Friday's seem to end on a good note. Today, state superintendent Cathy Cox was in our school. The administration stressed that we should have our rooms ready and our students well behaved for her visit. Well, I knew at least I could have my room clean. Someone must be praying for me because Cathy Cox came down our hallway during my 6th period class - my AP class. I am blessed to have a room full of bright and energetic 10th graders. They are cute and loud - very loud. I was teaching them about irony in poetry and they just weren't getting it, so I broke out in song - literally. The Alaniss Morisette song "Isn't it Ironic" sprang from my lips before I could even think about what I was doing. The kids loved it, although a few called American Idol on an imaginary phone and said, "Hello, American Idol? I do not want to vote for Ms. Taylor." They were laughing and learning - something hard to do at their age - when the door opened and in walked our principal, Cathy Cox, our assistant principal and two school board members.
Ms. Cox said, "you are having too much fun in here, what are you learning about?" The class shouted "Poetry."
"Poetry's not suppopsed to be fun is it?"
Here's the part I really like - One of the girls up front said, "It never was before Ms. Taylor."
Oh, how nice and proud I felt. The principal whispered, "Nice job" in my ear and Ms. Cox stayed in our class for quite a while. When they told her she had to go, she turned to me and said, "very lovely job. You should be proud."
As the door closed, our principal said, "That is one of our first year teachers."
I strained my ears to hear Ms. Cox's response of "Impressive."
That was a really nice feeling, but if she had come just 30 minutes later she would have seen the same teacher (me), giving the same lesson and doing the same thing, but getting a very different response from another class. In my last class, I took up a deck of cards, two cell phones, and stopped some kids from playing a spirited game of "Quarters." Peaks and Valleys. Ups and Downs. I have to say though that the peaks were better than the valley's today.
6 comments:
I am so, so proud of you too! That is so exciting!!! Talk about encouragement!
Way to go Friend! You make me want to cry! You are such a wonderful person and just what those kids need!
My heart got all fuzzy when I read this. I love that class. They are now my favorite group of kids on this planet (of course after Trey, Reese, and Hope).
Nothing grows more young souls like a loving and innovative teacher. I am so, so proud.
See you are finding out that you are the awesome teacher all of us already knew you were.
Good for you! And with Cathy Cox in your room, too. Dang! You should get a raise just for that. But more than anything else, you should be proud of what you've accomplished with these kids. By the way, there's a girl in my class who's auditioning for American Idol in September. I didn't ask her to sing for us, though. :0)
I'm so happy you are finding your niche and having fun! I remember having a student who sat in the back of the classroom writing love letters for the entire hour of class. He was 15 and in the 8th grade, so.. He was part of the "slower" group, and those kids had a myriad of learning disabilities between them. Somehow, we always had a good time and they managed to learn a little something Peaks and valleys, you're absolutely right...
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