Only six more weeks of school left, and the students are champing at the bit to be wild and free. It makes me feel desperate. I have to keep up with my preparations to avoid the vortex of May.

The literature students are all watching the documentary called "Paper Clips" about a middle school in Tennessee that learned about the Jewish Holocaust by collecting six million paper clips. The doc us ponderous and cheesy, and the kids are quite cynical and judgmental. It's too bad, because the message is a good one, but watching the doc three times in a row makes you start looking away and closing your eyes slowly. Still, it is essential for today's teenagers to be introduced to these stories because they really don't know very much.

I read an article in NCTE about being an effective teacher, and there was a bit that leaped out at me: a particular kind of ineffective teacher is the one who is affectionate and friendly with students and is more interested in being a friend than a teacher. I immediately started worrying that that is what I've been doing. I really do like these kids, for the most part, and I enjoy having some fun in the classroom and making them laugh. I don't think that's all I'm after, and I really trust that I pass on ideas and ways of thinking that help them decipher the literature in ways they couldn't do by themselves... but I can't shake the insecurity right now.

Maybe it has to do with this time of year. Maybe it has to do with me and my predilections. One thing is clear: I need to go watch some more master teachers do their thing. I wish I had more time.