![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daily writing, teaching, comfort
Nov. 19th, 2019 08:16 amShoutout to myself for writing nearly 2K yesterday! I didn't write at all on Sunday as I am still siiiiiick. I swear, schools are just plague factories. And of course, I talk a good game about teachers not being martyrs and deserving to take time to be healthy, and then I haul my sick ass into work despite not sleeping because I had a performance review scheduled. To his credit, my DI offered to reschedule, and I snapped at him, "NO! We're doing this! I'm here, and we're not gonna waste this time." And it went really well!
I teach ELL kids at an international school in China, 7th and 8th graders. We finished reading a short story and had a discussion. If you've ever worked with kids, having an academic discussion can be painfully difficult at the best of times. Add the challenge of sorting thoughts and putting them out there in your second or even third language? Crazy difficult! Plus, my kiddos are all terrified of the DI, but they rallied like champions. I was so proud of them. To help mitigate some of the anxiety of talking in class, I gave them little packets of different open-ended notes and questions so they could take time to compose their thoughts. One of my baby angels trotted out some KICK ASS literary analysis about the use of flashbacks in the story, and I nearly cried. My babies are so smart, and the odds at my particular school are so stacked against them (for reasons I'm too tired to hash out here). Anyway.
All this (plus some crappy news I got over the weekend) has continued to inspire a need to write the comfiest, fluffiest fics in the world, so I wrote about indulging in a childish whim that isn't necessarily winter-themed, but it is cozy.
Oh! In the vein of giving myself credit, I did write 5300 words of student narratives -- twice a year, we are required to write little blurbs for each of our students and send them out as report cards. I'm grateful I only have 19 students this year. It takes a lot of effort to balance the expectations of our DI (he has a whole list of requirements) and making it actually useful and honest. I'm so glad it's done for now.
I teach ELL kids at an international school in China, 7th and 8th graders. We finished reading a short story and had a discussion. If you've ever worked with kids, having an academic discussion can be painfully difficult at the best of times. Add the challenge of sorting thoughts and putting them out there in your second or even third language? Crazy difficult! Plus, my kiddos are all terrified of the DI, but they rallied like champions. I was so proud of them. To help mitigate some of the anxiety of talking in class, I gave them little packets of different open-ended notes and questions so they could take time to compose their thoughts. One of my baby angels trotted out some KICK ASS literary analysis about the use of flashbacks in the story, and I nearly cried. My babies are so smart, and the odds at my particular school are so stacked against them (for reasons I'm too tired to hash out here). Anyway.
All this (plus some crappy news I got over the weekend) has continued to inspire a need to write the comfiest, fluffiest fics in the world, so I wrote about indulging in a childish whim that isn't necessarily winter-themed, but it is cozy.
Oh! In the vein of giving myself credit, I did write 5300 words of student narratives -- twice a year, we are required to write little blurbs for each of our students and send them out as report cards. I'm grateful I only have 19 students this year. It takes a lot of effort to balance the expectations of our DI (he has a whole list of requirements) and making it actually useful and honest. I'm so glad it's done for now.
