oday was a long, long, day. I was sent to three different schools. I participated in a total of at least six classes. I took a yearbook picture with the other teachers. Many people watched me flub a passive tense demonstration lesson. I asked kids if they liked grapefruit. It was a busy day.
First, I woke up and went to Ono JHS. There, we had the yearbook picture- almost everywhere wore a suit, but I was going to the elementary school to tach six year olds right after, so I didn't think it would be a good idea to wear one. Then, on to Chitose JHS to help out in two classes there. Then, a walk up the street to the elementary school, where I asked first and second graders, "Do you like --" answered by, of course, "Yes I do" or "No I don't". Everyone liked French Fries. Then, we played a card game called Karuta, and everyone was very happy. After that, back to Chitose JHS again to grab lunch- some kid of green bread, a hard-boiled egg thing egg, some good western-ish soup, and an apple.
Then, it was time to rush over to Ono JHS again, because there was a demonstration class, where a bunch of other teachers and principals from the area come around and observe the class, critique it, leave comments, etc. So, it can be a little nerve-racking having all of these unknowns in an otherwise familiar environment. Well, things went fairly well. Passive voice was introduced to the students, however I missed one part during the presentation and had to re-check the script in front of everybody- a little embarassing, but we managed to make it through the rest of class. After that I thought that I was home free, just sit in some meetings for an hour or two, but no- actually there was one more class left. So, another 50 minutes with the kids, doing worksheets this time.
After all of that, I was pretty tired. But this whole week has been like that. Of course, with all of the guests coming in to watch the class, we had to do a lot of extra preparation- making cards, displays, getting props, etc. Also after two and a half years I finally taught a class at Ono Elementary- we played Simon Says and a silly face drawing game, good fun actually, but again all of the running around can wear down on you over time. Oh, and the driver's side door handle snapped off of my car- seriously, it just came right in my hand. So now I get to go through the passenger door to open the driver's door from the inside. What a piece of junk.
Warning- unrelated sports content. It's not a happy time to be a Panthers fan. They got beat down at home in the playoffs, the QB had possibly one of the worse games ever, and the star defensive player wants out. You would have never known that the team just went 12-4 and won its division. Look folks, now is not the time to panic. Overall, the team is solid. The team has one of the top running back duos in the league, the offensive line is strong, they've got one of the top WRs in the league, there's a really good young linebacking core in place, and contrary to popular opinion, I think that Fox mostly knows what he's doing. So if Peppers wants to leave, that's too bad, but face it, he has a tendency to disappear for long stretches of time. Delhomme? Yeah, he laid a massive turd in the biggest game of the year, but as always, who are you going to replace him with? Cassel? Favre? Please. If you haven't noticed, half the teams in this league can hardly find a decent starting quarterback- the best bet might just be to hope that we see more of good Jake and less of stinkbomb Jake. But if you want to return to the QB chaos of 07, go right ahead. Get another WR/TE, upgrade the secondary, and find another pass rusher, and things should be in good shape.