April Fool

Wouldn't you know it, April Fool's Day is the one and only day of the year that my juniors decide to behave like normal, educated young adults with an eye on their education...As such, I expect Wednesday and Thursday to be horrendous.  In comparison, my usually well-behaved, easy-going seniors were disruptive and testy today.  I feel like I've been in topsy-turvy world!

The seniors finished reading the actual play of Macbeth today.  Since the entire unit has been stretched across 4-5 weeks with Spring Break in the middle, I played this Macbeth Video as a summary/review of the play thus far.  After reading the entire abridged version, they really enjoyed the silly cartoon video, which is brief enough that it did not eat class time or ruin showing the entire film next week.  It was also beneficial because, after spending the last several weeks trudging through Shakespeare's dense language, it was like a breath of fresh air that really aided in clearing up any confusions that they really weren't even sure they had. 

It was also a good transition into my summative assessment project: Macbeth Storybook. I'm dividing each class into 6-7 groups that will be each designated a section of the play to translate and illustrate into 1-3 pages of a children's storybook. I will then scan/compile the pages and show them to the classes next week. As senioritis sets in, I'm hoping this form of peer-accountability keeps them on task and encourages them to at least complete their portion of the project.

On a side note, I've interviewed a couple places in the last week and by far the most difficult question: "What's your greatest strength and weakness?" Other common questions: "How do you feel about technology in the classroom?" - "How will you integrate cross curricular activities?" - "What are your feelings on writing assignments?" -- These are just the most common ones so far in case any of my classmates were curious about the actual questions being asked.  I wish you all the best of luck!