When's the next break?

The days really seem to be dragging, but my saving grace (I guess you could call it that) are my parent-teacher conferences. Out of my original 31 students, only 18 of the parents wanted another conference. The only good thing about this is the 1:00 dismissal. Tomorrow I only have 1 conference, so I can scurry home early, head out to my online class orientation, then off to Jazzercise.

I found out that extrinsic rewards work really well with this group of kids. I've never had to offer a movie lunch thing with any of my other students in order for them to turn in their homework. I'm glad I thought of it though since homework is no longer a real problem. Some are getting more eager by completing the following night's assignments beforehand. I gave them a lecture about how when they get older, they wouldn't be able to tell their boss, "Oh I had to go to a party last night so I couldn't finish the project." They would get their butt fired from their job. I know it's hard for them to really comprehend that actually happening, but hopefully my sticker incentive charts continue to push them to complete their assignments.

I'll be going up to see BFC in a few weeks. I guess that's partly why the days are just dragging by...

Freedom!

All the Oahu public schools and the majority of private schools are closed today due to a storm that is possibly heading our way, which meant I have a 4-day weekend! I was so elated yesterday when I heard the news from my mother, the television, and my GLC. This meant one extra day to catch up on my work, plan for next week, and simply veg out. The weather doesn't look too bad right now, but I noticed the clouds were moving quickly across the sky.

I called BFC once I heard the news yesterday and he seemed surprised. All schools on the other islands are closed as well except for those on the Big Island. He said it wouldn't be too bad though since they had an assembly today and he wouldn't really have to teach one of his PE periods.

I was actually surprised about the schools closing because I had joked with others about how there could be bombs exploding in the sky and we'd still have school. This thought goes back to several occasions where there was a blackout or huge storm while I was teaching and school was never cancelled. This is a pretty big thing for all schools to close. Maybe all businesses will be closed early or something due to the weather as well. My brother and I are planning on having a holo holo day (weather permitting). I wonder where we should go...

I'm off to the morning Jazzercise class to exercise since tonight's class got cancelled. I also have to run to the bank...

Honeymoon Stage

Today was the first day back from Winter break. Having those 8 students out of the room made a HUGE difference. The majority of the class was able to finish the morning business and we even got through everything I had planned for the Reading block before first recess. To make things better, we had an artic day today, so the kids were off at resource classes until lunch.

Got our quarterly assessment results from last quarter and it really opened my eyes to a bigger picture. I need to get off my butt and plan better lessons. I should be doing that right now, but where am I? I'm staring at the test prep books next to my computer and deciding what to do with them. I brought them home for a reason....

Work Day

Today was the first day officially back to work. I had to take my car in this morning to get serviced and to get my air conditioning fixed. Not having a car was not too good since I couldn't leave early like some of the other teachers did and was stuck at school. Fortunately I had tons of stuff to do and I left my room messy (but what's new?).

I'm hoping to do more hands-on activities with the students this quarter since I have a smaller class size now. I've never had this small of an amount of kids to work with, so I'm going to make the most of it. I also realize I need to take more time to plan out my lessons rather than just winging it like I've been the past semester. I'm going to try my best...hopefully I won't get too burnt out...

Queen of Procrastination

I have always been known as a procrastinator, but I know I can get things done, even though I may have to pull an all-nighter or two to do so. Now, I've come across something that I won't be able to "fix."

I've been debating on whether or not to visit BFC next month and finally went to book my tickets this afternoon. I had been checking the Hawaiian Air website frequently for the past month and a round trip would have cost me roughly $135. Now, the ticket prices have gone up by more than $10 per way and I'm going to be stuck paying nearly $160 for my trip. :( It's my own fault for not booking it sooner and I'm afraid if I wait a little while more, there may not be any more room or the tickets will be more expensive. I then went to Go! to check their rates. Their rates are much cheaper, but I haven't heard many good things about them. I'm debating on what to do...I may just book my tickets on Hawaiian next weekend since I know they're reliable despite the price.

Can't put a price on spending time with someone you care about right...although I can give him major sh*t about it. LoL

One More Week

I cannot believe how quickly the vacation has flown by! It's amazing to think that two weeks have already past and I still haven't gotten much done. I should get cracking on my students' math grades. Why am I such a procrastinator?