Monday 5/20 - LAST WEEK!

I would first like to apologize for the lack of posts last week, but I found myself fully engaged everyday, and often coming home around 7pm. I spent most of my free time at the office preparing my lesson plan for SF Day School, and considering the different approaches I could take. Last week I also met with Ms. Piersol, my eighth grade English teacher from SF Day School, to discuss my schedule for tomorrow and Wednesday and answer any questions either of us had. I was very happy I met with her because we were able to share so many hilarious memories from four years ago, that would not have been appropriate during class time. I do plan on having lunch with her again during these next couple of days to record her thoughts on the notion of inspiring a student to express themselves. I am going in at 8:50 tomorrow morning for my first class, and have another one before lunch. I feel extremely prepared and confident, but I still that nervous tingle in my stomach. I have grown to love this nervous tingle, and I plan on expressing that to all of my students. It is healthy and normal to feel nervous, but it is your job to balance that with excitement, and accept that things may go wrong, or may go fantastic. It is worth acknowledging that nervousness potentially comes from every event, but as you experience more and gain more confidence, you learn how to ignore that voice in your head that is thinking of potential failure. This, however, is not what I am going to be focussing on with my students. I am going to be focussing on comedy in poetry, and how you are able to convey a deep meaning while using humor and 'punch lines'. I am going to give some examples of how comedians have used poetry, to make a point, and poets have used comedy to gain emotion and attachment from their audience. After discussing this topic a bit, we will go into some writing exercises, and then break off into a free write. Wednesday I hope to have a slam in the class, and record students about reading their work in front of their peers. I am very excited for the upcoming days, and feel so grateful for this opportunity.