Sunday, January 24, 2010

Calmer Waters

Literally. No rain today. Whew.

Woke up early, got a LOT of good work done in mom's Jr. High classroom. She starts on Monday! Eeek! Lots to do! I've got her bulletin boards mostly done, pencils sharpened, red pens flower-fied to deter thievery. We were there on Friday where the original teacher was supposed to be for his last day but he skipped out, and left a sub with not enough on her lesson plans.

Me being me and unable to leave students idle and prone to mischief (you know 8th graders give em an inch and they go for the marathon) I stepped in by the second class out of 5. I had students helping to take apart and clean up the classroom so I could start fresh. I also realised that even that wasn't enough to keep them busy for the whole day. So I told em to get out a piece of paper (something to keep em busy while I racked my brain for an assignment.) I told them to write their name, date etc. (still scrambling). Then I decide to give them a random question personal quiz that will allow me to get to know them while assessing writing skills. It was fun! I'm sitting here in an empty house, my music playing, tummy full, body exercised (that's right I went to the gym), sitting on the couch responding. I got some really good responses and am learning that these kids have potential to be really fun this year. Exhausting, but fun. Should you wish to participate here's the quiz:

1.) Using correct punctuation and capitalization, who was the last person to speak to you before school and what did they say?
2.)Answer the following question as if you are an expert from PBS. What three songs do you need to complete your music library.
3.)What has the potential to be your most embarrassing moment?
4.)What is the best thing your teacher could do for you?
5.)What would be the one thing that would ruin a persons reputation?
6.) What, in your opinion, is the best shoe in the world?
7.) What would be the best cafeteria food?
8.) Create a short dialogue between you and me.
9.)If you were working at your dream job, what would be something you would say to your boss?
10.) In a solid paragraph (Introduction, Filling, Closing 5 sentence min.) tell me something. Anything.

Some interesting things:
One student says his golf handicap is 3.2.
90% of another class said "The best shoes are Vans because they are AWESOME." Seriously...to the capital letters in awesome. I liked this answer:
"The best shoes in the world are....(drum-role please) VANS! I lah lah lah love Vans because they come in all colors and all shapes and they're very ADORABLE!"
Huh, they come in all color. Guess I better get me some Vans. I think we might hear more from this one. She also put Eye of the Tiger as one of her top songs. Yesss!
Lastly, I have yet to have one song repeated more than twice. Music is much more diverse than when I was in Jr. High.

4 comments:

Grandma G said...

YOU woke up EARLY?!?! ;)

Glad your rain stopped. It's calmer here today, too... and the best thing is that we have power! :)

What fun questions! You sound like a great teacher (and a fast thinker!).

I'll pray for your mom this week. Wow, she's come a long way, hasn't she?! Hurray!

I'd never heard of Vans. Now I know. That's my "something new" for today. Thanks. ;)

Have a great week!

Grandma G said...

P.S. BTW, our "calm" will be short-lived. Starting later this afternoon we have a chance of light snow accompanied by WINDS (gusting up to 49 mph) for the next couple days (which will fill in all the cuts in the snow... again), and then we'll drop down below zero again.

Just thought you'd want to know that. Maybe I should plan to fly out early this afternoon, huh? ;)

Sra. Brooks said...

Haha. Before I even got to the bottom of your post I KNEW the answer to the shoe question would be VANS. Vans and Skinny Jeans...they cross gender and racial boundaries like no other fashion craze has for the 12 - 18 year old. You will probably get asked on a semi-daily basis why you are not wearing Vans. Welcome to Jr. High! :)

Neola said...

You are so good! Praying for you and your mom and that all goes okay!