on fire

i have one particular group of 7th graders that drives. me. crazy. CRAZY. round rubber room crazy. i couldn't take it today. i went into full mean teacher lecture mode. nobody likes it when i have to do that, least of all me. having been sick i don't have the lung capacity for 40 minutes of lecturing but i didn't have much choice. i laid it to them straight. there comes a point in your life when you must take responsibility for your actions, be it namecalling, fighting, whatever. you can't blame someone else for everything. this was a very hard lesson for me even in high school but i wish someone had tried to teach it anyway. so here i am. with the exception of one kid i think they got it and i'm not giving up on that one kid anytime soon.

i'm trying to take a new approach to teaching. i think i am emerging from the sink or swim mentality i've been making it through with. i'm past survival mode. tonight i'm going through my own child's storybooks and taking some up to school for a reader's theater project. i'm really excited. we're gonna take it step by step in how to turn something like a story into a script and then we'll put in stage directions, blocking, and they'll perform it. very excited.

i'm also gonna start a student of the week project. leading up to it we'll put together interview questions for imaginary guests. things they would want to know about their idols. then i'll announce the student of the week. i'll do it the friday before and give the student time to prepare. their picture will be posted, they'll open each class with a fact or story about themselves and on friday we'll interview them. past interviews will be posted in the room. i'll probably model it on myself or my aide. if i can talk the principal into it we'll model it using the principal. i'm excited.