I am currently sitting in my desk, watching my ELA 20 class work on an assignment for our novel study. The students have been given the task of writing a letter to themselves as parents, providing insight as to how they should raise their own kids. I didn’t tell them to work quietly, but they all are, for the most part. Does this mean they actually don’t mind the activity I’ve given them? Or perhaps they are even enjoying themselves?
Tag Archive: ELA
It has been just over a month since I began my internship. Time is flying by pretty quickly to say the least. It feels as though each week is going by a little quicker than the next. Within 3 weeks, I’ll be in the notorious 3-week block. It is notorious among education students as it is the full-time portion of one’s internship where four classes are being taught in the day for three weeks straight. When it comes down to it, three weeks is not particularly a big deal for any teacher as they teach four classes every work day for year after year, until they get sick/bored/tired/jaded/convicted, and then they quit/get fired. For an intern, three weeks of being in constant go mode can be pretty stressful. I could chalk this up to the amount of work being brought home, the lack of time to prepare for tomorrow’s class, having to teach a class that one is not comfortable with… There are a variety of reasons.
I am currently teaching two classes a day. That will change tomorrow when I pick up an english language arts 20 class. This will most likely be the class I feel most uncomfortable with. I actually had a dream last night about getting into a fight with one of the students from this class. It’s obviously pressing on my subconscious. I think why this class will be the most difficult is because the kids are a little slower and uninterested than one would like, I’m not particularly resourceful when it comes to ELA, and I will be doing a novel study of a book that was published 50 years ago.
Seriously, I have no issue with looking back on our culture’s past to see where we’ve come from and learn how we’ve grown. But grade 11s, as far as I know, have no regard for the 1960’s way of life. At least not many of them. I love how there is this worldwide sort of “movement” that is starting with regards to education and how it must be brought up to a 21st century standard. This is evident even in our school because the video I posted below is from the same speaker as was presented in a number of our staff meetings this year, Sir Ken Robinson. I love this, and the fact that we’re trying to think progressively, or outside the box if you will, on how we can reform/revolutionize our education system. I love that this is all supposedly happening in the midst of me preparing to teaching a 50 year old book to students who were born at the end of the 2nd millennium.
So on that note, I will not be doing said book that was published 50 years ago. Instead, I will do a novel study on teen love and pregnancy. My only problem is that I cannot seem to find any resources on the web for it. The book’s called “Dear Nobody.” Got anything for me?
