Week Two begins

I solved one of my biggest problems from last week: shoulder/hand pain. Thanks to all the books for World Lit (teacher's editions, to boot), I have been moving from place to place like a Christmas tree. Over the weekend I invested $25 in a rolling laptop carrier that holds textbooks nicely. Thank you, Target! Now I am rolling everywhere, which should, at the very least, keep my shoulders and hands from completely going out on me.

I have now begun doing grammar lessons for World Lit. As I've said before, these kids are seniors, but grammar practice is part of the curriculum. And we're talking basic parts of speech, not more complicated phrases. I have now done a couple of lessons in each section, and I should feel honored that Mrs. Moore has confidence in me to do the lesson. We talked through the lesson plans for tomorrow, and I think I'm getting a handle. I just have to keep my seating chart handy while I continue to memorize their names.

My biggest challenge facing me now is the unit planning. I have to bone up on Epic of Gilgamesh to help teach that, and I am solely responsible for The Iliad. For my theatre classes, I will be tagteaming for awhile with Mr. Scott (again, not his. real name) before taking on a unit on improvisation. Thankfully, I already have Katie McKnight's book that she did with Second City, and my background is decent on improv in general. I plan to deviate from focus on theatre games that Mr. Scott has typically done and incorporate a deeper understanding of improv as part of Chicago's fabric and the use of improv in developing characters. Should be fun.

Tomorrow night I have my first university seminar meeting as part of the coursework for student teaching. I just hope class.doesn't go too late, and that we cover relevant material.