So, today it's raining. Hard. I myself was delayed because of the stupid F Train. And I got soaked coming to work. So that sucked. A lot of students are going to wake up, see the rain, and not come. And that's a shame. Because this one day is going to make or break a lot of students. And I'm very nervous about students who don't work hard enough for their grades to be high. If your grades are in the 80s or 90s, and something bad happens, it's ok to miss an assignment, because your grade won't drop that much. But if you're keeping your grades at a 65 or 70, and something bad happens and you miss a big assignment, it could bring you below passing. Too many students don't keep their grades high enough to create a safety net for themselves, and that's why they fail a class. It's such a waste of their talent and intelligence. But many of my students in summer school aren't like that - their grades are very high, so even one day missing won't make them fail. Those students have done a lot in these past 21 days.
If you made it this far, there's a lot you accomplished. You read 7-8 short stories, analyzed them, and discussed them with others. You wrote two of your own short stories - a rough draft and a final draft. You edited several people's short stories. You read over 8 news articles to search for answers to one question and proof for one claim. While reading each article, you analyzed if the author and publication were trustworthy. You might have realized that an article could not be trusted after reading the whole thing, and then instead of getting discouraged and quitting, you simply looked for a new article. After finding 8 sources you could trust based on currency, reliability, predictability, and point of view, you took detailed notes to prove your claim or answer your question. And then you wrote several paragraphs to prove that claim or answer that question. Today, you will edit students' work, and revise your paragraphs into two essays, complete with introductions and conclusions.You used summer school to be readers, literary critics, creative writers, non-fiction writers, editors, and researchers. You have gotten to see inside how one teacher thinks, and have conversations with your teacher about his thoughts. You've done so much in 22 days.
So how do you feel?
If you made it this far, there's a lot you accomplished. You read 7-8 short stories, analyzed them, and discussed them with others. You wrote two of your own short stories - a rough draft and a final draft. You edited several people's short stories. You read over 8 news articles to search for answers to one question and proof for one claim. While reading each article, you analyzed if the author and publication were trustworthy. You might have realized that an article could not be trusted after reading the whole thing, and then instead of getting discouraged and quitting, you simply looked for a new article. After finding 8 sources you could trust based on currency, reliability, predictability, and point of view, you took detailed notes to prove your claim or answer your question. And then you wrote several paragraphs to prove that claim or answer that question. Today, you will edit students' work, and revise your paragraphs into two essays, complete with introductions and conclusions.You used summer school to be readers, literary critics, creative writers, non-fiction writers, editors, and researchers. You have gotten to see inside how one teacher thinks, and have conversations with your teacher about his thoughts. You've done so much in 22 days.
So how do you feel?