It's the last day of my first week as an intern and I feel like it's gone as well as it could have. I've made a few small mistakes and even had to scramble to fill in time one day when a discussion fizzled out sooner than planned. I feel like I'm developing a pretty decent rapport with my students. There are a few that I think will be difficult (and one that I did not expect to be difficult... and one that I thought would be difficult, but who is actually turning out to be one of the most active and attentive students in the class), but that's to be expected. British literature really isn't everybody's cup of tea and I can respect that.
We're just shy of half-way through Beowulf. The students started drafting their Anglo-Saxon heroics yesterday and are due to turn in five lines to me for in-class workshopping today. This is something that I experienced in high school (I'm sure in no small part because of Penny Kittle's [http://pennykittle.net/] role as department head) and it's a teaching technique that I believe truly produces results. I'll be writing a poem alongside my class in order to model the writing process and to show them that even teachers struggle sometimes. To workshop these drafts (since they only need five lines) I'm going to collect hard copies and just transfer them to the board. Normally I'd probably ask for electronic copies so that I could project them onto the screen or print them onto overhead projector sheets, but I still have to do a "Google-How-To" with them because they're new to the whole idea of Drive/Docs.
On a slightly more humorous note: I'm only 5'4" and wearing flats for the first time this week. I'm quickly realizing that a good portion of these high school students are actually taller than me. I have never missed my heels more than I did today while I was fighting my way through the throng of students and was mistaken for "one of them" despite having my lanyard and ID around my neck.
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