Good Things

Normally my Do Nows on Fridays are sharing good things that happened that week. First, I have the kiddos share at their tables, then I ask for volunteers to share with the whole class. Those who volunteer get a raffle ticket (I'll have a post on that soon!), so I sometimes have to limit the number of volunteers (some classes are super into the raffle and others are lukewarm about it).

I know it's Sunday, but I wanted to go ahead and share my good things!

• I went to the freshmen football games Thursday since I have a lot of football boys and one period has been especially insistent I attend. I got there and sat next to one of my girls, so it was a super win situation. I got to see my boys doing something they love and I got to know one of my students way better. I also saw my cheerleaders and my one dancer. They all got a HUGE kick the next day when I told them they did a good job on [insert specific instance here]. One even asked before I could say anything if he "did good" the night before.
• I had to keep 3 of my freshmen football boys after class on Tuesday to discuss their constant chatter and distractions. I mentioned it to the coach the next day, which earned them bear crawls. I DID NOT mean for that to happen. But every day since then, I only have to raise an eyebrow and they correct their behavior and the behavior of those around them. They then ask me after class every day how they did. They fist pump and exclaim "no bear crawls!" when I say they were much better.
• My 8th period econ kiddos are totally into staying after and having discussions with the teacher. It's all fun and games until they get in over my head (I'm still learning economics myself). But seriously, I enjoy those talks and just shooting the breeze with them.
• Geography had a quiz over climate regions and landforms on Wednesday. Since they sit in groups of 4,  I made 4 different versions since I've already noticed some tendencies to "work together". I passed them back Friday and told them they could make corrections up to a 70. One of my boys then grabbed the quiz of the kiddo next to him who got a 100 and started copying. I said, "Those are two different quizzes, sweetheart. It's not going to do you much good." His face fell before quipping, "I was helping him correct his! He needs a lot of help, you know." That's when I completely lost it and doubled over laughing. Goodness gracious, that class has me doing that a lot!
• Most of my students actually followed through on seeing me before or after school to make up missing assignments! It was like pulling teeth last year.
• My Horned Frogs won yesterday! It sure wasn't pretty, but a win's a win!

Now, back to getting grades in for progress reports and figuring out what I'm going to say at Open House!