Project Weekend

Several projects this weekend: Project H (I do not reveal student names), Project M, Project Blog (for the freshmen at Level 1 or 2), and, of course, Project Lesson Plan. Oh, and Project Clean House.

There's frost on the boardwalk, which should excite everyone. Winter, and a frozen river, suddenly opens up the world of possibilities. Father Vasily was talking at the maqiq last night about getting his snowmachine up and running, and he sounded excited. There's nothing quite like sitting around naked with the village priest talking about moose hunting while you steam. I'm serious.

Yesterday was the day for rewards for junior high students. Their behavior has actually improved since we started this system. Don't get all teary-eyed yet-they still have a ways to go before they get to perfect. This week was my turn to host after school, so I decided to start it at 4:00, after our afternoon meetings. The theory is to reward positive behaviors and try to promote them. Everyone has a 25-minute baseline, but students can earn more time based on more positive behaviors. Two of the kids had earned an hour of time. The vote was for time spent on the computers. The novelty of that faded, however, and one girl was left after the others departed. She wanted to spend the rest of her time playing badminton in the gym. This girl is very nice, and unfortunately has a pretty sketchy home situation. It was clear that she would happily have spent hours there.

I think we went a little over the alloted time. At that point, however, there was no place on the planet that I would rather have been. This job can be ungodly trying. It can be amazingly gratifying.

I have opened up the comments section, to try and make it easier for readers to do so. I think that I just didn't pay that much attention when I first set up this blog. Enjoy, and try not to be too harsh.

Thanks for reading.