Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Video Day

I had completely forgotten that it was video day in school today. Had I remembered that Jim the video man was coming around to record the classes for the PTA dinner, I would not have dressed in a slinky skirt and huge sweater that made me look 14 month pregnant.
Oh well.
The biggest comfort I can give myeslf now is that by the time this video is shown in March, I'll be a size 0 again, and the parents won't even recognize the fat slob onscreen.
The 8th graders were amazing during history today. They were quiet and they participated so nicely the whole time. They were especially conscientious when Jim the video man came in and had the camera focus on each of their desks.
I had not preapred my lesson in advance, and I was skimming the book and bluffing as the girls were writing notes.
Then Jim focused the stupid camera on me, so I couldn't even cheat. Instead, I asked the girls if they had any questions...
After Jim left, the girls all breathed a sigh of relief and then I had to reteach everything they had been too nervous to write down when he was in the room. LOL
I told them that I wanted to give them a history test and a maps test before their midwinter vacation in two weeks. They were ok with it.
I just hope that with the ELA's taking up so much of my time next week, that I'll be able to finish all that material. I still have to get moving on their biographies too.
Seventh grade did the rest of my day for me. I had planned on skimming through my notes with them as a review for their test tomorrow.
Instead, the girls begged me to play conductor with them.
I handn't prepared any questions, so I told each girl to take out a paper and write down a couple of questions for me to test them with.
While they were writing, R.B. asked me if when I was a kid, did I ever say, "I'll never do that as a teacher!!"
I answered her on the spot that I had indeed said it a lot as a kid, and that now as a teacher I have not done a single one of those things I said I never would.
I got into teaching because I was determined to change the school system I went through. I know I'll never change it all, but at least my students get to have a year in a decent setting.
We played conductor for the rest of the day, and S.E. got a plus one for winning and D.A. and E.L. got a plus half for being the runners up.
R.B. got a plus half for answering a question of mine yesterday.
So they were all happy.
At the end of the day I read them again from the read aloud, and they took the climax very well. They had learned about a kosher get in navi, so they were able to follow me. The only thing I had to teach them was that a non-kosher Jew could not convert and become ok. He was still a Jew, but he had special laws about whom he could marry etc.
After class, C.S.S. came over to me to ask me why I hadn't come to their Shabbaton, and I told her that I had already discussed it with the class yesterday. She told me that the class didn't believe that I had a bar mitzvah that night. She said that they knew for a fact that I had never called Hebco.
I dunno where they picked that up from, unless Hebco told them something or they made it up. I looked at C.S.S. and told her to mind whom she was speaking to. I was her teacher and I did not need to defend my reasons for anything or my life to them. I told her that it hurt me terribly that any girl in the class should think for even a minute that I would lie to them just to get out of coming to their Shabbaton.
I'm pretty bothered by this, and I wish I knew where it was coming from.
Later at night, S.G.'s mother called me to cry about how hard S.G. was trying to pass history and about how she had so much to juggle right now as they were still learning to be frum, and having classes every night with a Hebrew tutor.
I told her that for tomorrow, I'd only test her daughter on what she had studied. She was so thankful.
I told her that from now on it was more important for S.G. to focus on the Hebrew stuff and that I would give her the shorter tests on less material.
She cried; she was so happy.
I marked the second part of the ELA practices my girls did, and they were quite the letdown. Oh well. Their ELA is next week, and they aint getting any better than this.....
I wonder if when the parents will watch the school video at the PTA they'll have any idea what goes on behind the scenes of every lesson I teach. I think Jim the video man should follow me around for a day or two. I'd like for the parents to get to know the other side of us. The side that works 24 hours a day to cater to their kid.
But alas, the only thing they're gonna see on the video is my big fat belly bluffing through yet another boring history lesson.....

No comments: