Sometimes you have to wait to see how something plays out . . .

So a colleague told me today that some of her students were elated that they were starting my class later that day (our semesters switched). Many of them had me in 10th grade, and many knew me by association. What an awesome compliment. It's also a great vindication of an approach I took that year.

2008-09 might be my proudest teaching year. Something moved me to embark on a whimsical but positive approach that year. I had a mammoth section of AP students. I resolved that with them I would never use their first names, referring to them as Mr. and Ms. I resolved to never complain about their enormous class size. I also, for practical reasons, simplified my gradebook dramatically, only collecting nine, ten, or eleven major assignments a marking period.

Meanwhile, settled into a really positive groove with some standard sections that year. I remember even promising myself that I would pretend to like a set of boys whose jib struck me wrong (and I ended up liking them as a result). That was the class where a student paid me the ultimate history teacher compliment ("With you, the important things seemed important.")

So, now I receive some dividends from that year. I'm interested to see how this plays out with seniors and seeing if I can elevate them to something higher than just playing out the string.