Recognize Your Audience...

Today was Junior Achievement Day at school.

Junior Achievement is an organization that is a partnership between the business community, volunteers, and schools. Volunteers for Junior Achievement go to schools and discuss key concepts of work readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy to young people all over the world. Sounds cool, ey?

Well...in reality, what happened was that a middle-aged white man came and spent 3 hours talking to 20 Black 7th grade girls about the global marketplace. I was like, wow...the global marketplace? Really? No, REALLY??? Most of these girls have never been outside of Decatur, Georgia...this should be good...

He started out by asking, "How many countries do you think there are in the world?" One girl shouted, "Fifty!"

**I thought, ummm...naw, that's states, not countries.**

The speaker replied, "No, more than that..."

Another girl yelled, "A million!" **I tried not to giggle at this point** After a few more crazy numbers were thrown out there, the speaker, clearly flustered at this point, finally told them the number (900+), and began his pitch. He was using words like "embargo", "tariff", and "subsidy"...completely outside of my girls vocabulary. I began to see their eyes glaze over...

Next, he discussed imports and exports..."What country do you think exports the most goods to the United States?" "Africa!" "Europe!"

After he finally told them the answer (which was Canada, by the way), a sidebar discussion began about how that COULD NOT be true because of all of the items that are "Made In China".

Then the speaker moved on to immigration - "Are any of you from another country?"
One girl raised her hand and said, "I used to live in New Jersey."

And so it went... About an hour in, I had to remove one of my more "rambunctious" students. She began moaning about being bored...putting her feet up on the desk, walking around, talking, combing her hair, completely ignoring the speaker. I had the assistant principal remove her - my student expressed her displeasure by slamming the door shut on her way out of the room.

I just shook my head throughout the entire presentation. I'm sure that the global marketplace presentation is a big hit at some middle schools...but not at mine. The entire topic was completely over their heads and outside of reality for them. The only "marketplace" these girls know or care to know about is South Dekalb Mall. I felt bad for the speaker, who took time out of his busy schedule to volunteer - his intentions were good...

The morning was supposed to be similar to a Career Day, but I doubt that any of my students really benefited from the activity. I'm hoping that there will be a less structured career day event later in the year, where the students are able to learn about potential jobs and ask the speakers questions.

I'm not in any way "knocking" Junior Achievement - I actually enjoyed the presentation, personally. But really...you've got to know your audience, and my girls were NOT the ones for a 3 hour lecture on the global marketplace.

I'm jes sayin!!

P.S. I promise my next blog is not going to be about my students!!!

The Letter of the Day is..Q!

I'm kind of tripping this year off of the names some of my students. I love these girls to death, but some of the names...

The last two years, the popular name was Sierra. But it can't just be Sierra...it has to be Cierra or Ciera or Ciara or even Serra. Oh yes, F.Y.I., S-E-R-R-A spells "Sierra" now. Wait - and when I read the name off of the roll for the first time and pronounced "Serra" phonetically as "Seh-rah", the child snapped at me and said, "NO - it's SEE-AIR-RAH!!!!"

**insert lip smack and eye roll here**

I resisted the urge to say, "No...actually, S-E-R-R-A spells SEH-RAH...clearly your people are not 'Hooked on Phonics'..."

Because, of course, I can't say that.

Today in 6th period. a student remarked, "Every girl in this classroom has a name that ends with the sound 'ah'". Donkoria. Shatasia. Kierra. Tierra. Katerria. Cierra. Sierra. Kiana. Nurashah. I could keep going. There was actually one name that did not end in 'ah'...Shantesis. But then I thought, shoot, my name ends in "a" too - Deanna...LOL.

But what prompted this blog was my new student's name. I realized after about a week of school that I have 5 students whose names start with the letter "Q". That's just odd to me. Quadirah, Quenshondra, Quennisha, Queenishah, and Qualondria. Then my new student comes in...I look at the schedule and try to wrap my brain around her name...how am I supposed to pronounce THIS name... What the heck is this? I mean, 'Hooked on Phonics' worked for me in the past, but this one threw me: "Qu'Nik". I'm looking at the paper, like, um...err...clearly I'm confused. She is accustomed to this reaction...she smiles at me and says, "It's Que-nique". It rhymes with "unique", just in case you didn't catch that. I replied, Oh...okay...welcome to math class, Qu'Nik.

She was so proud to tell me the correct pronunciation of her name. Then I realized how much I love my name - Deanna. Honestly, it's one of my favorite words, LOL. When I was young, I would get angry when I couldn't find a keychain or coffee mug with my name plastered across the surface, but as I've grown older, I love having a name that you don't see every day.

I guess you have to love your name...even when it's as unique as "Qu'Nik".

And now I have 6 students whose names begin with the letter "Q".

Grrrrr...

I was SOOOOO angry yesterday. My homeroom class had me HEATED. I mean, I gotta say it...I was PISSED!! And why, you're wondering, was I so...let me visit dictionary.com right quick...type in "angry"...click the "thesaurus" tab...okay: "Displeased"? Not strong enough... "Bitter"? "Enraged"? Um, naw, those are a bit much. "Annoyed" works. So do "cross", "fuming", and the straightforward "extremely mad". Well, I was fuming over two words: SUNFLOWER SEEDS. You're gonna need some background info...

As I mentioned in my "intro" post, I teach math to 7th grade girls. Yes, I know, you're going to "pray for me"...that's usually the response when I tell people what I do for a living. Honestly, teaching middle school students is challenging...teaching middle school math is even more taxing...but middle school math to ALL GIRLS? I thank you in advance for your prayers.

I'd say I'm a pretty laid-back teacher. I make a sincere effort to make learning as fun and interesting as possible (yes people, today's teacher has to be an "EDU-TAINER" - you gotta put on a show for the kids...I'm practicing my juggling right after I finish typing this post). My classroom is casual - the main rule is NO SUNFLOWER SEEDS. On the first day of school, I stress the fact that sunflower seeds are not allowed. I elaborate on how I will go completely berserk if I see sunflower seeds in my classroom. As I explain my intense hate for sunflower seeds, the girls are laughing at my song and dance, but I make sure that they realize that I am absolutely, positively serious. It's to the point where, when new students arrive, I ask the class, "What does Ms. Draper hate more than anything??", and my girls reply in unison, "Sunflower Seeds!!"

Okay, so back to my "rant"...we're testing in school this week, and with testing you have lots of rules, regulations, and other crap. I followed the proper procedures, and when I returned to my classroom from dropping off testing materials, the first thing I saw were sunflower seed shells strewn on the floor around a few desks. I can't lie - I straight up snapped. Thinking back, I'm kind of amazed that I was able to swallow the stampede of profanities that was charging up my throat, towards the tip of my tongue. I demanded, "I want to know who has the sunflower seeds, and I want to know RIGHT...NOW!!!" Complete silence. A few snickers and stifled giggles. I stood in front of the girls, staring intently, and said, "Believe me when I say this...we will NOT LEAVE THIS ROOM until I know WHO BROUGHT THOSE SUNFLOWER SEEDS INTO MY CLASSROOM!! I will make every girl in this room HATE ME until I find out WHO DID IT, so you'd better MAKE A DECISION RIGHT NOW...WHO HAD THE SUNFLOWER SEEDS??" Whew, the snitches came out of the woodworks!! Fingers pointed, students yelled, "Latranecia did it!!" "Latranecia gave the sunflower seeds to Try'Neshia and she was eatin' too!" "I saw Zantoneriah eating some too!!" **names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent, but these creative (created?) names are quite representative of my class roster**

I walked out into the hallway to cool off, and actually giggle a bit...7th grade girls are so easy to break. I didn't have to shine a spotlight on them or anything, LOL. The teacher in the classroom next door had her door open, and I walked over...she chuckled and said, "Whoo Ms. Draper, we heard you over there going off - why are you so mad?" I stood in the doorway of the 8th grade English class - the girls inside were my previous students. I had taught them in the 6th grade, then moved up with them to 7th grade math - I was proud of how much we had accomplished in the two years we were together. I looked at my now-8th grade girls and asked, "Why do you think I was over there yelling at my homeroom?" They replied in unison, "Sunflower Seeds!"

I slapped a detention on the culprits, which is rare for me because I hate staying after school for detention. I'm still mad too. Livid even.

I've Arrived!!

pleth⋅o⋅ra: overabundance; excess
pot⋅pour⋅ri: any mixture, esp. of unrelated objects, subjects, etc.

I'm finally here in the land of the blogs...the last of the Draper siblings to make it, but hey, don't people like to save the best for last? LOL...honestly, my siblings each have a great blog, and my Dad's isn't too shabby either (see the list of blogs that I follow), so I thought hey, I've got a few things to say myself.

Not just a few things to say...a PLETHORA of POTPOURRI! I teach middle school math to 7th grade girls - that fact alone will provide loads of entertainment. I'm single, 41 years old, and a new homeowner...I'm working on my weight (wishing and hoping for the motivation of my sister (http://djdjd04.blogspot.com/) and my good girlfriend Stacey)...I'm an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated...I have some of the greatest friends and best nieces and nephews (biological and otherwise) imaginable...I'm super crafty and have an ever-growing list of projects in the works (yes, I'll share photos). For the most part, life is good.

Like I said earlier, I have plenty of potential topics to "blog on", but first things first...

I'm two days late...but a gi-normous HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my father, Mr. William Ralph Draper, Sr. I call him "Pops", "Poppo", or the always tried and true "Daddy". He has been my biggest motivator, my greatest influence, my most spirited cheerleader, and the most wonderful dad that any girl could ever ask to have. I would put my dad up against ANYONE'S dad...yes, sometimes we call him "Crazy T-Tone", but he's crazy like a FOX!! The proof is in the pudding - he, along with my mother, made 4 great children and molded us into 4 positive, independent, incredible (modest?) adults. Is it genetics? Nature or nurture? I think a little bit of both...

Me & Willy D with our Daddy

In my brother's blog (www.thevillagevet.blogspot.com), he thanked my father for "not trying to be my friend while growing up"...that really made me think. When you have a child, it is your job to mold that child into a self-sufficient adult who can be an asset to society. From my observation, it seems that so many parents today try to be the "cool friend parent" instead of the disciplinarian that it takes to "build" an adult. Growing up, I know there were times when my siblings and I wished that our dad was "cooler". Upon reflection, now I'm glad that he WASN'T. As adults, my siblings and I realize that our dad is one of the greatest and COOLEST MEN EVER!! And the best thing is that NOW he is definitely a "cool friend parent" to all of us.

Me & Daddy at Kimberly's wedding

Talk about blessed!!