History in the Making

Fascinating. Did you hear about John McCain's VP candidate? This election will be monumental. Either an African American will be President or a woman will be Vice President. History in the making people. As Obama says, "change." Well change is coming, and it is coming quick, no matter which party wins this race.

You Make Me Laugh!

Today in class we talked about writing. Remember? Of course I like writing--otherwise I wouldn't be an English teacher. But that doesn't mean that writing is easy or always fun either. Many of my students mentioned how they use writing as an escape. Me too. Somehow writing lets me release stress or other intense emotions that somehow become too intense. As part of class today my students were required to complete the following statement: "To me writing is like..." The purpose was for them to create a simile about their feelings toward writing. There were some great ones. One student wrote that writing is like a tootsie pop. At first it's hard, but as you continue it gets softer. Another student mentioned that writing is like getting punched in the face. There were so many brilliant similes. I should have written them down so I could remember them. It's a good thing I'm the teacher and that my students will have to turn in this assignment, then I'll be able to read all of the responses again. Excellent.

Oh. I almost forgot to write about the title of this blog. This blog is entitled "You Make Me Laugh!" because of another assignment we did today. After the students finished writing a simile to express their attitude about writing, they started making a collage to find pictures to show how they feel about writing. This is where things got especially funny. One student found a picture of a flag burning and connected it with the word evil. Another student found a picture of tortured Muslim woman. I get the hint: you don't like writing. But...as I mentioned in my post yesterday, you'll still have to do things that you don't like or that you think are lame. It's just part of the game called life. Sorry. But thanks for making me laugh.

I'll do it too.

I have asked my students (well actually I will assign my students next week) to start a writer's notebook. I can hear it now: "This is lame, Ms. Thackeray. Why do we have to do this?" I know, I know. They will most assuredly think the assignment is lame. But sometimes "lame" things are good for us. Students, just trust me on this one. As someone who is quite a bit older and dare I say wiser--well more experienced--than you, I do have some hindsight in the matter of doing "lame" things. I have done my fair share of "lame" things in my life and I'm sure that they haven't ended yet either. And I have learned that many times the things I thought were so "lame" that I wanted to die rather than do, actually weren't that lame when I looked back on them, and besides not being as lame as I originally deemed them to be, they even became helpful.

"Well, Ms. Thackeray," you say, "Now you're just babbling." This is true. I know I'm babbling--but guess what?!? That is the purpose of this assignment: you get to babble and haver all you want--to your heart's content even. Really, I'm doing you a favor ;-] That's right, you should be saying "Thank you Ms. Thackeray, you are giving us the opportunity of a lifetime. You're the best English teacher ever." That is what I want to hear! That is what I want to live up to. And that's why I will do your assignment with you. I am even posting mine online--publishing for all to see, now that's pressure.