On Thursday, We Practiced Our Final...

For First Period, my Computer I class full of 7th Graders, things have been going kind of slow. The kids don't catch on to computer concepts as quickly as I think they should be. Partly, it is me. Partly, it is the kids themselves. There are a number of them that like to "give up." If they don't get something, they quit and are not at all interested in trying to figure out how to get back on track. They would much rather have someone come along and do it for them.

I find this frustrating.

I try to work with the kids that need extra help as much as possible. I have been meeting after school with a number of kids that can come by to try to get caught up or learn new stuff. One kid, L., started the class by writing on his information card that he was "afraid of computers" and that he didn't know anything about them. He has been working hard and has been putting together some good stuff. He actually produces some of the nicest work of anyone in the class, but I have had to help him a lot and he gets confused fairly easily. I keep hoping that the lightbulb will click for him and he will get it, but so far, not yet.

The class will end in December with a final. This is a fairly tough examination that comes in seven parts. Although we have covered much of the material on the final, I think that if I gave the class the final today, they would have heart failure and die, just because it would seem completely overwhelming.

I asked Mr. Jewett if we could start covering the final material ahead of time, so that the kids would be prepared. He said yes. The final is no big secret, as the text of the final has been in Mr. Jewett's online resource folder for the entire year.

I took two parts of the 7 parts on the final and give it to the kids as an in-class assignment today. Most of them promptly tried to die of heart failure. After they started working on things, though, they realized that they did know most of the information and could put it together. It was one of our better days yet, with almost everyone working hard and getting stuff done. I was pleased.

H. was absent today.

I also talked to D. before class. D. is a kid that likes to act tough and be a clown in the class. I told him that I thought that he was getting a little wild in class recently and that I wanted him to settle down and work today. He did.

In 3rd Period and 5th Period, the classes worked on their Flash animations. 3rd Period is doing a story with a moral and 5th Period is doing a music video. Both classes worked pretty hard and got some good stuff done.

(P.S. The artwork at the top of this post is "Quit." This is a scan that I found on the Internet of the original work from a "Wacky Packages" sticker. I remember that these were very popular when I was in elementary school. Apparently, they are being made available again. They were packs of stickers with goofy parodies of household products and so forth. I used to stick them all over stuff when I was 8 or 9, now the old stickers are collectible. Go figure.)

The Avalanche Come to Town

In an assembly this afternoon, two members of the Colorado Avalanche NHL team came to our school to give a short talk. Dan Hinote and John Michael Lyles came up from Denver and met with us in the big Gym.

I sat in the back of the bleachers with the 7th Graders. I now have a headache.

They talked about goals, lessons, and so forth. It was kind of cool, but it was hard to hear them sometimes and the kids around me were pretty loud, as well.

They seem to think that the NHL might be back in play soon, possibly by the start of the year. I don't think so. We'll see.

A lot of the girls in the school were kind of nuts over the two guys, shrieking, asking for hugs, etc. It was kind of "junior high."

Apparently, one of our teachers, Ms. Verti, is "seeing" John Michael Lyles socially and invited him to come to our school. It was kind of cool, I suppose.

Things with H.

H. has been one of my most difficult students for quite awhile now. I have written extensively about him in the past.

He is very difficult to maintain in a classroom. If he isn't given structured time, he is very disruptive, likely to get up, walk around, tip over his chair, throw pencils into the ceiling, poke kids in the classroom, draw on the board, you get the idea.

He has had a tough and very undisciplined childhood, with many of the adults in his life abandoning him or giving up on him.

I have tried to work with him. He and I made a deal that he would work in my classroom on any project that might interest him and that I would make sure that he passed my class if he completed work. For the first two or three weeks, this arrangement seemed to be working fairly well. He worked on things and was generally cooperative in the classroom.

Unfortunately, a couple of weeks ago, he got suspended for being disruptive in a class during a test, throwing things at other students. He was out of my classroom in "ISS" for a week and a half. Since his return, a week ago, he has been very difficult to manage. He does not work on anything like he was. He requires constant monitoring or he gets up and walks around the lab. I have had to put him out in the hallway twice just to be able to teach in the classroom.

I am not sure if I have failed or if circumstances in his life have gotten so that he just can't do it anymore. I keep trying and (mostly) being unsuccessful.

Dear Paul: Are You Still Alive?

Hi.

Sorry I haven't blogged in a long time. It isn't that I forgot. It's just that I have been really busy. And tired.

For the last couple of weeks, I have been teaching four classes with three preparations. In the other two classes, I have been team teaching with Mr. Jewett. In my 7th Period, which is a planning period, I have been staying in the North Fork Computer Lab to help Ms. Kimball with her Computer I class, as I am better at the Flash movie stuff that the kids are currently working on than she is.

Any free time that I have had at school has recently been taken up grading projects. I try very hard to stay on top of the grading, because I really don't want it to pile up, but it is tough. I usually have a complete rubric created for each graded assignment. I do this using Microsoft Excel, so that the sheet automatically figures the grades for me. I also put comments on each rubric, indicating where the student did well or might have been able to improve. Then, I send an email to each student with an attachment of the rubric, so that they can see their grade information if they wish. This takes a lot of time, but it is a routine that I would like to get into, as I think that it will serve me well in the long run.

The 2nd Period and 3rd Period Graphic Arts and Web Design classes have completed their Computer Graphic Arts Projects that I mentioned awhile back. I graded them yesterday and today. Most kids did very well. Almost all of the students were very enthusiastic about the project and almost everyone that put in solid work got at least a B on the project.

The 7th Grade Computer I class during 1st Period has been working on creation of their own websites with links to their projects. Things continue to go very slowly in that class. There is a group of about four boys that take up much of my time and effort. Even when things are going well in that class, I spend about half of my time monitoring and redirecting them. I was almost a little relieved when I saw that in Ms. Kimball's Computer I class, she also has a group of three boys that get up and wander around the lab whenever they wish, being disruptive. At least I know that it isn't just me.

5th and 6th Period Computer Productions Classes have mostly been doing Flash animations over the last two weeks. Mr. Jewett and I have developed a good team teaching technique, he does the application lecturing and I do the on screen demonstrations for the class. It works well.

Some other interesting things have been going on. I will post blog enteries backdated to the appropriate time, so that this reads chronologically.

Best to all!