Waving the White Flag

I used to be happy to see Thanksgiving coming because of stuffing, oh, and family, but now, all I can see is a three day break from school. Because we finished our unit on word building a few days before the beginning of an extended break, I did not want to start the novel because I knew they would forget whatever we did before the time off. Instead, I returned to poetry after one of my "advanced" students told me he did not know what figuative language was. I am embarrassed to say that I told him, in frustration, that, if that is true, "you do not need to be in an advanced class." I did not use all sonnets, but instead I gave the kids fun ballads to analyze. I asked them to find sensory words, sound devices, figuartive language and identify theme and then give me evidence from the poem to support their conclusion.

The last two quesions on the organizer was to identify theme and support their conclusion. After my ENTIRE second period class turned in the organizer without answering the last two questions, I decided to go over the steps that will help you identify theme (something we have done in the past). Still, after doing that, every class turned in their organizers with the last two questions blank. Are they lazy or just incompetent? They want the answers in black and white and preferably given to them. One of the science teachers told me that she had kids who were lost if they had to turn the page to find an answer. It is very frustrating to pour your heart and soul into lesson plans and have kids who just do not care.

I have been going over propaganda techniques with my 11th graders, who, by the way, I have grown to really like, and I had them write a news article using propaganda. The results were hilarious. They were nowhere close to using propaganda, but the reponses brought me lots and lots of giggles. Here is an example of one:

"Charmin always be complaining about other toilet papers saying how they better than everybody else. The commercials always be having Charmin going up against some other brand and saying which one absorbs more water. Most of the time it be Charmin."

Never mind that it had no use of propaganda - or the fact that it was not a news article - the last line is priceless.

Rickey did create a news article, but it had no propaganda, just hilarity:

"There was a crash at the Brunswick airport this afternoon and two hundred passengers died in a fiery crash. It was not a national disaster though because all of the passengers were from McIntosh County. The rescue squad thought it was better to let the passengers die than to risk the lives of any of the decent citizens of Glynn county trying to save those passengers."

Ms. Milsapps, the Spanish teacher, tried to make me feel better after today - a day that consisted of two fights in my class. she said tht she had the kids write, in Spanish, about their favorite teacher. She said, "A lot of kids wrote about you." That was really nice to hear after such a tough day.

In other news, I am completely in love with the social studies teacher across the hall. He is somewhat chubby, but he plays the guitar and throws desk around when kids misbehave, and comes in the door to rescue me when I have problems. More on this later.