The No-Show-Ers...

Yesterday, during 7th period, the vice-principal comes to visit, asking if I'll attend a meeting in the conference room at 3:00.

I'm the "YES" girl, so I found myself sitting in a meeting with some other great teachers after school. Said Vice-Principal announces that our school will be hosting some visitors from the Utah Senate Education Committee and he wanted us to adapt our lesson plans for tomorrow (which was today) to show off some of the ways we have used technology and learning APPs in our classroom.

Was I planning on a technology-robust lesson? After yesterday's fiascos? No.

But I don't say "no" very well.

So, I whipped up something I thought would be creative (a student-directed, short research project on some of the background topics they would need to know about as we got further into our novels. OH YEAH). Planned the lesson to a T, and created several back-up ideas just in case.

Did the technology work - perfectly. Things were great.

Did the senate committee members show up - NO.

Don't worry, I'm not crying myself to sleep tonight. I promise. But it was a rush of panic, adrenaline, and more panic planning that lesson; however, I thought, if it takes an honored visitor to push me out of my comfort zone a little to see that students could - in a 20 minute period - do the required research and put together a presentation for tomorrow's class, then it was well worth it.

On a different note:

- 50% of my 8th graders actually did the reading yesterday. SAD FACE. (yes. I spelled it out) The quiz thing worked great. In one class, they got a 3 out of 10 on the first question, so I offered a second chance question. Too bad the student I chose to answer didn't read the book. I had students walking out of my class saying, "DUDE! Why didn't you read!?" or telling other students, "GUYS! Make SURE you read tonight!" I love not having to be the one to say those things. I explained that if they didn't read, I would take the books back and they would be required to read in class and do worksheets at home. Yeah - they weren't fans of that option. We'll see what tomorrow holds.

- I got through chapter 1 of The Outsiders today. Day 2 = chapter 1 completed. Yeah. I'm already behind. Anyone think that my darling 7th graders will be able to read all of Chapter 2 to themselves tomorrow? Yeah - no. I'm dreading the surgical procedure I will probably need to perform on this novel in order to get through it without transforming it into my next torture method. I don't want to cut out paragraphs of character description or background information - they need to know that stuff! That's why it was included in the book! I did - CONFESSION - skip 1 and 1/2 pages in one class today so that we COULD finish chapter 1 in time. The groans around the room when I announced the need to skip was enough to break my heart. They didn't want me to skip it either... Funny thing - I'm getting kids asking if they can check out the book from the library and read ahead. BY ALL MEANS, my lov-er-ly little students. BY ALL MEANS! Just don't give it all away.

- Remember the darling child who likes to rap explicit songs in class and talk back and throw tantrums while I'm teaching? The one I had to walk to the principal's office? Well, things haven't necessarily gotten worse, but they haven't gotten better. This student's mom and I have become great e-mail friends and I send her an update every week on his behavior in class. With the change in semester, I begged her to see if he could be switched to my 1st period class (writing and reading and sitting still for someone with severe ADHD at 1:00 in the afternoon is not the easiest task in the world). So today was day one of the switch. IT WAS LIKE SOMEONE FLIPPED A SWITCH in his cute little noggin. He was raising his hand, reading along, taking notes without complaining.... WOW! I should have fought for it harder last term, but I was told it wasn't an easy switch, so I gave up. BAD, BABY TEACHER. Never give up. I'm so excited to see what tomorrow holds for him.

- To be honest, I have (up to this point) done a LOT of writing in class. All of my previous units had small readings, small narratives, short articles, to accompany a writing task. Granted, we're doing a writing assignment with the novel (that's just how it has to work!), but I'm seeing a new side of some of my students after having a sustained reading opportunity. Now, the question is, how can I get them to keep that reading going on at home!?

Today - breath of fresh air. Probably because I dressed up and actually did my hair today... None of this braid and scrunchy curls stuff. :) You're talking dress and dried, curled hair. Today was the first day all week my hair didn't freeze when I stepped outside to come to work....

Yeah...

T'was a great day.