Student: "Miss C, you were in my dream last night!"
Me: "That's creepy. Don't tell me things like that."
Student: "No, it was so cool! You were a Power Ranger and you did ninja rolls. Then you shot me."

Spelling is a huge issue. I don't know if they aren't teaching it as much in elementary school or if technology is keeping kids from learning how to properly spell or if its a combination or maybe its something completely different. No matter the cause, these kids need some Spelling 101. However, it does provide for some entertainment. Here are my top 2 favorite spelling mistakes:
-the student meant to write "general public" but instead wrote "general pubic".
-when writing about Biggie Smalls, a student meant to write "I wish you still rapped" but instead wrote "I wish you still raped".

Confession: One of my favorite parts of the day is catching students passing notes. It makes me feel kind of bad ass...which makes me sound like a lame ass.

Student: "I had to go to a 2-year old's birthday party this weekend. I really didn't want to go but the only reason I went was because I knew there would be cake there."
Sometimes my students just make me so proud!

Note to self: Don't live and work in the same neighborhood as the school you teach at. Your students will stalk you at work and in public.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians

Quote of the Day:
Student A: "America is always poking its nose everyone else's business."
Student B: "Like Khloe Kardashian!"
I'm always encouraging my students to make connections and sometimes you never know what they will come up with.

Sometimes my brain gets ahead of my mouth. This usually leads to me saying something really dumb or mixing up words. Today was one of those days. Here is a little collection of some of my most recent shining moments:
-I tried to say "people and food" but it came out "pooed"...let me tell you, 7th graders don't let you forget that one.
-I meant to say "Leather comes from cows" but instead I said "Cows make leather". Once I realized what I said, my filter turned off and I blurted out "All I can picture is a bunch of cows making leather!". My students gave me crap for that one too.

Student: "Do you like white chocolate?"
Me: "Nope."
Student: "But your teeth are really white."

A Penny For Your Thoughts

If only making money was that simple. Today after school was a meeting about the district budget cuts for the next few years. Not the happiest note to end the week on. Unfortunately at this point, things have to get worse before they can get better. These next few years will be tough but hopefully things come out better on the other side.

The hardest part is staying positive. I'll admit, I haven't done a very good job of this. It's hard knowing that in this district alone (which is the district that got hit the least) is making $40 million in cuts, which includes cutting 212 jobs. And that's just for the 2011-2012 school year. The amount of cuts in 2012-2013 will be about $45 million. The time this cuts go into effect is the same time that I will be looking for a job...no bueno.

State wide, there are $375 million in cuts. Funding per pupil got cut $500/pupil...we're already ranked 49th out of 50 for funding per pupil. In this district, graduation requirements are being lowered, foreign language is not longer required, all employees are taking a 3% pay decrease, there are an additional 6 furlough days, the Outdoor Lab program is being suspended...just to name a few of the things being cut.

At the end of the day, how can we afford to make cuts in education?

They're Everywhere

After school I went on a run to unwind from the day. Side note: when I run I sweat like a man. Along the way, I saw two students. I was trapped...there was no way to avoid running past them. Seeing students outside of class is already weird enough, add in looking like a hot mess and it's not a good situation for anyone involved. In my mind I had super human speed, which allowed me to run past without them seeing me. In real life, they saw me. They thought it would be funny to run behind me. They didn't make it very far before they yelled "You're too fast!". That secretly made me feel good about life because I'm not fast at all. Just when I thought the nightmare of seeing students in public was over, another one popped up. I was running along when I saw a group of kids sitting around in the grass. Inside I was desperately hoping that it wasn't more students. All that hoping didn't work. I heard a kid yell "Hey you're hot!". Then another kid yelled "Oh shit, that's my teacher!". I think tomorrow I'll unwind with a glass of wine instead.

Give Me 2 Pair, I Need 2 Pair

I was listening to Air Force Ones by Nelly, which surprisingly inspired a mini-unit. We are doing a unit on globalization and what better example than a sneaker? It's amazing how many countries are involved in making one sneaker. Just the design takes place in three different countries...holy moly! And that doesn't even include the countries involved with locating materials, assembly, distribution, etc. Let's just say, it blew my mind. Your favorite pair of shoes has probably been in more countries than you.

Things you don't learn at teacher school: how to master "the look". That look that says "You better change your behavior real quick or things will get ugly". It took a little bit, but I finally have it mastered. It's amazing what one little look can do.

Student A : "Is it true you have to pay to be here?"
Me: "Yep."
Student B: "Wait, what?! Just for that I'm going to buy you Texas Roadhouse!"

The past two weeks have been the standardized state testing. Proctoring the test is not as fun as it sounds. Basically, you have to walk around the room for 60 minutes and watch the students take the test...you can't read or have any type of electronic in the room. It's so painful. I want to stab my eyes out with the wooden, graphite-based, No. 2 pencils (yes, the proctor's manual describes the pencils that way). Then I caught myself thinking about how I would much rather take the test than proctor it. As a student, I would have loved to proctor if it meant getting out of taking the test. Yep, I'm officially on 'the other side'.

A moment I was left speechless...
Student: "When I talk I don't sound as smart because I always say 'like' but when I write I sound like really smart. So today on the test, for the writing part, I wrote it out and then I re-read it and I was like 'Oh my gosh who wrote this?! It's so good!' Then I was like 'Oh yeah, it was me! Wow, I'm good.".

Student: "I cried today after the test."
Me: "Oh my gosh, is everything ok?!"
Student: "Yeah I don't really know why I was crying. The worst part was I was so worried that my tears would get on the test and then my test would be invalid."
Poor kid.

Student: "Can I go to the bathroom? It's an emergency. And I have a really bad headache and I'm not sure if its from having to go so bad."

Student A: "If you were a character on Glee you would be Rachel."
Me: "Isn't she a little crazy?"
Student A: "Yeah, but you're a little crazy too."
Student B: "At least she didn't say you are Santana, she's a freak!"

TGIF

It was one of those weeks. The one where time stands still and Friday seems like it will never come. The kind of week that takes every ounce of your energy to get through one lesson, but then remembering you still have to do it 4 more times. The kind of week that you just want to put in a movie and call it a day. Luckily, we made it to Friday! And even during 'that kind of week', my students always have some comment to make it all worth it.

Student: "I have a comment but first I have a question."
Me: "What's your question?"
Student: "Is everything on The Office real?"

Student: "If I see you at the grocery store I'll say hi to you."
Me: "I can't talk to students in public."

Me: "Before we get started, I have an important announcement."
Student: "Oh my gosh, you're finally getting married?!"


Student: "After you graduate, can you come back and visit us wearing your cap and gown?"


I got shampoo or soap or something in my eye this morning. My eye kept burning so I figured wearing my glasses for the day was a good life choice.
Student: "You have glasses now?"
Me: "No, I just normally wear contacts."
Student: "Me too. Do you like them hard or soft?"
There's no good way to answer that...and answering with a straight face is near impossible.

Student A: "Will you like us better than your high school students?"
Me: "Well I haven't taught them yet but I'm sure I'll like you both equally."
Student B (to student a): "Oh come on! Of course she'll like them better. I mean come on, were in middle school, we probably drive her crazy!"


Me: "I have a confession. Over the weekend, I think I caught the Bieber Fever."
Student: "Nooooo! I always thought you were cool but now you throw that curve ball at us?!"


I have a new YouTube obsession. A history teacher makes music videos about events in history set to common songs. This one is probably one of my favorites but they're all so good! Check them out!
French Revolution...Lady Gaga style

I made my students watch the China dynasty one set to Madonna's song Vogue. They pretended they didn't like it, but today's music trivia song was Vogue and they started singing the China dynasty version!

Cry Me a River

I almost made some students cry today. I didn't mean to, it just happened. We are talking about communism and in order to simulate a communist society, I made the following announcement:
"From now on, all grades will be the class average, meaning everyone will receive the same grade. This includes in-class assignments, homework, quizzes, and tests."
Of course, I wasn't really serious, I was just making them think that in order to make a point. Some of them freaked out. The good news is they got the point I intended.

Student: "I really really need to tell you something."
Me: "Ok what is it?"
Student: "Thank you for wearing a different outfit everyday. I would really hate to have to look at the same clothes everyday."
Just doing my part to make my students' lives better.

A student drew me a picture of a dragon/Pokemon thing...I'm not 100% sure what it is. The student chased me down after school to give me the drawing but then didn't say a word, handed it to me really fast, then ran off. Oh how I love awkward middle schoolers.

Today's music trivia was Mambo #5.
Me: "Our music trivia song for today takes us back to my childhood."
Student: "Oh great, an old people song."

Today was the start of our state standardized testing. 1 day down, 5 to go...