2 days until the Saints!!

Well, things are settling in. In terms of school, my tough class improved this week. Part of it was two kids were on suspension (the climate changed immediately when Alphonse returned), but I've been exerting extra patiencE as well. I found that my attitude is probably the biggest factor in whether the day with the kids goes well. I did a great activity with my high class the other day, where we read the poem by Nelson Mandela about "our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure..." It was featured in the movie "Akeelah and the Bee" (which is a great one) and my kids had mind-blowing responses to such a high-level poem. My high and low classes are rewarding for different reasons, and my high class loves to be sophisticated, and really loves it if I give them something and tell them I didn't read it until college, and they are reading it in 5th grade. We give them a boatload of homework, and they do it pretty much all the time.

I'm finally used to teaching math, more or less, but find myself ignoring science a lot. I feel bad about that, but teaching two subjects has been a real challenge- I don't know how self-contained teachers do it!! Science is great, but when I come home from school and finish prepping math, i usually end up watching bad Direct TV shows....so much for closing the education gap.

Outside of school, things are awesome! I just bought a road bike last week and am counting down the hours until I can pick it up. the Louisiana MS150 is just around the corner in 2 weeks, but i'm not as prepared as last time! Oops!! Best of all, the New Orleans Saints home opener is Monday, and I have season tickets with 5 of my friends!! It will be an epic night...the news has been covering it for weeks, and it is the first time the public has been allowed into the Superdome since thousands lived there during the floods of Katrina. U2 and Green Day are doing the half time show. the only thing I'm worried about is parking :)

-Sarah