Martel is writing a narrative on the Great Depression. He has titled it the Grape Depression.
Jeff wrote a paragraph outlining his ideas for improving his grades and study skills for the next quarter. One downfall: "Math is the weakness out of me because sometimes I don't get it." And to conclude, he writes: "I hope I can get profission, not nonprofission."
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
One of my students added me on facebook this evening. Oh lord. The protocol on this is to not add them as friends. Do I reply to his message though? Times and dates are documented on facebook messages as well as email, but I'm going to address this tomorrow in-person, in-class instead of a reply. The simple "Hi Ms. Gaynor this is Romeo" cracks me up though...but not as much as his self-portrait of a huge, goofy grin topped with a green baseball hat.
Tonight we had a "Family Math Night." Another one of my students, Joey, was there with his parents, his sister, and three of his nieces. The littlest girl is two and has a perfectly round face and a perfectly perky ponytail. In class Joey is a pretty good kid, but gets off track so easily and prefers to draw instead of take notes or do math worksheets. (Really, who can blame him?) But to see him with these three little girls was the coolest thing to me. He was so, so gentle (he's a pretty big kid) and he knew exactly how to carry the two year old and how to coax marker caps out of her mouth. Adorable.
I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: I adore my students.
Tonight we had a "Family Math Night." Another one of my students, Joey, was there with his parents, his sister, and three of his nieces. The littlest girl is two and has a perfectly round face and a perfectly perky ponytail. In class Joey is a pretty good kid, but gets off track so easily and prefers to draw instead of take notes or do math worksheets. (Really, who can blame him?) But to see him with these three little girls was the coolest thing to me. He was so, so gentle (he's a pretty big kid) and he knew exactly how to carry the two year old and how to coax marker caps out of her mouth. Adorable.
I've said it a million times and I'll say it again: I adore my students.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Fast-Forward.
Sometimes I feel like I'm sleepwalking through my days and then I wake up and it's November 8. Gracious.
Two weeks ago I got sick with the worst cold I've had since Senegal, though I did get to lay in bed for a day. My students were very curious as to where my voice had gone or if I would be getting them sick too. (Some reacted to this with the typical 'Ew, get away' but one girl asked if I could cough on her so she could be sick too and not come to school...I did not oblige.) Pumpkin carving and an 80s Halloween costume helped me bid adieu to October; the realization that our furnace didn't work greeted these chilly November mornings. And afternoons. And nights. But! As of today, all is fixed: I can wear one sweatshirt at a time and function outside of my bed covers.
My father visited Ethan and I last week, always a wonderful time. He worked a visit to my class into his schedule, and my students loved it. When he asked who wanted to work with cars, every boy's hand shot into the air. He explained where Volvo's engines are used, which was impressive, but the fact that each engine is green was much more impressive. Some of my favorite questions from Room 204:
"Are you famous?"
"How many hours do you work?"
--to which my dad replies "About 55, depending on the week..."
--and Jacob, the questioner, is stunned. "That's way more than 24...how does he do all that in a day?"
"Do you live in a mansion?"
"How many times have you been on a plane?"
--My dad has no numerical answer for this, so he tells Farri more times than he can count and Farri is unbelievably impressed. "I hate planes," Farri says.
And when my students realized the geographic location of Virginia, where my family lives, to Milwaukee, where I work, they stare at me in disbelief: "Miss Gaynor, you fly that far every day just to come to work?!"
We finished WKCE tests last week too, which is the other big news from Mitchell Elementary. WKCE, for those of you who did not go to school in The Badger State, are our state tests and were they ever a huge deal this year. Really, the testing time isn't that intense, just two 45 minute periods two mornings a week and one hour period two mornings a week. Room 204 was impressively focused and again I was grateful to be working with this particular class.
I'm headed to Madison this weekend to be with my old life for a bit; wish me luck with that. <3
Two weeks ago I got sick with the worst cold I've had since Senegal, though I did get to lay in bed for a day. My students were very curious as to where my voice had gone or if I would be getting them sick too. (Some reacted to this with the typical 'Ew, get away' but one girl asked if I could cough on her so she could be sick too and not come to school...I did not oblige.) Pumpkin carving and an 80s Halloween costume helped me bid adieu to October; the realization that our furnace didn't work greeted these chilly November mornings. And afternoons. And nights. But! As of today, all is fixed: I can wear one sweatshirt at a time and function outside of my bed covers.
My father visited Ethan and I last week, always a wonderful time. He worked a visit to my class into his schedule, and my students loved it. When he asked who wanted to work with cars, every boy's hand shot into the air. He explained where Volvo's engines are used, which was impressive, but the fact that each engine is green was much more impressive. Some of my favorite questions from Room 204:
"Are you famous?"
"How many hours do you work?"
--to which my dad replies "About 55, depending on the week..."
--and Jacob, the questioner, is stunned. "That's way more than 24...how does he do all that in a day?"
"Do you live in a mansion?"
"How many times have you been on a plane?"
--My dad has no numerical answer for this, so he tells Farri more times than he can count and Farri is unbelievably impressed. "I hate planes," Farri says.
And when my students realized the geographic location of Virginia, where my family lives, to Milwaukee, where I work, they stare at me in disbelief: "Miss Gaynor, you fly that far every day just to come to work?!"
We finished WKCE tests last week too, which is the other big news from Mitchell Elementary. WKCE, for those of you who did not go to school in The Badger State, are our state tests and were they ever a huge deal this year. Really, the testing time isn't that intense, just two 45 minute periods two mornings a week and one hour period two mornings a week. Room 204 was impressively focused and again I was grateful to be working with this particular class.
I'm headed to Madison this weekend to be with my old life for a bit; wish me luck with that. <3
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