Wonders Never Cease II

My fourth block Lit and Lang class is a bunch of characters. Most of my classes are ready to work as soon as the bell rings . . . even if I'm not (usually I'm running of copies or trying to get something new to work at the last second).

But with my fourth block class, I kind of like to try and ease them into learning. At least that's what seems to work best with this crew.

So I spent the first few minutes of class returning work from the past couple days and talking with the students, ripping on them, and giving them an old fashioned 'hard time' as my dad would have said.

Then I handed out progress reports and went around answering questions and calming fears and trying to motivate others concerning their grades.

Then I meandered around just visiting. I find this a great way to get to know kids and to get them on 'my side' at the start of class.

It's a lot harder to be a jerk to someone you like and someone you know likes and takes an interest in you. So I spent a good portion of the class just visiting.

I had a hidden agenda, though. We only had about 35 minutes of Food, Inc., left, and I was kind of stalling.

If I don't plan things right to the bell, this group is like a flock of sheep, they crowd around the door and drive me nuts as they try to sneak out a minute early.

So I was stalling and visiting so I could start the rest of the film and have it end with just enough time to give them the writing assignment, have them finish it and have the bell ring.

I was having a great time just shooting the breeze with each student as I talked with them about their progress reports when one of my students, who rarely says a word and who has really done well this semester, piped up and asked, "Are we ever going to start class?"

Now, that's about the perfect way to start class. Even if it's after 20 minutes of talking and joking.

What a waste! You might think.

But, trust me, if I had an assignment planned right away and got them working on it there was no way one student would have ever sat down just after the bell rang and exclaimed, "I can't wait to start class!"