Today was so amazing. Perfect? Absolutely not. My fourth period class is definitely a challenge. I have a few students I'm talking to the counselor about separating. However...
Today I had the students write out everything they did to help with the haunted house, along with how many points they thought they should get for it. Then on the other side of the paper, I asked them to respond to a few questions: What do you think worked/went well? What could we improve for next time? (be specific) What else could we do that you think the school would enjoy?
At the beginning of third period, one of my students walked out without saying anything. I had to call the office to let them know, and was supposed to send him up to the office when he returned. When he came back, I asked him to step outside really quick so I could find out what was going on. Before I said anything, I said, "It's okay. I just want to know what's going on. Have I ever gotten in your face?" No. So I asked him what was up. Right before class, someone accused him of being a snitch and he just needed to walk. I told him just to let me know what was up next time. Or if you don't want to tell me and just need a moment, lie to me. Tell me you need to go to the restroom. He was fine the rest of the time and wrote out responses to all of the questions, much to the shock of my supervisor who stopped by to see how things were going only to find all my students working.
The girl I gave student of the month to stopped by and I gave her her certificate and new ID. She said her mom didn't believe it. She didn't believe it. I told her she deserved it for showing so much improvement. I found out later (from a teacher that overheard) that she was in the hallway and someone said something to her about her winning, not believing it either. Apparently she pulled it out and showed it off with a big smile on her face.
During 6th period I was talking to one of my shyer students about his credit. He's the one who ended up being totally awesome during the haunted house. He asked if he could have a credit for theatre instead of art. I asked why. "If I go to another high school, I don't want to have to take a theatre class and do any acting." First, another school couldn't force him to take theatre, he just needed to take one fine arts class to graduate. It didn't matter if it was art or theatre (or music for that matter). Then I told him I didn't think he should underestimate himself. I went through what students are supposed to know how to do in a theatre class (good old TEKS), listed how what he did at the haunted house on Friday exactly fit in with it, and what a great job he had done at it. He got this huge smile on his face. "Yes I did."
I don't know if there are many things better for a teacher than a student realizing that they did something great, all by themselves.
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