the eugene bean

Today is Wednesday.
I actually had to check this. What if it was actually Monday and the beginning of the week I’ve already lived through had been a dream? Then I’d have a WHOLE WEEK of school left till the holiday.

But, it’s Wednesday.

This is good because it’s my last week of school before the holiday and Wednesday means it’s half over. I love my job and I love my students but the week before a major holiday is hell.

Somehow I’ve been suckered into celebrating Christmakah. This is a celebration the kids came up with (I think the idea came from a WB tv show); clearly a mix of Christmas and Hanukah that they thought would be more socially inclusive. Gotta give them props for thoughtfulness.

Anyway, the festivities were shortened to 3 days rather then the Jewish 8 because I’m not that crazy and the kids have all sorts of things up their sleeves.
*We’re making dreidel cookies sprinkled with red and green sugar.
*We’re decorating a mini tree with blue and silver and white ornaments.
*We’re making gingerbread houses. (This was actually my idea; I thought if they worked in cooperative groups on this project it would help their social skills. We’ll see, they may just wind up throwing icing at each other.)
*We’re making Yamaclaus. Yep, yamaclaus. A cross between a santa hat and a yamacah. Can’t wait to see how this turns out.

Bottom line (besides me being crazy): I applaud the creativity that my students possess. Kids are neat. They come up with all sorts of wonderful ideas that could actually work, and most of them are willing to put time into their efforts so they can be proud of what they achieve.

I’m often bothered by how little respect kids actually get. Most adults think the ideas the kids have are trivial or impossible. But, when you actually look at the ideas and PAY ATTENTION to the child, you find that the idea is SMART, and with tweaking could be a whole new way of doing or looking at things.

I have learned so much working with these kids.

I’ve learned in my first term at JM that kids are resilient. The horror that these children have faced is beyond the scope of my imagination. When I read their files I cry. Yet these kids are smart, they are interesting, and they are not afraid of life. Their bravery just amazes me.

I’ve learned to trust the kids and they’ve learned to trust me. (The fact that I’m a sucker helps them to like me, but trust is a major big deal.) I listen to them, I take their suggestions and use them, and I respect their ideas. I validate them so that they keep coming back to the learning process.

One of my greatest accomplishments this term is teaching the kids to disagree. After weeks of practice, the kids are learning how to voice their opinions respectfully. When I’m teaching math they know they can raise their hands and say, “I disagree with that answer because…” They know that I will listen, review the problem, and congratulate them for participating. We play board games every Friday (it’s amazing what simple board games can do) to work on the kid’s social skills. At the beginning of the year, the student’s would jump up screaming and accusing kids of cheating. This would lead to cursing and flailing and the kid being carted out by the treatment team. No fun. No fun at all. Now they play games and I overhear, “I disagree because it’s my turn.” Or, “I disagree; maybe you should read that card again. I don’t think that’s what you are supposed to do.”

Cool, huh?

I’ve learned not to take anything for granted. “Oh, I’m teaching middle school,” I thought to myself. “They will already know how to add, subtract, multiply and divide,” I mistakenly thought. CRAP. Much to my dismay, I have 11 students and they are all in different places with different knowledge and different skills. Some are in 4th grade math, some in 6th grade math, and some in pre-algebra. I have 11 different mini classes going on at any given time. CRAP. It’s crazy, yet somehow fun and interesting. I am adaptable, the kids are adaptable.

Speaking of adaptable, I’ve learned how very unimportant textbooks are. I’ve always felt that a kid’s going to learn better from experience then he would from worksheets and textbooks. But, I started off the year with NO curriculum. No textbooks, no workbooks, nothing. And, it’ been great. I have a loose lesson plan that I follow but mostly I’ve been letting the kids lead me. I found out they had no knowledge of our government so we spent 2 weeks researching and presenting information on the 3 branches of government. After the groups presented and gave their own, made up tests (very funny) we held a mock session of congress and voted a bill (Henceforth Friday would be Game Day) into a law.

I’m happy with my work. I enjoy going every day. I love my students and my coworkers. I recognize how special this is and I’m thankful to everyone at JM for making it such a wonderful place.

I just hope I can get through Christmakah.