free at last

Hallelujah!

School's out, bus duty's over (thank God), and I'm ready for my 3 weeks of vacation time! I'm working on doing my grades now so I don't have to worry about them later, but as soon as that's done (I'd say...within an hour), I'm having a drink, eating some of the candy my students gave me today, & relaxing.

Today seemed long, despite it consisting of watching Hercules five times, going to a choir concert, and mediating a debate about "Flowers for Algernon." The last thing, believe it or not, was actually the most fun, because my students got so into it. It was one of my intervention activities for my Master's, where my students had to read a statement about "Flowers for Algernon" (which we read at the beginning of the semester, but which they also loved), agree or disagree, and then find 3-5 examples from the story that supported their side of the argument. I then broke them up into sides, and gave them 5 minutes to come up with the 3 best pieces of support for their entire group. They picked spokespersons (spokespeople?), presented their arguments, and then I gave them 2 minutes to write rebuttals. After that, we had a discussion, because they had so much to say on the issue. It was a moment that made me so proud and happy to be a teacher, because they were able to present and support their arguments so eloquently. Here are some sample arguments:

"Charlie should have gotten the operation because he was able to find love afterwards, and life is meaningless without love."

"Charlie shouldn't have had the operation because he discovered his friends weren't really his friends after all. You know the feeling you had when you found out there wasn't a Santa Claus? That's what it was like for him."

"Well, Charlie didn't get smart overnight, he had to work for it after the operation. So he had this sense of accomplishment when he was finally smart that he wouldn't have had otherwise."

"The operation ended up killing Charlie, and isn't life more important than love?"

"All Charlie wanted in life was to be smart, so the operation helped him fulfill his dreams."

In case you couldn't tell, the side that disagreed with the statement (Charlie would have been better off if he had never gotten an operation to make himself smarter) won. They had way better support - but the whole process was fantastic. And the good news is, they asked to have more debates...that's always a nice classroom experience to have!

Alright, I need to go focus on getting my grades done. Robbie should be on his way home shortly, and then doesn't have to go back to Davis until January. We're looking forward to lots of sleeping in, watching movies, & spending quality time together. We don't always get that opportunity when work & school are so hectic!