Take THAT, Achievement Gap!

My kids have been blowing me away the past two weeks. I am so, so impressed. They're writing complex paragraphs that are actually complete sentences and coherent thoughts - not strings of mildly related words. They're completing a research assignment and creating power points in a matter of days, where that took us almost 6 weeks last semester. They're analyzing and summarizing political platforms that are multiple pages long and (generally) not getting lost in the weeds. They're handling extended conversations about race relations, apartheid, and segregation with grace and civility. These are not the same boys who asked me why the slaves didn't just kill the masters when reading Frederick Douglass. Is everyone there yet? No. But are we suddenly bounding toward that goal? Hells to the yes!! Just look at this stuff:

(so the scanner's broken... I'll post stuff once I can get to a Kinko's.)

In other news, I still live in the twilight zone and I've decided that I officially can't live here after my two years in the corps. I love my kids and I want to improve rural education, but I can't live in a place where the white residents admit to purposefully not listing rental units and sometimes houses for sale in order to control who gets to live there. "We don't list them because then if someone asks to rent we have to let them." That's what the woman (another teacher) who told my roommate about four or five rentals in our town (which is almost all white) said about why we can't find any information about these places on our own. Makes the gossip we cause anytime we have our black colleagues over for dinner make a lot more sense.

At my meeting with my PD the other day, he said he wants to work on my unit planning because he thinks it will cause me to "unleash the beast." I want to see a teaching beast unleashed. Sounds intense, or possibly hilarious. I love my PD; he's such a fabulous advisor and thought partner. And has unfailing confidence in me. Weird.

My neighbor across the street had puppies!!! Lab puppies. I want. And might get. I'm moving soon right? And labs are hardy enough to live outside.... Four weeks until weaning, so four weeks to decide/figure out where to keep it until I move.

Countdowns:

Two more days in third quarter

4.5 more days of school until spring break

10 more days until A.H. and I vacation on the beach (aka Best Easter Ever)

13 days until Grandparents are on location

14 days until visiting in DC, with Grandparents

Looks like an awesome two weeks. :)