What I've been up to

Teaching:

English 10 goes on as usual. This is my fourth year teaching it, so it just... goes. My only hope is that in the next year or two, I can convince the school to let me buy a class set of The Catcher in the Rye and move Lord of the Flies to English 9 because I really miss teaching Catcher and definitely think LOTF is way too easy for English 10 (I read it in 8th grade, most of them could easily get it in 8th or 9th). We're heading into the last essay of the year, same topic as last year (quite a few kids enjoy it): Has the world gotten better, worse or stayed the same since the Second World War? They enjoy debating it and thinking about it, which means: easy to write about! Oh! I almost forgot: I made them write persuasive letters and send them--DEFINITELY a good idea! The writing in those letters was definitely an improvement over other essays.

English 9, on the other hand, was the last grade I had not taught between 7th and 12th, so English 9 has been full of work. My classes were slightly different than the other 9s and my style different from the other teachers, so even though I used some of their materials, I mostly made my own. We successfully got through Romeo & Juliet, with one class making their own version of it (it turned out awesome). We are now through The Odyssey because the textbook we use cut the ever-loving crap out of it. They read about a quarter of the real thing, which makes it quick and easy to get through. We've really been focusing on the lessons children were supposed to learn from the epic and comparing it to modern American society (that's actually the topic of their last essay of the year). Two of our three 9th grade classes (the two that did not make their own R&J) are making puppet shows for The Odyssey. They're all split up into groups of 2 or 3, writing their own script, and making their own puppets. We're going to film it and put it together for each class. They were actually pretty into the whole idea. Kids in our 2nd period class kept asking if one group could have a Sassy Gay Friend for Odysseus or Penelope, hah!

Did I say yet that I love teaching English 9? Cause I do.

Remember when I was afraid of teaching 9th grade? I ended up really liking it.

Oh, and remember how I used to play Apples to Apples with students? We played that twice as a WHOLE CLASS. I'm talking 20 people playing in a huge circle. They did GREAT! I also introduced my two English 10 classes to Catch Phrase and they became kind of obsessed with it. There was a lot of screaming, stomping and laughter involved in those games. They got into it way more than I expected!

Altogether, I really enjoyed my group of students this year. So many of them were not afraid to get into the literature, get nerdy/geeky, and be enthusiastic and so many of them have a similar sense of humor, it was a really good year. I love having students who aren't afraid to react to the reading out loud, like one of my gentlemen the other day who kept saying, "Ooh! This is getting SO GOOD! I can't STAND IT! What's gonna happen? Is he gonna kill them? I would KILL THOSE DUDES for trying to touch my wife!!" while we were reading The Odyssey, during the part when Odysseus was disguised as a beggar and planning to kill Penelope's suitors. I only had one class that was a bit iffy--there were a lot of students with low self-esteem/negative attitudes, so it was very difficult to get them to open up. (It was even difficult to get them to play a game with each other! They mostly just wanted to sit there, be quiet and make fun of each other if other people were wrong. There were many times were it would be DEAD quiet in the classroom as if they were taking a test, but they'd just be sitting there... possibly writing, possibly doing nothing. It was... awkward. And the quietest class I've ever taught.)

Even though I love all my classes and students, I'm still happy that the end of the year is coming up. I'm starting to finish up all the end-of-year notes I usually do, which makes it a reality that the end of school is SO CLOSE! I only get a few weeks off before I do summer school (if there are enough students that sign up for it).

Other school news: Our school is switching in 4x4 next year. Should be interesting. Pros: Only 3 classes of students instead of 5, I'm already used to 90 minute classes, more electives. Cons: It's different--teaching every day vs. every other day. That's really the only change I'm worried about, but it won't be too bad--no matter what I teach next year, I've already taught it. I now have materials for 9-12 grade, so I told my department chair to schedule me wherever I was needed.

Literary magazine:

Our literary magazine finally came together and was printed! It ended up being 30 pages long with 3 pages of color and my principal herself stepped forward to cover the cost! It was so exciting! We printed 30 copies (we weren't sure how many people would want one) and have sold 16 so far. This is a very good thing because we need to pay back our loan. :) Next year, it will be even better! Now that it's out, a lot of new kids have become interested in submitting and/or being involved next year, which is about what I expected to happen.

Personal:

David and I are moving! We're just moving a few blocks south of where we live now, into a nicer, slightly larger apartment and closer to a few things, but still in the quieter part of the neighborhood. I'm really excited to move into a nicer apartment, I just hope it ends up being as nice as it looked!

I was also accepted into VCU's Administration & Supervision grad program. I'm starting two classes next week for the summer, then another class & pre-internship class in the fall. I'm pretty excited to get back to class, but a little nervous about how it's going to affect the amount of time I have for school. Since the school is changing to 4x4 and my student load will be smaller each semester, it shouldn't be too bad.

Other small things: I saw Megan graduate from MSU, we're going to Canada this summer and I'm 98% sure I'm selling my moped in the next month.