Breathing Room

The end of the second trimester came to an end last Thursday, and to say I was eager for third trimester to start is an understatement.  You see, somehow, powerschool recognized that my sanity relied heavily on a little change of scenery and a little less kids.  Powerschool makes a lot of mistakes, but it did something right when it divided my sections into manageable class sizes and separated some personalities that should never, ever, get back together. (Sorry, T-Swift). Anyway, I have 23 kids in my 3rd hour compared to 32, and I can walk, and we can move, and it isn't ridiculously loud, and everyone has a seat, and they're normal 9th graders, rather than off the chain 9th graders. I will most definitely say some extra prayers tonight.

So, let's reflect on the first day.  My department head and neighbor at school has devised a pretty awesome bell ringer system.  He was kind enough to forward these to me so that I could begin to create my own.  Today was our first go, and it was purposeful, and eye opening, and made it easier to talk about fragments, run on sentences, and the treasured sentence. They change from day to day, and I've tweaked them to be my own, but these are the first bell ringers I've ever found effective and worth my time.

I decided to start the trimester with a general overview of the 8 genocides that have occurred in the 20th Century before focusing on the Holocaust. I was taken aback today by the lack of background knowledge my students actually had about the Holocaust.  A few had read Anne Frank or touched briefly on it in history class, but very few were able to make any T-T or T-W connections. Usually when I begin a unit I try to front load a lot, but I didn't think that was necessary for this unit. Lesson number one...don't assume. Thankfully, I have the first couple of weeks devoted to researching the different genocides, including the Holocaust, so they will definitely be equipped with ample background knowledge before we begin reading the selected text (I have yet to decide which text).  I would love to do The Book Thief but we only have enough copies for my honors class to read it.

Stupid budget cuts.