Tom Sawyer! Hannibal anyone?

We just barely started reading the novel Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain in my 7th grade reading class. As I am thinking about what to do with it, I could only imagine about 1/3 of my class really getting into it. So what do I do? I plan a field trip to Hannibal Missouri to tour Mark Twain's boyhood home and the caves. Suddenly, I have 37 students (19 of which are reluctant readers) jumping up and down to read Tom Sawyer. What an inspiration. The trip is scheduled for May 2, after we finished reading the book, but so far they are stoked. After only reading the first page, I already had some kids laughing at Tom and his noble actions.

We will most likely read the book in class, sometimes following along with a book on tape, sometimes I will read it to them. I gave out a 3 page packet of assignment options and assigned point values equaling up to about 400 points. Each student is required to choose enough assignments to formulate 175 points. It's only been day 1, but so far I have instant success. (I found this to be quite the accomplishment.) If any one else has some creative ideas to get kids interested in Mark Twain, let me know!

Some of my other great accomplishments of this week: I didn't fall for any April Fools jokes, and I finally convinced the News Gazette to send me 40 newspapers a day for 2 weeks for my 7th grade Language Arts newspaper unit. That's a relief, since I have 3 weeks of lesson plans that revolve around each student having access to a newspaper. I had positive comments/news to give about a student at their annual IEP reevaluation meeting today. And I managed to save a colleague from a near hazardous disaster with the copy machine this morning.

It's only Wednesday, and I already feel well accomplished!

Until next time!