mollyinthedelta

Yesterday we had Saturday academy at our school. The best part of the whole day was going outside to play football together during break. The version of football we played was very interesting though. First, it was played with a nerf basketball. Second, we were playing touch (but some of the boys decided touch included clotheslining people). Third, it was really just throwing the ball, catching it, and running until someone tagged you. Getting to see the boys from my classes play like this, and getting to play the game with them, was great.

Review baseball. Fun in theory, crazy in actuality! First and second periods were the loudest they have ever been today, but it was a good, semi-controlled crazy loud that was mostly on task (which is pretty good for first period since a student who has been on suspension for 10 days for throwing a rock at me returned today…). Third period was the worst 55 minutes of my day today… chaos reigned throughout the kingdom of room #4 and it ended in silent work out of the book. Fifth period did not do too much better since the game came to a screeching halt when a student yelled “You can **** me in the ***” at the opposing team… maybe a little too much competition for him to handle… the rest of the afternoon went pretty well, but loud enough that I can safely say we will not be playing review baseball ever again! Tomorrow is the regional science fair in Greenville. I am really hoping my one student who made it that far will do well. Her project is well done and very pertinent to our town (she looked at how BMI and exercise effect blood pressure and pulse).
Only 6 more school days before the beach!

I am so glad that I decided to use the movie the Lorax in class. My students seem to really be indifferent to the topic of the environment. So I thought that watching The Lorax would be a good way to rope them in. Luckily it was! The first few minutes of the movie they were like “Ms. Hildebrand, this is stupid” “I hate this” “Ms. H this music is so white” then by about 5 minutes in they were all completely engrossed in the movie and by the end they didn’t want it to stop. At one point a student told me “That Lorax go hard!” which is the ultimate compliment in my classroom.

Only 9 more school days until I get to go to Florida to visit my Grandparents for spring break!!

This week we are working on food webs in my class. Now the good thing is they really seem to actually have some background knowledge on the topic, however they also have a lot of misconceptions. For instance, when I was trying to lead my student to understand that without our meat sources (cow, chicken, pig) she would have to change her diet. The exchange went something like this:
Me “So how would you change if there was no longer chickens, cows, or pigs”
Student “It wouldn’t”
Me “Really? What meat would you eat?”
Students ” I would still have ham”
Me “Um…. you would?”
Student (with a hand motion) “You know that bird with the feathers”
Me with a questioning look
Student “The big colored feathers you know”
Me “A peacock?”
Students “Yeah! a peacock! We get ham from them!”

Sitting out on my porch at 9 o’clock at night on a February evening without and shoes on. I love this weather! This weekend was very relaxing overall. We had a wonderful dinner with our landlords on Friday night (mexican for those of you who are wondering… and yes it was delicious!) on Saturday my roommate dragged my butt out of bed to make me run which turned out to be a good thing since it was was gorgeous out! We had our usual monthly prosat meeting on Saturday afternoon in Cleveland, Mississippi and ended Saturday by painting some canvases for our house. Today was a very productive day as I was able to plan for the week. I also was able to go to a church of a preacher I had met at the gym. It was a great service and I went to supper with him and his family afterwards. Its great getting to know people in the area better. I am hopeful and positive that this week will be better then last week. Food webs here we come!

The thing keeping me sane this week is the fact that at night I get to watch the olympics. Getting a rock thrown at me during bus duty seems like a smaller deal when I see an olympian wipe out going 70 mph down a mountain. Also I am still riding the high of having my parents here this weekend. We saw some of the wonderful Delta sites including the amazing BB King museum, which truly is one of the best museums I have ever been to. 3 weeks from tomorrow spring break starts!!!

I feel like that little engine that could. It may sound cheesy but I really think I can link my life to that story. Right now I feel like I am climbing up that really big hill at the end. I am almost in reach of getting to the top of the hill. Right now we have moved on from meiosis and mitosis (mastery levels are pretty ok with this topic) and are discussing genetics. Students seemed to find genetics interesting thus far. Tomorrow we are going to try a genetics project involving Sponge Bob, who is a staple on my students jackets. Today went pretty okay. I don’t know if its the fact that I took a day off yesterday and came back refreshed, or if its the new material, but if all my days go like today I will be in better shape.

I also have to say that for the last week and a half one of the people keeping me sane has been the secretary at my building. She is a God send and has helped me in so many ways every day of the week! Go Secretaries!!

I was told multiple times by many different people that after awhile the students behavior gets better and its easier to control the class. However, in the last few days it has gotten progressively worse. We had a major fight yesterday between two of my students. Today I couldn’t get through all of my material because of needing to wait for students to stop talking about the fight (ok so most wanted to know if I was ok, cause I may or may not have plowed one of the students involved to the grass after 3 frustrating minutes of trying to break it up, which is kinda well intentioned… but still we don’t need to talk about it) My janitor who I could not live without told me today that it only gets worse in our school behavior wise and the fighting has just started…. what the heck am I supposed to do if it really does get worse?! Oh well… 64 days of school left this year…

I don’t think I spend enough time thinking or talking about how beautiful the Delta is. Driving home yesterday, the sun was setting and it was beyond gorgeous. All there is for miles are fields, which right now are empty, but that just means you can see all the colors of the sunset (or sunrise in the morning). It’s hard to imagine why we can’t find a way to attract more people here as tourists.
On another note, today was a 60% day, so as usual tried in vain to get through some material. At one point I actually had to stop class and call parents right then and there to calm kids down. I don’t know why they all think short days mean no work. Oh well… moving on to meiosis tomorrow… which I am sure they will get since they understood mitosis so well…. I cannot believe it is only wednesday…

So the good news is I think that mitosis is finally cemented into my students heads… the bad news… K was drunk in class today.
I finally thought I was getting through to him and he was making such progress academically. Then today he comes into class acting crazy and his eyes were bright red, making me think he was possibly high. I pulled him out to the hallway to calm him down and he stumbled out and then slurred his words to me. He went through 2 more periods before they found him with a bottle of vodka. I know that this is out of my control, but at the same time I just don’t know how I could have let him slip through. He has told me what he wants to do and what he wants from school, and I haven’t been able to give him that. He is such a good kid with such a different homelife from mine. I just don’t know what to do… I can’t give up on him… even though I was told to do so …. right now K is why I teach for America