NOTE: I realize the irony of this post coming immediately after my resolution to stop oversharing.

DISCLAIMER: Personal health discussion ahead. Not for the weak of stomach or those who think I'm perfect in every way.

I get bladder infections ALL. THE. TIME. because I can't leave my classroom to go to the bathroom when I need to if there are students in there. To me, this is one of many bad parts of block scheduling.

Anyways, I called my doctor (again) and got a round of antibiotics (again) to help. I have been taking the antibiotics for about five days, and today I'm just feeling generally crappy. So, I decided to Google the antibiotic to see if there were any side effects. BIG MISTAKE. See below:

SIDE EFFECTS: Nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, or headache may occur. If any of these effects persist or worsen, notify your doctor or pharmacist promptly. Tell your doctor immediately if any of these unlikely but serious side effects occur: muscle weakness, mental/mood changes, new lump/growth in the neck (goiter). Tell your doctor immediately if any of these highly unlikely but very serious side effects occur: blood in the urine, change in the amount of urine, confusion, persistent headache, neck stiffness, seizures. This medication may rarely cause serious (possibly fatal) allergic reactions and other side effects such as a severe peeling skin rash (e.g., Stevens-Johnson syndrome), blood disorders (e.g., agranulocytosis, aplastic anemia), liver damage, or lung injury. If you notice any of the following, seek immediate medical attention: skin rash/blisters, itching, swelling, persistent sore throat or fever, paleness, joint pain/aches, persistent cough, trouble breathing, easy bleeding/bruising, yellowing eyes or skin, persistent nausea/vomiting, unusual fatigue, dark urine. This medication may rarely cause a severe intestinal condition (pseudomembranous colitis) due to a resistant bacteria. This condition may occur while receiving therapy or even weeks after treatment has stopped. Do not use anti-diarrhea products or narcotic pain medications if you have the following symptoms because these products may make them worse. Tell your doctor immediately if you develop: persistent diarrhea, abdominal or stomach pain/cramping, or blood/mucus in your stool. Use of this medication for prolonged or repeated periods may result in oral thrush or a new vaginal yeast infection (oral or vaginal fungal infection). Contact your doctor if you notice white patches in your mouth, a change in vaginal discharge or other new symptoms. If you notice other effects not listed above, contact your doctor or pharmacist.










GOALS

1. SHUT MY MOUTH

I have a serious problem with oversharing. As they say in Mean Girls, I have “word vomit” A. LOT. I like to talk about things, and when I get going, I forget to turn on the censor, especially if I am comfortable with the person I am talking to. I will feel fine for that conversation, but then a couple of days later, I will think to myself, “Why did I say that?” or “Why did I tell him/her that?” Consider this a clean slate. Everyone is hereby on need-to-know basis.

2. ENJOY EXERCISE

I like that I can clear my head while I am exercising. The problem is the reason my head is cleared is because I’m focusing on how much I am hurting and sweaty and hyperventilating and uncomfortable. In order for me to begin to enjoy exercise, I’m going to need one of the following people to be my personal trainer (in rank order):

Taye Diggs


Taylor Kitsch



Eric Dane

Someone please make this happen.





There’s this annoying “ding” sound that I hear every once in a while in my classroom. It’s so brief that I can’t ever figure out where it’s coming from, and there doesn’t seem to be any consistent spacing between the dings.

In other news, it’s Black History Month. Early in February, I overheard two of my students having the following conversation:

Girl: It’s Black History Month!
Boy: It’s what?
Girl: Black History Month. It’s February.
Boy: What are you talking about?

NOT GOOD. It inspired me to have at least a few lessons relating to nothing but Black history. Today, we concluded the final lesson. These are my reflections on the mini-unit:

1. After about the fifth time I said “African American,” one of my students looked at me and said, “Mrs. Duncan, we’re Black. Just say Black.” I looked around and the other students were grinning and nodding. I thought that wasn’t PC?

2. This was a big personal step for me; I have never done anything like this before, mostly because sometimes I feel uncomfortable teaching my African American students about oppressive White people.

3. One of the components of the lesson included small group presentations of material I broke into sections. Each group was responsible for presenting the material in their section. I WAS BLOWN AWAY by how maturely they handled it. I could tell by their presentations that they put thought behind what they were doing. They maturely and rationally discussed the issues as a class (for the most part). See below for an example.
4. One group drew out scenes from a metaphor they made up to represent racial struggles. They presented their pictures and told a story about red and orange ladybugs. In the story, the red ladybugs wouldn’t let the orange ladybugs have access to the large delicious strawberries. The orange ladybugs fought for their right to eat the strawberries, organizing protests and marches. Some of their ladybug leaders were squashed in the process, and they were treated badly. Even still, they were valiant! Eventually, some red ladybugs even helped them fight so they could have equal access to the large delicious ladybugs.

Here is one of their pictures I scanned in:




The story ended with them saying that it is up to all us ladybugs to make sure that ladybugs of every kind still have access to the large delicious strawberries. SO cute.

5. When asked how race relations were at TCHS, many of them responded that they have voluntary segregation. They all agreed that they tend to spend time with people who are “like them,” which would include race, who they grew up with, who they have classes with, etc. I encouraged them to consider WHY they grew up with people of their own race, why neighborhoods are divided along racial lines, and why most classes are predominantly one race. For example, my afternoon advanced class has 30 students, 5 Black and 25 White. My morning lower-level class has 27 students, 20 Black and 7 White.

6. I hope all of them learned something about Black history. My main goal was to get them talking about race relations. Many White students expressed their hesitance to discuss racial issues with Black students because they either felt guilty for what had gone on in the past or because their upbringing didn’t accept mixed-race friendships. Black students expressed that they didn’t think White students understood where they were coming from on racial topics. They also agreed that their parents were hesitant to accept them having close White friends.

7. After all is said and done, I am re-reading Why are all the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria, which I read in college. I think I will get much more out of it now, and maybe I can share with them some of the main points.


Ding!







"Holding teachers accountable for the performance of all students is much like holding a dentist accountable for his patients cavities"






It's race day.

I wonder why the media is focusing on Danika Patrick and not Chrissy Wallace?

Danika:


Chrissy:











Once upon a time when I went to grad school, I read research about educational trends, practices, and policies. One “hot topic” at the time was single-sex classrooms. Many places were trying having all-girl or all-boy core classes, and schools in Tuscaloosa County even tried it (Hillcrest or Central, I think).

I never really formed a personal opinion about single-sex classrooms. I could see the pros (fewer distractions, bonding opportunities, direction for text selection, giving boys a chance to excel in language arts and girls a chance to excel in math/science) and cons (Is this taking a step back on the women’s rights front? Are we doing the students a social disservice by not letting them intermingle? Will they suffer for not being exposed to the opposite sex’s thoughts and additions in the classroom?).

This semester, by freak accident, I have an Advanced 10th grade class of thirty students. Of the thirty, twenty-six are female, and four are male. I must admit that when I saw my roster, I was a little apprehensive. My first thought was This is going to be the chattiest class I’ve ever had. (I’m a little disappointed in myself for jumping to that stereotype.)

This class is pretty much single-sex education, and I will tell you that it is the best class I’ve had so far in teaching. We get things done in half the time, go far deeper into discussion, are able to have open-ended lessons and hands-on projects, etc. The girls in the class feel confident and comfortable stating their opinions and even having debates over issues. It is unreal; I always look forward to that part of my day.

One downside is that the boys, far outnumbered, are for all practical purposes silent during class. They hardly say, “Peep.” Are they intimidated by all the outspoken girls? (These are teen-aged boys we’re talking about.) Or, are they naturally quiet? I don’t know, since I didn’t know them before the class started.

Does this help form my opinion on single-sex classrooms? I guess not. But, it does give me a chance to see what a productive, deep-thinking group of students looks like.

What are your thoughts on single-sex classrooms?