Weekly update

A surge, or something, killed our internet at home last weekend, so I've been without internet access for a while. We're still waiting for the replacement - I have my fingers crossed it comes in the mail today, so I can plan my lessons for Monday without heading again to the library (where I am now) - but, until then, blogging will, of course, be limited.

News from the week:

* a charismatic former student I taught as a 10th grader was arrested for armed robbery in the county. He's a senior and has been suspended from school for 45 days. It sucks.

* On the other hand, another famously prolific hall-walker, also in the senior class, shaved off his braids on Thursday night. It was the talk of the school on Friday. He came in a dress shirt and slacks. He credited Barack Obama for the change, for a new his desire to live up to more than what he seemed destined for.

* Very teacher-centered week with the 9th graders, as we get through a few sections of The Odyssey. I hate that. Have to plan some lessons that get my students figuring out things on their own more.

* Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I was dreading teaching for months (it was my colleague's selection) and could barely make it through when I read it in the summer, has been a magnificent teach. The kids are really into it and the book is perfectly suited for IB English. I'm also finding myself loving the book on re-read. Strange, but good.

* I am busily planning my King Lear unit. That was sort of the compromise - I got Lear if she got Unbearable. My students are different from what I was expecting when I planned the curriculum, but I still think it will work. I am nervous because I have built it up in my head. We studied Lear closely this summer at the Folger TSI, so I want it to go well. My big goal is to get the kids to really like it, even love it.