Today I'm going to be a leader at our staff meeting and begin the discussion of dealing with that challenging class. They have the ability to be so engaged with the content, and there are so many...personalities...but it's getting very challenging to get any content across.
Last Thursday, the 8th grade science teacher was out sick. She definitely needed the day off, but it was my job to teach one lesson, and to teacher the other two coverage teachers the content, since I'm the head science dude here. Of course, it's my least favorite topic in science: electricity. Okay, maybe my second least favorite, next to magnetism (so happy she isn't sick this week). I kind of faked it till I maked it. It worked, though, and I briefly felt like an awesome head science dude.
I also had to video tape a class for Relay. The class had to follow the 5E model, which is a really effective science teaching model, but it's difficult to fit every step into a single lesson. The lesson went smoothly, but I felt like I was fitting into someone else's lesson plan, which is weird. It felt overplanned and not organic. Blech. Can't wait until I'm done with it. Useful stuff, but a lot of work.
Today I had a very uncomfortable moment in which I had to explain to a (black) student why it was not okay to draw a swastika on his hand in class. He didn't really know what the symbol meant, so the dean and I helped educate him. The dean gave him a bunch of readings on the history of the symbol, including its original Sanskrit meaning of goodness and how it has since become a symbol of hate. I got to teach him a bit about why that symbol made me uncomfortable, and I asked him a bit about his background. It turns out, this student is half Arabic, and knows how to read a little Arabic. I shared how the funny language that he can read a little bit of is very similar to the funny language that I can read a little bit of. I think he walked away a bit more educated, albeit embarrassed.
It turns out, I am actually reading Ken Follett's Fall of Giants, not the other book I mentioned. Oops, right author, wrong title. I am still loving it, and sneaking it in as much as I can (like this morning, when I was tidying the classroom), but I hope I can finish the 11 hours left in the next 7 days! There's gonna be a lot of audiobooking this weekend.
Detention today is really, really stressful. I keep waiting for the powder keg to burst (okay, definitely reading too much WWI fiction). I can't focus on my work (hence the blog), but I don't need all my attention on detention. Oy. Oh well, I guess I'll give planning another shot. I still have 15 good minutes left!
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