Wednesday afternoon finds me blogging again.
Today my two grade nine classes were totally different. I want to talk about the first one, because it was quite amazing. (The second one was less so because they were too hyper to be able to have a good discussion.) So we watched "The Crucible" the past few days because we're starting to read a book about a girl who is accused of witchcraft called _The Witch of Blackbird Pond_. By the way, "The Crucible" is an adaptation of a play by Arthur Miller (called the same.) So we watched the movie, which I thought was fairly brave on my part since the kids might go home to tell their parents that they were watching a movie about witches. Today I read to them a letter of complaint (written by me) and had them respond, writing about why they thought it was okay (or not okay) to watch this movie in a Christian school. They were incensed! It was great.
A discussion about censorship and what we should or should not see turned into talking about good and evil in our world. They were really good--raising hands, waiting their turn to talk. It's taken until now for them to learn how to participate so well in class discussion. The principal came in while this was going on, and was quite impressed (brownie points!) It was fun.
The second group didn't go so well. I blame P.E. class. It gets them all hyper and then they don't want to listen to each other. So we read silently for the rest of class. That'll teach 'em.
9 comments:
that's a great idea! (writing the complaint letter). a bad idea, on the other hand, is putting any PE class in the middle of the day. just dumb. i hated that in high school.
Yeah, the complaint letter is one of my favourite things to do. It's great because the kids get so into it. First, they're shocked that any parent would want to limit what they might watch or read in school, and then they get all up in arms when I tell them that it was fake. It's pretty fun--for me as well as them.
margaret that's pretty smart.
and yes, i agree about the stupidity of PE in the middle of the day.
haha, way to put your foot down.
what does PE have to do with school anyway? does it actually in any way help students stay/become healthier? (of course this is from a homeschooler who's excercise was basically limited to walking everywhere in town...actually, thats alot of excercise...better than twice a week for half an hour...i think we should just take highschooler's cars away...then PE wouldn't be necessary and we could spend more money and effort on actual education...).
Well, they're in grade nine so they can't drive yet. And Abbotsford is a farming community, so walking to school from a 15 minute car ride away is kind of not an option. A lot of them take the school bus.
They have P.E. every day for 80 minutes. On the day in question, the boys went on a "mystery run" where the person in front decides which way to go. I guess they made a wrong turn, and ended up running all the way to near where I live (which is a 15 minute car ride away.) They ended up running for 80 minutes straight. CRAZY!!
Actually, I liked P.E. when I went to this school because we got to play fun stuff like soccer and lacross, and tennis.
that mystery run sounds like fun.
yep amanda, i was homeschooled too. but my parents put my brother and i in swimming classes. pretty soon we were living at the pool. i spent about 2/3 hours training there every day during my middle school/high school years.
good idea with the letter! i'm glad they got into it.
i really liked PE at Abby too. except for the year i had mssss. busch. yikes.
i hope you're feeling warm by now--oh, how i know the misery of cold apartments/houses!
oh margaret. i miss you in band.
and your teaching adventures sound... well, adventuress. and that is neat.
the other thing that is neat is this: my mom sent my sister and i an e-mail that said, "i met an old friend and his son is married to betsy's (my sister) roommate's (autumn something) boyfriend's (your brother) sister (you). i don't know how they found that out. but then i realized she was talking about you--but it took awhile because of the marriage issue. anyway. it reminded me of you and how i think you are cool.
he he he. Did you tell them that we're not married yet? I was a substitute teacher in band class today. They sounded . . . not so good.
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