Pushing for independent-choice reading

So... I had the meeting with my administrator to discuss my annual evaluation. Overall it went well. I made a strong push to reinstate my individual-choice reading IN CLASS. The administrator has been against it (!) and seemed to see it as "free time."  (Actually SAID that at one point. I somehow managed to keep my cool.) Well, I brought a bulleted list of how my practices for CR support quite a few of the Common Core standards while also differentiating both by student ability and interest level. I also had a couple of articles that collected some of the research that supports "sustained silent reading" (although I do more with it than a typical SSR program does).

Faced with that sort of reasoned, professional assault, my admin backed down a bit and asked me to see if the other English teachers at my grade level used student-selected reading in class. And I was pretty sure they didn't (after all, as important as it is to me, *I* backed down after I got told not to use it!) but I figured I could talk to them about why they didn't and see if they were interested in including it.

One of the teachers said that she felt like with it being English class, and all the literature we read together, that they already did a lot of reading in class and she didn't want to force them do more. She did have a small classroom library available for students who wanted to check books out.

The other teacher said that she had a difficult enough time getting through the curriculum she already had. And I couldn't help wondering just what it was that her class did if she was dropping entire units. But... I didn't say that. Actually I didn't say much of anything at all.

I don't feel like I have the authority to say "no, you shouldn't do that, you should do this, and here's why." I just... I feel pretty strongly about what I do and why I do it, especially the individual choice reading. I believe it's solid instructional practice. I believe it's what's best for students. I believe it's a better choice than sticking solely to the whole-class literature. And I don't understand why administration is telling me that I can't teach in the way that I feel is best, and other teachers aren't required to defend their practices.

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Stupid update

We are having issues with our online gradebook. I am so frustrated I can't even begin to put it into words. I never feel like writing. I've started to resent all the time and money that it's just assumed I'll dump into MY JOB. And then that makes me worry that I'm burning out, that I'm turning into a dried-up husk like everyone complains about -- that I'm becoming a Bad Teacher.

Money is SUCH an issue right now. We're supposed to use more informational reading instead of relying on the literature that we actually have on hand. But there's no money for more books, and God knows there's certainly not enough for students to have school-issued laptops or ipads or anything.

Just so TIRED of things not working.

Anyone know if there's a blogging carnival running?

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The Road to Hell

I feel like half of my posts are "hi, I'm back from an unexpected hiatus!" This year has been more challenging than I anticipated, for a number of reasons. (See the 'continue' link if you really want to know about them.)

First of all, we've had extra paperwork. We had to give a pre-test and then fill out a spreadsheet with students' scores. Then we had to go into an online database, find their scores from the previous end-of-year exam, and then predict whether we thought the student would pass or fail the end-of-year exam for this course based on those two scores. It was kind of nerve-wracking because we hadn't given that pre-test before so it's not really correlated well (by which I mean NOT AT ALL) with either of the the post-tests.

So that was incredibly stressful. Then I've also had a bunch of doctor's appointments to go to. Speaking of which, I need to call them to let them know I can't come today. But I haven't had a moment free from class, and they'll be closed while I'm at lunch. I'm fortunate that I've been able to schedule my appointments in the afternoon, so that I don't have to miss class (just planning) but even so it's getting to be a bit of a challenge, missing that much planning time.

Then we've had more department meetings this year than we've ever had before. Each month we have at least four - one with just the teachers in our grade level (so I go to two of those, since I teach both sophomores and seniors), then one with the grade-level teachers and the department head and an assistant principal (so I go to two of those as well), then one with the whole department and our graduation coaches, then one with just the department. Today we've also got an administrative meeting during planning about setting up medical insurance for next calendar year.

As a result, I haven't had NEARLY as much planning time as I thought I would this year. And I had so much that I wanted to do that I haven't been able to, because I've been struggling just to get through what I need to do. But I should be at the end of my doctor appointments, and I shouldn't have to do any more extra testing until the next term starts. Here's hoping!

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Canon or Choice?

Pre-planning begins one week from today. I'm feeling that sort of nebulous anxiety that comes from knowing I have the basics in place but not being sure about the particulars. I'm going to have seniors this year in addition to sophomores, and I have no materials for the seniors.

But one of the biggest changes will be if I get pushed to drop my choice reading at the beginning of each period. I made the apparent mistake of mentioning in an email to one of our assistant principals that I was excited about all the books I'd picked up at the ALA convention and using them for SSR books in my classroom library, and she was like "wait, you mean reading them at home, right? because the Common Core is really getting away from free reading in the classroom."

I kind of wussed out and just didn't reply, because I'm secretly petrified that she's going to say I can't do it anymore. And that was one of the procedures that I specifically brought up in my end-of-year evaluation for things I've done that I'm proud of. In reflecting on how they feel they improved over the course of the term, students consistently mentioned becoming better readers, specifically detailing improvements in retention, stamina, and comprehension. I'm afraid that I'm going to be told it's not an effective use of classroom time, when the truth is, it seems to be the most effective thing we do.

That's not to say that I want to throw out everything else we work on and focus solely on reading all day, every day. There's obviously a need to work together as a group to tackle more challenging texts -- ones that students might not be able to understand on their own. Class time gives us a unique opportunity to collaborate and share ideas and encourage each other. But I don't want to give up SSR, either. That's why I picked this gif.

Both IS good.

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...just to make it today

So we had an unexpected mid-year retirement in the department. Fortunately the teacher who retired is going to be all right, but he's having some health problems and between being in the hospital for testing and for treatment, he used up all of his sick days. So he chose to retire rather than take unpaid leave.

That means that the search is on for a new language arts teacher. The thing is, none of the other teachers in the department are close to retiring. (We have one who's eligible, but hasn't seemed the least bit interested.) This is likely to be our only new hire until/unless someone leaves, and I don't see that happening this year.

I did remind the principal that I do not want to be in charge of the yearbook OR the newspaper next year. He seemed fairly receptive to the idea, so I've definitely got my fingers crossed.

And overall, I guess it's good that I'll at least have SOME idea about whether or not they're going to try to foist Journalism off on me again before it's time for us to sign contracts.

But if you're the praying sort? I wouldn't mind in the least having a few more voices on my side...

Image thanks to http://kellysinging.files.wordpress.com

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How Long Can You Tread Water?

Right now, I hate teaching.

Specifically, I hate teaching under the constraints that administration has placed on me for journalism, and it has spread out to "I just don't want to do this" in a more general sense. I said last year that I was ready to give up journalism so that I could focus on teaching English (and also, in a huge-but-unspoken reason, because I hate these constraints) and was asked "well, if we can't find another journalism teacher, will you do it for one more year?" and I said yes, but that's it.

And now I feel like Bill Cosby's Noah talking to God, asking how long it's going to rain, and being asked in return, "How long can you tread water?"

It hasn't helped that, with a new administration, the rules that have straightjacketed me have gone from "ridiculous" to "cacking insane." I am full-on in survival mode, and it's awful. I hate being That Kind of Teacher.

I can't think of anything positive to say. Nothing. But there's enough poison out on the internet that I don't really want to add to it. So that's why I haven't posted anything in quite awhile. You know, Thumper's Law: "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all."

(Not to be confused with Thumper's Secondary Law: "Eating greens is a special treat; it makes long ears and great big feet.")

Hopefully I can still get the Stupid Publications done from survival mode. The problem is that thinking about it makes me start to freak out... so I'm trying not to think about it. But I'm not sure that avoidance is the best strategy.

Fortunately, I have been very clear that this is to be the Last Year No Matter What.

Hm. Who knows. In a couple of weeks here, I am planning to go down to Disney World to try out for a summer position as a performer. And if in June/July I am informed that my administration has said "screw what she wants; stick her in Journalism again!" I may just stay down there instead of resigning & returning to teach.

Image thanks to http://mariovittone.com/2010/05/154/

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Balance

Dang. How did it get to be quarter of ten already? I didn't get to do any of the schoolwork that I brought home. I did put dishes away and do a load of laundry. The Hunk was wonderful enough to cook dinner for us - PANCAKES! YUM! - and we watched last night's episode of Castle.

There just never seems to be enough time in the day to get everything done that needs to be done. I doubt I'll even be able to make this anything better than just "reasonably coherent." The days are flying past - winter break begins NEXT FRIDAY, for goodness' sake!

I wanted to get our bookshelves moved into the library over Thanksgiving break, and it just Did. Not. Happen. We did get the space for them cleared out. Let's see if anything gets moved over winter break.

Between staying late at school, running errands, exercise class, and dinner... it's bedtime. I feel like I haven't done much of anything at all today, and yet the day is over! What's up with that?!

It doesn't help that I've been double- and triple-posting; all of my classes do some journalling each day, so I've been doing that along with them. It's a heckuva lot of writing.

Tomorrow for English II we'll be in the computer lab and they're to be typing up their research papers. Ooooo, I hope we don't crash and burn!

We actually have a few weeks left in the first semester after we get back from winter break. It's a little on the crazy side; usually everything finishes up neatly before we leave in December. Not this year, though. We started so late that we'll be going through the end of January before classes change. It'll be interesting to see how that goes...

Image thanks to http://angelalutin.com/

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Yuck.

One of the things I both love and hate about teaching is how individualized it is. I love being able to tailor the lessons and pacing both to my personal style and interests, and to the interests and abilities of my students. This week we're spending a little more time on sentence structure than I'd originally planned, but getting to watch students notice more about authors' choices in writing has been delightful.

However, it makes substitute planning pretty miserable. I carry so much of what we're doing in my head; the lesson plans I submit to the department head really aren't enough for someone else to teach with (although they do make it easier for an observer to follow along).

It is a HUGE amount of work to get everything set up for a qualified sub, which is what I had to do for yesterday. And honestly? When you feel awful enough to NOT go in, it seems even worse.

So today, even though I don't feel great, I'm here at school. However, I'm thinking that next week I probably will not be going to the ALAN conference. I need the rest - and we also just got another set of medical bills (whee).

Right now I am just so tired. I'm tired of feeling gross. I'm tired of stress from the publications. I'm tired of bills-bills-bills. I'm tired of being ignored and repeating myself and being ignored again. I'm tired of people saying they'll do XYZ and not following through. And of course I'm tired from my meds.

I had about a week of feeling really good. I miss that.

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Counting Down the Days

This year is devolving rapidly. So far we've missed three and a half days from the storms (and the other half of our half-day was mostly spent sitting out in the hall during the tornado watch) and we've had two delayed starts. We're scheduled for delayed starts on Thursday and Friday as well.

I'm almost surprised the students haven't started eating each other alive.

There's not a lot else to discuss in detail. Little bits here and there, really, is all.

* Prom was last weekend. I got fairly dressed up, though my hair is at an incredibly uncooperative stage. It isn't yet long enough to do anything with, and it just kind of sticks out in this 'fro that everyone says is adorable and I think is horrific. Fortunately, gel. Gel and an elastic headband from Walmart. Anyway, I wore my slinky black dress with silver sparkles that has a boat neck and a drape down the back and a slit that I didn't realize went QUITE so far above the knee, but fortunately it's well to the side so I can be discreet. And a pair of strappy back shoes that, while adorable, were not comfortable enough to wear while standing for hours at a time. And some crystal costume jewelry - dangly earrings and necklace and some bangles. Consensus? I clean up nicely. ^.^
* Cap and gown portrait proofs came back WITH NO NAMES ON THEM. I got them this afternoon; orders are to be returned by the 10th. Yeah, srsly. Not happenin. Fortunately I took my case to the AP who's been micromanaging everything and HURRAY! she totes took my side on it and now it is no longer my problem. Yey!
* Ad money is coming in and we're going to make budget. WAHOOO! The relief is exhilarating.
* OH! HUGE NEWS! My enormous book list got funded through DonorsChoose! YAAAAY! Unfortunately the books won't ship until the start of next school year. So I have to wait. (I hate waiting.) Still, YAY BOOKS!!
* Almost forgot! Isn't it Teacher Appreciation Week? We had a basket of individually-wrapped wintergreen LifeSaver mints set in the mail room for us. I feel so loved.
* Neither the crazy storms nor Osama bin Laden's death will be in our 'World Beat' supplement. Sadface. Wondering if there's a way that we can work them in without using photos we don't have rights to.

Lately I'm just trying to stay in the game. I popped in to #edchat the last two weeks but one of the things I hate, hate, HATE about Twitter is that the updates are set up to drop in top-down. So you read each comment left-to-right and down to the next line, but then to read the NEXT comment you have to look ABOVE the one you just read. It's awkward and IT SUCKS. And #edchat moves fast enough that I couldn't really follow the flow. So. Mih.

What's been goin' on with all y'all? :)

(See? Even this Damn Yankee can play at bein' a redneck!)

Image thanks to http://www.timetoteach-mhughes.com/

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Announcement!

NO SCHOOL TOMORROW!

I don't know how in the WORLD we're ever going to get our research projects done. :P

And now it's Thursday and school is cancelled for Friday as well. AURGH!

We are gonna pop by our house to see if they have power restored there yet. If not, we'll probably grill some steak since everything in our freezer will have thawed by now. Either way, I sure hope ONE of the houses has electricity tonight. I can't miss out on more Noblegarden!! ;)

Oh, also, yay for Barnes and Noble and playing with nooks! Who needs a computer of their own anyway? hahahaha!

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What doesn't kill me...

... may drive me insane.

Yearbook deadlines loom. Actually, only the final one at this point. One way or another, in two weeks, it'll all be over.

Also, random updatey thing: whenever I feel crappy, I read my reviews on fanfiction.net. Very cheering. People are so positive. :)

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Staring at failure

Okay, so we are now definitely into January 2011 and I don't have my essay written.

*sigh*

I know, I know, there's still time, but the truth of the matter is, I don't know if I can do it, no matter HOW much time there is. I really have NO idea what I'm supposed to be doing. And I'm petrified.

I have all of my foundational stuff - I know which work I want to promote, I know what reasons I plan to give, I know how I want to frame the promotion... it's the everything-that-goes-with-it that I don't have. I mean, I figure I need more than 150 words, which is about what I've got if I just go with the bare bones that I have now.

And my style is SO very conversational. I'm sure I can take out the overuse of capitals and technically-incorrect ellipses, and use words that, you know, actually EXIST... maybe even finish a thought before going on to the next one.

But OMFG, I don't think I can do this. And it's pressing me through the shredder. I don't want to fail at this but I can't see success anywhere I look.

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Further Resolutions

Okay, I am not taking ANY student work home anymore. AT ALL EVER. I'm going to have to do ALL my grading here at school. Period. That means I'm going to have to be VERY careful about scheduling when I collect writers' notebooks - I need to make sure that for the next TWO DAYS there will be no interruptions to my planning period.

Also resolved: I am going to input assignments into the gradebook when I create my lesson plans. Which I need to do TODAY for the next two weeks. Uhoh. And I only have ten more minutes of planning. DANGIT! And I didn't even get my field trip form. DANGIT DANGIT DANGIT!

AURGH!

And I need to make a quiz for my J1s on the photo-uploading thingy. Which will be next block.

WHY AM I SO FULL OF FAIL?! AURGH!

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Further Feathers

I am beginning to realize that the only reading that's going to take place outside of school is assigned SSR. So I'm thinking about going into grammar and writing when we begin our performance & poetry unit next. We'll do personal writing and independent grammar study for homework. The texts we study as a class will be read IN-CLASS. Because they don't read the class stories outside of class (for the most part).

I need to re-introduce the glossary. We've already defined a bunch of their terms, but we don't go back to it very often. There is just SO MUCH to remember! *sigh* And remembering is something I'm not very good at. :(

I also need to remember to send the name list to the plate people. I need to look for one student notebook that's missing. WTF is it with me and student work? AURGH. I need... shoot, there was something else I thought of like three minutes ago and now it's gone. Eff.

Oh, I need to make sure that the Hunk fills out his insurance stuffs. Annnd I need to call the pharmacy AGAIN to see if they have that prescription filled, and if they don't I need to call the dr to see what's up. V frustrating. And I need to set up an eye exam so I can get this year's ... contacts, I guess. And I need to call my PCP to see about a referral to a podiatrist since we've met our out-of-pocket this year.

I'll want to do quizzes every so often to touch back on the ELA terms we're reviewing with the poetry unit. I have the rubrics for the monologue or poem performances finished and the one for the scriptwriting.

I would like to do more finishing of what we write. Right now most of the writing is thinking-as-we-write writing. We aren't following up on any of it. So... as we do use the SSR books as example texts, I'm going to want to create assignments that allow for completion and publication. I'd like it to be meaningful publication, too, and I'm not sure how I want to structure that.

I have one of my students who just loooves getting attention from me. Rather than working, he'll stretch. He'll sit there and practice crossing his eyes. He'll poke at other students. He'll stare at me and wait for me to look at him so that he can accuse me of staring at him. He'll read any book except for the one that's assigned to the class. He'll doodle on the desk. He'll bonk his head on the desk - quietly, though, which is nice because that way it doesn't disrupt others, which of course would get him called out for it.

Any idea who I've been watching for the last few minutes as I type this? :P (Yay peripheral vision!)

Oo, I remembered the other thing: I need to figure out my google password because I can't get to the results from the form I created. :(

And I also need to make sure to bring the ad book back.

And I somehow forgot about booktalks and poetry reading after fall break. SIGH!!!

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Scary Music Begins...

Today is Photo Day. Annnnd we have a new company. So I don't quite know how it's going to play out. I've got my fingers crossed.

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Poetry = Huh?

So yeah. After sketching a unit outline for 1984, I glanced at the next unit (poetry & presentation). And I realized that I hadn't thought much about poetry except as a vehicle for presentation. But I think there's gotta be more to it than that. That's how I came up with my essential question for the poetry part of the unit:

Why do people create poems instead of just saying what they actually mean? What is UP with that?

The only problem is I don't have an answer. Like, ANY answer. And what if we go through the unit and the answer we come up with is "We have no clue"?!

Help please?!

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Scaffolding

One thing I'm REALLY struggling with, particularly with 1984, is the scaffolding. How much should I do? What should I do? For example, our page 1 includes the first two paragraphs of the novel. The words that I expect my students will not know (lift, varicose ulcer) are easily defined through context. But... it's more than that.

I guess... I guess I expect that students will start my class with no idea how to read a work that challenges them. Not that they won't know how to study it... how to find out what happened and who did it. But when you read at or below your level, you can easily get pulled into the story and swept along. Immersed, as it were.

Reading above your level, there's more of a push-pull. You have to be able to recognize when you don't get the significance of a phrase or sentence, even if you know all the words. And you have to be able to pull away from the work just enough to figure it out while not losing your connection so that when you go back in you've still got that "flow," or at least return to it without having to re-read the entire chapter.

First lesson of the unit plan behind the cut.

Day 1 - Begin with a quickwrite, as always: Which is more important - freedom, or friends & family? Yes, obviously, both of them ARE important. But if you had to rank them, which one matters more, and why?

The essential question is also already on the board: How do you read a challenging book?

Students who get done ahead of everyone else should read their SSR books while others finish writing.

Once about half the class is reading, or when we're ten minutes into the period or so, I'll begin the day's read-aloud. Now usually I flip-flop between poetry and YA (something I can rec for SSR) but today I'm going to read chapter two from How to Read Novels Like a Professor. This is the chapter about beginnings, and how in good books, the beginning of the book tells us what to expect, and what's important, and how to read the rest of the book.

Next, I'll go over the day's objectives and which standards they relate to:

1. Students will use details from the beginning of 1984 to create hypotheses about theme, purpose, character development, and later events in the plot. [GA10RL1, RL2, and RC3]
2. The silent objective - I'm not actually going to SAY this to them - By putting effort into analysis and interpretation and experiencing success as a result of their effort, students will be aware of the work required but also invested in the novel, and thus more motivated to persevere through difficulty. This doesn't connect with any standards, but eff that. It's important, so there.

Hopefully we're about twenty minutes into the period at this point.

Now we start the "lesson" segment. I'll have several first sentences that I'll put up on my SMARTBoard - choosing, let's say, from Pride and Prejudice, Huck Finn, Great Expectations, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, The Count of Monte Cristo, Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, The Scarlet Letter, Little Women, Anna Karenina, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Paradise, Moby Dick, The Call of the Wild, Mrs. Dalloway, The Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird... oh dear. I'll have to narrow that down. But they're all such good openers! It'll be tough.

Innyhoo, I'll have the students select one of the titles, and then I'll click through to the first line. And I'll read it out loud, and think it through (also out loud), saying what my predictions are, and explaining the reasons behind them.

Next I'll have them pick another title, and click through to the first line of that one. This time, I'll mention details that stick out to me, and ask the students what might be interesting/unusual/possibly significant about that. [I'm a little uncertain about how to do this - what I have here feels a little too much like playing "Guess What the Teacher Is Thinking!" and I don't like that.]

Then they'll pick a title, I'll click through, and I'll ask them to pick out the details AND make predictions.

Then I'll have them pick partners (with the possibility of one group of 3 if there's an odd number of students in the class) and I'll hand out a list of questions - Where will this take place? When? What is it like in that place and time? What can you tell about the narrator? What kind of story will this be? What sort of problems might the main character(s) face? What ideals/objects/people might be important to the main character(s)? (etc) - for which they might be able to hypothesize an answer based on the first line. This time *I* will choose the titles - three of them - and each pair will discuss the first lines and try to make predictions. So I'll really only use six titles. Thirty-five minutes in as a full class; another fifteen in pairs puts us at fifty minutes.

We'll reconvene to discuss our observations and analysis for five minutes. Based on what they come up with I'll have to decide how much more instruction and support will be needed.

At this point (55/90) I'm going to depart from our typical schedule and have them read their SSR books (usually that's our closer). Thinking this hard is tough, and we're not done for the day, so we need a breather. While they're reading, I'm going to BREAK THE LAW and walk around passing out copies of 1984 and marking down who has which book number. Fortunately that'll only take a few minutes & then I get to read too. Yey!

Seventy minutes in: I'll give them a printout of the first three pages' worth of 1984. I'll read the first line; we'll analyze it. I'll read the first paragraph - ditto. I'll read the second paragraph - ditto. Seven paragraphs, through the three slogans of the Party (they appear on page 6 but the first chapter starts on page 3).

For homework, they should read through page 12, stopping at the beginning of the flashback, and do a lexicographer chart (three-column chart: column 1, copy out a sentence w/an unfamiliar word, underline the word, include parenthetical citation; column 2, your guess at what the word means; column 3, your rationale. Ten words.)

I'll be updating this from day to day as I work on it. I haven't decided if I'm going to add my edits to this post or make new posts for the revisions. Actually I think I like that idea better; it'll be nice for when I look back on it, so that I can see the progression of my ideas.

Image thanks to http://www.quadlock.com/

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In a Nutshell...

Right now I'm feeling REALLY overwhelmed. I just cleared off my desktops on our two home computers, and there are just SO MANY files that I've saved as possibilities for the upcoming year or professional materials to read... I guess it's a good problem to have, but it's a little frustrating. I hardly know where to begin.

The first step was sorting out the teaching stuff from the other cool stuff - silly videos, neat pictures, cartoons, articles that resonated with me - and putting all of that where it goes. The next step - going through the teaching stuff and actually opening files and looking through them - that's got me a bit intimidated. I've got 90 files on this computer alone. And I haven't even started looking at my laptop. You know, the one that's actually my work computer. Hoo boy.

Anyway, what I really had planned for this post was listing out my sequence of units and going over my rationale for why each unit goes where it goes. It'll be a nice way to put off the inevitable.

Okay, backstory. This year there will be two major changes. First of all, due to the financial crisis, the state lopped eleven days off the student calendar - from 180 to 169. Naturally, there should be no resulting drop in student achievement. Okay, snark over, not really the point. And everything got cut from the beginning of the school year. So instead of starting at the end of this month, we're starting halfway through next month. That actually works out pretty well for me since I've got surgery on Friday....

Holy s*t. Next week is our last full week off. DAMN. I can feel my blood pressure rising steadily now. AURGH!

De-tangent-ing, that was kind of a doozy for us since we were on semester blocks: four classes before winter break, four more afterward. Obviously, going from 90 class days to 79 is nuts. We opted to keep the block but go to an alternating (A/B) schedule. Our classes will be 93ish minutes long and meet every other day. Courses will run the whole year. We have a week off at the beginning of October for fall break, a full week for Thanksgiving (plus I hope to get permission to go to the NCTE conference, which is the week before), winter break the last two-ish weeks of December into January, and then spring break is the first full week in April.

Unit 1 - "Baby Steps." Here I'm getting to know my students and their capabilities. We'll use shorter works to practice some of the strategies we'll use with longer texts later in the term. I don't know that I have a big idea for the students, but the idea that's shaping how I plan the unit is "tough stuff in little doses." I have nine days planned, which (given our schedule) takes us through August.

Unit 2 - "Breaking Free" (1984). I think what I really want to do is push against cultural walls. This community is so, SO insular, and so a book like 1984 seems irrelevant because not only is "the world" (as they understand it, anyway) not like that, so many of them seem incapable of envisioning a world that is significantly different than what they're used to. The reaction seems to be "Wow, what a sucky world they live in. Glad we live in AMERICA! Yay us." 1984 just seems silly. Two Million Minutes might work well here... another really good one would be A State of Mind as it presents a thoroughly foreign culture in a mostly-not-negative light. Plus I own it. I plan to use How to Read Novels Like a Professor to introduce it, talking about how the way an author begins a story gives us clues about the rest of the story. They'll have a set of pretty basic questions (mostly fact-based) to guide their reading. And we'll also be meeting in literature circles. We'll have practiced the literature circle jobs back in unit 1. Twelve days for this takes it past fall break through most of October.

Unit 3 - "Competence Creates Confidence" (poetry & short drama). The reason people hate public speaking is that they don't have enough experience to be comfortable with it. I want to focus on presentation (volume, elocution, eye contact) and interpretation (body language, blocking, general acting). They'll get a break partway through when I'm at the NCTE conference (I think I'm going to have them catalog my classroom library); except for that, it goes all the way to winter break.

Unit 4 - "The Price of Freedom" (Julius Caesar). Can freedom come at too high a cost? I wanted to make sure I put this unit after the previous one - I'm not happy about having winter break between them but that's just kind of how it fell. In the previous unit students will have had some exposure to Shakespeare through his sonnets, so hopefully the language will be less of a problem. I have loved doing the one-day workshop as an intro, and I'll be contacting some of my previous students to act as group leaders. This is a 12-day unit that will go through the first week of February.

Unit 5 - "Honoring Our Voices" (Nonfiction / writers' workshop). Although we'll have been doing a good bit of writing the whole way through, this is where we'll really start looking at literature as writers. We'll start by looking back at works we're familiar with so that hopefully we can move past comprehension issues and look at techniques. We'll also look at our own writing, what we've already done, looking for patterns in topics or themes or style. I want students to recognize that in order to be respected by others, they need to show that they respect themselves first, and they can do that by shaping and polishing their work. 10 days; goes into the second week of March.

Unit 6 - Research project. Okay, this unit? Sucks. I don't have much freedom with it. I wish I could make it about exploration - about taking the seed of an idea and running with it, pursuing it as it leads to new information and new ideas. But we just don't have the resources. I have it near the end of the year because they're required to write a four-page paper and I think it's only fair to give them the time & training to develop the "writing stamina" they'll need to do a good job (that's also why it's after the writers' workshop unit). But I don't want it at the very end because (a) there are always those who slip behind for one reason or another; this gives them some meager chance to catch up, and (b) goodness knows I don't want to be stuck grinding away at a bajillion research papers over a single weekend. 12 days - they'll turn their roughs in a few days before spring break so that I can give some pointers, and then we'll have a few days to conference again after break before heading to the computer lab to type, finishing mid-April.

Unit 7 - "Show & Share" (Portfolio compilation & book clubs). Lots of choice and student-driven learning here to make the end of the term fun while staying rigorous. They'll go through and pick out writing samples - not just ones that demonstrate their best work; what I really want to see in their portfolio is change over time in the samples, and analysis of their development as a writer in a reflective piece (or series of reflections). Maybe I'll have them pick a piece or two to polish. For the book clubs I've got a number of YA dystopias, so they'll pick their discussion group based on the book they want to read, and it'll reflect back to 1984 as well. For the final exam I plan to invite parents and community members, and the students will present and discuss their writing portfolios.

I would really, really like to know what others think of this. Sometimes it concerns me that I teach so few major works. But I hate feeling rushed, and I haven't felt that any of this dragged. Then again, the units went by a lot quicker when we were meeting every day, so I don't know.

Image thanks to http://www.topnews.in/

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Kicked in the Gut (and stabbed in the back)

So, yeah. Every couple of weeks I get a promo email from DonorsChoose about fundraising opportunities and stuff.

Sometimes there's additional funding for STEM, or if you live in a certain state or county, or if your project is part of a college-readiness program, that kind of thing. Other times DonorsChoose enters into charity contests. You can go vote for your favorite chairty, and if DonorsChoose wins, they get like a hundred grand to put toward projects that need funding.

But the most recent email really, really surprised me - and not in a good way. It said that Donorschoose will get money for projects if people pledge to see Waiting for Superman.

Say it with me now: WTF?

I just deleted the email, but reading this post made me realize I was still pretty upset, and I didn't just want to ignore the issue. So I went to the DonorsChoose contact page and sent them this little gem:

Getting an email from DonorsChoose that promoted Waiting for Superman was like a kick in the gut. My stomach literally clenched when I saw that.

Hoping for the best, I went and watched what I guess was the trailer. Guess what - it showed exactly what I was afraid of! Raising test scores is the best way of measuring student progress. Due process for teachers is a waste of time and money. We should expect teachers to be martyrs who dedicate all their time to teaching, neglecting family, society, and personal health. Hygiene, of course, is still important, because you're supposed to look good on camera.

I was shocked and hurt that DonorsChoose would support something as anti-teacher as this. Also, when I went over to their webpage, I didn't see any mention of DonorsChoose, so that was part of the reason that I didn't sign the pledge. The other is that it would've been a lie.

I'm not going to give a dime to that flick.

Now, I didn't cancel my account (although I might have had I been a donor). But... seriously, people, what were you thinking?! I am SO tired of the same old dead-horse stats being used as trampolines to help people with agendas jump to conclusions they like.

Use just a little common sense. Please. Schools wouldn't have bad teachers if they (1) did a better job observing and supporting new hires and/or (2) went through the appropriate channels to remove teachers who weren't a good fit. The issue isn't bad teachers; it's inefficient leadership.

It is just - it's idiocy. The KIPP-charter/TFA model that is soooo loved by anti-union reformers is only sustainable as long as the economy stays in the toilet. I mean, you don't have to be a math major to figure out that working 40% more hours for 15% more pay is stupid.

Also, you're making the profession into an anti-family career. Now, for me (in theory), that would work, because I have no children of my own and no desire for children of my own. None. Guiding other people's children is great a way to give me similar interaction while at the same time keeping me reminded of WHY I've made the choices I have! However, I object to it on principle, because not everyone is like me.

AURGH!

Daily stuff behind the cut.

Anyway. I did NOT go for my walk this morning. I didn't even get up until almost ten. I woke up at eight, sore and tired, and thought, "Eh. It's already going to be too hot to walk." And I went back to sleep.

Given that I performed off-and-on for more than three hours last night, I'm going to say that's a fair trade-in for my walk this morning. My arms, shoulders, back, tummy, and legs agree: OUCH. It's tolerable now that I've taken some naproxen, but still: OUCH.

I was in bed before midnight and I still feel like I could go and sleep for another hour or two. I might do that, since obviously the surgery isn't this afternoon since I HAVEN'T HEARD A DAMN THING. Grrr.

I'm thinking about cutting my word-count requirement down to 250. 750 takes me forever and really cuts into the day. It makes it harder to take time later on for a "real" post, even if I actually have something to say. Plus, I hate it. I think 250 would be a good bit easier to grind out and that'd make it less torturous. And since one of my goals is to begin seeing writing as something positive, instead of something that is full of suck, I think that makes sense.

Last night's ... I don't know, I don't really want to call it a "show" because it didn't feel like that. No stage, no lighting setup... we were at a country club, people. (It makes sense in context - it was a "wines around the world" club dinner. This month was Greece, so: bellydancers! Also because last month it had just been dinner and wine and the turnout wasn't as good as they'd hoped, so again: bellydancers!)

It was a blast. They had a different type of wine with each course, and let's just say that by the fourth course, it was getting harder to hear the music. Hahaha... It was really pretty, too. We were in this sun-room area that looked out over the course - wide green lawns, with rolling forested hills in the distance. The windows faced east, so we got to see the sunset without a glare.

The best part was at the end, when we got these nice proper ladies to get up and dance too! It was absolutely adorable - they were giggly and uncertain but having sooo much fun. They reminded me SO much of girls in middle school. It was sweet.

Images thanks to http://unlimitedmartialarts.blogspot.com and http://www.despair.com/achievement.html

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Discipline Update & Freewrite: July 16

Yesterday was so full - really, this whole week has been - that I'm counting last night's dance practice as my exercise for this morning. I'm going to try to have a healthy breakfast - boiled eggs, and ... I dunno, maybe toast or oatmeal.

Someone has a wedding anniversary today! Congratulations, you guys - you need to come visit. It's nice and warm down here ;D

Morning freewrite behind the cut!

I'm tired and discouraged. I'm sitting here at the computer that has MY stuff around it, and I just feel bad - because mostly I use the other computer! In fairness, that's the one that has my music stored on it, and since it's a little nicer, you can actually see farther in WoW. But honestly, that doesn't matter too much - I can listen to Pandora, and lately all I've been doing in WoW is the daily quest. It takes like 15 minutes and there's really no danger, so the nicer graphics really aren't anything more than a perk.

And there's just STUFF all around. A potholder. A nail file. The cards that don't fit in my wallet. Our buttons from Disney. Hand lotion. Elmer's glue. A cup, a water bottle. Scissors. Batteries. My ID from yearbook camp, still on its lanyard. And papers of all sizes.

It's a total energy suck. It makes me tired just looking at it. I feel like a bad housekeeper. And it's not to the point that it's overwhelming, but it's discouraging - I know that I could put things away just in this spot for half an hour and still have clutter lying around. And not that improvements wouldn't be noticeable... but it builds up slowly. You know? And more significantly, it builds up with things that I don't really have a place for, mostly. Like the cards from my wallet - the ones I don't use often, but just from time to time. Gift cards, mostly. Probably no more than five bucks on any one of 'em. But I don't want to just pitch 'em!

So it's like - do I put these "away" somewhere? Where would make sense? Because sure as you're born, if I put them "away" then I won't be able to find them when I do want them.

Ugh.

And also, now it's making it harder for me to write. Because I'm here thinking, "you know, as much as this FEELS like work, it really isn't. You don't need to do this. You're choosing to inflict this misery upon yourself. This isn't accomplishing anything. Your writing counts against your fun-time-quota, not your work-time-quota."

Hey brain! I don't NEED to clean off the damn desks, all right? Just STFU. Because even with two rooms basically un-usable because stuff isn't put away, we're still doing JUST FINE, thankyouverymuch. I'm writing because supposedly it will make me a better teacher, and possibly more self-aware as a person, and hopefully develops my skills in reasoning and word choice and clarity, all of which are useful in many different ways. How is improving myself any LESS VALUABLE than improving the house, in terms of time and effort? (Side note - wow, that became a post seed! yay!)

So this is a professional as well as a personal matter. I am doing this mostly because reputable members of my profession have said that it will make me better at what I do, and I trust them. I may not BELIEVE them, but I have decided to trust them anyway.

Also? These improvements to myself are far more permanent than cleaning up clutter will be, THAT'S for certain!

There. I feel a little better. Feelings aren't always easy to manage - they seem to enjoy being unpredictable! - but sometimes when I shout at them with logic they get back in line.

Another new development yesterday: I maybe have friends.

Okay, now see? I know you're doing that slight double-take - bit of a blink, reduced reading speed, and slightly raised brows. Maybe a frown that says "huh?" But hear me out.

See, I tend to be very particular about how I use words. In both speaking and writing, but especially in writing, I see precision as one of the highest ideals to strive for. I seek to convey exactly what I mean, neither more nor less. Any time that I think I've done that, I feel proud of my work, regardless of any other factors.

It took me a bit of thinking to figure out why I wouldn't categorize any of the people I know RL as friends. (Online is a completely separate issue as relationships are just SO different.) There's a difference between people with whom you are friendly and people who are friends.

Friends are people with whom you spend time outside of the context in which you know them.

That feels like a post seed, too, so I'm not going to explain it more here. Plus? I think I've met my word count for today anyway.

Woot! 836. TTFN, dearlings! ^.^

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