Case of the Mondays

Last week in discussion with another teacher, I realized there is always some teaching excuse for a students’ behavior, or rather misbehavior. Full moon, wind, rain, snow, Monday, Friday, short day Wednesday, sunny day, and the list goes on. So far, my particular students suffer from a condition commonly referred to as School Day. The star student of the week, who was unable to express how she was acting with proper vocabulary, and instead told me she was acting “like she was tired of school.” My internal reply was two fold. 1. It’s Monday, you’re in for a long week. And 2. I could think of a few choice words for HOW she was acting that were a little more descriptive and inappropriate. One girl replied to the question for her with, “pain in the ass.” Thank you to the peanut gallery. The situation was remedied when she decided she’d had enough and left the classroom en-route for home. Parents were called, letters were written, blah blah blah.

On a similar note, the girl from last week’s blog, over whom I hemmed and hawed about removing from my class, decided to partake in alternative educational option and cleaned out her desk. Small victory or educational failure? I’m hopeful for the possibilities, having only three students in grade 8 may well be a benefit for more personalized work, not to mention with the addition, or rather subtraction of a main distraction, they should be able to excel at a more rapid pace.

On the Geography front we’ve had another major mail delivery. I’m giving them to my class in daily doses and I’ve decided to do the same here. Today’s card:

Leavenworth, WA.

What we learned:
1. Leavenworth is 180 miles east of Seattle
2. Where is Seattle
3. Which direction is East
4. Home to many festivals – such as Oktoberfest
5. The original Oktoberfest is held in Munich, Germany
6. Their teacher has been to Munich, but not for Oktoberfest
7. The town looks like it belongs in Europe – in fact it is supposed to look Bavarian.
8. This is the second postcard mailed from Beale Air Force Base
9. Beale AFB is located in California, near Marysville, and is not labeled on the map.

What we still don’t know:

1. Who their teacher knows in either Lake Havasu City, Leavenworth, or Beale AFB

Again thank you to all the postcards and all the texts of support. Today it was sunny, and next week its algebra… one challenge at a time.