Halfway Crooks

So we've reached the halfway point of the school year. December came with the quickness... but things slowed down like crazy post-Thanksgiving. It was like someone told the kids that they didn't have to do work after Thanksgiving. "Yo Mr. DeShields, we ain' supposed to have work... what's this mess? Mr. DeShields... I got a headache (day after day after day)... We supposed to be drawing pictures of snowmen and watching movies and all that"--

Psssshhhh... needless to say, the last 2 weeks before vacation were an adventure. Kids and teachers alike were strugglin. Plenty of highlights though, as always:
-Our holiday program was off the hook. Paul really puts on some nice programs... and the arts department is really committed to what they do. Shout out to Ms. Floyd, Mr. Wegman, Ms. Johnson, and Mr. Saltman for all their hard work.
-The girls won a game 31-0. Unfortunately we played a team of 5th and 6th graders. Frustration abounds with our schedule. The game before, we showed up at a gym 45 minutes away to find out that the team we were playing didn't even have a middle school girl's team. We decided to scrimmage the team's high school squad..... man, that was painful to watch. Our girls did their best, but they were just completely undersized.
-3 IEP meetings in 3 days... all lasting 3 hours each. The IEP marathon was wild... and the meetings were even crazier. Wish I could share the highlights of the meetings, but just know that they were out of control.

Now that we're on break though, I've been thinking about some things for the second half of the year. Leslie and I attended a development session on co-teaching. It was really helpful to learn about some practices and strategies that would work best for us in our inclusion classroom. It'll be cool to be able to implement some of them after the break-

Some thoughts/plans:

-Differentiation has to get better. I've got to be able to address similar needs in different ways. It means more planning, but it also means your class can move forward together (less re-teaching/foundational lessons in the long run).

-Organization is serious. I used to be able to get by with minimal organizational skills, and by passing things off as "looking neat" in college... but for real, you've got to be on point in the classroom. While I haven't lost any papers or tests, I've certainly come close. Word to Target right about now, I need some desktop filing trays.

-More to come as my mind slowly recovers from being in break mode......
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Break is legit so far... and there's still more break to be had....

Here's what I've done:

NAP

Read- I'm reading Ben Carson's new book about taking risks, and a book by the former CEO of HR Block (he gave up his position to become a high school math teacher in kansas city--interesting so far, but I keep sensing his ego more and more).

Watch movies (I'm up to 12)

-Slumdog millionaire is the best movie I've seen in a minute... freida pinto is ill-na-na too... and I shall marry her.

-I waited forever to see Che: The Argentine (or Che Part One)-- it was well done, but was entirely about the Cuban Revolution-- it was interesting to see the dynamic between Guevara and Fidel....Guevara basically did everything Fidel told him to. I read a review that said the movie cast Guevara as being both controversial and as a revolutionary... I'd have to disagree and say it cast him as being a positive influential figure-- most of his controversies stem from post-Cuban Revolution...specifically dealing with him torturing bolivians.... so it'll be interesting to see if they address it at all in part 2?!

something stuck with me from the movie though-- Guevara was big on educating his soldiers and making sure that they were literate-- "One who cannot read or write is easily deceived".... so true.

Spending time:

the best part of being home is spending a good deal of time with family and friends. my parents both work longgggg hours, so i've really enjoyed the past two days with them.

on Christmas, my grandparents, my uncle, and my cousin came over. we had a meal, I passed out, and we all had a great time. it's just really nice to get up and spend uninterrupted time with loved ones.

Different strokes for different folks...

So...I've been trying to work on differentiation more and more in my classroom in an effort to address some individual needs, and to allow my kids to work in groups more--we're getting there... but still, another attempt:

Slept on like a red eye.....

Again, my apologies for not updating for a hot minute. November-December have just been nonstop.

A few things:

The girls are 3-0! After losing all three of our tournament games, I wondered if the girls would be ready to start league play. After winning 37-2 and 30-2, it's clear that they were determined to turn things around. Our third win came from a forfeit-- and now we face our toughest test yet.... Friendship Woodridge on Monday. I don't know why they're coming to our house with that "friendship" nonsense... but seriously-- Kelanji (one of our girls) was telling me that Woodridge likes to press the heck out of the teams they play. We have our work cut out for us.... but it'll be a good test for us regardless of the result.
I've been really impressed by how motivated the girls have been to get better. Everyone got to play in our last game, and some of the girls realized how much work they need to do in order to be a regular contributor. It's good to see that they're not complacent with where they're at... and they're inspired by each other's skills....

Friday, we took the teams to the Wizards/Lakers game. It was a lot of fun to get to spend time with the kids outside of school...especially at a Wizards game. We had a really good time... and Kobe played like garbage, so all was well with the world that night. (well.... almost.)

Parents need to stop schemin'. DC Special Education is in shambles (at least in DCPS and most charter schools)-- because parents are just steady suing the school system for what we might call educational malpractice. Basically... parents look for "inadequacies" in the way a school provides its special education services, and take the school to court to try to get compensatory services for their child (which usually means upwards of 40,000$ a year to send their child to a boarding school). While I'm sure some children are the victims of a poor education, and one that does not meet their IEP needs, there have definitely been quite a few parents who have exploited the system. As a result, Special Education is costing DCPS mad money each year.... and each year our programs lose more and more money and other resources. Needless to say, we've been experiencing some of this lately-- and it's discouraging to see parents take away from the system that's supposed to be helping their child.....

I was able to start working on remedial reading skills with a few of my students last week. I must confess that I have no clue how to teach reading, and I'm pretty intimidated by the thought of it. Regardless, we've started on phonics and blending.... and my students will be excellent readers by the end of the year. One of the girls I'm working with already blends... and she does it quite well. She usually does it silently... and then is just afraid to try to pronounce the word. When you sit and listen to her blend, its clear that she's right 95% of the time... but it's hard to get a child not to be afraid of mispronunciation. It seems silly, but I remember how afraid I used to be to make a mistake when I was reading in front of the class... makes you wonder how much confidence plays a role in reluctant readers-- I was excited that the one girl in particular that I was working with on Thursday was ALREADY making progress.... things were really looking up.

Anyway, I was able to grip some resources from one of our more veteran reading teachers. She's the G.O.A.T. and is always so eager to offer her services-- we talked for a bit about how the girl I was working with was struggling with her reading and writing-- She had worked with her last year.... and gave me a look like.... don't be disappointed when I tell you this..... Well... she basically told me that the girl has serious recall problems. One day she'll know her long and short a sounds like it's her job.... the next, she'll forget we even talked about them. Talk about a buzzkill! I walked out of her classroom with more resolve than ever... it was a blessing in disguise I suppose as I need to remain motivated with the goal of having each one of our students be strong readers by the end of the year.

And shout out to Ms. Floyd and Mr. Wegman who were more than accommodating when I asked if I could grab students out of their classes. Ms. Floyd had the quote of the week, "She can't read my music if she can't read!".... YUP!

I'm excited for Christmas. It was really nice to be at home at Thanksgiving and to spend time with family and friends. I really enjoy being at home... don't get me wrong... DC is cool, and I've definitely enjoyed my time here. My calling is in Camden or Philly though... I know that's where God wants me to be. I'm glad I have my kids here and a great supportive staff who have become friends at Paul.... they carry me through. There's not much left for me in DC otherwise... so it's nice to have that support system in place at school. I won't say that I regret my decision to stay in DC-- it's all part of God's plan for me to be here... but I am anxious and excited to get back home at some point.

With that said....

Accept the master plan with joy in your heart-- stop trying to control a destiny that is not yours to control. Stop dreaming, and start living.


EP

STAY TUNED....

For an update--haven't had a moment to write, but will def. catch yall up soon.

peacepeace

-edPrince