Josh Jenkins for City Council!

So, as you may have heard if you are from the Northwest Arkansas area (or if you are just absurdly interested in politics) there was a Josh Jenkins running for city council in Springdale. Just to clear up the rumors, this was NOT me. I have had many enthusiastic parents, students, and coworkers let me know that I have their vote and their full support. Unfortunately, it is not I, but an imposter. Sorry to disappoint.... maybe one day! Whattaya think???

Book Review #2 Wicked by Gregory Maguire

Let me just say to begin with, out of fairness to Maguire and to the book, that I am a HUGE Wizard of Oz fan. I loved the Baum books. I loved the movie. I loved the little-seen sequel Return to Oz. I loved the characters, the imagination, and the SIMPLICITY of it all. In addition, let me add that I LOVED the musical Wicked. I am a fan of musical theater, and it was one of my favorites musicals ever. So, to be fair, I had astronomical, gigantic, probably unfair expectations for this book. It did not deliver. There were a few moments in this book that were pure genius. There were rare, wonderful times when I was reading and just thought to myself “YES! That is exactly how I imagined it!” But, overall I simply did not like the book. I wanted to. I had heard that I should. But alas, I did not.
I think that the primary reason for this is how completely disjointed the book feels. It feels more as if it is a collection of short stories about one character, rather than a novel. In each chapter we are just coming to be interested in a supporting character or characters, when BAM! the story jumps forward x years and the nearly interesting characters are never seen or heard from again, or show up in such limited and uninteresting capacity that it makes little difference. After the second time of this happening I realized that this book was more a little series of vignettes about Elphaba, rather than a cohesive whole.
I also felt that there was a lot of unnecessary difficulty with the names of the characters and the places. I felt like after a while these became more of a distraction than an addition to the plot and the setting.
I think that the biggest problem I had with the book was that it was simply not that entertaining. I understand that there are a lot of "morals to the story" in this book and that it wants to study issues of prejudice and morality... but for me, there also needs to be a good strong STORY to back that up. I just didn't find that here. I need to be able to get invested in the characters, particularly the main character. But the supporting characters were constantly being whisked away, and the main character never seemed fully realized.I have been told that this book is much better the second time. I don’t know that it will get that chance. There are just too many great reads out there.

Drawing the Skeletal System

Over the last week or so, we have begun our unit on the human body. We have completed an overview of the organ systems in a human body, and are now going into more depth with each system. We began with the skeletal system and are about to move on to the muscular system. As a wrap up activity on the skeletal system, my students laid on a large piece of paper on the floor and traced their bodies. Then, they drew the major bones of our bodies and labeled the 21 that they will be tested on.

The students had a really good time with this assignment and many of them actually turned out really good. Here are just a few pictures from our exciting day!

Book Review #1 The Twilight Series by Stephenie Meyer

So, I realize that this is technically more than one book review, but I have recently finished the first 3 Twilight books and am currently reading Breaking Dawn. I have to admit that I was more than skeptical when I heard about these books. I had never heard of such an absurd idea for a story. A girl that is struggling between her love for a vampire and her love for her best friend, a werewolf. First off, I'm not too big on reading about love stories. Most are poorly written and come off as pathetic rather than romantic. All the angst and pining usually gives me heartburn. I must say that if these books were just a love story, I don't think that I could handle them. However, there is so much insight into human nature and so much other story line that it makes the (moderately excessive) ookey stuff bearable. I must also admit that these books have gotten better as they have gone along and that they are easily the most addictive and hardest to put down books that I have read since the Harry Potter series. I am glad that I took the time and went against my better judgement to read this "sappy love story."

Springdale Sonics!!!

This year I have been blessed to have the opportunity to coach a 7th grade basketball team from our school. This is not a "school team" and is not affiliated with the AAA, but it has been a great experience thus far. It is my desire to one day coach at the junior high and high school levels and this has given me some great experience to draw from.

Our team is part of the Springale Sonics program, which is designed both to provide a program for these students to be involved in and to give our middle school basketball players an opportunity to develop their skills in preparation for playing basketball in junior high.

My team is amazing! We are 0-2 so far, but we are constantly improving. More importantly, they are a group of guys that have a lot of fun playing basketball and really enjoy each other. I have 11 players on my team. This includes 8 Marshallese students, 1 Asian, 1 Hispanic, and 1 Caucasian. This has led to some minor communication issues at time, but has also been extremely educational and exciting for me. Here is a picture of our team from before our last game:
Here is a more accurate picture:

Who couldn't love these guys!!!

THANKSGIVING BREAK!!!!

So... I hate to be negative, because I love my job and would not trade my students for anything. But, I am soooo excited for the 5 straight days I am about to get with NO 7th grade interaction. Don't get me wrong, they are truly wonderful. But, they are also very draining. Every day, regardless of how I feel or what I am thinking about outside of school, I have 115 12-and-13-year-olds who are expecting me to be focused completely on them. It will be nice to simply have some time off!

Also, I wanted to make sure, in case anyone actually is reading my blog, that I take a moment to say "Thank You" for everything that I am thankful for. I am truly blessed. I have an impact on a large number of kids every single day and that is an amazing blessing. Even more wonderful is the impact that they have on me. I am thankful to God, through whom all of my blessings come. I am thankful to my family for helping me get to this point in my life. I am thankful for our country, for our schools, and for our future.

Having said all that, enjoy your holiday, be thankful for all that we are blessed with, and be sure to watch some football. Let's all go ingest some tryptophan!!!

Diversity!!

Diversity is something we pride ourselves in at J. O. Kelly Middle School. Here is a typical sampling of my students.

As you can see, we are a diverse group even to the outsider. Our school is approximately 60% minority students (which I guess makes them the majority) We have a very large number of Hispanic students, and we have a sizable number of students from the Marshall Islands. We also have a small number of African American and Asian students. Oh yeah... and we have quite a few Caucasian kids as well. I love the different racial and ethnic backgrounds because of how much experience we have to draw from in each and every class.

However, there is much more diversity in my classes than just skin color or family background. We have several students with IEP's, and we have several students who are in GT. We have several students who love soccer, others who prefer basketball or football or band. We have one child who is in a wheelchair due to a traumatic brain injury. In both of the groups below there is (intentionally) at least one student who seriously struggles in school, one who is a very strong leader, and at least one who is a strong student. Knowing the differences in my students has led to much more effective and productive group activities.

Each kid in my class is a completely unique individual. Trying to list all the ways in which they are diverse is like chasing after the wind. I have, however, found that they are all similar in some major ways. They all want to succeed. They all want you to love them (though not all of them want you to know they want that). They all can surprise you at any given moment with what they might say or do and they all change substantially from day to day!