Today was the first day back from the in-service day. The students seemed more refreshed than usual by the three-day weekend – the difference in energy between a three-day weekend and a two-day weekend really is clear for the students. There is a complex that this is a symptom of – the “school isn’t cool” complex. With a good number of exceptions, there is a sort of self-defeating mindset that affects many of the students, causing smart kids, who have the knowledge and skills to demonstrate their understanding, to make little or no effort. I think it’s probably an oversimplification to say that they consider “smart” to be “uncool,” and therefore dumb themselves down, but it’s also not entirely untrue.
The class makeup of the elective, “Borrowing the Bard,” is very interesting. This five-student class is a mixture of very quiet students whom I’m having trouble reading, and outgoing, outspoken, and energetic students, who incidentally all have theater backgrounds. I’m excited to see exactly what happens in this class – the curriculum is interesting and varied, but so far the reading is a bit thick. Also, in general, it seems this class is going to assign more reading than the students are used to. However, they all signed up for it instead of a study hall, so they must be interested in the topic.
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