I am not sure if the weeks are actually getting longer, or if Daylight Savings has wreaked havoc on my system. Needless to say, it was yet another delightful week of teaching.
My week started with us finishing up ‘The Great Gatsby’ movie. I know I fought watching it, but it really was the right decision. The kids have a better grasp on the story now and I think they were able to really see a different view point. I loved it when they would shout out saying, “Wait this didn’t happen in the book.” Or “If you don’t see Daisy hit Myrtle you have no idea it wasn’t really an accident.” It was times like those I felt the previous weeks we had discussed the book had not gone to waste.
I also assigned their final essay for the book, which is due next week. As they have been trickling in I am amazed at the grasp some of my students have on the story and interpreting it. I have one student who just transferred into the class at the semester. He didn’t want to be in an honor’s class, but his regular English teacher insisted he was wasting his time in the class. He is very timid but I have been able talk to him for a few minutes before class has started about what he read the night before and get him share his thoughts. His paper was astounding, and all I could think was it is such a pleasure teaching him and how I wish he could see what I, and his other teachers, can see in his skills as a writer.
I had another student this week, who when I said the class would be reading Night in the next few weeks as part of our unit on realism, went out and read it that night. She thought it might help her understand more of the history for a play she is doing. We sat and talked and she told me how much the book had touched her. I was pleased to see that she had taken the initiative to read a book outside of class time that we are not reading until after Spring Break.
Even with all this I still have the students who try me and see what they can get away with while they have a student teacher. I have one yesterday who used the hall pass and never came back. Another who tried to attend a class that wasn’t his- with a friend. The classes as a whole still have a hard time focusing in when it is time to work and I have yet to find the classroom management technique that works for me to get their attention. Right now I stand at the front of the room with my arms crossed, and wait for silence. It seems to work- but it takes so long. I think that is one of the hardest things about student teaching, they aren’t really your students so it is hard to change the techniques and rules that they are used to.
I had a curve ball thrown at me this week in regards to my lesson plans. I had planned on starting our realism unit with Night and Hiroshima and to introduce these books we were going to have a PowerPoint on the Holocaust and the atomic bomb dropping. Tuesday afternoon I found out that the books we needed were being used by another teacher and that we would have to start ‘A Doll’s House’ the next day. I hadn’t prepared anything to introduce the play, thinking that I still had at least a week before we started.
I threw myself into panic mode and came up with a lesson plan during intermission of ‘Civil War.’ The lesson ended up being one of the better ones I have come up with. We talked about controversy and why things are a controversial issue. As this is one of the major points of the play- and something that realism is based on. I really want the kids to connect. It worked well in some classes, others didn’t seem to want to participate much, but over all it was a great activity. I am excited for this unit now!
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