A Short Week 3

What a week! I'll jump right in: Monday and Tuesday were "normal" days. Start with AP, move on to Creative Writing, add in some 11th graders and Fahrenheit 451, and end with a planning period. Our Storyteller, Andrew, was back, and this week he had us DANCING! It was nuts, and some kids didn't want to participate. In fact, I felt odd participating because I am trying to establish myself as a respectable, professional authority in the classroom, but my co-op and other teachers who were in to check out Andrew were totally into the dancing, so I danced in a civilized and "professional" manner. I'm trying to immerse myself in this experience.

That being said, I am definitely seeing that I am meant for middle school, though again, that may be clouded by the differences in the two placements, not just the age group. Coming home the first 8 weeks, I could say to myself every day "This is what I'm meant to do" and mean it. Now, I am so excited to just get through each day. Maybe it's the setting. Maybe it's the block scheduling. Maybe it's the material I'm teaching. Maybe I have senioritis. I'm not sure: I just know that the first 8 weeks was better for me than the second set of the first three weeks have been so far.

On Wednesday we had an early dismissal, and we had a Pep Rally. Classes went from 80 minutes to 36 minutes, so I gave the 11th grade class the first part of their quiz. Everyone has at least an 80% so far. They'll finish the quiz on Tuesday, but the second part will be more difficult. I've been providing an average of 1 handout per day, and they are complaining about all the papers I've been giving them. They end up throwing the papers away. One of the handouts I've given has been a vocab handout, and only about 3 students have actually completed this handout. They'll be SHOCKED when I tell them to take out the vocab handout on Tuesday to use as a guide on their quiz. Some will get mad, but all will realize that they need to keep track of the papers I give to them.

Other than this, I don't know if there's much else. My co-op and I have decided there must be some reason I am at this placement right now, with the Storyteller and PSSAs coming up. She said it's a weird experience for me, but she thinks it will be important in my professional development.

Right now I'm excited to rest and get myself together for Tuesday. We didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, and we don't have school Monday, so I'm looking forward to giving myself a nice mental break and preparing emotionally and mentally for Tuesday.