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,
