Puppy!

My parents finally caved in and got a puppy. This means I get to hold and potty train "Patches". He is adorable with green/blue eyes. He's a Brittany/German short hair/ Lab mix and so will be a medium large dog. But right now he's all warm and puppy kisses on my lab.


Reason for the absence: my academic adviser told me I was an incompetent teacher and that he was thinking about not passing me. This would mean I would not/ if ever get my masters degree. A lot of soul searching later I've come to the conclusion that you should never get your masters in science education from Truman. The adviser is a jerk wad!

This is my response to my mentor at the school:

Doc had relayed the belief that I am an incompetent teacher. If anything, I am an incompetent classroom manager. (which I have made strides through out the year to improve!) I am NOT an incompetent teacher. My students are learning and thinking critically, and I believe they will actually remember the topics that were taught.

To that effect, could we some how show Doc the test score of my students compared to that of other students? It might be possible to do that with mastery manager. If nothing else, it would help make my case the next time he visits.

I'm just a little angry that he feels he needs to consider preventing me from getting my degree (and thus a job), when their are teacher out there (esp. where I grew up) who were perfect classroom managers...but students did "Jack Taco"-- Learned nothing, did nothing of importance.

Thanks for your help and I'll be doing as you suggested:

Using the "Stop" motion/action with proximity.
Calling student out when they are disrespectful to me or to others.
Referrals with the Mr. XXXXX format.
Using more proximity with the new classroom arrangement
Keeping the classroom orderly and neat.
Making students clean up if they dirty it up/ disrespect it.
Setting up labs in pods/groups

Any thing I'm missing that we talked about last afternoon?

My thoughts:

Obviously, teaching has drained me of my ability to be articulate. I am really ready to be done with Doc. July 15th is when everything has to be ready for my masters degree. I figure I'll take a week off in early June and then get cracking. The end is in sight if that $#%^ passes me. Afterwards, I'm thinking about taking a road trip to Oregon. I've got some money saved up and the economic stimulus package will help with that. I've got two friends in Portland, I really want to Estes park and arches national park, so we'll see how it goes.