Romeo and Juliet

English IA students are finishing up Act I of Romeo and Juliet today.  So far, we've read a pretty good fight scene and listened to Romeo whine a lot about a girl, Rosaline, who doesn't return his affection.  I'm ready for him to move on from her and stop whining!

How To Speeches and Road Rage

I'm looking forward to one of my favorite weeks of the year.  Starting tomorrow, English II students will begin delivering their How To speeches.  We have a wide variety of topics scheduled, and several of them promise to be quite interesting.  Also, several of them promise to be quite tasty!

On Saturday, while returning home from an outing to Terre Haute, I was unfortunately in close proximity to a dangerous driver with intense road rage on I-70.  Luckily, there was no accident, but I'm not quite sure how there wasn't one.  This person was speeding by a significant amount, whipping between lanes, passing on the right, and putting the lives of many people in danger.  So . . . if you are a person with road rage, do the rest of us a favor and stay home.

Guitar Raffle

It's on!  This year, the electric guitar raffle is being held by Poety/Art Club.  A total of three hundred tickets will be sold at $5 each, and the drawing will take place on February 9th at the last home game for Boys Basketball.  The prize this year is a Squier Strat from Sound Source Music.  Much thanks to them for throwing in a hardshell case and t-shirt.  The case is going to be custom painted by members of the club.  So, you have one month . . . you'd better get those tickets quickly!

Here's a link to an online retailer's listing for the same guitar.
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/squier-vintage-modified-stratocaster-hss-electric-guitar/h78850

Here's a pic from the same site.

How To Speeches

Students in English II have been taking notes on how to construct a speech. Tomorrow, they'll start putting the notes to use when they begin preparing their How-To speeches.  I look forward to a wide variety of interesting topics and enlightening speeches.

Bridger and Ice Fishing

Sarah B.'s dog Bridger has engaged in a wide variety of outdoor activities, and since I just heard of a recent one, I thought I'd share it with you.  On Saturday, Sarah's dad and brother went ice fishing, and Bridger went with them.  At first, he enjoyed the idea of "walking on water" at their pond, but before long, his toes got cold.  I can understand that.  Fortunately, Sarah's dad brought a rug and spread it out on the ice for the unfortunate canine.  Be sure to ask Sarah to see the picture.  It's quite unusual to see a dog on a rug on a frozen pond.  If I get the picture file, I'll upload it here so you can see it.

Keep an Open Mind

Students in English IA are starting on Shakespeare.  Keep an open mind!  Claiming to dislike his work before you've actually read it is not a valid opinion.  If it wasn't any good, it wouldn't have survived 400 years or so.  Keep an open mind, and give Ol' Bill a chance!

Calendars

Calendars are greatly overlooked yet quite important in our lives.  To stay organized, I have a desktop calendar on which I enter various items such as faculty meeting dates, early dismissals, etc.  For years, I've duplicated the information in a pocket calendar, and I've kept all of my old ones for some unknown reason.  Now that I've upgraded to a smartphone, I'm trying the calendar on it instead of the old fashioned pocket calendar.  We'll see how it works, but I might miss having the ability to save it in the drawer with all of my other old ones.