Blind Computers

I think I'm going to have to get used to the fact that my daily moods will be determined by the moods of a smattering of seventh and eighth graders. And that means mood swings. Today was as good as yesterday was bad.

Although I shouldn't be happy about this, I found out that the two kids that got suspended from my class yesterday decided to start their in-school suspension by stealing food from the cafeteria and trashing the assistant principal's office, and now they're both suspended for eight days. That's eight days of a much more manageable class. For everyone. I'm also a little happy that I'm not the only one responsible for their suspension.

My first three classes went great. I had a double period with my homeroom. At the start of class, we had a special September 11 ceremony. The kids were lined up in the hallway, and the principal spoke over the loudspeaker. All in all, a very clever way to present to a bunch of kids without a space big enough to hold more than a third of them at any time. We listened to a short speech, the Pledge of Allegiance (a few scattered kids were given flags to hold), and then we listened to God Bless the USA. The moment of silence had a few giggles, but all in all, it went smoothly. I may or may not have been holding back tears.

We began class with a group activity. I gave each table (six tables in all, four to five kids at each) a slip of paper with one of my classroom rules. They had ten minutes to prepare a one minute presentation to the class, teaching them the rule. They would be the teacher. The presentations weren't thrilling, with a lot of reading the slip of paper for the class, but the class was cooperative overall. They seemed to enjoy NOT listening to me talk for forty minutes straight.

One particular group presentation was memorable though. I don't know if I've mentioned it yet, but I have a blind student in my homeroom class. He has a small typewriter-looking thing with him at all times, and today I learned that it can read text out loud to him via headphones. When it was his group's time to share, he pulled his headphones out of the computer and had his computer read the description of the rule to the class. It was all computer-y sounding. It was cool. And the class loved it.

My next class is usually a HANDFUL. Today, they were incredible. They were quiet when they were supposed to be quiet, and their presentations were fantastic. I was laughing at some of their role plays of me. The class that followed was also enjoyable, with one of my trouble students imitating me yelling at the class, during his skit.

Another pleasant surprise: the assistant principal, who continues to be wonderful, brought me a bag of small teacher tools, like homework passes and templates for notes home. She is great.

The last two classes were, respectively, meh and awful. The last class had a group of girls that mocked me the entire time and a couple of boys that would not stay seated. I yelled a bunch, but it wasn't a distaster.

Now it's the weekend. I will enjoy it.