Old Issue. New Perspective.

So, as the title of this blog alludes to, I had the opportunity (don't you love my optimism?) to revisit an age-old issue in my profession: poorly planned lessons. Now, all of my fellow teachers know that a poorly planned lesson could mean a number of things--it could be inaccurate time management, wrongful assumptions of class participation, lack of solid learning objectives, unorganized materials, poorly executed activities, unclear explanations, unrealistic expectations, lack of readiness, and on and on and on... Well, regardless of the exact culprit of the poorly planned lesson, the responses and reactions of the students are usually pretty similar: off-task behaviors. And, even as a teacher with high expectations of her students, I totally understand why these sorts of lesson plan "blunders" generate off-task behaviors. Who wants to sit quietly and patiently when they are confused, frustrated, irritated, and misguided? Ohhhhh, probably no one. :/

So, yesterday (the day after Labor Day), I went into school with my first "actual" lesson. All of the first week of school I tried my damnedest to make sure my students became familiar and comfortable with all of my procedures, expectations, quirks, and structures. I must say, they all did a marvelous job of patiently taking in and practicing the many, many processes and ideas that I presented to them. When I left school on Friday, I left with excitement for the long weekend, and excitement about getting started with my English curriculum. So, let me preface my lesson planning process by offering some brief background context about my classes.

1. I teach two sections of tenth grade English and one section of ninth grade English (we have block scheduling).

2. Most of my tenth graders were ninth graders last year, and since most of them also attended Tech last year, they had the Pebble Creek curriculum in English as ninth graders.

3. Pebble Creek does not include units for The Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, or any other classical texts for that matter. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not a die-hard advocate for texts like The Odyssey or Romeo and Juliet, but I do see the importance of making rich, classical texts relevant for today's teens.

4. As I mentioned in #3, the ninth graders at Tech have to go through the Pebble Creek curriculum, so for my ninth grade block, that is what I have to work with.

So, with that little snippet of information off my chest, I would like to get back at my intentions about lesson planning for the weekend. Since I had such a positive experience with The Odyssey at Riverside, I decided that I would use the whole "Epic Hero" concept to crank out some of the WKCE skills that we are required to enforce for our ninth graders (at Tech). I was feeling rather good about my ability to quickly "whip something up" for an introduction to Greek Mythology and The Odyssey. In addition to my confidence in the ease of my tenth grade planning, I wasn't really stressing at all about the ninth grade planning. (I believe I kept telling myself, "Well, even if you do end up winging it, there's a binder pretty much telling you what to say to the kids.") Please don't judge me, or cast me off as "one of those lazy teachers." I will simply defend myself by saying (in a slightly defensive tone): "But it was Labor Day weekend... and I just wanted to take it easy... You see where this is going.

Well, I showed up to school yesterday with more planned than I had originally anticipated. I had handouts with vocabulary words for my ninth graders, and I had questions and poster instructions about the twelve Greek gods and goddesses for my tenth graders. I have to admit, I was feeling pretty good about my readiness for the day. Well, those feelings changed about halfway through Block One (my ninth grade block). "What do we do when we are done with the words, Ms. K?" and "How are we supposed to define these words without a dictionary, Ms. K?" "Ms. K, I don't have a notebook yet!" So, I did what any English teacher would do in my situation: I improvised. I had extra paper for those who needed it, I showed my students how to use a thesaurus in place of a dictionary (we don't have a dictionary... don't ask!), and I encouraged my quick workers to pair up and compare definitions. Then, with about twenty minutes left in class, I had them go into Silent Reading. They had caught onto my discombobulation about ten minutes before Silent Reading, and so they flew with it--and I don't blame them! Those kids acted super sassy during "silent" reading! By the time they left, I could feel my hair knotting up, and I could feel the armpits of my shirt getting damp. "Okay, Megan, GET IT TOGETHER." In walks Block Two (tenth graders). I distributed the necessary handouts, kept their attention during the minilesson, and set them free to work. "Ms. K, we don't have that part of the handout." "Ms. K, why is their group doing the same one as us?" "How are we supposed to make a poster if the glue is all gone?" Aghhhhh! Stupid printer! Stupid me for not double checking to see who was working on what! Stupid glue stick! Then, wouldn't you know, I FORGOT THAT THERE WAS A FIRE DRILL. In the midst of total chaos, I had kids running out of my classroom (keep in mind I did NOT review proper Fire Drill procedures because I had forgotten about the freakin drill..), and my room was a total disaster. Needless to say, Block Three walked into a classroom that was left awry, and had to sit before a teacher who was feeling OVERWHELMED. So, I humbly told my students about my mental state, and I asked for their forgiveness and their patience. They tried their best. Haha.

That night, I went home with a HUGE to-do list, and self-promises to work my ass off until I felt OVER prepared. The result: I was up too late last night, but I had seamless lesson plans for today, and I had a super fun, excellently fantabulous day! :)

Que random thoughts time:

1. I am totally jealous of my CLC leader's classroom! If I could make my classroom into a carbon copy of her's, I would. The only problem: I don't have the money to put cute little table cloths on the student tables, perch worldly artifacts on the super high ledge above the dry-erase board, and buy a smart board.

2. I am feeling really crappy about the copy situation at my school. At Riverside, we could go into the copy room and make our own copies AT OUR LEISURE. At Tech, there is a copy guy (named Doug) who is a "sweet" little old man with a serious attitude problem (ha-ha). He runs a strict "hands off the copiers" rule for teachers, he leaves at 3 pm (about 30 minutes into my planning period), and he needs to have copy requests at least one day in advance. Well, all of these things pose some problems for me. First of all, I'm a control freak, I like to do things myself, and I like to do them when I want to do them. Secondly, I teach for three straight blocks, so 30 minutes into my planning period I'm lucky if I have my freakin attendance into eSiS. Finally, I'M A FIRST YEAR FREAKIN TEACHER, DUDE. I don't have master copies for lessons four days in advance! I just don't.

3. I absolutely adore my classes. There is such an amazing dynamic in each class, and it makes for some interesting interactions. It's very entertaining to see how all of these kids' personalities mesh within the classroom.

4. I have some major issues with girl-crazy boys. I'm starting to consider having the nurse come in and have a little talk about the birds and the bees...

5. I wouldn't mind it one bit if my class roster stopped fluctuating HOURLY. :)