Unit Two: On our way to Salvation!

So we had the first week of Unit Two.  In Unit Two we finish Season 1 (Unit, Season, Semester, Period, anyone confused yet?) 

We have had a couple of quizzes and we have to keep reminding them that they have to keep working and working well to get on to the next episode.  Hopefully the "hiatus" while we do Romeo and Juliet in the more traditional method will also help motivate them to keep working. 

This is what is hard for me.  I can see they are enjoying it, and I think they are learning, but the December standardized test (EOCT) is a long, long way away.  It's not enough for them to do as well as everyone else, for me to prove a point, they have to do better.  Then there is the struggle not to try to do things to teach to the test and skew things.  I actually asked my dad, (an ethics professor) if the fact that I spend considerable time praying for the kids and that they do well on the test, was skewing results.  He laughed at me and said not as long as I was praying that they were learning...  cause that is the goal here.

I have to remind myself about that every once in a while.  The point here is the learning.  I think this method will work (and I have supporting evidence so far) and I think it needs to be considered in main stream education.  I am gathering more evidence to prove it.... Everything else is gravy, right.

The motivation factor continues to be fun to watch as the kids goad each other toward homework and quiz grade goals to get to the next episode.  I find that funny as the episode is actually part of the education and not actually a reward.

The other thing that weighed heavily on me last week, but I think I have reconciled is that this is a horror based series.  Sometimes it is a bit dark and I have to balance that with necessity.  Even with it being prime time and even before some of the newer less stringent censorship laws, there are some moments that can be a little tense...  (Which is why we like it at home, and it interests the kids, but I put on my teacher hat and suddenly I get a little nervous!).  When I was putting all of this in theory, it was simple, but watching the kids faces (rapt though they are) can be a little daunting sometimes.  That is why I went ahead and decided to forgo Shadows. 

then the kids come marching into class and announce they watched on their own at home anyway and they think I am a wuss...  Oh well.  Listening to the literary discussions is worth it.

Today we watched The Benders.  Most of the class read "The Most Dangerous Game" so the conversation was pretty good and I really look forward to reading journals and homework on this.

I also have assigned the kids their Monster Project to be due next Friday.