The Author

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I am a high school English teacher, and mother of two charming little ones of my own. I teach in a high poverty urban charter school, while I live in a typical American suburb that has frequently been rated one of the safest cities in the country. It is a paradox I struggle with constantly, but it is my life.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

A Whirlwind Day

Yesterday was such a whirlwind. I took my Honors English class to the Getty Center to study Romantic artwork to compare to Romantic poetry. To save money, since this wasn't in the budget, the students all chipped in and we rented 14 passenger vans, instead of getting a bus. Marc and I drove the vans. With getting and returning the vans, and then the trip and everything, all done by 1:00, it was a rush. Still a good time, but rather hectic.
It was nice to see my kids not only get to see these paintings in person, but also get to have time for "experience recollected in tranquility" and just to sit and leisurely appreciate nature. What better lesson for Romanticism could I come up with?
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There were also a few kids who never came through with their contribution to the field trip. A couple told me they couldn't afford it, and a couple just never came through with the money. It was a big part of this unit, so of course I took them all anyway, and I had estimated a little bit up since I anticipated this, but they also raised the rental rates since the last time I looked them up, and I also forgot to account for tax. Oops. It took pretty much every last penny that Marc and I had on us to make up the difference. Literally... we were scrounging for change. Fortunately, Marc gets paid Friday, and fortunately I have a very, very supporting husband. It takes a lot to understand that my dedication to my "family" extends to all of my 100+ "kids," not just him and Vinny... and he does understand and support it- financially, emotionally, and physically being there for them.

You know what though... it was worth every penny. I love seeing these kids have these experiences. My greatest hope is that they will want to go again. They were only there for about 2 hours yesterday, but the museum gave them passes to bring their family back with free parking, so hopefully they will take advantage of it.

So, my crazy day goes on. I actually had a training web-conference thing scheduled for 12:40 that I was late to, and then I had to rush straight from that to a meeting across the street with a theater representative administration wanted me to meet with. She was from a company that comes into schools to do an afterschool theater program. It seems like it would be a great option for something different to do in the Fall. She wouldn't talk numbers, although mentioned it was an expensive program, but it seems like they will look for the funding themselves. After that, I rushed back to school to lead rehearsal for Beauty and the Beast.

It was a somewhat frustrating rehearsal. So many kids just do not prioritize, and they do not realize that a cast doesn't function smoothly if even one person is missing. A couple of kids actually straight up told me that they couldn't stay because they had too much homework. Hello... its a college prep school. Everyone has homework. I am going to have to try to deal with the issue today, but it is hard, because I can't make too many threats. I need EVERY member of the cast. I need to try to be inspirational instead. We'll see how it goes.

By the time I got home and we got something to eat, I couldn't even figure out where the day had gone. All of a sudden it was 8:30, Vinny hadn't taken a bath yet, and I was already looking towards tomorrow.

Where does the time go?

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