09.09.09

So yesterday was the first day of school! I was excited about writing a post about how awesome all my students are and how it was a wonderful day overall and everything... but right around lunch time I started developing a headache, which got progressively worse as the day wore on, until finally, as I was halfway through a piece of pizza at 6pm, I looked at Doug and said, "I'm going to bed." And I proceeded to sleep for the next 13 hours. Well, I did wake up momentarily when Doug checked on me at 8, and then I got up when Doug came to bed at midnight so I could wash my face and brush my teeth again and take some more painkillers. 

Anyway! That's really no indication of the first day of school - it was truly awesome! I felt so much more relaxed this time around. The freshmen are seriously hilarious. My juniors are all chatty and friendly, but the freshmen sit really still and barely breath, which is AWESOME. So, of course, I had to give them all a hard time.

We did a little "getting to know you" activity - I filled in my answers on the board so they could see (oh - sidenote - I have an interactive SMARTBOARD. It is awesome. Also, my grammar is atrocious right now, and I'm definitely employing stream of consciousness writing, but I don't really care,!;:?.) where was I?

We did a little "getting to know you" activity - I filled in my answers on the board so they could see, and they wrote their answers on a sheet of paper which they later turned in. One of the questions was "What ONE word would you use to describe yourself?" and with the freshmen, I wrote "MEAN". There were more than a few little gasps of terror. 

Some of the students had pretty funny answers. My favorites were as follows:

Q. "What is something you are worried about in English this year?" 

A. "Restrictively fixed methods" --- this was from a freshman boy. I.E. SOMEONE WHO IS 14 YEARS OLD. Really? Restrictively fixed methods? I laughed out loud when I read that - despite the headache. Is this student secretly a 40-year old investigative education reformist? 

Q. "What is your favorite video game?"

A. "[I forgot the name of some computer game] - not for the faint-minded."

Q. "What ONE word would you use to describe yourself?"

A. "Awesomeliciousness."

Q. "What is something you are looking forward to in English this year?"

A. "Improving my grammer skills." (sic)

Q. "What is something you are looking forward to in English this year?"

A. "You."