No training could have prepared me for teaching to my Seniors today. They were devastated. Apparently, the boy who was shot on Friday night was at least a decent student.(http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/local/12442499.htm). From what I gather from students and the newspaper, he was funny, driven, and hard-working. These kids grow up together, so they all knew him. Second period went alright, but no one really wanted to share, so we took a moment of silence and went on with the lesson.

Fourth period was traumatic. When I asked how many people knew him, most of the class raised their hand. I had three girls enter the classroom in tears. One of my boys began crying pretty soon into the period. Again, no one wanted to share. As a student explained to me during lunch, "They just saw him alive the other day, and now he's dead. They're dealing with that." So, I had them free write how they were feeling for the first half of class. I think it was good for some, but some just put their heads down or stared off into space. Plenty continued crying. Two girls in the back seemed unaware of the tragedy and were giggling. I wrote them a post-it note telling them to knock it off. I think they caught my drift. I didn't know what to say. I didn't know how to relate to their pain. When no one wanted to share what they had written, I was not sure what I was going to do. Before the lunch bell rang, I said I would be teaching when they came back. I went ahead with the lesson even though probably only half of the class got anything out of it.

I did a moment of silence in 7'th period, and then taught a great lesson on the first 3 articles of the Constitution. This was big, because seventh period was the group that refused to count off in fives or get out of their seats for group work 2 weeks ago.

Eighth period sucked as usual, but my kids aren't really wearing on me any more. They're pretty much crazy and I'm pretty much okay with that. I tried to do a moment of silence and I couldn't get them to be quiet.