My lovely English 9 class

When I was first asked to teach English 9, I was nervous. My impression of 9th graders, as a 10-12th grade teacher, was that they were wild, insane, immature creatures that I would never survive a year with.
I was wrong. Very, very wrong.
As much as I love teaching English 10, English 9 might just surpass it as my favorite. English 11 and 12 are awesome because you have the timelines and lots of history cross-overs and whatnot, but English 9 and 10 are where I really feel like The Teacher.
This year, I not only have the blessing of an ah-may-zing co-teacher (we could not be more similar in teaching philosophy and sense of humor), but we've also been spoiled with an even more amazing English 9, first semester class. We actually told them the other day that if we could teach them every day for the next three years of their high school lives, we would do it in a heartbeat.  As other classes are hitting that wonderful mid-semester slump/doldrums, this class marches in every day with a smile on their face and a skip in their step. At 7:40 A.M. Do you know how abnormal that is for high school kids? While teaching them, I sometimes worry that I'm still sleeping and having a wonderful dream about The Perfect Class. Seriously, how did I/we get so lucky? It has also proved what I always tell kids at the start of the year/semester: you meet me half-way in enthusiasm and effort, and this class will be awesome and as fun as you want it to be.

Here are some reasons why my English 9 class is SO INCREDIBLY AWESOME:

• All of them passed the first quarter. Only two or three of them had not turned in every. single. assignment.
• They get along with each other. (!!!)
• They sing happy birthday to each other.
• They want to read out loud. They fight over who will read out loud. 
• We have inside jokes. The yeti/Sasquatch, calling people a "turd", the Plagiarism Police and more...

Speaking of the yeti obsession, it has been ramped up even more! As we were watching Act 1 of Romeo & Juliet, during the Queen Mab speech, my Sasquatch-obsessed student yelled out "YETI!!!" and claimed there was a guy dressed as a yeti in the background. I thought he mistook the guy dressed as a Viking for a yeti. On Thursday, during the student teacher's lesson with that class, she had them re-watch that section, but that time I saw it! We all started laughing so hard that there were tears and the student teacher played it off very nicely by saying "And now we know--Shakespeare prefers yetis."

• We laugh so hard we cry--this happens at least 2-3 times a week.
• They get into everything we read. Seriously. They come up with connections, they turn in amazing writing assignments, they become passionate about the characters--it is an English teacher's dream.
• They study. They prepare. They ace tests!
• They are honest.
• Their parents are incredible.
• Some of them even read outside of class/school and are not afraid to admit it. (!!!)
• When reading A Raisin in the Sun, they fought over who would read each role every day.
• When I told them the next thing we were going to read was Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet, they cheered. CHEERED! They were EXCITED!
• When reading Romeo & Juliet, they've tried their hardest to understand it and have done incredibly well with it so far. They've had amazing discussions and are actually getting some of the jokes that they shouldn't get because they are dirty, dirty jokes.

There are many other reasons, but seriously, folks--this class is amazing. On Friday, a student was biting his thumb (a great insult in R&J). I asked him, "Are you biting your thumb at me?". He replied, "I'm just... biting my thumb." I ask again, "But are you biting your thumb at me?". He turns to the girl behind him and asks "Is the law on our side if I say 'yes'?". It was a good example of why we love this class--they really get into the reading and have fun with it.
I could make another list for my English 10 class, as well, but it would look pretty similar to this one (they have more inside jokes, though--that class is full of comedians). I have been very lucky in who was placed in my classes this semester. The only downfall is that it will be very difficult to let them go in January and even more difficult to not compare my second semester students to this semester. I'll miss these classes, for sure.

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.