November 17, 2008

Ducks in a Row for a Change

I'm so excited! This is the first full week that my students have had to learn without any interruptions in a month. Days off, magnet high school presentations, career day, and school-wide health walk have made things a wee bit fragmented. That's a wee bit of an understatement, but that's what November is all about. Lots of spinning wheels.

I have everything planned out for the next three weeks, and we're just off to a great start this week! Tomorrow the students will start studying The House on Mango Street using a literature circles approach. I will simply devastated if it doesn't go well because I've discovered that I adore literature circles after I used it with House of the Scorpion last spring. (What is it with houses?) Students have to interact with the text, discuss with each other, and have no choice but to be engaged with the text since they are part of a small group where each person has an essential role each week. Maximum engagement, I'm telling ya! I have everything set up for them, so tomorrow it is a matter of introducing the essential questions and their roles and responsibilities. They're bright little book worms. They'll get it.

So my students will be off and going for a decent pace for the first time since quarter two started. That's them, though. I'm taking off to go San Antonio for the latter part of the week!

The news is...if I've set it up well enough, they won't need me, anyway. Wahoo!

I mean, Yee Haw!

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