Warm Fuzzy: Had many students actually ask me if they could leave their seat to sharpen their pencils. Was so moved by this, I went out and bought a good pencil sharpener.

Well, another day, and I'm still here. True, I did have two beers and a bag of (albeit low fat) chips to help me relax, but I'm still happy to be working at RdV. The kids are still figuring me out. We had a good lecture. It was about 25 minutes long, and I believe that is the limit to their attention spans.

I hand out what another teacher referred to as "scaffolded notes." Basically, I type out what I feel are the key terms/concepts in a chapter in outline form. Then I go back and delete a few words and phrases and examples. The kids and I work on filling in the blanks. So, in a sense, it is more of a discussion than just me talking at them. It gives them a chance to show me what they know or read in the book. Normally, I try to use the same overheads all day long, but no two classes are exactly alike. They may use different terminology to define a word or have different real-world examples. The principal stepped into my room for a few minutes during my lecture 3rd period. It took me by surprise, especially as he said my first evaluation wasn't until the Monday after next.

I am still figuring out how much work can be done in 48 minutes. Bleh! It isn't much.

Anyway, I'm bringing in my tarantula tomorrow. I hope the kids treat her respectfully!