Seventh Grade

I'm so sad that I have to leave DMS. I absolutely loved seventh grade...I never knew the Constitution could be so fun and interesting! The kids gave such amazing feedback, telling my daughter how much they loved having me as a teacher and saying that they wish I could stay. I wish I could stay too. It's such a great fit with the way I teach...I'm easygoing and fun, I relate well to the age group (I got a bunch of "you're the coolest teacher ever"-s), and I am genuinely interested in the subjects. It's going to be such a letdown having to sub in a genetics and biology class for the rest of the week! At least I get to go back on September 8-11 for a week of 9th grade history with some of my older daughter's friends, but I've been told that I need to do no planning because the teacher is "very structured." Read: worksheets, bookwork, and general boredom. UGH. I think I'll just make some lessons and teach them for real. Worksheets make decent time fillers, but BLECCH, all the time? No way. No wonder so many kids hate history...the book is deadly dull. I want to bring it to life, darn it!

Oh, even better! One of the administrators came in and observed me for a while today! The kids do get kind of loud during class discussions so I think the next door teacher mentioned something to him. When he came in they were on their best behavior and we had a great discussion about First Amendment rights...I even had them create a mnemonic device to help them memorize their five basic freedoms. They got it!!!