Keepin' On Keepin' On

This week we are learning about the WRITING PROCESS! And it was so nice to learn that when they finished the seventh grade last year, they were doing well to write a single paragraph! Ahhhhhh! They have to be able to write 500 words in the form of 5 paragraphs by the end of the year! Needless to say, we have our work cut out for us. I shudder to think about those responsible for the reading test!

Monday wasn't too bad. I had 3 boys come in at lunch with me to clean desks, pick up trash, and scrape gum (that one had sooo much fun, let me tell you!). But, really, it was just a matter of reminding everyone that they had to keep quiet, take notes, etc.

Today was a little more eventful. The gum scraper got silent lunch for making me call on him 3 times before I even finished taking roll. Then, when I informed of his punishment, he gathered his books and walked out into the hallway where he proceded to bang loudly on the lockers. I began the day's assignment and calmly called the office on the intercome, informing them of the situation. The principal was there in a matter of minutes, and the student did not return for the rest of the hour. The class was AMAZING! We got so much done, and I did not have to call many of them down at all! Once their ring leader was gone, they were actually decent pre-humans, as my father likes to call them.

A later hour was even more rambunctious, driving me to threaten that the next person who speaks would have silent lunch. Immediately four young gentlemen decided to try me on it, and, so they will be visiting the silent lunch coach tomorrow. (One, however, did promise not to speak again for the rest of the hour if I would take it away. He didn't, so I did. He was another ringleader, and the change in climate was wonderful!)

On the academic side, I am not sure my notes are completely clear. There were several questions about a thesis statement, and I realized as we went through the Power Point that I used some rather large words. This weekend, I hope to put it in more 8th-grade language for next year.

I also found out from bellwork this weekend that I have 2 students who speak minimal English. This week I have begun writing bellwork in Spanish and English, and they are copying the notes in English. At least they are copying word for word. I have contacted the ELL teacher and am going to try to get some notes to them in Spanish so that they at least understand the basic writing process by the time they start trying to write in English. It's kind of fun, actually, getting to use my Spanish, even if it is a little bit extra work.

I also have begun the "differentiated instruction" approach! A few students on IEPs and not were having trouble keeping up with notes for whatever reason. I therefore went through and printed a copy of the slides with blanks for them to fill in. It seemed to help, though I will have to wait and see how much they learned.

Pretty exciting so far, and it's only Tuesday! Can't wait to see what the rest of the week has to offer. Can't say I would rather be doing anything else at this point, though I hear Halloween is the time most people reconsider.