Feb 11

Tuesday is a day of excitement. While I am trying to focus on teaching today, I am wondering how my youngest is doing. All. Day. She is spending the day with a friend of a friend. She has never been there. Yikes. She is a sweet girl, but VERRRRRRY feisty.  This could be a bit disastrous.

In other news, we continue to plod ahead with Poems. In order to inspire my students we wrote six word summaries. Then we performed them. 6th,7th, 8th graders all got into it. These students love to perform. You gotta love seeing them laugh and enjoy class, even if the six word summaries do not seem like much. I took away the intimidation from their writing and encouraged them to go with their gut. It was successful. I knew it might work- it had worked well in my other classes- but you never can predict these things completely.

In history news...
  We are learning about the Caribbean and Central America and words that were used in a text (Circa 2003) that are no longer appropriate. Yikes. While trying to explain all of this, I find myself going back and relearning, multiple times. No easy task. Still, this is what we sign up for as teachers.
  I am also teaching US History- I find I do enjoy this new task and there are definitely parts of history I find enjoyable. I am trying to both cover the material and welcome other dimensions as well. We are watching videos, looking at art, listening to music, creating discussion and writing about it. What else? If only I had a time machine....

When you have to call in a substitute...

So today presented that challenging task of deciding if I can be both Mother and Teacher. One must always take priority over another. I am alas, not able to truly multitask though I swear I have come quite close.
To all my students, I encourage you to live a full life of love and creative work. Just know, you will have to work at the balance. But you need that, don't you? At least I do. It has been said, "all work makes Jack (or Jill) a very dull boy (or girl)." Yes, my edits. So you get it. Work Hard but Have some fun and know when to let it all go. Just do your best.
Today, was a day when I had to forgo my Teacher Duties (stop laughing, that is not the word I said. Duty is a task or job. Geez.). When I was asked to put together my Substitute Plans for Today, it forced me to really think about the things I do in class. I am amazed at what we are able to accomplish in a day. I am also amazed at how tough it can be to put your thoughts into organized words. I do some things a bit unconsciously. It was a nice task to articulate my ideas. I saw on paper just how my ideas form and the possibilities that are a lesson plan.

And then my students started emailing me during class. Some were pertinent questions. Some were merely, "where are you?" It is nice to feel needed, but WHY AREN'T YOU WORKING??? Or why are you emailing me feline/bovine onomatopoeia?

Most of all, I hope that learning happened and that they missed me and... maybe for a snow day tomorrow. My 4 year old is really sick. If no snow day, I have some plans... so be ready TO WORK!