Another week down. I still haven't taught a full five day week yet because of Labor Day.

Today was good. I think everyone was in good spirits because it was Friday but things felt smoother and a little more laid back in general. Also, I didn't have to wear a tie.

I took my guitar again today but I didn't have time to play it for the homeroom, only for my reading/social studies class. They love it...they eat it up. I started out with "In the Jailhouse Now" (the classic Jimmie Rodgers tune as heard in O, Brother Where Art Thou) but for some reason they love this little song I made up about latitude and longitude and they demanded another round of that. So I did that and then I made up a new verse for it. It's a cheesy song but they love it and if it can help them remember latitude and longitude then great!

I've got this one student in that same class who's an incredible student. Very intelligent, extremely polite and well-behaved, always knows the answers and does his work. Dream student, basically. He's a Jehovah's Witness and today we were talking about hurricanes (and therefore Louisiana) and he suddenly whips out this little book and starts to say something like "Speaking of disasters.." or something like that "I've got this little book" and he started to pull out a JW pamphlet from a book that appeared to be full of various tracts and pamphlets. He was about to share some "religious literature" with us right in the middle of our lesson on hurricanes. I just said "Sorry we don't have time" but I probably just should have said "Not during class" to avoid any future issues. Anyway, it was kinda awkward, moreso for him than me it seemed.

I've got a couple of kids in my class who are way below the level they need to be for reading and writing...especially writing. It's really a challenge and I'm not sure how I'm going to bring them up to level. I'll find something but I'm still searching for an effective method. So far I just want to get him writing as much as possible. We'll see if that starts to show any improvement for now.

I'm tired. Later.