"Hump day," indeed!

So today wasn't awful, but it wasn't awesome, either. This morning (as usual), I was feeling jaded and not so into the whole teaching thing. However, once I got back into "the groove," it was fine (as usual). At 10am, I was supposed to have my second formal eval. of the year by the principal. I was reviewing last night's reading homework with the class, waiting for the principal to come in. And waiting. And waiting. Finally, at almost 10:30, I called the office to see if she was, in fact, coming. I was informed that the principal was meeting with two irate parents, and that an intense argument was ensuing. The principal ultimately rolled in at nearly 11, which was fine; we were rocking a pretty good reading activity.

My observation actually went freakishly well. First, the guidance counselor (who I like more as time goes on) offered to pull out my two biggest "troublemakers," and I gladly took him up on it. It really helped. Second, the activities we were doing ("popcorn" reading, re-reading selections with inflection, discussing vocabulary and meaning, etc.) are ones we do every week, so the kids knew the format. I actually ended up tying a LOT back to the daily learning objectives I have posted on one of the whiteboards. Shocking. I walked around the room (as I usually do during reading) to ensure engagement by each student. The kids were well-behaved because I told them the half-truth that the principal was coming to watch *them*. Did I lie? I like to think not. :) At the end of her time in the classroom, the principal gave my class a brief lecture about how there is to be NO dating of ANY sort and no fighting. Schweet. Bases covered. I debriefed with her at lunch, and she gave me a glowing evaluation. Pretty schweet.

After lunch went pretty quickly. We're starting an explorers unit in Social Studies, to help give the children the background on our country. Of course, it's also in the state standards. I gave the children excerpts from a book that is far better than their U.S. History book the school provides. I tried to do the lesson in whole-group format, but the kids were just too rowdy. They ended up reading the material on their own, then taking a quiz on it. Not my preferred way to delier a lesson, but the usual manner was inefficient. Yucky. The day ended with a brief video on Christopher Columbus (which was OK), a writing assignment with it, then more poetry instruction. The kids will have completed poetry portfolios by the end of next week, which should be pretty cool.

Friday may be a disaster. We're having a "Literacy Parade" to celebrate authors and books. That means that EVERY class from K-8 in the school will be marching outside, in storybook character costumes, and having the local press ooh and ahh. Marvelous. After that, the principal insisted that we do a "readers' theatre" for other classes, so that's a pain to prepare. It sounds like it'll be a looooooooong afternoon, but we shall survive!

OK, time to grade papers, lesson plan a bit, go run errands, then crash out early. Peace!