MA Seminar Weeks 16-20

Week 16: April 24-28

Cle**** did have her work done from Friday, but it was all garbage. She spent the ‘fun’ time on Monday fixing it to my standards. Her sister admitted that she didn’t want to do it but she also didn’t want to deal with the consequences at school, so she did it all quickly before school.

• While I appreciate her not wanting to face the consequences at school, I wish she was more concerned about her education and put in more time at home. She is a work in progress, but I can tell we’ve made progress.

W’s mom wanted to meet with me on Tuesday. She was unable to attend parent - teacher conferences in February, and she really wanted to see me in person to discuss how her son is doing. Apparently he started at the high school, when the Newcomers were still there, and did “nothing” for over a month. The teacher told me that, “He refused to work; he sat there and looked pretty, so I didn’t give him more to do, I had plenty of other students to keep be busy.” I felt terrible for him. Just last week I could tell that he was having a hard time in class. I spoke to him after a class period about it, via Google Translate, and he was sad about missing his siblings who were still in El Salvador. He cried while talking to me about it. I did bring this up to his mom, because she expressed concern for him. He paces in his room Sunday nights (stressed about school presumably), doesn’t spend any time with ‘friends’ and goes to work with mom on the weekends, because he has nowhere else to go. Mom cried during the meeting. She said she was able to bring one child with her when she came to the US and she figured bringing her youngest would help the family have the best chance of being successful. I felt hurt for her. She wanted nothing more than for her son to be successful and yet he was miserable. During the meeting we learned that she had family a few states away, and she was going to look into moving out there so he could have male role models and cousins to be around.

Week 17: May 1-5

Overall, this was a good week but Wednesday was rough. N’s Language Arts teacher is out, so there is a long-term substitute. Well, this teacher has different expectations than the classroom teacher and N couldn’t handle it. He argued with her, said he wasn’t going to sit on the hallway, and that he was going to my room. The teacher walked him down to me and explained all that happened. He argued with her, and me -in front of my class, so I walked him to the office. Before I left, I gave my para and a couple of non-Newcomers a task to review vocabulary with a new game. I spoke with the sub for some time, also, while I got N to the office, explained to the assistant principal the situation, calming N down and then getting him to work, a major event happened in my room. Long story short, a non-newcomer got into it with Cle**** and it was quite confrontational. The para couldn’t handle it so she sent a student to get help. That’s when the assistant principal went into my room and asked Cle to leave. She refused, so he removed the entire class. The counselor was called down to help and was able to get my student to leave. Of course, the mom was called and was mad at the school for her daughter’s behavior. The student received a day of OSS followed by a day of ISS. It was amazing how much better her sister was with her gone those two days. This also resulted in an immediate schedule change for the non-newcomers in my room.

On Friday, my supervisor showed up to the school - to talk to me for 15 minutes. I’ve been trying to contact him about various issues/concerns for months. He finally got back to me this week saying he was too busy with SAT meetings, interviews, etc. It’s quite frustrating because I’ve been asking for his help/guidance for some time. I decided to write an email with everything that needed his attention. When he showed up at school, he said, “I saw you email and started to read it, when I realized I just needed to come over.” He admitted to not finishing the email, which in turn caused our 15 minutes together to basically be a recap of the email. Frustrating. Nothing was resolved, just more questions were raised.

Week 18: May 8-12

I attended a MATELLS Unconference this week. Thankfully, it was only for the afternoon, and I walked away with new information. I returned to school the following day to see that the sub went entirely against my requests.

• When I met her that morning, she was very upset about having to be in my room for half of the day, and two other classroom in the morning. (That was how they could hire her for a full day.) While I was in the room she complained about the teacher’s space (MY space) being covered with stuff and she had nowhere to sit or leave her bag. I wasn’t expecting her for another 15 minutes and had fully intended to make a spot for her, and that the entire classroom was vacant at that time, and she could sit anywhere. So she did. Once I made room, she said, “Oh, so where you told me to sit, I can’t really sit. Will you just make up your mind?” (Yikes!) I remained calm and gave her my sub plans. She complained then about not having a roster, even though it was included and the first line of my sub plans stated such. She asked what she needed to grade, I told her nothing, because by the time I could explain what needed to be done, I’d be late to my workshop. Well, she took it upon herself to ‘grade’ anything she could find - which resulted in more for me and confusion for my students. The kids also told me that she ate a bunch of candy. (Something I bought for the kids with my own money.) Ugh.

At the end of this week, we lost our local, beloved, former RPS librarian to cancer.

Week 19: May 15-19

Monday we learned of our band director being in the hospital with a brain bleed. I worked closely with him for two years and then he worked in my building for two years. I knew his health wasn’t great, but didn’t think it was THAT bad. The following day his family removed his life support and he passed away. I covered many band classes to help the cause, but it was uncomfortable for me too. We had a crisis response team in our building all week and it was rough.

Wednesday, my twins were part of an event in the cafeteria which resulted in Cle**** being suspended for the rest of the year, and having charges filed against her for assaulting two staff members and refusing to cooperate with staff and the RSO - until she was handcuffed. Again, the mom was mad at the school.

Friday was supposed to be the librarian’s funeral, but it was postponed due to her husband having a heart attack.

I feel so unprepared for the school year to be done, for all of my students and myself. I feel like there has been no closure, just constant fires that have to be put out just so we can survive. I REALLY hope my supervisor and I can hash out more for next year than we were able to for this year.

Week 20: May 22-26

Monday, Thursday, and Friday: No school for students.

Tuesday I invited my Newcomers, para, and I to attend a 7th grade field trip. They did great! (Of course two of them had OSS, and N was back at the school for the “Red Flag Room” due to incomplete work.)

Wednesday was a half day with our school-wide talent show and awards.

MA Seminar Weeks 11-15

Week 11: March 20-24

No school Monday.

Students seemed to struggle having their work done even though they were allowed two weeks - due to spring break. I thought it was more important to keep their due dates the same rather than try to squeeze people in on an earlier or later date.  

Tuesday my brother/sister combo. went to Mexico to see their dying grandfather and were set to return on Friday. Thursday they were detained at the border, and their visas were confiscated. Apparently they were just tourist visas, and the family was establishing residency by attending school and obtaining an address here. They will not be returning.

A new student coming on Monday; he is from Turkey.

Week 12: March 27-31

E***: Started on Monday. I completed his testing for placement and it confirmed his need to be in the Newcomer program. His mom showed up twice on Monday, and again on Tuesday. After giving her my email address and walking her through our normal day, including various places in the school her son would be in, she stayed home the following day. :)

I schedule E*** to have his work due on Mondays (then we would have all week to get through his work if necessary), but with the siblings being gone for good, I could have moved him to their day - Tuesday. I decided to keep him on Mondays anyway, so we have an ‘open’ day to do anything as needed with any/all of the kids. He has struggled this week. I don’t know if it’s because he is the only non-Spanish speaking student in the room, he is away from his mother and sisters (dad is still in Turkey), or if it’s because he is in a new place.

Week 13: April 3-7

E***: Did great on spelling/vocabulary tests and was eager for more. He’s definitely a breath of fresh air!

I was home Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. (Sick kid on Wednesday, I was sick Thursday, and all four of us were home sick on Friday.) Writing sub plans now seriously SUCK.

Week 14: April 10-14

NeSA testing Monday and Tuesday: Thankfully, I was able to get all of my testing done these two days, that was supposed to be done over the course of four days. My kids are certainly flexible and I thanked them repeatedly!

Most of my students have the audio feature/accommodation for their NeSA tests, so when Emir logged in and his test instructions were not being read to him, I knew something was wrong. Well, because he arrived later in the school year, his test ‘order’ was not placed correctly. (He wasn’t assigned audio.) I called the secretary at our central office explaining that I didn’t know he was lacking audio because his login information was not on a ‘ticket’ like all other students, and the information on the paper was set up differently. Anyway, she proceeded to yell at me about checking all of this two weeks ago when I received the tickets. I got them last Monday, planned to check them Tuesday, but wound up sick and didn’t get to them until today. She didn’t care. She yelled at me about how I needed to communicate with people in my building, check my mailbox, etc. I did my best to remain calm, but I did wind up raising my voice by the end of the conversation. She even sent our Student Services Director to my room to confirm I found the audio CDs for the other students. (The CO secretary left them with one of our building secretaries. No one told me they were dropped off or that they were put in my mailbox. I never get mail that matters, or go to the staff lounge, I wouldn’t have found them unless I went out of my way to use the restroom today, like I did. Ugh.) I did tell my boss about this, he was quite unhappy about how I was communicated to and understood that sometimes life gets in the way of work productivity. He apologized and promised to talk to her.

N***** refused to work a few days this week or bring his materials to class. When my para and I (at different times) reminded him of this, and that he shouldn’t be wearing his hoodie up in school, he resorted to saying what some of my Newcomers say, “I don’t understand.” That is complete BS. He is either lacking comprehension/memory skills or truly doesn’t care about anything (including how he treats his mother).

Cla**** wound up in  ISS for fighting another girl while in gym class. This blew my mind because she is the sister who actually seems to care about her education. But, we all have a breaking point.

I want to have some sort of reward program set up for my Newcomers. I have a sticker program set up for my classes, but I haven’t figured out how to set it up for the Newcomer Program. **Edit: I figured out this, but so far it’s been a pain to try to remember. Students can redeem stickers for: a free pass to their locker, drink, or restroom, candy, pencil, remove part of homework, sit wherever they want for the day, computer time, use one of the teacher's favorite writing utensils, etc. (Free or inexpensive things.)

Reward sticker stuff HERE

Each day kids can earn two: one for being on task and not being reminded more than once, and another for having a positive attitude.

Additionally, for each part of their work that is due every week, I would give them a sticker; the total here would be 9.

When I was out last week for being sick, and when I was sick in January, I allowed a couple of periods a day to watch a movie - in English. The problem was with the kids not watching it, but talking, screwing around, wanting to leave the room for all sorts of reasons, etc. This just means I have even more to plan if I am ever home again. The kids already have gym a period a day, and I don’t really want to send a sub to the gym when they don’t know the expectations there, or have access to gym equipment. I need to work on a plan for this for next year.

Playing catch up from being gone has been a nightmare. The kids are all over the place, but my para and the sub did their best. On top of that we have no school this Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday.

Week 15: April 17-21

No school Monday.

Cle**** didn’t have her homework done on her day: Friday. Her sister admitted that she said she wasn’t going to do it because her mother was out of town. Mom had to come to school twice in the last two weeks due to the girls’ behavior. Of course, when I got to her to review work, it wasn’t even attempted. I had a meeting after school for the set of brothers in my class, so I had her sit in the office and work. She was supposed to show me her work when she finished, but I never saw her.

The parent meeting was for J and E. E turned 15 in February and J is 13. Apparently they were supposed to go into 6th grade this year. (J was help back in 2nd and 5th grades, while E was held back in 3rd … unless the parents misspoke about who was held back how many times.) To make matters worse, they didn’t attend school last year because their grandmother didn’t make them. Mom and Dad were establishing residency in the US, without the boys. Additionally, in their year of school in Guatemala, they never learned how to read or write in their native language: Spanish. OMG. These two boys have such hurdles to overcome!

MA Seminar Weeks 8-10

Week 8: February 27 - March 3

One of my newcomer boys learned a tough lesson this week - when you are absent from school, you are still responsible for your work. Yes, he is new to the country and learning all of the rules/expectations, etc. The whole class was informed of this at the beginning of the year (January) what to do if you are gone. Even when he was at school, and I learned of his upcoming absences, I reminded him of this, and wrote to him in Spanish reminding him. He said he knew and understood, yet when his due date arrived, he was not prepared. He seemed bummed, but not disappointed - like I would want him to be. He did remember to have his dad call the school to let us know he would be gone, and brought in a doctor’s note when he returned - so that was good! He did finish his work, and tests, three days after they were due, and he stayed after school a couple of days for 30-45 minutes to work. Due to eight of my current ten newcomers, are all seventh graders. I think it is imperative that I am firm with my expectations and consequences, so that next year can be as smooth, and seamless, as possible.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned my technology issues with ELPA21. Right before the testing window opened, I made sure all of my Chromebooks were up-to-date and had my ELLs (non-newcomers) complete the practice test to familiarize themselves with the software. Oh. My. Gosh. We had so many technology issues! The computers wouldn’t stay connected to the internet, and once the students were in the secure browser, there was no way to “exit” or “refresh” the page. The only option was to completely reboot the computer and have the students re-login to everything. What should have taken 30 minutes, took over an hour. I contacted my supervisor, as well as our technology department, located at central office, for the district. I heard nothing back. I even ran into one of the technology guys in our building shortly after and asked, “Did you see my email about the internet in my room?” He replied, “I did, but I have at least 100 emails ahead of yours that I need to take care of first.” I replied that I had a time window of when the test had to be completed, and he just shrugged. UGH. I went back to the technology staff member who is housed in my building, and explained it all to her. She emailed them for me as well - as she is aware of the technology ‘dead zones’ in our building - including my classroom. I emailed my supervisor back and asked him when the testing window closed. He replied, “You can access this information on the NDE website.” -Awesome. I know you know the answer … I went to the website and saw only March 30th. Great - I have the whole month to figure out the technology issue and finish the test!

Week 9: March 6-10

My in-house technology staff member gave me a “band-aid” fix for the technology issue for testing. Once testing is over, it will not stay as a permanent solution. That’s fine - I sincerely appreciate her help, as the central office staff have yet to express any interest in resolving this issue. My supervisor contacted my principal asking for an alternative testing location. My principal gave me a room to go to, but I didn’t think it would work; we went anyway. It didn’t work. I spoke to my in-house tech staff and she laughed at the location. (It is where we house all of our ipad and computer carts - so there are TONS of devices fighting for the wireless signal - which can only handle 50 devices -MAX.) That was when she offered the band-aid fix. Anyway, we started testing this week. I have 22 students to tests, and only 10 computers easily accessible. So, I’m testing ten at a time, and then the last two together. I go everyone (unless they were absent) through two of the tests by the end of the day Thursday. Early Friday morning, my supervisor emailed the ELL staff saying, “As the testing window draws to a close, I hope ....” WHAT?! I thought for sure he misspoke. Nope - the testing window closes on March 15th. Crap. We have a fun day on the 14th, and no students on the 15th. I had only Friday and Monday to get through 2+ tests per kid, times 22 kids. OMG.

*Long story short, we go it done. Monday, by 3:20. I have no doubt that I will not get the results I would have if we had had the time I though we did. ..at least it’s done with.

I received a Facebook message from another ELL teacher from a local district. She also has her first ‘batch’ of Newcomers. She said that they were going into an English class where the teacher was starting a unit on The Outsiders novel. :) It was clear she hasn’t spent much time with them yet. I told her that I taught the novel to my ELLs, but even those resources were not suitable for Newcomers. I suggested she pull those students to work on basic vocabulary and gave her a few ideas based on what I was doing with them. The following morning, she informed me that she indeed pulled them from English class and is working with them on vocabulary. ..Can you imagine how that could have gone?!

Week 10: March 13-17

This week was different. Our last ‘normal’ day of the third quarter was Monday; Tuesday was Pi Day, with no regular classes; Wednesday was half in-service, half work-day for teachers, and then we had quarter break Thursday through Monday.

Tuesday the twins, and some other students, chose to make fun of a little person in our building. He was there visiting his wife - who happens to teach in the room right next door to mine, has interpreted for me before, and is in charge of our BD program. (Which the girls could wind up in next year if things don’t improve.) Needless to say, I was ANGRY. I do not tolerate bullying, especially within my classroom. Once I figured out what they were saying, and who they were referring to, I knew I had to handle it right then and there. I wanted to go to the teacher (the wife) and have her interpret for me, but because it was about her husband, I didn’t know if she would. I called my husband; who also teaches in my building, who works closely with the other teacher, and asked him his thoughts. He suggested I go for it - talk to the other teacher, and ask her to talk to my students, if she was willing. She was. She sort of laughed it off, as she figured the kids had never seen a little person before, and that she was “used to it.” I told her that didn’t matter, and that what they did was still bullying. She spoke with the class. They were quiet afterwards and seemed to understand that what they did was wrong - all but one student anyway. Cley*** still thought it all was hilarious; so I wrote an office referral for her. I also wrote one for her sister.

Due to this incident, I did NOT allow the students to attend the end of the day Pi Day dodge ball games in the gym. I also required them to work during the “fun time” they were supposed to have. I don’t know if this event will stay with them after our quarter break, but it will at least be something I can reference if they think I’m joking about negative choices they’re making.

MA Seminar Week 5-7

Week 5: February 6-10

When the Newcomers started, I pulled my para from all but two classes. In those two classes I reminded her to assist all students as needed - including reading tests aloud. The SpEd department appreciated that and said they would help out in the other class periods. Awesome!   …

Wednesday: I received an email from a content teacher, “I just wanted to check in as to your thoughts regarding those ELL students who need to have tests read to them.  I know that previously the SpEd staff was helping out, but from my understanding, that is not going to be the case anymore. So I'm just wondering what the next plan of action is?  I know there are tests and quizzes always coming up, so as team leader, and a classroom teacher, I want to make sure we are doing right by those students.” I had no clue about this change, and was irritated that this email was sent to me AND our principal. I felt that was totally unfair. I quickly tried to do damage control and found out, from a SpEd teacher the our school psychologist told them that they could not help more than five students at a time; so even if I had one student in a class, they could not help them in the classroom, pull them for tests to be read aloud, etc. I replied to the teacher, “With the SpEd staff taking their students, can you - the classroom teacher, read to the ELL kids in the room? If the classroom teacher isn’t already reading to the other students, I think this would be fine.”

I later received an email from the principal that said, “Brenna - I hate to say this, but I am assuming that some of your students are going to need the accommodation/ modification of having the test read to your students.  Obviously, this will be hard because we can not send Tangemann everywhere.  But the general education classroom teacher can not be pulled to read to your ELL students.  They need to be available to help the students within your classes. At this point, what needs to happen is the general education classroom teacher will need to send the test with the student to your room where Jennifer will have to read to them in the hallway.  I know this is not ideal, but this seems like the best solution.I would communicate this to all teachers a list of students who need the test read to them.  I would also ask teachers to communicate to you ahead of time when the test will be so you can plan accordingly within your room.”

By the time I read his email, I was pretty hot. I replied that, “The classroom teacher would not need to be pulled from the classroom to read to the students, it could all happen within their four walls. ..I will work on getting a spreadsheet set up with kids’ schedules so Jen and I can try to figure out how to juggle everything.” No one replied to me after that. I did go to the principal’s office after school and express my frustrations. Ultimately he said to do whatever I needed to do to help my kids in the best way possible; that this is entirely new to him too and it’s a huge learning curve.

*** I left his office feeling a little relieved, as he gave me his blessing to spend less time on instruction of my classes, and to focus more on being a case manager. I can’t simply stop teaching to the classes I have, and offer study halls all day, but I will give them more class time to get work done, study for tests, and collaborate. I hope to spend less time worrying about grades as well.

Thursday - Parent/Teacher Conferences: All but three of my Newcomers came. Yay! I will say, having a student all day long in my room certainly creates a LONG conference; there is a lot to talk about!

One particular student, non-Newcomer is a handful. He doesn’t bring what he needs for class, rarely has his homework done -if it is even with him. His mom sounds supportive of the school, but there doesn’t seem to be much follow through on her end of things. I do not believe this is a language issue, but I can’t prove that until other things improve. Tuesday, Mom was supposed to come for her son’s final SAT meeting. She did not come, so I met with her on Wednesday. Ultimately it was decided to have him carry a crate/bin of all of his locker contents so that he always has what he needs. Also, it is up to the individual teacher, but we discussed having him leave his work in each classroom so that nothing went home and didn’t come back, or got lost in transition.

Newcomers in Gym Class: This is the Newcomers’ first full week of having gym class. The gym teacher is very particular about how she runs her classes, has clear expectations and consequences. I reminded her that “my” students are no different than other students in the building when it comes to participation, attendance, behavior, etc. I offered to send my para with the students to help her -initially she declined the support, then demanded it. After the first day, the teacher approached me asking if she was supposed to have the same expectations for my para. Long story short, I simply reminded her that my para is another adult in the building, not a student, and that she is not a teacher, but is there to help reinforce what the teacher is doing, and work with individuals or a small group (“our kids”) as needed. Another complaint was that my kids are “slower than other kids. It’s like working with kindergarteners!” This was quite frustrating for me. Cognitively, my students should not have any issue in gym class. Understanding the rules of a game, however, they will struggle. I explained that most students have played sports, namely soccer, in their native country, but it was probably a street or pick-up game that was less structured than her gym class. Apparently her frustration was in the kids not being able to catch a ball, dribble, run 10 laps around the gym without walking, or do sit-ups fast enough. I gently reminded her (like I’ve had to remind many other staff members) that these students have only been in our building for a month. If they think back to what the beginning of September was like for all of the other students in the school, they would have a good idea about where my students are in their learning of the school rules, expectations, etc.

**** The gym teacher prints out the instructions or rules for class and my para pulls it up in Spanish (all of our students are Spanish speakers). We give them class time to look it over, watch Youtube videos and ask us questions about it.

Week 6: February 13-17

One Newcomer started ‘normal’ classes this week. He is seriously struggling. It seems that he does not have strong study habits. He is failing every class; even mine. Sometimes he simply doesn’t do the work at home. There are two of my other students who have the same schedule as him, who are helping him as needed, but I think he is using them as a crutch -and it’s not fair for them to spend their time helping him understand when they too are learning the material. --- After talking to him later this week I helped him think through how to better use his work time at school and home.

Maybe I can use NEWSELA for the fall. All staff have a PRO membership, but the lowest Lexile is 560 (second grade) -even with the Elementary version. However, there is a Spanish (text) option -for my Spanish speakers. I found a story about tornados, at the lowest lexile, which I think would be a good thing for them to read about being in the Midwest, but one of the first words was thunderstorm. Nowhere in the reading does it explain what a thunderstorm is. Ugh. Thankfully, I can digitally annotate on the document to provide definitions, but I may have to just suggest students use a dictionary. Maybe have them flip back and forth between the English and Spanish texts?

I had to rearrange seats again. There was some bullying going on at the group on the left of my classroom. I pulled the desks apart and put them into two rows with everyone facing one direction. So far, so good. I moved the tables that were in the back to the front. This allows for all of the students in my classes to sit near the board. By moving the desks to the back, that allowed for more flexibility in seating arrangements for the Newcomers.

I spent a lot of time after school this week trying to get caught up. I bring things home to work on, but never pull them out. I want to, but the few hours a day I have with my children take priority. Some of the things I need to do are easy enough for my para, or another adult, to do. I already stretch her so thin, I don’t know when I could have her help me do these things. (Simple grading, copies, update curriculum materials for each student, etc.) Once some of these things are done, they won’t need to be done again; it’s just time consuming at the beginning.

*** I updated some of the documents and scanned them to myself. Now I have a nice, clean digital copy. Yes!

Week 7: February 20-24

No school on Monday (Presidents’ Day/Teacher compensation day) or Friday (snow day).

The non-Newcomer who carries his locker contents with him is showing improvement. It is very minimal, but it is there. Hallelujah! However, more concerns are surfacing. I’m afraid he may have a memory issue. I need to talk to our school Psychologist about it.

I’m concerned about one of my Newcomers. He seems to not understand simple instructions - even when there is an example for him to follow. I had another Spanish speaking student explain everything to him, in her own words even, and he did okay for a few days, but is in a slump again. This students WAS in attendance at the previous Newcomer location at the high school. That teacher had nothing valuable to offer when I asked her about him. The student’s brother says he understands him just fine when speaking in Spanish, but my non-Newcomer students all say they often have no idea what he is saying to them.

*** I need to talk to my supervisor, Josh, about this kiddo.

Wednesday: I had a SAT meeting for another non-Newcomer. She works her tail off but still struggles. She is now in my room one period a day as a study hall. I do not teach a class that period, but do have the Newcomers. I can read tests to her, review for tests, allow for work time, etc. She was quite excited and thankful to be in there Thursday. She’s been in the US since kindergarten, but the district she attended had no ELL program. She came to Ralston halfway through 5th grade, where she finally received language intervention and support.

*** She is also coming to my room at any point during the day to have tests read aloud - just like all of the other students.

MA Seminar Week 1-4

Week 1: January 9-13

Kids spend all day in my room. I make them get out every 45 minutes, for 4 minutes - passing period. Either going to the bathroom, getting a drink, walk the halls a bit, or talk to friends and stretch.

• Got lockers on Friday. Spent most of the day on Thursday practicing combination padlocks. Once mastered, they were given their own locker.
• Now that they have their own locker and can handle the lock, they will get to join a P.E. class and have their own gym locker there. Originally we were going to put them in 4th and 7th period gym classes, my plan periods, but those classes were already full. By the end of the week, I didn’t care if we send one student per period, I just needed them to get out and  moving. Hopefully this will happen next week.

I started the semester off with six newcomers. Two days into the semester, I was told I would be getting five more. I was definitely overwhelmed that day after school. I know that I can handle this, but being unprepared and having never done this before -in eight years, is hard. What has definitely been hard is trying to juggle teaching a class, while having a room full of newcomers. Jen, my para, and I have been managing by each of us jumping back and forth between groups of students so we each are working with everyone.

• My supervisor discussed revamping/changing my schedule so that I am just working with Newcomers all day. I didn’t think that was wise: 1- It would be extra work for my principal to manually change 11 schedule (watching for class sizes, etc.), or fair to the students to be uprooted in the middle of the year from something that isn’t their fault. They all would be going to more difficult classes and without support -most likely. I really could not do that to them.

The high school in our district has a Newcomer Program. It used to be for grades 7-12. However, thi year the teacher had 32 Newcomers in her room - along with two paras. The youngest students just turned 12, and the oldest was almost 21. This has the possibility of being very bad. This teacher has ran the program for a LONG time. She hand selected the curriculum, and does things the way she wants -but she gets results! Because of this change in the middle of the year, and her having everything, I am using her materials for my version of the newcomer program. Additionally, we have Rosetta Stone licenses for each student. I’m trying to make it so that the students know what they need to work on each period of everyday. They have school work and they have homework - while they are similar, the school work is more challenging than the homework. It sort of is cyclical.

• Homework: Level 1
• First period: Alphabet Journal and Verbs  (writing about a topic that begins with ‘A’. The paragraph is  written in both English and the native language. The verbs are all past tense. Students write the word in their native language, the way it sounds, and a sentence using it correctly.
• Second period: Rosetta Stone
• Third period: Level 2 - working with me directly
• Fourth period: Vocabulary
• Fifth period: continued work with level 2 & 3, verbs, and writing - working with me directly
• Sixth period: Rosetta Stone
• Seventh period: Skills practice (this week was practicing/memorizing lunch codes, lockers, important places in the building, etc.)
• Eighth period:  level 3
• Advisement: End of the day reflections

I would like to get some content -besides vocabulary, with these kids, but that may have to happen this fall. I found a curriculum called “Access” that has a Newcomer text, as well as basic Math, English, World History, and American History. My supervisor said he’d look into that and into another curriculum he heard about to see what he prefers before we make a purchase. I think that could be a good jumping off point, at the very least, to get their kids’ feet wet.

The non-newcomers are already struggling. I pulled my para from all of their classes to help with the Newcomers while I’m simultaneously teaching in my room. The non-newcomers have approached her with questions, “When are you coming back to class?” “I don’t understand what we are doing in Science.” “History has a project that is hard, can you help me?” It’s so hard to hear this and not have an answer. Running an individualized program while also being the only certified ELL teacher, and caseload manager in the building, is tough. I hope that we can find some professional development that we can send some classroom teachers to, to help with the transition of ELLs in their room with no para support. Again, this isn’t unreasonable, it’s just a change from what we’ve done for years.

I’m concerned about how much time everything needs, and the lack of it that I have. We have late starts on Wednesdays for PLCs that I will start to use as work time -whatever needs to be done. That is only a half hour.

Week 2: January 16-20

(No school Monday or Tuesday, and I was gone on Wednesday.)

I’m working on moving one of my Newcomers into regular classes - starting Monday. All students, including him, will be joining a PE class as well (fitness and activity). All 9 will be in the same class - however, this isn’t realistic for the future -most likely.

Three of the boys didn’t follow through on their homework. Kids are allowed a week to do it and it doesn’t not come to school; they have separate school work. That was frustrating, as they now have even more work due for next time. The quantity of work is minimal.

Materials are running low. Notebooks, computers, headphones, copies, etc.

Week 3: January 23-27

(I went home sick Tuesday at noon, and returned Friday at 8am.)

Sub plans are now a MAJOR pain to write.

I sent home a note, in Spanish, explaining the work I assign, how much time I give for the kids to do it, materials needed for class, etc.

Week 4: January 30-February 3

Cley*** - fell asleep in class today (Monday). Didn’t seem concerned about it or the fact that I was upset.

Thursday, students finally got to attend gym class. They will get to go daily, first period, for the rest of the semester. Not an ideal time, but I will take it! I'm frustrated that it too so long to get going, but now I know to make it happen right away come Fall.

Seating arrangements are an ongoing thing. We have rearranged the 11 students a couple of times now, but plan to again for next week. We’re trying to find the “sweet spot” for these kids to work collaboratively and still be successful - and on task.

There were two girls (sisters) who joined us last week who are really stirring the pot. They ask another student to translate for them and some of what they say is not okay. The ‘translator’ often will just shake his head side to side and not utter a word. I only found this out because our district interpreter came in on Wednesday to check in on the students and let them know she is available to them any time of day. Language barrier for myself and my para is frustrating. I have been trying to log time on Rosetta Stone to learn (re-learn) Spanish, but it’s a slow process.

I have my room arranged as best as I can get it to accommodate both the Newcomers and the class. It looks like this:  Each ‘x’ represents a student in class. There are 7-8 students in my “class” and 11 Newcomers. The “class” sits at the front of the room, by the board, where I have taken to sitting and instructing - because I feel too close to them and uncomfortable standing at that proximity. These are individual desks, not tables. The seats in the back, which are tables, are where the Newcomers work - with my para. They’re there all day, we have an eight period day. (One period they are going to gym, and two other periods they go to the library for a change of scenery, and it’s during my plan time.) The table on the right is a kidney-shaped table we use for individual or small group work. This is generally when we are having students read aloud to us and check their writing.

My room is long and narrow. I have my desk in there, a couple of filing cabinets, a small reading corner, and some shelves where kids store their school work. This is basically the best way I have figured out how to arrange the room.

I feel like there could be a better arrangement for improved instruction and supervision. I just haven’t figured that out yet.