I wrote a lesson...and it was okay.

We are in the lame duck phase of the school year. Finals were last week, and winter break is still 6 school days, or 22 classes with Melissa, away. (not that I'm crossing off marks in my planbook or anything) The students care even less than before--that is, apparently, possible--but now nobody else does, either. So I'll be showing a lot of Merry Christmas, Mr. Bean in the next couple of weeks.

My original plan was to read The Polar Express to the kids. Fortunately, I'm showing signs of being able to recognize impossibly difficult material BEFORE I bring it into the classroom, so I limited that book to EEP evening classes, which are far more advanced. In good teacher form, I showed the kids the picture of a train on the front cover and asked them what they thought the story would be about (tricky when 1/3 of the class has seen the movie). Our little Dahmer's apprentice, a tiny kid who wouldn't recognize a pencil unless it was sticking out of someone's throat (and would have a fat file of psychiatric referrals if he were American), suddenly got very animated and answered my question for the first time this semester...in Korean. Another student translated his prediction, the gist of which was "murder in the subway". I ruined any chances of him paying attention by telling him upfront that there's absolutely no blood in The Polar Express, but the other kids didn't seem to mind. When I was camping with Terrie, she pointed out that the students are really still children. Though it's not top of mind when they're writing "fuck you teacher" on their worksheets, the point has stuck with me, and when everyone is listening avidly to a story about Santa Claus, shifting absentmindedly in their seats as I move about so they don't miss a single glimpse of the pictures, it hits home.

I got to share another of my Christmas favorites, in yet another lesson where my "supplementary activity" became the focal point. I finally had my first class with the low-level 1st graders, and the plan was to read The Snowy Day, then do a word puzzle about winterwear. En route to class, I decided to warm up with the winterwear--wise choice. One of my friends has been teaching this vocabulary to her 3rd graders (and here I do mean 8-year-olds), but that doesn't mean that my kids are all that firm on it. We spent the entire period on 9 clothing terms, and then inspiration struck--why not teach this to the other classes using the "can't put my arms down" sequence from A Christmas Story? I found it, cued precisely where I need it, on YouTube, and, miraculously, Randy wears exactly the items that I put on the worksheet! The only ones missing are a jacket and earmuffs...and Ralphie's wearing those! PERFECT!

The yang to this yin is that, instead of the 12 or 21 repetitions my lessons usually get, this one's a 3-and-out. Bummer. I had one great class with it, and was actually looking forward to the second, but I got there and the projector didn't work, so the kids saw the scene as if looking through frosted glass. But one class got to watch, actually laughed, then went through it a second time with pauses to identify each article. We made a list of them, dressed a stick man they named Michael Jordan, and they did their word puzzle. The way lessons are supposed to be. One great class. I'll take it.