Monday (again)

Shout out to Tracy, great lesson. As for our book discussion, we don't really talk about the book but we have certainly done a good job exploring some very important issues facing educators and students. I found the discussion worth while. I also enjoyed our talk about re-vision and I've managed to generate some ideas I can use. I think I'm going to come up with some content item and have the boys do a short piece of writing, then I'm going to do it again. After they have about four pieces of writing, I'm going to run them through a series of revisions, letting things perk for a while. The key to this plan is the length of the writing very short. This is necessary for my class. Also limiting the time spent on the assignment is key. I also expect that I'll lower the stakes by offering the assignments as pass fail instead of putting them through the anguish of letter grades. I hope that this will build up there academic endurance, their tolerance for writing and separate them from their work. I think I'm also going to let them snowball a couple pieces. Still processing that.

My narrative is going well enough, I've restarted it three times but I'm much happier with the third attempt.

NO FEAR, but keep the common sense.