Love is in the air for the Sadie Hawkins Dance!

      

In case you have a preference for only some of the topics that make it into my blog, here's what you'll find in this post:

1. Asking Mr. Keller to the Sadie Hawkins dance
2. Meeting my student's newborn daughter
3. Hilarious propaganda projects with my freshmen
4. Doodles on the board

Sadie Hawkins Dance!
In order to get the students excited about the upcoming Sadie Hawkins dance, a few of the female teachers volunteered to ask male teachers to the dance and have the video production kids record it! These hilarious proposals will play on the announcements leading up to the big dance. Ideally they will encourage the shyest girls to get up their courage and ask their crushes to the dance! (I'm sure at this point your flashbacks to high school dances are resurfacing in your mind, and for that I apologize! -Unless of course you are married to your high school sweetheart. In that case I say "how sweet"!)

Mr. Keller is the band and choir teacher at my school. We ARE NOT a couple in the least, but good friends who are consistently poking fun at each other through our students! (We write passes for kids that need to go to another part of the school and you can bet when someone needs to go to the band room they get a special funny note on the back of their pass!) In fact I won't be able to actually go to the dance because I am getting my wisdom teeth out that day... I can't wait.


The proposal was a blast. I created a big sign that read "Hey Mr. Keller... Sadies?", but the Sadies was spelled out in musical notes and symbols. (Corny I know, but just wait it gets better) I asked during my prep, which is third period. Mr. Keller teaches a music appreciation class at that time and seven of my freshmen are in the class. Of course I made use of my awesome students, taking them aside during English and teaching them a little "rap" (really just a chant/tone-less song) that we would all sing when I walked in the next day. The kids got such a kick out of it and each of them told a friend or two in the class about the plan so we would have a singing group! It went really well and hopefully I'll get a copy of the announcement so you can all see how it happened! (Check in my post next week)

 Meeting "Hannah's" Baby
If you read my post last week you know I was surprised and overwhelmed to learn one of my 9th graders had missed school due to maternity leave and about a month ago gave birth to a baby girl. Hannah has returned to school and is more determined than ever to succeed in my class. One day this week I pulled up around 5pm to see the flag football game (which my student dominated in by catching the game-changing winning touch down in the last 40 seconds of the second half!). As I locked my car I saw two of my students sitting outside the school, perhaps waiting for their ride home. It was Hannah and one of my students from a different 9th grade class. I walked up to them and when Hannah turned around she was holding her daughter. I smiled and complimented her; the baby was adorable. Hannah was incredibly proud and showed her baby off to me. It was quite the moment and one I did not anticipate ever having with her. Knowing that one of my other students not only knows about Hannah's child, but is supportive and helpful makes me feel much more at ease. I'm glad to know she is not alone or in any way excluded by her friends. After chatting with the girls for a few minutes I headed to the game with a sense of relief and lots of confidence in those young women.

The Fantastic Flat Football!
As we read Animal Farm I taught my 9th graders eight propaganda techniques and we found examples of them both in the book and in modern media (commercials, magazines, and billboards). In order to challenge them I created a group project in which one teammate picked a product and a technique out of a hat. This made for some pretty funny pairings such as the group that had to use plain folk to sell bunny slippers and the group that had to use logical fallacies to advertise a spork! But my absolute favorite was the group that sold me a flat football using the techniques of fear and name calling (you can click on the picture to enlarge and read their funny pitch!). It was perhaps the most enjoyable grading I've done yet and I especially appreciated their illustrations such as the elephant sitting on the football to flatten it!

                                                                                                     Doodling on the Board (Click on picture to enlarge)
One of my favorite parts of the day is looking at my board at 2pm. AMAZINGLY enough, my students stay a minute or so after the bell to doodle on my board. Since I am usually setting up for the next class or meeting with a few of my students I don't always see this happen the moment it does, so the end of the day can be quite a surprise. The students never draw inappropriate things, I hope, because they respect me, my materials and their own freedom inside my classroom. To the left you'll see one example. At the end of the day on Wednesday I had three little doodles awaiting me. They were well titled (thank goodness), so I knew I had a "sun pig", a "little potato", and a very accurate caricature of me!



Well that's it for this week in my life. Last weekend I had a blast on Fremont Street with my friends and when I saw a bicycle sculpture I just had to stop and take a picture. If I had spinning instructor business cards, this would have to be on them!

I've heard from so many of you both in and outside the education community about how my blog has made you stop and reconsider the issues our students face every day in the classroom. I'm so grateful that you continue to read and connect with me about my experiences, so thank you, sincerely.

Sending love from Las Vegas,

Ms. Landau

Resiliency

A month or so ago one of my freshmen,"Hannah"(name changed), had missed more than a week of school. Sadly this is not uncommon here in Las Vegas. I thought perhaps she had the flu or another contagious ailment and that her parents had allowed her to take the week off. But at the end of the week I received an email from the attendance office requesting that I send any work home for Hannah because she was going to be "absent for a month on maternity leave".

I was in shock. This student, a bright young girl, who had the fantastic corny sense of humor that I do, was pregnant, and I hadn't known. I felt horrible. I searched my mind for clues. She was always wearing big sweatshirts but I thought that was just her style. She was a little chubby, but I never imagined that she was pregnant. And again, she was a stand out student, always doing good work and adding a funny comment to go with it. How had I missed this?

 Then two weeks ago I received an e-mail from Hannah's mother. Essentially the mother said that she herself did not know about Hannah's pregnancy until she was eight months along. Hannah told her single mom the story. It was the classic older guy who mom did not like Hannah hanging out with. And that's all it took. So her mom was flabbergasted when eight months later her baby girl came home and said she was nearly ready to give birth. It was too late for other options and though they discussed the possibility of adoption, in the end both Hannah and her mother were not ok with giving up the baby. The email had an incredible paragraph about not giving up on Hannah. Her mother explained that she herself was a teen mom and that though she did not want that for Hannah, she would do all she could to support her daughter and that Hannah WOULD graduate high school and apply to college. The email ended with an update about the good health of Hannah and her baby girl, both thriving. Hannah would be back in a week and each day after school she'd pick up her daughter from day care.

I think I read the email seven times trying to get it all to sink in. I hadn't known she was pregnant. And neither had her mother. I thought she could not have possibly hidden this from me, but again, we were all shocked. I sat down to write an email to her mom and then the tears came.

Dear "mom",

Thank you for reaching out to me with your email. Hannah is an incredible young woman and a very bright student. I know she can handle anything that comes her way. Please let her know I'm here if she ever wants to talk. I know that returning to school will be a tough process but I'll do all I can to catch her up and make sure she is as successful in my class as she has always been. I've attached some worksheets and quizzes as requested so she can begin learning some of the information she has missed. Please give your whole family my warmest wishes. I look forward to seeing Hannah back in class soon. 

Ms. Landau

And a week later she was back, with a bright smile and a "hi Miss Landau!" I couldn't believe it. I guess I had anticipated a "changed" person. But Hannah was the funny, sweet, smart student she had always been. And I was so glad to see her in good spirits. I asked her privately how she and everyone at home was doing and she said with a smile, "well it hurts when I laugh, but we are all doing great". I giggled and promised not to make her laugh-out-loud in class any time soon.

I called her mom after the first few days to let her know how well Hannah was doing. The next day Hannah said that her mom had gotten the message and was very proud of her. Now, Hannah is continuing to demonstrate to me just what resiliency looks like. A few of her decisions led her to a situation she never thought she'd be in at 14 years old, but she has handled it with a sense of responsibility and maturity that I never knew she possessed. I'm incredibly proud to be her teacher and know she is going to graduate from high school and if she wishes, graduate from college and beyond.

To be honest, as the 9th grade English honors teacher, this is a situation I did not think I would see, but it was a good lesson for me to learn. Kids are fantastic at hiding even the most obvious things affecting their lives, so whenever they finally come clean we must be there for them as supporters and mentors.

Cheers,

Ms. Landau