your dose of poetry for today

I've rediscovered Lucille Clifton. I forgot I had her book and I forgot how much I liked her.

photograph

my grandsons
spinning in their joy

universe
keep them turning turning

black blurs against the window

of the world

for they are beautiful

and there is trouble coming

round and round and round

wishes for sons

i wish them cramps.

i wish them a strange town

and the last tampon.

i wish them no 7-11.

i wish them one week early

and wearing a white skirt.

i wish them one week late.

later i wish them hot flashes

and clots like you

wouldn't believe.  let the 

flashes come when they

meet someone special.

let the clots come

when they want to.

let them think they have accepted 

arrogance in the universe,

then bring them to gynecologists

not unlike themselves.

haaaaaaaaalp

I need your help!
The last 9 weeks of school for English 10 is scheduled to teach a novel. Our choices are: Lord of the Flies (yes!! Already decided!) or A Separate Peace (NO!). I asked my department chair if I could do literature circles or another novel instead of choice #2. She understood and said I could probably pull it off because I definitely do NOT need 9 weeks to teach LOTF. I'm coming up with a list of books I've read for her to go over and see if the students will read or have already read them in other classes.

So far, I have:
Ella Minnow Pea: Mark Dunn
1984: George Orwell
Animal Farm: Orwell
Brave New World: Aldous Huxley
To Kill A Mockingbird: Harper Lee
The Bell Jar: Sylvia Plath (mostly because they've read a few Plath poems already and some were really interested in this book)
Things Fall Apart: Chinua Achebe
Beloved: Toni Morrison
Poisonwood Bible: Barbara Kingsolver
The Kite Runner: Khaled Hosseini
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time: Mark Haddon
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn: Betty Smith
Speak: Laurie Halsie Anderson
The Things They Carried: Tim O'Brien (felt like I needed some "manly" books on the list)
Nervous Conditions: Tsi Tsi Dangaremba
The Secret Life of Bees: Susan Monk Kidd
Life of Pi: Yann Martel
A Lesson Before Dying: Ernest Gaines
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest: Ken Kesey
Water for Elephants: Sara Gruen

I need suggestions! What are books that you think every high schooler should read? Hopefully you suggest some that I've also read, so I can put them on the list!

Covered

My room is filled to the brim with posters and projects. There are Macbeth projects and then there is 2 full walls of Black history month projects. The kids did a great job on them. There are pictures up on my flickr, you should check them out. A lot of the students have commented that they really like the room this way, that it gives it character. I agree with them.
I'm hoping that next year, my room will look better as a whole, seeing as how I'll A) be hired before school starts, and B) have more time, since I won't be teaching a whole new curriculum and course. Whew.
I've been trying really hard to get ahead. Last week, I kinda slacked off, there were after school meetings, and just not enough time, so everything caught up with me and I almost got behind again. This week, I was determined to remedy that.Monday and Tuesday I was at school until 5PM (Monday I had students with me, though), yesterday I left at 4:40, and today I finally left at 4:10. I hope tomorrow to be able to leave between 3:30 and 4 feeling like I've accomplished something. I've never stayed this late before.
Coming up are Midsummer projects, new plays, the Romantic era, research papers and novels. Wow.

By the way, ever checked out wordle.net?
For example, my 12th graders read "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" by Mary Wollstonecraft, and will read Defoe's essay on the education of women tomorrow. Both on similar topics but different at the same time. I was playing around with wordle.net, and put in both pieces. We'll do an activity tomorrow where they have to guess which one is which based on the frequent words.

lemme brag a sec...

My seniors have finally finished Macbeth, which is a joy for all of us involved. It took way too long to get through, due to the timing: Start before winter break, go through semester change, etc. Seriously awkward timing for trying to teach a play. But it's all done! Tests are finished, projects and essays are done and we move on to the time period of 1660-1800. That's right-- trying to teach almost 200 years of literature before moving on to the Romantic period. There is a plus though: language is more modern. No more whining about "Why isn't this in English?!"
We started off by reading Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal". If you haven't read this, do it. It's hilarious. Read Gulliver's Travels, too, while you're at it. We've talked about satire throughout the year, it seems, so now was a good time to bring it up again and finally assign a writing assignment for the whole class (others that could've been satirical were optional, they could also be honest/serious) that involved satire. So, the students had to write their own "modest" proposal. Let me tell you, this was genius. There have only been a few times I've enjoyed reading every writing assignment, and this is one of those times. Some of these are absolutely hilarious! I'm very proud of my seniors right now, which is great since the last few weeks, they've been infuriatingly lazy and whiny.
Also, my 10th graders are actually enjoying A Midsummer Night's Dream, especially Act III (also my favorite act). A few of them are understanding it without me translating Shakespearean English into more modern English (!!!). Plus, they liked the Royal Shakespeare Company's version of it (so far) when I showed them Acts I and II. I'm going to show them the version made a few years ago when we're all done with the play.
I've decided on the second play we'll read in that class, too: The Glass Menagerie. I figured it worked because of family/parent issues. I don't want to do Julius Caesar, even though it'd be really easy for me to teach. No need to do 2 Shakespeare plays, some of those kids would probably try and poison my coffee. Another 10th grade teacher suggested that I not do Antigone because the version we have is a "bad" one and causing her a lot of trouble. The third other choice we have is one I'm not even remotely into and couldn't tell you the title of it to save my life. The one I chose seems to be modern enough and has a few things I could connect to Midsummer, so it'll work just fine.

been one of those weeks...

This week has had amazing days and incredibly irritating days. Today, the amount of grading I have to do, whining I had to listen to about projects and essays and tests, and the amount I feel I haven't accomplished really weighed heavy on me. I had a few moments where I asked myself, "Really? I wanted to be a teacher?". I put so much pressure on myself to accomplish so much and do so much, and always feel like I could do more, that it ends up with days like this. Today, I had to completely reorganize everything on my desk and accomplish small tasks to stop freaking out during my plan period at the end of the day. It worked, though. I'm feeling a lot better and I'm hanging in there-- especially because this weekend is a three day weekend. Phew. Stuff will get done, and I know that, I just allowed myself to get overwhelmed and to give in to all the pressure I put on myself to do a good job.

One thing I've been thinking a lot about this week is the difference between urban and rural schools. Some of the problems and irritations are the same, which makes sense. No matter what, you are teaching teenagers. But there are some differences. I really miss teaching in an more urban school. I don't really know why, and I can't quite put my finger on it, but I think it comes down to that that environment is what I'm used to, it's what I know, it's what I love, and the rural school just can't quite make it to that level. I have a real love/hate relationship with the rural school I teach at. Some things are great, other things about it are completely mind-boggling and infuriating. Maybe that will change, but as of right now, I don't see that happening.

quickie

-Budget still isn't set. We had a whole meeting about how the higher-ups have no clue about what they're going to do to balance the budget. So, we're all waiting for the state to finish waiting for the federal government to make decisions.
-I wore my Shakespeare shirt today because a) it was Friday, b) I finished reading Macbeth with my 12th graders today and c) I'm starting A Midsummer Night's Dream with my 10th graders. (YAAAAAY! NO JULUS CASESAR THIS YEAR! You have no idea how happy I am!) Some of them laughed, some of them didn't get it.
-We just finished our taxes because my W-2 from NPS finally arrived. It was originally sent to my parents' house because when I left there I couldn't remember our new zip code, but it was returned to sender, but the postal system caught it and forwarded it to us.
-I did a really fun and funny activity with my 10th graders to introduce a theme from Midsummer. I don't like to tell my students we're going to do something "fun" cause they're definition of fun is way different from mine. So, I told them "I don't want to say it's fun, let's just say it's more interesting than usual." One kid leaned toward me later and asked, "I thought this wasn't supposed to be fun?"
-I promised myself that starting Feb. 1st, I'd write something every day. It may not be here, but in a written journal I keep. Either way, I'll try and write more here.
-We made sweet potato stew today! Most of you don't care, but I love it (and those of you that have made/ate the stew, you understand) and I've been looking forward to it all day.

Just as I'm getting used to my job...

So the state of Virginia has cut into education for the new budget. That's okay, I guess. Schools are pretty much used to it.
David tells me today that the House of Reps in VA is debating not approving the budget that Gov. Kaine proposed for political reasons and they're going to push to get rid of the small tax increases and instead cut MORE from education. Doesn't sound too bad unless you actually work for a small school district that's been hit hard like I do right now.
Last week, we were told by the administration and then in a letter from the Superintendent that our budget is bare bones. We are cutting after-school buses, summer school and a few other programs. No new textbooks are going to be ordered and we have to be diligent about getting the issued ones back. That's all so we don't lose any positions. That's with the proposed cuts in place and it's all "As far as we know..." and a feeling that nothing's solid just yet. If they're going to cut more from education, that means we're going to have to get rid of more. Since I'm new to this district, who do they get rid of first if they have to cut positions? Support staff? Janitorial? New teachers? Older, more experienced (and thus, more expensive) teachers? Ones with the grades? Ones who they've known?
It's a small place, where everyone knows everyone.... and I'm one of the new kids and, to be honest, a few teachers there do not like me already. So... should I be worried about my job? Even though we've been reassured, I've told them I'm coming back next year (screw spending money to apply to closer places when everyone is tightening up their budgets) and I'm hoping that I'll be able to, I'm still keeping the thought that I might be laid off in the back of my mind. Keep your fingers crossed, I guess.