I Love My Job!

And any time I say otherwise, you all can remind me about this post!  I had so much fun teaching Friday and today.  Friday I did an assignment with my juniors where they had to write a list poem and a definition poem.  I tell them I don't expect them to be poets; I don't pretend to be one myself.  So, we write more accessible kinds of poetry.  They haven't turned in the definition poems yet, but this is my favorite list poem they turned in.  They got so excited doing these that they actually wanted to read them aloud.  Usually they are too embarrassed to do that.  You can also get a glimpse into the kinds of things they do at home---I haven't even heard of some of these shows.

(TV Shows)

"Date My Mom." She's a 

"Desperate Housewife"

"Who Wants to be a Millionaire."

But it's "The Read World"

and she's "Married With Kids."

Every "Two-a-Days" she walks

"The Hills" trying to be 

"The Biggest Loser" so she can be

"America's Next Top Model."

"So Let's Make a Deal" and 

you will no longer be "The Bachelor."

Today I was wrapping up To Kill a Mockingbird with my freshmen.  I can't imagine ever getting tired of teaching that book.  It is such a classic.  In an effort to illustrate one of the themes of symbolically walking around in another person's shoes before passing judgment on them, I had my students do an activity where they imagined the person who would be wearing the shoes pictured above.  We talked about their possible professions, their home lives, their level of happiness and their potential struggles.  They really began to catch on as they realized that the businessman might look like he has it all together (shout out to Jill Phillips!), but he might actually be miserable working in a cubicle everyday.  I even had them describe what it would be like to "walk in my shoes."  They guessed correctly that it must be difficult to try to keep their attention for 90 minutes at the end of every day and that it is likely annoying to have to tell them to pay attention so often!  Then they said I guessed correctly that they often think, "When is that woman going to shut up so we can go home?"  Anyway, by the end of the activity, they knew that this was connected to the theme of the book.  One of them even said, "Thanks for the lesson today Mrs. McAffry."  I don't often hear such things from freshmen!