I discovered a quick fix for one of my big problems in second period: I sat next to him the entire period while he worked on his review. He was really mad about it, but it kept him marginally on task (he still got up a couple times to hit someone with his gym shirt).…

Our overarching company handed down enrichment activities for the day. For math it was a case study about a bank manager having to make an ethical decision. It was very reading heavy and was supposed to be an ethical decision to make. Of course, this wasn’t “enrichment,” it was reading. For journalism, we started looking…

In what was my second consecutive day with a Family Guy quote, I pulled out the “You wanna so-da?” line from the episode where Peter loses his job. The student, who was moping around, came back around after that though. However, I don’t know if he got the reference and said, “You weren’t serious about…

As good as last week went, today was a turn back to where we had come from. It was one of those days where no student was doing anything. It just went downhill as the day went on, especially when ISS was closed for the second half of the day again. This time, I sent…

We closed down ISS for the last four periods of the day. Some teachers were mad, but the fact is that most schools do not have the ISS system. If you’re just passing by, ISS is a place where any students who are late or get kicked out of class go to. The system is…

It dipped below 10 for the first time in awhile today. Unfortunately, that means that we had rather paltry attendance today. However, those who did show up had a pretty productive day. When one of my students was leaving second period he said, “I did my work and I get it.” So, at least they…

A large, somewhat unruly group of eighth graders came in for an “open house” this morning, When the first pack of eight girls walked past my room, all four the guys in my room during that period ran to the window and, with the security of being in the room, postured for these new girls.…

This morning I covered for one of the junior math teachers. There were no plans, so I did what they were supposed to be doing, which was factoring quadrilaterals. There was a quiz on that last week, but no one really got it. I showed them that you need to have two numbers that multiply…

It’s been a bit a crazy week. Today is the first day back from a five-day break, but we did have school last Tuesday and Wednesday. Some of the highlights were: “I got like four Big Macs.” I called one of our student’s houses who is traditionally in trouble because she had been doing very…

The quote was a big get for me. One of the the big time classroom conduct violators said that during class today. It was actually in reference to the fourth period all-star whose return has made the class run ever so roughly. I gave her a fairly long leash, hoping she’d get the point, but…

Apparently I had my kids fooled. I usually just pull examples off the top of my head for simple stuff. However, once algebra makes an appearance, I make up my examples beforehand just so I know we’re keeping fractions and decimals out of the picture. There are just too many wild cards there. However, I’m…

I had a junior who failed second semester geometry last year come for the first time today. One of his first acts was to throw a fellow student’s belongings on the floor. However, he pleaded with me to finish his bell ringer, which I allowed. He then participated in class and kind of put some…

In our shortened period today, I put a collection of problems involving addition of fractions on the board. I got the traditional, “This is baby stuff,” response, but when pressed, we had a lot of trouble getting it done. We’re going back through the steps like finding a common denominator and finding the numbers that…

Age seems to really play a factor in my students’ mindsets. Today someone informed me that I was that many older than her. I informed her that my IQ was considerably higher than six more than hers, so it might pay off to listen. You would think that by February we would be over this,…

One of the stars of fourth period had been suspended for 10 days. In case you were playing at home, I hadn’t really railed on that period for about 10 days or so. And now, the return happens and five kids get sent out in the first three minutes of class. This student isn’t just…

I don’t know what my students think when I say, “We have a test.” Every time that the event happens, it’s on the wall and announced for an entire week leading up to it. And still, on Friday, students come in and go, “We have a test?” They still get mad that I don’t “help”…