The first two weeks are over! What a whirlwind of emotions. I've already had my first parent conference, referred two kids to the counselor, and on a positive note, received many birthday wishes and a few gifts from parents!

I am feeling overwhelmed! I cannot seem to get caught up. I am spending every second of every free moment doing stuff for my school or the masters class I am in. I came home last night, Friday, and graded papers until 1:00 AM (although I finally got some good sleep...until 11:00 this morning). Now, it's back to grading papers and prepping for next week's lessons. My class is far behind some of the other classes. I blame part of that on lack of structure on my part and lack of planning. I do not understand some of the lessons fully so I use some of that class time to let the students finish their assignments from the previous lesson in that subject.

I decided to go ahead and use a reward system. Our principal is against reward systems and says we should not reward students for doing what they are expected to do. In a way I agree, but in other aspects, I feel kids need to be rewarded and after all they are kids. I took the ticket system away I was using, per my principal's request. I was giving out tickets for students who got their agenda signed and their reading log signed. I also was giving tickets to students who were exceeding expectations. I had to nix that and the students want to cash in their tickets. I haven't come up with how they will cash them in yet. So, yesterday I felt I was losing control of my class. I decided to have table teams and teams showing me first that they are following directions and focused get table points. The team with the most points at the end of the week get to chose a coupon (randomly) that entitles them to something special. The ones who did not win yesterday were upset and loved the coupon choices. I have never seen such a well-behaved class as my class was yesterday before and after specials. I know what works for my class and I'm going to try to stick with it. I also use consequences for loud noise when I'm trying to quiet them after activities. I spell SILENT LUNCH one letter at a time and when they reach the H they get silent lunch. Yesterday I took off the H in lunch and they did not have silent lunch. I was told by other teachers I should have left it and once they earn a consequence, they serve their time.

When the students are good in specials or especially good during instruction, I give them a handful of marbles in the Caught Being Good Jar. They love the incentive of getting a special class treat when the jar is full.

Hopefully I will continue on the right path with my class and we will continue to have a successful year! If the grades will come up, I will feel much better. I hate they are getting bad grades because it reflects on me, but they are not studying and the result is an F. That is one of the most frustrating things I am dealing with thus far.

I'll be back!