Do you like goats? Or sheep...
my husband does a great interpretation..........



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Too Bad

No, I don't really check it. I just checked it because when I was checking my other blog, I noticed a recent post. It's too bad we don't use this blog. I'm sure we all have stories to tell, but during the school year we really don't have time to write them! I guess we post those stories on our personal blogs though.

does anyone check this anymore? if i don't hear from anybody, i will delete it.

oops

I posted on the wrong blog again. Blast!

Headaches and Happiness

That's my day went today. 3rd hour English 9 was another headache experience. I decided to take a risk and try having students work with a partner again, just a 10-minute experience to try to make learning a little more enjoyable. What do I get? Well, on the bright side, I had several groups come up with some creative epic similes for the assigned topic. On the not so bright side, I have students shooting spitwads behind my back, one which hits a student who proceeds to yell, "You sick f---!" (We had a little talk about that and a detention was served after class.) Then, when the students were leaving for lunch (we have lunch in the middle of third hour), and I was erasing the board, guess who got hit by a spitwad? Yes, that's right, me. So Linda and I found the pile of spitwads sitting on the desk of where 4 boys were "working" together," so I kept them after class and gave them all detentions after talking about how I was tired of them disrupting my class. They refused to sign and took their detentions to the office. I told Linda and she said that those detentions would probably never see the office and that I should email the assistant principal.

Well, rather than email, I decided to go visit the assistant principal, and when I got to the office, these 4 boys were there talking to the principal and Linda, so I joined the conversation. We talked some more: I explained my logic, they denied throwing the spit wads, I told them that since 3 of them were sophomores I expected more leadership and maturity from them. Dr. Neat (the principal) decided we should give these guys a second chance. So no detentions.

The bright side: These guys actually cared about something! They went to the office to stand up for themselves! The not so bright side: I have to have ANOTHER conversation with this freshman class about maturity and respect.

Happiness. My CW went well today. We have started on short story, and I had them write character sketches. Today some students shared these in class while I and some students asked them questions about their characters. The best part: As we were doing this exercise, one of my students (who always blurts things out in class) said, "Man, you really love this stuff! Look how much you're getting into this!" and she smiled. I could not receive a better compliment. :)

oops

i thought i was posting on my other blog. oh well.

I'm being observed

by a bologna sandwich. Just kidding! Tomorrow I'm being observed by Dr. Armstrong, my student teaching supervisor from Taylor. She will be watching me teach my lovely Creative Writing students about the ins and outs of the sonnet. And then she will observe me giving them work time and a long list of things to do with the threat that I will beat them if they don't obey me! HAHAHAHaHahahahaha (evil laugh that fades at the end). Not really. But they will be working, one way or another.

I got my picture taken today, for free. Groovy, eh? I will soon be sending you all pictures of me from Blackford High School.

Hello?

Does anybody check this anymore? If so, post something. I'm not going to post about my student teaching experiences unless someone is reading this. If you are reading this, hope all is going well in your life, wherever you may be!

The Sunshine State beckons

Well, my fellow Americans, I have found a job that I think I will love. I'll be teaching middle schoolers at a CSI school in Cape Coral, Florida (about 100 miles south of Tampa for anyone who wants an excuse to visit) and I'll hopefully be moving down there sometime in June. Wow, it was such a Providential situation. I'm still reeling from the whirlwind trip I took to the school last weekend, and I can barely get my mind around the fact that when I finish student teaching, I won't be unemployed. I will actually have a classroom waiting with my name by the door. The Lord has been really good in providing this opportunity; I would have never thought I would go to Florida to teach.

Student teaching itself is pretty good, especially since this first session is almost done. I'm so fed up with the little nagging irritations. For example, today I was introducing a short story by Guy de Maupassant ("The Necklace", "A Little Bit of String"), and I said his name G-ah-ee (like hey guys, come over here), and my cooperating teacher, who was piddling around in the front stopped me and said, "Actually, it's pronounced G-ee du M-ow-pow-san. It's not Guy. G-ee. I just thought you should know that." I really didn't know what to say in response. I had completely lost my train of thought, and I had been struggling to keep the class focused from the beginning (Grammar exercises will do that to a class). I just kind of nodded and tried to continue with the lesson. She does that a lot--stopping me while I'm talking to correct me. And sometimes it's good. For example, if I write a sentence on the board that's supposed to demonstrate a gerund and I actually write a progressive verb instead (eg. "He was running quickly" instead of "He liked running quickly"); I appreciate the correction because I don't want to confuse the students. However, G-ee instead of Guy? I mean, does it really matter? *sigh* I just feel like she cuts my feet right out from under me all the time. Anyway. Two more days with her and then I'm finished, and I'm off to a new classroom. It should be interesting.

Well, I'm looking forward to seeing everyone next week at seminars. We'll have to share horror stories! Best of luck finishing up these next few days.

Another Grammar Post

Yesterday my sister shared me with a paper she wrote for Van Gilst and one for Elgersma, both of which she had several grammar problems (although she used great images in her English paper!). So she gave me her papers to look over, and I had no problem picking out the main problems and then how to explain them until I came to . . . . COMMAS! Sure, the use of commas in joining two independent clauses was easy to explain, but what about all those commas that just feel right to me but that don't feel write to Bekah (that's my sister)? Where do those come from and why do we use them?

So I got out my Rhetorical Grammar book from Van Gilst's grammar class and had a little comma review; mostly, I wanted to know why we use commas in certain places so I could explain the concept behind them. As I reviewed this stuff, I began to realize the value of transformational grammar and of how understanding deep grammar really helps to explain why, for example, an adverbial clause at the beginning of the sentence needs a comma. Bekah caught on quickly and remembered stuff from her Honor's English class in high school, as well as examples from Van Gilst's class. I appreciated being able to go over stuff one-on-one with her. The challenge of the future: Make grammar relevant and understandable (and maybe even fun?!) for my future high school students.

I'm out.

the value of Constance Weaver

Remember in advanced grammar, the book Teaching Grammar In Context? Well, after teaching grammar from a workbook for the past two weeks, I can fully see the value of teaching grammar in the context of students' own writing. I can't tell you all how frustrating it is for me to have to go through grammar in this systematic, unadulterated manner with the freshmen and sophomores here at ECA. Grrr. I don't want to chuck grammar study out the window--I think it is good for students to know the parts of a sentence and how they work together. But do you really need to know that would have been going is the past perfect progressive form of the verb? I don't know... Anyway. I looked through Constance Weaver's book, and now that I've been teaching grammar, I see the genius of her wonderful appendix with ideas on how to teach some of these tricky concepts. I want to make my coop. teacher read the first few chapters on how typical grammar study does nothing for students, but I think that might be pushing it. I try to keep a positive attitude, but I think she's caught on that this kind of grammar study isn't my favorite. Anyway, just a thought I had.