Week Thirteen

This week was especially difficult because the students had Monday off and Friday was a half day. We were able to cover the first few parts of the Odyssey but they were easily distracted with visions of the break in their minds. They seemed to enjoy reading about Odysseus' adventures with Calypso and the Lotus Eaters. I am really glad that I have to study this story because I am starting to enjoy it more. Hopefully it will inspire the students as much as it is inspiring me. I am finding myself searching for more information about Greek mythology. The students have been asking questions and it is really nice to be able to look something up quickly in the classroom. I think that sometimes I take the technology we have for granted. It would have not been so easy to find information so quickly before the internet.

In the English 9 support class we worked on paraphrasing. I did not realize that it would be such a difficult skill for the students to master. I expected that several of them would already be able to paraphrase fairly well. It is hard sometimes as teachers to try and remember what it was like when we didn't know how to do something. I find that I have to really stop and think about how to help them understand concepts that I have already mastered. Paraphrasing is a very important skill for students to have. I will continue to figure out ways to teach it to students even if we don't have time to work on it more in this class. Hopefully there is some research out there that can explain some successful ways to help students understand how to paraphrase.