It’s been a looooooong week.

We had parent teacher conferences on Monday night. Monday night. It felt a little cruel and usual at the time. Then it just felt like this week might never end.

But end it has. Here we are..FRIDAY!

I feel like celebrating, because this, my friends, has been a week when feel good moments snuck up on my classroom when I was almost too sleepy to notice.

Such as…

Logan is a self proclaimed sports man.

His dad teaches PE here at Franklin and coaches our wildly successful football team. I believe Logan said not long ago that he “lives for sports.” But this week, it seems, he’s been living for books.

So far this year, Logan has completed four books ranging from Redeployment by Phil Klay to Sky on Fire by Emmy Laybourne. He is currently eating up Dark Matter by Blake Crouch, so much so that he enthusiastically book talked it this week before he even finished it.

Last class period, before the bell rang, I let Logan know that he needed to run to guidance and clear up a little confusion around signing up for AP tests. To my heart’s delight, Logan said the following words:

“Can I go after reading time? I want to read first.”

Amen.

Logan devouring Dark Matter 

Priyanka stopped by my desk only moments ago.

“Mrs. Dennis, do you remember emailing me about my one pager this week? You asked how I was liking The Association of Small Bombs.”

“I do! I was wondering how it’s going. You’re the first to read it and I was so excited to get that free copy at NCTE.”

“I LOVE it. You know how sometimes you aren’t sure what the theme of a book is? Like, you have to work to find it? This book’s theme IS THE COVER! All of these intricate stories and characters coming together. I can’t put this down.”

“Making you think, hmmmmm?”

Nathan was struggling to read at the start of the year.

Not his thing, he told me. Then…he found Suzanne Young’s The Program series. He couldn’t put it down and flew through all three books.

Then he launched into A Dog’s Purpose by Bruce Cameron. He finished it in class today.

This was Nathan at the end of class. A fellow student asked him if he was ok.

“It was just…SO good.”

A few moments later, Nathan was at the bookshelf returning the text. And I observed, “Nathan, you look like a man without a country. You ok?”

“Mrs. Dennis, I just found out this book has a sequel. I wanted to read The Kite Runner next, but…a sequel. I want to read that now too!”

“How about I give you The Kite Runner while you wait to get the next Cameron book and you read that quick over the long weekend. You won’t be able to put this that down either.”

“Oooooo…good idea. Yeah, can you get me a copy?”

(Clapping excitedly in her head, Mrs. Dennis sprints next door to get a copy of The Kite Runner. He’s reading!!) 

We are fighting fake news in our classrooms.

Today, the posters I had made of the IFLA’s infographic on how to vet sources and avoid getting duped by fake news got delivered. I’m geeking out over these posters.

Lastly, this just made me laugh out loud.

Happy Friday, everyone!

What made you smile this week? Please share in the comments below! 

Lisa Dennis teaches English and leads a department of English superheros at Franklin High School near Milwaukee. Fridays make her happy, but so do books that smell old, buffets that include ice cream for dessert, and infographics made into classroom posters.