Tuesday, March 16, 2010
My kids are hilarious.
So we have this German exchange student who hollers out "damnit!" every once in a while when he's frustrated. Instead of getting hard on him, we laugh really hard because his accent makes it funny. I think I'm starting to learn just how human teachers are and can be.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Friday, February 12, 2010
The funniest day ever.
So today, Brent was gone. I had this great lecture about the Home Front planned, and everything was going to run smoothly. Here's why that failed:
1) The sub didn't show up, so we were forced to go to the cafeteria. I call this "AmStud Internment."
2) Violin players were in and out of our classes all day to serenade students.
3) Singers were in and out of my classes all day to serenade students (and me!!!)
4) A random band that was not part of this operation came in and sang an entire 3 minute song to the class, and I later found out that they were suspended.
5) The class could not settle down enough to make connections from the Home Front to the rest of the unit.
6) I drank too much Red Bull.
BUT, we are doing Myth Busters instead today, and they don't need to be prepared to take in any educational substance for that.
All in all, a great day!
1) The sub didn't show up, so we were forced to go to the cafeteria. I call this "AmStud Internment."
2) Violin players were in and out of our classes all day to serenade students.
3) Singers were in and out of my classes all day to serenade students (and me!!!)
4) A random band that was not part of this operation came in and sang an entire 3 minute song to the class, and I later found out that they were suspended.
5) The class could not settle down enough to make connections from the Home Front to the rest of the unit.
6) I drank too much Red Bull.
BUT, we are doing Myth Busters instead today, and they don't need to be prepared to take in any educational substance for that.
All in all, a great day!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Yay! Great day because of one student...
Well it was a great day for a lot of reasons, but for one huge reason in particular. One of my students came up to me after first hour to tell me that he thought I was doing a good job with the class and that he liked how I lectured on Tuesday, which was an improvement from the more formal language and attitude I'd had with the class in the past. Yay improvement!
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
ADD
As I've gone through my own adolescence and young adulthood and now through college and the MAC Program, there has been one topic that has been the bane of my existence: ADD.
I was diagnosed with borderline ADD in the second grade, when my teacher noticed that I had trouble staying on task, even though I was very bright and not particularly disruptive. I was put on Ritalin, which I took three times a day, including once in the office at school during lunch. I, like my other three classmates who were on any medication, endured cruelty from other kids well into middle school, when they finally started making the time-release Aderol (sp?). This made it so that I could take the drug once a day--usually at night so that it could work it's way into my system for the next day. My parents let me stop taking it during the summers, but my siblings still taunted me anytime I acted up or got cranky. They used to say, "Wow, you're being a brat today. Did you take your pill yet?" (You know, because Valium and Ritalin are somehow synonymous?) I eventually let go of the drug altogether when I reached the age of 16, but quickly found that I had a hard time managing without it, so I took it for about two more years, until I had a grasp on managing work and time with harder schoolwork.
Some of the worst encounters has been dealing with the nonbelievers. Most people consider ADD to be over-diagnosed, which isn't far off from the truth. BUT, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist in many people. They think it's an excuse for not getting work done or a way to get out of classroom discussions or an excuse for hyperactive behavior. But this is a very real disorder that people like me struggle to manage every day.
Along with this, the very worst encounter is when I meet someone who has an utter misunderstanding of the disorder itself. I will say, "I struggled with ADD as a kid, but my management has gotten much better now." They response, "Oh yeah, I was never diagnosed, but I had it. I still struggle with it. I get distracted so easily by what's going on around me." Pretty much anyone in the world could say that they have ADD by these standards. Of course there are distractions around everyone! We were born with 5 senses, and we tend to be overstimulated by things like Google or Facebook or crowded rooms. But this is not ADD.
ADD is much more internal than this. For example, I will read a passage from a book for homework, and I'll be hyper focused on trying to read, but meanwhile I am actually thinking about something completely different, perhaps still pertaining to the reading, perhaps just letting my imagination take off with a day dream of myself joining the military or learning French. Someone can call my name repeatedly during this time, and I'll won't answer until someone physically touches me and jolts me from this zone. All the time, my eyes have been moving back and forth across the pages, which I've turned maybe five times already. I'll have no recollection of reading at all, so I start over. I not only start over the reading, but I start over the day dreaming or the internal distractions. Still, I'm not aware of my surroundings, generally speaking.
I know that people get distracted. I know there are other people who read the same paragraph three times and forget it each time. But until you've spent night after night after night going through this routine, you don't have the right to say you've got ADD. Until you've spent 4 hours doing a terrible job on homework that took your best friend 15 minutes, you haven't experienced this. Until you've gone off of medication, confidently thinking that you're at an age that you should be able to manage this on your own, but you quickly find that your grades have dropped from As to Cs in a matter of a marking period, you just don't know. And until you realize that the medication is there as an aid, and NOT a solution, while you learn techniques and practices that allow you to read 20 pages of reading in a reasonable amount of time, then stop saying that you know what myself and others like me have been through.
Instead of saying "I know what you mean," ask a person what they've actually been through and gain a real understanding of what ADD is and how it affects people every hour of their lives. This is not just a twice-a-week problem, or a high-stress problem, though it's aggravated by stress for sure. It's a very real, very frustrating, very damaging disorder of which teachers need to work to gain a better understanding.
I have a student in one of my classes whose parents told me about his struggles at home. He, like me, tried to give up Concerta at age 16, which is the age when doctors recommend trying to go without. He, like me, saw a sharp drop in his grades, self confidence, and productivity. I mean, it's hard to even read a novel that you're really, really interested in, so it doesn't just affect your school work. He's learning to manage and has gone back on meds (his own choice), but the school is doing little to help, even disregarding his parents' requests, since so many people believe that ADD is so overdiagnosed and therefore not real for anyone. They told me he worked on his school work for hours upon hours at night, only to get frustrated every single night and walk away every single night from his half-finished homework assignments, simply because he didn't have the mental ability to concentrate. He's even worse than I was, but still people tell him, "Ya, I've been there," as they look at their pristine, perfectly formed answers in front of them.
So if you get a student in your class who claims to have ADD, give him/her the benefit of the doubt. Most kids won't claim it if they don't really struggle with it, because it's not something the average teenager wants their peers to know, especially due to the hyperactive stigma that comes with it. There are also signs you can look for in their work, like unfinished sentences or thoughts. Or they're making a really awesome point, but very suddenly move to another topic and maybe revisit the other one later. They can be smart and outgoing, so don't limit your calls to the quiet kids.
And finally, do some research. For something that's as overdiagnosed as this is, people are still completely ignorant about it's true meaning, problems, and implications. Understand the disorder and learn ways to support your students and help them manage.
Check out the following links to learn more:
http://www.add.org
http://www.oneaddplace.com/
http://borntoexplore.org/index.html
http://www.chadd.org/ (This one includes resources for teachers as well.)
I was diagnosed with borderline ADD in the second grade, when my teacher noticed that I had trouble staying on task, even though I was very bright and not particularly disruptive. I was put on Ritalin, which I took three times a day, including once in the office at school during lunch. I, like my other three classmates who were on any medication, endured cruelty from other kids well into middle school, when they finally started making the time-release Aderol (sp?). This made it so that I could take the drug once a day--usually at night so that it could work it's way into my system for the next day. My parents let me stop taking it during the summers, but my siblings still taunted me anytime I acted up or got cranky. They used to say, "Wow, you're being a brat today. Did you take your pill yet?" (You know, because Valium and Ritalin are somehow synonymous?) I eventually let go of the drug altogether when I reached the age of 16, but quickly found that I had a hard time managing without it, so I took it for about two more years, until I had a grasp on managing work and time with harder schoolwork.
Some of the worst encounters has been dealing with the nonbelievers. Most people consider ADD to be over-diagnosed, which isn't far off from the truth. BUT, that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist in many people. They think it's an excuse for not getting work done or a way to get out of classroom discussions or an excuse for hyperactive behavior. But this is a very real disorder that people like me struggle to manage every day.
Along with this, the very worst encounter is when I meet someone who has an utter misunderstanding of the disorder itself. I will say, "I struggled with ADD as a kid, but my management has gotten much better now." They response, "Oh yeah, I was never diagnosed, but I had it. I still struggle with it. I get distracted so easily by what's going on around me." Pretty much anyone in the world could say that they have ADD by these standards. Of course there are distractions around everyone! We were born with 5 senses, and we tend to be overstimulated by things like Google or Facebook or crowded rooms. But this is not ADD.
ADD is much more internal than this. For example, I will read a passage from a book for homework, and I'll be hyper focused on trying to read, but meanwhile I am actually thinking about something completely different, perhaps still pertaining to the reading, perhaps just letting my imagination take off with a day dream of myself joining the military or learning French. Someone can call my name repeatedly during this time, and I'll won't answer until someone physically touches me and jolts me from this zone. All the time, my eyes have been moving back and forth across the pages, which I've turned maybe five times already. I'll have no recollection of reading at all, so I start over. I not only start over the reading, but I start over the day dreaming or the internal distractions. Still, I'm not aware of my surroundings, generally speaking.
I know that people get distracted. I know there are other people who read the same paragraph three times and forget it each time. But until you've spent night after night after night going through this routine, you don't have the right to say you've got ADD. Until you've spent 4 hours doing a terrible job on homework that took your best friend 15 minutes, you haven't experienced this. Until you've gone off of medication, confidently thinking that you're at an age that you should be able to manage this on your own, but you quickly find that your grades have dropped from As to Cs in a matter of a marking period, you just don't know. And until you realize that the medication is there as an aid, and NOT a solution, while you learn techniques and practices that allow you to read 20 pages of reading in a reasonable amount of time, then stop saying that you know what myself and others like me have been through.
Instead of saying "I know what you mean," ask a person what they've actually been through and gain a real understanding of what ADD is and how it affects people every hour of their lives. This is not just a twice-a-week problem, or a high-stress problem, though it's aggravated by stress for sure. It's a very real, very frustrating, very damaging disorder of which teachers need to work to gain a better understanding.
I have a student in one of my classes whose parents told me about his struggles at home. He, like me, tried to give up Concerta at age 16, which is the age when doctors recommend trying to go without. He, like me, saw a sharp drop in his grades, self confidence, and productivity. I mean, it's hard to even read a novel that you're really, really interested in, so it doesn't just affect your school work. He's learning to manage and has gone back on meds (his own choice), but the school is doing little to help, even disregarding his parents' requests, since so many people believe that ADD is so overdiagnosed and therefore not real for anyone. They told me he worked on his school work for hours upon hours at night, only to get frustrated every single night and walk away every single night from his half-finished homework assignments, simply because he didn't have the mental ability to concentrate. He's even worse than I was, but still people tell him, "Ya, I've been there," as they look at their pristine, perfectly formed answers in front of them.
So if you get a student in your class who claims to have ADD, give him/her the benefit of the doubt. Most kids won't claim it if they don't really struggle with it, because it's not something the average teenager wants their peers to know, especially due to the hyperactive stigma that comes with it. There are also signs you can look for in their work, like unfinished sentences or thoughts. Or they're making a really awesome point, but very suddenly move to another topic and maybe revisit the other one later. They can be smart and outgoing, so don't limit your calls to the quiet kids.
And finally, do some research. For something that's as overdiagnosed as this is, people are still completely ignorant about it's true meaning, problems, and implications. Understand the disorder and learn ways to support your students and help them manage.
Check out the following links to learn more:
http://www.add.org
http://www.oneaddplace.com/
http://borntoexplore.org/index.html
http://www.chadd.org/ (This one includes resources for teachers as well.)
Monday, February 8, 2010
lessons, lessons, lessons
I hate Mondays. Any ideas out there of how to get students to stay awake during class on Mondays? It's kind of hard, since I really don't want to either. How about this....We don't start school until 10:40 am on Mondays. Then on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday we go an extra hour. This extra hour will include cookies and milk and nap time. We start this next week. Except there is no class on Monday, so there won't be any time to make up since it's already been considered in our schedule. Instead, we will take all day Tuesday and half of Wednesday to have hiSTORY time. This will include aforementioned cookies and milk and also lasagna, tortellini, Greek salad, and tiramisu. All day, we will watch movies and clips and read stories from history that I find interesting. Napping is neither encouraged, nor discouraged.
Anyone second this motion?
Anyone second this motion?
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Exam Time!
My sixth hour is 33 minutes away from being finished with their midterm exam in my class as I type this. They seem to be doing pretty well, no terrified faces or anything. I always thought taking multiple choice exams was really fun myself, but I don't blame them for not being excited about the essay portion.
I worry about a few students across all of the classes who are barely passing though. This is accelerated American Studies, which is supposed to mean that students fall above average, but below advanced. A lot of the times, I see kids who should be in AP (but I'm glad they're here), and I see kids who belong in regular AS. I feel like parents pressure their kids too much to be the best at everything. Maybe this is so they can brag to other parents. Maybe they just refuse to believe their kids are "just average" in some subjects. And it may not even be every subject; it could be that some of these kids rock in math and science, but they have trouble with the memorization and chronology aspects of history. There's no shame in it. And it's not that I don't want these kids in my class, because I do. But I also want to see them do their best and be able to UNDERSTAND, rather than struggle, struggle, struggle to barely get a D- and not retain anything. And frankly, sometimes a kid really can do the work and really is that intelligent, but he/she just has other crap going on that distracts him/her from schoolwork. I wish they would see that getting a B or C in a regular class looks a lot better to colleges and feels a lot better to a kid than getting a D- in an accelerated class, especially where he/she is surrounded by students who get A's on a regular basis and are disappointed by getting a B on a 5-pt assignment.
I worry about a few students across all of the classes who are barely passing though. This is accelerated American Studies, which is supposed to mean that students fall above average, but below advanced. A lot of the times, I see kids who should be in AP (but I'm glad they're here), and I see kids who belong in regular AS. I feel like parents pressure their kids too much to be the best at everything. Maybe this is so they can brag to other parents. Maybe they just refuse to believe their kids are "just average" in some subjects. And it may not even be every subject; it could be that some of these kids rock in math and science, but they have trouble with the memorization and chronology aspects of history. There's no shame in it. And it's not that I don't want these kids in my class, because I do. But I also want to see them do their best and be able to UNDERSTAND, rather than struggle, struggle, struggle to barely get a D- and not retain anything. And frankly, sometimes a kid really can do the work and really is that intelligent, but he/she just has other crap going on that distracts him/her from schoolwork. I wish they would see that getting a B or C in a regular class looks a lot better to colleges and feels a lot better to a kid than getting a D- in an accelerated class, especially where he/she is surrounded by students who get A's on a regular basis and are disappointed by getting a B on a 5-pt assignment.
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