End of term musing

So 3rd quarter has come to a close and it was a positive end to the term. In Oral Communications, we ended with Significant Forces speeches and papers and they were really provocative and rich. All of my students come from such varied backgrounds and stories and in my heart of hearts, I believe that knowing one another's tales of woe and happiness help you to better understand one another. I do hope that all of my students heard at least one speech that impacted how they thought about another person and that they will take that insight into new friendships or sympathies. In Poetry, we also closed with a cool series of poems. We all wrote odes to and about one another and each student got their moment in the spotlight to hear what others had to say. It made many of them feel special and noticed and I was glad for this. We ended the term with a slam and I was glad for everyone to have one last hurrah:) In African American Lit we closed with an activity that the kids invented. Each student did some research on the history of Soul Food in the African American culture and then had to tell a tale of Soul Food in their own life. To culminate it all, students had to prepare a dish from their life or from the AA culture and present it to class. We had some delicious food the last couple of days and I know the kids loved eating, relaxing and telling stories with one another. Last, but not least, we're been hard at work on the script for the dinner theater. We made more progress than I expected and once I assemble it all in our class wiki, I think we'll have at least one act complete. Very cool! I can't wait to begin rehearsals in 4th quarter!