The truth is,

Middle schoolers carry germs. It's true; cooties do exist. Just don't tell the kiddos.
I've had a fever above 99 for four days now. I'm tired of watching Tabatha's Salon Takeover.
Wednesday is my last day at the middle school; I will miss this rotation the most by far. It has been so much fun; every day is a completely different and interesting challenge. Hopefully I won't miss tomorrow OR Wednesday. That would just break my heart.

All in all, the satisfaction and happiness I carry with me each day that comes with doing what you love is so overwhelming at times. Other feelings take over a lot, such as frustration, impatience, etc., but when you know at the core of it all is a potent joy, you know you're doing something right. This brings me peace in a quite chaotic time.

Showin' Up Wordsworth

As our poetry unit is coming to a close (much quicker than anticipated, thanks to the snow week), I wanted my students to apply what they had learned and at the same time work with a more challenging piece of poetry. Yesterday, we looked at Wordsworth's "She Was a Phantom of Delight" to identify similes and metaphors. Today the students wrote parodies of the poem. The results were, well, interesting! What I liked about it was that it challenged the kids to really examine the structure of the poem, and then imitate it. Of course, there is only a certain level of comprehension that seventh graders can usually achieve with poetry this complex, but this didn't stop them from tackling the activity like pros. It also gave me the oppportunity to teach a bit about the man, Wordsworth, and what some of those difficult phrases meant.
For those of you who need to brush up on the poem, here's the first stanza (the only one we looked at):

"She Was a Phantom of Delight" by William Wordsworth

She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely Apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament;
Her eyes as stars of Twilight fair;
Like Twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheerful Dawn;
A dancing Shape, an Image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

...and our renditions:

Student A:
"She Was a Booger in Disguise"
She was a booger in disguise
Everything that I despise.
A disgusting image that made me weep
I am now afraid to sleep
Her eyes as tired as a sloth
Her hair covered in dandruff, like a cloth
A sluggish appearance,
Makes me sure I have no interference.
Her flaky skin was a sin,
I will never be the same again.

Student B:
She was a phantom of scare
And when I saw her, I lost my hair
She wasn't a delight
more like a fright
Her face was a disgrace
to the human race
her dusty hair
reminded me of my dirty underwear
I wanted to throw her in the trash
because she gave me a large rash.

Student C:
He was a demon of fright
When he came upon my sight;
A horrible person, sent
to destroy the Christmas ornaments.
His eyes as red as fire would dare;
Like darkness, too, his creepy stare;
But above all things, his trashy lawn
From midnight to the dreary dawn
A fiery shape, the opposite of day,
To scare, to haunt, by the way.

Now, tell me Wordsworth isn't rolling over in his grave!!

Boom! Bang! Crash! Onomatopoeia!!

Onomatopoeia... can you say that ten times fast? Can you spell it once?

I challenged myself to create a completely original activity to introduce/practice onomatopoeia. I came up with comic strips; the old comic books and cartoons came to mind. The BAM! when the bad guy gets kicked, and the OW! when the good guy gets knocked down. Anyway, here are the results (pending the kid-test):

No more Monday blues/Thoughts of teaching fill my brain/Release by haiku

Monday mornin'... Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! I am thankful that we as a nation have set aside a day for such a progressive, courageous man. Just think--perhaps we have the next MLK in our classrooms right now.

I have two things to share today. First, I had avacado on toast, coffee, and orange juice this morning. This is a luxury since I didn't need to be rushing out the door at 6:30.

Well, that wasn't my first thing I wanted to share. (and now for something completely different) First, something I created last semester for grad school which I want to use in my next rotation. A few months ago, I read Alan Sitomer's Teaching Teens and Reaping Results. Fabulous book from the teacher of the year in California. He's best known, I believe, for using hiphop as a tributary to understanding themes in more comlex texts. An idea he had for a long-term project over novels, plays, or other long pieces of literature is to create a menu using either themes, characters, or other aspects of the text; the menu-format is to get to the essence of the thing being studied. I created a model one for Hamlet.
Luckily, I am going to be able to actually execute this project, because during my next rotation, I will be teaching Hamlet, 1984, Macbeth.



I understand it is hard to read, so to keep you from squinting and getting a headache, here are my Hamlet items available for your pleasure:

Hamlet chops: Cooked in a variety of spices and in a tangy glaze, you never know if your next bite is spicy or sweet.

Sweet Ophelia Salad: Made with the freshest greens and tossed in our famous River dressing.

Claws of Claudius: 1/2 pound of crab steamed in the vapors of justice... makes you feel like a king, for awhile. --Recommended drink: Long Island Laertes.

Long Island Laertes: This drink has a stab of flavor to get your night going--don't ask us what's in it.

Gertrude's Sweet Potato Fries: A classy and charming favorite. Recommended with the Hamlet Chops or the Claws of Claudius.

Horatio's Prime Rib: Best of the best, its flavor stays true to the end.

Ghost Toast: Frightfully delicious and guaranteed to quickly disappear from your plate.

Polonius's Poultry: Chicken breast served beneath a curtain of fancy cheeses.


I'll get around to that second thing later today. :-) Have a splendid Monday, and don't forget the differences between their, they're, and there!

Why we do what we do.

Another graduate student sent this link out to us students. I had never heard this guy before, but he's great. Funny and evangelical :)