Still only Tuesday and not Friday

Well, it's only six pm, but I've been home since three, so it feels like practically the middle of the night. And I have done nothing school related!

Grades are due on Tuesday--MY BIRTHDAY!! WHEE!!--and the only thing I really need to focus on is getting the stories graded...all ninety-five of them. Argh. Should have worked on that over the weekend, but oh well. I've kept on top of the homework and test grades, for which I'm really proud of myself. Just need to input participation and classwork grades, which I will estimate based on my observations.

Today we talked about making connections in reading, and then in writing, about writing short responses. Then we also did a kind of fun activity that I was excited about.

I told the students: "I'm going to play something for you and you need to listen. Write down any words that you know. ...It will be harder than it sounds." They were all, ok, whatever, weirdo.

Then I pressed play and out came "Comic Strip" by Serge Gainsbourg, a boppy, slightly polka-ish French song peppered with all kinds of onomatopoeia. The refrain goes, "Shebam. Pow. Plop. Whiz!" It's definitely weird but delightfully goofy. The kids' faces were priceless. Mostly along the lines of "What the fuck is this?"

Once we shared the words they noticed, I had them write down what the words had in common, what kind of words they were. I think all the classes got that they were onomatopoeia. Reviewed the definition, and then listened again to the song to find more examples.

To practice having them incorporate this new figurative language into their writing, they wrote a poem about school, using onomatopoeia. As they wrote quickly, I walked around and told a few students I'd be calling on them to read theirs aloud. They did and so the class got to hear how the onomatopoeia was used. It went well.

Ho hum. I'm bored because I hate working at home. I've been really good about grading homework during preps or quiet time during class (yes, folks, I am a world-class multi-tasker! sweet!). However, I did not get any graded today. I'm not sure why. Guess I was a bit lazy after the craziness of yesterday.

So, I have to grade that shit (poems using alliteration), and start grading the stories...

...Yeah, I think I'll keep watching tv and reading blogs.