From Werewolves to Wonderful

Yesterday, the moon was full - in my classroom, not the cosmos - and the kids were "off the hook," as we say here in da Bronx.

Today, they started researching their invertebrates, and nearly everyone was on task, and the noise level was not just manageable but exactly right. Wonderful!

Of course, many things were different. The heat was on. We had no visitors. Today's lesson was much more structured than yesterday's. I put them in new seats and this arrangement is much better than January's, at least so far. I thought a lot about who tends to turn around in their seat and talk to the person behind them, and then sat those kids on the edges of the room so all they have behind them is a closet, window, or bulletin board.

Never forget that the things you do influence the way your students act. But never forget that no matter what you do, there will still be days when every single students hops out of the wrong side of the bed with the wrong foot forward, and other days when they come to school with rosy cheeks, sharpened pencils, and polished halos. And the fact that you had one of those kinds of days today doesn't mean that you'll have the same kind of day tomorrow. It's the brutal truth and the only thing that will keep you coming back.