P.E.?

Today I wrote the day's schedule on the board, something the students aren't exactly used to. Some teachers do it as a matter of routine. In other classrooms there is a set routine, a set schedule, and it is not written down on a daily basis. One of the afternoon activities I listed for them was "PE?".

As the students came in and read the board, there was immediate discussion. "What are we gonna play?" was the first thing I heard.

"That's not what it means," answered another. "It means MAYBE we'll have PE. Which means we probably won't 'cause our class is so noisy." She was right on target.

By the time 1:40 came around, I had only managed to award 6 point. I had hoped to give out a good 20 points just during the two 50 minute test periods that we had. (It was the 3rd day for the STAR state test.) NOPE! They simply couldn't go even 3 minutes without someone talking or doing something to break the rules. Did I WANT them to earn points? Yes! I wanted to be out for PE like them. They just couldn't seem to keep it together.

At 1 minute a point 6 minutes wasn't very much PE! And then, in the end it only amounted to FIVE minutes because they were so disruptive and noisy lining up that we had to line up twice!

Tomorrow, my third day in this classroom, should be better...


...but it won't be.