Feb 10

Monday, Monday...
 Back to class and students are assigned a creative poem. We are sharing the poem, performing really, on Friday. I am beyond excited about this. We will be at the Old Worthen House Cafe where Kerouac and Poe and Ginsberg and more sat and thought and imbibed. It is a beautiful, old space with Prohibition stories as well as turn-of-the-20th-Century ghost stories. There is a fan system that is legendary and I hear the food is pretty good too.
   The thing I am most excited about is that instead of focusing on Valentine's Day, which thankfully Middle Schoolers are too cool for, we are focused on POETRY!!! I have really pushed my students to be honest, to be open and to say what they mean. I know this is tough and I see my students struggling a bit. However, when they push themselves and write honestly, what they find is how strong their write can be.
   4 Days to go! I cannot wait!

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

Faithful video posts... Writing everyday is tough!

All of my sixth graders have committed to a 100 day challenge of their making. The ideas range from stressing less to telling jokes to reading to ring nicer. Have I mentioned how much I love my sixth graders? Their ideas reflect their inner goodness and conscience. Good kids. The seventh and eighth graders made a year goal. We are thinking long-term and focusing on some future goals.

   On other fronts, life has been busy. Our family still cannot seem to shake this evil virus. We spent a little time in the Emergency Room. Phoebe, our youngest is pretty sick. She has bronchiolitis and restrictive airways. I am glad they let us go home. 

   Life is never dull! There are so many things happening around us all the time. It will always be like that. The point is- you keep going and you never let yourself be defeated. An old proverb says- "fall down seven times, stand up eight". 

   That is my advice to my students. Just keep standing up!