Feb 14- poetry jam

 Success! Our First Inaugural Worthen House Middle School Poetry Jam (working on the title) was a success! Thank you to the parents, students and staff who put effort into making this such a lovely day!

  Not only were the poems very good, but the chance to celebrate and luncheon was such a nice experience... I am so thankful for the day.

Thank you Penny Hamourgas, Voula Danas, Stacey Theofilopoulos, Mark McKellar, Maria Booras and Pam Murphy. You guys ROCK!

Thank you, Helen Gaudet for making sure it all went smoothly from behind the scenes. :D

Not so successful at this every day thing...1/31/14

Jan. 31-
   A great day teaching. Both girls back to school but WOW! So many students missing. Teachers missing off and on all week. This flu has definitely been wiping us out. Despite all that, our students are cranking it out!
6th Grade- We have begun poetry unit, although a bit less ceremoniously than I had hoped. It has lagged with my illness and others. We are also learning about Central America and Caribbean. Not required according to MA but very good ground to cover for the students.

7th Grade- My three seventh graders are focused on creating a Lord of the Flies Minecraft play. They just can't get enough. (If you are from the 80s you will thank me when you can't get that song out of your head. :D) Also, we have learned about the firebrand Thomas Jefferson... the wheels of history move on...

8th Grade- We are finishing our discussion about Nazi Concentration Camps and the Germans- We read a combined read of The Book Thief and Night. Intense. Some great discussion and now the students have proposed some great ideas for culminating project. Can't wait to see what they come up with! We have discussed Immigration and the Industrial Revolution in US for US History. Time is marching a bit faster as we near our study of the events leading up to WWI.

This is a summary of my day- so not my usual witty banter. Still, really REALLY proud of all of my students. :D

Blog 1/24/14

This is a special week at Hellenic American Academy. This weekend we will celebrate Greek letters day. My students have been working so hard to learn dances, songs, and skits. I posted the students practicing last week or so ago. You can see it on my giveit100.com site. Love seeing them in traditional dance. Looks like fun!

   We put such pressure on our students and have high expectations. The truly amazing thing is the students shine under pressure. They respond to it even if they always seem to dislike our pressure. My question is this- how much more could they do if they had willingness or joy in their endeavors?

   I guess that is the main way I try to teach- I want my students to enjoy learning. Sometimes, that means they know there are rules to be respectful. Like walking down the hall so they are not interfering with someone else's learning. Enjoying learning also doesn't always look silly and messy. Still... Sometimes it does. I think it never quite looks the same way twice.

What do you think?