theme

I'm glad to say that I am feeling tons better...oh, but, perhaps none of you really knew I was sick. Well, I got a cold over the weekend and am just (tonight, actually) starting to feel better. Life is so much better when you feel good and the stuffiness of your nose goes away.

I just returned from a baby shower for Aunt C. It was a nice little get together. I will tell you this much, this is definitely the season for babies! So many of my friends and relatives are prego, I'm beginning to think it's gonna finally happen for me, too! But, really, congrats to all with child---I'm super happy for everyone!

Since I was sick, the beginning of this week wasn't terrific. I was in a crummy mood and didn't feel well, plus it was newspaper deadline time and that always equals chaos. But, the down-hill end of the week is looking more promising and my most exciting news for the day is that 2 out of my 4 8th grade English class actually understood what I taught them today! YAY! I told 4th period (the first to 'get it') that it makes me a happy teacher when they listen and participate and I made a big deal trying to make them feel like they did a good thing. I'll explain more later about what I was teaching and why it was so monumental that someone understood!!

First, to deal with the newspaper deadline drama. I decided just to stick with the districts printing services, like last year. I worked super hard on the layout design and perfecting this first paper. I spent Monday and Tuesday working on layout during my prep, lunch, and after school. I got it perfect, or as close as possible. I went to e-mail it as an attachment to the printing service at the district and it came back saying it couldn't be delivered.

On Tuesday, during lunch, in between sips of soup, I called to see if they might have an answer. The fellow on the other end explained that he would check with IT and get back to me. Needless to say he never did and so finally this morning I called during 1st period. The lady was real snippy with me and basically said I'd have to hand deliver it to the district. Ugh. I had the IT guy at my school come in and help me burn it on a CD, but soon found out that my CD burner doesn't work, so they had to burn it on the librarian computer. I planned on delivering to the district in between let out of school (2:45) and the start of my ESL class (4).

I got halfway to my car and realized I needed to know where the printing office was, so I found the principal. He was on "bus duty" and was making sure no fights were breaking out at the front of the school. I explained the situation and he started telling me the whereabouts of this office. Then, mid sentence, he offered to drop the CD off for me in the morning because he had a meeting there anyway. I was so grateful for his willingness to do that for me. He's kind of one of those 'tough-love' fellows and I can't stop thinking about what a decent thing that is that he would do my "job" for me. Thanks a bunch to DR! And hopefully the paper will turn out decent.

I gave the 8th graders a pop quiz today. It was pretty funny. I decided that they haven't really been paying attention the last few days, so last night I made up a pretty basic quiz dealing with the concepts we've been learning about...character and setting. All of my classes were surprised and didn't believe that I would do something like that (is this counting on our grade, Mrs. Hubert?). I think they all kind of got the idea that in order to succeed they need to pay attention. Now that this pop quiz got my point across, I might use it more frequently as an assessment of their understanding.

After the quiz, I tackled the hardest concepts of all the English curriculum (well, besides run on sentences, comma splices, and dangling modifiers...hahaha): Theme. It's sometimes even hard for me to pick out the theme of a text, let a lone an 8th grader. I collaborated with the other 8th grade English teachers and we decided we'd all try using Joni Mitchell's "Big Yellow Taxi" song as way to teach theme. I tried this last year and it blew up in my face, so I was apprehensive, but I guess this is why we always are told to try things more than once. They listened to the song--any adult with a working knowledge of urbanization would pick the theme right away--then we discussed what it was talking about. Some students had a hard time understanding "they paved paradise, put up a parking lot," but after discussion, it made more sense.

Then we came up (me and the other teachers) with a series of questions that, when built upon each other, would eventually lead to the theme. 4th period got really into this because 1) they ALWAYS pay attention and listen, but 2) I think some of them are way smart and just figured it out. It was so exciting when one student, not a particularly 'with-it' student, picked up on the theme even before we got to the question dealing with theme. I explained that there could be two themes: Don't take what you have now for granted because you'll miss it when it's gone (tying into the trees in the song being destroyed) and also Urbanization, which was still a little too deep for some students to understand.

It just felt great to have a successful lesson and for it to be rather easy to teach. I made note of exactly what I said and how I explained the concepts and I will definitely use this activity next year. Plus, it's fun to see the kids dance while we listen to the song.

I finally broke down and changed my desk arrangement in my room. I tried the table thing and decided it wasn't really conducive to my teaching style (up front, in back, all over crazy), so I put them in a round-room type setting; there are 8 rows of 3, facing each other, with a big aisle down the middle. The kids seemed to like the arrangement better and it works much better with my style.

I had ESL class tonight, but like always, it didn't go until 7. I'm not complaining, however. It's actually pretty interesting but by 4 on a Wednesday afternoon, I'm just kind of beat and can't really focus. I'm more sympathetic to my 6th and 7th period students because I understand how difficult it is to sit still and listen when you're tired.

End of 1st quarter is in one week. Then UEA! I'm going to one day of the UEA conferences, mostly just because my teacher-hero is the key note. Erin Gruwell, of "Freedom Writers" (the movie/book) fame will be speaking and I basically think she's one of the greatest examples of what kind of teacher I want to be. It should be a good time...plus, I am looking forward to the break!!!