Imagine That

Where do ideas come from? Divine inspiration? Years of study? Pure luck? How did J.K. Rowling come up with the idea for those wonderful Harry Potter books? Were these ideas always with her, or did a switch suddenly turn on one day and whisper "Hogwarts" to her? Is it possible that there's an imagination gene and you're either born with it or you're not? Or are we all born with infinite imaginations but just lose the ability to use it over the years of our childhood?

I'm going to assume it's the last response. But if we lost the ability at some point, that should mean that we can regain it. Right? Well...how?

I used to draw when I was growing up. I drew a lot...and I was good. Really good. Time stopped mattering when I had a pencil in my hand. I imagine that's what it's like for creative people. I don't remember ever thinking I didn't have time to draw anymore or that I should stop drawing altogether. But, at some point, I did. I never picked up a pencil again. Why? I don't remember.

Every once in a while, I think to myself, "I should start drawing again. I always loved it." But something keeps me from trying. Lack of time? Or, and this is more likely, lack of faith in myself. Perhaps in this year of #Courage, I should bring out my sketchbook, grab a few pencils, and just get started!

Ah Saturday

Not much worthy of note happened today. Well, unless you play for or are a fan of the New England Patriots. We won!! I was so happy when the game finally ended. I don't think I took a single deep breath during the entire game.

I had planned on sleeping in this morning then doing a little bit of grading followed by a lot of lying on the couch under my New England Patriots blanket reading a good book. The hitch in that plan came when I discovered that I'd left my laptop's power cord at school. Drat!! I hate when that happens. Fortunately, however, I live close enough to school that it wouldn't take very long to go get my power cord. I just needed to decide whether or not I really needed to. I mean, I was just so comfy and warm in my apartment. Is grading really all that important? Couldn't I just ignore my work for the weekend and relax instead? Isn't that what normal people do?

Drat!

So I walked to school to get my power cord. Hey, at least I didn't drive...I should get some credit for that, right?

Grammar Humor

Fridays can be long days in middle school. Long, LONG days. Especially the Friday after Christmas vacation. So I thought I'd try out a new grammar game with my seventh graders today. I'm sure some people (like McBro) might be questioning the placing of the words "grammar" and "game" right next to each other, but it works. At least in my classroom it does.

The adjectives/adverbs game involves students using up to five adjectives to describe the noun in a simple sentence so that their team can guess the noun. If they guess correctly, then their teammate can use up to five adverbs to describe the verb, hoping that the team will again guess correctly. This was not an easy game, but it did prove to be rather entertaining.

The first pair of students was up in front of their team trying to come up with adjectives to describe "band." One of the adjectives they chose was "noisy." This led one of the boys to say, "Miss McMillan." I turned calmly to him and said, "What?"

"Miss McMillan is noisy."

WHAT?!? I asked.

"See," he replied.

Hilarious. Just hilarious.

Just Another Day

Middle schoolers can be endlessly entertaining. I know they can be maddening at times, and I'm sure they can drive their parents crazy, but if you just let them be and allow yourself to listen to them from time to time, you will thoroughly enjoy them. I promise. I've been on enough long bus rides with 36 screaming seventh graders to know this is true.

Of course, it could just be that after all these years as a middle school teacher, I've finally cracked. But let's not go there...yet.

Let's take today for example. One of the boys called me over to his desk, I assumed, to ask a grammar question as that was what we were working on at the time.

I was wrong.

"Miss McMillan, do you have a cousin named Phillip?"

It took a moment for my brain to process the fact that this question had nothing to do with adverbs, and then...

Um, wait...what?

"Have you ever heard of the show 'Duck Dynasty'?"

Is this some new game middle schoolers have invented? Keep the teacher spinning from one weird question to the next?

Yes, I've heard of it.

"There's a Phillip McMillan on Duck Dynasty."

Oh, really?

"Yeah. He's crazy!"

Wait...is that why you thought he was related to me?!"

A great deal of sputtering occurred as the last part of our conversation sank in for him. I just walked away.

One of the boys in my class likes to sing random songs throughout the day. I mean really random songs. Today's playlist included, "Viva Las Vegas," "A Whole New World," and "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen."

Like I said...random.

So I decided to add my own version of random to the mix. I grabbed my iPod, plugged it into the classroom speakers, and...

"Let it go, let it go...!"

Wow, the wildly different reactions was rather intense. There was loud singing, even louder begging ("No, Miss McMillan, just NO!"), and even one young man who stuck tissues in his ears.

Just another day in middle school.

Where Are My Books?

I made it through the third day back...barely. But I'm starting to go through reading withdrawals! I spent a majority of my Christmas vacation with Kindle in hand and loved every minute of it. Now that I'm back at school, there just hasn't been time for reading. I don't even try to read once I get home...my eyes just refuse to stay open long enough to read one or two paragraphs.

I'm really looking forward to Saturday when I'll be able to spend some quality time with one of my favorite authors, Jodi Picoult. Well, at least I'll be spending time reading one of her books, Sing You Home. And that's what will get me through the next two days of work, looking forward to reading.

I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to read, and I don't remember actually learning how to read. When I think of my early childhood exposure to books, I think of my dad. I remember him reading us stories and putting up with my correcting him as he read. I also remember trips to the library with dad when I got to take home as many books as I wanted. Happy memories!

Both of my parents are big readers, and I know that's where I get my love of reading. So, thank you, mom and dad, for introducing me to great adventures, magical tales, and story after story about what it is to be human.

Seriously...Remember

Day two back at school after Christmas vacation. The calendar says it's Tuesday, but it still feels like Monday. Actually it feels worse than Monday. I was so tired today that I felt like I might fall asleep in the middle of a lesson. Trust me, falling asleep in front of a bunch of middle schoolers is not a good idea.

After writing about my one-word goal (In One Word) I decided to have my seventh graders come up with their own #OneWord goals for 2015 and I'm so glad I did. They were writing them down on paper so we can hang them on the classroom wall, and I was wandering around the classroom talking to some of them about their choices. Listening to them explain their choices was definitely the best part of my day. 

One boy chose "seriously" as his word and, thinking he might not be taking the assignment "seriously," I asked him to explain his choice. "Well, I just really need to start taking things more seriously." That really is the perfect word for him to choose, so I said "Great choice," and walked on. 

Another one of the boys chose "remember" as his one-word goal. I asked him why he chose that word and he said, "Because I need to remember that every person is God's creation and I need to treat them that way." Yup, he's a pretty awesome young man.

Some of the other words my students chose were: joy, confidence, optimistic, active, practice, and love. I should probably have them each blog about their choice so I can read all of their stories. These are some truly wise kids I have this year!

And We're Back

As I predicted in yesterday's post, it was only a matter of minutes before we were back in the swing of things, barely even remembering that we were just getting back from eighteen days off. It was great to see my students and all of my co-workers today, but I wouldn't have argued if someone would have said, "Oh, let's take one more day of vacation." Just one more day to lounge around in comfy clothes, lying on the couch beneath a nice warm blanket and an even warmer cat, reading the day away.

But life doesn't generally stop for just one more day; it keeps us moving forward. And tomorrow always arrives whether we're ready for it or not.

Not. Definitely not.

Today was a very long day, as I knew it would be. But I had more than enough planned for my students, plenty to keep them busy. Or at least awake. I even decided to pull out one of my favorite activities to keep them engaged on our first day back. Text poetry...it never fails. [If you want to read more about this activity, you can read my posts here: Txt Ptry and More Txt Ptry.]

After explaining to my students that they would be translating one of the poems I gave them into text lingo, there was a raucous roar of approval. The excitement was built and I sent them on their way to work with their partners. While wandering around the classroom, I heard one of my students say, "This is the best assignment EVER!"

Yup...using text lingo in class always gets their approval.