Snow Issue #1 Solved!

I am completely out of my routine.  Ever since winter break I have been behind in my planning.  And by "behind" I mean, not a full week ahead.  I hate this feeling.  It completely stresses me out.  Does anyone else get like this?  I've been meaning to blog for weeks, but every time I get the urge to do so, I have a mountain of work to "catch up on" (meaning get ahead of).

Anyway, just for today, I am going to break my post on Sundays routine just to share something that has been working for me in my classroom lately. 

Snow days, 2 hour delays, and early dismissals are the best part of winter.  (Until the snow days start to eat spring break.)  Lately we have been getting slammed with weekly weather events, which always cause quite a stir.  My students love to talk, and speculation of early dismissals will have them talking instead of working all period long.  I finally found a way to calm the chatter down.  Once students start to ask me what I think is going to happen, I reply with an enthusiastic "Don't jinx it!"  Surprisingly, this brings about instant silence and sly smiles.  The funny thing is, not all students are superstitious.  What I've noticed is that the students that aren't superstitious won't argue.  I believe this is peer pressure at work, but if it's for a good cause it can't be bad, right?

Now if I only could find a way to dispel the myth that early dismissal means a free period I'll be all set for winter weather events.