Original Oratory Excerpt

Haven't been on in awhile!!! Ahh! Just been busy.  But here's an update:

 My 8th garders have been working on Original Oratories.  They write their own speech over whatever topic that they want to.

 An 8th grade girl wrote her speech about "How to Survive a Zombie Apocolypse".

An excerpt:

  "If you are a woman, or a cross-dressing man, then throw away all of your high heels because you need to be able to run."

The Canned Food War

 I can be competitive. 

 This past week, my school did a Canned Food Drive.  Each grade with the highest amount of canned foods gets an out-of-uniform day, which ALL the students want.  The overall class with the highest amount of canned foods get an out-of-uniform day AND a pizza party.

 I went out and bought probably around 40 cans myself. Then I talked up my class and they started bringing in a load of cans.  One of my students, her dad works at a job where they have HUGE cans, and one of those cans equals 10 regular sized cans. 

 Well, my Advisory class and a Science teacher's Advisory class had been neck-and-neck all week! We were always in second place.

 My student then asked her dad to bring in 10 of those huge cans, which then equaled 100.  I thought that would put us over and we'd be in the lead! BUT IT DIDN'T! Because the sneaky Science Advisory KNEW how close we'd be, and today brought in 113 cans! He also went out during his plan/lunch to buy some more cans as well!

 So I went out during my lunch and bought more cans and told the student with the dad with the cans, who then called her dad.  Later today he brought in 12  more big cans! Adding 120 cans to our pile!

Long story short. 

We won.

MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 The small joys of being a teacher.  It was exciting, I must say.

6th Grade Quote

 Asked the 6th graders to write down one random fact about themselves.

 One was, "I am a God."

The Strange Things I Say....

 The weirdest thing I had to yell in class today was, "LEAVE MY KNEE ALONE!"

Seussical the Musical

 WOW.

 So it's been a crazy week.  Held auditions with my mentor teacher, Carrie, and we knocked it out in 3 days and pulled it together!

 I am so excited to work with our 27 cast members! It's going to be chaotic, but definitely a lot of fun. 

 Right now, I'm hiding in my room because the cast list just went up.  I keep hearing students come by and knocking or trying to turn the doorknob.

 I just heard a kid yell, "Is there a teacher in there?" LOL

8th Grade Pick-Up Line

 Overheard an 8th grade boy use a pick-up line to a friend.

 "Hey, did you use Windex on your pants? Because I can see myself in them."

8th Grade Quote

 8th grade boy:  Hey Ms. Le, did you work at Little Caesar's?

                 Me:  No.... why?

8th grade boy: Because you're hot, and I'm ready.

                 Me: .................

Advisory

Today in my Advisory class, I had to talk to each student individually and let them know where they're at in getting their AR goal.

 There is this little 6th grade boy, who though adorable, never seems to actually be reading anything.  He still has 0 AR points when they're supposed to be at 50% of their goal.

 I called him up and his face is COVERED in crumbs.  I don't know if it's cookies, or what.... but it was everywhere on his face, like he smashed it and stuffed it in his mouth or something. LOL

 So I talked to him and closed the conversation with, "And don't eat in my class." He gave me this look like," OMG HOW DID SHE KNOW?!"

 

Favorite Question of the Day

Passed back papers to the sixth graders. A student looks at it and sees that I wrote a response to a journal entry.
"Ms. Le, you actually read everything we write?!"

8th Grade Extemp. Speech

 An 8th grade boy draws the topic "Should cell phones be banned from school?" He started off good but then slowly got off topic:

"The cons of cell phones is like.... say your girlfriend is in the car with you and you're driving.  Then you're not paying attention and then you hit something and then you die.  Then she'll have to go to your funeral and it's really sad.  Then she meets someone new and starts dating them and you're up in heaven looking down and you're like, "OH MY GOD!"

Lesson Learned #3

 You can't go over something a couple of times and expect the students to remember it next class.


 Because they won't.


And then it is chaos.

8th Grade Quote

 Today, someone let out a silent but deadly fart.  It literally poisoned the entire classroom air.

   An 8th grade boy yells, "It's not me! That doesn't smell like my fart!"

Lesson Learned #2

 Do NOT wear heels when you know you have a 12 hr work day.  Open House was tonight, and OH MAN! Never again. 

8th Grade Quote

 Today 8th graders had to do impromptu speeches.  Rules are simple: Draw a topic from a hat, then you have 2 min. to write about it.  Once your two min. is up you have to make a speech in speech structure.  Minimum time has to be 30 seconds, maximum time is 2 minutes.

 An 8th grade boy drew the topic "Things I'm Scared Of". 

  His speech LITERALLY went like this:

  "Today I'll be talking to you about things I'm scared of. First, I'm afraid of snakes, 'cause if they bite you, you'd have to go to the hospital. Second, I'm afraid of STD's because... they're scary. The third thing I'm afraid of is nothing, because I'm awesome.
      So today, I talked to you about what I'm scared of; snakes, STD's, and nothing.  Thank you."

6th Grade Quote

  "You know how some people are not smart in the brain?"

   

Lesson Learned #1

 Something I learned today.

 If you have a food allergy, don't eat it.  EVEN if you are responsible and took the allergy pill before you ate the food, just don't risk it, because if you do, you will break out into hives.  Once that happens, you then have to ask your principal to cover your class for you so you can run around to three different teachers to see if they have a Benadryl for you.

 Well played, lesson.  Well played.

They think they're so sneaky

 Today I caught two sixth grade girls passing notes to each other during Advisory, a thirty minute class allotted just so they can read. They did this for almost the entire time, and I purposefully didn't call them out in front of their class. I decided to wait to confront them after.

 They thought they were being so sneaky. Too bad they were passing back and forth a TABLET instead of the "old school" paper kind of note!

Sheesh. Technology and kids these days.  Soon they won't even know how to write!

First Week!

    For those of you who do not know, this is my first official year to teach!  My situation is a little different, though, because I had the privilege to student teach at the school I currently work at now, for a whole year before! Hopefully that made sense! So lucky for me, going into this year I already knew the atmosphere, coworkers, system, and most all of the students! The only major difference is my mentor teacher, who swiftly became one of my good friends, isn't next to me to guide and help me.

 I am on my own!


 School started back on Wed., August 1st! Here's a little insight on my brain:

Ahhhhh! 

 That's how my brain was this past week and a half.

My thought process a week before school:

- OMG I HAVE MY OWN CLASSROOM, HOW EXCITING! I HAVE TO DECORATE EVERY WALL AND CORNER! OHHH I GET TO PLAY WITH THE LAMINATING MACHINE!

- OMG MY ROOM IS DECORATED AND BEAUTIFUL AND WILL BE SO ORGANIZED! BUT I HAVE NO LESSON PLANS!

- OMG YAY, I MADE A COUPLE OF LESSON PLANS. TOTALLY PREPARED! BRING IT ON!

My thought process the day school started:

- 1st Day: OMG MY STUDENTS ARE BACK AND ARE SO FUNNY AND PERFECT ANGELS!

- 2nd Day: OMG. I JUST SAID EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO SAY, AND HANDED OUT EVERYTHING I NEEDED TO HAND OUT.... WE STILL HAVE 30 MIN. LEFT. WHAT SHOULD I DO?

- 3rd Day: OMG. THEY ARE NOT PERFECT ANGELS ANYMORE! THEY NEVER STOP TALKING, BUT EVERYTHING THEY SAY IS SO HILARIOUS, I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!

-4th Day: OMG, I AM SO DUMB. I GAVE THEM HOMEWORK WHEN THEY COULD HAVE DONE THAT IN CLASS..... WE HAD PLENTY OF TIME. I NEED TO LEARN BETTER TIME MANAGEMENT SKILLS.

- 5th Day: OMG, I HAVE REPEATED THAT ANSWER LIKE 5 TIMES, WHY ARE THEY STILL ASKING.... WHAT IS GOING ON....

- 6th Day: OMG, I NEED A NAP WHEN I GET HOME BUT I NEED TO CREATE A PREZI PRESENTATION FOR THE NEXT ASSIGNMENT! HOW DO I MAKE THIS LESSON FUN, ENGAGING, AND INTERESTING?!

 So that's kind of how my brain was this past week and a half! Definitely need to work on my time management, and I am getting better as each day goes by. I also need to not procrastinate.... like I am right now by blogging instead of working on my next lesson.....

 Honestly, I am loving every second! I could not imagine being in a different career, or at a different school. I know the things I need to work on, such as: time management, being more strict (since some of my students seem to think I am their friend instead of their teacher), and planning ahead.

 It's been a blast so far! Lets hope it stays that way. =D

They think they're so hilarious....

6th Grade Quote

Dora the Explorer is a racist. Her mom lets her go into the forest by herself with monkeys and stuff...

6th Grade Quote

My nickname at home is Home-wrecker because once I was born, I ruined my parents' peace and quiet.