(This post idea is stolen from E Tells Tales. I adore her.)
From left to right:
Pants: Walmart, Walmart, Forever 21 (Yes, I found colored skinnys for $9 at Wal-mart- and I bought four pairs!)
Shoes: Forever Young (All three pairs!)
Seniors: They bombed their parts of speech test, so it was time for some reteaching. To spice it up I took all the kids outside one afternoon to play a parts of speech game. It was windy and a little bit miserable, but it was one of those days that is trying so desperately hard to be spring and we want spring so desperately bad in return that I thought we couldn't just ignore her valiant efforts. ( Her? His? Is spring a boy or a girl?!?)
I taped pieces of paper to the wall, each paper with a part of speech on it. Then, I made the kids line up on the other side of the field. When I said a word they had to run to the wall and hit what part of speech the word was. They ate it up, you know they did.
They tested today and did buckets better than the first time they took the test. PHEW!
We've also been reading The Alchemist, which I am kind of liking less and less. It starts strong, but the middle is pretty slow and boring. Today my third period class was harassing me because they've hated all the books I've made them read this year. I don't know what came over me, a case of the giggles or what, but I just sat up there on my stool and laughed away. "I know! It's true! I have made you read some pretty boring books, haven't I?!?" And then they all laughed along. Sometimes when those kids start wanting to attack you it's better to just admit they're right and laugh and then all of sudden we're all on the same team again.
(Senior books we've read this year: Othello, Catcher in the Rye, Les Miserables, Lord of the Flies. Those aren't that terribly boring, are they?)
Juniors: It's my favorite time of year with the juniors... It's Gatsby time! I always save Gatsby for the spring because I love spring and it feels like this incredible reward that I give myself after a year of putting up with teenage drama. The Great Gatsby is the most unique book- it is the only book that I like more every time I teach it. This is my fourth time teaching it and I find myself stoked out of my mind for every junior class period thinking, "Oh, wait until they find out about the mistress! I can't wait until they realize what a little sneaky devil Gatsby is! Oh when they see how Tom reacts they are going to FREAK out!" I threaten my students with classroom exile if they dare look up spoilers or ruin the ending for someone else and boy, do I mean business! You ruin Gatsby for your classmates, you die.
The reason why I love this book so much is a true mystery to me because I hate every single person in it. No character is likable, and yet I just can't get enough of the despicable dudes. Half the time I just sit there pondering who I hate the most. I find myself totally consumed by Fitzgerald's beautiful language. (I'm convinced there's no better American writer.) The layers upon layers of text allow me to get something new from the text every time I read it.
We're just about to get to the part where all the shiz starts to hit the fan. Ohmygosh I can't wait for my students to see what happens! Can you tell yet that I LOVE this book? (P.S. It's April's book club selection, so if you haven't yet, get reading! We will have our discussion on it on April 28.)
Sophomores: I'm in a total slump with these little dudes. We're reading Ender's Game and I'm just not into it. At all. This is my third year teaching Ender, and certainly my last. I didn't like it that much the first time I taught it, but my sophomore boys always eat it up. So I sacrifice myself and my selfish literary passion once a year for a month so that my sophomore boys can have it their way for once, (because those poor sophomore boys really never get what they want in English class, do they?) but I just don't think I can take one more year teaching this book. Sci-fi is not my genre and Orson Scott Card is in desperate need of a good editor. I just don't love the book so in turn I don't love reading the book, talking about the book, or writing about the book. Which is what we do all day in class.
Any killer ideas to spice up some Ender's Game?
