They call it "Teacher Work Day" because all the other days we're just playing around

It's been so long since I've blogged I don't know where to start! Result: A buncha randoms.

* So I finally get a day off school and what do they do? Make me come in anyway to read papers and put in grades. The nerve.

But in the end I really enjoyed reading all 150 student essays on different themes in The Old Man and the Sea. Time flew by. One student put in two of the required three direct quotations from the book, and for his third he said this: "As is sung in Dr. Horribles sing-along-blog by Captain Hammer, " It may not feel to classy begging just to eat, but you know who does that? Lassie, and she always gets a treat. So he wonders what his part is cause hes fish-less and depressed. But home is where the heart is so his real homes in his chest. Everyones a hero in their own way." Then he went on to discuss why Santiago was a hero in his own way. Not bad, a shameless plugs go. Though I would've preferred money taped to the back of the paper...!

* The next week when the kids saw their grades, I got to hear a lot of sob stories. I mean, so many student simply decided not to do their paper! How could they not realize that essay was worth 30% of their grade?? I was forced to enter in many more F's than I had ever imagined. At first I felt horrible about it, until I realized that it was their choice. They had the knowledge, but refused to put it into practice. Lame.

* One student, unfortunately, had a legitimate excuse for not finishing his paper: his mom, who had been on life support all week, passed away the day grades were due. But what really surprised me was that he showed up for my class first period the next day! I guess sometimes we deal with grief and change by going on as usual, searching for sameness and routine.

* Another student, however, simply wasted his time in the computer lab and turned in nothing, so his grade was also nothing. Saturday, the day after I'd posted his failing grade, he emailed me to following sentence: "its (name) i wana know if i could do the old man and the sea essay cus i dont want a F" I had three really good reasons for him: A) It's Saturday, I shouldn't even have to be checking my email; B) You had your chance, you blew it; and C) Your poor grammar and spelling in your request doesn't exactly endear me to raising your grade. Still, kudos for being the ONLY one to email me about the essay. Even though I didn't let him, it was stil nice to know that he cared... slightly.

* Yesterday I didn't have to go to school because I went to a seminar at the Salt Palace called "The Best Books of the Past Decade for Teens and How to Use Them in Your Program." The presenter was an awesome teacher/librarian from an all-girls junior high in Silicon Valley, California who went through an extensive list of new book options for students. My favorite could be a textbook called "From Hinton to Hamlet: Building Bridges between Young Adult Literature and the Classics" which I believe has been my life's focus ever since I picked up Harry Potter; I've constantly felt this need to defend newer books to those obsessed with the "literary canon" or any who might dismiss contemporary fiction for lack of "literary merit." Fie to them! Just because it's new doesn't mean it can't or shouldn't be taught in schools. In fact, here's one thing the presenter pointed out:

"With the exception of complicated plotting, all the traditional literary elements typical of classic literature are present in most contemporary novels for young adults--flashbacks, allusions, irony, metaphorical language--though they are used less frequently and at times less sophistocated levels."

So the moment I got home I headed straight for the library, checking out 6 or 7 of the books he'd presented on. One of them I finished entirely last night. I'll get a list of these new books soon. I'm pretty excited about it!

* Today (and yesterday, with the sub) my classes listened to music to identify uses of Metaphor and Simile in the lyrics. How awesome am I!!? I wish I had me as a teacher! Here's a list of the songs we used:

• Simon and Garfunkel: I Am A Rock
• Rascal Flatts: Life is a Highway
• Natasha Bedingfield: Unwritten
• John Michael Montgomery: Life's a Dance (thanks, Emma!)
• Disney: Candle on the Water
• Guster: Satellite
• The Killers: Human
• Donny Osmond: I'll Make a Man out of You
• Smashing Pumpkins: Bullet With Butterfly Wings
  
• Incubus: Drive

I have to say, I was really impressed with how they picked out not only the obvious ones, but further metaphors I hadn't even thought of from the songs. That's kind of why I put that Killers song on there, because I have no idea if there even is a metaphor in it, so I wanted to see their thoughts. Oh, and that Mulan song was chock full of 'em! It really was a way fun lesson.

* "Gang Awareness" week at our school culminated today in an assembly (during 2nd period, optional at teachers' discretion) where students played some games answering questions about gang-related facts and statistics, and two former gang members spoke. One was from California, of Mexican descent, and now is just finishing his master's degree at the U; the other was "Poly" and from Seattle, apparently a place rife with gang activity. The first rambled a bit and lost the students' interest, but the second... it was amazing to see how the entire assembly was in the palm of his hand. His story was intense - once while heavily involved in his gang, his girlfriend broke up with him and he almost killed her, which snapped him back and made him realize he needed to change. When he finished, the applause was real. I'm glad we had it - it was really needed at my school.

* Oh, and the school newspaper came out yesterday, full of April Fool's jokes like "our school is getting uniforms!" and "it's now required for everyone to use the communal showers before class" and "school news writers jailed after newspaper prank goes horribly wrong." Clever stuff.