Monday

Monday morning off and running.

Why are Mondays always so hectic. Wait. I guess that kind of goes for every morning.

Since I did nothing in terms of school work over the weekend, I’m scrambling this morning. I knew last week what I wanted to do today, but I still wish I had a little better handle on things.

Oh well, it’s working out. On Friday I told my Comp 9 class to bring in pictures to describe for their newest essay prompt. About half the class did. Of course, that means the other half forgot. Luckily, I planned for this. I reserved our library computer lab. The new Macs there have the application photobooth where the students can use a camera built right into the computer to take their pictures. Plus, the application comes with all kinds of special affects.

To say that it went over well is an understatement. The kids are going absolutely wild with it. It remains to be seen what kind of writing they generate, but getting them excited about the assignment is half the battle.

My freshmen have a loooong way to go in terms of becoming sound writers. But they are having fun – for now. The trick will be to keep them having fun while we start to revise and really craft their pieces.

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Another great quote from The Dante Club – from a Harvard professor to Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes . . . “’We must work to understand our foreigners, Dr. Holmes. If we do not conform newcomers to our national character and bring them in willing subjection to our institutions, the multitudes of outside people will one day conform us.’” Given Mr. Pearl is writing this from a 21st Century perspective, we can see that he is clearly commenting, ironically, on our age now, when it does appear that we will have to conform to the outsiders way of life. Given some of the redneck talk Kristie used to here as office manager of a local farm supply store and some of the filth I hear out in the hallways, we could use some of that conformity!

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I imagine that anyone who reads this blog and sees the yo-yo commentary on my classes must think of me as some Jekyll and Hyde type.

I do not disagree. As one of my colleagues once stated during our first year of teaching, “There are some days you can’t pay me enough to do this. Then there are others where I would gladly teach for free.”

Thankfully, through two blocks, today is one of those days where I’d gladly work for free.

My Comp 9 class had a blast with photobooth and writing their descriptions (we’ll see later today or tonight if they are any good or not). Then my College Comp class did a phenomenal job of peer editing and workshopping their papers. I wish I would have thought to record some of the comments they were giving each other. I decided to divide the class into groups of three. One would share their paper. One student would play the role of Simon from American Idol and offer pointed (but constructive) criticism. The other would play Paul and offer just praise. This should give them a balance.

I was amazed at how well this actually worked. “I was lost at this part . . . Change this word . . . I think you should expand this part some more . . . This is sad. It makes me want to cry . . . Use more imagery in here . . . This word is really throwing me off . . . Give the reader a better picture of what is going on . . .” These were just a few of their comments. I was amazed. It doesn’t sound like a lot. But when it comes from a group of high school juniors and seniors (and given my last semester class) the comments were pretty freakin’ amazing.

Now if I can just keep the magic act going for my last (and hardest) block. I’m going to give it my best shot.