Vacation Frustration

After a long three weeks of I-Search projects, the Friday before vacation was finally here. Because of the snow days, presentations would have to be postponed until after vacation. With only one section of my English classes meeting Friday, I decided in honor of vacation we would take a day off from drafting papers and do a few fun writing activities with my students. Plan backfired.

When I told the students that we would be taking a break from I-Search they were ecstatic. BUt when they learned that it wasn't a break to watch a movie or play games, the excitement quickly exited the room. I tried to describe the lyric weave activity in a way that would make it sound appealing. I even told them that their experiences and related songs could be funny! I even modeled one before the class to demonstrate that it could be fun. They just weren't having it. I had the most frustrating first half hour of class ever. Then the bell rang and I couldn't help but think "saved by the bell."

I walked into the teacher room with the look of defeat. Stacey said, "How'd it go?" and I almost burst into tears of frustration. It was in that moment that we decided that the classes' chattiness would best be dealt with by moving seats. While this wasn't something that I wanted to do, it had to be done. So after lunch we switched seats. They were PISSED. After I switched their seats I took a few minutes to talk to them about why I did what I did. A few students were still extremely defiant, but for the majority of the students it worked! They produced their writing, shared their writing, and knew that I meant business.

I got a taste of the disciplinary aspect of teaching last week. I was reluctant to do so, but I'm glad I did. Now I just have to follow through after vacation. #actofBESTRONG