As an ESL teacher, I've become used to the fact that "Open House" night is an extra 2-3 hours I spend at school in the evening planning lessons for the next couple of weeks. Parents just don't show up. At best, I get 3-4 of my students, and 2-3 of my advisees. That's about it. I understand that there is a lot keeping ESL parents from the school in the evening, but it's just another example of how very little parents are involved in school these days. Those numbers also speak to the amount of parent contacts I get during the year, too.
Anyhow, I'm definitely going to plan out the next month of lessons for all 4 of my courses as soon as I finish typing this! :) At least that will get me well-organized for the next few weeks, and it will be less stress on me.
Here's what's going on in my classes:
SOPH WORLD LIT
We are just about finished with Gilgamesh and Genesis. I'm doing something new this year: I've separated my units into sequential themes and put up a poster-sized paper that says, "How It All Began: An Archetypal Foundation." On that poster, I've put words like "Archetype" "Epic" "Tragic Flaw" "Immortality" "Flood"... Yes, it's like a word wall. As a review before the test next week, I'm going to ask the students to define these words the best they can from memory, and then use them all to write a long paragraph explaining what we studied with these two stories. :) They'll hate it, but it'll be SO good for them! Tomorrow, they'll start planning for their Utnapishtim/Noah compare/contrast essay. That way, when they get back from Labor Day weekend, they'll have their brainstorming and notes all ready to go!
We are all kind of excited to be moving past this period of literature, though. It's exciting at first, but it gets old very quickly. Next up: Oedipus...and I ROCK at Oedipus. :) (The kids like it, too, which is always a plus!).
LDC 3
We are just finishing our unit on Mystery. We read a Sherlock Holmes story from one of the novel adaptations the ESL dept. has. It was "The Adventure of the Speckled Band." The kids took notes and were little detectives as they read. As previously posted, they used detective story terms, and followed the clues. We even talked about plot and used Jim Burke's plot diagram and the students' notes to map out the plot of the story. We had some good discussions about rising action and climax. I was able to clarify some things for the students, and some of them made observations about how inaccurate plot maps are because the "climax is NEVER in the MIDDLE of the story. It's always near the end!" Very astute. :)
I'm not sure what our next unit will be, but I've found that these students (all freshman) are in great need of some writing skills. I'll be introducing them to DOL and chunk writing very soon. :) Mwahahahahahahahaha!
LA 2
This class is adorable. Most of the kids are hard workers, and my 2 trouble students have been removed from the class, so it goes much smoother now. My worst problem is all of the talking! These kids are so quick to start up side conversations! I've been able to tamp it down as of late, though, by sending one student in particular to do her work outside when needed; and walking around the whole time to help individuals as needed.
The students haven't figured out how to study for the quizzes I give them (if they'd only take my advice and study 2 specific documents each time, they'd be all set!), but they'll learn soon enough.
JR AMERICAN LIT
We just concluded our unit on Native American literature (origin myths) and the students did relatively well. There were a few disappointments with the unit test, but it was expected. I'm a hard tester because I give them the same tests any other CP (and sometimes Honors) students would get. They'll catch on, and they'll be that much more prepared for the Graduation Test and End of Course Test at the end of the year.
From here, we move into the early explorers and Puritans--one of my favorite units to teach because we do The Crucible, and it is WONDERFUL. :) This is a huge class, and they're pretty rowdy, so I'm hoping they keep it together enough to focus and enjoy. I can always tell them that we won't watch the movie if they misbehave...that always does the trick. Ha!
Meantime, these students are still working on their autobiographies every Friday in the computer lab. Using Google Docs so they can share their documents, and I can edit and comment online has presented some challenges; but it's been an overall useful tool.
This Week's The Bad/The Good
The Bad: Even though I'm getting my 7 hrs of sleep each night, I'm starting to still feel tired in the morning. Has the school year already worn me down?
The Good: My students asked me why I smile when I "try to be mean." I guess this means--even though I get irritated with them--I'm still having fun. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment