5th period
i had a really fun day with my 5th period today. truthfully, i had a fun day with all of my students, but period 5 really deserves mention.
we are studying different types of poetry and today we learned about the ode. we did a few notes on what it is, and then we read some odes. the first one was called "ode to a toad." it was written by a massachusetts high school student, and it's about a person who goes jogging and she sees a squashed toad on the road. she kind of philosophizes about this toad, and his life, and whether his family misses him, then she says "in the grand scheme of things, i must confess, what's one little toad more or less?"
i couldn't even get past the first stanza when my 5th period erupted into laughter and grossed-out noises about the squished toad on the road. it seemed like more of them reacted than didn't. while that might sound kind of immature, it was great for me to know that they were engaged and paying attention enough to have a pretty powerful reaction to this poem. i kept reading and at the end one of the musicians/rappers in the class said "that was tight, ms. bogie. you were spitting that." [translation: you read the poem well. i think he liked my exxagerated expression, which i used so that the poem could come alive for my students. i had a lot of fun read it to them, also.]
so after i finish reading that poem, we have another one to read. this same kid (the rapper) asks if he can read it. i was delighted that he had volunteered (no one had volunteered to read in either of my earlier classes) and said yes. as he started, another student, actually the one whose poem i posted, began echoing the last word of each line of poetry, like back-up singers would do with a musician. it actually sounded really cool. the kids were totally into it, laughing, cheering, smiling, and i was just sitting there with this huge grin on my face, loving my students so much. it was a really awesome day!
another thing that felt really cool was that i was using a literacy technique--i modelled fluent reading with my first poem, and then two students volunteered to read the next two poems. they did a good job, too. this is grade level material directly from the textbook and they read well. overall, good stuff.
off to finish the homework for my technology class that i have to take for credentialing. let's just say that i'm a few weeks...ahem...behind.
we are studying different types of poetry and today we learned about the ode. we did a few notes on what it is, and then we read some odes. the first one was called "ode to a toad." it was written by a massachusetts high school student, and it's about a person who goes jogging and she sees a squashed toad on the road. she kind of philosophizes about this toad, and his life, and whether his family misses him, then she says "in the grand scheme of things, i must confess, what's one little toad more or less?"
i couldn't even get past the first stanza when my 5th period erupted into laughter and grossed-out noises about the squished toad on the road. it seemed like more of them reacted than didn't. while that might sound kind of immature, it was great for me to know that they were engaged and paying attention enough to have a pretty powerful reaction to this poem. i kept reading and at the end one of the musicians/rappers in the class said "that was tight, ms. bogie. you were spitting that." [translation: you read the poem well. i think he liked my exxagerated expression, which i used so that the poem could come alive for my students. i had a lot of fun read it to them, also.]
so after i finish reading that poem, we have another one to read. this same kid (the rapper) asks if he can read it. i was delighted that he had volunteered (no one had volunteered to read in either of my earlier classes) and said yes. as he started, another student, actually the one whose poem i posted, began echoing the last word of each line of poetry, like back-up singers would do with a musician. it actually sounded really cool. the kids were totally into it, laughing, cheering, smiling, and i was just sitting there with this huge grin on my face, loving my students so much. it was a really awesome day!
another thing that felt really cool was that i was using a literacy technique--i modelled fluent reading with my first poem, and then two students volunteered to read the next two poems. they did a good job, too. this is grade level material directly from the textbook and they read well. overall, good stuff.
off to finish the homework for my technology class that i have to take for credentialing. let's just say that i'm a few weeks...ahem...behind.
posted by Allyson B. at
6:53 PM
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