It's the last day of school before break. My students today are watching the movie "Up" and writing plot summaries/character analyses, which is a fancy word for "nothing." I had originally planned a day of normal work (holiday parties are for the weak!), but the second I saw them running down the halls this morning in a sugar-induced frenzy, I knew they wouldn't do a damned thing I asked. Praises be for Netflix instant play. And projectors.
I am greatly enjoying my students' Christmas gifts. Among the presents I've been given so far today, here are the highest ranking:
-A family-size bag of Hot Cheetos
-My own stapler, gift-wrapped and given back to me
-A shining, new copy of Mein Kampf. We just finished a unit on Anne Frank, and I'm pretty sure this student simply looked up books related to the Holocaust :(
One of my students walked in my room during the movie. She's been in in-school suspension for over a week.
"LAUREL!!" I whispered, running over to her. "Have you come back for good?"
"Nah, I just came to see if you had some work for me over break."
I gasped, and launched into a mini-speech about how far she's come, and how proud of her I was for taking the initiative to catch up on stuff she's missed. I even teared up a little bit, which surprised me. My student started laughing.
"What?" I asked. "Too much?"
"Miss, you are so full of bullshit sometimes."
I put my hand over my heart and smiled.
Merry Christmas :)
Love,
Teach
"The old woman leg began to rust."
Sunday, December 5, 2010
A couple of weeks ago, I was reviewing subject/predicate with my classes. It might seem sort of basic (and it is), but since a good chunk of my students are reading 2-5 grade levels below where they're supposed to be, many times I have to go backwards and reteach before I can get to things like subordinating clauses or relative pronouns. After going over nouns, verbs, and what makes a complete sentence, I handed out practice worksheets.
I gave them 5 subjects for them to complete using the predicate of their choice, and another 5 predicates to do the reverse. For example, one of the subjects I provided for them was "The bulldog ____________________," and they had to create the rest of the sentence on their own.
I didn't know it at the time, but giving them this worksheet was one of the best decisions of my life. Here are some of the sample student responses.
This answer isn't absurd, but I just liked that it was the first thing my student thought of when he pictured what a silly clown might be doing.
There are many things I love about this answer. Mainly how creepy it is, but also the erasure marks. Clearly, this student had a different initial answer, then decided to erase whatever it was and replace it with "Said, 'Hello child'." What was first??
Naturally.
And, my favorite. When I read this, I actually gasped, and not from the subject-verb disagreement.
I don't know what I would do if my students were normal.
Love,
Teach
I gave them 5 subjects for them to complete using the predicate of their choice, and another 5 predicates to do the reverse. For example, one of the subjects I provided for them was "The bulldog ____________________," and they had to create the rest of the sentence on their own.
I didn't know it at the time, but giving them this worksheet was one of the best decisions of my life. Here are some of the sample student responses.
This answer isn't absurd, but I just liked that it was the first thing my student thought of when he pictured what a silly clown might be doing.
There are many things I love about this answer. Mainly how creepy it is, but also the erasure marks. Clearly, this student had a different initial answer, then decided to erase whatever it was and replace it with "Said, 'Hello child'." What was first??
Naturally.
And, my favorite. When I read this, I actually gasped, and not from the subject-verb disagreement.
I don't know what I would do if my students were normal.
Love,
Teach
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