Wait....what?

It's April 21st, folks. How did this happen? Where has all the time gone? The month of March and the first half of April were taken up entirely by a project my students were working on. We're ending our school year by reading the novel To Kill a Mockingbird. Most of my students are completely unfamiliar with the context of the novel (1930s) and the context in which it was written (1960). So, they chose a topic relevant to the time period and had to complete a research project. It took several weeks and it all culminated in a Parent Night with students answering questions about their given topics. It was a huge, huge, HUGE success. I was stressed and worried. Mostly because amid all the research, students took a week to do their Writing End of Level. My students don't have a history of being consistent with their homework, so I was worried they wouldn't get these posters completed. Just goes to show, don't assume. All of my students had something to show. Granted, not everyone did A quality work, but everyone had something.

It was so great to see the students showing off their work to their parents. They were proud of what they had done and the parents were happy and grateful to see something their students had worked so hard on.  It was a ton of work for the students, myself and the other 9th grade ELA teacher, the counseling center and the district librarians. I was running around all week like a chicken with its head cut off, but in the end it was so worth it.

It's also been fun to see them around the school reading the book. The first part is a little slow but there have been quite a few that have said once they get into it, they're really enjoying it. As a Language Arts teacher, that makes my heart go pitter-pat.

Also, my small Academic Bowl Team won the district tournament. We were the smallest team there but we won by a long shot. My students were so excited.