A First

The 9th graders worked on tenses today; taking base form verbs and changing them to past tense. I then spent some time going over their essay assignment. Some have already started and finished, but there are some that appear to be clueless. I have repeatedly told them that they are to write a paper about Poe's death and if it was from either alcohol consumption or rabies. I helped one student after school and I believe he has ADHD. Which would explain his behavior in class. We finished "The Sniper," and the class really liked this story. Especially the irony at the end when the sniper finds out he just killed his brother, who was trying to kill him.

I worked with complements with the 8th graders today, and we continued to read "Mrs. Flowers," which generated some interesting discussions about adult and child attitudes. They are suppose to write a review of a novel, but I think what I'm going to do instead is have them write a review of a movie. The catch is that they still need to include the same elements as if they were writing about a novel, plus I'll probably add a few more to extend the learning process. Some of them have already expressed interest in certain movies, such as "Do The Right Thing," which will be interesting. I did give them the option of doing their review on a book.

I had my first parent/teacher conference today. I had calculated all of the 9th graders grades and broke them down into 4 categories: tests, home/class work, groups, writing. I then averaged out an overall grade from them. I had one parent call because he was concerned about his son's C+. So we talked about the work that was turned in, and not turned in. Most importantly, we talked about the student's constant comments about/with/to other students. This disruptive behavior needed to be addressed. The funny thing that happened was the student telling me, "Please say something nice about me because my dad is gonna be mad if you don't." I had to laugh when he said this. He was worried as I was speaking to his dad and stepmom. Other than the disruptive behavior, I only had nice things to say, which were true. I got a "Thank you very much," as we walked back into the classroom so he could get his things and leave. It's good to see and know that some parents are involved and care about their child's progress.