...that day was a wonderful day...

Today was a really good day. I figured I should document this, since I often lose my good days through exhaustion and stress.

Nothing monumental happened today, but it still seemed to change everything. Yesterday I was so frustrated with the freshman research papers that I was practically pulling my hair out. Everyday they would come and not even have sources yet on days when we were supposed to be taking notes. I was going crazy trying to figure out whether I was just a horrible teacher, or if they were lazy, or a combination of both. I talked with Randy about how these papers went for him last year, and then I talked with Becky to see how the 8th grade research paper went with this same group of kids last year. By the end of the day, I just felt defeated.

I went into today with a mission: to forcefully pull my freshmen and sophomores through this research paper process. I started with the freshmen 1st hour and told them that they had twenty notecards due at the end of the hour. I also gave out demerits immediately to the students who were talking. After that, the students quietly worked. I rejoiced in my having beaten them into submission. My Honors freshmen worked well also, but they are not as difficult to deal with.

I took my sophomores to the computer lab and most of them were able to find some really good sources for their research papers. It took a lot of hand holding and guidance, but they were able to use EBSCO. It is exhausting to help them in the computer lab because they all need my help at once. It never ceases to amaze me how needy these high schoolers are. Maybe I was like this when I was in high school, but I don't think I was.

The other fun thing is I have been working on my Jan-Term class that I am going to be teaching in January. Studying up once again on African American literature puts me in a good mood. AND Dr. Perry is going to come and guest lecture for my class, so I am very excited about that!

Tonight I am just going to relax. Teaching this research paper is exhausting, but right now I am feeling pretty good about how things are going! It is amazing the difference one day can make!