8/15
Back to blogging again. Only two days in to a new semester. So much to do, so much to think about. Already changing lessons as the day goes on and I see how things involve. Tomorrow we do read around of poems, and hopefully a chance to get to know more of my students’ names, something I really need to get on. AP students did a great job of really thinking about Nighthawks today. The best part of teaching, sometimes, is listening to that critical analysis, maybe because it seems like the most authentic learning, and there’s a part of me that just wants to jump in and offer my own opinions. The room is coming along. It’s time to get some student work up. By the way, so glad to be teaching AP again after a year off.
7/30
How hard it is to keep up a blog or get started on planning with summer break coming to an end. We now have two weeks till school opens. I am thinking about teaching Pride and Prejudice. Today I finished Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng. A little bit of a slow start, but the second half really took off. This is special book, and I’m still grappling with what I enjoyed so much. I think it’s an examination of all the secrets we keep from one another and all the ways are perceptions and what we want for others is counter to, almost, reality. Anyway, thought about How To Read Like a Professor and how the book uses water as a baptismal. Highly recommend the books and I’m thinking of using it with my AP class. Tonight, I sawn the movie Talk To Me. Not really a horror person. The story wasn’t much, but it was still enjoyable. That’s what I ask for most in a movie, it holds my attention for 2-3 hours.
7/24
Three weeks to go as I enter year 28, and still so much to think about. I’m thinking about teaching Pride and Prejudice for the first time, and wondering whether students will be into it. AP by the Sea was a huge help this summer. I know how crazy this sounds, but I feel like I’m way behind in planning right now. I have a goal tonight of writing my AP syllabus. I’ll keep you informed.