So, I haven’t said too much about the end of the school year. I was just incredibly relieved to have the school year be over, finally. I had one horrible class this year with lousy chemistry and it was a huge struggle to not have this class completely ruin the rest of my day (this class was first thing in the morning). I learned a lot, hopefully, from this horrible class and I can start to think about what I’ll do differently next year. In the meantime, other things have been happening.
Yesterday morning, the day after the last day of school, I closed on my new apartment. The closing was incredibly wierd and surreal and boring and exciting, all at the same time. I moved the same day I closed, so there was a short flurry of last minute packing and agonizing over the late movers (though they did do a great job and were very cheap, so if you need cheap movers, check out The Good Move.) I still don’t feel like a homeowner but that’ll all change when I start my renovation projects (stay tuned for the blog…lol). First on the list is getting some carpet….my co-op has the typical 80% rule (80% of the floors must be covered) and getting homeowner’s insurance. After the move, I took my sister out to dinner at The Riverdale Garden, partly to thank her for helping move (we put all my non-truck stuff into her car, and she broke a nail helping me take my bed apart!) and partly to celebrate…we had a glass of champagne with dinner!
Today, I’m in Cape Cod for the holiday weekend. I had to curb my compulsive tendencies and leave all the boxes scattered and unpacked for now, so I could catch a little R’n'R this weekend, though I already did put my bed together (first thing!), moved the kitchen boxes into the kitchen, and hung up some of my posters and prints.
When I get back to NYC, I’ll be helping out at the New York City Writing Project Blogging Invitational. I’m looking forward to it but at the same time, I’d rather be at my new place getting it in order before I leave for Seattle on the 22nd.
Have you seen the ELA Bookshelf that Tim Fredrick created over at Tim Fredrick’s ELA Teaching Bookshelf? Stop by and add your texts to the shelf (sign up required)!
I’m on a mission to collect ELA syllabi from various teachers at different schools, to use a reference for building my own syllabus for the courses I’ll be teaching next year. If you teach 10th grade and/or 11th grade ELA, I would love to see your syllabus! If you’re willing and able to share, send them my way at nanirollsATgmaildotcom. Thank you!!
Update: Thanks to Emily and Tamara for their syllabi! Keep ‘em coming, if you’ve got ‘em!.
Classes ended last Wednesday for high school students, here in the city. Regents exams began that afternoon. Since then, the English department has read and graded more than 1,300 ELA Regents essays. (The funniest moment yet was a student who accidently wrote "Fuckleberry Hinn", instead of "Huckleberry Finn.") We input the scores into the system today. All that is left to do is hang around the building, clean out our classrooms and shoot the breeze. We have graduation ceremonies next week and the last day for teachers is the 28th.
I already started doing some planning for next year but experience has taught me that it’s not a good idea to plan too much since program changes are inevitable between now and September. I’m slated to teach tenth grade (including one honors class) and 11th grade. I’m looking forward to having the chance for a change of pace, and being able to teach a more rigorous class but I won’t get my hopes up too much!
The convention isn’t until November but I’m booking now, because hotel rooms and airfares will only run out and run up. I found a cheap flight on JetBlue, and as for the hotel, I’m keeping that under wraps…it’s not one of the designated hotels on the NCTE list but it’s close by and cheap. Anyone else going to Nashville?
Update: The flight is booked (less than 200 bucks!) and the hotel room? I’m staying at the Fiddlers Inn, for 60 bucks a night! Quite a bargain if you ask me. It pays to book early, my friends.
Contest #2 is up at Think, Pair, Share!. Get on it!
