Getting Smarter

The longer I teach, the smarter I become at managing the days before holidays. My 8th graders and I spend five days reading A Christmas Carol by Dickens and then the last three days of class we watch the movie, the George C. Scott version. It is a wonderful two weeks! The 7th grade classes are something else again. I work them harder than ever the last two weeks because calm is not part of their vocabulary nor personalities at this time of year. The last three days before Christmas break, I bring out a huge collection of children's Christmas and Hanukkah books. I do need some Kwanzaa books as well. The students have quizzes during these three days but they also have the opportunity to read these books and fill out a very short evaluation form, rating each book on its story-line, characters, and illustrations. We will tally them all on Friday, choosing the top ten books for Christmas 2010. It works quite well, gives them something fun to do that is also quiet. Sigh... lovely for me but they do take out their energy in other classes. So another year comes to a close. What an incredible year this has been - both in good ways (baby Eliott) and bad ones (Haiti-EQ, cholera, elections). I am praying that there will be far more good things in 2011. Joy to the World!