Week 28 and 29: Welcome Ms. Wind!

April20

image

I took the picture above before the start of the day at my school a few weeks back. The fog was lifting off the field, and the air was still. It seemed to capture the moment, and the time of year well. Since then spring, and all the “hell” that goes with it, has broken out. There is no stillness. This week was capped by two-days of extreme wind that had everyone on the edge of madness. If you’re a teacher, I don’t have to explain why a windy day makes everyone crazy. I also don’t have to explain that the sixth graders are doing things that leave all of us thinking (and occasionally uttering), “Have you completely taken leave of your senses?” — which they have, because their brains are slowly being bathed in a hormonal mix that favors action over thought. As the oldest grade in our elementary, they are going through a process of “separation” which involves loving me and their classmates madly one moment, and loathing us the next. Some manage to do both at once. My favorite adjective to describe my class is “fractious”, because they are. And, as badly as they are getting along with the adults, it’s like a rose garden compared to how they are getting along with each other.

In spite of all that, they are doing some great work. I myself am bewildered by their ability to spend 15-20 fussing and fighting before settling into doing work, and then, within 30 minutes, producing something worthwhile.  I love their minds even as they make me want to pull my hair out. Last Friday, I gave students who were wise enough to NOT pick multiple-choice as their assessment of choice, the opportunity to do mixed media, comics, and even one film to show what they learned that week. The rest of the kids, at their request, got a multiple-choice test on the last chapter. I think they’ll be more honest about what they like next time (or think about it a bit more at least). Here are two of the “alternative” assessments on Heat Energy (which included Waves):

 

 

One Comment to

“Week 28 and 29: Welcome Ms. Wind!”

  1. April 29th, 2013 at 5:18 am      Reply szkoła Says:

    “I wonder – he said – and the stars shine so that everyone can one day find his own.”
    – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry


Email will not be published

Website example

Your Comment:

rssrss
rssrss

Links of Interest


License

Creative Commons License
All of Ms. Mercer's work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.


Skip to toolbar