Grades

>> Completing grades for me is a constant challenge. I do not give my students homework. I do not really even give them tests. My main goal for my students is for them to learn how to read and do basic math skills. Which a lot of them do not even know yet. I grade my students based on their participation, and completion of what is asked of them at each station. The hard part about this is each period of the day there are anywhere from 2 - 5 stations that they rotate through. I have a paper set up for my aides to complete each period. It asks them what they did with their group, and if any students got partial participation, no partipation or they were absent. So, on any given day there are 7x2-5 different activites that my students complete and that need be to entered into the grade book. Another difficult aspect is that each of my students completes completely different work. One group is reading a 7th grade book while another is reading a 3rd grade book. One group is doing basic addition while another student may be completing adding and subtracting fractions. So, in my grade book, my assignments are vauge to say the least. second period math may just have a group that did "worksheets".

>>another thing that is difficult is that my students consistantly work out of packets, so they always have things to continue working on each day. This saves my aides and I time by not having to scramble to get new work for the students every day. But, it mades grades difficult to put in the gradebook because the packets are not filed until they are completed therefore I do not know how the student did on let's say dec. 2nd in their math packet. So, a lot of times I just wing it based on what my aides or I wrote on our worksheets for the day.

>>Needless to say putting grades into the grade book is difficult and time consuming, and everyday I am looking for a new easier way to do it. I have not found one yet. It would be easy if my students were typical and completed the same thing. It would be easy if the grade book was based on student rather than period, because each of my students does something different and their schedules are crazy. I will perfect grades eventually i am sure, but for now they bother me, and I dread having to do them..

Christmas Break

>>Who would have thought I would be writing about teaching during winter break. My student that is still at the children's shelter has been a lucky boy this christmas. Last week, I took him out and we saw Tron in 3D. Then, he came to my house and played Wii, and finally we went to Chuck-E-Cheese. It was an overall good day, but its proceeded to him calling me just about everyday to see if I could pick him up and take him somewhere. It's hard for me because I want to. I want to be a stable figure in his life, because he doesnt have that. I wish I could take him everyday. Considering he's asked numerous times if he can come stay with me. I know this is not possible, so I had to set limits. Although he called christmas eve, I took him out yesterday and we just went on a short outing, Just bowling for an hour. He did want to stay out longer, but I am still his teacher. I am not his mom, his relative, his friend. I still have to teach him for another 2 1/2 years. Its been hard to find that balance. I think I am finding it slowly.

>>Progress Reports are due in the middle of Jan., which is always difficult. My students all do such a variety of work. It's hard to put them into a "grade book" because each student does something different. I have found a small balance, but it still takes me hours upon hours to do grades. This is also probably because I put it off, and don't keep up on them. Which is totally my fault. Oh well.