Melancholy on a Monday

I had an amazing weekend at Brown, and I can hardly believe it's over. I think I'm experiencing some form of withdrawal (but hopefully this is a sorrow as transient as April's brief showers).

At any rate, I'm missing my kids, and I'm excited to see them tomorrow! This is also the last week I have to teach my seniors. I'm really really not excited about that. Next Monday, I'll see them in the hallways and at graduation practice... but not in my classroom.

Drawbacks

Crazy kids stole my phone! (I don't think they were my kids, but I don't want to point any fingers. Suffice it to say my kids are really truly under control and know better.) Had to go buy a new one...

Lesson #347 of Teaching: Kids Respond to Incentives

Incentive: If you guys are well-behaved throughout the entire lesson, we'll go downstairs to the bake sale at the end of class, and I'll buy you each a cookie.

The Result: Impeccably behaved classes. Active participation. 90% engagement. (It's almost June, and I still can't get every kid.) And so almost all of my students now understand niches and the competitive exclusion principle.

And they love me, because I bought them cookies. Added bonus.

Quote(s) of the Day - May 26, 2010

During a lesson on ecology, upon explaining that producers convert sun energy into sugar...

Rooster: Wait, so are you saying that all food contains sugar?

Makes Barnyard Animal Sounds: Oh my god, he just said that waffles don't have sugar! Haha, he's so dumb!

Barnyard spent the rest of the period whistling, humming, and oinking.

~~~~~~~~~

Me: Extremely Obnoxious, stop talking to Master of Righteous Indignation.

Obnoxious: I SWEAR I was talking to Master of Righteous Indignation... So get out of my face, and stop saying my name.

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via GOOD

Notes From a Monday

Not so manic... Attendance was fairly decent in the morning and in the afternoon. However, half my class was out for testing 2nd period, so I had a grand total of 7 kids (out of 15). Fourth period was even worse -- 9 kids showed up, out of 24.

Some of my favorite moments:

-- Upon learning that we were starting our ecology unit, one of my students proclaimed, "Oh, I think that's the part I like!"

-- Insecure About Other People Being As Smart As He Is told me he would rather study for a multiple choice and essay-style final exam rather than do the project-style final I assigned. Not sure to what extent that is true and to what extent he is trying to show off to his classmates.

-- One of my most obnoxious students came to class on time, sat down quietly, and not only took notes but also was the only person to complete her homework during the 5 minutes left over at the end of class.

Manic Monday

School ends June 18th, so today is the start of the last four weeks of school. My students are checking out mentally. Many have already informed me that they have no intention of coming to school once it gets to be hot and sunny on a regular basis. They already have a bad track record of attending when it rains (which is sort of justifiable, since so many walk to school). Today is supposed to be rainy and 75 degrees.

So if we combine the factors of rain, high temperatures, end of the year, and Monday, I wonder what attendance will be like today....

Hopefully, high, because I am teaching exciting stuff today (and starting a new unit -- ecology! -- in biology). But attendance is a very sobering matter.