Friday, January 9, 2009

a wonderful surprise in my mailbox at school

Dear Mrs S., Mrs B., Mr. R., Mr. R., Mr. D.,

You guys are great teachers, the student coucil said to pick 1 (one) teacher but you teachers are so wonderful I just couldn't do it so here are individual reasons you are wonderful teachers at how you teach.

(i'm exempting the other teachers, but theirs is either similar and just as amazing as this)

Mr. R.: Always keep it straight. Uses the think & share solution. Never uses the easy road out. Always will be their [sic]. Not a pushover [my bold!!!!! yay!]. Will always help out!


Sincerely, TC [a student of mine]



this has to be the coolest thing i've ever seen in my life. it makes me feel amazing and wonderful and i'm so happy. i'm extremely happy, also, to hear that i'm not a pushover--because i've been wondering about that, and have been quite worried about it, too. whatever the think & share solution is, i guess i use it! that's pretty fun, no?

so, here i am, back in school, and i'm trying to plan out the introduction and subsequent reading of a novel, entitled The Skin I'm In. i've had idea after idea, and i think they might be a little overwhelming and too much in terms of planning things out. i originally planned to have weeks that're themed--that is, getting some supplementary material into the classroom so that it involves a bit of pre-reading. it'll help contextualize what i want them to draw out of this book: empowerment. i really hope i don't milk this thing so much that empowerment loses its life-force, its chi, if you will. but, i do want a few supplementary materials here and there. maybe i'll just do it here and there for the heck of it. or something. anyways, that's my weekend dillemma: how to introduce this novel. there's a children's book that's a tie-in. it's a "first look at racism" book, and my J. wrote a few MCAS-style multiple choice questions for a quick quiz. i might do that as well, copy it, and put in maybe an open-response or a few more multiple choice questions thrown in about empowerment (just so i can tie that in, keep it consistent with the rest of the novel). oh that is going to be an intense little weekend (read: sunday) planning session.

in the meantime, i'm pretty happy bout my technology class (except for missing Shabbos dinner for a complete month with the fam).

i'm considering having one of my students continually sent to a buddy room as soon as she gets her work so she just quits the disruption. we'll see. i need her in sometimes just so i can check her work, but it's tough. she's just so distracting, and the room does so much better when she's not in the room. it's ridiculous. anyways, here's to hoping. and here's to introducing novels!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've been given the task of creating a multiple choice test for The Skin I'm In. Would you be able to share the one you created? Thank you!
Margie

Reading the District said...

so, i don't think i used a multiple choice test for the book. but, if i were to do it, it's on edhelper.com.

you can put in a bunch of questions, but they also provide a bunch of questions also. mostly straight comprehension stuff, but i would do that anyway: check to see if they understand character's motivation and development: how Maleeka changes as time goes on, and how Char changes as well.

anyways, edhelper.com--it's pretty amazing.