the rest of this week has been great. i tested my level 1′s and my 2′s are actually learning something new that they seem to be enjoying (because it’s so easy), the present progressive. this week has been homecoming week, so i was prepared for conflict, stress, and having to work three times as hard to keep their attention. really, there was no conflict, minimal stress, and most of my students actually had the expectation to work hard all week. probably because i had made a deal with them. if we worked really hard during the week and got ahead, covering what we would have done on friday, then i would allow them to watch the rest of this movie they started watching after their last test. (in the time of the butterflies)
so, been thursday and friday (i got a whole lot done on friday), i got my file cabinet cleaned out, which i’ve been meaning to do since august, i got two large piles of things needing to be filed or tossed taken care of because the file cabinet is now organized (and just that right there made me feel better than you can even imagine), i got a ton of crap graded, and i lesson planned for spanish 1 all the way through chapter 2, which it appears will last me until november 9th, if all goes as planned (though it usually doesn’t). i have my spanish 2 planned through oct 17th. then i’ll be out of town for the ffla conference in orlando for 3 days, yippee! but that works out perfect. because after the conference, we have 2 days of planning (one of staff development) and the students come back on the 25th. just enough time to do a little unit on the day of the dead to prepare them for the gigantic celebration we are going to have.
this celebration is still in the planning stages. i know i’m going to make my level 1′s sing because i enjoy torturing them. last year, in level 2, we did the whole altar thing. they worked in groups to create a memorial altar for someone. we had some really great responses. especially in one class. a boy’s mother had recently died (and i felt horrible after assigning this task), and had a hard time with it. i was really touched to watch the rest of his classmates pitch in to help him build an altar in memory of his mom. we all cried. i was afraid it would be too much for him, i asked him after that first day the task was assigned if he wanted to be exempt from it, but he told me he wanted to do it. (when we did the family tree project, he did ask to be exempt from that, and i was ok with it.)
this year, i think we’ll do the altar thing again (that sounds so pagan doesn’t it. i need to find another way to describe it so the parents in this community don’t think we’re going to be practicing witchcraft or something, as this is a wayyy religious small town atmosphere.) and i think we’ll make skull masks, and do a food celebration. this year, i think i’ll make it more like a people fair. i’m just thinking aloud here, but i wonder if i could just move my classes into another area for the day, like, oh í’m stuck. maybe the food prep teacher will agree to trade rooms with me for the day if i bribe her really well. we’ll see where this goes.
anyway, today i’m making my world famous tortilla española because my parents have been begging me to make it for them. i’m planning to stay in today because it’s so gloomy outside, and i have so much to do, and i want to watch a few movies i just got. and tomorrow i’m planning to go to church and then my brother’s for dinner, and then shopping, possibly. anyway, i need to go chop onions and peel potatoes.
