeks ago. But yesterday we were told that we had to compile all of the data for percentage wrong on each question. Then today, we were told that we needed to know percentages for each answer choice.

By the time I left the school, I didn't even have any of the data and felt like I was walking blind into the meeting.

Thankfully, the meeting was pretty good, the teachers there shared a lot of good strategies and we all agreed that the test was pretty poorly made and poorly timed. :)

But I lost out on quite a bit of time with my kids that I really needed to review for their 6-weeks assessment tomorrow! (Did I mention that this 3 day week comes at the very end of the first grading period?)

Also, I was almost the only guy in the whole building wearing a tie. I'm just saying. The dress code is NOT enforced everywhere...

Adventures at the Taco Bell

I thought for quite a bit before writing this post today. I certainly don't want to come across as seeming immodest or bragging, but I went through a very unique experience today (at least for me), and I really wanted to blog about it.

I might possibly have saved a guy's life today.

OK, there, I said it. There's the immodesty part of the post. Sorry.

Today was a student holiday/staff development day. We sat in the cafeteria all day long while we had a math meeting, watched some required videos, filed papers in students' cumulative folders, etc. When it came time for our lunch break, my colleague, Mrs. Math, and I went to the nearby Taco Bell for some delicious and healthy food.

We had eaten our food and were sitting around talking when I started hearing some odd sounds coming from someone behind me. Progressively louder burps, odd gurgling sounds, throat clearing, and so on. At one point, I whispered to Mrs. Math, "What the heck is going on behind me?" Instead of saying something along the lines of, "Some weirdo making disturbing sounds," she started describing the wallpaper behind the guy.

Not long after, the sounds started really getting to me, so I suggested that we leave. As we stood up, the sounds from behind became markedly more choking-like, and I turned to see the guy. He was definitely choking and turning red.

I don't really remember what I asked the guy -- I know I didn't say, "Are you choking?" like you're supposed to. I think I just said, "Are you ok?" But it was clear that he wasn't.

I think of the Heimlich Maneuver in the same way I think of CPR and driving stick shift -- I know how to do these things IN THEORY. Actually putting them into practice is another matter, though.

It was pretty obvious that this guy needed help fast, however, so my worries about breaking a rib were short-lived, and I stepped over to the guy and did my best version of the Heimlich on him. The first thrust seemed to work, as a lot of crap came out of his mouth. But when I pulled away and asked if that got it, he shook his head vigorously. So I did it a couple more times, finally getting a little more out.

And that was pretty much it. The guy thanked me, he actually offered to pay me, I declined, and we left.

And to think, we probably would have had a boring old time had we gone to Subway instead...

Web sites to help kids

I got a tip from Adrienne Carlson at Forensic Science Schools about a post she recently wrote entitled, "100 Tools to Make Your Kids Math and Science Stars."

I thought it was pretty neat. I only have one working computer in my classroom, and it runs at about the speed of mud. But I might just jot a few of these math sites down for any kids in my class who have working internet at their home or who can use the computers at the library. I especially found the math section of websites helpful.

Also, we're only 2 FoLMeGs away from 100! Step right up and join the club!!

It'll cost ya

This afternoon, one of my kids had been jangling a quarter around in his pocket (which always annoys me). As I was walking around the room, I noticed that he had placed the quarter on his desk. So as I walked by, I picked it up, put it in my pocket and as I walked away, I said, "Thanks for paying me 25 cents for being such a good teacher! Tomorrow, bring a ten dollar bill."

The kids all laughed, and we carried on. I totally meant to give him the quarter back at the end of the day. Unfortunately, I forgot. Oh well. We'll see if I remember tomorrow...

rearranging your classroom

About a month ago, I submitted an article to ezines.com titled Rearranging Your Classroom -- 3 Tips for Teachers at the Beginning of the School Year. Yesterday, I received word that the article had gone live.

Please surf on over and check it out, maybe pass it on, maybe leave a rating or two...

Well at least I haven't heard THAT!

As we enter the 5th week of school (and half my class is out sick -- not to mention the principal, the CRC, the nurse, and several other teachers), I realize that many and most of my posts here on my blog have been negative, complaining, or at least depressing. There's no doubt that I am having a rough year, but this blog is supposed to be about the OCCASIONAL rant, not the rant as norm.

Therefore, it's time for some humor. Or at least some attempted humor.

I thought I'd put together a little list of things that, despite all else, I haven't heard my kids utter this year. Yet.

1) What the heck are numbers?
2) Why is there green stuff shooting out of the toilets?
3) I think I should like to place myself in time-out, thank you very much.
4) This pencil is clearly of the finest quality!
5) What are those 2 lines? (referring to the equal sign)
6) My mom says if somebody spits on me, I should spit on them. (Oh wait, I DID hear that one this morning, from a little girl getting off the bus.)
7) Mmmmm!! Sloppy Gummy Bear Joe for lunch!!
8) Which end of the crayon colors?
9) Mister Teacher, I read your novel, Learn Me Good, this weekend, and it was awesome!
10) My parents let me have coffee and chocolate cake for breakfast!!
11) How much for your whole collection of markers?
12) Does this look infected to you?
13) Is Tequila a noun or a verb?
14) Par-kor!!
15) Let's play Golden Girls! I'll be Blanche!
16) The world is going to end in 2012 anyway, so why do we need to learn math?
17) My mortgage is killing me!
18) Something inside my desk is moving.
19) Kanye West is a jackass.
20) I got that question right. Where are the free hot dogs?
21) Edward or Jacob?
22) I lost a toe this weekend, doing long division.
23) Uh, I was told there would be no math.

Down with the sickness?

Is it just me, or has this been the worst year for health in the classroom? I have not felt well since school started on August 24th. I've had a persistent cough, alternating runny/stuffy nose, watery eyes, and a general head fog. Yet I don't think I have a cold or flu or ebola -- I think it's just allergies from my really really awful classroom.

Of course, it's not that true sickness is not going around, so I could be mistaken. 3 of my homeroom kids were out sick yesterday, along with one girl from my afternoon class. Plus one boy who has been IN class for the past two days, but making loud retching sounds before I finally convinced him to go to the bathroom if he was going to throw up.

I had to stop my whole morning class yesterday and do guided practice on how to cough and sneeze into the crook of your elbow, and NOT into the general air supply, as had been the norm.

Here in Dallas, there are people dying from Swine Flu, regular flu, AND West Nile Virus!! I just want to survive the school year!!

It's kind of a "chugga-chugga-chinka" sound

You know how when you take your car into the mechanic because it's making that weird sound, but then it doesn't actually make that sound while you're at the mechanic's? Or when you go to the doctor because something is really bothering you, but then it's fine for the duration of the office visit?

Well, I had the kid-equivalent version of that today.

We have a math coach at our school for a couple of days a week this year, and after meeting with her yesterday, we arranged for her to observe my class today. I wanted her to especially see my misbehaving, non-attention-paying, low academic afternoon class.

And wouldn't you know it -- that class was spectacular today! They were explaining things, they were using math words, they were participating... they were even behaving better than usual.

Of course, there were a couple that were far less than perfect. My ADD boy has for some reason developed loud hiccups for the past couple of days, and apparently they are contagious, as another child started mid-class as well.

But overall, the kids did as they were asked, they gave good answers to my questions while going over homework, and they seemed to listen.

The coach told me later, "You have some great kids!"

While I certainly never want to nay-say a comment like that, I still had to protest just a bit, saying, "But they're not usually like that!!"

Overall, though, it made for a pleasant day.

In my morning class, the counselor did a guidance lesson on college and career choice, and the kids got a page asking what job they aspired to. I had several future doctors, soldiers, and teachers. I also had 2 girls (bright, in my opinion) write that they want to work at Jack-in-the-Box when they grow up.

Hey, ya gotta have goals, right?

Must be the rain

After several months of hot, hot weather, a still-hasn't-ended rainstorm started late Friday night. This brought the temperatures way down and made things a lot wetter. It also maybe (?) curbed some behavior problems I've been having.

Actually, I think it has a bit more to do with some other things I've been implementing. I've started a table competition, where each table (there are 6) starts with 10 tally marks on the board at the beginning of the day, and they lose marks through bad behavior, not showing work, etc, and they gain marks through participation, doing homework, etc. The table with the most tally marks at the end of the day gets an extra blue ticket per person.

My second class is slowly but surely shaping up. There are still a few talkers and kids who don't pay attention. But where it had been around 18 out of 22, now it's down to around 5 out of 22.

Academics is a slightly different story. I was not pleased at all with the scores on the test that the kids took last Friday. It was not a hard test at all, covering place value, number patterns, and number words. But out of 44 kids, only 4 got a perfect score, while 13 scored 50 or below. Most of the incorrect answers were made due to really really stupid mistakes. (Of course, I say "silly" mistakes in class -- but they are stupid mistakes like not adding correctly, or writing the wrong number down to add).

Oh well, I'll take what I can get and keep plowing the road ahead...

The voice of God

Let's see how I can spin this story. Um, yeah, I got it. Here goes...

At least 3 of my co-teachers on my hallway today got to have their kids experience "the voice of God" coming through their walls and/or doorway, and they were all able to use it as a teachable moment for their students.

In actuality, the sound they heard was MY voice, at pretty nearly the top of my lungs, shouting the name of my severe (and when I say severe, I mean the TOTAL opposite of non-existant) ADD student.

I guess I just didn't feel like wasting the rest of my class's time waiting for him to respond to me as I called his name in a normal, and then raised voice. Three times with no response seemed to be enough, so I just Lamberted him.

Teacher A, across the hall, told me that her kids all jumped in their seats when they heard me. She made me into the bogey man, threatening to send any misbehavors over to my room.

Teacher B, the farthest away, made a similar threat to her students.

Teacher C, who is right next door, told me that she had been having issues with her own kids. She kept asking them to get quiet, asking them repeatedly, until they finally got quiet. About 5 seconds later, they heard my yell come booming through the wall between classrooms. She didn't threaten sending anyone my way, but instead commented that if they kept up their behavior, MY kids would soon be hearing HER voice through the wall.

Professor Snape would NEVER survive at my school...

OK, so it's not just me

I really don't know whether to feel relieved or more frustrated. I have 3 weeks' worth of evidence to show that my kids (mostly afternoon class) don't listen to ME. But now it's obviously not just ME that they don't listen to.

When a co-worker came by this morning to ask if I wanted to take the kids to the auditorium in the afternoon to watch a DVD of Obama's speech from Tuesday morning, I said heck yeah! A chance for the kids to hear the leader of the free world tell them that education is important and that they should pay attention and do their homework?? Yes, please!

So we went down there at 2 and watched the speech. Or, more accurately, I watched my kids shift, look around listlessly, play with their hands, and steal glances at me every 6 seconds.

There were a few that were paying attention. One of my top students asked afterwards, "So, I should not give up? I just need to ask you for help?" Well, yeah!

Now if only Mr. Obama could talk to my kids about number sense. Oh wait, they wouldn't listen to him. But still, I could use some help. Especially with the kid today who could not show me what three hundred eighty-four looks like in standard form. He sat and stared, and so I finally asked him to write three hundred and then add eighty-four to it. The kid could not write 300...

Man.

I done been interviewed!

Over the summer, I got an interview request from Alex J Mann, who was looking for some answers about what makes teachers tick. Being that it was over the summer, and thus I had not yet encountered my hellions from the Chat Lagoon, I was able to answer his questions relatively open-mindedly.

Alex posted the interview yesterday at the Certification Map site. If you're interested in answering similar questions, Alex may still be looking for interviewees.

Stay in school -- what's the problem??

The White House has already released the text of President Obama's speech to school children that he will be giving tomorrow. For some insane (and inane) reason, the very idea that he is talking tomorrow has thrown many people around this country, and unfortunately, even moreso in my state of Texas, into a crazy-headed tizzy.

I am about as A-political as they come. I don't like politics, I never have, I feel it's a bunch of muckracking and mudslinging. However, this fiasco is too much.

Did anyone in their right mind actually believe that Obama was going to address health care reform to a group of kids? Or that he would try to recruit them over to the Democratic party? It's a "Stay in School!" speech, for Pete's sake!! What could possibly be wrong with having kids see the leader of our country talk about the importance of an education???

Don't answer that! PLEASE! Just, please read the text below and see for yourself that it is a fine, un-politically-biased speech, with no mention of Iraq, health care, Ted Kennedy, or Major League Baseball steroids abuse...

OBAMA: Hello, everyone — how's everybody doing today? I'm here with students at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. And we've got students tuning in from all across America, kindergarten through 12th grade. I'm glad you all could join us today.

I know that for many of you, today is the first day of school. And for those of you in kindergarten, or starting middle or high school, it's your first day in a new school, so it's understandable if you're a little nervous. I imagine there are some seniors out there who are feeling pretty good right now, with just one more year to go. And no matter what grade you're in, some of you are probably wishing it were still summer, and you could've stayed in bed just a little longer this morning.

I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn't have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday — at 4:30 in the morning.

Now I wasn't too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I'd fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I'd complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, "This is no picnic for me either, buster."

So I know some of you are still adjusting to being back at school. But I'm here today because I have something important to discuss with you. I'm here because I want to talk with you about your education and what's expected of all of you in this new school year.

Now I've given a lot of speeches about education. And I've talked a lot about responsibility.

I've talked about your teachers' responsibility for inspiring you, and pushing you to learn.

I've talked about your parents' responsibility for making sure you stay on track, and get your homework done, and don't spend every waking hour in front of the TV or with that Xbox.

I've talked a lot about your government's responsibility for setting high standards, supporting teachers and principals, and turning around schools that aren't working where students aren't getting the opportunities they deserve.

But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed.

And that's what I want to focus on today: the responsibility each of you has for your education. I want to start with the responsibility you have to yourself.

Every single one of you has something you're good at. Every single one of you has something to offer. And you have a responsibility to yourself to discover what that is. That's the opportunity an education can provide.

Maybe you could be a good writer — maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper — but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor — maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine — but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a senator or a Supreme Court justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

And no matter what you want to do with your life — I guarantee that you'll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You're going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can't drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You've got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

And this isn't just important for your own life and your own future. What you make of your education will decide nothing less than the future of this country. What you're learning in school today will determine whether we as a nation can meet our greatest challenges in the future.

You'll need the knowledge and problem-solving skills you learn in science and math to cure diseases like cancer and AIDS, and to develop new energy technologies and protect our environment. You'll need the insights and critical thinking skills you gain in history and social studies to fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and more free. You'll need the creativity and ingenuity you develop in all your classes to build new companies that will create new jobs and boost our economy.

We need every single one of you to develop your talents, skills and intellect so you can help solve our most difficult problems. If you don't do that — if you quit on school — you're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on your country.

Now I know it's not always easy to do well in school. I know a lot of you have challenges in your lives right now that can make it hard to focus on your schoolwork.

I get it. I know what that's like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn't always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn't fit in.

So I wasn't always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I'm not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

But I was fortunate. I got a lot of second chances and had the opportunity to go to college, and law school, and follow my dreams. My wife, our first lady Michelle Obama, has a similar story. Neither of her parents had gone to college, and they didn't have much. But they worked hard, and she worked hard, so that she could go to the best schools in this country.

Some of you might not have those advantages. Maybe you don't have adults in your life who give you the support that you need. Maybe someone in your family has lost their job, and there's not enough money to go around. Maybe you live in a neighborhood where you don't feel safe, or have friends who are pressuring you to do things you know aren't right.

But at the end of the day, the circumstances of your life — what you look like, where you come from, how much money you have, what you've got going on at home — that's no excuse for neglecting your homework or having a bad attitude. That's no excuse for talking back to your teacher, or cutting class, or dropping out of school. That's no excuse for not trying.

Where you are right now doesn't have to determine where you'll end up. No one's written your destiny for you. Here in America, you write your own destiny. You make your own future.

That's what young people like you are doing every day, all across America.

Young people like Jazmin Perez, from Roma, Texas. Jazmin didn't speak English when she first started school. Hardly anyone in her hometown went to college, and neither of her parents had gone either. But she worked hard, earned good grades, got a scholarship to Brown University, and is now in graduate school, studying public health, on her way to being Dr. Jazmin Perez.

I'm thinking about Andoni Schultz, from Los Altos, California, who's fought brain cancer since he was three. He's endured all sorts of treatments and surgeries, one of which affected his memory, so it took him much longer — hundreds of extra hours — to do his schoolwork. But he never fell behind, and he's headed to college this fall.

And then there's Shantell Steve, from my hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Even when bouncing from foster home to foster home in the toughest neighborhoods, she managed to get a job at a local health center; start a program to keep young people out of gangs; and she's on track to graduate high school with honors and go on to college.

Jazmin, Andoni and Shantell aren't any different from any of you. They faced challenges in their lives just like you do. But they refused to give up. They chose to take responsibility for their education and set goals for themselves. And I expect all of you to do the same. That's why today, I'm calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education — and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you'll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you'll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you'll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn. And along those lines, I hope you'll all wash your hands a lot, and stay home from school when you don't feel well, so we can keep people from getting the flu this fall and winter.

Whatever you resolve to do, I want you to commit to it. I want you to really work at it.

I know that sometimes, you get the sense from TV that you can be rich and successful without any hard work — that your ticket to success is through rapping or basketball or being a reality TV star, when chances are, you're not going to be any of those things.

But the truth is, being successful is hard. You won't love every subject you study. You won't click with every teacher. Not every homework assignment will seem completely relevant to your life right this minute. And you won't necessarily succeed at everything the first time you try.

That's OK. Some of the most successful people in the world are the ones who've had the most failures. JK Rowling's first Harry Potter book was rejected twelve times before it was finally published. Michael Jordan was cut from his high school basketball team, and he lost hundreds of games and missed thousands of shots during his career. But he once said, "I have failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."

These people succeeded because they understand that you can't let your failures define you — you have to let them teach you. You have to let them show you what to do differently next time. If you get in trouble, that doesn't mean you're a troublemaker, it means you need to try harder to behave. If you get a bad grade, that doesn't mean you're stupid, it just means you need to spend more time studying.

No one's born being good at things, you become good at things through hard work. You're not a varsity athlete the first time you play a new sport. You don't hit every note the first time you sing a song. You've got to practice. It's the same with your schoolwork. You might have to do a math problem a few times before you get it right, or read something a few times before you understand it, or do a few drafts of a paper before it's good enough to hand in.

Don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to ask for help when you need it. I do that every day. Asking for help isn't a sign of weakness, it's a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don't know something, and to learn something new. So find an adult you trust — a parent, grandparent or teacher; a coach or counselor — and ask them to help you stay on track to meet your goals.

And even when you're struggling, even when you're discouraged, and you feel like other people have given up on you — don't ever give up on yourself. Because when you give up on yourself, you give up on your country.

The story of America isn't about people who quit when things got tough. It's about people who kept going, who tried harder, who loved their country too much to do anything less than their best. It's the story of students who sat where you sit 250 years ago, and went on to wage a revolution and found this nation. Students who sat where you sit 75 years ago who overcame a Depression and won a world war; who fought for civil rights and put a man on the moon. Students who sat where you sit 20 years ago who founded Google, Twitter and Facebook and changed the way we communicate with each other.

So today, I want to ask you, what's your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?

Your families, your teachers, and I are doing everything we can to make sure you have the education you need to answer these questions. I'm working hard to fix up your classrooms and get you the books, equipment and computers you need to learn. But you've got to do your part too. So I expect you to get serious this year. I expect you to put your best effort into everything you do. I expect great things from each of you. So don't let us down — don't let your family or your country or yourself down. Make us all proud. I know you can do it.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.

THAT'LL teach 'em!

Today, we have a guest post from Adrienne Carlson, who writes for Online Degrees. Her post is called "How to Deal with Difficult Parents," and it may very well offend some people, especially a few people who read Joanne Jacobs...

People who recognize this article as being written sarcastically and totally tongue-in-cheek, however should be just fine. On a personal note, I would never recommend doing what is suggested in this article, but then again, I would never recommend drilling a hole in your head either, so use your own common sense.

How to Deal with Difficult Parents

If you’re a teacher of toddlers or very young children, there are times when you’ve probably felt that it is easier to deal with the most difficult of students than to interact with their pushy parents. You can control the kids with the threat of disciplinary action and a commanding voice, but when it comes to parents who just have to interfere in every tiny aspect of their child’s life and micromanage it to the point where they feel that they have to control you, his or her teacher, you find yourself struggling to hold on to your temper and avoid blurting out words that you’ll definitely regret a while later.

But then, the frustration stays, and you end up stressed out and sapped of all your energy when you have to deal with more than one of this kind, so you need a strategy that you can put to use when confronted by interfering parents who are never going to believe that their precious child is in good hands with you. And to this end, here’s what you can do to improve your mood and look at the lighter side of teaching children:

If you’re interrupted during class, leave the parent in charge of your kids for just five minutes while you hide behind the door and watch them try to control the resultant mayhem. Perhaps this will teach them a lesson or two about managing a whole bunch of kids and also drive home the message that it is definitely not an easy job to control a group of tiny tots.

If you’re cornered after class, grab a screaming kid who’s been giving you trouble all day and ask the parent in question in a sweet voice if they would mind calming him/her for you. Sugarcoat the request with a sycophantic statement as to how you know their excellent parenting skills will come to the fore in helping you out with this crisis.

If you’re ambushed before class, drag the parent with you to the classroom under the pretext that you have no time to spare and ensure that they spend at least an hour on one of those tiny chairs, listening to your kids recite nursery rhymes or engage in some other activity. Only when they feel that that they can no longer feel their butts underneath them should they be allowed to leave. Until then though, hold them there with a smiling face that says you’ll be with them in just a moment to talk about the issue they brought up in the corridor.

Pushy parents are a teacher’s nightmare, but if you know how to deal with them cleverly and without losing your temper, you know you have the job of your dreams.

This guest article was written by Adrienne Carlson, who regularly writes on the topic of online degrees . Adrienne welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: adrienne.carlson83@yahoo.com

No stupid questions

Yesterday, as we were completing our word problem of the day, I asked the kids if there were any questions. No hands went up, yet I knew that everyone had not quite gotten the concept because the solution required subtraction and a lot of kids had added.

So I told the kids that I wanted them to know that no one was going to laugh at them if they asked a question or said that they didn't understand. That no one was going to think that they were dumb for asking a question. That the only dumb thing would be if they did NOT understand but sat there without asking me to explain and then still didn't know for the next time.

Then I asked again if there were any questions. One boy raised his hand, and I called on him.

"Can I bring a soccer ball tomorrow?"

OK, that thing about no stupid questions? Nevermind.

Am I being too stubborn?

My afternoon class is still giving me fits. Today, we didn't cover nearly as much in that class as we did in the morning class. Mainly because I had to keep stopping the class to discuss rules and expectations.

I start to wonder if I am being too stubborn. I know that some teachers continue through a lesson, hitting all the key points, getting the meat of the matter covered, even if some kids are off task or not paying attention. And it works fine for them, and they are good teachers. But that has just never worked for me. If I see anyone, even just one kid, not paying attention when we are going over homework or a concept, I feel compelled to stop and get him focused. As a result, I often take longer or find myself behind with certain classes.

With THIS class, I feel like I am getting WAY behind! I ask for someone to share an idea, and as soon as that person starts speaking, 2 other people across the room start talking to the person next to them. I say, "Excuse me, the rule in this classroom is that we listen when others talk. She is talking right now, so you need to be listening to her." But then less than a minute later, the exact same thing happens again. And again. And it's not exaggerating to say that nearly every single time someone (including myself!) starts to talk in my class, I have to stop the person (or myself!) and remind kids about our number one rule!

I just don't know how I can make this expectation any clearer! I have signed behavior folders of kids who break the rule. I have rewarded kids nearby who show good listening. I have modeled, we have discussed.

I feel like I am being the meanest, most hard-ass teacher on the planet, YET it still doesn't seem to be having an effect! I had hoped that by being so stubborn and hard-ass at the beginning, that I would stop the problem from being a year-long problem. And maybe it will. But I just feel like nothing is improving.

I am thankful to a good friend who teaches next door, who stopped by after school and said that her friends always remind her that she says her kids are the worst behaved, most awful, most annoying kids ever -- at the beginning of each school year. But that things always get better.

Maybe I'm just forgetting how every year starts. I really really hope so.