I'm afraid I don't have a heck of a lot to post today. I'm just working on my Language Exploration Project, trying to get ready for tomorrow's lesson (which I HOPE goes better than the one on Thursday did), and being glad we have two days off this week.

I guess one thing I am thinking about is the fact that that Chaucer lesson the other day really got me... uh, well, worrying might be a little strong, but "concerned" might work. I mean, I know the challenge of getting high schoolers engaged is a fascinating one, and as I wrote in my post, the kind of thing that makes you want to go to work and try new things and stay interested. But what happens if you can't do that? What happens if you end up with a bunch of bumps on a log? If they NEVER do their homework? And I can say I have answers to that - do reading in class, like that one teacher we read about who didn't want to send "all the good stuff" home, give really interesting assignments, make sure I tailor what I'm doing to the class - and I'm pretty darn sure that I'm not boring enough to let apathy happen and think that's fine, but still. It's kind of scary.

Middle school, on the other hand, is looking more and more attractive as we go along here. The kids are still pumped to break out the crayons, still all about role playing, still fascinated by smelly garbage cans or beautiful birthday cakes, as Iris and I asked them to write about in Ms. Manduley's class. You probably can't get into the same KIND of deep discussions you'd find in a high school classroom (one that works well), but you can still get good things happening, get kids talking - and benefiting. And if you get 'em a little earlier, maybe you can have even more of an effect on how they approach their last years of formal schooling.

So, I'm conflicted. I'm glad we still have the internship coming, I'm sure that'll help me make up my mind. It'll be interesting to see what happens.