They'll Surprise Ya

And sometimes the surprise is good, and sometimes it is bad.

Today it was a good surprise. It all started last night when I saw a car full of teenagers drive slowly past our house. Please understand that I love teaching high school. I love teenagers. I believe they are great people with their whole future ahead of them. But let's be honest. They are impulsive and I wouldn't have been the first teacher to become a TP victim in the hours leading up to senior year. I also might be a little edgy because several years ago we were victimized by former students. I had a particular group with which I struggled for the whole school year. They undermined me in class, rarely did their homework, and were subversively difficult. The day after school got out got our house and truck with paintballs. Two other colleagues' homes had also been hit and we determined that one thing we all had in common was the same group of students, but we could never prove their responsibility. A few years after the incident another student from the class below confirmed my suspicions but by that point it would have caused more harm than good to open up old wounds and cut new ones.

But last night my fears were for naught. Our yard was clear and clean when I woke up this morning. Yeah, I felt a little bad for my suspicions. Again, do I believe I am immune to said behavior? Nope, but I'm glad that it was just my paranoia working overtime.

My second pleasant surprise came from my new AP students. Last year was rough for them. For lack of a better term, the year was inconsistent and we all have our different concerns. I am fully confident in my ability to teach these budding scholars. I am also fully confident in their abilities. But that doesn't change the fact that I am a little nervous about our outcomes this year and they are nervous about just surviving the road map I gave them in class. I went into today with no idea how much intellectual sandpaper I was going to need to smooth and shape these young minds into effective writers able to recognize the rhetoric in the world around them. I left school feeling a lot better.

You see, a major component of AP Language is a focus on good reading skills, something that will take too long to explain at this moment, but it is something that is difficult to teach to students when they are already reading below the level that you need them to be at. Their summer reading assignment was to pick a book off of a list that I gave them and turn in an annotated copy of the book as soon as they arrived in class today.

One class into grading them and I am amazed. Some did the minimum 60 and were good with that, an approach that doesn't bother me at all. I don't even think it speaks to their character as students. It wasn't a short cut. They did what was required of them for a summer reading assignment.

But others went beyond. They didn't just do 60 annotations. They wrote and questioned and highlighted and connected throughout the whole text. They showed me that they are READERS and that is what they need to be if they are going to be successful this year. Was I surprised? Honestly, yes. I was surprised, but it was a surprise that gave me hope for the year.

The first day went well. I really do love the first day of a new year. And tomorrow I meet the parents. Good luck to me!