I went to the movies today. One of the coolest parts of my job is when I get to go to free stuff that I want to go to but wouldn't spend the money on because I chaperone. I've seen shows at Lincoln Center through this great program Open Stages and museums like the Intrepid and an exhibit on slavery at the New York Historical Society, but I think I like the movies best. We saw Hotel Rwanda when it came out and today we went and saw Kite Runner. Now, I know that most people would not consider going on a subway with fifty 15-17 year-olds to the movies fun, but it is.
The cool thing about it is that we take them to movies they wouldn't see. They're subtitled. They have human rights themes. They're long. But my students get movies. When we take them to see plays, it's different. Movies are what they're used to. And it's really cool to take them somewhere that they like to go, like the movies and show them ideas that they're not used to. And they were totally into it today. We laughed, we cried, we ate popcorn. And my students cheered when the main character stood up to his father-in-law about the class system in Afghanistan. And they're ready to go back to school tomorrow and learn more and read more and do more.
I love it when they get stuff.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Monday, November 19, 2007
To Begin with...
I'm gonna do it. I'm going to actually start blogging. I don't know if I've just gotten carried away with admiration for my big sister's fabulous food blog (Shazam in the Kitchen) or because my procrastination has reached new levels, but here I go...
I had an amazing group of kids suprise the heck out of me today. I coach a police athletic league team of 12 - 16 year old girls. It's a learning league, so it's filled with girls who are not on their school basketball teams. We practice and play a game once a week. There are ten girls on the team and everybody gets equal playing time and it's fun. My team wears gold uniforms so we call ourselves THE SHOCK (like Detroit's WNBA team).So I only had six girls show up today. Then my center fouled out in the third quarter and all the others had to play the rest of the game with no subs. They played their butts off. They were smart and aggressive and hustled their little patooties up and down the court. The game went into overtime and we WON!
16-15. It was so cool.
I was going to post this new recipe I tried, but it just wasn't that good, so instead, I figure I'll recommend this book I just finished. It's non-fiction, which is unusual for me, but really interesting and a pretty quick read. It's called Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande. I learned a bunch about eradicating polio and cystic fibrosis.
Three more teaching days until Thanksgiving break! Must go grade.
I had an amazing group of kids suprise the heck out of me today. I coach a police athletic league team of 12 - 16 year old girls. It's a learning league, so it's filled with girls who are not on their school basketball teams. We practice and play a game once a week. There are ten girls on the team and everybody gets equal playing time and it's fun. My team wears gold uniforms so we call ourselves THE SHOCK (like Detroit's WNBA team).So I only had six girls show up today. Then my center fouled out in the third quarter and all the others had to play the rest of the game with no subs. They played their butts off. They were smart and aggressive and hustled their little patooties up and down the court. The game went into overtime and we WON!
16-15. It was so cool.
I was going to post this new recipe I tried, but it just wasn't that good, so instead, I figure I'll recommend this book I just finished. It's non-fiction, which is unusual for me, but really interesting and a pretty quick read. It's called Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, by Atul Gawande. I learned a bunch about eradicating polio and cystic fibrosis.
Three more teaching days until Thanksgiving break! Must go grade.
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