And the Winner Is...

All our (and by our I mean my advisory students) work paid off! We won the door decorating contest! However, they picked a winner from each floor (there are 4) and I thought it was the entire school. Anyway, it's still awesome that we won! We were all sitting in our fire pit circle when the winner was announced and it was so cute to see all their reactions. My MT would mention our door as the winning door during each class and the students from out advisory in the classes would get so excited. You could tell there was definitely a sense of pride and ownership for each student. We had some haters boo us and some accused us of cheating, but we won fair and square. Plus, we had TWO doors to decorate. Those haters can just give it up.

Yesterday the students finally finished their wikis! I am so glad they are done with it. Five weeks on a project is draining. Although now this means I have to start my Holocaust unit. I've been having nightmares and not being able to sleep. I don't know why I'm so nervous. One dream I had I forgot every students' name. I was trying to think of it and finally as soon as my MT walked back in the room I remembered one. The students yell, "YOU DIDN'T KNOW OUR NAMES! You're lying." It was a horrible dream. Hopefully I remember their names. Now that the wikis are done I have a list of all of them below. I put and asterisk to the really spectacular ones!

The students had a pep rally yesterday. I must say that attending the pep rally's in this school district is a complete culture shock. I thought that it was hilarious, but it really was nothing compared to the school I was at for my winter placement. Their pep rally was CRAZY. Anyway, it was funny to see how all my 10th graders behaved. I will argue that we have the best behaved kids in the entire school just because our team is really good at making sure they all behave. However, once they got to the pep rally they were the loudest and rowdiest of all the grades. The one student I gave the detention to at the beginning of the year was wearing a hat at the pep rally and I asked him to take it off. Later he had it back on and I realized it was a Miami Heat hat. When we made eye contact again at the end of the pep rally I told him to come to me. He rolled his eyes because he thought I was going to yell at him. I didn't I just told him that if he's going to wear a hat in the school at least make it the Cleveland Cavs.

Friday was absolutely draining on me. I couldn't sleep the night before because I started worrying about this unit. I woke up wide awake at 3 and decided to work on the worksheets. I managed to fall back asleep but then I was at the school from 8-6. The pep rally was exhausting even though I just stood there. Then I had to grade binders and give them a process grade for their wikis! I didn't even have to grade last bells because they didn't have class on Friday because of the pep rally. My muscles were hurting so bad and I thought I was getting sick. Luckily, I don't think I am. It gave me a look into how much work teaching on my own will be.

I wore this dress that I bought at Urban Outfitters last Christmas to school for the first time. I got SO many compliments yesterday. The one girl who always compliments me goes, "Miss Albert, I love your dress! Can we go shopping together!" Some of them asked where I got it and when I said Urban Outfitters they were like, "You shop at that expensive store?" But I had to make clear that I go right down to the sale rack and I usually shop on days that are already discounted. The day after Christmas was a 50% off all sale items sale so the dress was only about $10. It might sound crazy but I feel that dressing "cute" builds rapport with the girls at the school. It gives us something to talk about and I feel that it makes them see me as more than an adult.

Last night I went to Kings Island for the Halloween Haunt with my friend, Emily, and her manager and her manager's friend. It was so much fun. I haven't been to a haunted house since, I think, 8th grade. I honestly didn't think I'd be as scared as I was. I'm so lame. I definitely screamed. In the corn maze one of the people popped out to scare us and then started dancing! It was hilarious. Then in the same maze one person popped out and scared my friend and then on the other side they scared me. When they scared me I fell and almost hit the ground but luckily my friend and I were walking with our arms locked. I ended up stepping on my own foot! It hurt so bad! It was a lot of fun though. I laughed and screamed so much. I started losing my voice!

Now I will delight you all with a list of the World War II wikis my students created. I put asterisks next to the ones that are extra spectacular!
Wiki A . Wiki B . Wiki C . Wiki D . Wiki E . Wiki F . Wiki G . Wiki H . Wiki I . Wiki J . *Wiki K . Wiki L . Wiki M . Wiki N . *Wiki O . Wiki P . Wiki Q . Wiki R . Wiki S . *Wiki T . Wiki U . *Wiki V . Wiki W . Wiki X . Wiki Y . Wiki Z . *Wiki AAA . Wiki BB . Wiki CC . Wiki DD . Wiki EE . Wiki FF . Wiki GG . Wiki HH . Wiki II . Wiki JJ . Wiki KK . Wiki LL . Wiki MM . Wiki NN . Wiki OO . Wiki PP