Scattered Thoughts

I'm thinking about, praying for, worrying about:
My friend Jenny and her family who lost everything in the deluge called Hurricane Ike.
My friends Jenni and Bonnie and the rest of their tribe whose father has had a series of strokes and is now in rehab.
My son-in-law Josh who is training in Georgia and headed to Iraq
My daughter Julie and my wonderful grandsons who are missing their husband/dad
Some of the kids at my school (and really, kids everywhere) who often have very difficult lives at home........

I pray and try to help and I really feel like my calling in life is to teach. I love my students. I love my school. I love the people I work with. I know that the Lord has blessed me with this love so that I can go out and do some good in the world. So, I'm trying to do that.

So, you must be asking, what's a day in the life of a teacher like? I'll try to tell you.....
I try to arrive at school by 7 a.m. so that I can have a few minutes of quiet to compose my thoughts and prepare for the onslaught. Once the bell rings, everything moves very quickly and time to think is at a premium. The first bell rings at 7:25 and I'm at the door, a smile on my face, trying to remember all these wonderful children's names, and shaking every hand as they walk in. I greet each one by name and welcome him or her to class. I think knowing their names and taking the time to see them as important individuals is vital.
First period begins at 7:35. It's an AP Language and Composition course, devoted to rhetorical analysis and argument. We read and analyze non-fiction--lots of essays and speeches and controversial arguments. Today we learned how to determine the tone of an author's writing. We started with identifying tone with something simple--music. We listened to three versions of The Star-Spangled Banner-Whitney Houston singing it, Jimmy Hendrix playing on his electric guitar, and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra performing a more traditional version. Then we discussed the differences in tone, what we saw as the each performers' attitude toward the work, and how that translates to deciphering tone in written works. We then looked at a whole series of rhetorical terms that they will need to know in order to analyze rhetoric well. Their assignment is a poster and teaching project in which they will teach each other many, many more terms--familiar things like metaphor and simile and unfamiliar ones like epistrophe and asyndeton. Tone was the first term on the list, so that's why I taught it today. We then divided into eight groups and each group analyzed a short passage to determine the author's tone. The passages are great--some are hilariously funny, other ironic, one is an excerpt from Jonathan Swift's satire "A Modest Proposal" and one is a very angry tirade about trumped-up charges and a kangaroo court. I explained unfamiliar terms and they tried to discover tone. It's rewarding to see them catch on, to lead them with questions and to continue digging with why? and what evidence from the text do you have to support this? They are smart and quick and fun to work with. Our discussion finished as the bell rang, off they went, and in came second period. Rewind, repeat.
Third period is a different class--AP Literature and Composition--a course which focuses on imaginative literature. It's lots of poetry, drama, fiction--totally and completely different from the AP Language course. I feel much more comfortable with AP Language, mostly because my training is more in journalism and I'm very familiar with nonfiction. I like it, I know how to analyze it, and I have a lot of fun with it. I'm working my way into the Lit course. I'm no expert on poetry, but I think I'm doing okay on analysis of fiction. This week we're working on understanding how an author creates a character in a story. We read what the author gives and make educated conclusions about the characters. The little acronym we use is SATDO. Look at what the character says, the character's appearance, what the character thinks, what the character does, and what others say about the character. From that we can discuss the character as someone we know, we see how the author created this person. Today we read a very, very short story that had two characters and tonight the students are writing a one page discussion of both characters. The story is called "Ripe Figs" by Kate Chopin. Here it is--see what you can come up with regarding these two:

Ripe Figs
by Kate Chopin
(1851-1904)

Maman-Nainaine said that when the figs were ripe Babette might go to visit her cousins down on Bayou-Boeuf, where the sugar cane grows. Not that the ripening of figs had the least thing to do with it, but that is the way Maman-Nainaine was.

It seemed to Babette a very long time to wait; for the leaves upon the trees were tender yet, and the figs were like little hard, green marbles.

But warm rains came along and plenty of strong sunshine; and though Maman-Nainaine was as patient as the statue of la Madone, and Babette as restless as a humming-bird, the first thing they both knew it was hot summer-time. Every day Babette danced out to where the fig-trees were in a long line against the fence. She walked slowly beneath them, carefully peering between the gnarled, spreading branches. But each time she came disconsolate away again. What she saw there finally was something that made her sing and dance the whole day long.

When Maman-Nainaine sat down in her stately way to breakfast, the following morning, her muslin cap standing like an aureole about her white, placid face, Babette approached. She bore a dainty porcelain platter, which she set down before her godmother. It contained a dozen purple figs, fringed around with their rich, green leaves.

"Ah," said Maman-Nainaine, arching her eyebrows, "how early the figs have ripened this year!"

"Oh," said Babette, "I think they have ripened very late."

"Babette," continued Maman-Nainaine, as she peeled the very plumpest figs with her pointed silver fruit-knife, "you will carry my love to them all down on Bayou-Boeuf. And tell your tante Frosine I shall look for her at Toussaint--when the chrysanthemums are in bloom."


See--really short.......

Fourth period--my conference period--used to prepare lesson plans, check in on new teachers, grade papers, answer emails, talk with administrators, talk with parents--all sorts of things. The three brand new English 3 teachers all have conference this period, so I usually visit with them to see how things are going and I also grade and plan.

5th period--back to AP Language and our study of Tone

6th period--Conference period for my duties as department chair--more emails to answer and send, mentoring for our new teachers, consulting with everyone in the department on whatever they need. This month we're doing a book study on Deeper Reading, a book filled with ideas on how to get kids into reading and also get them to read more than once and with greater understanding. I'm also working on a book study for department heads on classroom management techniques that work. Plenty to keep one busy.....

7th period--one more group of AP Language kids and our fun discussion of Tone.

The final bell rings at 2:45 and teachers take a deep breath. It's almost like running a marathon. You have to pace yourself and keep the energy up all day. Every class deserves your best, and you must try to give it. I love my work, but until I started teaching, I had no idea how completely exhausting it is.

So, now you know.....Hopefully you haven't been bored on this journey through a day in high school. Come visit some time and see all the action in person.