19th Week: Goodbyes...

Well, this is my last week at Poudre High School. It's been so nice. I've only come in to teach my Entrepreneurship class in the afternoons. I've spent a little more time here and there trying to get caught up on my grading and making sure that Mr. Long is in the loop on the students in my class.

I had one student this week who was in danger of not graduating because she was failing my class and several others. She turned in a lot of work, and completed her final business plan and turned it in. She passed, but she is still failing some of her other classes. She's a sweet kid, but she has missed a lot of class. She was gone at least half the time. She is smart, and she does good work when she is in class. I hope that she turns things around for herself.

I have a couple of other students in my class who are failing as well. They just don't seem to care. One is sleeping in my class, and the other is playing games. This has been ongoing throughout the semester. Their attitudes have been less than stellar. I've talked with them and told them the consequences of not getting their work in to me by the end of the week, and neither of them seemed to care much. There is one more student who is failing, and the same thing is happening with her at the end of the semester as was happening throughout the semester. She is apathetic and doesn't really care about the class or about learning. Now, all this being said, I've connected with these kids in different ways throughout the semester, but now that the end of the semester is over, it seems as though they have given up. I still have one more day with them next week for finals week.

We took finals this week. Our final was at the beginning of the week with the seniors. Seniors are gone. It seems awfully quiet around here without them. I wish them the best of luck in college and beyond. Graduating high school is such a huge stepping stone, from childhood to adulthood in a matter of weeks it seems. I only hope that as a teacher, I have helped to prepare them for what awaits them in the future.

As I move into this summer and the fall, I plan on continuing this blog, but I'm going to change it a bit. I may post weekly updates, but I will mainly post "lessons learned" and "successes" and "failures" from my lessons. These are the big takeaways that I want to continue to reflect on throughout my career, and the things that I want to share with others. Education is so much about experiences. We learn from each other, and we learn from the world around us. I want to bring that into my classroom as much as possible. I look forward to Rocky Mountain High School being my home even for a little while. Saying goodbye to Poudre High School is bittersweet. I really enjoyed the people that I worked with - especially Mr. Long, but I'm also ready to move on and begin this career that I've been working for the past year.

18th Week: Whew! I made it!

It's not over yet, but I'm feeling the pressure lifted and excited to be almost finished! I have one more week at Poudre High School, and then I start teaching summer school at Front Range Community College. Then, I have Summer Institute for Poudre School District for the job at Rocky Mountain High School. Then, I get to take a break for a while and just teach summer school. I'm so excited about having my summer (life) back. I'm looking forward to spending time with my family and working out and working in the garden. I don't think I'm going to have time to do everything I want to do, but I hope to make a good dent in it all.

Focusing more on the present, though, I had really great classes this week. Everyone worked on their final business plans, and we reviewed for the Final Exam, which will happen on Monday and Tuesday of next week. The final business plans are looking good, and I'm all caught up on my grading. (Grades are turned in at FRCC, by the way.) The Jeopardy game in Entrepreneurship 5th Hour for the review went over very well. I was excited to see so many people engaged.

14th Week: Struggling a Little

This week has been a bit of a struggle. I know that I can't have a stellar week every week, and the

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challenging weeks make the good weeks worthwhile. I know all this, but I still let these difficult weeks get to me. Now, the reason why it was difficult. I can't really put my finger on it except that I'm feeling a bit frustrated. It is frustration with the job application process and the work load that has increased as I finish out the semester. It is also frustration at a few students that continue to not pay attention or get their work done over and over. It is this same frustration, though, that snaps me back to reality and lets me know that I have a job to do and I need to set aside my own feelings so that I can help the students. I allowed myself a few bad days, but I took the weekend to relax, refresh and renew by exercising, spending time with my daughter, pulling some weeds, and getting my house in order. These things helped me to put things into perspective and come back to school on Monday with a fresh attitude and enthusiasm for these last few weeks of the semester.

While it is nearly the end of the semester, it is just as important to stay engaged and focused because the students are going to want to slack off or disengage. It is my responsibility to keep them excited about the material and completing the work. This is a difficult task at best. My 6th Hour Entrepreneurship class were the main culprits for the lousy week last week. Trying to teach an easy lesson, they were falling asleep, staring blankly into space, and completely disengaged. I tried asking easy questions to get them back on track, but that only seemed to make for awkward silences. One of which lasted for a good two minutes. Frustrated, I finished the lesson without asking more questions and let them work at their computer stations.

This week was also a week of planning for the end of the semester. I have a Teacher Work Sample due on May 1st, finishing out classes at Front Range Community College, and finishing out my classes at Poudre High School. I have plans laid out for all my classes through the end of the semester, for which I'm happy to be organized. It's getting close, and I know that I've said it before, but I am really looking forward to the summer and some leisure time that I haven't had for the past year.

The original Lorax in Economics

In Economics this week, we showed the original Lorax movie! It's very different from the newer, more flashy Lorax movie, but still has the same messages and has the benefit of being shorter. Take a look, and maybe you could even see the connection to Economics or use it in your own lessons!