Tuesday and today

Yesterday, I used a prewriting exercise from the Holt textbook and asked the 9th graders to write about 3 meaningful experiences. As the students either thought about it or started writing I walked around and gave them ideas to write about, such as their first time at Disneyland, traveling to another state/country/city. One student wrote about shooting a gun, so I asked the class if any of them experienced the death of someone close. Quite a few wrote on this subject. Many were able to finish while others struggled. I was pleased with some of the results. I went over two handouts, one on verbs, the other on concrete, abstract, proper, and common nouns. There are several students who are a little confused about distinguishing between the two.

In the 8th grade class, we read and discussed the first entries by Charlie in Flowers for Algernon.

Today, I returned the experience papers back to the students so they could see the comments I made. I then asked them to write one paragraph each on "pride" and "honor." I asked them to tell me what each word means to them; are they proud of something they do? Do they understand what it means to be honorable? Some struggled with this and I told them to do the best they could and give me something. I explained that soldiers wear their uniforms with pride and they feel it's an honor to serve in the military. A few lights went on and I know some of the students wrote about having a relative in the army and fought in Iraq. They had to turn in the two paragraphs along with the experience paper I returned to them. Basically, they've written a 5 paragraph essay. Some of them can't argue and say they can't write one now.

The 8th graders had a quiz on literary terms and on the previous nights reading of Flowers for Algernon. I wanted to work with them on prepositions, but we got off on a tangent from our discussion and ran short on time. I even forgot to give them a handout, but our discussion about certain events in the book was great. Especially when Charlie realizes that his so-called "friends" have been making fun of him all along. The girls could relate to this.

I went to my first faculty meeting today and I could tell there was a little tension between the teachers and the administration. I can't remember who had commented to me that working with the Options students might turn me off on teaching because of all the behavior/discipline problems I'll encounter. I'm more turned off on the attitude toward the teachers from the administration. I know all schools are different, but everyone I've met so far has been great. It's just a shame if the one who is suppose to lead acts more like a dictator. But I just nodded my head and smiled during the presentation.