Friday!

After a couple of days of being so edgy I wanted to run screaming from the study hall because the kids KEPT making NOISES, I had a laid-back and energy-filled day today! I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just some weird psychological trait that refuses to allow me to have three edgy days in a row. Anyway, it sure made for a fun day today.

In government class we were talking about the George Washington bridge (it was only vaguely related to our class), so of course I had to sing the "George Washington Bridge" song to them. I was bellowing it out and looking down the row of kids, and was pleasantly surprised to see the last one, a boy whom I would consider the hardest to connect with, laughing really hard! I could have been offended, of course. It's not as if he was laughing at the sheer talent of it all. But actually I was quite pleased - it was a connection. And then he kept insisting that I must have made it up myself. I protested that such was not the case. I just don't know it very well so I kind of fill things in from my own mind. And the only lyrics I know are "George Washington Bridge," so I repeat them over and over. But I did NOT make the song up!

At lunch I went into the gym/auditorium where the kids eat lunch, and I played "knock out" with them! I don't think they expected me to have any kind of athletic ability. Thus, the little basketball skill I have was a big deal to them. I felt almost as cool as Chad! But not quite.

Yesterday I started "The Hiding Place" with the junior high. I wanted to lead them to the realization that she had started her story with a happy party, instead of in the middle of some suspenseful moment, in order to show how the war was a horrible interruption to a normal life (I'm not sure if this is really the reason - it's hard to prove motive - but it is an interesting parallel anyway, so I wanted them to notice it). To show this, I said to them, "Imagine you have been through WWII, and have a really gripping and suspenseful story to tell. Pull out a piece of paper, and write the first three sentences of your story." As I had hoped, almost all of them started with Germans storming in or bombs falling. We went on to have a good discussion about how the war broke into people's lives. The cool thing was that four of the students were so excited about it that they finished their stories that night, and read them today in class! I was quite impressed at what they knew and what they were able to convey.

A happy thing: I have a student who repeatedly does very poorly on science tests, and I was worried about her. But I just gave a literature exam - all essay questions - and she aced it! It was just a matter of finding out her strengths! Yay!

Uncle Paul says hi.