This was a slow week, full of lots of sitting.

Wednesday in 9th grade they were getting ready to write essays. I sat in with a group for the two periods, but that's about it. When I engage in groups I try to stay withdrawn from the group process because I prefer to let them do the work on their own. I don't think it would be a learning experience for them at all if I jumped in with a "OK, well here are the directions again. Who wants to do this part? And who wants to do this other part? OK, and then I think we should do this and this is a good idea..." But going from graduate level groups to ninth grade groups is difficult - especially when I am letting them guide the productivity of the group.

I came to school feeling lousy and after sixth period told Tessa I just needed to go home. She seemed upset with me and gave me some retort about when you're the teacher you don't just get to go home and that she felt sick that day too. Seeing as how I threw up on the drive home, however, I didn't feel too bothered by her attitude.

Today in ninth the students were supposed to reread and rewrite their essays. They're practicing for the DWA, which is evidently coming up soon. Andrew surprised me today because he spent a great deal of time in both classes negotiating the work with the students. He gave the assignment and then perched in front of the class on his stool. He did not write with the students and in fact even carried on side chatter with a few of them, which only distracted them from the task he wanted them to complete. They didn't understand why they had to do the assignment - why they had to practice writing - why any of this was important - why the DWA was such a big deal...And he responded to each of their queries, which were nothing more than obvious attempts at wasting time. During all this, students felt it totally all right to chat with their neighbors, wander around the classroom, and disrupt other people who were actually working. One student even asked where the dictionaries were - yes, after nine weeks of school, he had no idea where the dictionaries were kept in his English classroom. I was surprised by all of this, to say the least. Andrew should not have had this much difficulty getting students to do the assignment - and I think that he wouldn't have if he would have led up to it better and if he built in that understanding that writing is important and that practicing writing is very important. He's also established a culture where the students know they don't actually have to do the work. They know he'll accept late work, or be "understanding," or do special things just because it's Friday. He gets frustrated with them, but I don't think it's all their fault.

In eighth grade Tessa taught all three periods. It was mostly housekeeping and a video. She likes to do all her housekeeping herself, even though it's nothing and doesn't need to take more than two minutes. Oh well. Plus, they were in the middle of an on-going activity that would have been weird jumping into the middle of.

This week we watched The Outsiders exclusively. I was amazed at the students who did not watch the movie, but rather goofed off or drew at their desks. I always looked forward to movies in school - and loved watching this particular film in my own eighth grade class. It's a moving story and, even though they made some poor scene selection choices and transitions in my opinion, a good film. I suppose it just shows that you can't entertain all kids all the time.

Last week was a full week. On Wednesday I watched the ninth grade class third and fourth periods and led the entire class fifth period so that Andrew could get lunch for a third-period group that had won a contest. I had to use his laptop (a Mac) and the new projector - both pieces of technology that I was very unfamiliar with. I think my inexpertise was noticed by the students. They were helpful, though, reminding me of all the things I hadn't done yet and all the things I had done in the wrong order. Or, at least, they were trying to be helpful.

I also cried in eighth grade reading. I was reading aloud the part in The Outsiders where Johnny and Dally die. It was rough, but I had half expected to cry during that part.

Friday we did a Socratic seminar and the kids loved it. It was their first one of the year, so they got off to a slow start, but after awhile it was old hat and they fell right in to place with the discussing and arguing. Sixth period was the best of the three I witnessed. The students in that class are generally more active and talkative anyway, so this was just an opportunity for them to expand on that in an open environment. Seventh period talked and debated nearly as much as sixth; they took a long time involving the open chair, but once they did it was always full. Eighth period took a long time getting into the discussions. They kept trying to talk to me (I was leading the class) and became frustrated when I wouldn't answer them because I wasn't in the inner circle. One boy in the inner circle caught me by surprise. He is one of "those kids" - the one I hear teachers complaining about all the time (sometimes they mention him specifically). I have yet to have encountered problems with him in the classroom, but he has a behavioral specialist who follows him to all his classes and cues him when there's a problem. In the Socratic seminar, this student shone - far above the other students I saw all day. He demonstrated clear and unwaivering understanding of the text, asked thought-provoking questions and came up with more new ideas and possible solutions than anyone else. Afterwards I commended him on his performance and thanked him for doing such a great job. It makes me wonder if those teachers who complain about him allow him the opportunity to perform like that or if they would rather he sit quietly, droning on like the rest of their students...

I was only at West one day today because there's no school Friday.

We rumbled in reading today. Tessa had set up relay races between two teams in each class. One team was given advantages like a plastic egg in the spoon carry and water (instead of crackers) in the whistling relay. The kids were able to tell immedidately which team was the Soc team and which team was the Greasers.

I heard comments all day from the Greasers like:

"This sucks."
"I want to be a Soc."
"That's not fair!"
"I would never be a Soc."

The Greasers would do things like cheer each other on more and help their teammates more. Even though they didn't realize it (I asked them about it in the discussion afterwards), they pulled together far more than the Socs. The Socs mostly stood around watching their team win. There was little encouragement from the Soc side and even less help for each other.

During the discussion afterwards, we had some bitter Greasers and some very satisfied Socs. The Greasers at first said that the Socs cheated, but when I brought up the fact that they didn't cheat, that they used what was given to them, the Greasers realized that the Socs didn't cheat, but that they just had all the advantages in the competition. We then related that to the story and then to a global perspective (looking at war and its purpose or reason). The kids remembered in the end of chapter seven - the last chapter they read - where it said that Greasers will always be Greasers and Socs will always be Socs; that carried the discussion further.

It was great to see the kids thinking and processing things about social norms and social classes and pressures today. It was also great to see them get so involved with the book and its events. I'm excited to experience the rumble in the book with them next Wednesday.

I was only at West one day today because there's no school Friday.

We rumbled in reading today. Tessa had set up relay races between two teams in each class. One team was given advantages like a plastic egg in the spoon carry and water (instead of crackers) in the whistling relay. The kids were able to tell immedidately which team was the Soc team and which team was the Greasers.

I heard comments all day from the Greasers like:

"This sucks."
"I want to be a Soc."
"That's not fair!"
"I would never be a Soc."

The Greasers would do things like cheer each other on more and help their teammates more. Even though they didn't realize it (I asked them about it in the discussion afterwards), they pulled together far more than the Socs. The Socs mostly stood around watching their team win. There was little encouragement from the Soc side and even less help for each other.

During the discussion afterwards, we had some bitter Greasers and some very satisfied Socs. The Greasers at first said that the Socs cheated, but when I brought up the fact that they didn't cheat, that they used what was given to them, the Greasers realized that the Socs didn't cheat, but that they just had all the advantages in the competition. We then related that to the story and then to a global perspective (looking at war and its purpose or reason). The kids remembered in the end of chapter seven - the last chapter they read - where it said that Greasers will always be Greasers and Socs will always be Socs; that carried the discussion further.

It was great to see the kids thinking and processing things about social norms and social classes and pressures today. It was also great to see them get so involved with the book and its events. I'm excited to experience the rumble in the book with them next Wednesday.

Fourth period ninth grade English is a lively bunch of quirky students who like to chat. Students waste a lot of time in there.

I sat in on a group of four girls who wasted the first three minutes of group time looking through a photo album even though I was sitting there taking notes on their interactions. (I had even asked their permission to join their group.) I thought about intervening, but then reconsidered and allowed them to take their own course to see where it ended up. That three minutes of discussing summer photos ended when Andrew noticed that they weren't working and started walking in their direction. One girl noticed and hurridly brought the group to the topic at hand. Immediately, the album was stashed and the girls started gabbing about their project. However, no one had been listening to the directions or taking notes on the assignment so they started planning a tremendous assignment that did not fit the perameters Andrew had established for the class. Again, I let them work on their own without inturrupting. This planning wasted a good four minutes. Then, Andrew made an announcement clarifying the assignment further and the girls realized that they were working on a made up assignment. That was when they started including me, asking me questions about the assignment and what I thought they should do. They decided that they didn't want to do the assignment the way it was designed at that they would instead be creative and do it their own way. This was Wednesday. The assignment was due Monday and groups were told they would have all day Thursday and Friday to work on the assignments in class. This group of girls decided that their project would have to be done outside of class (therefore leaving them nothing to do in class for the next two days, which one girl did actually realize; to which another girl responded "Cool, then we can just chat and stuff and we'll be fine.") and so they spent the rest of the period (six minutes) planning the time and place they would meet to start, work on, complete and edit the film they were planning on making. They decided on Sunday at three in the afternoon. I asked them if they thought that would give them enough time to do the whole movie and if they were aware that that would, although be completing the project, not meet the original (and much simpler) project design. They saw no purpose in my questions. Total time wasted: twelve minutes out of twelve minutes allotted to work.

Sixth period eighth grade reading is a quiet class full of students who appear to think and don't talk out of turn. They are similar in form to seventh period eighth readng. Eighth period eighth grade reading, however, is full of busy-bodies and students who talk out. But one thing is different with all classes lately that makes them all behave equally well: they love reading The Outsiders. I read aloud to seventh and eighth periods Friday and found myself in front of a captive audience. They love the characters, the story and, I'm sure, the ease of being read to. Some follow along, some sit quietly and listen. I like reading aloud to them because I feel like the visual kids get a chance to read for a length of time and can follow along with an experienced and engaged reader and the audio kids can get the story without the burden of having to follow every single page with their eyes. I found myself getting a little choked up during the part about Johnny and Ponyboy rescuing the kids from the fire. I think that I definitely have the power to cry in front of them or, rather, that I do not have the power to stop myself from crying in front of them. I know that now and I'm prepared in case it does happen. It's just an example of how involved I am with the story and the characters.