"How can I improve my grade?" AKA End of the Semester FAQ

Each time the end of a semester comes around I get a bunch of the same questions from my students, that I have attempted to answer in advance...

Fortunately to make me smile the internet has provided MEMES to make me laugh about these questions, and show me that I am not alone. While I would never respond with a MEME to a student, I have been sorely tempted. So I am pretending that this is a FAQ page for my students and have created responses below that I wish I could use and not hurt anyone's tender feelings:


End of the Semester FAQ 

1: How do I improve my grade?

2: Can you give me extra credit to do?

3: Can I finish this after the semester ends?

4:  How do I do that assignment again? (I make recordings that walk students through how to do the assignment with examples in the recordings. Also my instructions include step by step directions how to do the assignment. For differentiation and to help struggling students.)

**These memes are meant to be taken in a light hearted way. I love teaching and my students. Just sometimes....

Reasons My Baby Cried This Week or How Can I Raise My Grades?

Reasons my baby cried this week:

* I wouldn't let him pull my hair

* I wouldn't let him eat the dog's tail

* I wouldn't let him eat a baby butt wipe

* I took away the dog toy

* I accidentally let him pull his own  hair

* I stopped him from pulling his own hair

* I put him down for a nap

* I woke him up from a nap

* His sister stopped making that funny face at him

* His sister made a funny face at him

* I fed him green beans

* I wouldn't let him play in the dog's water bowl

* The cat ran away from him

Of course the real reason is probably because he has four teeth coming in at the same time.

My butt is dragging. My 8 & 1/2 month old son has been pretty sensitive these past few weeks. It seems like the smallest things upset him.

My smiley little boy has been the crankiest of babies, and it probably has something to do with those new teeth. I mean, when I feel bad things seem worse than they actually are... so it is probably no different for him. Some of the reasons he started crying are hilarious. Some not so much.

Yesterday was particularly tough. Work is crazy right now. We are approaching the end of the first semester in school and my 7th graders are suddenly realizing that they have to stop procrastinating and get their work turned in by the 29th. Ugh. I'm being drowned in things to grade and students asking me how they can raise their grades. Even some asking for extra credit when they didn't even complete the regular credit!

I allow students to revise ALL their essay responses on quizzes and tests to help them practice the skills of revision and of course improve their writing skills.

The kids keep asking me what they can do to raise their grades and I've told them time and again... revise essay questions! Hahaha...

(For you tired educators out there you will be amused by this video that I came across: Grade No More - Let it Go Parody)

Anyways, I digress a little bit here. I worked through my lunch trying to catch up on my massive pile of grading. I was starving by time both kids were home. Had the boy down for a nap and just as I was about to put my food on a plate the crying began again. He wouldn't stop unless he was in my arms. Which of course makes for a challenge to put food on a plate one handed.

I was a hot mess trying to get some dishes done, keep the five year old occupied, and of course get myself fed. It happened eventually.

It happened because I gave my son a stalk of celery. I felt kinda like a bad mommy doing so. But the Bear doesn't like any of the chew toys we have given him to help ease his teething. We have tried and tried all the things. Finally, I handed him a stalk of celery and he was content to chew on it. I kept a close eye on him, and pulled off any bits he broke off to keep him from choking. So, there was a little bit of peace.

There is some controversy for letting babies chew on this. I figure as long as I am not setting him down and walking away from him it will be fine. He was literally in my lap the whole time he had it.

Ever notice how mothers seem to feel the need to defend their choices? That is a whole other subject.

Let me end this week's post by saying that it is important to be kind to yourself (try to be kind to others too). Do what you need to to stay sane.

Teaching Vocabulary to 7th Graders Online

Vocabulary can be a tricky thing to pick up on our own. Yeah, there are word of the day calendars out there, and websites like Dictionary.com with its affiliated thesaurus.

I am a big fan of the Facebook page Grandiloquent Word of the Day. Some of their words are more adult than others so I have to be careful to pick and choose words that won't get me into trouble with the parents/guardians and of course school leadership. I would prefer to go the George Carlin route, and teach whatever words I want... but I also want to keep my job.

This week's word was:

Teaching vocabulary to juveniles on the cusp of teenagedom (12 year olds) is quite the challenge. Especially in an online school setting. I've had to adapt different techniques that would go over just fine in a brick-and-mortar (physical school) to work in this online world. When I search the internet for ideas to help me I find lots of fantastic ones! But they are all focused on the brick-and-mortar world. That is when I flex my creative muscles and either make up my own stuff, or bend/twist what I find to fit the virtual world of my 7th grade classroom.

Another of the major issues facing us teaching in the virtual world is engaging the students, well it is really a major issue in general. In the virtual school it is so much harder because we cannot notice the disengagement when it happens. We don't get the visual cues of eyes glazing over and drool, heads going down on desks, or other off task behavior/choices.

We hold virtual lessons that are live, where students join us in a specialized kind of chat room with audio/visual capabilities (along with a bunch of other nifty tools such as screen sharing and document sharing). Once they are in the room, we don't have a real way of knowing if they are engaged or not. We have an "engagement tool" that lets us check the % of students who are doing things like answering a poll or writing in the chat box. But, there is no sure fire way to tell if they are listening/paying attention. We have to stay positive, check for understanding/comprehension frequently, and hope.

To address both the issues of teaching vocabulary and student engagement, lately I've been playing a lot of games with my students that have to do with the words we are studying.

This week I did a word scramble. It is the first time I tried it. I came up with the short background/excuse that I was tired and had a "Vocabulary Fail" and needed their help to fix up the vocab words. To assist in the de-scrambling I provided the definitions of the words out of the order that the scrambled words appeared.

The vocabulary words come from the novel we are reading The Watsons Go to Birmingham -1963.



Below is what I used in the lesson:

Then to check for understanding I showed images that would be able to be described or paired with the vocab words. Students were to identify which vocab word would best fit the picture. I also had students jump on their mic or in the chat to provide examples of the words being used in sentences.


 Overall I think the lesson went OK. I ended up having a lot of the same students participating, and the usual group of silent kids staying silent. Our engagement monitor thingy-ma-bob (that is the technical term) said I had around an 80% engagement...

Poop on the Walls or Life is a Literal Shit Show or Sometimes it is Important to Ignore Shit

Let me start off by saying that I love both of my children with everything that I am. I wouldn't trade them in for anything in the world. They are the best thing that has ever happened to me. My husband also has my love.

They are also sometimes the worst. Sometimes my husband is also the worst. (Sometimes the best too..)

The other evening I was sitting in my rocking chair with my 8 month old son. He was nursing quite happily. My husband was helping our 5 year old daughter get ready for bed. It was "Potty, Pull Up, Pajama" time.

I hear my husband say "I am so disappointed in you! You know better than that! UGH! Go tell your mother what you did."

My little princess timidly (not normal for her) comes into the living room looking down at her feet. She crinkles a little with each step because she has her night time Pull Up on. (She sleeps so hard and deep she won't wake to go potty at night.)

"What happened?" I ask.

She refuses to answer me. Looking everywhere but at me. Hubs comes around the corner saying something about disinfectant wipes... Not a good sign.

He stomps through the living room, to the kitchen and then back again to the bathroom. On his way there he says "She made an angry frowny face on the toilet seat out of poop the last time she used the bathroom."

"Why?!" I ask my daughter.

She stands there sucking on two of her fingers, and eventually replies "I don't know."

So we have the talk about what to do if you get poop on your hands... again. The talk about using more TP. For some reason she feels that a single square will suffice when she has gone #2. This has lead to many messes and poop in places it shouldn't be.

Properly chastised my daughter apologies sincerely for her misdeed.

We finish bedtime routine. She is in bed and headed off to dreamland. I manage to get the baby down at a reasonable time. We finally, finally got him to accept being in his crib instead of the bassinet.

Having nursed him for so long I need to use the bathroom myself.

I go in there, thinking grateful thoughts about my husband taking one for the team and cleaning the shit off the toilet seat. I sit down to do my own business, and in mid pee, right at eye level from me I see a constellation of little droplets of shit splattered on the wall. I raise my eyes to the heavens in frustration  because my hubs had missed this, then shake my head in irritation. I finish the job, get up to wash my hands and see another constellation of shit on the mirror over the sink and on the counter next to it.

I felt it was understandable to miss the poop on the wall opposite the toilet. I was aggrieved that he missed it on the mirror and apparently did a little clean up on the counter. Then I turn to the door to exit the bathroom and fetch the disinfectant wipes, bleach, and rags.

That is when I see it. There by the doorknob. A quirky little stick figure in shit. How did he miss ALL of this???

I wanted to scream. I wanted to laugh. To cry. I ended up doing a Captain Picard facepalm.

Instead, I IGNORED THE SHIT. Just as my husband apparently did. I mean, seriously, if there is shit in one place, one would think they should probably look around for more.

I just wanted to go to sleep, because in a few short hours my son would be up and wanting to nurse again.

I glowered at my husband. Explained that he missed a few things and waited. He said "I guess I must have missed it."

Since the poop had already dried on there from when it was applied to the bathroom walls, I figured there wasn't any point to scrubbing at it now and giving up valuable sleep time. I decided it could just stay there until after work when I would have time to deal with it. Though I held onto the secret hope that Hubs would take care of it in the morning.

I tend to do most of the housework. Sometimes I'm OK with this, and sometimes I resent this fact. I'm better at multi tasking and he can only seem to do one thing at a time.

I did get more sleep. BUT I had to give up some of my me time to clean up the poop all over the bathroom.

Motherhood is a beautiful thing. It is also a disgusting messy thing where the scatological part of life rears its ugly head time and time again.

Shit happens. I still love my family.

Try Try Again - Starting WGU (Western Governers University)

It is funny how many hits my blog has had, probably because of the Cheez-It Area and Perimeter post that I did a few years back. I keep getting emails concerning it. I should figure out how to just post the worksheet and or provide instructions on how to create one. I might get around to that. Maybe. Hard to find time working full time, going to school as full time as I can, keeping house, and giving all the love and attention I can to my daughter.

I have been thinking about my blog a lot and why I stopped writing it. I think it was mostly because I just got busy, or lack of interest. It felt kind of pointless in a way. The only interest in it at all had to do with my lesson plan for using Cheez-Its to teach area and perimeter. Teaching is hard, and we take our help where we can get it.

I'll try to learn to use this program more efficiently and type things in here that may or may not be of interest to others.

I think I just want a place to be myself and not have to worry about what I say. If someone doesn't like it, then I guess they don't need to be reading this.

Right now I really should be working on my coursework. I've started attending Wester Governers University to complete my Masters of Education. It is often referred to as WGU. It is an OK school. completely online. I decided to go with this school because I can work from home on school stuff and not have to travel to do it. It is also a relatively cheap program compared to others.

This first course that I'm taking though is kind of brutal in that it is a bit on the boring side. I'm a visual and auditory learner with tendencies towards hands on stuff. So far everything is here read this, practice it, and then you will take a test... I don't usually do so well with that kind of learning. I also have my ADHD to contend with. So sitting here and reading at my computer for hours on end is really really hard. I'll have to take it one course at a time and see how I go from there.

I've also got my first teaching job started. I got the position at the start of October. I've settled in nicely and am happily able to say that I like my job. I haven't been able to say that since I worked at Chuck E. Cheeses. I'm an online teacher for a public online charter school. It is a very different position from what I initially imagined myself to be doing. But I like it. That is what is important. My kids are great.

That is just about all for now. Just getting my toes wet with the blog again. Perhaps this will turn into something and perhaps not.

Right now I'm just tired and the coursework is calling me back. Now back to "The Systematic Design of Instruction" ugh. Working on finishing Chapter Five: Evaluation and Revision of the Instructional Analysis.