Doing Everything in Love

I heard a story about a teacher in Charlotte who is suspended for saying something like "I teach at the most ghetto school in Charlotte." Isn't that crazy? Although I know I don't talk trash about my school/students, it does make me hesitant to keep a blog online for everyone to see. I just feel like I could accidently say something really dumb that could get me in trouble without meaning to. I think I've said a couple things in the classroom accidently! Ooops. 

Thanksgiving was wonderful, and it's nice to be back to the kiddos. I am really growing fond of them and enjoy watching them have 'a-ha' moments. It makes me want to do so much more for them, and I feel like my teaching is boring and never good enough. What more can I do? How can I better prepare myself for lesson plans? It helps to keep in mind the purpose... the students won't remember much, but they will remember the activities and what made the information stick in their brains. 

Interims just came out and the grades aren't so good. They got a little lazy and stopped doing homework, plus they're losing their classwork before it gets turned in. Not acceptable! I'm not sure what to do with kids who didn't turn in projects ( i have 3 or 4...) So I'll pretty much be grading 100 boxes for the rest of my life. Hooray. The majority are great, though, and as a whole I am proud of them. While projects are great, I can see why they're kind of a hassle. It's draining to talk about every day (I think I need a better system for answering questions!) And it's hard not to be too subjective. I like concrete rubrics so I'm not sitting there analyzing how many points should be taken off and comparing it to another project of equal effort. 

Well, three weeks until Christmas break. I think we're all looking forward to it, and hopefully we all won't get too squirrely leading up to it :)