I feel good about this week.  My senior class started A Streetcar Named Desire, and they are enjoying it.  Well, it’s just a really good play, isn’t it?  They’re excited to watch the movie when we finish.

One of my ninth grade classes finished phrases with a quiz and performed very well on it.  I am sure they studied, and I was proud of their work, but I would like to think I also taught it in a way that was understandable.  We should finish clauses on Tuesday.

My other ninth grade class is finishing up The Catcher in the Rye and seems to like the project they are working on.

I only met with my writing class once this week.  They were in Boston on Monday and Tuesday (grade level trip); on Wednesday we don’t normally have class (unless there is a schedule change); and on Thursday, school was canceled because of a water main break.  So we just had Friday.  After learning about what not to do with Power Point, a lesson for which one student gamely donated a Power Point show in which he effectively demonstrated everything one shouldn’t do with Power Point, students are creating informative Power Points on some topic that interest them.  Some students are doing soccer, while others are doing stem cells and global warming, while still others are researching teen pregnancy.

The water main break is a perfect example of why it’s important to be flexible.  I wanted to finish clauses and do misplaced modifiers and perhaps even start on verb usage with my freshmen, but we missed our entire weekly double-block, so it didn’t happen.  Our juniors were going to have a grade level meeting to discuss registration and learn about senior electives, but that couldn’t happen either.  Registration is still scheduled for Monday, so I will most likely be answering more questions than usual about English electives, especially because my department chair will not be present.  All this is fine, and I am prepared to do it.  I have often thought one of the best things one can be, especially at my school, is flexible, and I’d like to think that I am.