Fantastic Day, Busy Night

I would not change a thing about my 2nd period class! It all worked well.

I guest taught a chemistry class since the teacher was out for the morning - it was fun to see another class and control other students. For me, they were very well behaved and pretty attentive. After that, I went to my classroom to set up for the balloon-pop surprise and it was a hit. I got exactly the result I would have liked.

I am surprised, though, at how little the kids know about mental health -- I thought they would have encountered depression as a topic in health class or seen movies with schizophrenia. Nope - when I asked them to name a mental illness, all I got was ADD, which I allowed, even though there is a sizable academic and medical debate about ADHD/ADD diagnoses.

I'm looking forward to their homework assignments and tomorrow's class. Thanks, National Institute of Health's Curric. Supplements for middle school. I pretty much lifted the whole lesson and it was fantastic.

My 4th period class, normally 6 was only three so that changed the dynamic. Much slower and distracted by neurological disorders (explaining the difference between mental illness and neurodegenerative illnesses is actually very hard!).

This evening, I have to to/ am doing: evaluation journals (narrative report cards) for my kids, finishing my lesson plans for next week (language learning, sleep, and memory), designing a final project for our class, planning tomorrow's lesson, and writing up a report about Science Department day.

My run, which I was - for the first time - looking forward to, was spoiled by construction all along my path, so I got to explore campus on new routes. I discovered the scenic side of UM and several nicely lit fountains. New high milage tonight, too.

Hope tomorrow is another good day!!