The last few weeks have been trying. It's just been one of those “when it rains, it pours” times. So, in an effort to not get taken under, I've been trying to keep my focus on the things going well, because there are many.
I haven't really been getting much sleep this week. That's mostly my fault, but the nights I did actually go to bed at a good hour, I was unable to sleep and when I did sleep I dreamed poorly, but yesterday I took a two hour nap and last night I slept for 9 hours. Catching up is upon us.
I know I still have a long way to go with my teaching, but I am worlds better than I was a year ago, and better, even, than I was at the end of last year. Teaching a new class for science is giving me a different perspective too. When they came in, I had to adjust to them, and they've had to adjust to me. This class has a different personality than my class and I find myself having to teach them differently to keep their attention as a whole. This class, however, only has 5 students passing because almost no one turns in my homework. Emily is having similar issues with my class for Math. We've tried expressing that, yes, you do get a grade for this class, but they just don't get motivated. We make them write it down, when they go back to homeroom, I remind them of Math work they have and Emily reminds hers of Science. When they don't bring it in, remind them daily for a week, sometimes a few will bring it in then. I fear that it's going to take quarter grades, a lot of parent-teacher conferences, and about 15 science recuperation tests for anything to really change. But, if if it works, then I'll take it. I should probably just prepare a statement in Spanish to share with each parents I need to meet with about Science. The kids also had a chance to make up their quiz grades, and most did not.
However! For the first time in my teaching career, I gave a test that actually appears to have grades that completely reflect the student's understanding. The kids who get it, got good grades, the kids who don't get it and don't try, got very poor grades, and the kids who struggle, but work hard, got decent grades. Which, I can and will also share with the parents when it's meeting time.
I've also really been missing writing recently. I've been trying to get some of my old writing buddies to edit some of my work, but it's slow as they have no motivation to get it done and have other lives going
on. Plus, I just don't have that much to give because I haven't been writing much.
I found a word generator, that gives you 60 seconds to write the first things that come to mind, and I've started doing that a couple times a day. I'm also going back through my old notebooks where I wrote down ideas that never came to anything and looking up journals online to submit to/read their works. Kat and Emily are fiction writers, and Emily actually started a website for free expression concerning
domestic violence. She's printing an issue and is still working on it from here and I've volunteered my services since I worked in editing for two years at the Dos Passos Review and I miss it. Even though we're different genres, we've started playing with the idea of starting a mini-workshop here. I think that'd be great.
I've really gotten into stumbleupon.com and have spent the last couple of days just going through the categories “writing” and “poetry.” I've been reading more, writing more, and saving journals that I think I might like, or other tools (like a cliché finder, though it only does word-for-word cliches, not whole images, but that's okay).
I've also been hiking a lot recently. Yesterday a few of us went up searching for illusive waterfalls that we never found, but we did learn a little more about the flora and got to stretch the legs. Plus, Kat and I were able to geek out of the obsidian sprinkled road we were walking on. We just walked really slowly and picked up all the pieces we could find. Some were very clearly a part of tools, and the others are just pretty. We're thinking about going back up tomorrow and taking it more slowly.
I think, sometimes if you're missing something, you need to build it where you are. The tools are here.
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