Antiquated Frivolities

Blog post: the first day

The short: things went more or less according to plan.

I've got four sections of 9th graders and one section of American Lit, in that order. The ninth graders were particularly respectful, and I could tell that they knew what to do at school. They knew when I expected something of them, and they knew appropriate school behavior. Awesome.

They also understood the attendance policy completely: one unexcused absence means one third of a letter grade drop, straight-up. That's hardcore, and I wholly endorse that policy. I'm sure it destroys the impetus for Senior Skip Day.

In the middle of the day, we viewed President Obama's live speech. I knew there was some controversy surrounding it, but I didn't know what exactly it was, and I wasn't really sure even after watching it. Maybe people thought it was too student-centered? That it didn't account enough for the impact of the school or faculty, and it ignored privilege? That's about the worst thing I could think of to say about it.

Anyway, the scheduling was all messed up for the rest of the day, which wasn't all that good for students or staff, but what can you do? I'm still getting used to the schedule, which will eventually be second nature for me.

Most of what we did today in class was PowerPoint or a crafts project for classroom rules. I hate being didactic, but when you've got a lot of material that you want to make clear from the start, you've gotta do some direct instruction. I did some self-introduction, rules of course, course overview, and directions for the class time project:



The project was to make mock motivational posters that exemplified the rules. Kids were on-task on the whole, and even if students didn't strictly follow the format, they got the idea.

Sixth hour American lit was definitely the more mature class, featuring seasoned high school veterans. I think a couple points I made were a little too ninth-grader-y for them, but they were likewise patient and respectful, and I think we'll get some good stuff done this semester.

-Matt