Student: Miss Boman, have you ever been to a concert?
Me: Well....yes.
Student: Which ones?
Me: Um, there's this thing called Lifelight in South Dakota. It's actually pretty good.
Student: Well who was there?
Me: Don't say Chris Tomlin...not Barlow Girl, either. And you better not say Superchick. Probably shouldn't say Leeland. Um...Family Force 5?
Student: [Severely unimpressed and continues working for a while]
Student: Miss Boman, have you ever partied? [Other students begin to pay attention]
Me: Uh...
Student: You know, gotten it down, 2001 style?
Me: Student, I was thirteen in 2001.
Student: Oh
Mr. Weidenaar: [Bent over laughing]
Yeah, I have no idea. But I also get this all the time:
Student: Miss Boman, have you turned on your swag today?
Or this:
Student: Miss Boman is a balla'!!
Or this:
Student: Say it! Say it!
Me: No.
Student: Come on, say it. "Tree-fitty." Say it!
Me: No.
And these are my first experiences with high school students, people who understand every possible passing fad and every popular expression under the sun. And all the while I have to make them believe I have no idea about modern trends, otherwise we'll have an hour-long discussion on how the Jews for Jesus chapel sound guy looked exactly like Alan from The Hangover.
So do I not respond? Do I redirect these pop culture literate people toward something else? I think the best I've done was relate romanticism to Lady Gaga....Taylor Swift to Emily Dickinson...Forrest Gump to Huck Finn.
I'll leave you with one more:
Me: Put that phone away.
Student: It's not a phone.
Me: Put that i-pod away.
Student: It's not an i-pod.
Me: Put it away!
Student: Ahh! That's what she said.
I give my biggest thanks to The Office for making "that's what she said"s popluar. (Beth, if you're reading this, you understand, right?)
High school.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Sunny days, taking the...clouds away.
I think the presence of sun has a lot to do with perspective. Call it natural force or whatever, when the sun comes, so do the smiles. Let me put this in perspective for you. I am sitting at my after school job, monitoring Rehoboth's new weightroom, and about half the walls are windows. Right now the sun is at its brightest. It's at a height in the sky where it shines full force into every western facing window, and all I can think about is an everpresent reality: you're leaving in a week. I am leaving in a week.
Suddenly I feel like my time here at Rehoboth has been cut short, like I need another half a semester. Who knows, maybe it's the sun that's doing it to me, but I want to do more hiking, I want to continue to develop those relationships I have begun, I want to go to the flea market another time, and I want to drink coffee at Camille's. I want to see the Grand Canyon, I want to hike in the Hogsback hills, I want to climb Pyramid Rock, I want to be here when track season starts, I want to keep playing volleyball on Thursday nights, I want to keep teaching that awesome 6th hour class, I want to see Janelle's brilliant essay that will be published soon, I want to see the talent show, I want to see the boys' and girls' basketball teams go to state. I want to have just a few more weeks.
So why has my perspective changed so much from the first week? When I first got here, all I could think about was going back to Iowa and South Dakota, going back to live with Kearsen and Josh. I didn't know anyone.
Then the days just got cloudier and I got to experience life in a New Mexico blizzard. That should never happen. I got over my full-time section of student teaching, and now that I'm comfortable, I have to go.
And now that the sun is here, I have to leave it.
It's going to be a long Spring.
And you're going to have to bear with me...
Because the further and further I step out of Rehoboth, the greener and greener it looks to me.
I want. I want. I want.
Suddenly I feel like my time here at Rehoboth has been cut short, like I need another half a semester. Who knows, maybe it's the sun that's doing it to me, but I want to do more hiking, I want to continue to develop those relationships I have begun, I want to go to the flea market another time, and I want to drink coffee at Camille's. I want to see the Grand Canyon, I want to hike in the Hogsback hills, I want to climb Pyramid Rock, I want to be here when track season starts, I want to keep playing volleyball on Thursday nights, I want to keep teaching that awesome 6th hour class, I want to see Janelle's brilliant essay that will be published soon, I want to see the talent show, I want to see the boys' and girls' basketball teams go to state. I want to have just a few more weeks.
So why has my perspective changed so much from the first week? When I first got here, all I could think about was going back to Iowa and South Dakota, going back to live with Kearsen and Josh. I didn't know anyone.
Then the days just got cloudier and I got to experience life in a New Mexico blizzard. That should never happen. I got over my full-time section of student teaching, and now that I'm comfortable, I have to go.
And now that the sun is here, I have to leave it.
It's going to be a long Spring.
And you're going to have to bear with me...
Because the further and further I step out of Rehoboth, the greener and greener it looks to me.
I want. I want. I want.
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Tomorrow students are supposed to come to school dressed in all maroon and gold...or red and gold and black. Actually, I'm not entirely sure what the colors are anyhow. Something of the sort. Apparently teachers around here dress up, too, so I'll have to see what I can find. That's right, if you haven't guessed yet. It's homecoming week. We had superhero day. Sarah dressed up as Darth Vader, and Jules dressed up as Marge Simpson (don't know if that counts). Then there was jersey day, and there was celebrity day. I was going to go as Katy Perry, but realized I own no Katy Perry clothes, I don't have dark, Betty Boop hair, and I can't walk in heels...or sing "I Kissed a Girl" with my conscience still in tact.
Today I had students working on a predictions worksheet, but a few of them were talking, so I said "shhhhh." And they did. Like good students. But one girl said, "BUT IT'S THURSDAY!" "Yes," I said, "and tomorrow is Friday." She'll be fine. Nobody panic.
And tomorrow is Friday. I will be ready for 30 minute class periods, because we have to include a pep rally and chapel, oh AND school, too. So we're reviewing some of their most creative hypothetical endings to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and laughing. Should be fun.
Today I observed the senior dance for Rehoboth's Got Talent. Colby is coreographing the dance, and they're dancing to Kickin'.
I was going to buy Valentine's candy for all my students...but then I saw chocolate covered cherries and bought those instead. I realized that I have over a hundred students, and that would be a lot of candy to pass out. So I might draw a big heart on the board that says something like , "You're sweet." Maybe.
Anyway, this is choppy writing, and I'm suddenly very tired. Good night, and if I don't talk to you before then, Happy Valentine's Day. (I will not be seeing the movie).
Today I had students working on a predictions worksheet, but a few of them were talking, so I said "shhhhh." And they did. Like good students. But one girl said, "BUT IT'S THURSDAY!" "Yes," I said, "and tomorrow is Friday." She'll be fine. Nobody panic.
And tomorrow is Friday. I will be ready for 30 minute class periods, because we have to include a pep rally and chapel, oh AND school, too. So we're reviewing some of their most creative hypothetical endings to The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and laughing. Should be fun.
Today I observed the senior dance for Rehoboth's Got Talent. Colby is coreographing the dance, and they're dancing to Kickin'.
I was going to buy Valentine's candy for all my students...but then I saw chocolate covered cherries and bought those instead. I realized that I have over a hundred students, and that would be a lot of candy to pass out. So I might draw a big heart on the board that says something like , "You're sweet." Maybe.
Anyway, this is choppy writing, and I'm suddenly very tired. Good night, and if I don't talk to you before then, Happy Valentine's Day. (I will not be seeing the movie).
Monday, February 1, 2010
Oh, this might work. But then again...
The beginning of a full-time student teaching schedule has brought about a whole new dynamic to teaching. Suddenly, my greatest ideas are just good thoughts and my most prized lesson plans wouldn't cover the smallest of what goes into one class period of American Literature in one day.
Take a groupwork activity, for example. There are thirty students zoned into a time and a place called seventh hour on a Monday. This group activity should take no more than 25 mintues. Students will read a chapter out loud and answer the questions, no big deal. Nice idea. In college education courses I would write it down like this:
Groupwork. Students will read chapter out loud and answer questions. (took me 10 seconds to write)
But in a real classroom with real students and with real considerations, maybe I should have written this in college education classes:
Groupwork. Before students are assigned to groups, make sure they understand the assignment. Be prepared to explain it four different times in three different ways and to write directions on the board. Oh, and don't forget to explain that the group with four guys should keep reading together, and the group with two giggly girls can't possibly think Huck Finn is so hilarious, and the yardstick should NOT go down a student's shirt: "what are you doing anyway?" I ask. Be prepared to redirect ten different conversations and to be sociable without distracting the students. Be prepared for those students who haven't read the chapter and for those who haven't read but pretend like they have and for those who have read but won't talk and for those who have read and want to talk all the time. Be prepared for interruptions: "Miss Boman, can we...." "Miss Boman, I have to use the bathroom" "Miss Boman, what does this have to do with anything?" "Miss Boman, you going to the game tonight?" Be prepared for those who put the worksheet in their bag and say they'll do it that evening. Be prepared to have created a lesson, complete with all worksheets, projects, assignments, assessments, main questions, etc, that in no way matches the amount of time students use these artifacts.
So if that's one 25 minute lesson, what the heck am I teaching for?
Oh yeah. Did I mention my students are amazing and I can see potential rising up out of each one of them every time I see their faces in the halls or grade one of their essays or quickwrites or worksheets?
And it's a give and take situation, because in the midst of that one 25 minute lesson, I'm thinking a hundred different things a new teacher should think.
And don't forget about introductions, connective and integrative concepts, and conclusions. And don't forget about the fact that in two weeks, they might not remember this groupwork lesson.
So as I think again at those merciful college professors, who said my ideas were great and were sure to challenge students, I realize now that an engaging lesson does not come with a one-sentence "Have students do this..." plan. It requires so much more.
So much so that I probably shouldn't be writing this right now at 10 pm when I have a whole day to plan for tomorrow.
Ephesians 4: "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
So is this life worthy?
I hope so.
Take a groupwork activity, for example. There are thirty students zoned into a time and a place called seventh hour on a Monday. This group activity should take no more than 25 mintues. Students will read a chapter out loud and answer the questions, no big deal. Nice idea. In college education courses I would write it down like this:
Groupwork. Students will read chapter out loud and answer questions. (took me 10 seconds to write)
But in a real classroom with real students and with real considerations, maybe I should have written this in college education classes:
Groupwork. Before students are assigned to groups, make sure they understand the assignment. Be prepared to explain it four different times in three different ways and to write directions on the board. Oh, and don't forget to explain that the group with four guys should keep reading together, and the group with two giggly girls can't possibly think Huck Finn is so hilarious, and the yardstick should NOT go down a student's shirt: "what are you doing anyway?" I ask. Be prepared to redirect ten different conversations and to be sociable without distracting the students. Be prepared for those students who haven't read the chapter and for those who haven't read but pretend like they have and for those who have read but won't talk and for those who have read and want to talk all the time. Be prepared for interruptions: "Miss Boman, can we...." "Miss Boman, I have to use the bathroom" "Miss Boman, what does this have to do with anything?" "Miss Boman, you going to the game tonight?" Be prepared for those who put the worksheet in their bag and say they'll do it that evening. Be prepared to have created a lesson, complete with all worksheets, projects, assignments, assessments, main questions, etc, that in no way matches the amount of time students use these artifacts.
So if that's one 25 minute lesson, what the heck am I teaching for?
Oh yeah. Did I mention my students are amazing and I can see potential rising up out of each one of them every time I see their faces in the halls or grade one of their essays or quickwrites or worksheets?
And it's a give and take situation, because in the midst of that one 25 minute lesson, I'm thinking a hundred different things a new teacher should think.
And don't forget about introductions, connective and integrative concepts, and conclusions. And don't forget about the fact that in two weeks, they might not remember this groupwork lesson.
So as I think again at those merciful college professors, who said my ideas were great and were sure to challenge students, I realize now that an engaging lesson does not come with a one-sentence "Have students do this..." plan. It requires so much more.
So much so that I probably shouldn't be writing this right now at 10 pm when I have a whole day to plan for tomorrow.
Ephesians 4: "I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."
So is this life worthy?
I hope so.
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