Send Me Back to the Old Metal Shack . . . Back to School after Thanksgiving Break

I went back to teaching today, but only had to teach my Sophomore Lit. class in 6th block. We finished up the end of The Road. We closed out the novel with a whimper because we had those two damn pages to finish. Coming back to the end of the novel after a whole week away kind of takes the pungency, or perhaps a better word—the viridity— out of the end of the book. However, the students seemed to enjoy the overall journey through the novel (no pun intended), and that's what counts.

The kids were fairly high-strung in class, but there were some small gems of engagement today. I didn't expect a lot from them because this was the first day back from a holiday break. There was more I could have done—wanted to do—with the novel, but honestly, I think anymore would be like beating a dead horse at this point. It's not technically the way I wanted to wrap it up, but it feels like it's the right time to break off and hand it back to my mentor teacher. She'll be picking up the class with Shakespeare's Julius Caesar and introducing them to "puns."

I spent most of today in the media center, but I went back and observed the 5th period Am. Lit. students before the 6th block class began. Those kids are just as crazy with her as they were with me. Although I will miss them in my own special way, I'm glad I don't have to deal with them any more. It was nice to relax and watch her deal with the yakking, arguing, and whining and the general complacency and off-task behavior of that 5th period after-lunch-bunch.

I have two more days to hang out at "City High," and then this student teacher will be finished. I survived student teacher boot camp. Private Williams, reporting, sir. And, in the completely overused words of the Grateful Dead, "what a long, strange trip it's been."