Isn't it curious that one good experience with a class can outweigh the bad morning one has had...

For some reason I was really grumpy today. Probably because I didn't get enough sleep this weekend as I should have (hey, Harry Potter on Saturday night, late show, can you blame me??). Plus I was a little irritated that I was the only one at my book club who read the book...not that any of this is an excuse.

But then there were the students questioning my grading of their assignments. Sometimes that makes me want to scream! Ok, not just sometimes, always. And there was the carefully planned lesson in fourth period that ended up leaving me an extra 25 minutes. Thank goodness I had an essay that I wanted them to work on tucked away! Otherwise I would have looked like a right idiot standing up there with no lesson.

Ah, but then my secret pal gave me chocolate. Bless my secret pal, whomever that might be. It was as if they somehow knew that today I would need chocolate.

And then my 8th period was actually on task, well behaved and the lesson worked fabulously! (the self same lesson that left me with 25 extra minutes in 4th period). The funny thing is usually my 4th period is the better AP Psych class, and 8th period is the one that leaves me saying to myself at the end of the day "I'm a horrible teacher, why am I doing this?" Well, I exaggerate, it's not actually my 8th period that does it to me. Usually it's the period before it, my 7th period that does, and that spills over into 8th period and by the end of the day I'm questioning whether or not I'm good at what I do. Right now, as of this second, I'm having one of those "I'm an AWESOME teacher" moments. And it's all because the lesson worked really well in 8th period. They paid attention, they understood what was going on, and when they didn't, we were able to work it out as a class. How often does that happen? Not often enough, that's for sure!!!

So, in being reflective about my practice, I should pause to wonder what was different about 4th period and 8th period. Why did the lesson work better in 8th period than it did in 4th? I'm sure it's any number of factors having to do with time of day (4th is right before lunch, they're tired, hungry) (although 8th is the last period of the day, they're tired, hungry), combination of personalities (one of my more disruptive (and less able, frankly) students was out today), the fact that I had had chocolate...and I think also, the fact that 8th period was the second time I was doing the lesson. In 4th period it was more like a dry run, and 8th was the full show, as it were.

Something to ponder, as always.