Fans and funny kids

1. So, the Superintendent of schools visits three bloggers in the BCPSS on the same day? It's not like the system is teeming with bloggers; in fact, we might be the only three regular updaters. Is Dr. Alonso trying to tell us he's a fan? Or is this a strange coincidence?

2. Day 3 was the Summer Reading Quiz day for the 9th graders. Pretty boring day, instruction-wise, but I'm starting to know the students better. At this point, I know the funny kids, the unique ones, the participatory ones, and, in one occasion, an overly talkative one. Yes, I have the kid who identified his name as "Wu Tang" at Summer Bridge, and now he sits in my classroom, constantly talking. Nothing rude, and he's a little bit funny - "Dag, (my last name), why couldntya sit me next to any females?" he asked me yesterday. I had to chuckle.

3. My Juniors will be okay. They just need to work really hard this year. I did something really stupid in my lesson today. We were discussing the Observation-Effect-Larger Implication thesis statement, where the observation is the writer's observation of a literary technique that a writer uses. Techniques are nearly limitless, and I had a list of about twenty on the paper. I didn't feel like the kids were listening very well as we were reading through the handout, so I asked them to read the list silently and mark any they were not familiar with. Then, I answered any questions they had. Well, they had tons of them, and we took way too long with them, and I didn't have nearly enough time to explain homework or complete the class activity that led up to it. I think confusion is okay, and that this struggle often leads to education, but I didn't want this much tonight on this assignment. I got a facebook message from an older brother of a student in my class. He's off at Georgetown now, and the younger brother had asked the older brother for help with the homework. "Dang, (my last name), are you already working them so hard on the second day of school?," he asked, softening it with a "LOL." Yup, I guess so. Hopefully they all do their best and come with something. Pretty abstract concept.