Today I feel like I won.

I’ve been struggling with finishing up units because I don’t really know what to do next. I’ve been really stressed about getting stuff graded, making valid assessments, and creating new and engaging units to give my kids something a little more fun to do at the end of the year.  

Well, I haven’t created any new units, which is unfortunate because I really need them, and I haven’t really finished my grading, which is really bad because it was supposed to be entered yesterday. I was too nice on my tests, so I’m not really sure how valid they are, and I’m still stressed about what the heck I’ll do with my kids next week. But, despite all of that, today I feel like I won.

My 10^th graders just finished Fahrenheit 451. Half of them hated it, a quarter were impartial, and quarter loved it. I’m rather surprised by their strong reactions to it, and because half of them had strong feelings of dislike toward Bradbury’s futuristic novel, I knew they would gripe and complain about an essay about it. In an effort to squelch some complaints and squeeze an entire essay with citations into three days, I made it a partner essay. They are working in groups of two (or one if they prefer) to write an essay on this prompt: In the fictional society Ray Bradbury created, books were banned.  Do we, as a society, need books? Use at least three specific examples or quotes from the book (with citations!) within your body paragraphs to support your answer.

I still had the complaints because kids will always and forever be kids, but what I got after the complaints made me feel like I won.

I have reluctant writers in my class. When I say reluctant, I really mean that before this year they had never written a complete essay. So perhaps “refusal-to-write writers” is a more appropriate classification of these few kids. Anyway, I passed out the prompt and one boy automatically shuts down. I mean, about ready to stand up, shove a desk, and tell me to f off shuts down. He was visibly agitated and frustrated at the prompt. I knew he would struggle with the citations, so before he flexed his muscles and perfected his slew of words, I sat down in the row in front of him and talked to the boy next to him.

This particular boy was a bump on a log for the first five months of school. He now writes essays for me, which utterly shocks and amazes anyone I tell. He is the kind of kid who spaces off and needs the directions repeated, so I used him as a catalyst to help the desk-shover.  I repeated the prompt, helped him get to the root of it, and got him started. Then I turned to the other boy, who was getting crazy eyes.

I figured he was struggling with the citations part, and I was correct. This boy has severe ADHD and struggles with reading…REALLY struggles. Lucky for him, we listed to the audiobook in class, so I KNEW he understood the story and could write the essay. I ignored the citations part and focused on what the essay is actually about. I had him talk me through his thoughts, and in two minutes he had a basic outline. He could have shoved his desk and stormed out, and I could have let him. In fact, beginning of the year Miss Thompson probably would have. I had no idea what to do with angry, cursing desk shovers other than let them shove a desk and storm out. Angy kids are SCARY business in a classroom. But now I’m older (ha!), wiser (some days), and know my kids. This kid SUCKS with confrontation. As soon as you approach him top-down or even eye-to-eye he shuts down and freaks out. He has his quirks, and I am more than happy to work with them if it gets him to write me an essay. In this case, all working with him meant was sitting down and calmly walking through the prompt and his ideas.

By the end of the hour my bump on a log had his entire outline and half of an essay done. He even had more than a three sentence paragraph! My crazy-eyed desk-shover finished a very detailed outline and had some incredibly insightful thoughts on the importance of books.We'll get to the citations, which he can indeed do independently, tomorrow.  When the bell rang, I realized the huge success that I’ve had with my kids in regards to writing. They won’t be the next Oscar Wilde or John Grisham, but they can damn sure write the shit out of an essay.

Teachers, especially in the first few years, need wins. Most days I’m behind on grading, scrambling when Plan A crashes and burns, and trying to figure out what the heck to do with these crazy kids who show up each day. I haven’t finished my grading, I don’t know what I’ll do for my poetry unit, and I’ll continue to lose sleep and be stressed for the next six weeks, but today I feel like I won. And boy does winning feel good!