Papers = past

So.... that's over... kind of. I have a bunch of grades to enter tomorrow, early in the morning, before anyone sane will be up. I really fell behind this year. I hate that. But, done now. And, it was really good year this year. Here is what I liked.

1. I really really like tackling one new style of poetry a month and making it an overarching assignment. This month we did Sestinas, Shakespearean Sonnets, "Place" poems, Villanelles, Concrete poems (adult versions with conflicting images), Complex rhyme scheme poems (steph's poems), metaphor poems, and a couple of others I can't remember.

2. I really like my first assignment: Go to the Old Rutland Burial Ground and pick out a stone. Do some research about the person buried there. Read some nonfictional pieces and then a fictional piece, all the time winding up to writing a student created historical fiction piece. (This year I will get them put up in the library.)

3. Writing Prompts of course... These work on so many levels. They break through the doldrum of the student's day. They get them situated in class. They work as a means for breaking down social walls between students. They develop a students individual voice. They are not graded (Thank God), so they are a safe place for a student to play with writing. (never found in school). They are also a time for a student's mind to wander where it will (something mine certainly did in school).

4. Horror story unit. I love this unit. Next year I want to develop it a bit further. I want to have a selection of novels that we can read through individually or possibly read Dracula as a class. I love the student created movies!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqioCv1QEco

5. I think I did a good job on the stupid MCAS thinger... ( I actually know I did but I can't say anything about that yet)

6. Research paper... I don't know... should I do it again? is it worth it? It is the reason I got so backed up in correcting yet again. I hate correcting it... and teaching it kinda, but I think it is a good experience.

The rest... I am up for rethinking.

It is a lot of fun to be able to reform everything from year to year. For example, former student, Kylekate just graduated from NYC and now is a Pro Drama Coach. She just volunteered to come in sometime next year so I might want to focus on some dramatic pieces. I taught A Midsummer Nights Dream at Mountview and had some serious fun with that. Also, my friend Stephen Cass is the Senior Editor of a Magazine and has volunteered to come in and talk... so something along those lines might be nice as well. "Who knows" is what I mean... Who knows!! That is the fun in it.