Terrors of the 21st Century

For the warm-up today, I asked the students what scares them, and I was a little surprised at how delighted most of them were to answer. Unlike other questions, very few said "Nothing" or even "I don't know". There were 27 different responses from 60 or so kids, and whenever anyone walked into the room and looked at the tally on the whiteboard the reaction was the same: Oh! Is this what scares us?

In addition to ghosts and zombies and spiders and snakes, the list included teachers and tests (which was relevant today in class!) and bad grades (which sadly, was also somewhat relevant today after class). There were also answers that kids have given for generations, like creepy people, small spaces, the deep ocean, spooky noises, broken bones, and death, but my favorite answer was the kid who simply posted Bad wifi, because when we read it? 

Everyone shuddered.

Write the Writing You Want to See

The 6th graders have to write an introduction to themselves, so using the guidelines and planning questions we gave them, I composed my own. Enjoy!

Hello! I am Ms. S. and I am really glad to be teaching you this year! Here is a little information about me:

I was born in Washington, D.C., but we moved out to Falls Church when I was one year old. After that my family lived in New Jersey and then Saudi Arabia. I went to high school in Switzerland and college in New York before returning to Virginia. I've taught sixth grade English here at Jefferson since 1993, but it never gets old or boring. 

 I'm the type of person who likes to stay busy, so in my spare time I cook, work in my garden, read, play pickleball, and go hiking. I also do yoga and write every single day, because I think regular practice is important in building skills. During the pandemic I started baking bread, and I still do that once a week. I also have a goldendoodle named Lucy, and I love spending time with her and my two cats. 

 My goal for this year is to combine learning and fun. I like to think that although school is mandatory, it doesn't have to be boring. I hope we can all work together to make our English class the best it can be. Are you with me? Okay! Let's do this!

Friendly Yes, Helpful No

"How are you today?" a smiling young man asked me as I pushed my cart down an aisle of an unfamiliar grocery store.

"Good, thanks," I said and then paused. I looked at my cart, full of everything on the list with the exception of a single item. "Can you tell me where the rice is?"

"No, no, I cannot," he answered, still smiling.

I frowned and shrugged. "Oh, well," I replied, "I guess I'll find it." I trolled around a bit more. Rounding a corner and finally spotting the rice, I saw that the guy was there, too. 

"Here it is!" he said.

"There it is!" I agreed and, my shopping complete, I headed for the checkout.

All in the Family

"Can I leave this bag in your room?" a seventh grader asked this morning. "It won't fit in my locker."

"Sure," I shrugged, peering at the long thin parcel she carried on a strap over her shoulder. "What is it?"

"It's lacrosse gear," she told me. "My friend Addie is going to teach me how to play after school."

"8th grade Addie?" I responded, and when she nodded, I said, "She was in my homeroom!"

"I didn't know that!" she laughed.

"That's right," I confirmed. "You were in here last year, and she was here the year before. She's like your older homeroom sibling."

"I like that!" she smiled. "I'm going to tell her when I see her!"

Not Even Me?

"I read your blog," my brother told me when we stopped by this morning, "how everyone is aging clearly made a big impression."

"I know!" I agreed.

"It's because you work in a school with lots of young teachers," he said.

"And the kids!" I added. "No one gets old in middle school!"

"Not even you, apparently," he laughed.

Mature Gathering

My sister in law is turning 60 on Monday; a milestone birthday for sure. To celebrate my brother planned a party in the wine bar of a local place and invited a group of 20 or so friends and family. 

Even though I had known most of the guests for thirty years or more, it had been a long time since I had seen many of them. I confess that I was a little surprised that despite our vibrant energy, there was absolutely no question that this was a party for a 60 year old. The gray hair and wrinkles gave us all away. 

"Irritable" Vocabulary? (10 letters)

To give the students a fun and engaging opportunity to review the prefixes they have been learning, I turned to a tool I used several years ago, when last we taught word parts. I created a crossword puzzle using a website that worked for me back then. 

Because I thought it best to start off pretty easy, each clue had the definition of the prefix and some form of the root word. So, for example, "to spell something wrong" would be "misspell".Even so, I wasn't prepared for the number of kids who didn't know how a crossword puzzle worked. 

The concept of across and down was confusing, and some students literally turned their papers 90 degrees to write the down answers from right to left. One kid found a space for the actual words 'across' and 'down' and then crossed them out like it was a reverse word search. Additionally, going through and filling out the ones they definitely knew was a foreign concept to them, especially since they didn't realize that having some letters could help them check and solve other clues.

All in all, what was planned as a quick review activity took a lot more assistance and supervision, (not to mention time!) than I expected, but once they got it? 

Most kids asked if I had another one.