Today was one of those days when I felt like a real quality teacher. First, I had the students take a final test on "Romeo and Juliet," the play they'd been reading for nearly a month and had analyzed and explored and everything. It was a 12 question short answer test about characterization and certain literary elements. While they were taking it, the room was totally silent. All I heard was the scratching of pencils and the birds twittering in the courtyard. When students are writing their ideas down on paper and working on critical thinking skills, I feel like everything I've been working for has come to fruition.
And then there's the soundtrack project. I gave them the rubric and assignment sheet on Friday last and it is due tomorrow. At the very minimum, students are required to provide 12 songs that match up with the play and explain why that song was chosen and the MOOD and TONE associated with the song. The students will be writing at least a paragraph per song, resulting in 12 paragraphs of work. For freshmen, this is probably a heavy workload, and yet I was so pumped to hear the students telling me how fun it was (though difficult as well) and updating me on their progress. And then I received 8 emails from students who were already done. And the work is quality! I'm so excited! I feel vindicated, like everything that I stood for as a teacher is finally happening! Tomorrow is the final due date...Let's get 100% completion rate!
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