Week 37…the LAST week of instructional time…I could not believe it!
On Monday and Tuesday, I allowed my ninth through twelfth graders class time to work on their Seventeen Second Miracle movie projects and character analyses. Not surprisingly, some students had not, at that point, even started filming!
I was disappointed because I had handed out the instructions the first day we went back to school after Spring Break, and I had constantly referred to the project during the weeks that followed.
My sixth graders presented their book report projects. I had randomly assigned each student a book about a slave, and students had to create timelines depicting key events from the books. They also had to locate maps and pictures of their particular people as well as write a paragraph summarizing the book.
They did a great job on their projects, and I proudly displayed them on the walls lining the hallway outside my door.
On Tuesday, I accompanied officers of the Student Council to the local chapter of the American Red Cross where they presented a check for money collected during the previous week’s fundraiser. The director of the chapter was not there when we arrived, but we were told that he was expecting us and was rushing from Podunk High School (where Rooster attends) to meet us.
Podunk High School had raised over $5,000 during a Wear Your Favorite T-Shirt day. They had heavily advertised the event on the radio, and people had donated large bills as they had driven through the school’s car loop. I think the fact that a local radio station broadcast live from the school also helped. People even dropped off nonperishable items, which were collected and taken to Alabama.
I will tell you that the director of the Red Cross made my students feel completely welcome and appreciated for the much smaller amount they had raised. I think he recognized a couple of facts: 1) Our school is tiny in comparison to Podunk High School, and 2) My students displayed sincere hearts and joy when they handed over the check.
Uber professionalism, I tell you. I will gladly work with this organization in future events.
Wednesday was a BIG day in four of my classes…
MOVIE DAY!!
Because I had divided the students into groups comprised of students from different grades, I asked teachers if I could have the tenth and eleventh graders during my first period.
I wanted everyone to watch their videos together.
I crammed thirteen bodies (including mine) into my tiny classroom and started up the projector.
My tenth, eleventh, and twelfth grade boys’ video was the first one we watched.
Oh. My. Word.
It was funny.
It was a little creepy.
It.
Was.
Terrific!
We howled in laughter at parts and sat at the edges of our seats at others.
Music was used so well in this video, let me tell you.
The video began with a guy (all roles were played by the students) who found out he’d been fired from his job. In desperation, he decided to kill himself with a sword and wandered to a shed to do the deed.
Just in the nick of time, a friend happened upon him and talked him down from his intended action by hiring him on the spot.
As the scene ended, the song “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” played.
It was so funny!
The “miracles” proceeded with each person on the receiving end conducting his own “miracle” until the storyline finally came back full-circle.
It was excellent!
Next up was my twelfth grade girls’ video.
Their video took a more serious tone as a family was saved from being ripped apart from internal strife through the use of “miracles.”
They, too, did an excellent job and conveyed the message well.
My eleventh grade girls (plus my tenth grade female student) were last.
Their video blew me away. The angles in which they shot the clips were smartly selected, and the storyline was excellent. They had several voice overs and flashbacks, and they wrapped up the video in a very unique way.
I was extremely impressed!
Later that day, my ninth grade boys and girls got to watch their videos. They did a good job, although I think the basic premise of the book was not clearly conveyed in their movies. However, considering that they are my youngest high schoolers, I was very impressed as well.
That afternoon, I graded the assignments, including the character analyses, which counted for 25% of the total project grade.
As I read the mini-essays, I could not help but notice the improvement that all students had made in their writing from the beginning to the end of the year.
I guess this is kind of what’s supposed to happen, right? Well, being a first-year teacher, this was a new experience.
Students really did a great job analyzing and relating to the characters they had selected and applying the lessons of the book to real-world applications.
When I left school on Wednesday, I was still glowing from the experience of watching as pride and satisfaction had filled my students’ hearts.
All of the long hours spent lesson planning had been worth it.
The next day, my eleventh grade students told me they had uploaded their movie to YouTube, so I shared the link with Jason Wright, the author of the book (who I’m friends with on Facebook, by the way…not to name drop or anything *wink).
His response was filled with joy and surprise. Unknown to me, until my students rushed into my classroom to share, my ninth grade boys had also uploaded their video to YouTube, and Jason Wright had commented on it! They were so excited!
My eleventh grade girls were shocked to see that they had over 100 views of their video and a comment from Jason Wright as well.
He should consider those his seventeen second miracles for the week because he certainly put smiles on my students’ faces.
On Friday, my sixth through tenth graders turned in their final reading logs, and I was such a good steward of my time (i.e., I rushed) that I managed to grade them all before I left school at the end of the day.
Hence, I’ll have no grading to do this weekend!
One other VERY neat thing that happened last week was that one of my students won the regional Optimist Club’s speech contest, beating out a panel of six other boys. One of his competitors had participated in over twenty competitions recently in preparation for this one.
My student will compete later today in Tampa for the state title. It’s the first time that a student from my school has made it to this level of competition in this contest. Please say a prayer for him. He is VERY nervous.
I cannot believe how quickly the week flew by. Next week have finals and then they will get to end the school year with a “fun day.” Then, it will all be over.
Wow.
I’m saving my closing thoughts about my first year of teaching for next week, so stay tuned!
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