Well, that's odd...
I had this crazily intense dream last night about either living in or visiting a kind of cute downtown area that was positively riddled with zombies. The town was a bit like if Northampton, MA, and the Old Port in Portland had a baby, but it was a little less nice than either, and the recession had decidedly hit it hard. Those shops still in business were all open, but people literally sprinted from door to door so that the zombies wouldn't catch up to or chase them. What really scared me was that I hadn't seen a zombie, and the way everyone was acting, it seemed like they looked like everyone else. Whenever I bought something or talked to someone in a shop, I was asked to either recite some personal historical facts or read something aloud (apparantly zombies don't read or remember their pasts). Terrifyingly, words were swimming on the pages when I tried to read, and I couldn't think of a damn thing when I tried to talk about my past. Basically, I woke up thinking "what the crap was that all about?" and still have no idea. Maybe I'm feeling increasingly out of place spending money because I a) don't have it to spare, b) feel like not having money ostracizes me from capitalist culture somewhat (big loss), and c) am a bit anxious about the upcoming holidays? In any case, I don't really want to go shopping anytime soon. Those zombies could be anywhere.
School is chugging along. I'm really struggling to plan more than a few days ahead, but I'm starting a new 10th grade unit next week with a much clearer scope and sequence (or so I keep telling myself), so I think it will be better. Somehow I spent over a month on a really short book, so I think my next step will be to find the right pace for each of the levels I teach; the College Prep (read; standard level) kids really need more support while reading, but the pace was okay, and the Honors kids actually got the second book in the series done in the time I did one book with the others. I need to do something to ramp up the next unit, as "Animal Farm" is not a long book. Philosophical and political readings, perhaps? Some additional Orwellian short fiction? Who knows. I'll deal with planning that next weekend. This week is going to be all writing, all the time, and I'm afraid it will be like pulling teeth. We'll see.
This is my last day in a three-day weekend, and I'm somehow no less tired than when I started. This cold weather setting in came at a pretty crappy time; I'm basically over my hideous upper respiratory thing, but I still haven't gotten my sleep and eating cycles back to anything normal. Note the leftover Chinese food I ate at 11:00 last night, and the breakfast I still am not hungry for twelve hours later. Stupid body. On an upside, this week is only four days, and one day is almost entirely consumed by the PSATs. The kids will LOVE that, but it is a nice chance for me to do some planning and grading. Wahoo! I think I'm going to go make some scrumptious bacon...mmm, thick-cut applewood smoked...aww, yeah.
School is chugging along. I'm really struggling to plan more than a few days ahead, but I'm starting a new 10th grade unit next week with a much clearer scope and sequence (or so I keep telling myself), so I think it will be better. Somehow I spent over a month on a really short book, so I think my next step will be to find the right pace for each of the levels I teach; the College Prep (read; standard level) kids really need more support while reading, but the pace was okay, and the Honors kids actually got the second book in the series done in the time I did one book with the others. I need to do something to ramp up the next unit, as "Animal Farm" is not a long book. Philosophical and political readings, perhaps? Some additional Orwellian short fiction? Who knows. I'll deal with planning that next weekend. This week is going to be all writing, all the time, and I'm afraid it will be like pulling teeth. We'll see.
This is my last day in a three-day weekend, and I'm somehow no less tired than when I started. This cold weather setting in came at a pretty crappy time; I'm basically over my hideous upper respiratory thing, but I still haven't gotten my sleep and eating cycles back to anything normal. Note the leftover Chinese food I ate at 11:00 last night, and the breakfast I still am not hungry for twelve hours later. Stupid body. On an upside, this week is only four days, and one day is almost entirely consumed by the PSATs. The kids will LOVE that, but it is a nice chance for me to do some planning and grading. Wahoo! I think I'm going to go make some scrumptious bacon...mmm, thick-cut applewood smoked...aww, yeah.