It’s true. My students are little geniuses.
Yesterday was infinitely better than Monday. Of course it was. How could things get worse, right? I was so impressed with my students. More so than I have been all summer, and that’s a big deal. Yesterday we published our personal narratives. Yep. Even though Ms. Teater lost their rough drafts, they pulled through and did remarkably well! The class average was an 83, which is terrific. They all worked so hard during those 65 minutes. Every single one of them was writing their hand off. I gave them all crisp, clean new paper and kickass feather pens. What’s an author without a feather pen, right? Even my “Monday Student” was back in school and ready to learn. What a champion!
What I’m most proud of, though, is what they wrote. 22 out of 24 students wrote with complete sentences and used paragraphs. This is only a few days after they wrote rough drafts that were basically just one big run on sentence without any kind of break. For a teacher, seeing that much improvement is the best feeling in the world. I feel like I actually taught them something worthwhile that they can use for the rest of their lives. The two students who did not use paragraphs and complete sentences worked really hard, and I still saw massive improvements in their work. I mean, they actually ‘produced’ work…BIG DEAL!!!
I could go on and on about each student and how well they did, but I won’t. I made copies of each narrative last night so I will always have that to reflect upon. It just goes to show you that these kids are perfectly capable of achieving great things in a short amount of time. Just push them a little bit, give them the right motivation and they’ll blow your mind. I love my job.
Also, I love the smoothie I just had for breakfast! Why haven’t I been drinking these all along? And guess what they finally gave us for lunch? TURKEY ON WHEAT BREAD!!! Hallelujah. Three days left and they finally get it right.
