A reminder why I do what I do...

Categories: Environmental Hazards, Geography General

I have been feeling that everything has been a bit of a slog recently, and also had the notion that some of my classes were feeling the same. This time of year always seems to present a bit of a personal brick wall, with so much of my work either marking (prelims) or prepping for exams. I know from speaking to several students that they are feeling pretty worn out after the exams too, and as time is of the essence, the opportunities to do something a little bit different seem limited in class. Furthermore, I have experienced in the past a drop in student's motivation to do something like this, almost like an extension of the tiredness hanging over from prelim revision.

Today, I went into my s4 class with not too much expectation of what was to come. I had asked for the class to write poems which captured their Mount St Helens Case Study, something which had been pretty much straight from the course textbook. I put a few conditions on the work- 10 to 14 lines only, prefereably rhyming, with some key points about the causes and effects of the eruption. I was treated to some absolutely outstanding creative efforts. To cap off the excellent recitals, two of my s4, who I think may have been inspired by the Mt St Helens youtube video, sang a duet to a well known tune to a tumultuous round of applause , or maybe that was just in my mind;-). From there, the lesson for me just got better, as we played a game as an introduction to earthquakes which involved just about every member of the class, had real participation and seemed to capture people's interest.

I'd like to thank s4 for cheering me up, for entering the spirit of the activity and for generally giving me one of the good days that remind me why I teach. I'm hoping that my budding performance artists hold true to their promise to turn their demo into a recorded piece of work... well done again!