Long Weekend

That was a good long weekend. Too short, though.

I left school immediately after school on Friday, sat in traffic for a couple of hours, and arrived back home just in time for my parents to be leaving the house for synagogue. So, I grabbed some sushi and hung out at the firehouse for a little while. The sushi was delicious and the firehouse was quiet (of course, since I was there). I then headed back home to begin the annual 25-hour meditative fast of Yom Kippur.

Yom Kippur is the Jews' annual 25-hour repentance festival. It's not very fun and involves fasting from sundown to sundown. This year, I managed a nice and relaxing day, except for one exam that needed to be graded for my 7th graders. I watched TV, I relaxed, and I even went to synagogue for a couple of hours to spend time with my family. The fast was especially challenging this year, which means I probably need to feed myself better the rest of the time. I even thought about working out, but saved it for Sunday instead.

Saturday evening included my favorite Jewish occasion, the post-Yom Kippur break fast. It's all the joy of breaking a fast and breakfast-for-dinner and friends I only see once a year all rolled into one. It is always hosted by a long time family friend (Hi!) who always puts on a good party with PLENTY of food. There were bagels and lox, whitefish, two kinds of herring, blintzes, kugel, and all of the other things that helped me develop pride in my people.

Sunday brought regular meals and an overnight trip to Atlantic City with my boyfriend. I had fun and didn't lose too much.

School came rolling in this morning with the usual rowdiness of children. As usual, it's tough but manageable. I still feel like I'm making progress, but every time I begin to feel complacent with a difficult class or student, they come up with something now. Every time. Still, the trial-and-error process seems to be less full of failure than last month.

I began Unit 2 with my 7th graders today, asking questions like "What is life?" and "Why do we classify things as living or not?" I think they enjoy learning real content.

Today the principal stopped in my classroom while my homeroom class was being particularly rowdy. It was a little embarrassing that I needed her help controlling them, but lunchtime chatter with other teachers indicates that I'm not the only one who has trouble with them. I still worry that the principal doesn't think very highly of my management skills. I need to work harder on the little details, but sometimes I'm too distracted with the big details. Hopefully, the parent phone calls (good and bad) I've made today will help.

I've decided I'm going to introduce the Science Fair project to my kids sometime next week or the week after. Science Fair is a beast that all Bridgeport science teachers must organize, in which pairs of students complete and present science experiments. From what I've heard from last years' science teacher, it will be like pulling teeth from 126 individual students. Awesome.

The introduction to Science Fair will begin with an outline of the event and what is expected from them, as well as a timeline. I then plan on giving them a few examples of how to create your own experiments...with an episode of Mythbusters! I hope they enjoy that (I think I will, as long as they cooperate). I'm a little anxious about the whole Science Fair project, but I'm hoping for the best.

Tonight I'm taking my second of five spin classes. I'm only going because I signed up already and don't want to lose my money by cancelling late. I don't wanna go. I'm tired. It's hard. I don't wanna! I guess I'll go get ready for spin class.