Janae Says...

So the past couple of years I have had a huge struggle with how many of my kids couldn't pass my class. Even with grade weights in their favor (as in, all you had to do to pass was CLASS WORK!), I was getting about a third of all my kids failing. As I described in previous blogs, I have made some changes to help my kids just by building in a little more structure. If you recall, I pondered whether it would help student grades. Well, term 1 grades are posted. The verdict is in. I have 63 out of 192 students with an A grade . That's 33%! A third of my students have an A! I think I had maybe two or three students per class last year with an A. This is amazing! I have 20 out of 192 students with an F grade . That's just over 10%. Most of my classes only have two or three Fs. My 3A and 4B have 5 and 6 Fs, respectively. There's just not much I can say for these kids when I handed them a detailed grade printout and told them to come talk to me--and with many of them, e...

Aren't teachers pretty much on every student's side? I mean... I plan entire terms... I give out rubrics... I model what I expect... I write lesson plans... I grade papers... I accept late work... I reach out to the kids who are failing and try to intervene... So why, then, do parents insist on making a teacher the enemy? My friend Cody shared this comic on my wall... The thing is, that it's not really a comic. It's not funny. It's the truth. We've even talked about it extensively in faculty meetings: Gen X parents! They're freaking insane. I have to write this blog because I have 5 more classes' narratives to grade, and I cannot concentrate because I am too upset. I had this student who pretty much did nothing all term. I'd explain directions two and three times, and he'd be doing something totally different. Or he'd be doing nothing at all. Or he'd be sleeping. Here in the last week of the term, comes mom to the rescue. ...

OK, so I am no health freak. Baking is one of my most favorite hobbies. And while I don't binge on the cookies, cakes, brownies, or other treats I make, and although I often throw out some of my junk food that has expired, I do have quite a sweet tooth. I try to exercise a little self-control and eat just a little of something sweet instead of a whole candy bar or several servings of something else. Depriving myself of what I wanted never did me any favors in the long run. I consider myself to be a pretty well-balanced person and believe in moderation in most things. While I may not have the best self-control and love splurging sometimes on an In-N-Out burger or some onion rings at Red Robin from time to time, I have a real interest in all things health. It wasn't always that way. While my mother is a fabulous cook, and while I have grown up loving vegetables, healthy meal and snack options were not the preference of anyone at home. Soda was consumed in mass amounts (not by...

Zoooooomclank! ZooooomCLANK! He was pushing his Craftsman drawer in and pulling it back out with all the force and frustration he could muster. Zoooooomclank! I watched as he took a totally different approach to a problem than I might have taken. It looked to me like a tool had angled itself in such a way as to make it so the drawer would not open. Kind of like the middle drawer of your dresser not closing because of the clothes popping up from underneath. Just calmly move those clothes out of the way. Or in this case, the tool. But heaven forbid a young woman offer a rational suggestion to a logical man twice her age and wisdom. I said nothing. In the middle of his violent “solution,” he looked up at me, red-faced and angry. “Don’t have kids. They’ll ruin everything you own.” At some point he took a deep enough breath to calm down and figure out that that was, indeed, what was going on: a tool was in the way. He finally got the drawer open. I stood there, watching him realize h...

“I used to run six miles every day!” she’d say. “My measurements were 34-24-36!” I never knew how to respond to that. I could tell she was proud. Nothing I could have responded with would’ve changed that. But there was something else in her tone besides pride. I have never been able to put my finger on it. I never could find the word for it. One day, when I was around 14, I had a lot of energy. Have you ever felt that? Like you had to do something physical or all of your limbs might explode sparkle-dust energy everywhere? So before I exploded said dust everywhere, I put on some comfy clothes and shoes. I told my mom I was going to go for a run. She beamed, “Oh! Great!” I almost wished I hadn’t told her. A few days later, I overheard her telling someone with such pride, “I think we may have a runner in the family! Janae likes running. She’s going to take after her mommy.” I really wished I hadn’t told her. Now there was this expectation. Running never had been my thing. It w...

I love General Conference . It feels like fall officially is in. I was good and spread my homework throughout the week so I could focus on Conference on Saturday. I finished the last of my homework about 15 minutes in to morning session. (I had three chapters of reading, plus part of an article, plus a reaction paper to the reading, plus my first case study report). I listened to conference. While listening, I got a lot done: I did laundry I made pumpkin spice cookies I loaded all my Scentsy burners with Pumpkin Roll scented wax I decorated for Halloween (I put up spider webs and some Halloween figurines, and a trick-or-treat bag) I did dishes/cleaned my kitchen Between conference sessions I went to the gym I vacuumed I cleaned my bathroom After Conference was over, I went to the mall to pick up a new screen shield for my phone. Then I had a date that included Happy Sumo and wandering around the Gateway, Glee, some Halloween decorating, and conversation. Lots of fun...