Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Immigrants, Accents, and Annoyances

Eighth grade drove me up the wall today when I taught them about the immigrants who came to America.
We spoke about accents, and of course, they made me speak in my British accent for the rest of the day. - I didn't mind! :)
We finally finished Charles, so that means that I can begin a new story with them tomorrow, and then hopefully give a test by next week sometime.
During recess I went over to the principal to return a book I had taken from her office, and suddenly, I decided to ask her about having my husband come down to teach the girls about the stock market.
She was soo thrilled with the idea! She couldn't wait to have him come down, and she wanted to have the girls visit Wall Street as well. I told her that Wall Street was closed to visitors because of security reasons, but she was so excited about having my husband come down and teach them.
Now I have to get him to really come.
I walked into the 7th grade 5 minutes late because the teachers were having a hysterical discussion about toilet paper that I just did not want to miss.
As late as I came in, six girls came in later.
Of course, they were C.S.S. and C.K. and E.M.B. D.A. and F.E. surprised me by being part of the group.
I sent them all to get late notes and in the meantime taught the class and guided them in writing their persuasive essays.
I told them to pretend they were Samuel Adams in the revolutionary war, and do what he did; make all the problems worse than they were, and then offer a solution.
The girls liked the idea very much.
S.G. and S.S. definitely need special help, and I'm trying very hard, but there's only so much I can do without actually doing the work for them.
When the other girls came in, they were very lost, but it was their loss. I was not going to repeat my entire lesson.
Maybe that'll teach them to come in on time.
C.S.S. refused to do any work when she came in, but when I said that they would not be allowed to finish their drafts at home, she began working frantically.
She has been sitting in her new seat this week so far, and the isolation is getting to her. I'm happy about it.
The last 20 minutes of the day, I sat with the two highest literature groups, and we got somewhere.
I actually enjoyed it! I had fun talking to the girls, but I think I could've prepared my work better.
...Always next time!
During the group, C.S.S., who was supposed to be doing her essay, was disturbing the rest of the class. I had to stop for her like 10 times.
I spoke to the principal about her again, and she said, that she wanted to speak to C.S.S. before class tomorrow.
I hope whatever she says to her works...for her sake as well as mine.

No comments: