maineiac in kc

So, today was a bit hectic.  First off, I had a student curse me out.  I also had a student who may or may not have been trying to jump off the second floor staircase down thirty feet rather than see that he failed the social studies quiz that he didn’t study for (yet somehow it was my fault).

 So needless to say, I was having a rough day.  That ended when I got home and saw that I had a package waiting for me.  There is nothing better than a surprising package filled with unexpected stuff, and in this case I got a shoebox filled with school supplies and an excellent book on working social studies into geograpy regarding ancient cultures.  This stuff was a gift from a favorite teacher of mine, Mrs. L, my seventh and eighth grade social studies teacher from King Middle School.

Just the fact that people are taking the time to support me and make sure that I feel welcomed to the teaching community is so rewarding and turns this whole day around…

 Heres to keeping up the good fight!

So, tomorrow I’ll be giving my class their next set of quizzes.  Last Friday, I tested both my sixth and seventh graders on a map of the midwest after we spent the better part of a week on geography, specifically that region.  The results were that about eight out of roughly twenty five students got perfect scores, about ten passed, and the rest failed.

Obviously I worry that the test was too difficult, but the fact that a large percentage was able to do the work, and confirmed that they studied makes me think that its more a fact that many of my students have never really had a lot of social studies, specifically geography.  Therefore, I am much more hopeful for this week, where we are doing the Northeast (return to Maine, so to speak).  It ought not to be that difficult to see some improvement here, as they now are familar with the format, and what is expected.

 In other news, I am a little worried about having to leave my class.  Our school has very low enrollment, and it sounds like unless we can get some more sixth graders and seventh graders into my classroom, I might end up teaching a different subject, grade, or even at a whole new location.  I love the students in my class and hope that I don’t have to start all over again.  There has been such great progress with some, and all have shown some improvement.  I hope that more students arrive, and soon!