Propp’s Propaganda

My school district is off this week for Winter Break.  I, on the other hand, am sitting on the jury of a civil case.  On Tuesday, 260 people were called down to the jury room.  A civil case needs 6 jurors and 2 alternates.  Out of 260people originally called in, I am chosen to be one of those 6 jurors!  How does that happen?  The lawyers have told us that this case will go into next week, when I should be back in school.  This troubles me because I don’t like to be out and my main focus in my classes has been on the research paper.  I realize that a sub probably cannot monitor properly what students are doing as far as their progress and cannot answer questions students may have about writing a research paper or doing the actual research and recording source cards and note cards, especially how I want that all to be done.  That concerns me.  I am hoping a collegue can collect work that students accomplish and I can then look it over and get it back to them during the week I will be off.  Sometimes directions or plans that I will send in are not always followed exactly.  I do know that our school has many subs that are familiar with us, the teachers and many of the students and they do, for the most part a good job.  I just want to be the one explaining everything to them, but I am tied right now to doing my civic duty.  I know they will survive without me, I just worry about their progress without me there to push them along.

The court case has been interesting and amazingly taxing on my brain.  It is interesting to see what other people do in their jobs.  The amount of work that must have gone into preparing the case and trying the case seems incredible to me.  The paper work that clutters the tables of both attorneys is monumental and I have to wonder how they know where everything is and how to locate what they need so quickly?  I remember serving before on a criminal case and feeling the same way.  All that is involved in our justice system is overwhelming.  The time, organization and flow of everyday is amazing to watch. 

I recently read a blog of another 11th grade English teacher going through the research paper process with her students.  I was relieved to read that other teachers struggle with this assignment.  Over the past few years I have really fine tuned my teaching of this unit, my collegue and I created a manual for each student that we are very proud of.  What amazes me:  It doesn’t matter how much time I give them to work on it, 85% are doing it the night before.  Using index cards for source cards and notecards makes the entire process so much easier, yet students have trouble telling the difference between the two.  Lastly, no matter how many times I may give directions in class there seems to always be that one person who five minutes later asks:  “So, what are we supposed to do?” Ugh!

Hamlet: I have been teaching this wonderfully deep play for several years.  Each year, I find something different in the text or how I explain something or new meaning and questions raised by my students.  This year I have a really great group who are, mostly, engaged in the discussions we have in class.  They are asking questions and making predictions, it is really enjoyable, yes, class is fun!  I created this exercise for each act called: The things that make you go hmmm….  Thought provoking questions for each act that stimulates thoughts and then discussions.  This year has been exceptional with this assignment.  I look forward to their final project when they present a scene from the play.  This year, thanks to Dana Huff and her amazing blog, I have added a new twist to the assignment. I look forward to seeing how they turn out.