Journal #11

March 27, 2007

There is something truly special about this 10^th grade class. The Advanced Acting is a great class as well; however, the dynamics of the honors English class are so warm and fun and open to new experiences. I’m already so excited to go back. There was the perfect amount of emotional closure today. We finished up the culminating presentations of those who could not present yesterday, and we watched Floyd’s Carrot Cake rap on the video. It was a huge hit with the class. Additionally, everyone brought in homemade food to celebrate the end of our residency, because they are reading Like Water for Chocolate and we did the recipe monologues and scenes. There were tamales, chiles rellenos, lumpia, papusas, lemon spongecake, chilaquiles, and lots more. The students were really proud of what they brought in and we had a feast. It was nice to have a celebration to recognize their hard work. They had made us a card and signed it, and we made posterboards with their pictures on it and had them sign those as well. A few of the students danced and we played some more improv games. At the beginning of the class, we had a reflective writing time, and I asked them to answer questions to help us guide our teaching. What was their favorite activity? Their least favorite? Why? What did they want to do more of? Less of? They wrote for about 20 minutes, giving solid and interesting responses. As the students were leaving, several of them gave us hugs and thanked us for coming in to teach. It was a heartwarming day. I cannot wait to think of my next residency plan and to start going back again. I need to figure out when and in what capacity I can help in the media center and if I can find a way to introduce media into the 10^th grade class.