The Aftermath...

Today we talked about direct/indirect characterization for our narratives that we'll be working on next week. Little did my students know that the following example of characterization I used was to toot my own little, worn-out horn:

"Guys, which do you think is more powerful? Saying 'Suzie was tired,' or saying, 'Suzie walked into class, her eyes dark and swollen, and rested her head upon the desk to sleep.'"

(Obvious, I know. But obvious works with 7th graders. 8th graders just choose the obviously wrong answer to goof off. Still learning about that...)

I didn't actually sleep on my desk today, but - BOY - did I want to.

When my students were dawdling or refusing to write, they would tell me, "Mrs. Brown, I'm just really tired."

To one student I actually said, "I know. I'm tired too. I was at school last night until 8:30pm! But I'm still doing my best to be a good teacher. Can you do your best to be a good student?"

So, it probably wasn't the best thing to say, but hey - I'm learning.

After 6 hours of parent teacher conferences in heels, I totally understood why most teachers chose for today to be a not-so-structured day. Many of the teachers I talked to did some fun expansion activities like radio shows or reader's theater so that they could rest a little.

So this weekend, I'm leaving school at school. Yes, there are journals to grade. Yes there are lessons to plan. Yes, there are emails to send and documents to revise, but they are all going to wait until Monday. I'm going to go home and schmooze my husband into taking me out to dinner.

Cause heaven knows I'm not up for the cooking adventure tonight!