I Passed!

Friday morning I got the results from the state visit -- I passed! In fact, everyone in my school passed, which means that all of the teachers are capable of being... well, passable teachers. Actually, everyone does really work hard at Brooks. Anyhow, I'm proud of us. Also relieved, since this means no more (I think...) state visits.

Moments from Thursday and Friday:

I told S-- to flip her card and she started to argue with me. So I went and flipped it two times. The class went silent because S-- never gets in trouble. Later in the day, S-- fabricated a story that worried me a lot. When her mother came in, the first thing she asked was, "Did S-- get in trouble today?" She knew, right away, that it was a story and that S-- had made it up to get my sympathy instead of feeling like she was in trouble.

Friday M-- came in dangling a long strand of plastic from between her front teeth. It had gotten stuck there at breatfast when she had used her teeth to open her fork bag. I couldn't pull it out. She and I tried so hard we made her gums bleed. She remained a totally good sport about it as Mr. Robey cut most of it off and managed to yank the rest out.

T-- said a complete sentence. It really struck me because he rarely talks at all, and then it's usually mumbling. But he clearly said to J--, "J--, I'm putting your marker back in your desk."

People have begun to use the word "please" in class. As in, "She's giving out points! U--, will you PLEASE get in Listening Learning Position?" It doesn't work yet and I don't think they really mean it, but it's the second step. (The first step was getting them to say "Thank You.")

It was totally silent while we played "Circle the Sight Word." Everyone participated and paid attention. Whoa.

The last thing we did on Friday was vote for the student of the week. J--, my newest student (got him on Tuesday) won because he shared his markers. Woo-hoo! I gave him a mini pumpkin pie.