update (addition to yesterday)

the terror has passed. (phew!)
i knew it would.....turns out that all it took was getting started on unit planning, and a good hour of intense swimming. there were only three other people at the pool last night, so there was no one in my way. i swam fast! and it made me feel better.

probably the other reason that i'm not freaked out anymore is that my poetry unit has gone from having an amorphous shape in my head to a concrete set of steps and what i think is a pretty cool and solid plan. i LOVE doing poetry--it was an incredible success in my classroom last year, and i think that my enthusiasm will be infectious this year also. i partly like it because i can bring in readings from other sources and not have to do a lot of copying, etc--using a story that's not in our textbook is a big production. using a poem that's not is just one photocopy. i feel like i get to bring in a lot of good stuff.

just had a lovely brunch with some family friends from when i was little. it's really nice to be able to stay in touch with people.

back to school on monday!

sometimes...

...i feel like i'm not cut out for this. (note to self: teach kids that figure of speech).
i am sitting down today to plan my poetry unit that i'm starting on tuesday. i've been feeling excited about it, but also really nervous. and the enormity of my job is pressing down on me and scaring me. maybe i think that i'm more important than i actually am, and if i started taking myself less seriously this would be easier. it's almost funny, because it's not like anyone is putting much pressure on me besides myself. i guess thhat's what TFA counts on--they select perfectionists who put tons of pressure on ourselves, and then all they have to do is give us a little poke and we work and work and work.
i know, poor me, boo hoo. i have 2.5 days left of a 9 day vacation and it's starting to be time to do my work and i'm not excited.

happy thanksgiving everyone!

Thank you!!

if you gave, thank you. my kids will be getting their books thanks to some generous and so far anonymous donors.

shameless request

if you didn't get a chance to read all the way to the bottom of my last really long post, basically what it says is that if i can get $262 donated through DonorsChoose.org, a foundation will donate the rest and I'll get 50 new books for my classroom (which i selected and think are great). a friend of mine has indicated that he's going to give a chunk of money but i'm not positive that he will fund all of it. so, my shameless request is that if everyone who is reading can give $10 through donors choose to fund my classroom library, i'm sure that the proposal will be funded in no time!
please help.
thank you.
click here: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=123361&zone=402

Becoming Lifelong Readers

I am sooooo excited. I got an email a few weeks ago from the TFA folks about a matching grant that's being offered by the Koret Foundation for teacher supplies.
I submitted a proposal to build my classroom library, which is pretty good but is missing some books for lower-level readers and also more books by and about minorities. i don't have a single white student, so i like to have some books to cater to my audience.
also, there are a lot of what is called high interest/low level books available for students. that means that my 8th graders who read at a 4th or 5th or 6th grade level can read books that they understand on topics that are interesting to them.

the grant proposal is for $524. that includes all of the fees that DonorsChoose.org charges for shipping, etc. It's for 50 books. if you would like to know what the books are, there is a PDF cost report on the proposal. in addition to my knowledge about literature and my students, i also used various professional booklists and advice from our school librarian to select the books. i mention this in case any of you are looking to spend a small amount of money on supporting education. the proposal is already half funded through the Koret Foundation, so there is $262 left to be funded before july 1, 2008. it won't take much to get the books for my kids--and the great thing is, there will be 90 students using the books this year and many more in the future.

the link is http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=123361
if you are considering giving, thank you in advance. the sooner i get the books, the sooner that my students can enjoy them. my students are working to grow their reading levels 1.5 years in this one school year, so that they won't be so far behind in the future. help them "grow their brains"! :-)

I'm a genius

here's why i'm a genius. i thought of something that no TFA teacher or credential program has ever suggested that I do. I had my kids do jigsaw puzzles for their first day of sitting in groups. my thing is that i began the school year with the students in rows. i decided this week that management is under control, and that i need them to be able to ask each other for help instead of constantly needing me. so we started with group work today. there were some tables that were awesome at putting together puzzles. In my last class (the really difficult one), a bunch of groups didn't finish. go figure. they are kind of dysfunctional in general. i am very tempted to start moving kids around, but i decided that i would give them some time, and give them a chance. a few of them seemed like they would truly be disasters, but i saw over the course of the period that things did come together. that was the point of the puzzle. i chose it as the thing that would most likely bond them together and let them compete in a fun way. i also really liked it because you can't copy off people--i found a variety of 6 different 100 piece puzzles at the dollar store. i had to get a total of 8 puzzles for my 8 groups, but they couldn't copy each others ideas.

it's been a REALLY boring week in my classroom and i felt like we all needed a little pick me up. so, i took the plunge and did groups. it was a fun and successful day, and i feel like the puzzles kind of brought my kids together in a way to help them realize they could get along with each other.

now i have a few students hanging out in my classroom helping me out and just hanging out. they came in and announced that they wanted to tell me all about Vietnam--two of them are Vietnamese--so they told me stories about their trips last summer. it was very cute. now they are writing the "do nows" for next week. those are the warm up activities that students do right when they come in the classroom. basically it's journal prompts--so far they have come up with "would you rather eat 1,000 chips or 1,000 pieces of your favorite candy and why," "what would you do if you were the last person on earth and why?", "what would you do if you were president of the United States?" and "the vacation is coming up. what are you going to do? why?"
it's nice cause i don't have to do it and they are excited because they will see something they did in the classrooom.

three day weekend, here i come!!