As I sit here enclosed by papers that need to be graded, planning binders that need to be sorted out, copies that need to be made, and a never ending to do list, I enjoy the cookie bar I snagged from the teacher lounge and think, life couldn’t get any better. Now, it may be the tacky tourist getup I am wearing for homecoming week (think Dora 2.0) or the fact that it is sunny out, but, ladies and gentlepeople, the teacher life couldn’t be more chaotically perfect.

        I have to apologize for not getting a post out sooner. If you have ever had a life, you know it gets in the way and many ideas get pushed to the back burner, even if they are important to you.

        Well, here we are. It is only three months until the end of the year. Some major points that have happened along the journey of classroom 115 have opened my eyes as a teacher and some that have also made me want to shut them, permanently. We will begin this catch up all the way back in September, which to a teacher, equals a blink of an eye.

        One main characteristic I purposefully work into my planning is real life connections and citizenship, the understanding that you are much bigger than yourself if you work together to make a difference. I have been given a unique opportunity, much like a lot of you have, by witnessing a turning point in our United States history, September 11th. My first year of teaching, I made the decision to research 9/11 lessons for the day and found an amazing one I base a day of learning off of. You can find that resource here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/911-Service-Project-Writing-Prompt-Free-147828 

Tracee Orman put together a fantastic lesson that allows kids to step outside of their personal life bubble and do something for another person.

This year, the class started out discussing what they knew about the date September 11th, 2001. Many responses I got back were: “we were bombed”, “we were attacked by muslims”, “a lot of people died”, and, the famous one this year, “I wasn’t even born.” I had a bit of an old moment in my head. Coming to the realization that I am old, I gathered myself to move on. We then watched a Youtube video found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoObO_rQ_hM  In addition to that video, we watched a portion of the movie, World Trade Center to really get a sense of what went on that day as well as newscast stories also found on Youtube. At that moment these students now felt only a portion of what millions felt on that day years ago. If you ever have silence in your classroom, you know only three things: your students are so into the lesson that they are using their brains to process it all (meaning they are confused as all get out), they’re trying to sneak texting their best friend in the next class, or they are day dreaming about the weekend and what Netflix show to binge watch. Fortunately, that day, it was none of those. These students were so overcome by emotion, they wouldn’t speak.

Going off of that emotion, I led with the beginning reading of the Tracee Orman lesson. It gave numbers as to the lives lost, including police officers and firemen and women. That is when I opened up the lesson for discussion. One response, I will be honest, left me in tears. A student who is a jokester, loves to mess around and basically do anything but classwork lead the discussion with, “How could anybody in their right mind or religious belief kill another--not even another, but thousands of other people...I don’t get it.” All I could respond with, “Why do you think?” Other students began piping up which started a very deep discussion. From that, I gave them an assignment to do over the weekend. Normally I don’t give work over the weekend or even homework, but this was a special occasion. The students were to perform an act of kindness towards someone else and record it in a three paragraph essay. Guys this is English class we're talking about here, so of course there was writing!

        Now, I know what you’re thinking: they’re high schoolers who are just going to say they did small things for someone or lie about it just to get the assignment completed, and...you are right! Many of them did not perform the act, but on the other hand, a good portion did. Those were the kids who wrote in more detail and feeling or longer than three paragraphs. As for the other students who didn’t actually perform an act, they at least thought about how they would do it and how it would make them feel. 

        Teachers have this saying, “If I can reach at least one student, I am doing my job.” That’s the mindset I had to have with this assignment because it’s a realistic expectation that not all students will do an assignment as you want them to. Welcome to the wonderful, crazy life of an educator. I wanted them to get a sense of what happened to and to pull them out of the all too real aspect of being wrapped up in their own little world, which even the most selfless people are all guilty of it. Tune in to the next blog to catch up and hear about how one publishing company asked 44 students to publish their poetry and why I let my students listen to music for an entire class period...