Skip to main content

Hard Work Really Does Pay Off

I've seen it today.  The noses buried in pages of a fantasy land, an adventurous journey, or a love-struck moment.  The pens spewing ink and words and life so fast that clocks seem to skip.  The heads, sideways-cocked, thinking.  And thinking.  And thinking.  The wheels really are turning.

 It's been workshop week in English III.  Students are revising an argumentative research essay over - of course- censorship and books!  They asked interesting questions and searched for answers.  Passion grew in them as if almost cancerous, consuming. Secondly, students are writing from their hearts.  The additional writing piece is a personal one.  They are free to select their intended emotion they want to convey.  They are free to select the angle - one book, all books, censorship in general, themselves as readers.  And, they are free to select the form.  Thus far, we have letters, speeches, narratives, editorials, poems, Twitter feeds, Instagram posts, and even a survey with a written response.  

 This week, all I asked was for them complete three jobs: the revision, the personal piece, and the usual independent reading.  I am utterly stunned by the focus, determination, and drive.  My favorite Twitter teachers (who I only kinda stalk) just may be right.  This workshop stuff is amazing!

 I don't know about the kids, but I am having a blast!

 I've seen it in my peers today too.  We got our EOC scores from this semester back.  It's an ominous thing to have THE boss, the extra tall fellow clad in an impeccable suit, wander into my room with a stack of papers in his grip.  But the news!  Oh, the news!  He was kind enough to stick around and share the details with the English lunch crew.  I just don't recall the last time I heard them cheer - genuinely cheer - like that.  They were beyond thrilled, and what a reward.  They are the most dedicated, kind, hilarious, unexpected, giving people I know, and the frustrated efforts of semester after semester of lower numbers and the repeated asking of "What else can we do?"have all come to fruition.  I am proud.

 Thus, it has been a great day!  In case I haven't said it enough, I love my job...


Comments

  1. AnonymousMarch 31, 2017 at 9:07 AM

    Steve, why didn't you comment on this?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Emily

One evening a few weeks ago, my almost 8 year old, Emily, was having a night. The scream, pout, tantrum kind of night. Drama was high, and I was doing my best to remain calm and avoid an explosion of anger or a fit of giggles. I'm about 50/50 when it comes to kid fights. I can never predict if I'll react in yelling or laughing. Anyway, this particular incident dealt with toothbrushing. I have come to believe that brushing one's teeth - at least at elementary age - must be akin to chewing shiny metal thumbtacks. Hearing my children protest, one may conclude that I torture them frequently with the help of Crest and Oral-B. This night was no different. Emily was NOT going to brush her teeth no matter what I suggested. Typically, she puts the paste on her brush, clicks two minutes into the timer, and off she goes. But not that night.  Her protests grew, her voice reaching higher and higher octaves as her eyes bulged and her face sizzled. She slammed her bedroom door. She th...
3 comments
Read more

Witnessing Growth

I'm still feeling it. Aching limbs. Dreamy, wistful staring. Frequent Twitter checking for inspiration. Frantic starting of too many books. Jotting of one more new classroom idea.  It's the NCTE hangover.  I was extremely fortunate enough to attend the National Council of Teachers of English conference in St. Louis this year. It was my third conference and first time to present. I was anxious and nervous, excited and, to be honest, a little bit sweaty, and it was the coolest experience!  The books! The authors! The electric energy of thousands of giddy English teachers! Those teachers are the ones who made presenting a dream, smiling up at me and nodding as I told my stories and shared my students' experiences.  But that wasn't the best thing that happened. The best thing was my friends. This year, I traveled with five colleagues, five amazingly intelligent, hilarious, witty women. We fit together nicely; two awaken before the roosters, two at a "normal...
Post a Comment
Read more

The First...

I've been writing since summer 2014.  Again.  I wrote in late high school, bits of college, and remnants of early adulthood.  Then, alas, life happened.  Really, mostly, kids.  It was the game changer they said it would be.  Then, I heard Penny Kittle.  Another game changer.  She spoke to my soul and articulated all the ideas and emotions and convictions floating helplessly in my head and heart for so long.  Now, because of her, I write again. Since, there have been countless times when I am struck by the urge to put words down.  To somehow describe the indescribable.  Occasionally, I have written something I kinda liked!  Other pieces I have repeatedly returned to with despair.  Trying to write the words fitting for the love of my life, for example, has not yet worked out.  More tears than words seem to flow, especially when combined with thoughts of our children.  Those words are stuck in the revision process...
3 comments
Read more