Donate Now It was just brought to my attention that my blog was the most visited on teachfor.us for the past two (!) semesters – thanks everyone for reading it! If you’re looking for other teaching blogs now that I’m “retiring,” I hope you check out the others that made the top ten! Update: Make…

Donate Now The last day of school flew by in a haze of packing up the last of my classroom, getting sweaty student hugs, and signing various kids’ yearbooks/tshirts/notebooks. While it was a relief to see the last of a few kids, I didn’t really anticipate how sad I would be at the thought of…

Due to a complicated yet boring set of circumstances, we had another field day today – woohoo! Leaving the school building in the morning was a bit more stressful than usual due to the administration checking and double-checking every permission slip and student:chaperon ratio, but given the recent evidence of the importance of trip protocols,…

It is really frickin’ hot today, and it feels even hotter inside the school since there are a thousand heat-generating children and no air conditioners in there. The first graders had their end of year moving-up ceremony/recital in the auditorium, and I wish I had a video of it – they were all so drenched…

Even though I have never planned on a career in teaching, around this time last year I was planning on staying at my school for a third year so I could fully take advantage of everything (experience, curriculum, relationships with students and other teachers) I had spent my first year working towards. But when I…

You may have noticed that we have been taking a lot of field trips of somewhat questionable pedagogical value lately. The reason is twofold: one is that the kids have a tendency to go insane towards the end of the school year, and having incentive field trips that they can “strike out” of (by cutting,…

All year long I have my kids keep meticulous science binders. Those of you who know me personally know that I am VERY particular about organizing things, so these binders are pretty awesome – they are divided into four sections (class notes, labs, homework, assessments) and every handout I give them is titled “[Section] [Unit].[Handout…

There was an elevated level of girls squealing and boys groping them at school today because last night was eighth grade prom, and apparently they are still drunk from all the hormones. What is eighth grade prom, you ask? Exactly what it sounds like. The girls get their hair done and buy extravagant dresses, the…

Today was another administrative half day and all the kids did was take their math final, so I have no funny kid stories to report. Instead, check out this story about my school – be on the lookout for Edward and his huge ears!

Today after work was our annual end-of-year staff happy hour. It was nice to hang out with other teachers outside of school, but the best part by far was getting to interact with the first grade teachers whose classroom I am in every morning without being surrounded by six-year-olds. I always get a teacher inferiority…

I had Ramses in my class in the fall, and he was a classic example of what I’ve heard referred to as “invisible children.” Because he didn’t stand out in any way, good or bad, he just sort of faded into the background. Eventually it became clear that he did have one unique characteristic –…

The trip to MIT on Saturday was amazing, but it was also pretty exhausting. As a result, I had a hard time getting up for work this morning, and was pretty fuzzy for most of the day. I’ve been staying after school to grade the NY State 8th Grade Science Exams, which has been interesting.…

I had trouble sleeping Friday night because I was so excited about our MIT trip, so it was no problem getting up ungodly early to head into school by 6:30 am Saturday morning. It was fun standing outside the school doors watching the kids arrive – some came running up the street grinning, some seemed…

I saw two movies today! First was an incentive field trip to the new Karate Kid, which was quite enjoyable – minus the fact that the last two weeks of school will now be filled with kids karate-chopping each other in attempts to recreate their favorite scenes. But more excitingly, after school I finally got…

Today was one of those days that you love when you’re a kid, because you don’t have to go to school even though the teachers do. As a teacher, it’s a bummer that you still have to go to work, but at least it’s a lot less stressful than when the kids are there. After…

Today one of my crazier students noticed that I was growing increasingly exasperated with him, and asked why I didn’t put him in a box. I asked for clarification, and was told “last year my teacher* put me in a box in the back of the classroom when I couldn’t calm down. One time I…

Today a kid flipped out at me for giving him a zero on a quiz (a gross injustice, considering that he had gone through all the effort of leaving the entire thing blank). He informed me of many lovely things, including the fact that he’s going to “pee” on my grave after I die and…

Overheard while walking past the principal’s office: “THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PLAYING AROUND AND STICKING YOUR FINGERS UP SOMEONE’S BUTT, AND THE LATTER IS NOT ACCEPTABLE!” Summer vacation can’t come soon enough.

Today was field day! Field day is the best day of the whole year because we take the kids to Central Park and sit on benches while they run around for six hours and exhaust themselves. Some of them (like my beloved Miranda) choose to spend the day hanging out with the teachers instead, which…

As the end of the school year approaches, the increasing heat, endless list of end-of-year tasks, and recent maternity leave of several key personnel are all causing our normally functional school to slowly descend into chaos. Evidence: An administrator yelled at all the seventh grade teachers at dismissal yesterday (big no no) for not informing…

Just as the fact that it is hot in the summer is completely new information to my students each June, every time it rains they take it as an incredibly shocking development. There was actually quite a downpour at dismissal today, but still – it’s rain, not hail or acid rain or some other unusual…

(sorry for the delayed update, I am out of town for the three-day weekend and was traveling after school yesterday) A few days ago I read another teacher’s blog about the latest trend to take over her school: silly bandz. “How odd,” I thought to myself, “I haven’t ever seen those in my school.” Well,…

Captain Crazy was on a typical crazy rant today, this time about how the world is overpopulated because “people like intercourse too much.” I asked him to keep his conversation limited to things that are a bit more appropriate for school, and was answered with “Don’t worry, Miss. One day you’ll do it too.” WHAT?!?!…

There are a handful of kids who think that if they are mad at me, the best way to seek vengeance is by not doing their work. I think they believe that I assign my students work for my own personal satisfaction, and that I go home and roll around in ecstasy on my huge…

There has been a rash of pants-dropping incidents lately – four boys in the past week! All but one were courteous enough to only pull down the outer layer and leave their boxers on, although one did then proceed to pantomime masturbating everywhere. Middle school boys are gross. Another boy has had three baseball hats…