October is a rough month in school. The newness of the semester has worn off, and the next break seems so far away. Weekends don't feel nearly long enough, and patience is wearing thin for both students and teachers. We've been together long enough to get a sense for each others' moods, and we have little tolerance on both sides for caring about another's bad day or attitude problem. Everyone is stressed, overworked, and tired. ...Mostly tired.
Last week, I found myself feeling particularly hostile toward my students. I didn't care about their excuses, I didn't care if I hurt their feelings with my comments, and I certainly didn't care about their personal drama. I do not like feeling like this because, in general, I enjoy being around these young people. Their personalities are so diverse, and most of the time, they are just looking for someone to notice them. For some reason, the novel The Secret Life of Bees popped into my mind: the scene when August Boatwright is teaching Lily how to care for bees, and she tells her that she just has to send the bees love while she's working with them, and everything would go just right. "Act like you know what you're doing, even if you don't. Above all, send the bees love. Every little thing wants to be loved." This quote stuck in my heart all day, and I realized that rather than trying to make things go right through force, threats, or anger, I needed to go back to love. When working with students, love should be at the foundation of every interaction.
So, this week, as I stand in the hall outside of my door and greet my students for each class, I think: "I love you, I love you, I love you...." As I watch hundreds of students pass by me during my morning hall duty, my thoughts of "I have so much grading to do! I'd rather be doing that than watching all of these hooligans and listening to their foolishness" are replaced with "I love you, I love you, I love you...", and I found myself smiling at no one in particular. :) I'm going to try to continue with this thought all week. I already feel like I've pushed past the mid-semester slump and can make it through this last 6 weeks.
Meanwhile, here's what has been going on in my classes:
SOPH WORLD LIT
We've finished reading Oedipus the King. Last week, the students took their test on Part II of the play, and wrote an essay about humility, relating it to Oedipus's ignorance throughout most of the play and the lesson that Creon tries to teach Oedipus with his last words of the play. I've also had the students in the Media Center, working in PhotoStory on the computers. This is such a cool program! The students chose to work alone or in pairs to summarize a section of the play with photos, background music, and their own narration. We're finishing today with narrations, and then I'm going to put all of their parts together to create an Oedipus the King movie of sorts. They have done really well with it, and I'm excited to see the finished products for each class!
LA II
We've just finished Unit 2 of the Visions red book. This unit was all about changes. The students will do a unit review for the next couple of days, then they'll test on Friday. I'll probably reward them with a movie that relates to the theme we've been talking about. They will, of course, have to write a couple of paragraphs to discuss that connection. I don't think I've shown a movie to this class yet! It's so easy to get into a routine with the Visions series that I sometimes forget about being creative or fun with lessons. Hey, when you teach 4 preps, something has to give, right? It's sad, but true.
LDC III
We finished reading Night about a week and a half ago. The students enjoyed the book, and I enjoyed reading it to them and discussing it with them. Last Monday, they did an alphabet review of important names, objects, words, and themes from the book--for each letter of the alphabet, they wrote a word or phrase that related to the book (i.e. A: Auschwitz, B: Buna). Then, I took them to the computer lab on Tuesday and Wednesday so they could create Prezi presentations of their reviews. They did such a great job, and even taught me some new things about the program! Here are some examples of their work:
http://prezi.com/_iomalhezjpq/night-alphabet-review/
http://prezi.com/fywxwtas286g/night/
This week, as a reward for working so hard, and so they can see another excellent example of individuals were affected by the holocaust, we are watching Life is Beautiful. So far, they love the movie, and one of them even said he's going to find the movie to show to his brother and sister. :)
JR AMER LIT
This group of students has been very disappointing to me. Together, they are immature, impatient, and disruptive. This is the first year I have not enjoyed teaching The Crucible, and the first year that I felt my students incabable of appreciating the play and what it teaches us about human behavior. We barely got through Acts 1 and 2 together, so I quizzed them on both of those. Then, instead of reading the rest, we watched the film version of the play. They enjoyed the film, and we did have some good discussion after each Act. I just wish these students had more patience for comprehending and connecting with text!
Since they didn't have much patience for the book, I'm going to take them to the computer lab this week. They, too, are going to do Prezi alphabet reviews, but they will be required to look up photos and additional information of each of the words or names they use, and incorporate those things into their presentation. That way, they will have to connect with the play and characters on a deeper level.
Once we finish with The Crucible, we're going to move quickly into Rationalism: The Declaration of Independence, Poor Richard's Almanack, Ben Franklin's Autobiography, and others. I love this period, and gain a greater appreciation for it as I get older. The literature is dry (I mean...it's Rationalism, you know?!), but to understand the period is to understand why it is that way. I put together a great PowerPoint presentation to introduce the period after I gathered information on it during a trip to Williamsburg, Jamestown, and Yorktown a couple of years ago. I even have a newspaper from a printing press that includes the Declaration of Independence and a picture of myself with a bronze T.J. in the process of writing the Declaration.
What I'd REALLY love is if I could show clips from the HBO miniseries of John Adams because they show Thomas Jefferson's composition of the Declaration, and when it was first read aloud to the public. They are such a moving scenes! Alas, our Media Center does not have John Adams in the library. :( Perhaps I can change that....
