A Rut

So I'm not sure what exactly is to blame, but for the past two weeks, especially this week, nothing is clicking.  The kids are arguing with each other, arguing with adults, arguing (trying) with me, pushing my student teacher to her wits end, and basically operating on their own agenda. Obviously, it isn't all of them, but there's a chunk that are certainly influencing others to join them.  This is not coupling well with my own mood, which is anything but cheery.  The weather agitates my jaw and my headaches have been intense. Add all of that together and you create one unhappy classroom environment. Not good.

I take back all of my classes on Monday, and I'm definitely hoping that if I can get them back into my groove, and that I can get MY groove back, we can have a productive last six weeks.  I know we spent too long on the genocide unit, so I will own that completely.  There's absolutely no way to be happy and cheery while teaching about genocide.  But, genocides simply are depressing, horrific, and troubling events.  Couple that with the tribulations going on around us, and there's little surprise that we're in a rut.

Moving forward, I want to focus on positive things in class. We've spent ample time talking about dehumanization, let's start talking about humanization! I'm working on putting together a passion project for the next unit, and I'm hoping that the autonomy that I'm providing will help get us all back on track.  We only have six weeks, and I want to make those weeks count.  I have to.

So I'm going to think, reflect some more, and figure out some next steps.