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!
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