"Mr. Boyle is Awesome!"

Institute was five weeks long; the kids were in the actual Ninth Grade Success program for four of those weeks. Not a long time.

But since TFA is soooo data-driven, they found time, in the second week of instruction, to fit in a midterm exam. We actually started planning it after only four days of teaching. This was to give us a good pulse check to see where our students were, what we had accomplished thus far, and to identify any gaps in what we had done to that point in the classroom.

I know it’s a little odd for me to write about the midterm when they’ve already taken the final and Institute is already over, but the midterm turned out to be great for me, and it actually came at the perfect time. I had struggled the two lessons before with my writing instruction – the kids just weren’t getting it, and the really didn’t like to write – I was wearing thin. But in life, there always seems to be those moments that pick you up when you need them to most, that get you back on track towards success, and that revive your mind and spirit when you need it most.

I’ve never enjoyed midterm exams, so who’d’ve thunk that the midterm exam would be one of those moments for me?

I was already relieved, since I wouldn’t be giving a writing lesson and would be administering the test, instead, so I could regroup and find ways to better focus my writing instruction. My only goals for the day were to invest the students in the test, and to make sure they actually took the damn thing without any mishaps.
Test days are fun days.

So they come back from lunch, and they’re always a bit rowdy when they come back from lunch, so I decided to channel that energy into something positive. I’ve mentioned a few times that, in some cases, no one has ever really told these kids how good they are, or how well they can do, so I decided we would take some investment time and do just that.

They walk in, and with all of my built up Intenstitute crazy energy, I run around the room and point at each of them shouting “You’re awesome! And YOU’RE awesome! And YOU’RE awesome! And Jonathan’s awesome! And Melissa’s AWESOME!”

If anyone has seen my adaptation of Dave Cook’s “Humpback Whale” routine, you can visualize that and have a pretty good idea of what was going on in J4.

Well, they got super into it. They started pointing at each other and shouting “You’re awesome! And you’re awesome! And I’m awesome!”

The best part was when Melissa pointed at me and shouted “And Mr. Boyle is awesome!”

YES! Greatest triumph as a teacher to that point. I was super proud. It’s a great feeling to know you have actually reached your kids as a teacher. One of the best feelings I can think of.

I then made all of them stand up and shout with me “I…AM…AWESOME!”

Maybe no one had told any of them they were awesome before, but it’s the little things that seem to make the biggest difference. The kids sat down, took their midterms – and performed astoundingly. 86% mastery of objectives!
We were so proud of them – our hard work, and their hard work – had paid off. Two students even got 100% on the exam.

Not only did they find my awesome, but they apparently found my class awesome too, and showed amazing progress on the midterm.

I mentioned earlier that my moods were strongly tied to my performance in the classroom – I was on cloud nine that day.

peace and love from the grand canyon state,

pb