no school

hooray for four-day weekends!!!! today was supposed to be a teacher workday, but my co-op told me not to come because all they were doing was curriculum development and listening to a motivational speaker. (which would involve icebreaker games - which i hate - and him telling everybody to hug all of their students. yeah, right. that's exactly what i need to do - hug the senior boys. because they don't hit on me enough as it is. my co-op said she plans on hiding in the bathroom instead of listening to him.) so, the general conclusion was that it would be a complete waste of time for me to show up today. then monday is president's day. after four years at college, i'd almost forgotten what it's like to get federal holidays off.

yesterday was a fairly easy day at school. we talked about the causes of the war of 1812, and i launched off into this long story about the tripolitan pirates, and that seemed to keep them fairly interested. then a representative for americorps came to talk to the seniors in the afternoon. the problem with this was that the women had a very thick indian accent, so it was hard to understand her, plus she didn't really explain the program well. as a result, we realized early in the morning that she would never survive our seniors. so, my co-op employed a discipline strategy highly advocated by education professors and education textbooks everywhere: she bribed them. (gotta love how real life rarely ever fits in with what you learn in the college classroom.) basically, she gave them 10 extra credit points if they just sat there awake, pretended to pay attention, and didn't do anything obnoxious, and 5 extra credit points if they asked a question. worked pretty well.

during 10th and 11th period i got to go see the junior high boys basketball game. i was really glad i got to go, because a couple of my boys in 1st period had been asking me if i'd come see them play. they were so cute, and a few were actually very good. two of my favorite kids from 1st period, nate (or chipper, as everybody calls him because he talks so much) and don (who has learning disabilities, but who works his butt off because he loves basketball so much, and doesn't want to be ineligible) played the whole time. i also knew brad (quiet kid who sits in the corner), doug (adorable little guy who comes up to about my elbow - no idea how he ended up playing basketball), and another brad, who i refer to as mini-paul due to the fact that he looks exactly like dr. k at age 14 (and jj can back me up on that one). even though i did want to smack the annoying kids at the back of the bleachers who kept yelling obnoxious things at the players and cheerleaders, i really enjoyed the game. this was probably due to the fact that they were playing at a level where i could actually a) see, and b) understand, what was going on.

the goal for the weekend: get the 150+ 8th grade history projects graded. (i can't deal with another day of jessica coming up wanting to know how she did and looking disappointed when i tell her they're not done.)