Day 1: Witch Hunts
Alright so today was the first day of my unit with my CP American Lit classes. They are juniors and both classes are very talkative, but enthusiastic. I'd rather that than them sitting there silently and not responding. 2nd period was by far the smoothest class, I honestly could not have asked for a better first time teaching them. They were great. I mean they actually seemed excited b/c I was going to teach them, but that was probably b/c they didn't have to read the Scarlett Letter anymore. Freewrites were good, they were eager to share. They seemed to really like the aniticipation guide and we had good discussions about their answers and opinions. I decided to introduce the vocab bookmarks as "an alternative to reading quizzes" and that seemed to work nicely. We'll see on monday how effective it really was. I ended class with just 2-3 minutes to spare and had covered exactly what I wanted to for the day.
Third period is always a little more rowdy and they can border on disrespectful sometimes. Rob had moved the class around to split up some of the little groups who liked to talk all the time. I'm not sure if the new arrangement is better or worse. K and N are only 1 desk apart, and P is right behind K, so they actually might be closer than they were before. To top it off, B is right next to N, and there is OBVIOUS tension there, as he tends to have tension with most of the class. The oen good thing about the new arrangement is that J is set right in the middle of the little group, so I think I'll be able to rely on him for support if the rowdy ones go overboard. Anyway, their freewriting took about 10 minutes, they weren't eager to share at first, but then when they did, they didn't want to stop. We only did 6 of the 8 questions on the anticipation guide and they didn't seem terribly excited about discussing their answers. K jumped up all of the sudden like a spider was in her chair or something and then pulled her pitiful act where she asked to go to the bathroom all quietly. When she left, some of the kids told me that they think her cell went off in her pocket and thats why she jumped up. She and N were constantly talking across the desk between them and I had to keep saying something to them every time. If I let K do something, like talk or write or whatever, then she's fine. N is more of a problem. She ALWAYS gives me these "eat ****" looks and I couldn't figure out why. It was slightly comforting when Rob told me that she does that with everyone; she has trust issues and so did her sister. At least it's not just me, but now I'm struggling with ways to get through to her so she'll give me half a chance. I have complimented her hair and clothes before and that definitely works, but I'm not going to do that everyday. I call on her and listen to her when she wants to talk. I'm just kinda stuck with wehre to go from here. I know if I can get her to chill out, then K and some others in the class will follow her lead.
I didn't get to assign the bookmark to 3rd period, so that sets me behind a bit, but no biggy b/c 3rd period catches on a little quicker when we get into concepts and stuff, so I'll make up some ground, most likely. Things got so hectic towards the end that I almost forgot to assign their homework to them too, it was just like when it was time for announcements, everything fell apart and they decided class was over. I'll have to remember to keep my eye on the time with them. Overall it was a good day, they didn't throw things or curse at me, so I'd say it was a success :)
Third period is always a little more rowdy and they can border on disrespectful sometimes. Rob had moved the class around to split up some of the little groups who liked to talk all the time. I'm not sure if the new arrangement is better or worse. K and N are only 1 desk apart, and P is right behind K, so they actually might be closer than they were before. To top it off, B is right next to N, and there is OBVIOUS tension there, as he tends to have tension with most of the class. The oen good thing about the new arrangement is that J is set right in the middle of the little group, so I think I'll be able to rely on him for support if the rowdy ones go overboard. Anyway, their freewriting took about 10 minutes, they weren't eager to share at first, but then when they did, they didn't want to stop. We only did 6 of the 8 questions on the anticipation guide and they didn't seem terribly excited about discussing their answers. K jumped up all of the sudden like a spider was in her chair or something and then pulled her pitiful act where she asked to go to the bathroom all quietly. When she left, some of the kids told me that they think her cell went off in her pocket and thats why she jumped up. She and N were constantly talking across the desk between them and I had to keep saying something to them every time. If I let K do something, like talk or write or whatever, then she's fine. N is more of a problem. She ALWAYS gives me these "eat ****" looks and I couldn't figure out why. It was slightly comforting when Rob told me that she does that with everyone; she has trust issues and so did her sister. At least it's not just me, but now I'm struggling with ways to get through to her so she'll give me half a chance. I have complimented her hair and clothes before and that definitely works, but I'm not going to do that everyday. I call on her and listen to her when she wants to talk. I'm just kinda stuck with wehre to go from here. I know if I can get her to chill out, then K and some others in the class will follow her lead.
I didn't get to assign the bookmark to 3rd period, so that sets me behind a bit, but no biggy b/c 3rd period catches on a little quicker when we get into concepts and stuff, so I'll make up some ground, most likely. Things got so hectic towards the end that I almost forgot to assign their homework to them too, it was just like when it was time for announcements, everything fell apart and they decided class was over. I'll have to remember to keep my eye on the time with them. Overall it was a good day, they didn't throw things or curse at me, so I'd say it was a success :)