A couple "1st times"

There are good days and there are bad days in teaching. On Friday was one of the bad days. 7 of my highest achieving students were taken away from my class and put into another class. For the first time, I almost cried in teaching. I mean, 2 of my sweetest, brightest 7th graders got their schedules changed and came to me voicing how they don't want to switch. I couldn’t help but go into the counseling and make my stance. Failed…The administration and this school system in general are very flawed. With only 3 weeks left, why not change these students’ classes at the END of the semester. Whatever happened to students’ achievement? Honestly, F this system.

Today, I had to yell at a student in his face. As a result, it was the first time I made a student cry. It wasn't just tears, he started sniffing loudly. Oops, well I had it with this student; it was simply annoying that this student does not do his homework and have a bad temper getting along with other students. Anyways, I hate to say it; but I made a student cry…

My 8^th graders scored really high on their district periodic assessment. When I revealed their scores today, I realized that there needs to be more celebration for student success. Many times, students in these communities fail and they move on. Whenever they success, it gets ignored. As this happens over and over, students get desensitized to failures and success. This was seen in all my 8^th grade classes today. When I revealed how well they did, there was no emotion. I knew this would happen so I went out of my way to make a big poster, create a PowerPoint with music, bought silly string and fireworks, and of course candy. Anyways, I tried my very best to make this a HUGE event for the students since they did put in the hard work! Long story short, to all the teachers out there, take time out and celebrate the successes, no matter how big or small they are. We need to focus more on the positives and less on the negatives.

Audio book: 7 habits of highly effective people.