Sometimes, I feel like I am running out of ideas. And time. Or, more frequently, I have run out of time to come up with ideas. This happened recently when I was trying to come up with some sort of clever/meaningful review activity for the 11th graders as they finished The Scarlet Letter.
Luckily, I had a little memory flash to when Elliespen showed me some funny and clever literary adaptions. The uniqueness of these adaptations was that they were done in Facebook Newsfeed style... that's right Pride and Prejudice and Hamlet in Facebook form. So... I stole the idea, and I showed those versions to my class and had them each write 10-15 things to contribute to our Scarlet Letter version. I compiled them (and spiced them up a little), and we ended up with a very successful final product.
**Quick note: There are definitely spoilers here; reader beware. Also, this is a little extra thorough because it was their test review. And, this is text only, the one they got looked all Facebook-y too. Enjoy!
Custom House Clerk is new to Facebook: Scarlet Letter Addition.
Roger Chillingworth is offline
Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are now friends
Hester Prynne is in a complicated relationship
Pearl is online
Hester Prynne, the Arthur Dimmesdale and 200 other friends are attending “Scaffold of Shame” hosted by Puritanical Judges
Hester Prynne feels embarrassed and full of shame.
The townspeople really want to know who the dad is.
Hester Prynne is not telling. Ever.
Arthur Dimmesdale is feeling guilty.
The townspeople became a fan of Arthur Dimmesdale
Roger Chillingworth is online
Hester Prynne and Roger Chillingworth are now friends
Hester Prynne is shocked by the appearance of an old acquaintance.
Roger Chillingworth isn’t really surprised, he should have seen this one coming.
Roger Chillingworth became a fan of Getting Revenge on the Guy Who Had an Affair with Your Wife
Hester Prynne just promised to keep a really big secret…
The townspeople became a fan of Hester’s Sewing
Hester Prynne thinks little Pearl is angel sent from heaven to help her through her hard times.
Roger Chillingworth and Arthur Dimmesdale are now friends
The townspeople don’t think Hester should be a mother. She’s too wicked.
Hester Prynne really appreciates Mr. Dimmesdale’s help convincing the governor to let her keep Pearl.
Arthur Dimmesdale is still feeling guilty, but he’s glad he could help.
Arthur Dimmesdale is a little leery of his new roommate.
Roger Chillingworth took the “Who is the most likely partner in Hester Prynne’s Adulterous Affair?” quiz. His result was Arthur Dimmesdale.
Arthur Dimmesdale tried to confess… didn’t work.
Roger Chillingworth just saw a scarlet “A” on someone’s chest, BUT not on who you’d think…
Arthur Dimmesdale feels like torturing himself : (
Arthur Dimmesdale is going for a walk… to the scaffold… but for no particular reason…
Reverend Mr. Wilson, Hester Prynne, and Roger Chillingworth are attending “Governor Winthrop’s Deathbed”
Arthur Dimmesdale has invited Hester Prynne and Pearl to attend “Stand on the Scaffold in the Dark to Ease My Conscience”
Arthur Dimmesdale is not attending Pearl’s event, “Stand on the Scaffold with Us Tomorrow… in the LIGHT”
Hester Prynne is really not sure why she’s standing here.
Roger Chillingworth totally saw that!
Arthur Dimmesdale and Pearl are now friends
Pearl poked Arthur Dimmesdale
Hester Prynne is shocked at the condition of Arthur Dimmesdale
The townspeople are weirded out by the meteor and the “A” in the sky… must be because Governor Winthrop was such an angel!
Pearl wants to know what the deal is with the scarlet letter
Hester Prynne is going to tell Chillingworth to leave Dimmesdale alone. She’s had enough of this!
Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are attending “Meeting in the Woods”
Pearl just made and awesome seaweed scarf! Check out my pics!
Hester Prynne totally still loves him, and… she thinks he loves her too!
Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale are attending “Escape Boston So We Can Have a Happy Life”
Arthur Dimmesdale is afraid that Pearl won’t like him
Pearl is grossed out. Dimmesdale kissed her forehead! Ew!
Hester Prynne bought her tickets! With one extra ; )
Roger Chillingworth bought his tickets too. Ha.
Arthur Dimmesdale is writing an AMAZING speech!
The townspeople, Arthur Dimmesdale, and 3 other friends are attending “Election Sermon”
The townspeople loved Dimmesdale’s speech!
Arthur Dimmesdale confessed (finally!)
The townspeople took the “How Well Do You Know Arthur Dimmesdale?” quiz. Their result is “Not Very Well at All.”
Arthur Dimmesdale’s account has been deleted
Hester Prynne and Pearl are attending, “Let’s Get Out of Boston!”
Roger Chillingworth is leaving everything to Pearl
Roger Chillingworth is offline
Monday, November 23, 2009
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Notes to the World (Not a Rant)
To: The Copy Ladies,
Thank you for always being so nice to me, for learning my name the first week of school, and for never complaining when I have last minute copy jobs. Most days, you're my favorite people at the school.
To: The Janitors
Thank you for letting me into the building that one day when I left my wallet there. And for cleaning my room. And for just being nice.
To: The District Language Arts Mentors
I love you! Your meetings are always helpful and never tedious. You give me lots of materials and ideas that I can actually use. And, there are always snacks.
To: A Certain Locally Popular Gas Station
I very much appreciate that you consistently carry Vanilla Coke. I'm not sure why everyone else is so wishy washy about it, but I know I can count on you!
To: Camille (my library friend)
I wish you were around so I could tell you about how awesome life has been lately. But, I'm also pretty glad you're busy being the coolest sister missionary ever.
To: The English Deptartment at MRJHS
Thank you for lending me some books for the 9th graders. I would be seriously sunk without your (completely unexpected) generosity.
To: My Book Club
Have I ever mentioned that I really, really like all of you? And I think you're brilliant? I'm glad we make time to get together. It keeps me going when I get bogged down.
To: A Particular 10th Grader
Thank you for saying, and I quote, "What? That's it? Semi-colons are easy!" That made me feel like I did a good job :)
To: Last Year's 7th Graders
I still miss you. I keep the certificate you made me in my office at the high school and people always comment on it. Sometimes I tell people random facts about Al Capone (because I can) and I hope you do too. I'm trying hard to stay "legit."
To: Lauren
Let's write another silly story. And make Mike read it ;)
To: Mike
I'll tell you your note in person... the internet would be grossed out by the gushy things I have to say to you.
Thank you for always being so nice to me, for learning my name the first week of school, and for never complaining when I have last minute copy jobs. Most days, you're my favorite people at the school.
To: The Janitors
Thank you for letting me into the building that one day when I left my wallet there. And for cleaning my room. And for just being nice.
To: The District Language Arts Mentors
I love you! Your meetings are always helpful and never tedious. You give me lots of materials and ideas that I can actually use. And, there are always snacks.
To: A Certain Locally Popular Gas Station
I very much appreciate that you consistently carry Vanilla Coke. I'm not sure why everyone else is so wishy washy about it, but I know I can count on you!
To: Camille (my library friend)
I wish you were around so I could tell you about how awesome life has been lately. But, I'm also pretty glad you're busy being the coolest sister missionary ever.
To: The English Deptartment at MRJHS
Thank you for lending me some books for the 9th graders. I would be seriously sunk without your (completely unexpected) generosity.
To: My Book Club
Have I ever mentioned that I really, really like all of you? And I think you're brilliant? I'm glad we make time to get together. It keeps me going when I get bogged down.
To: A Particular 10th Grader
Thank you for saying, and I quote, "What? That's it? Semi-colons are easy!" That made me feel like I did a good job :)
To: Last Year's 7th Graders
I still miss you. I keep the certificate you made me in my office at the high school and people always comment on it. Sometimes I tell people random facts about Al Capone (because I can) and I hope you do too. I'm trying hard to stay "legit."
To: Lauren
Let's write another silly story. And make Mike read it ;)
To: Mike
I'll tell you your note in person... the internet would be grossed out by the gushy things I have to say to you.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Considering Appearances
Today, I made my students question their intelligence... and I laughed about it until I almost cried.
Whole story:
My 10th grade classes have been doing a unit about identity. One of my goals for this year is to do more activities that use the different styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc). Kinesthetic (learning through touching and moving) is probably the hardest one for me to include in my lessons because it's so opposite of how I learn. But, for today's lesson I had the bright idea of having them use playdoh to create a symbol to represent themselves. I wasn't really sure how it would work out, but they loved it and it met all of the learning objectives perfectly.
Now, one tiny bit of background information. My classes are unusually small. This is the one advantage I have this year. My biggest class is about 32 kids and my smallest is about 15. The others are all around 20-25.
Okay, so tiny little class of about 15 tenth graders are happily sculpting their symbols while listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas and all is well. Then, these two guys come in looking for the teacher I share my classroom with. Seeing he isn't there, they begin to leave, but one of them pauses, leans over to a girl and says quietly, "I didn't know you were in a resource class."
She replies (rather loudly), "This isn't a resource class!" Hearing this the other students get this sort of confused and sad look on their face as they look around at the tiny class and then look down at their playdoh.
At first I felt terrible and assumed that I was just a horrible, horrible teacher that made them do silly things. They assured me that our class was fine (and they in fact really like it... but... they had always wondered why the class was so small. Then, they were asking me (as they pat and mold their playdoh creations) if it really was a resource class and the school just had some sort of agreement with their parents so they wouldn't find out. That's when I laughed so hard I almost cried. They laughed too.
*side note: you should read this post by my wonderful friend Lauren. It's the whole story I never told you because I was busy being vague.
Whole story:
My 10th grade classes have been doing a unit about identity. One of my goals for this year is to do more activities that use the different styles of learning (visual, auditory, kinesthetic, etc). Kinesthetic (learning through touching and moving) is probably the hardest one for me to include in my lessons because it's so opposite of how I learn. But, for today's lesson I had the bright idea of having them use playdoh to create a symbol to represent themselves. I wasn't really sure how it would work out, but they loved it and it met all of the learning objectives perfectly.
Now, one tiny bit of background information. My classes are unusually small. This is the one advantage I have this year. My biggest class is about 32 kids and my smallest is about 15. The others are all around 20-25.
Okay, so tiny little class of about 15 tenth graders are happily sculpting their symbols while listening to The Nightmare Before Christmas and all is well. Then, these two guys come in looking for the teacher I share my classroom with. Seeing he isn't there, they begin to leave, but one of them pauses, leans over to a girl and says quietly, "I didn't know you were in a resource class."
She replies (rather loudly), "This isn't a resource class!" Hearing this the other students get this sort of confused and sad look on their face as they look around at the tiny class and then look down at their playdoh.
At first I felt terrible and assumed that I was just a horrible, horrible teacher that made them do silly things. They assured me that our class was fine (and they in fact really like it... but... they had always wondered why the class was so small. Then, they were asking me (as they pat and mold their playdoh creations) if it really was a resource class and the school just had some sort of agreement with their parents so they wouldn't find out. That's when I laughed so hard I almost cried. They laughed too.
*side note: you should read this post by my wonderful friend Lauren. It's the whole story I never told you because I was busy being vague.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Minor Difficulties
Last Friday, Mike and I went to the ballroom dance social at the high school. It was a lot of fun. A bunch of my students are on the team, and actually were in charge teaching the dances to the public. Which was great, except for how every time we'd start to get tired and think about sitting down for a song a new student would pop up and offer to teach us a new dance. They were so cute and enthusiastic that there was really no way to turn them down. Mike is a great dancer, and I didn't harm myself or anyone else, so I count that as a success.
Funniest/most awkward part of the evening had to do with some mistakes being made about my age. Basically, I get mistaken for a high school student at least once a day, and it doesn't really bother me all that much. But, it gets really uncomfortable when a student mistakes you for a student... and asks you to dance. Yep. That happened. I just smiled and explained that I was just going to dance with my fiancé. He looked a little weirded out too.
Funniest/most awkward part of the evening had to do with some mistakes being made about my age. Basically, I get mistaken for a high school student at least once a day, and it doesn't really bother me all that much. But, it gets really uncomfortable when a student mistakes you for a student... and asks you to dance. Yep. That happened. I just smiled and explained that I was just going to dance with my fiancé. He looked a little weirded out too.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Ever So Punny
My 12th grade World Lit. class just finished reading "The Epic of Gilgamesh." It's... not that exciting really. BUT it is a pretty big deal because it's more or less the first written literary text that has been discovered at this point. The story (or at least the part we read) goes something like this:
Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 human and the king of the Mesopotamian city, Uruk. And he's kind of a jerk, so he has all these run-ins wherein he upsets various gods and goddesses. Thanks to one run-in, his sidekick, Enkidu, dies. Gilgamesh becomes deeply aware of and concerned with his own mortality and goes on a quest to find the secret to immortality (this, of course, is the epic quest). He goes to a prophet-type figure who tells him his worthiness for the secret must be tested. The test is for Gilgamesh to stay awake for 6 days and 7 nights- and he promptly falls asleep for days, and days. Fail.
Then, the prophet figure feels bad for him and tells him to pick up a plant on his way home that makes old men young again. This isn't immortality, but it's close-ish. Gilgamesh gets the plant and cheerfully heads back to Uruk, but on the way he takes a little break and a sneaky snake steals his plant. And he is distraught for a while (according to the 12th graders, "cries like a baby"), until he goes back to Uruk has a change of heart, tells his story, and becomes a good king.
Now, during our discussion, I asked them if they thought that Gilgamesh was successful at all in his quest. They said nothing (they were more or less asleep thanks to the soothing voice of the man on the recording we listened to). So I explained the two essential views-
1. He succeeded in a way because by telling his story and sharing his knowledge he ensured that he would be remembered. Evidence- we are still reading about him and talking about him thousands of years later.
2. He failed. He was on a quest for immortality, and he didn't get it. In fact, this is literally an "epic fail."
Response: "Epic fail, ha, I get it... it's an epic! And he failed!"
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all year.
Gilgamesh is 2/3 god and 1/3 human and the king of the Mesopotamian city, Uruk. And he's kind of a jerk, so he has all these run-ins wherein he upsets various gods and goddesses. Thanks to one run-in, his sidekick, Enkidu, dies. Gilgamesh becomes deeply aware of and concerned with his own mortality and goes on a quest to find the secret to immortality (this, of course, is the epic quest). He goes to a prophet-type figure who tells him his worthiness for the secret must be tested. The test is for Gilgamesh to stay awake for 6 days and 7 nights- and he promptly falls asleep for days, and days. Fail.
Then, the prophet figure feels bad for him and tells him to pick up a plant on his way home that makes old men young again. This isn't immortality, but it's close-ish. Gilgamesh gets the plant and cheerfully heads back to Uruk, but on the way he takes a little break and a sneaky snake steals his plant. And he is distraught for a while (according to the 12th graders, "cries like a baby"), until he goes back to Uruk has a change of heart, tells his story, and becomes a good king.
Now, during our discussion, I asked them if they thought that Gilgamesh was successful at all in his quest. They said nothing (they were more or less asleep thanks to the soothing voice of the man on the recording we listened to). So I explained the two essential views-
1. He succeeded in a way because by telling his story and sharing his knowledge he ensured that he would be remembered. Evidence- we are still reading about him and talking about him thousands of years later.
2. He failed. He was on a quest for immortality, and he didn't get it. In fact, this is literally an "epic fail."
Response: "Epic fail, ha, I get it... it's an epic! And he failed!"
Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all year.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Some Notes From My Career
It's probably best that I didn't have much time to post until now as it turns out that stress makes me a little complainy and grouchy and in need of "Death by Chocolate" ice cream (thank you Mike!). But, as of today I am caught up with planning (which is all I can ask for at this point), have had a nap, and am perfectly capable of giving a balanced report of the job so far.
Most important lesson learned thus far: be honest. I am on all four of the grade level teams, and so I had a ton of curriculum planning meetings. I was feeling totally overwhelmed and guilty because everyone else had everything planned in some detail. I most definitely did not. After much vague description of a fake sequence of units, I finally just came out and said, "Yeah, I got hired a week ago and I am teaching four entirely different classes. I don't really have anything planned, and I'm probably going to copy whatever you do." And then everyone realized, "That girl might need some help." And I didn't have to lie anymore. Much better.
Next lesson: high school is not at all like jr. high. Call me crazy, but jr. high was a ton easier. There are a lot of reasons why, but on the flip side of that there are some fun things about high school. Like not having to teach them how to staple their papers, which may have been a continuous issue for the 7th graders. It's also very interesting to teach all four grades- the differences between the grade levels is a lot more pronounced than you'd think.
Also, turns out, the word "dialogue" is both a noun and a verb, but when it is used as a verb it makes me gag and roll my eyes in derision. Sorry about that everyone in all of my meetings.Successes (thus far):
*A short discussion with a 10th grade class about how zombies are totally "in" right now won me some major brownie points.
*I read the 1st chapter of a book about the English language with the 12th graders (all linguistic-y and cool) and they now want to read the entire book. And love learning about English.
*My parts of speech review with the 9th graders today was more or less amazing. We played a game where they took word cards (like the refrigerator poetry magnets) and had to race each other to make sentences with certain parts of speech (1 adverb and 2 adjectives, or 2 prepositions and 2 conjunctions, etc.). Sort of great and terrifically educational. At first no one can label a single word, but mid-game they're explaining, "No, this is an adverb not an adjective because it describes how she ran."
Yep. I'm a teacher.
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