Once Again, My Lesson Plan Was Shit

Literally.

Today, we went to the water treatment plant. Don't believe me?





Good Times.

Actually, I tied the science of it in with the politics of water and we did some writing for language arts, so it was a pretty full day. And it was the shit. Steve, our doody guide showed us this really good video that was a cartoon about the physics and engineering of waste treatment. Our kids really dug it.

The kids did the expected "ewwwww"ing, but they were pretty good. The one I had the biggest problem was Renee - she almost puked. Literally. And she was kind of hiding behind me and I heard her actually wretch a little. She would have puked all over my ass. I mean, Renee's pretty hot and all, but I just ain't into that.

So this week's been a real tough one, school-wise. We're in the last week and all the kids' projects are due for me (see http://atias.org if you're curious). It's been the technology aspect of everything that's been so tough. The last two days has just been me going from one computer to the next trying to fix all this stuff. And 3 kids did their videos on analog cameras, and digitizing it has been a major pain. Just when I thought I had it all figured out, after a day and a half, the video turned out upside down! How the hell???? I've been getting out of school anywhere from 6 - 8:30 at night. Anyway, I think I have it all done, but one. Now I just have to grade all the things.

I think this is good news...during some of the activities this week, we've done a lot of reflection. The kids were asked to think about what we've done and comment on the year in various ways. Peggy asked the kids to break things down by subject...comment on science, engineering, etc. The kids couldn't tell what was social studies and what was language arts. Many of them actually had to ask me. It was relatively designed that way as the software we use to do our grades (which is an entirely different issue) won't let me combine subjects. So there were times I had to just pick at random, what to put an assignment under. Amnesty Urgent Action Letters were put under LA and SS and various times of the year...just because I could.

Next year will be really chaotic. But more on that later.