Say Yes to Michigan!

This summer has been a busy one so far.

My last day of school with students involved giving 17 kids an exam, grading them and putting in all grades in a span of 2.5 hours. I then drove about 1.5 hours to Norfolk to see my first class graduate. It was AMAZING. I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy being bombarded by about 100 kids. It was crazy with hugs, screams, some tears, laughter and smiles. One of them spun me around screaming YOU'RE HERE! YOU'RE HERE!!! Another ran across a group of people screaming my name and almost knocked me over when he slammed into me to give me a hug while he told me I made his graduation day and senior year perfect by showing up. I didn't have time to talk to a lot of them, so our conversations were brief. Most of them said they missed me, and I told them the same. A lot of them said that they still had my notes and awards (some of them were reading them in the days leading up to graduation). I heard a lot of great news about their future plans. They reminded me why I teach and made me feel like I've been pretty successful so far as a teacher. They're all such great kids, I was really lucky to have the group that I did for my first two years.

Since I left early from school, I had to go back in the day after to check out. It was basically almost three hours of cleaning up my room, packing up stuff, and then running around the big school to find everyone that needed to sign off on my check out list. Ugh.

After that, I had a day and a half to myself before David's parents came to visit for a week. We took them all around Richmond, they went to see Monticello and I went with them to Va Beach. It was a beautiful week, we were given perfect weather for each activity we chose that day. It was great to see them!

The day they left, Charna, Jordan and Dave rolled into town for the moped rally in Richmond. It was TONS of fun! It was great to be on a moped again and see Richmond from that POV. They took us on some great rides and I met some great people. My moped ran like a champ with the only problem being that it didn't want to idle sometimes (that's fixed now, though!). Everyone left Sunday morning, which was fine with me because I was exhausted, bruised, sore and blistered!

Plus, I only had one more day until I left to spend a week in Michigan. My checked luggage didn't come with me, but it ended up okay. I spent one night in Detroit so I could see Joey's bike shop and hang out with him. Megan came to pick me up and we headed to East Lansing. I finally got to see her apartment (cute!) and meet her pet rat (CUTE!), Eve. Of course, we had Tim Horton's, went shopping, had ice cream made on MSU's campus (delicious!), and relaxed. The next day, we headed to Kalamazoo, tried to find my luggage, and then had a get together so Megan could tell us all about her Uganda trip. I am AMAZED by what she got to do--truly the experience of a lifetime! The next morning, we got confirmation that my bag was flown back to Richmond and was now safe and sound in my apartment, so Megan, mom and I went shopping, got Root Beer Stand (I cannot tell you how much I miss this place!) and headed out to the cottage. We spend Friday to Monday at the cottage, it was amazing to be out there again! It was barely warm enough to swim the whole weekend, but we got some time on the lake. We also went to the Hayloft, which has amazing sundaes, and a flea market, which is fantastic for people watching. I found a few books to add to my classroom library there, too. Most of the time at the cottage was spent relaxing, playing games, and reading. It was nice having some cooler weather because I knew that when I got back to Richmond, it was going to be hot and humid for another few weeks! When we got back to Kalamazoo, I HAD to go to Kazoo Books, mostly to find books for my classroom. Thankfully, they ship books all over, so they had no problem sending the books I paid for down to VA. I also got to see Krista before I left! I'm so glad we got together! I hadn't seen her in years, and it was wonderful to catch up a little bit. I hope we get to see her when we go up for the holidays, too. :) All in all, it was an amazing trip to Michigan. I got to enjoy some of my favorite Kalamzoo or Michigan-only foods, go to Meijer (oh man, I miss that place so much), see a movie with my sister, see my parents and have an amazing time with them. I'm really lucky to have seen them so much in the past year.

Now I'm enjoying some time without plans or travel before I head off on my next trip: SF and Eugene! I'm so excited!

About those 9th graders...

This fall will mark the beginning of my 4th full year of teaching. The past year was one of the most challenging, for sure. I'd say it was even more challenging than my first year, believe it or not. But that's really for a whole other post.

Each year I've been a teacher, I've taught a new prep. First year, I taught 10th grade, which I had never done before. Second year, I volunteered to do 11th as well as 10th (it gets really boring to teach the same thing 5 times over). This year, I was given 12th and continued to do 10th grade. I really love teaching English 10, so I'm glad that that prep has never changed.

Next year will be no different, but it wasn't really my choice. My AP came in one day to talk about my schedule for next year. He presented me with an opportunity that appeared at first to have two options: Yes or No. Turns out there was only one answer.

You see, at New School next year, they are changing things with the 9th grade, as they usually do. It makes sense to start with the incoming class because teenagers (and a lot of teachers) can't handle a lot of change at once and starting with the 9th grade means that those kids knew no different way of doing things. This year, we had three levels of English: Remedial, General (what I taught) and Advanced (AP in 12th). Next year, 9th grade English will have a Collaborative class, one or two General (I can't remember which, and I'm not sure why they're allowing that, but whatev), and the rest Advanced. They're trying to combine General and Remedial to avoid tracking, avoid lowered expectations (both teachers and students) and improved self-esteem and environment.

I was chosen to teach those 3 Collaborative English 9 classes. It was a compliment. I was chosen because they saw I was good at keeping all kids busy, differentiating, connecting to students, etc. I also have experience teaching a "collaborative" class. At Old School, we didn't have three levels like they did. We had Regular or Honors/Pre-IB/IB/AP. I taught five classes total, and two or three of them would have a co-teacher. It's nothing new to me and they know this. They also knew that I would not treat any of the kids in there as different or incapable of doing the work. My AP said they wanted the incoming 9th graders to start off their high school career with a "positive view of English class" (ooh, burn to those other 9th grade teachers! He probably didn't mean it that way, but still... word choice, man.).

I am excited about a few things involving English 9. A Raisin in the Sun. The Odyssey. Romeo & Juliet. Their text book has some of THE BEST short stories. Oh, and English 9 & 10 don't have a research paper, although they do have a research project. YES!! On the scheduling side of things, all of my English 9 classes are in the morning, English 10 every day (5th per) and one at the end of the day. That is a major plus, very smart scheduling.

Why did I not want to teach 9th grade? 'Cause it's 9th. I've never taught it before. They're 9th graders. I've taught middle school and it was tiring as hell. 9th graders are crazy. You get the idea.

Then again, it might be totally fun. Why not, right? A new challenge. Can't be any worse than teaching seniors in April & May. I told them I'd try it, but I did ask if I could get out of doing it if I really, really hated it. The answer? "We want you to try it for a few years... to get used to it... maybe you'll like it better the second year!" Uhh... right.