I've Lost Track

Well the roller coaster continues. I could blog everyday about what happens in my strange classroom, but I spend all of my time working and planning for the next day. I finally started writing kids up. One told me to shut up and he spent 3 days in ISS. I was thrilled to see him go and hated it when he returned. He's a mouth-breather that thinks he is too cool for anyone. I have to say that I hate him - not something I like feeling, but honestly, he is a smart mouth. I found comfort in the fact that all the teachers hate him - loathe him in fact.

I am still struggling with my eleventh graders. They are a surly bunch and they sometimes ruin my entire day - I have them first period. It has been difficult to get through the Puritans, but I thought they may enjoy Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech. I talked about how we are persuaded, and I had them do an ad analysis, like we did in rhetoric Kirsten. I asked them to bring in an ad and only two did - out of 30. Luckily, I was prepared with some ad's from O magazine. They did not like it but they did it. It was like pulling teeth to get them to talk. I talked about persuasion - how are you persuaded? Who can persuade you? I enjoyed it, but they did not seem to really care. The next day I asked them this question, "What would persuade you to go to war?" Blank stares. I pushed. Many said "Nothing." I introduced Patrick Henry and his speech to the Virginia Convention. Before reading his speech, I showed them a clip from Braveheart - the one where he stirs them up to fight the English even though they were outnumbered. They liked it, but mainly because of the cursing and mooning. After watching that, I read Henry's speech. I got into it - not because of them, but because I was inspired. It really is quite a nice speech. As I am reading I hear, "You gettin into this Ms." Yeah - I really was. for a few minutes, all their eyes were on me and I could feel their interest. Alas today was another confrontational day: no books or talking; except for rude comments. Back on the rollercoaster.

The stories I hear from these kids are heartbreaking - and funny. Here is an example of an original simile written by one of my kids - "Neal is such a good player its like he's Isaac Newton." Cute.

I miss all of you very much. There is not a day that goes by that I do not think of each of you. Love you!