marissa forwarded me this and i'm so glad she did:



i used it today in lieu of a freewrite. it's frustrating not to be able to speak about my political beliefs in the classroom, but it doesn't mean that the students can't have a great discussion based on what they know. and they did. A stood up and asked his classmates if they liked obama simply because he was black or if they knew about his standpoint on some of the issues. E cited his anti-war stance, and S blew my mind by talking about how she didn't believe in the true good or evil of either candidate, but needed to support the candidate that best understood her life, in the Bronx, and how to better the situation for the poor people of the country.

"they got lite," was the best compliment i could get about the video, but they were sucked in. and then i had the best PM school session with two seniors, both of whom need some grammar and structure work, but have so much voice and soul in their writing. i know what i need to do; the voice is there from their lives, now we just need to hone it. miss closet traditionalist ELA teacher to the rescue! charge!

xo
lo