Lizards, Flaming Palm Trees and Optical Illusions

How could you NOT read it, with a title like that?

We've finished four days of classes, prep, meetings, panics, and battles with technology. The items in the title were the highlights of today.

I'm teaching a unit on vision and the eyes, so I hooked the kids today with a fun optical illusion. My first class followed along some really tough material and at the end, I got a simultaneous, audible, smile-inducing "AHAH! That's so cool!" from more than half of them. It was heart-warming. They really GOT it.

After I let that class go, there was a wicked loud fire alarm. In fact, the buzz alternated with an automated voice ominously saying "A fire has been reported in your building; please exit immediately!". We gathered the kids and scurried to the field, assuming it was a drill. It is a summer school, after all. Yet, we found out later that construction somehow led to a palm tree, aflame. I didn't see or smell it, but they are demolishing a building on campus, so there are a lot of odd smells, loud sounds and large machines.

Arrived at 7:30am; departed after a long staff meeting at 6:00pm. Returned home (aka dorms) to find the parents of one kid donated to us a bunch of Costco cereals and granola and such. Went for a run... returned after 8pm and the temperature was still - no kidding - 87 degrees. On the, run I encountered (read: was startled by and lept over) a foot-long green chameleon on the sidewalk where I run. There are frogs the size of two fists; small skinks and other amphibians and reptiles everywhere.

Class is going well, the days are long, the obligations are daunting, but when I get in the room with my kids (2nd period - 6 and 4th period - 9), time stops, fears vanish, and it's just me, my knowledge and their eager faces and minds. It's invigorating and I love it. So much work, but it's still worth it so far.

Tata