As to completely shock me, our pyrophile student K did a complete turnaround. Somewhere a switch flipped up, and she participated more than anyone in the class yesterday. Am I surprised? YES. She's a great writer, so I'm glad she did.
What happened was that I had to give a talking-to to these high school students because there was a lack of participation when sharing their writing with -everyone-. I got a bit strict and said that this was not going to work. I laid it out there that writers need to be vulnerable; they need to let people in. It's petrifying to let someone hear or read our work, but good writers have to make themselves vulnerable to really grow and get better. We have to expose themselves to criticism, encouragements, and failures. It really sucks because writing is a very personal thing. We take what is in our minds and place it on paper for all the world to see; we take it to heart. The process is necessary to really have authentic and layered writing. So, after that little pep talk, K rose her hand and shared. [insert happy I'm-going-to-eventually-change-the-world teacher dance here]
I still love to teach my Writer's Palette class most. They give SO MUCH participation. They especially loved our "Round Robin" character development activity (where you have one minute to write about a certain character and then you have to pass it to the person next to you... who then must elaborate upon the pre-existing character). It got them all laughing, and we learned no matter what, when writing, our characters will always change. One girl's character started out as a princess and ended up a spandex-loving superhero. Another hilarious one was a young boy turned boy band member. The best one I thought (and pretty layered) was a 55-year old professor who dealt with a bunch of melancholy through his whole life, including non-speaking terms with his daughter and losing his son. There were other details within that character's description... but too many to mention. Just take away that it was really great.
I'm supposed to start tutoring this little boy in French today, but I haven't even met him yet. I just received my "French for Kids" book in the mail yesterday, and I'm really, really anxious to get started. T (the program director) and everyone else just laugh at me and lovingly call me a dork. HEY! I'm passionate! And I wanna teach something I'm obsessed with! Don't mess! :)
At the moment, I think I got some funny looks because I just broke out one of my girls' skorts and started mending them. Two days ago, A was running around and came by my room with her zipper all falling off and I'm like, "Sweetie, go get some shorts on and let me fix your pants!" She just laughed and said, "It's not that bad!" Oh yes, it was. She's a trip, that's for sure.
Gosh, I'm exhausted today. I'm sitting in Study Tutorial right now, and my next period is my off time. Can't wait to take a nap and a shower! Trust me, you do not want to fight for bathroom rights with ten other little girls at 7am. It's just not worth it. haha
- Miss Chelsea :)
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