well, it's been a week since school started. almost. tomorrow will actually be a week, but i thought i would give you an update.
first, here's my first day of school picture.
and honestly, at this point, i am not quite sure what to think. some of my classes are wonderful and i really love seeing those students walk in the door.
but friends, there are two classes that might drive me absolutely bonkers. and beyond. for real. they are just plain awful. i had them today and they make me want to pull out each hair on my head individually, because i think it might actually be more fun to do that than stand there and try to engage the students. in fact they would likely be more engaged if i was pulling out my hair strand by strand. because, they are CERTAINLY not interested in learning about narratives or figurative language, or even in taking roll. and while i know those don't sound riviting, i do try to make it at least a little more fun by doing group work or a game or something, but nope. no dice.
ugh.
ok. so there have also been a few really good parts too! one super dry kid asked me about unexcused absences. according to the school policy, a family vacation is not excused. so that's what i said. he said, "well that's a dumb rule." i said, "sorry pal, i don't make the rules." he said, "but what if i wanted to go to Jamacia with my family?" i said, "well it would be unexcused." "well, that's dumb, you should let me go to Jamacia and excuse it," he stated. i said, "well honestly, i would like to go to Jamacia too, but since i can't either, perhaps you should just come to class like the rest of us lowly non-Jamacia going individuals." he wasn't amused, but i sure was. and since he stopped asking, i guess he decided to let it go.
in another class, we had a ridiculously successful friday. the students held a class discussion over the text they all read over the summer and didn't even need me to be part of the discussion. they seemed excited to be talking about what they were talking about and just occasionaly sought out my help to decided whose turn it was to talk. VICTORY! hopefully we can be that successful again in the future.
i had a student today who turned in a paper using the word "like" in her writing just like she was saying it in a conversation. another young lady decided that instead of using the word "to" she would just write 2. since it's ok in a text, it's obviously ok in a "formal" paper. and for another laugh, another gal just didn't use any capital letters at all. (pretty much like this post...hmmm...)
so back to the drawing board for tomorrow. hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!
