The Purpose of Revolution

My students are writing essays on the purpose of revolution. Well, right now they’re just in the planning stages. They revolved through the room, hitting stations with different documents about revolution in history (French, Haitian), now (Arab Spring), and then thinking about it in their own lives. I told them so many anecdotes about my own rebellions in school that I wondered whether they would get ideas, but it was only my 4^th block (who have become my favorites for their boisterous hilarity) that realized they, too, could stage a coup and seize the power. I talked them down pretty quick; I’ve had too much practice on my own.

All my classes were remarkably well-behaved. 4^th block I’ve solved major problems by locking my door at the ring of the bell, and only letting in students with injunctions to “sit silently” when it’s convenient for the rest of the class. They have to go back out and try again in three minutes if they fail to sit silently, and while you would think that would be a great way to enhance a skipping problem, I have some unexpected allies. The area outside my trailer is now buzzing with bumble bees. Perfectly harmless, furry big bees that the kids are terrified of and will do anything (even behave well) in order to escape. I think they fill the trailers with a pleasant vernal atmosphere.

So today every class made its circuits from Arab Spring blog to Three Estates cartoon, gently exchanging “cállates” with the pull-out Spanish group instead of their usual all-out bitch-fests about differentiation (of course, in my fourth block instead they always try to get them to teach them Spanish—oh fourth block whom I love for your disruptive friendliness!). Two students who have never done a lick of work before, in two different classes, turned in full answer sheets. Tomorrow they will begin their writing.

Ms. W will allow one day of recovery credit if you create an
epic movie about what you did while skipping school. No illegal
activities allowed onscreen.

Students also took an open-notes quiz to check how well they’d copied French Rev lore and were prepped for their essays. Told ‘em to write me a note if they weren’t there on the days we studied this. Received many excuses but fortunately went back through my records to sift the lies. Got a bit tetchy with the number of kids who said they weren’t when they just hadn’t taken notes. Wanted to get creative in response to student notes like the one below:

Ms. W I'm sorry I wasn't here.

Options for response:

-I'm sorry too. F.

-Why not try coming, then?
-You skipped 22 days of school. Unfortunately, the day we took notes for this quiz wasn't one of them. F. 

-No worries, why don't you take the rest of the semester off, too?

-I'm sorry I can't grade this-- I have better things to do. Just like you, apparently.

What I went with:

-Checked my attendance records. You were. F. 

P.S. See me for recovery for your 22 absences.

A more heartfelt note:

Ms. W may I take this over because soda went all over my paper so I couldn't bring them they at home. Can I redo this because I don't want my grade to go down in this class.

Yes, girl! You may.