a good day
Well, I promised I would begin blogging again, so here I am. Suddenly struck with inspiration on a Friday afternoon. Weird.
Anyway, today was a good day. I did a fun activity with my 9th graders that they seemed to really enjoy. They got into groups and had to collectively design a symbol that they thought represented America. As I expected to, I got all manner of interpretations. Everything from the Statue of Liberty to the Wal-mart smiley and a great big green dollar sign. My 4th hour is apparently a bunch of tie-dyed hippie peaceniks, because almost every one of their creations had some symbol of peace embedded in it somewhere, which I thought was interesting. Another had a picture of a sword and shield and explained that the sword represented war and the shield represented resistance to war. Maybe the most interesting example though, was one with a mansion standing next to a cardboard box. The group explained that they thought the best representation of America was our gap between rich and poor. All in all, they were far more insightful than I ever expected them to be.
My 7th graders this year are infinitely more tolerable than last year's. I really enjoy them a lot. Today, while they were working on a journal entry in which they had to describe the most interesting place they'd ever visited, one of the boys raised his hand with a question. Now, this kid - we'll call him Ike - has a lot of energy. He's a short little kid, and he's always just a little bit bouncy. He sits on his feet in class and always seems like he has half a mind to just climb up onto his desk. But he's not antsy because he wants to get out of school, he's antsy because he likes being in school. And he's a silent kind of antsy, so he never disrupts anything.
Anyway, today, Ike raised his hand and called me over, and very seriously asked the following question:
"Most of the marble in the Capitol building is imported, right?"
I think I looked a little incredulous. We've come a long way since last year, when most of my 7th graders really couldn't read at all. I think overall this is going to be a better year.
Anyway, today was a good day. I did a fun activity with my 9th graders that they seemed to really enjoy. They got into groups and had to collectively design a symbol that they thought represented America. As I expected to, I got all manner of interpretations. Everything from the Statue of Liberty to the Wal-mart smiley and a great big green dollar sign. My 4th hour is apparently a bunch of tie-dyed hippie peaceniks, because almost every one of their creations had some symbol of peace embedded in it somewhere, which I thought was interesting. Another had a picture of a sword and shield and explained that the sword represented war and the shield represented resistance to war. Maybe the most interesting example though, was one with a mansion standing next to a cardboard box. The group explained that they thought the best representation of America was our gap between rich and poor. All in all, they were far more insightful than I ever expected them to be.
My 7th graders this year are infinitely more tolerable than last year's. I really enjoy them a lot. Today, while they were working on a journal entry in which they had to describe the most interesting place they'd ever visited, one of the boys raised his hand with a question. Now, this kid - we'll call him Ike - has a lot of energy. He's a short little kid, and he's always just a little bit bouncy. He sits on his feet in class and always seems like he has half a mind to just climb up onto his desk. But he's not antsy because he wants to get out of school, he's antsy because he likes being in school. And he's a silent kind of antsy, so he never disrupts anything.
Anyway, today, Ike raised his hand and called me over, and very seriously asked the following question:
"Most of the marble in the Capitol building is imported, right?"
I think I looked a little incredulous. We've come a long way since last year, when most of my 7th graders really couldn't read at all. I think overall this is going to be a better year.
posted by stoerzie at
4:34 PM
