On to Term Two!

It's always amazing to me how fast time seems to go; it doesn't feel that way when I'm in it, but looking back as we begin a new term, that was fast!  I actually did the cut-off for assignments for Term 1 a week ago so that if I had anyone with an emergency (and I have more than one), we have time to deal with it.  What I have in the gradebook is pretty much what's going to be in the gradebook, but I'm still hunting down stragglers.

One thing I've noticed this year is that many of my students are having a rough transition from middle school to high school.  They've love the freedom that comes with high school; they've love the social life that comes with high school.  What they've forgotten (Spiderman Moment!) is that with great power comes great responsibility.  They're forgetting that they are now responsible for staying on top of things and meeting deadlines.  They don't keep track of their assignments.  They're not checking their own grades.  Many do not seem to realize that the responsibility for their education is now starting to come down to them.  Choices are made that have consequences - both good and bad - and many want to make the choice but avoid the responsibility.  I recognize this from my own children.  Having a 13-year-old and a 15-year-old in my house, I share the struggle.  I want to save them from a bad choice, but can't; otherwise they don't learn how to do this themselves.  I remember attending an inservice several years ago where the speaker talked about empathy and the "Bummer" moment.  I've used this ever since.  It means, "I get it since we all make mistakes, and it's a bummer.  So what are you going to do next time?"  In other words, the consequence sticks, so learn from it.  Forgot to turn in a homework assignment you did and the teacher doesn't take late work?  Bummer.  Watcha gonna do next time?  Took your phone to class and it got taken away?  Bummer.  Watcha gonna do next time?  Unfortunately for the guest speaker's wife, this backfired one day when she went to the bathroom and realized too late that she was out of toilet paper.  She called out to her son to grab her some from the closet and heard back, "Bummer!  Whatcha gonna do next time?"

So onward and upward into Term 2.  We're still struggling to get Romeo and Juliet going.  We finished Act I, Scene i and are now watching the movie clip.  We've done quite a bit to work on skills that make it more readable, so hopefully we can go more quickly now.  In addition, we worked last week on PSAT skills and grammar, on top of having vision testing and advisory schedules, so time was against us.

Here's what's coming up next week:

• Monday, 10/31 - we have to pass back papers.  I have a lot of no-names that need to be claimed.  We'll also do a page of prepositions and continue the movie clip for Act I.
• Tuesday, 11/1 - NO SCHOOL!!! It's an inservice day for teachers. (I hope they enjoy that 70-degree weather!)
• Wednesday, 11/2 - we'll start with the final page of prepositions from Packet #3 and turn it in, then we'll continue with Romeo and Juliet Act I.
• Thursday, 11/3 - Test over Prepositions!  I've shown them exactly what it looks like.  I've given them ways to study and get help if they're struggling.  Then we'll continue Act I.
• Friay, 11/4 - goodness, I hope we're done with Act I!

That's what I've got.  I hope to see many parents at conferences the following week.  There's been a change in how we do it and they now run (for the high school) on Monday, 11/7 and Wednesday, 11/8 in the afternoon and evening.  The school website has the times, I'm sure.

I hope everyone has a great week!  Ciao!
 
On to Term Two! by Laura Stubbs is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Based on a work at http://laurastubbs.blogspot.com.