2/07/2008

personal victory

Today at school I was able to silence my "That's what she said" reflex not once, but twice. I can't believe it. And let me tell you, I had some killer opportunities.

student: "Ms. Dahlke! Can you come here? I don't know what to do with this thing. It's too long and hard!"

another student: "My locker's broke and I can't get any of my books or homework out."
me: "That sucks. What's wrong with it?"
him: "The thing that you pull on won't come up."

On a more professional note, I think one of the best things about teaching so far has been the large number of times I've been in a position to genuinely compliment someone. With about seventy-five students all working on independent research projects, I've been doing a lot of one-on-one conferencing. It's been great for helping me to get to know each of them, and to take notice of their progress. You know, to see them coming along well (that's what she said?).

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lmao, this is hilarious. Ron noticed that "that's what she said" was sort of a reflex with you, and he thought it was the funniest thing EVER, and he started saying it himself (and then cracking up at his own wit, lol).

And IRPs? What kind of research projects? Obviously not horribly intensive, but what are they doing?

Hey, in a couple of years maybe I'll be coming into your classooms doing the sex ed unit :D

-Melissa

ellen said...

"and then cracking up at his own wit"

for me, that's sort of become the best part of that-what-she-said jokes. no one else thinks i'm funny besides myself.

IRPs: well, this week they were working on a smaller project on either che guevara or english-only legislation so that we could have them working together and focusing on research skills, reading skills, note-taking, organization, etc.

tomorrow the real fun starts. they have to do something related to latin america/ns, but what exactly they'll come up with in our brainstorming session, lord knows.

i've told you once and i'll say it again: i can't wait until we're all old and uber-educated and working on all kinds of cool shit together.