It Was Quite a Week #SOL26

It was one of those weeks. Some tears were shed. Frustration boiled up.  The usual sadness of missing my children ebbed and flowed, and then, stress increased as I started teaching new lessons in the new curriculum.  

I was excited for the long weekend, but knew that the students would be, as well.  Historically, this would have been a day filled with engaging and fun ELA activities, but with the pacing of the new curriculum, I can't do that anymore.  I buckled up for an unproductive day.

We are are the point in the module where students are partner writing a research essay before they write one independently.  Hesitantly, I allowed them pick their partners; I thought that would lead to some goofing off.  Boy was I wrong about that.

As they worked, I picked up classroom supplies from the activity leading into the writing.  As I did that, I observed and listened.  I was so surprised by what I heard.

"This is really good," said a boy from the back of the room.

I figured they were talking about something else, but they had nothing but their paper in front of them.  I had to ask, "Are you talking about your introduction?"

"Yes," he replied.  "We worked hard, and it is really good."

A few minutes later, I heard a student from a trio of boys say, "Guys, we are so locked in."  

Again, I thought that they are talking about something else, but they were hovered over their paper and resources working. 

I moved to a different area of the room and saw a girl put her hands to her head and say, "That is the last sentence of the paragraph because it is the focus statement.  It wraps up the entire paragraph!"  

Clearly, her partner was unclear about the structure of an introduction and needed a bit of a review.  It was gratifying to see the student "teaching" her.

In another corner of the room, I witnessed a girl sit back and announce, "We cooked up on this!"

As the bell rang, they all came running up with their papers stating, "Mrs. Morris, read our introduction!"  

I read as many as I could, and they were amazing!

My students never cease to amaze me.  They show up every day! The can, indeed, pick their partners and "lock in" on their work, and even with the hum-drum lessons, they are learning!