Well, Week 32 was a different sort of week.
In fact, I only have one picture from the entire five days!!
My high school students had to turn in their technical manuals on Monday. This was a unit we worked on for a couple of weeks, and the manual was the final assessment.
Unfortunately, I do not think my 9th graders quite “got” it, so we’ll be reviewing and re-doing this unit this week.
I think my sixth graders finished up the story they had been reading the week before.
On Tuesday, the high school students participated in a school oratorical contest. The winners would be going on to the local Optimist Club’s contest. There’s prize money involved, so a few students decided to participate.
Guess who got to organize the event?
Yep.
Your’s truly.
I can’t say that I was thrilled about being the person in charge. In fact, dare I say that I shed a few tears about it.
It wasn’t that I didn’t want to be involved. It was just that I was in the midst of a very difficult certification assignment and a difficult week to accompany it.
I felt overwhelmed.
My principal gave me encouraging words while telling me gently to push through.
And so I did.
But first, I prayed.
Of course.
And God answered in a most terrific way!
Monday morning, I still did not have a judge for the contest. I sent a text message to a friend of mine…the father of Chicky’s high school soccer team’s goalie.
It’s interesting how I know this family.
When we first moved to Podunk, USA, my kids joined up with the local travel soccer club. Rooster had to play on a co-ed team because there weren’t enough players to field both a boys and a girls team in his age bracket.
One of the players on the team was the girl who would become the goalie for Chicky’s high school team (and yes, she is two and a half years younger than Chicky).
Isn’t it funny how things work out?
Anyhow, the father is a very well-respected guy in town, and he knows a lot of people. So, I figured he would provide some direction in who I could ask.
Well, he did one better.
He offered to be my judge!
He was an answer to a prayer! I was, and continue to be, thankful that God put his name on my heart that Monday morning.
What was even more interesting was that this man had judged Optimist Club oratorical contests in the past! He had no idea that my school’s competition was part of that contest, and I’d had no idea that he had been a judge before.
God works in amazing ways!
So, on Tuesday, my friend arrived.
A total of six students competed…two girls and four boys.
Grades 7 through 12 were allowed to watch.
They were a great audience.
My students did a wonderful job on their speeches, although a few were too short.
My friend was very impressed as he scored them.
Both girls and the top two guys wound up advancing to the Optimist Club’s competition, which will be held on Tuesday evening. There is only one other school in town participating, so it should be short but fun to watch.
Meanwhile, grades six through ten took standardized exams on Wednesday and Thursday.
I wound up teaching two classes on Wednesday and one class on Thursday.
Thus, it really was a strange week.
On Friday, I had to be out for my third observation/teaching assignment in my mentor’s class. However, I had chosen a good day to be gone because all but my sixth graders were on a trip to Atlanta for the MIST competition. This is a multi-faceted set of competitions for Muslim youth.
I left this on the board for my sixth grade students…
So, they were busy but not unbearably so.
We jump back into the routine next week and won’t have any more breaks until the end of the school year.
I have five more instructional weeks to go.
Whoop Whoop!
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AuburnChick's Adventures 