I wouldn't want to be a student anywhere else

I was walking down the hallway during my planning period today and two students were walking toward me. Me being me, I couldn't just say hello like a normal person. I greeted them by exclaiming, "Hello, students of the most wonderful high school in the universe!!!" The students laughed at me and smiled good-naturedly. I went on, "I wouldn't want to teach anywhere else!" And one of the students responded, "I wouldn't want to be a student anywhere else!" Ahhhh I was so excited!!! I told all my class periods after that. 7th period told me the student lied to me and were just trying to be nice. Hah hah. They funny.

In other news there may be a video of my 5th period class floating around the internet... we're in the Waves Unit talking about harmonics, and someone brought up singing, and before you knew it the entire class was singing Row Row Row Your Boat as a 3-part round. Be jealous. #PhysicsLife

I WON A MASSAGE WITH THIS PICTURE!!! We were supposed to wear red for heart disease awareness, and email a picture of ourselves to our insurance guy to be put in a drawing for a free massage. I feel like everyone says this, but I never win anything like this!!! So WOOOHOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

A prize-worthy piece of artwork from one of my talented students for my Happy Wall. He remembered from months ago that I had mentioned Jiggly Puff is my favorite Pokemon character! (She's pink. She sings. She's fiesty. And she's one of two Pokemon I know. Ha!) This guy is way talented!

My OCD students and I have decided that my new gem colored rulers are not to be used as rulers. They are tangibles for us OCD-inclined people to arrange in beautiful, symmetric patterns to soothe our disorder-induced stress when it arises.

Gems of Wisdom and Jewel-Toned Rulers

During an in-service today our Assistant Principals had to share "what good teaching looks like" by using an example of one of their own teachers growing up. It made me reflect upon my own teachers and what I learned from them. I love school!!!!! And was blessed with so many amazing teachers. Here are a few gems of wisdom I was able to glean from some masters of this craft:

Mrs. Waters (transitional)--I got held back in kindergarten y'all. But I wouldn't trade it for anything! My transitional class with Mrs. Waters was small, and we definitely all shared a special bond. I am certain Mrs. Waters is responsible for facilitating that special bond. I'm sure I learned academic things in her class, but all I remember are the fun things! Space Day: my favorite day in school ever. We were locked out of our room before school. When we were finally allowed in, Mrs. Waters had transformed her classroom into a space station. I remember drinking Tang like astronauts in space.  I tell my high schoolers about Space Day and we do our own Space Day in honor of it even though it is not in my curriculum! Another special bonding experience we had in Mrs. Waters' class is when one of my classmates was diagnosed with leukemia, and we held a lemonade sale at our school's Field Day to raise money for him. Mrs. Waters taught me that sometimes there are more important things than academics, and that people are going to remember the fun experiences they've had for the rest of their lives. So make some fun experiences for your students people!! To this day I am still in touch with Mrs. Waters and she continues to encourage me and be one of my life role models.

Mrs. Brinker (1st and 2nd grade)--Let your students latch on to something you like, and use it as a theme for your classroom. Mrs. Brinker loved Bugs Bunny. Her room had a Bugs Bunny rug, decorations, and candy dish, and we loved buying her more Bugs Bunny things as gifts. It made class more fun! I am a high school teacher, and my students have latched on to the fact that I love turtles! So much so that my first year a student gave me Pyro haha! My students draw pictures of turtles for me, and give me turtle things, and I use turtles in my example problems. It makes class more fun!

Ms. Ringel (3rd grade)--Have extra special weekly/monthly activities! Ms. Ringel had special things she did once a week. There was also a Question of the Month, and if you got it right you got a cookie! I remember how I looked forward to those activities and how happy I was that I was in Ms. Ringel's class because we got to do all these extra fun things that no other 3rd grade class did. Now as a high school teacher I have "Minion Mondays" where I do a dance with two Minion stuffed animals and sing a popular song with only the word "Banana." (Yes, I am that crazy.)

Ms. Sanger (5th grade English)--The first time I was truly praised for my creative writing was when I wrote my first short story for her Creative Writing class and Ms. Sanger believed in it so much she wanted to get it published! (We never got around to it though haha.) She told me I was talented at creative writing, and without a doubt she is the reason I have written so many short stories and why I believe in my passion for creative writing to this day. Sometimes students just need to be told they are good at something!

Mrs. Callahan (7th and 8th grade Science)--She was funny and crazy! Every other Friday we had Activity Day where we could explore whatever we wanted! I grew crystals, mixed chemicals, and made a few minor things go boom! From Mrs. Callahan I learned the importance of allocating time for students to be creative. That part of their brain is so important! Mrs. Callahan also went above and beyond to create experiences for us. She knew people at NASA, so for two days we polished mirrors for a satellite and when we were finished we got to engrave our name on the back of our mirror. Not many people can say their name is in space!! Mrs. Callahan also put together our summer class trip to Key Largo, an amazing week of snorkeling with sharks and jellyfish in coral reefs and mangroves that I will never forget!

Mrs. Wilson (12th grade AP English)--Mrs. Wilson was known for being very strict! Her class was indeed difficult and demanded a lot from her students. I think I spent more time doing AP English homework than any other class in high school. I learned SO much from Mrs. Wilson, and even though I never felt like I especially stood out in her class, I received the English Award for my senior class, a medal I got to wear at graduation. From Mrs. Wilson I learned to hold students to a high standard, and they will rise to it, and learn a ton!!! Win, win, win!

Thank you to every teacher I've ever had for providing me such great examples that I try to emulate every day!

Unrelated, I bought these gorgeous "jewel-toned" rulers for my class. Except they are so pretty I just want to keep them and look at them!!!

I never seen somebody smile so hard

The first day of school!!!!! Has there ever been anything more exciting? Not only do the students all come to school in their best outfits, but the teachers do too! We all get there early, in our best clothes with our hair done and makeup on. Everyone is pumped, and more prepared than they were last year, excited that this is going to be the best school year ever! 

I give my happiest, craziest welcome to my new sweet physicists. I am so excited. This is what I love to do. At one point in the afternoon, one of my brand new babies remarked, "I never seen somebody smile so hard." Ha. My favorite quote of the day. 

Let the school year, and the resulting blog posts it will bring, begin!!

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They don't want to leave

In 3rd period today, the bell rang, and no one left.

Today was the last day of normal class. Next week students only have to come if they have to take exams, (students can be exempt by their grades and attendance.) 

Third period has an inside joke about extra credit. Whenever someone does something especially good, (or especially funny, or especially embarrassing,) the whole class yells, "extra credit!!!" and claps. They want me to give out extra credit for all of these random things, the silly munchkins. I never did, haha, until after class today. I actually made an assignment titled "Third Period Extra Credit <3" and gave each of them 10 dailywork points (hardly anything,) but they were so sweet today!

Today we had finished our last fun activity and the members of third period were all just talking and laughing and hugging each other. When the bell rang, one student exclaimed, "For the last time, EXTRA CREDIT!!!" And the class exploded like someone had won the lottery. They jumped up and down and happy-screamed, and group hugged me, and were filming it on their phones like it was New Years Eve. Haha. I usually teach with my door shut. I noticed during all of this that my door was still shut. Not a single student had left yet. For a high schooler, that is rare. They normally want to leave class as soon as possible, exploding out of the door when the bell rings. (I don't let them open it before the bell rings. They'll try to trickle out. Hah.) But today they were in no rush. They wanted to be here, enjoying the last moments of third period.

How wonderful is that, to have a class that students don't want to leave? My heart is filled to the top with love today. 

This year's 3rd period

This is a really weird club, isn't it?

During Physics Club on Monday I had a sentimental moment. I was lying on a taped-shut trash bag on a lab table and my students were all around me, literally lifting me up with the breath from their lungs as they blew into straws they had poked into the sides of the trash bag. (We saw it on the internet... you see we're our own form of amateur myth busters. And hey, it worked!) A girl who has been going to Physics Club since her freshman year, (she has an older brother. And I am proud to say this girl is one of our school's valedictorians this year!) commented during this endeavor, "This is a really weird club, isn't it?" And that meant so much to me! Ah, and we reminisced all the weird things we've done in Physics Club... Yes, we have marched into the neighbor chemistry class with flaming (as in on fire) flaming cheeto torches chanting physics rules chemistry drools... Yes, we have duct taped me to the wall... we have made ice popsicles in the freezer... we have all been electrocuted with the tesla coil as a right of passage... my heart is full with such good times.

In other news, one of my most difficult-to-manage students, (whom I sincerely adore!!!) had to write me a letter, (always my first discipline step for students.) It makes me chuckle because his writing exactly matches his speech. His first sentence is, "I got this EA because I didn't hear Mrs. Fitz talking to me but she thought I was disrespecting her." Oh, the sweet physics babies haha... I wonder how many of you can relate? I don't ever want to teach anywhere but LHS. 💙

This week is spirit week! For decades day I was 50's, and so was one of our fabulous counselors! We were told we could have been sisters!

I was super proud of my hair... Seriously one of my biggest accomplishments

The most adventurous thing

Every Wednesday in the middle of group bellwork I ask my students a get-to-know-you question. Last Wednesday the question was, "Who in your group has done the most adventurous thing?" Most groups shared normal answers, "So-and-so has gone cliff jumping, so-and-so has been indoor skydiving," (yes, apparently that's a thing.) And then 3rd period Group D comes along. "I crossed the border." (And it's funnier when it's true...)

And that, my friends, is what every day teaching high school is like! Haha. Lovin it.

Last week I taught the Refrigeration Process dance, (something I made up to help students remember the steps in that cycle.) I was re-choreographing it from last year, getting rid of an outdated move, and staring off into space before first period. (I couldn't actually practice the moves because then the students would know it was coming!) And a student asked, "What are you doing?" And I snapped, "I'm thinking!" "Mrs. Fitz I wasn't talking to you." "Oh, uh, my bad..." haha of course all of this was said with love. 

I just love how into it my students get with the dance...They do it at lunch, they show it to their parents, they say they can hear me saying it in their heads while they take the quiz. Haha. It's been a good week.

And of course it ended on Friday the 13th that was also a full moon and one of my seniors says to his classmates of mostly sophomores and juniors, "Hey, if anybody wants they're doing $13 Friday-the-13th-themed tattoos at this place..." Hand palm to face. To my class of 15-and-16-year-olds. Sigh. We all know that if a student raises his/her hand, there is absolutely no telling what statement might come out!

Nothing like some leopard print to warm up cold winter weather!