This guy.
Life has picked up with the intensity a bit as school has started. I teach one class a day 2nd period Civics. So far the class is going well but due to some scheduling difficulties with some of the students I started out day 1 with roughly 15 young men in my class. I felt like I hit the jackpot. Day 2 rolls around and about 4 more guys show up, no problem. Day 3, Friday, a couple more... Well suffice it to say I have around 25 guys in my class now. All the desks are full and I have to be constantly moving about the class room even as I am talking because I've found that these kids feel intimidated if the teacher stands near them. It's that way even if they did nothing wrong. Some of the kids are getting a bit complacent because the material in the first unit is really easy. I mean it's basically a joke. I thought about skipping the first unit so I could get into some of the founding documents of America but then I realized that this first unit (3 chapters) could be like a warm up for me to get my feet set before we get off and running. It occurred to me that maybe I should just go through the first unit quick because it'll give the impression that I know what I'm talking about. Because soon enough I'm going to be reading the book just to stay a day or two ahead of class so I know what's going on. Thus far I just looked at the vocab from the first chapter and then cut the kids loose on the vocabulary words and the chapter reviews.
I'm pretty excited for tomorrow, I'm playing the review game from Mr. Turek's class. For those of you who don't remember or aren't from LSH, it's basically a game where the class is split into two teams and one person comes up at a time and draws a slip of paper out of the "hat" (it may actually end up being my hat because I don't have Mr. Turek's little yellow tupperware container) and that slip of paper has a vocabulary word or a main idea from the chapter. The student must then give clues to his team in order to get them to shout out the word on the slip. If a student doesn't know what the word means then they have the option of asking me for a clue, doing this will reduce the value of the round from 2 points (if they can do it without help) to 1 point. I'll let you know how the game goes and which team wins but I'll be honest it might not be for a few weeks.
After that I will have a test on Friday. Hopefully they knock it out of the park because I've given them a 3 x 5 note card to copy down as much info as they can fit on it for use as a cheat sheet. I wasn't going to allow them to use their notes because the test in basically all vocabulary words which they've been copying down each day. But I wanted to make sure they could have some resource because I don't believe test taking is applicable to real life. At what point in your professional life has your boss asked you to do something but hasn't allowed you to ask any one for help, look up information from a credible source? I can't imagine that happening. So I'm not going to tell them to sit down for 80 minutes and try and remember everything we've been over the last 7 days (when some of the kids have only been in class for 4) and regurgitate it pack to me on the test.
Remember in school when a teacher told you that you had to give a presentation to the class and that it should be at least 20 minutes? They'd give you a weeks notice too. I have to figure something for these kids to do for 80 minutes everyday. It's really more like 70 minutes because I am never prepared enough to start class on time but still. This teaching thing ain't as easy as it looks. I usually ask them to write on an open ended question for about 20 minutes and then spend another 15 -20 discussing what they wrote. That's a great way to burn half the period and it can be very productive.
But listen to me go on and on about being a teacher. How selfish of me. Let's talk about you. How's life? Oh it's really hard to have a 2 way conversation in a blog post? Ok then more about my life...
Last Saturday I had one of the single greatest days of my life. Mr. Scanlan, the assistant Head Master took Kevin, Trey, and I out on his boat in the New York Harbor and down a river whose name I have long since forgotten. His boat is an architectural marvel, absolutely gorgeous. But the thing that made the day great was that there wasn't a cloud in the sky. It was somewhere in the mid 70's with a nice calming breeze. Seeing Manhattan from the water is one of the best ways to view the city. If I knew how to post a picture on here I would show you but I'd rather you head out here and see for yourself.
I'm struggling to think of some fancy concluding remarks so I think I'll just end it at that. I need to write up a test and make up that game for tomorrow, plus I have to go to a faculty meeting at 7:45 tomorrow morning (thumbs down) and I'm about to waste the next two hours of my life watching Master Chef.
Stay Classy San Diego.
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