Little Moments

Random thoughts and stories from Room 43:

-I’ve had it coming. I’ve asked for it. Between my endless trash talking and yelling at random eighth graders while wearing a Donald Driver jersey, I definitely asked for it. And yet I was somehow still surprised when my 5th block felt the need to use their three minutes of free time to graffiti my board with approximately 13 variances of “Packers suck” and “Packers lost.” Such lovely children I have.

-We’re almost done with The Hunger Games, and we’ve been reading a whole lot of what I’ve been referring to as “the kissy kissy” (not to be confused with what I refer to as the “blood and guts”). My homeroom has really pulled it together and been so mature about it all, listening and hanging on my every word as I read to them about Peeta and Katniss holed up in a cave together. Yesterday, though, they hit their limit. It’s the week before Christmas break, and my poor boys couldn’t take hearing their female teacher read to them about kisses and sentences like “he put his arms around me.” Two such boys got the giggles, and no matter how hard they tried to stop it spread as a contagion throughout the rest of the class too. They all tried so hard to keep it together, but the giggles of Boy 1 and Boy 2 were just too much. After trying to get them quiet several times, one of my girls raised her hand and said – completely seriously with absolutely no sarcasm or attitude: “Miss Melchione, we need a break. It’s too much for us. We’re trying really hard, but it’s just too much.” I smiled and said “We’ve got two more pages. Can we make it that much more and then we’ll move on to the Grinch?”

-Clearly, I read How the Grinch Stole Christmas to my classes yesterday – because it’s Christmas and because it was an excellent way to review plot structure which they obviously loved me for – and in my 5th block I had to fight them per usual. The only difference is that by that time of the day during this week, I didn’t make them copy from the dictionary as punishment because I was a part of the problem too. We’re all checked out. But my kids were grumpy and in the mood to play around instead of be serious for one second, so when I pulled out the Grinch I thought half of them were going to get up and leave. One student – who is probably the most difficult student I have, but who I’ve come an incredibly long way with – decides that she’s going to be as obnoxious as possible. To paint the picture for you, she’s sitting at a desk by herself with her back to the windows, head resting back on the husband pillow from the reading carpet, legs outstretched onto chair that’s out in front of her, completely slumped down and half asleep. So right away, you know we’re off to a great start. She says “Miss Melchione, we’re 13. We don’t read picture books. Why you always gotta read us picture books? The worst I get is I watch Sponge Bob.” Once I started reading, she sat there all slumped over and leaning back on my pillow, announcing to everyone why everything I read was unrealistic. IN A DR. SEUSS BOOK. Literally, one of her examples from page two was, “How you gonna say his head isn’t screwed on just right? His head isn’t screwed on! He’s a person!” At that point, it was about the third thing she’d said and I stopped, closed the book, looked at her and said “Sponge Bob is a sponge who lives underwater but never fills up with water.” There was a pause, and then she said “Man, I only watch Sponge Bob when I’m bored and there’s nothin’ else on.”

-A handful of my 5th block kids genuinely hate The Hunger Games – which makes me simultaneously confused and so sad – and one of my boys has been especially whiny about it. Yesterday, during the three minutes of free time that the rest of my students were using to destroy my board, I asked the whiny boy why he hates it so much. This was our conversation:
Student: Why can’t we read something like The Outsiders again?
Me: What did you love about The Outsiders?
Student: The violence.
Me: …The Hunger Games is nonstop violence!
Student: It’s all murder. Who wants to read about murder all day long?
Me: There’s two murders in The Outsiders.
Student: Yeah, but it’s also got the gangsters. That’s cool.
I. Don’t. Understand. Boys. I give them more violence and blood and guts and demented forced murder than what is actually appropriate, and they still whine.

-My lovely student – you’ll remember him in a moment – asked me a couple weeks ago during lunch to guess what his favorite moment of the year is so far. His response: “The time I asked you if you were pregnant in the middle of class.” He waited a minute and then looked around at the boys at his lunch table with a beaming smile, and said “Yep. I asked her if she was pregnant in the middle of class.” This is the same boy who decided to sit inside my trash can yesterday, caving it in and effectively getting himself completely stuck. Two other boys had to pull him out. Middle school, man. I swear.

Our Deepest Fear

Yeah yeah. Two posts in one day. I know it's a bit much, but...I'm doing it anyway. And I'm not going to talk about the fact that the Packers just lost their first game of the season...to the Chiefs.

I've been working on painting Christmas presents all day and I have the movie Coach Carter playing the background. I love this movie. It blends two of my favorite kinds of movie (epic sports comeback and the education of at-risk kids) into one perfect combination. I've stayed away from all my teacher movies this Fall though, because I read in an article that it's sometimes depressing instead of encouraging for new teachers to do. But I decided it was okay to watch this one, and a lot of the themes are hitting me in a new way through new eyes. So many of the stats that are thrown out about the population of the kids in the movie are so similar to the stats of my own students, and I wish I could communicate to them the importance of school and their work ethic in a better way. Honestly, I wish I could use all the same methods Coach Carter uses, but my boss would probably frown on most of them. My absolute favorite scene, though, and some of the most incredible words ever spoken, is taken in part from a speech made by Nelson Mandela:

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We were all meant to shine as children do.
It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated by our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
...Sir, I just want to say thank you. You saved my life."

"They Don't Own Me"

I've watched this approximately 15 times in the last week or so. I basically have it memorized at this point. Can't get enough of it, and I couldn't be more excited for March. Can't wait, can't wait.

If you haven't read these books, drop everything and do it immediately.

http://www.thehungergamesmovie.com/index2.html

Also, Peeta's line gives me goosebumps every time: "I just keep wishing that I could think of a way to show them they don't own me. If I'm gonna die, I wanna die as me." SO fantastic. Seriously, read. this. book.

Don't Mess

I made my 5th block copy out of the dictionary yesterday. This was the conversation that came before they started "You've wasted my time for a week and a half, so now I'm going to waste some of yours. Start with A. I'll tell you when to stop." Not my proudest moment ever as a teacher, but it kind of did the trick.

We got to the kissy parts of The Hunger Games yesterday, which made me ridiculously happy because it's so much fun to read. The things that Peeta says are so painfully smooth and I love reading his words out loud and getting to play them up with a fun, flirty boy voice and then reading Katniss' annoyed and sarcastic attitude-filled responses. That's probably the nerd in me coming out, but I enjoyed it. Two of my classes were even less mature than you would expect them to be when reading things like "You can kiss me anytime if you want" and "Cover up with this backpack and then throw me your shorts so I can wash them," but my homeroom was full of rockstars yesterday. They've been impressing me so much, and yesterday they raised the bar. They were so incredibly into it. I've got some girls in that class that are, sadly, extremely hardened by life already and never tone the attitude down much...but yesterday they were hanging on every word. Gasping appropriately, "ooooo-ing" appropriately, getting caught up in the drama every other page. It was awesome. Then my other classes came and were dumb about it and couldn't stop talking so they copied out of the dictionary. You know. Just a typical Friday.


One conversation (at lunch):

Student: Miss Melchione...do you have a boyfriend?
Me: Nope.
Student: Why not? How old are you?
Me: Old.
Student: 30? 25?
Me: ...Closer to 25.
Student: You should really have a boyfriend by now, Miss Melchione.

Errrbody Dougie

Had "Teach Me How to Dougie" stuck in my head all freaking day.

In other news, I had professional development all day and we were actually extremely productive. My brain pooped out at approximately 2:05 because it had been working so hard all day, though, and it occured to me at approximately 2:55 that saying I would stay after school with a handful of students who wanted to work on their research projects was a terrible idea. A horrible, terrible idea. I was completely brain dead and my kids wanted to play on Pandora and find every single inappropriate rap song ever written and then dance to them instead of do any work at all. I was pretty over it by about 2:56 though. Besides, I'll get them back tomorrow when I tell them how bad their sub report was (they already know because half of them told me in the hallway as I walked back to my classroom: "We were HORRIBLE!") and then punish the heck out of them.

Three conversations:

Student 1: Miss Melchione, what do you want for Christmas?
Student 2: Do you want a teddy bear?
Student 1: Miss Melchione, what do you want for Christmas?
Student 2: Because I'll bring you a teddy bear.
Student 1: What do you want, Miss Melchione? Seriously, I need to know!
Student 2: Yeah. I think you want a teddy bear.
Student 1: Chocolates? Coffee? Just so long as it's reasonably priced.
(notice how I didn't actually say anything at all and they didn't even realize it?)


Student 1: Make a request, Miss Melchione. What song do you want to hear?
Me: Honestly, I've had "Teach Me How to Dougie" stuck in my head all day long.
Student 2: Why?
Me: Why do you ever have any song stuck in your head? I don't know. It just gets in there.
Student 2: Miss Melchione, can you dougie?
Me: (laugh) No. Nope...that wouldn't be pretty.
(a half hour later)
Student 2: I bet you can dougie. I bet you're really good at it and you're just sayin' you can't.


Me: Who's coming to get you?
Student: My dad.
Me: Well where is he?
Student: He said he was leaving the house.
Me: ...it's freezing.
Student: Who told you to wear just a sweater?
Me: Who asked for your input?


It's only Tuesday? You sure it's not Thursday? Or Friday?

Thoughts for Katniss, etc.

We’re reading The Hunger Games in my classes right now, and I think all three of my classes are finally in love with it. I’m shocked to have to say that it took at least one of my classes until Friday (approximately 150 pages) to get hooked, but as soon as we hit what I’ve been affectionately referring to as “the blood and guts” my class full of boys got hooked. Right before we read the Cornucopia chapter where the games finally start, I gave them the following journal prompt: “If you could have a conversation with Katniss right now, before the games start, what would be the one thing you would ask/say to her?” These were some of the responses I got from my male lovelies:

-“Hope you die, in a good way gurl!”

-“Waz up gir umm I have a lot of faith in you winning this Hunger Games. So make sure you stay concealed in the trees and pick people off as you see them. Stay alive!” (no, that’s not a typo on “gir.” That’s how he spelled it. Also, concealed was a vocab words two weeks ago. Sarcastic use of a vocab word? I’ll take it.)

-“I would ask her what her strategy is to win the Hunger Games but I wouldn’t ask her too much BECAUSE SHE’S IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HUNGER GAMES!”

-“If you survive, call me (; see you later babe! <3”


Yup…I get to spend all my time with that. I stayed after school today with some students who wanted some extra time to work on the research projects we’ve got going on right now, and I don’t think I even knew there was a Spanish Pandora channel but…there is. And I’m quite familiar with it now. Also, the following conversation about the way Michael Bay has changed the world (one of their research projects) took place between two students:

Student 1: He changed humanity because we see Optimus Prime and we want to build a robot!
Student 2: He made us more scared of cars. That’s what he did.


On a more somber note, I’ve been working with them a lot on biographies and autobiographies, and I had them spend ten minutes writing their autobiography in their journals last week. Some of the stories of divorce and families separated by continent and jailed parents were so upsetting. But I think the one that has stuck with me the most is the student who shared about how he, after some complicated and unfortunate family issues, has lived on the streets several times with his dad but “it’s okay.” This sweet boy sits in my class and never really talks unless he’s asking me a question about his work, but he works so hard and is so wonderful. It breaks my heart to learn about these private stories and facts about my kids’ lives, but it also makes me feel so honored and privileged that so many of them were willing to share them with me. Not all did, and that’s fine. This year has been hard at times and I know it will be hard again, but I am thankful for the learning experiences it’s given me, and for each new way I can see and know my kids…for each hilarious and tender memory I will cherish.

The Joy of Prefixes

My kids get five prefixes/suffixes each Monday and five vocab words on Tuesday, and then are quizzed on Friday. One of today's prefixes was "dia-", meaning through or across. My example word was "diagonal," but someone obviously yelled out during 4th block that "diarrhea" also starts with the prefix. Instead of getting annoyed or trying to calm the resulting laughter down, I decided to go with it. I just shrugged and said "the meaning of the prefix works for diarrhea." There was a pause while they tried to figure it out and the kid who had yelled out originally said "how?" so I smiled and said "how does the definition 'through' have to do with diarreah?" Pretty much took three full minutes to get them back on track but it was definitely worth it.

Needless to say, I don't think anyone in 4th block is going to get that question wrong on Friday's quiz.

New student

I have a new student in my homeroom starting today. The poor boy is already being hunted and scoped out by all the girls in the 7th grade, and the boys are all trying to take him under their wings. That would be sweet except the boys in my homeroom who are taking him in are my big goofballs who can't ever stop talking or throwing things or flirting with girls or farting in the middle of class. So when I saw him talking to those boys in the lunch line I told him to not be friends with them because they'll get him into trouble. I was just kidding and the goofballs heard me tell him that and objected appropriately...I said it smiling and laughing but the poor kid didn't know whether I was serious or not. When he came out of the lunch line he just stood there, staring at the available seats and not having a clue as to whether he should sit with the goofballs or not. I told him I was just kidding several times but he never really looked like he believed me. Poor kid. I think I might have ruined his first day at his new school.