We Have Arrived

Winter Break. Christmas time. Just past Hanukah. Kwanzaa.
Yes, we have arrived. It is only a matter of hours now: 5 to be precise.

A small, and I do mean small, sheaf of papers is in my bag to travel home with me to Kentucky.
A little work over a long break usually helps smooth over any of the anxiety which invariably hangs just before the return. In this case the return means Thursday, January 2nd.

Meanwhile, a couple anecdotes from this week...

Wilis may not hate me anymore. This week my U.S. History classes began working in responsibility team formations. Wilis was paired as a team leader with Mahmudul, one of our most ambitious students (among many).
It was fascinating to watch the two of them truly working as a team, for 20-25 minutes at a time. With an atlas and review books before them, they discussed constitutional matters. At the end of class on Monday, Wilis came up to me:
"Mister, this (the team system) was much better. Everyone was working."

On Wednesday, Wilis shared his work time stories with the class after he and I conferenced.

Brayan, an evangelical Christian not shy about his proselytizing, wrote on a white board in class two days ago: "Go to hell."
I have no idea who that was directed toward but I told Brayan that is a horrible thing to say to someone. He seemed surprised. His English skills are still lacking but he has been known to tell his science teacher fairly recently, "Miss, Jesus doesn't like you."
But he then pulled out a Bible tract from his backpack and there was a graphic depiction of a soul caught between heaven and hell. A statement to the effect of don't go to hell was written.
Perhaps a "don't" was simply omitted from Brayan's white board message.
That would seem to soften the blow.
__________________________________________________________________
"Happy holidays," from HSLI!