New Beginnings, Once Again

We've (I've) made it to Cycle III!

That's right folks, this is the last and final cycle of the year. The official end of year countdown has begun. The grand experiment that is my school will finish its second year (for better or for worse) in the next three months.

So that means that yet again, we start anew. New cycle, new students, new chances.

A new chance to make it first period. To second. To third.

To do some homework. To get a 65. To get a 95. To believe that you really are worthy of graduating high school.

My new chances? Advanced Writing Seminar and Playwriting and Performance II.

Advanced Writing (Dig the college sounding title?) is my small experiment within our school's larger one. I've always emphasized writing, but this time it will be explicit. The plan is pretty simple: genre by genre, we will play and explore and, with hope, eventually command.

And we started today. With, you guessed it: I am from.

(Seriously, what did progressive English teachers do before Linda Christensen saved us all?)

Is there really a better way to start off a new cycle, a new class, a new chance than writing about the different flavors of jolly ranchers you ate as a 7 year old? I think not.

"What was the name of that game again?
"Steal the Bacon!"
"My favorite food was fried chicken....macaroni and cheese...the pink starbursts."

It's simple.
It's low risk.
It's fun.
It's fulfilling.

At the end of a 55 minute period, my students got to know themselves, their classmates, and me a little bit better. They learned the tone and purpose of the class (we are going to WRITE) and perhaps even some of my teaching philosophy. The learned that they could write a poem (and in some cases a damn good one) in under 20 minutes.

Not bad for a new and final first day.