I'm not too bogged down with it or anything; Mondays usually are not great. And it's over now.
I just did a couple exercises about setting today. Read some excerpts from Ralph Fletcher's excellent book, Live Writing. As in, not dead. I hear that his The Writer's Notebook is also very great. Check them out, teacher folk. Or writers. I had the students brainstorm possible settings (the mall, home, another planet, midnight, noon, etc). Then I had them do some visualization about a room in their house. Then they had to use their senses to recreate that room with words.
The homework, which I think is pretty neat, is to rewrite Little Red Riding Hood (I just wrote Little Red Writing Hood! Ha!) with a different setting. Meaning, NOT in the forest at daytime. Students asked, "So, like, what about the city?" and "What about the Bronx?" To which I replied, "Sure, that's different. Little Red Riding Hood IN the 'hood!"
Tomorrow they're going to start making little skits (to practice using the elements of a story). Cross your fingers that it works, it gets them engaged, and that it's not a management nightmare. (Yeah, right. They're gonna go wild.)
Oh! Here's some fun news. You know how my room is always in use? That I only ostensibly have it to myself for fourth period lunch? No longer! A seventh grade class will be in there every fourth period, except Thursdays or something. Fan-freakin-tastic. Who needs a prep in their own goddamn room? Surely not me, little first-year teacher. Who needs a place to invite kids in for extra help? Surely not me! Gah.
After school, we had a department meeting. Our supervisor, who is a nice person, and deserves respect, is not too great with showing us the respect in order to 'win' respect for her. I try not to dwell on it. I can see where she's coming from, because we as adults should be quiet and respectful in meetings. However, as an adult and an educator, she should not talk down to us and insult us. Sort of a catch-22, perhaps, a little bit.
All of us had to finish up some busywork "data" analysis before we could go home. Blah. Stupid.
Ooh, guess what I did on the way home? I went to the grocery store! No, really! Then you know what I did? I joined a gym! No, really!
I've been feeling fleshy lately. That sounds kind of gross. What I mean is that I don't think I've gained weight (thank goodness for those size-8 cords!), but I've totally lost all muscle tone in my midsection. Thighs aren't too shabby (or flabby), because of the walking and the double-stairs-taking. But I'm just out of shape. I stopped working out last MAY, back home in Washington. I was doing pretty good at home; pretty good toning and stuff.
So I just sucked it up (or in) and went to the Lucille Roberts that's right in my neighborhood. They have a lot of classes in the evenings, and I hope to start tomorrow. I'm kind of excited. I think it will be really good if I get in a pattern and am able to work off stress at least Tuesday and Thursday evenings after school. Maybe Mondays and Fridays too, depending. Anyway, I'll keep you updated!
----
Oh man, I had a crazy dream last night. I was at my dad's house (and I think the two houses were a lot bigger), with an AmeriCorps/Habitat friend and his girlfriend. We were hanging out, checking out the view.
All of a sudden, Mt Rainier erupted! The top fifth of the mountain kind of rose up crookedly as red lava spilled out beneath. I was like, "Holy shit, look at that! Where's my camera?" Yeah, I'm a nerd, even when I'm asleep. Anyway, the lava and the melting glaciers caused this giant heated snow to flood everything--all the way up to my dad's house. (Mt Rainier has to be at least seventy MILES away...so in reality, would this happen? Not so much.) It was freaky and yet cool. I was taking pictures, with two cameras around my neck. One was a type of camcorder, and ice was gathering on the lens. I kept breaking it off and trying to defog it, hoping that all my pictures would come out.
God, I am so weird.
No comments:
Post a Comment