Stalemate!



The word of the week. The weight loss has tapered off to a crawl, with setbacks by ounces that make me a disgruntled lady in the mornings staring down at my scale, but take heart, gentle readers -- It's fucking on. And I'll keep on truckin', as it were.



Stalemate is also applicable - because on Wednesday (which now feels like eons ago) I was lucky enough to show up at Mariana Bracetti Academy and observe a 10th grade History class in action for two periods after Ali worked her magic for me. They were starting a unit on World War I, and Justin was trying to explain several concepts, including stalemate. WWI, he explained, was caught in a stalemate oftentimes due to the nature of trench warfare.

It was a really interesting opportunity - I took copious amounts of notes. How he moved around the classroom, different tactics and approaches he used with the kids. How the kids responded to him, their behaviors, their answers to questions and almost A.D.D. approach to learning.



Next week my Dad is setting me up to see two different teachers at his middle school, one an older teacher, and one a younger teacher.


It really hit home how different my education was from alot of folks. I mean, I know lots of people who've done the private/catholic school thing, and I always knew it was different. I actually believed it was probably a little less vicious (as far as the social scene), and a little lower on the food chain academically. But actually seeing it (granted, several years down the line) was a big eye opener. And I'm glad! It just got me to thinking more about things, which is always good.



I feel like I need to see a few more teachers in action, in different settings. If I could land something somehow and get an emergency cert, I'd be on cloud nine, but what are the odds of that happening? But going out there and really getting a better grip on the teaching process is the next best step in figuring out if this is what I really want to be doing. If it feels right, I guess taking the assorted tests for grad school entry would be wise. I'm thinking Temple... because it's not La Salle. ;-)



Anyways - this weekend is shaping up nicely. Show at La Salle tonight, Ben Folds Concert tomorrow. Gwen's back in town, and I'm expecting a little gaggle of alumni to do something fun after RTE is over... So let's do this... :-)