Apologies, apologies, a thousand apologies! I have been meaning to write again, but every time I arrive back at home I am absolutely knackered. For the past few days I have been powering through a cold, and I am unusually winded in the mornings climbing the four flights of stairs to my classroom. Nevertheless, I shall prevail against this too. My mind is currently being pushed back by the pressure in my sinus cavities, so you will forgive me if my train of thought derails from time to time.
I have been, as you know, dreadfully busy, though things are more or less beginning to fall into a rhythm, and lesson planning isn't quite as staccato or frenetic. Still I cannot honestly say I have moved past the point of lesson planning in the shower. I wonder if that ever goes away.
I enjoy teaching, but not the technicalities of it. I feel my best ideas come naturally before class. The best ones so far include using the Avengers to teach plot diagramming, Fantasia 2000 for internal/external conflict; having the seventh graders rewrite a fight scene in Rikki Tikki Tavi from another character's perspective, comparing and contrasting fonts and templates in Newspaper, bringing in Scot Byrd, school IT support cum American football aficionado extraordinaire, to explain American football to my mostly ignorant-of-the-sport sixth graders. The hands flew up for question time. "How many penalties are there? Can you punch the other players?" I have enjoyed abusing the mass emailing system of the school's internet, moving Master Kelley's vuvuzela around his office when he is away, and reading the answers to the personal questionnaire I had the students fill out in their thin, enthusiastic handwriting.
What is your name?
Alex
What do you want to be called?
Awesome kid
And, of course, I enjoy the happy "Good morning, Ms. Gabriel!" that students are wont to offer on Mondays through Fridays, excepting Wednesdays.
I have been, as you know, dreadfully busy, though things are more or less beginning to fall into a rhythm, and lesson planning isn't quite as staccato or frenetic. Still I cannot honestly say I have moved past the point of lesson planning in the shower. I wonder if that ever goes away.
I enjoy teaching, but not the technicalities of it. I feel my best ideas come naturally before class. The best ones so far include using the Avengers to teach plot diagramming, Fantasia 2000 for internal/external conflict; having the seventh graders rewrite a fight scene in Rikki Tikki Tavi from another character's perspective, comparing and contrasting fonts and templates in Newspaper, bringing in Scot Byrd, school IT support cum American football aficionado extraordinaire, to explain American football to my mostly ignorant-of-the-sport sixth graders. The hands flew up for question time. "How many penalties are there? Can you punch the other players?" I have enjoyed abusing the mass emailing system of the school's internet, moving Master Kelley's vuvuzela around his office when he is away, and reading the answers to the personal questionnaire I had the students fill out in their thin, enthusiastic handwriting.
What is your name?
Alex
What do you want to be called?
Awesome kid
And, of course, I enjoy the happy "Good morning, Ms. Gabriel!" that students are wont to offer on Mondays through Fridays, excepting Wednesdays.
No comments:
Post a Comment