Midterm--

--gave my first one ever on Thursday. It's a great idea--my colleague has done so for years, and there is definitely wisdom in having the kids review all they have learned since September. But it's tricky--fifty points could really impact a grade. So I threw in an optional handout with ten extra questions which could only help them.

What ten points amounts to is one homework assignment: one out of over forty. So, really, it wasn't going to impact their grade so much as inflate the outcome of this single test. In my challenge class, sixteen of thirty-six kids got A's! But the gorgeous thing is that so many of them had never seen that shiny letter atop a test. There were grins everywhere! "Can I take this test home to show my mom?"

There was V., who had a rough start--drop the euphemisms: he had about a 50% early on. His work was spotty all semester, but he raised it to the D- border. With some last ditch hoo-rah-ing, he began to turn in quality work and he turned in all his late work (for half credit, of course). And then on this test he earned a C+! Who knew V. had such a gorgeous smile! I gave him a hug, so glad, and remarked, "Man! All your hard work is paying off! Imagine if you had started the semester like this!" And he replied, "Next semester I'm gonna keep that A we start with--I'm gonna do all my work and everything!"

Midterm Generosity

the ten bonus points
gave you your very first A
and cost me nothing

The Short of the Long

So as this quiet girl asked me a question after class on a Friday, I was shocked at the length of her hair. In my mind's eye, I could have sworn she had hair just brushing her shoulders, and yet here she stood with hair down to the middle of her back.

All weekend I felt terrible. Had it really been that long since I had paid attention to L.? Perhaps her hoodie had hidden her hair, I alliteratively reasoned. Chastened, I was determined to look at the silent, oft invisible kids who dot the classroom. It's easy to notice the obnoxious kids, the involved kids, the motivated kids. But I resolved to really see the quiet ones.

On Monday as L. came up the ramp, I remarked to her that her hair had really grown since September. She smiled, grabbed a chunk of hair and pulled it out: she was wearing extension clip ons.

I feel much better, but I've still made a point to look at the invisibles this week, just in case...

Speechless

Can you be an effective teacher without saying a word? I actually did teach a whole day without a voice!

I had four different activities for Tuesday--Bill of Rights Slapjack, a Bill of Rights Gallery Walk, a short video clip of Melanie Griffith singing about the amendments in a lame 1993 movie, Born Yesterday, and I forget the other, plus how to do that evening's assignment. Anyway, I wrote out all my instructions before school, chose big voiced kids to represent me in each period, and lo, education and instruction!

It helped that I had this Sound Machine from Z Gallerie. It's awesome! It makes all kinds of sounds to use as cues and feedback--laughter, applause, the sound of a lightbulb going on in someone's head, a belch--hey, I teach 8th grade, remember? I wholeheartedly recommend this to secondary educators--at about 15 bucks, you'll get a lot of "smile-age" out of it, and there is no pricetag for that.

My point is, while I had to take the next two days off, there are days when just your presence and presence of mind can carry the day.

Channeling Marcel Marceau

Oh, no, laryngitis!
Can I mime the Bill of Rights?
I'll stay home and rest.

Wednesday before vacation

Wow--just wow.

And there are still two more days?

Tomorrow and Friday we are learning about the Bill of Rights. Or is it more accurate to say that I will be teaching about the Bill of Rights? I surely* want them to learn. We'll have "translations" of each right, we'll create pictograms that incorporate the number of the right with its meaning (picture a bear holding a gun-shaped number two), we'll chant--but will they LEARN? Only one way to find out...

[*Don't call me Shirley.]

a little low...

There are such highs and lows in this line of work; I'm experiencing a bit of a dip at the moment.

I and many of my colleagues are reading The Global Achievement Gap: Why Even Our Best Schools Don't Teach the New Survival Skills Our Children Need--And What We Can Do About It by Tony Wagner.

We had a wonderful meeting; the book is interesting and so are the people I work with. But I left feeling terrible. The gap between what I believe is best for my kids and their current reality is vast. The gap between the teacher I aspire to be and my current reality is equally wide. The gap between our culture's obsession with fame, pleasure, instant gratification and ease, and the road to true satisfaction and success and joy is even wider.

If there were any sand in my house, I'd be inclined to bury my head today. I need to take a walk and breathe the December air, and try to remember what is most important about any of our lives or jobs on a daily basis: love and conscientious effort, love and conscientious effort.