There shall be learning, despite it all
He Who Would Be Alpha Male has been medicated.
Thank Goodness.
May it all continue as it has been and thus may we all be safe and learn much. Apparently Ritalin is not supposed to work this quickly - so it's either psychosomatic or he really actually is able to control himself. Who knows but the violence at home and school needs to stop because he's getting bigger now and his testosterone is probably beginning to Make Itself Known. So it's either Ritalin or the police really.
Meanwhile He Who Swings On His Chair was suspended for five days. Haven't seen him all week. Still not really sure why he was suspended. Never did get offical paperwork, I asked the Deputy and her repsonse was "He's not suspended on the system ..." So she didn't know either!
He Who gets Into Fights spent last week suspended along with He Who Would Be Alpha Male and spent all of this week bar Monday Not There - Ill apparently. This is good news because he didn't get into any fights. It is bad news because he and he Who Swings On His Chair have not been at school all week and I have been unable to test their reading. Well if they aren't here - what can I do? I'm supposed to have a full class list of Reading Records for our Training Session on Monday. Well I have what i could get. There was only two sets of Record taking folders for the entire school and we all were trying to do them at once - it was nightmarish. So by the time I managed to get the folders, those two weren't even at school!
Lots of kids have problmeatic attendance at our school. Something like 70% have significant attendance issues. the new principal came from a slightly higher socio-economic area I think and she is pushing the "We are teachers and we must teach these kids to read!" line.
Which is true, I agree with it. However. There is a big But. Her "We need to get away from well-being and focus on getting kids to read, that's what we are being paid to do" line sounds like truth but in practice she's ignoring the holistic aspect of teaching. I have an indigenous child in my class who has a pretty bad homelife, older brother in jail for murder, and significant neglect issues. His attendance is shocking because the family doesn't place an emphasis on attendance. There is a second Indigenous child in my class with similar issues and possibly a worse homelife. They both have attendance issues, are both behind in their schooling and one has quite problematic beahviour issues.
The principal has not allowed the Aboriginal Ed/ESL teacher to roster any time in my class AT ALL. Why? Because no one in my class is At Risk.
I don't know what she is using as her benchmark for At Risk but Ms Ab Ed/ESL, Ms Teacher-Librarian and I ALL, unequivocably feel that both boys are At Risk. The School Services Officer assigned (FINALLY!!!) to my class for Literacy had her jaw on the floor as well. Despite the fact I have six ESL kids as well - I don't get Ms Ab Ed/ESL AT ALL. the ESL kids aren't even a concern for the principal!!! And she doesn't care at all about anything oterh than literacy when allocating the support hours.
So because these kids can all read 'good enough' they get their support taken away. It's ridiculous. these kids need to have relationships that are healthy and productive with extra adults because they are At Risk. Maybe not of illiteracy but they ahve so few adult role models in their lives, they need extra adults they can trust.
But We Are Not Social Workers.
Well no - but there aren't enough of them to go around are there?
It's just really frustrating because those of us whpo've been at the school a year or more just don't think the principal can See The Picture. It's a grim one. I understnad her motives and agree with pulling up the literacy standards - but I'm not so sure she is implementing it well.
Hopefully it all goes well but the sudden lack of support for these kids is going to hurt. They all love Ms Ab Ed/ESL and she's been available for them before and come into the calssroom to help out, but I think she won't be as available now and I won't get the extra help.
And Dmanit I need it! I haven't a clue what I'm doing half the time!
However - I taught the kids how to Tell Time the past 3.5 weeks ... and I post-tested them today. And all but 3 improved! Yay! Some quite dramatically. Kids who scored 0 last time scored between 1 and 8. Some kids who got around 10-14 were getting 18-24 (it was out of 24). I was amazed. I think they actually learned something! WOOT! (Let's just ignore the fact that they are Year 5/6 and we were working at year 3/4 outcomes, shall we? :P the point is they DID BETTER!)
Thank Goodness.
May it all continue as it has been and thus may we all be safe and learn much. Apparently Ritalin is not supposed to work this quickly - so it's either psychosomatic or he really actually is able to control himself. Who knows but the violence at home and school needs to stop because he's getting bigger now and his testosterone is probably beginning to Make Itself Known. So it's either Ritalin or the police really.
Meanwhile He Who Swings On His Chair was suspended for five days. Haven't seen him all week. Still not really sure why he was suspended. Never did get offical paperwork, I asked the Deputy and her repsonse was "He's not suspended on the system ..." So she didn't know either!
He Who gets Into Fights spent last week suspended along with He Who Would Be Alpha Male and spent all of this week bar Monday Not There - Ill apparently. This is good news because he didn't get into any fights. It is bad news because he and he Who Swings On His Chair have not been at school all week and I have been unable to test their reading. Well if they aren't here - what can I do? I'm supposed to have a full class list of Reading Records for our Training Session on Monday. Well I have what i could get. There was only two sets of Record taking folders for the entire school and we all were trying to do them at once - it was nightmarish. So by the time I managed to get the folders, those two weren't even at school!
Lots of kids have problmeatic attendance at our school. Something like 70% have significant attendance issues. the new principal came from a slightly higher socio-economic area I think and she is pushing the "We are teachers and we must teach these kids to read!" line.
Which is true, I agree with it. However. There is a big But. Her "We need to get away from well-being and focus on getting kids to read, that's what we are being paid to do" line sounds like truth but in practice she's ignoring the holistic aspect of teaching. I have an indigenous child in my class who has a pretty bad homelife, older brother in jail for murder, and significant neglect issues. His attendance is shocking because the family doesn't place an emphasis on attendance. There is a second Indigenous child in my class with similar issues and possibly a worse homelife. They both have attendance issues, are both behind in their schooling and one has quite problematic beahviour issues.
The principal has not allowed the Aboriginal Ed/ESL teacher to roster any time in my class AT ALL. Why? Because no one in my class is At Risk.
I don't know what she is using as her benchmark for At Risk but Ms Ab Ed/ESL, Ms Teacher-Librarian and I ALL, unequivocably feel that both boys are At Risk. The School Services Officer assigned (FINALLY!!!) to my class for Literacy had her jaw on the floor as well. Despite the fact I have six ESL kids as well - I don't get Ms Ab Ed/ESL AT ALL. the ESL kids aren't even a concern for the principal!!! And she doesn't care at all about anything oterh than literacy when allocating the support hours.
So because these kids can all read 'good enough' they get their support taken away. It's ridiculous. these kids need to have relationships that are healthy and productive with extra adults because they are At Risk. Maybe not of illiteracy but they ahve so few adult role models in their lives, they need extra adults they can trust.
But We Are Not Social Workers.
Well no - but there aren't enough of them to go around are there?
It's just really frustrating because those of us whpo've been at the school a year or more just don't think the principal can See The Picture. It's a grim one. I understnad her motives and agree with pulling up the literacy standards - but I'm not so sure she is implementing it well.
Hopefully it all goes well but the sudden lack of support for these kids is going to hurt. They all love Ms Ab Ed/ESL and she's been available for them before and come into the calssroom to help out, but I think she won't be as available now and I won't get the extra help.
And Dmanit I need it! I haven't a clue what I'm doing half the time!
However - I taught the kids how to Tell Time the past 3.5 weeks ... and I post-tested them today. And all but 3 improved! Yay! Some quite dramatically. Kids who scored 0 last time scored between 1 and 8. Some kids who got around 10-14 were getting 18-24 (it was out of 24). I was amazed. I think they actually learned something! WOOT! (Let's just ignore the fact that they are Year 5/6 and we were working at year 3/4 outcomes, shall we? :P the point is they DID BETTER!)