Welcome to my Classroom!

I cannot believe it is almost October! Does this mean I can finally smile? I'm kidding, of course, as I can't help but smile each and every day with these awesome students. They amaze me constantly. At moments I feel I am not good enough to be teaching them, not qualified, not mature, not ready. And then one of them will explain a concept that I TAUGHT THEM to another student I know I had a hand in making that student become a teacher. That is what it is all about. The confidence of knowledge. 

Here are my 5 awesome highlights of the week. 

1. One of my female students was asked to prom by her boyfriend, in my class! He came by before school started and asked (politely) if I would leave this on her desk for her to find. It was adorable. He had a little token for each class and by the end of the day she had notes and snacks overflowing in her bag-pack. Of course she said yes!

         

2. One of my students coined the phrase "Gunner Approves". He was explaining that he enjoyed some of my more interactive activities. So of course I made a big (sarcastic) deal about how if he approves, then I MUST be doing something right! Everyone was smiling and he was proud of his "Gunner Approves" idea. So the next day I put this up on my wall. I gave him a few stickies and asked him to add any activities, stories, and games that he enjoyed in class. None of the students could believe that I gave him a WALL! Now it has become VERY coveted to earn a wall. I have one more already up called "Sally's Choice" and she gets to choose what we do first and last during some of my lessons. I put up a few blank squares and told them that I was awaiting some brilliant ideas from exceptional students and it almost feels like a competition for them to get up on the wall. I love that we turned some positive recognition into a part of our classroom culture. I see it as proof of my vision coming to life! (I will be taking these down and putting up new ones every couple of weeks!)

3. I received 30 new freshman. This brings my totals during 4th, 5th, and 6th period to 32, 35, and 41, respectively. That is correct. I HAVE 41 HYPER 13/14 year-olds during LAST PERIOD. My goal has become to teach a whole lesson where NOT A SINGLE ONE of them looks at the clock. Wish me luck. I do however, really enjoy the bigger classes. The energy is better and I can do a lot of group work. Below is a picture of some reading circles. They are diving into "Harrison Burgeron" by Kurt Vonnegut, a futuristic story in which the strong, smart, and beautiful must wear handicaps to "equalize" any advantage. The story has some truly dark tones and I was impressed with their ability to pick out positive themes from such a sad story.

 4. I took my dad's advice. I know, I know, why am I admitting this? Because credit needs to go where credit is due. I took my clipboard, GREEN grading pen, and 110 worksheets to the gym. While cycling I graded all 110 papers, and my but went numb! But again, I GOT THROUGH ALL MY GRADING in like 30 minutes! Excellent idea dad, two birds with one stone!

5. And finally, I heard from another one of my summer school students! She finally e-mailed me with some stellar news: she made it into AP English! (I taught her remedial English 9 this summer, so this is A HUGE accomplishment!) I am so incredibly proud of her, and even more impressed with her new confidence, which shines through the whole e-mail. The students who keep in touch with me truly make every late-night, early morning, and busy weekend worth it! I love my job!

              Lots of love to all,
             
                                                                                                        Danielle

My First Tough Day

Check out my 9th grade vocabulary tree! It looks so great in the room!

Thursday 9/19

     I know, I know. How can I be having my FIRST tough day three weeks into school? Well after about that amount of time you truly become invested in the lives of each and every one of your students.

And so, I had a really tough day.

     I found out that one of my freshmen recently lost her mother to cancer. On the first day of school "Jane" came to school with a smile that could light up a room. She was a bright student who was ESPECIALLY excited to "write on the wall" in my class. During the second week of school Jane's free write (which each student completes once a week in their journal) was about her mother's newly discovered cancer and the emotions she was feeling. It was moving, to say the least, and I made sure to write a personalized response that might comfort her in some way.

 

      



     After three days in a row of missing class, I looked up Jane's home phone number and called. I found out from her brother that their mother had passed and that they were working hard to get Jane back to school on Friday. I gave my condolences and told the siblings I was available if they needed anything at all in this tough time.

   


     My emotions outpoured the second I hung up the phone. I already knew there was no father in the picture, but now my bubbly, quirky, 14-year-old student would be facing the world without any parents. Of course her siblings are an incredible force behind her, but I still cringe at the thought of the unfortunate challenge she will have to face during high school, and throughout her young life.

     Tomorrow I'll be handing Jane a note I've written to her (at the end of class to avoid any embarrassment/tears) and I hope that it can begin to show her how supportive I hope to be in the future. No one can replace what she has just lost, but I feel strongly that each of her teachers can be a cheerleader as she accomplishes things in her educational career, just as my parents are for me.

     This moment reminded me of the reason I joined the Teach For America Movement: I wanted to show kids that we all have a story to share, and if we listen to each other, we will find that we are never truly alone. Be grateful for the love in your life, be brave in times of heartache, and never let anyone tell you aren't perfect, just as you are.

     I hope tomorrow will go smoothly with Jane, and that she will continue to use our journal as a space for her feelings. Simply trusting me enough to read them is a great start.

Friday 9/20

        Today was wonderful. I gave "Jane" the note that I wrote and watched her read it and smile. She put it away in her bag and got right to work. She asked me for anything she could make up and her attitude seems to be in the right place: upset but resilient. I'm so impressed with her spirit and look forward to the year with her.

In more teaching related news...

Class updates: My 12th Honors English class is halfway through The Comedy of Errors! We familiarized ourself with some Shakesperean language by creating insults which hung on my "You Mad?" wall for the first week. I think the students really liked when I called them measles, believe it or not!

         

    With my 9th Honors classes we are still in our short story unit and have just finished "Marigolds", a great coming of age story for the young teens. I can tell a few of my 9th graders are really excited to come to my class everyday, and it is an amazing feeling to greet their smiles at the door. They essentially want to know what I've got in store for the day, and I'm glad they are so engaged during my lessons.This week we focused on theme and conflict in the story. 

Can you name some of the most common conflicts? Probably! 

But can you draw them? MY KIDS CAN!!

     I had a few student ask me about great book recommendations and I am feeling under-qualified. Of course I love to read and write NOW, but in high school I did not do a lot of extracurricular reading. I will have to resort to my reading expert, Nicole Landau ASAP. As a bookworm even during long and winding road trips, Nicole read twice as fast as I did, and was always three years younger!

     Overall the year is going very well. I feel lucky to be able to walk into a classroom I designed, teach lessons I create, and learn from students I truly care for, every single day. So many people have told me "don't burn out" or "be careful, the fun dies after a while" but I don't see those things. I see a new set of ~30 minds that walk into my classroom every period each day. I get a mere 53 minutes to make sure they are MORE brilliant, respectful, passionate, and understanding than when they walked in. Oh, and that they ONLY end a sentence with a preposition when it is for an IMPORTANT purpose (see before!).

As always, I love hearing from you! Let me know any teaching tips you have and reactions to my pictures!

All My Best,

Danielle

                       

The Grading NEVER Ends!

I'm writing this post after spending three hours grading the poems and paragraphs my 9th graders wrote this week. I still have small classes and have yet to grade much from my 12th graders, so I can only imagine how long it will take when the classes are larger and I have an essay from each student! Now I know why it took my English teachers so long to return work! But I've set a goal for myself: get all short pieces back within three days and any long pieces back within one week. We will see how long I can keep this up, but I have not failed yet! 

Above is a picture of my friend Cecalie, horrified by her own desk. She and I are both quickly realizing how overwhelming teaching can be!

However, I did have a great week teaching "The Most Dangerous Game", a short story with themes aligned with The Hunger Games. Understandably my 9th graders became enthralled in the man versus man story. We will finish it up on Monday and then proceed into a deeper debate about the value of human life and their own beliefs when it comes to self-defense. I cannot wait to hear their views on some tough and mature social issues!

I'm going to try to implement a strategy I'm calling "insta-debate" where a student brings up a point, another student disagrees, and I ask the whole class to choose a side and debate the issue. Wish me luck!

In other news I finally saw a Cirque Du Soleil show! Four of my teacher-friends and I used our teacher discount to score tickets to the incredible Zumanity show. It is NOT appropriate for our students, but I think that made it extra fun! 

Thanks to the show we also learned that we are incapable of taking any kind of reaction pictures because we are just not in-sync enough for that yet. But life is about goals, right?

Back to teaching, I did the "I am from" poem exercise with my 9th graders and again was amazed at their depth and creativity. Here are a few of my favorites (anonymous of course).

Oh, and my roommate Bailey got a cat, who we lovingly named "Gatsby". Of course we had to go with something literature based; we are teachers after all! And I have to say, as someone who grew up in a home with no cats (due to allergies) I actually really enjoy Gatsby! He is totally independent and just cuddles up to me every so often, which is nice when you are two hours into a grading session!

All is going well and I am looking forward to working on college essays with my seniors in the next few weeks. Up first is "A Comedy of Errors", one of my favorites! I wonder if my funny father would record a one man play version of the story, I know I'd get a kick out of it! And with his exceptional triathlon transition times I'm sure he could handle the quick costume changes! As Rebecca says, come to the west coast-best coast already, Dad!

All My Best,

Danielle