A Medley of Events

Several updates for you concerning random, unrelated events. I think this calls for some bullet points:

• Laird Leavit, the principal at BFA, is also my supervisor and does 5 observations of me while I'm here. He replaces the role of my advisor from school who typically, if I were teaching in the states, would come to observe me to evaluate my internship. Laird and I scheduled for him to sit in on my 7th period class yesterday, Friday. I did feel a little nervous in anticipation, remembering how 7th period is my rowdiest, but once the class started, I felt fine and was only vaguely conscious that he was there. I guess he knows something about Hamlet because every once in a while he'd nod his head up and down when I made certain "good" points. I had some technical difficulty getting the projector to work; after trying for about a minute, I realized that I needed to get the kids working on something since the technical solution might take an indefinite amount of time. I assigned them a quick group-work project while I finished fixing the projector and was glad to get it working after another minute or so. I thought the lesson went really well, and at the end we scheduled a time to meet on Monday to discuss it, but he did tell me that he thought it went really well. Laird is a really good teacher himself, and so I'm really glad for his feedback and advice on areas to improve. Also, I'm glad that I felt comfortable teaching in front of him, because it helped to stretch me and gave me practice working under nerves. I feel more confident about my teaching and ability to make quick, on the spot decisions.


• Friday, also, I gave my first pop quiz! I have to admit, I did delight in it a little too much. For one, it's the most authoritative thing I've done so far - giving a quiz - so it made me feel even more like a teacher. Secondly, I had suspicions some of them weren't reading their homework, and I was glad to give them a little wake-up call. As Jill put it, "How many more wake-up calls do they need!" The class has been rather slack all year. Anyway, it did give me flashbacks to Politics and American Culture at CU; we had frequent, yet infrequent, pop quizzes that were enough to keep you anxious until the first 5 minutes of class had passed. So, I did have sympathy for them, but reminded them that the questions did not require analysis or deep thought to be answered correctly. Rather, they would do well if they had read their homework, and would be unable to do well if they hadn't. That's the purpose of a pop quiz. On average, the three classes scored 2.5/5. So, not that well. It took most of their cumulative grades down one point. But, you can be sure, they'll be reading their homework over the weekend.


• One of my students from Palmgarten, a local dorm, invited me to eat a Sunday lunch with her and some my other students at the dorm. The students often invite their teachers to come eat with them, but I felt glad to be asked because it showed me that they like me and are accepting me. Which isn't my goal as a teacher, but it is nice. I do have a strong desire to be friends with some of these girls who are only a few years younger than me, but I'll want to make sure to find the right line. I've had more soccer invites and out-of-school invites which I'm glad to be a part of, but it is a little weird with them being my students. As long as I can maintain authority and control while teaching but still be able to let down when socializing, things should be fine.


• Friday night, all of the classes had class parties at the school (each classes planned and organized their own party, however). Jill is a sophomore class sponsor, so I helped work with her. During a planning meeting, I was telling the class officers and sponsors about how I used to participate in shaving cream wars with my
• youth group. Everyone brought shaving cream and had a free-for-all, trying to "cream" as many of your friends on the playing field as possible. So, we decided to do it, but substituted whipped cream for shaving cream. Friday night came cold and dark and wet, but everyone still had a blast. Surprisingly, I was the only one of all the students and adults who didn't participate. I didn't really mean for it to happen this way, but I ended up making the fire and documenting the whole thing, so I really didn't have time to play. A couple of the sophomore girls I played soccer with still found a way to get some on me however. They "just" wanted a "hug" after all. :)


• I also volunteered to fill a need for the upcoming school play. They sent out an e-mail requesting help during the dress rehearsal and performances to do hair updos/curling/etc. I like to do this kind of stuff and thought it'd be fun to get to see what a h.s. play was like behind the scenes. I'm looking forward to it, and to getting to know some of the cast better (some of them are my students).

And now for a weekend. Nice to sleep in. I've been here a month now! Time has flown by; it'll be hard to leave. I'm really growing to love the school and community here. It's unlike anything I'll experience when teaching in the states, I believe.