One day...

I'm going to write a book. I spend my days surrounded by thousands of walking, talking inspirational stories. I'm not talking about the "change my life with what they are going through" inspirations, I'm talking "make me laugh out loud out the funny things high school students do" inspiration.

My poor little darlings have been suffering through Romeo and Juliet, and I do mean "suffering". We've had everything from, " 'stabbed through her boss-um (bosom)' " to "are they dead now?....wait, now?....come on!". But we (the flailing headfirst through Shakespeare teachers) are nearing the point of hysteria. I'm sure you're all familiar with having to find the amusement in really horrible work. Well, that week has come in the form of tonal analysis timed writes. Honestly, we're not sure that aliens didn't take over our students' minds for a 50 minute period and write about what was happening back on the home planet. You know how you watch your favorite team on tv make a silly mistake and you can't help but yell at the tv? Well, picture that while grading these..."come on! What are you thinking?" Catch it!"

No one other than the teachers involved will find this post entertaining, but I know that you can all relate to working really hard toward a goal, and then finding out you missed the mark. Its the same as finding a gorgeous recipe for a new chocolate cake, buying all of the gourmet ingredients, painstakingly follow the directions, and end up with what looks slightly less enticing than the magazine, but you still have high hopes. Then, you take a bite and as it touches your tongue, you realize that you've used cayenne pepper instead of cinnamon. You spit it out and laugh at your beautiful failure as you dump it in the trash.

Today, a chapter of my future book will come from what I will insist on believing is Freshman innocence. This came from a pair of students in my AP class. The kids are making a children's book from Romeo and Juliet and asked if it would be ok to change the names. Juliet would become Julie, Romeo would be Robert, and Paris would be Germany. Then they asked if I "got it". I replied honestly that no, I didn't get it. They said "come on...Paris?....Germany?" At this point I laughed out loud and informed them that Paris actually resides in France. Yes, these are 15 year old students. Yes, these are our future leaders. And yes, they still make mistakes. But oh boy, life justs glides by a little more smoothly when you can laugh.

Springtime in the School

We are now in the final countdown to the end of school. For those of you not in education, this countdown begins when we return from Spring Break, because there are no more breaks before the end.
As I entered the doors this past Monday, my mind was already swirling around ways to take a few more personal days to make time fly, and unfortunately, mine will be used to study for my COMPS which take place Monday night. (Think 4 fun-filled hours of stressful essay writing).

I try to jump start myself, not to mention the kids, into excitement over reading Romeo and Juliet. I'm not sure I was successful. I will say that I get a good chuckle out of the mispronunciation of words as the kids struggle with Shakespeare, but hey, you can only listen to them turn "bosom" into "boss-um" so many times until you have to laugh from sheer craziness!

It seems that with the downhill slide to summer, the kids get the "crazies". All sense that may have been accumulated over the year leaks out of their ears and they make some dumb decisions. Needless to say, controlling the kids and keeping their interest in education becomes more difficult on a daily basis.

So, I'll have to beg to differ with good 'ol Willy, and say that I've heard (and seen) many stories "filled with more woe than that of Juliet and her Romeo". Most of these have taken place in and around my classroom.

As for craft time, lately it has been spent making aprons. I found the most adorable fabric and it could only make sense as an apron. I'll post pictures soon.