There have been some up's and down's, but I'm glad to say it's been mostly up's. I've had some real positive feedback lately from the students, like drawings:
I've also been feeling the love from their families, who have been sending in baked goodies, Burt's Bees and little care packages.
1. I've had some victories to celebrate recently. I knew the week before break would be crazy, so I planned some holiday/winter themed STEM activities for grades 4 and 5, and they went over great. The kids worked hard on the assignments, but they had alot of fun together. I even had a couple of 7th grade girls ask if they could come in and try one of the projects, and they also did a great job.
2. Our book club is going really well! We're reading a book of short stories by Patrick Carman, and since he's the guy behind the ghostly Skeleton Creek series, it only makes sense that his other book would have a creep factor, too. The short stories often follow a common trope in folklore and/or horror, and since I spent a few years at YMS designing my 6th grade enrichment class around those concepts, I have tons of resources ready to go. The kids are enjoying the book club, but as I looked around the room the other day I had some extra pride because: 1)we have quite a few boys, and adolescent boys are notorious for avoiding reading. Also, there are some students in their who struggle with attention spans and/or reading. However, because the stories are short, it takes the pressure off them. Also, the introductions are audio files and the conclusions are short videos (on the book's website), so even a student who has difficulty processing text can make sense of it by listening to and viewing other parts of the story.
3. I am improving in my knowledge of coding. I have been spending time doing the Google CS First Storytelling course, since I assigned it to my 7th graders, so that helps. Plus, I have been getting into classrooms more to do lessons on coding, and the last two I did went pretty well. The first one I did did not go as well as I hoped, but I talked to the classroom teacher, and we agreed that I could do another lesson to give the kids another chance at learning code. It's pretty disappointing when a lesson doesn't go over well, but I am willing to try again, for the students and for me.
Since we were on the road for Thanksgiving, we have decided to stay in NH for Christmas. I know I will be a little homesick, but it will be really nice to have a week and a half to relax in my own house.
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