Who Moved My Cheese?

Don’t you hate it when someone reads a book or sees a movie and then tries to tie it in to every single situation they encounter? Well, that is what my principal is now doing! She made us read Who Moved My Cheese, which while I agree was a good book, is not the end all, be all! Half way through the day before 9-weeks testing (say that 10 times fast), I received an exam schedule that was upside down and backwards from the way we have done it the first two grading periods. Since we have to turn in our lesson plans the week before we teach them, and no one had said anything about changing the schedule, I had already told my students when to expect their tests (I gave them their tests in two parts—since I teach them two periods). The fact that she changed the schedule the day before testing was supposed to take place and no one received the new schedule until sixth period (which meant it was too late to review the first and second period students who now had to test the next day instead of three days later), upset a lot of teachers. It didn’t affect me too much since I don’t have a first or second period class, but I told my students that it was my class and we were going by my schedule. The next day she gets on the intercom and announces that anyone not using the new testing schedule would be guilty of insubordination. During my TEAM gossiping period (sometimes referred to as a TEAM planning period) a colleague who teaches math and I decided to ask if she would allow us to make slight modifications in our own testing schedules. After we asked, she went off on some tangent. I rephrased our proposal and explained that I had class that weekend and I was worried about getting all of their essays graded in time. She looked at me and said, “I moved your cheese.” She then proceeded to go off on another tangent. When she paused to breath, my colleague said, “So, what does that mean—you moved our cheese—do we have to adhere to the test schedule or not.” Our principal replied that we are to use our common sense. In the case of my math teaching colleague this meant, of course I don’t expect you to adhere to the ridiculous, thrown-together-at-the-last-minute testing schedule. I took this to mean that as long as they were working on some part (starting, finishing or checking over) their 9-weeks test, during their scheduled testing time, then I was in compliance with the schedule.
Later that day I asked her about something else and she had some stupid cheese comment as a reply. I hide to bite my tongue to keep from telling her that not do I find her cheese unpalatable, but that I in the process of looking for sharper cheese with better consistency (at this point I would settle for ANY consistency) in another district.
On the Lighter Side!
Last week, while my students and I were in the Computer Lab, someone went in my room and wrote on boards I bought, with markers I bought “Go home bicth”. I left it up there until the next day and I explained to each of my classes that this was why I was trying to help them. I told them that if it was any of them, I sincerely hope that they work on their spelling before the MCT (Mississippi Curriculum Tests).
In the Home Stretch
Well Tuesday was not only my second anniversary (today is my first day of my third year of marriage), but also the first instructional day of the fourth 9-weeks. Today my students took their first of three state tests for which I am responsible. After the test was over, I spent about 30 minutes discussing the test with each of my classes. All of my students feel that they did really good. Although, we had no idea what topic the students would have to write about until today, I really lucked up. It turns out that I gave the very same prompt to my students a few weeks ago! Even though we did not write a whole essay on the prompt, we analyzed it and did the prewriting for it as a class. I was surprised that they all remembered it so well and that they were proud of me for “cheating” for them. It took some convincing to finally get through to them that I had not cheated, that it was just a coincidence that the prompts were the same. It was good to see my students so proud of their performance. They were all bragging about how good they did, and from the few essays I got a chance to glance over while proctoring the test, I am inclined to agree. I asked them how prepared they felt and they all said that it was a lot easier than the essays I made them write! Most of them now believe they can ace the next two tests, and they have expressed confidence in my ability to prepare them. Some of them actually thanked me for all the work I put into preparing them. I am beginning to wonder if someone has brain washed them!
Another thing that made my day, where the number of students who wrote about wanting to be teacher (the prompt was on jobs). Sure, you had those students who wrote about the NBA and NFL, but I was surprised how many of them wrote that they wanted to help people and so they want to be a teacher when they grow up! I am not so self-involved that I would believe myself to be the reason for this career decision, but I am glad that they connect teachers with helping people. Some days I feel like I am not helping anyone, and then days like today when they are bragging about how much they have learned about writing, it is all worth it!