"Sit down and try to act like human beings"

While the kids were preparing for their Good Friday Dance (what better way to celebrate the death of Christ?), we enjoyed some quality staff development. My CoP watched the documentary Two Million Minutes which highlights the high school experiences of two American students, two Indian students, and two Chinese students. The differences are shocking, glaring, and frankly, pretty damn depressing. I'm still having visions of those Chinese students bowing to their teacher at the beginning of the day...

Anyway, you should check out the trailer. If you're interested, you should netflix the film. And if you have kids, you should--apparently--move to India or China to educate them.

I won't lie, school could be going better

Claire: Ms. T, number 9 is a stupid question.

Me (glancing down at quiz question 9): True or false, the cyclops embodies the Greek value of hospitality.

Claire: He DOES, I SWEAR he does!

Me: Claire, he EATS Odysseus's men. He smashes them together "like pups," eats their insides, and throws them up when he's had too much wine. This is not the picture of hospitality.

Claire: But sparknotes SAYS he's hospitable!

Me: (rapid blinking)

The things that keep you going

I know that ever since the birth of my niece, this blog has turned into one big Ellen-fest. But come on. That's one cute kid, no?

A Rude Awakening

This afternoon in Art of Film, I introduced our first western film, John Ford's classic My Darling Clementine. I discussed the different stages of genre development, a few of the students talked about the elements of a classic western, and we discussed a few things to watch for in the viewing of the film. As I was passing out the viewing guides, I felt pretty good, actually, about our little introductory discussion.

That feeling ended abruptly with this:

Girl in second row: "I don't understand why we have to watch OLD movies."

Boy throwing pencil at her: "I don't understand why you talk. Ever."

It's so good to be back.

Delight

Last night we left this:

for this:

Things could not be better.