It is not Kimberly's birthday anymore. It is, however, parent-teacher conference day! And consequently, since I had only three conferences, I am home from school waaaaay early. I love conference day!
There are some incredible parents at my school. I haven't had to deal with any of the "oh my child is an angel - the bad grade must be your fault" types. They are supportive parents, and great to work with. Hurrah for Christian schools!
I came home with three video versions of Macbeth. I will be watching them for a large part of the afternoon, deciding which version will be best for my kids to watch. My life is so hard.
I had my students write out what they thought of Macbeth, and 3 out of 4 of them hated it. Hm. The class is four 9th grade boys, so it's not like it was my upper level or anything. But I was still surprised. (Boy #4, by the way, got an insane amount of brownie points for liking it!) Who hates Macbeth?!?! Part of me was sad, because if I had taught it better they might have liked it better. And part of me was annoyed because of my suspicion that one of the boys' very negative attitude influenced the other two. Grrrr. I sense an attitude peptalk/lecture coming up!
So I'll just add my little exhortation here (warning: preaching to the choir coming up!). Be one of those people who makes things go. Go into whatever you do, especially if it involves a group, with a positive attitude. It makes such a difference for everyone else! And it's scary how much one bad attitude can poison a group.
In other news, I'm reading Hamlet with my older group, and they're loving it! And, what's more (perhaps) they're understanding it! I was so overjoyed yesterday when the whole class was laughing - really laughing - at Polonius and his way of talking. Yay! Way to understand Shakespeare's sense of humor! That class is so awesome.
And while I'm in the midst of Lit updates, since I guess that's what this post has turned into, my 7/8 girls told me yesterday that Jane Eyre is the best book they'd ever read in a literature class. HURRAH!!!
Man, I love teaching lit.
2 comments:
I really disliked Macbeth in high school, and I know at least two other girls who did. At least two of us like it now. The moral is, it's not you! They'll grow into it, maybe...
Who DOES like Macbeth? Good thing I'm not in your class...five out of five students would have come out of there hating it.
Haha. I don't even know it very well...but it seems so "bleh."
Post a Comment