Report Cards

Report cards were issued this morning. Why do we hand out report cards at the start of the day? The kids are all either super excited or pissed. It was such a strange day. I'll spend the rest of the night recuperating.

We're into Whitman and Dickinson now. I feel like I'm rushing through this but what can you do when you only have one semester to cover as much as you can in American Lit? I added a little mini-project to extend the time that we spend on it. Hopefully, that will help.

Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

We (hubby and I) are watching this show. Hilarious. The contestant spelled vowel VOUL. I don't know what to say about that. I had to write it down so that I can share it with my coworkers tomorrow.

Grades are in and done. I can breath now.

I had a student ask me if chickens cluck. Huh? She was so excited about it that I can honestly say that I wasn't laughing at her, I was laughing with her. Later, she wrote a poem in the style of Dickinson's "I Never Saw A Moor." She included the chicken. Okay. Well. I don't know. I have to stop being at a loss for words. It's doing nothing for me.

Can someone tell me how to get my male students to stop talking? I've already informed them that excessive talking is a girlie trait.

It's that time again

We are issuing report cards next week. Of course all I hear now is:

Mrs. M, can I see my grade?
Mrs. M, is there any extra credit?
Um, yeah. What can I turn in?

I've even had students trying to turn in work from the second week of school. You have to be kidding me!

My air is out again and the mildew is creeping back up through my carpets. EEEWWW. I think that it's making me sick. Seriously. It rained today and boy oh boy was it stuffy.

I let my 9th graders listen to some slam poetry. (Saul Williams and Taylor Mali) They fell in love. I can't believe that only one of them had ever heard slam. That's ridiculous. I am so happy that I shared it with them. I'm on the hunt for more pg rated slam. Taylor's didn't have any curse words but Saul did use shit. It didn't bother them at all. In fact, they claimed that shit enhanced the poem.

I have mentioned how crazy they are haven't I?

I'm trying

I'm really trying to post every night. I just can't get the hang of it. Practice makes perfect I guess. Anyhoo. We had drama at school on Friday but the good thing is that it seems to have calmed down.

I had to write a couple of my students up as well as a couple of other teacher's kids. It wasn't a pleasant day by any means. I never write kids up! They seem to know how to stop before they get me to that point. Perhaps the referrals that I did on Friday will suppress any further ignorance.

My American Lit class is about to study The Raven and the Masque of the Red Death. I really want to read The Tell-Tale Heart with them. It's so evil and simple. It's very short and I think that it's the perfect introduction to Poe and his crafty mind. I'm sure that most of them read it in middle school but they have yet to hear me read it. Not tooting my own horn but I love the story so much that I know it nearly word for word.

My students already think that I'm strange. Why not give them proof?