OH yeah, about actually teaching!

So, having written out my drama, here's what I've been doing with the students.

I had the students yesterday write in their journals about what they did over winter break, and then we went over some jobs the students could apply for in my classroom (Thank you, Brienne!!) Warm-up checker, Bell-ringer Master, Computer checker, Teacher's Assistant--there are seven in all, each having a different task that the students could handle. After going over the jobs, the students were then to write the three they would want, and then "applied" for the position, telling me in one paragraph why I should choose them and what made them qualified for the job. I thought that was pretty fun, and the kids were really curious who got the jobs!

Today, we created personal and academic goals for quarter three. They had to fill in the following sentences:

My personal goal for 3rd quarter is _________________.
My academic goal for 3rd quarter is _________________.

Quote I heard most of the day, even after explaining it twice:
"Miss Frankle? What is acapendix?"

After they did those, I had them choose one of the sentences, and we put one on a poster. We came up with a cute phrase for each class to top the poster board ("We're rockin' out and reaching goals!" for 5th hour, "Life is good when we reach our goals!" for 7th) and had them personally write out their chosen sentences (carefully looked over and corrected by me) and sign their names. This way, when I hang it up in the classroom, each class is represented and they all get a little part of them on the wall.

I would do it differently somehow... I just can't figure out how I would have done it. You see, the kids got restless waiting for me to check their sentences, and none are good enough to check others' work (ex. "Kadir, check this for me." Kadir looks it over, reading it silently. "Looks good to me." Hands it back. I look at it.... the sentence makes no sense whatsoever. ::headdesks::) So, while the beginning of the hour was smooth as butter, the end was a frantic mess. Any suggestions?