The last day

So today is the last day at work. Yesterday I conducted interviews with students to decide whether to let students in or not. This was a time to really jam students about their grades, why they wanted to come to school, and whatever other questions we wanted to ask. While I was helping conduct the interviews the students have the say on whether to let the students in or not. There were some students that we didn't let in. I had one student start crying on us when we asked her questions. The students can be really rough on students too which is cool. I really like that students decide who comes in. This gives students a sense of ownership in the school and they help create the student learning environment. What I would like to see more of is students checking other students when they aren't holding up their end. Most of the students that we let in we let in provisionally. The provisions were things like academic probation, novel reviews due by the beginning of the school year, mandatory tutoring, and anger management classes.

Today it was all about cleaning up and getting ready for next year. We had a staff meeting where we discussed class schedules and staff gave me more shit for having my honeymoon during the inservice days. They talked about joining me at my honeymoon location for their meetings. How romantic would that be... Allison would love that idea. I've also got the list of stuff that I'm going to be teaching for next year. I'm doing world cultures 1 & 2, Asian American studies, multicultural literature/English highpoint 1B & 2B, and US history. World Cultures should be fun. I was an international relations major and I love world history so I'm digging teaching that class. I find most American citizens that I have encountered to be rather provincial when it comes to the international world. I'm lucky to find Americans that know about US history much less world history. I hope 9/11 was a watershed event that has spurred American interest in international politics.

This summer will be a time to rest, evaluate my pedagogical practices, and lesson plan for next year. Now though... it's off to the bar with my staff for a "meeting."