Who doesn't LOVE to play dress-up? This week was "winter spirit week" at school! I managed to take pictures with Cecalie (my TFA co-worker and good friend here in Vegas) nearly every day. Please laugh at me as you view the pictures of "ugly sweater day", "twin day", and "holiday character day" (I was a Hoo, from Hooville... Cindy-BLUE-Hoo!) And Cecalie was SCROOGE! Of course it was a blast and my kids loved the character costumes.This week was also secret santa week for some of the teachers. I chose to participate in the hopes of meeting some of the co-workers with whom I don't interact often. Little did I know that my secret santa would be so incredible. Delicious snacks, an awesome new super-stapler, and a 3-CD set of 80's music (my favorite) were just a few of the presents I enjoyed!
This week in school my kids were working on persuasive essays. Specifically, the freshmen were arguing whether it was right for one character to kill another at the end of our text. We learned briefly about ethos, pathos, and logos, the various angles from which they can approach the persuasive paper.
In addition, my seniors read the most controversial scene in "A Streetcar Named Desire" and accompanied it with nonfiction articles about sexual abuse and violence. They impressed me (per usual) with their maturity and interesting points of view regarding such "touchy" subject matter. In relationship news, a few of my seniors have begun coming to my classroom (in the afternoon) after their four or five (out of a possible six) classes are finished for the day. They ask to sit in (quietly) and work on homework, and of course I allow it! It is so nice to know they feel comfortable with me and feel that the classroom is not mine, but instead, OURS.There is a short story competition that I told my freshmen about. It is very open ended, the only requirements are a 500-750 words range. Since they are working on essays this week I told them it was OPTIONAL and they could participate if they wanted. I sent around a sign-up sheet to get an idea of how many students were interested and 50 of my 120 freshmen signed up! I could NOT believe it. They WANTED to do the extra writing for the competition! I cannot wait to see what they come up with since they have total creative freedom. A few have shown me the beginnings of their drafts and I am already amazed.
At lunch one day this week there was a "marshmallow stuffing" competition. Do not ask me WHY, for I still do not know. But it was absolutely hilarious to watch a few of my kids shove marshmallows into their mouths and then try to speak. Oh high school, how I've missed you!
And below see pictures of some friends and me at the school's holiday party. We were party-hopping that night from the high school party to the Teach For America party. It was a blast!
Cheers,
Danielle
