Things Are Picking Up.

"HE touched me, well SHE was looking at me funny, HE talked about my MOM… MS. NEwtoN!”

This week marks the last five days of the 1^st marking period and school is now in FULL swing… Kids have remembered how much they like talking, remembered how much detention sucks, and then forgotten gain…. Love-sick middle schoolers have gotten together, broken up, broken heats, and “never even been noticed” by that special someone. They have loved me, hated me, and decided they loved me again… 7^th grade is a roller coaster, and it’s best to just make sure you are buckled in.

School drama is ramping up but still manageable... “SmartBoard” distribution is tricky.

As far as learning goes (that’s the goal right?!) Teaching the same content in math a second year rocks, and kids are slowly but surely mastering the material. However, social studies reached a low point on the 16^th when I realized how little content we had covered based on several factors including my inexperience and the glacial pace that 7^th graders take notes… Fortunately, my predecessor had left me all of his materials (daily packets) that I had foregone using in order “to do it myself” (damn independent streak). But, this week I brushed them off, and I am happy to report a 90% average on the last exam : )

Yesterday included a great fieldtrip to the Bronx High School Fair. For those of you unaware, in New York City, middle school students must apply to high schools, similar to the college process for seniors. It is a matching process based on your grades, test scores, attendance record, etc… in which the kids rank their top 12 choices and are then selected by the high schools.

The high schools vary by selection requirements, size, focus, and everything else imaginable. And, if you aren’t careful, you can end up in a bad situation, so good information is key. The fair was overwhelmingly crowded but the kids learned a lot about the process, their choices, and enjoyed a mean game of Spoons over pizza after wards. Even one of my shyest student who attended e-mailed me to let me know she loved it.

So, there is one week to Halloween, followed by Election Day on the 3^rd, and Thanksgiving shortly after… It doesn't appear that things are slowing down any time soon, but that’s part of it.

I hope all is well and that this fall is off to a great start for everyone. Talk to you soon.

Lots of love,
Ms. Newton

Some Weeks Are Sprints

How a week can be so short and still so exhausting is beyond me. This week NYC public schools had off because of Yom Kippur (a BIG "thank you" to all of my Jewish students… none actually come to mind).

Tuesday was a “normal” day- well, as normal as kids can be after a 3-day weekend.

Wednesday was the trip to the American Natural History Museum (yep, the one from Night at the Museum AND The Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler). The trip was nearly a complete success except for the unfortunate fact that the general education teachers (that’s me) planned it just for the classes they teach- not the 7^th grade special education or bilingual. This was a huge oversight on our part and caused some definite hurt feelings... We are now holding weekly teacher meetings, so this should NOT happen again.

Thursday and Friday were attempts to fit in a week’s worth of curriculum which went well enough. However, I have really been disappointed by the quiz grades so far… Because my management is SO much better this year, I just assumed that kids were “getting it.” Unfortunately, that is ABSOLUTELY NOT the case (especially in Social Studies), so it’s back to the drawing board to brainstorm some ways to make the lessons/key points more memorable to my students... We're talking about study skills on Monday! PS: Please send any ideas my way.

Next week is a long one- 5 days plus a graduate school midterm and project BUT it’s followed up by Columbus Day. God bless that man and his accidental “discovery.”

Lots of love,
Ms. Newton

PS: There are very few things that I love more than NYC adn Central Park in the fall. The humid summer leaves behind air that is thin and crisp and the outdoors smell like apples and Halloween. Please come visit!