Back Among the Living

I feel more human today, although my voice sounds awful. My students are probably hoping I'll lose it. You know, some days, I can't blame them. Some days, I wouldn't like me either. (Have I mentioned training ninth graders for high school and the world beyond is hard?)

I should be writing on the new WIP, Afternburn, but I'm not. I'm making out a test (Romeo and Juliet, Act III), then I'm going to bed early again tonight. One thing I've learned from the last year is not to push my body too hard when I'm not feeling well. It tends to push back.

Do I want to do an extra credit ambush tomorrow or not? I follow the poor darlings around campus (break, lunch, etc.) and ask them review questions. If they answer correctly, they get bonus points to add to a test. They didn't get that last week for the Act II test.

I could do one question per kid. Let them pull them out of a cup or something.

Oh! I got the coolest thing from another teacher today. He's working on his master's in creative writing from Oxford (we won't discuss how envious I am!) and just returned from an Oxford visit. He had handouts featuring D.H. Laurence's and W. B. Yeats's revision processes. Too, too cool. Interesting to see where Laurence's "The Piano" began and where it ended up, as well as Yeats's "The Second Coming." See, Joan? Everyone revises . . . and may survive it!