The kids are indifferent to learning and school work, but they were excited about the new LG phone Pat got me after she lost hers, borrowed mine, and lost my charger. They were also excited that I bought a new pair of Merrils, because they "be tired of them ashy boots" I wore every day.
Because the standardized tests are off for a while I've been doing independent reading time again, allowing the kids to pick either a book or a magazine to read for points. All they have to do is read--no questions, no journal responses, no nothing--just read, for 20 minutes, and I give them points. More than half of them throw these points out the window talking or staring off into space. Whatever. The ten percent of my kids who take advantage not only get the points, but they've read five or six novels ahead in the Bluford series. Some of them are reading the Donors Choose books I got earlier in the year, which is encouraging. Walter Dean Myers and Judy Blume are big.
Most of my magazines are not read, but they are, however, showing signs of substantial wear. Especially magazines with cologne or perfume ads. The kids rip these out and rub them all over themselves. They also like to take ads of scantily-clad adults out and fold them up and put them in their pockets. Mags like In Style and Women's Health and Men's Health which I got for a few bucks via Amazon deals are quickly torn up. Some inventive deviant drew large phalli entering a woman doing yoga poses. Oh, the tittering!
I had some plans to do student projects about Hawaii and Indonesia and Kenya and the Luo before reading a bio of Obama written for sixth graders. Now I'm thinking I'll scale back those plans and perhaps just teach them the context--the behavior in the building is so ridiculous right now I don't think I can try anything fun or special without totally derailing my classes. Everyone is hunkering down and just trying to endure the last quarter. I hate to waste time, however. These kids do enough of that.
No comments:
Post a Comment