Found Time

Here it is Thanksgiving and the English 10 classes are all through my curriculum for the 1st semester. Somehow I came out 3 and a half weeks ahead of schedule. I've been thinking about what to do with this found time. I would love to insert another novel into the 10th grade curriculum, but it's not like I have a bunch of novels lying around waiting for me to have time to use them. We use what we have. (Except for Animal Farm which I refuse to teach because I HATE it.) So what to do? I'm sure that most of the sophomores would be fine with 3 and a half weeks of free-days or movies, but they are just sophomores and can't be expected to understand the gift that this found time is. Usually I am trying to figure out how to fit everything in.

Enter the epiphany.

We are always trying to incorporate more technology into our curriculum, so why not start blogs for the students. Initially, I am feeling pretty proud of myself for this brilliant idea. I am an educational genius. Then I remember that I am much better at ideas than I am with practice. How do I organize 50 students' blogs. How do I grade them? What should they blog about? What requirements will there be? Will these blogs be blocked at our school? Do all of the kids have e-mail addresses? I don't even know how to create a blog myself!

And so...here I am, writing a blog about making my students write a blog. I am often disappointed when I embark on adventures such as this one. I think it will be fun. The students often don't. They are such killjoys sometimes. I guess we will see.