I write that knowing full well that not one lesson today met or even approached what I would have considered a satisfactory engagement level in mid-September, but then sometimes you have to be willing to take a bad day in exchange for a couple of good ones down the read -- sort of like knowing when to take a sack when you're a quarterback with no play in front of you.
Anyway, it all goes back to the routine issue of the previous week's posting: If you step back and view things from a kid's perspective, coming into the classroom, talking to your friends for 10 minutes and then wondering why the guy with the tie in the room is gesticulating so wildly has become sort of the daily classroom routine, at least over the last 2 weeks or so. A lot of today's work revolved around reminding kids how to perform a warm up task, how to keep pace with the note-taking and how to shut up when I need them to shut up.
Most importantly, it was about patience. I'll admit, I'm about 6 weeks past the point where I can summon the patience at will, but today was proof positive that the reservoir had been noticeably replenished over the 9 day break. How long that reservoir will stay full is anybody's guess, but I get the feeling that tomorrow will be even better. We'll see.
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