Monthly Archive

The final test is done.  The kids stopped bringing materials to school.  The weather is nice.  It must be the summer…

Think again!!

We still have 2 partial weeks of school.

As far as the PACT test goes…I think most of my kids nailed it.  I received a pretty warm response to the test.  Of course, I had some students claim that I didn’t teach them anything this year, but those were the ones who didn’t bother to learn my name, let alone learn some history.  The kids that wanted to learn something…did learn something.  Now, I’m not saying they’ll remember it for next year, but I hope they’ll remember some of the major topics.

My plan for the last days of school are to work on a radio advertisement for a city in South Carolina.  With a little begging and handiwork, all of the computers in the Media Center have been equipped with audacity.   Let the games begin!!

Today the students take the Social Studies PACT test.  I’m very nervous.  After reviewing for a few weeks, I’m still convinced they don’t get it.  Our curriculum for 7th grade is kind of over their heads, but I’ve tried my hardest to relate the material to their worlds.  And… I’ve definitely watered down the material for them.  This is why I’m scared.  I’ve breezed through a lot of the standards so the students could get just a taste of the information before we had to move on.  I think a taste of information is better than no taste.

More reasons to be nervous:

1.  Did the kids get a good night sleep?

2.  Did they eat a good breakfast?

3.  Did anything happen to them last night or this morning that would cause them to have a bad testing day?

4.  Will they try their hardest? Or will they give up easily because they’ve been testing for 2 weeks?

5.  Will they intentionally do bad to make their teacher look bad?  (Although, I’m sure 90% will try their hardest, there is still that 10% I’m just not sure about)

6.  Will they remember the topics we’ve covered in September?  (From the looks of yesterday’s review session, the answer to that one is NO)

7.   Will they have a quiet testing environment in every classroom?  (I know I run a tight ship in my class, but I can’t speak for every teacher)

I can’t wait until these testing days are over.  The schedule makes everyone crazy…including teachers.

So, PACT testing comes to an end this week and that leaves us about 10 teaching days for the kids.  If you take away the last 2 days of school, that leaves 8.  Then, we need to take away 1 day for “Tiger Fest,” and that leaves 7.

Seven full days of school where the kids know that they are finished with the end of the year exam.

Seven full days of school where the kids are just itching to get out for the summer.

Seven full days of school where most teachers have given up and started planning “end of the year parties.” (with and without students)

I’ve decided to plan a project loosely related to the 8th grade curriculum, South Carolina History.  I’m hoping this will keep their attention and keep them involved and interested until the end of the school year.

What do you do during the last week of school?  How do you keep the students engaged?

I’ve decided to start a new project with the kids for the remaining 10 days of school after our state-wide testing is finished.   We’re supposed to start next year’s curriculum, which is South Carolina history.

I’m thinking about having the students create a radio commercial about a city in South Carolina.  After doing simple research on a city, they’ll have to put together a 60-second advertisement about their city of choice.  They’re main goal will be to attract tourism to their city.

The only part I’m struggling with is finding the proper program that has the ability to record, bring in music, and export as an mp3.  The only one that I’ve used is audacity.  This is a great little program, but it might be a little too hard for most of my 7th graders to get a grasp on.

Eventually, I’ll make them available as podcasts.

I might just have to suck it up and use audacity!!

I hope the kids enjoy this little project…it’ll keep them out of trouble during the last days of school.

On Friday, May 2nd, 10 of my students are invited to the 18th Annual SCCEE Awards Luncheon.  The event is to recognize their efforts in the South Carolina Stock Market Game.  We had two separate teams that earned a 2nd place finish in two different 10-week competitions.

Each team had $100,000 to play in the stock market.  They did their own research and bought as many different stocks as their money could buy.   The goal at the end of the 10-week competition was to have the most money.  Under my direct tutelage, these two teams were cents away from a gold medal, but I guess a silver finish isn’t so shabby.  After all, this was the first year we competed.

I’m extremely proud of the kids…and they are excited to get their trophies!!

On a side note…There was a teacher’s Stock Market Game as well and the teacher with the best portfolio won a free laptop.  I guess you can already figure out who won that…otherwise I wouldn’t be writing about it.