Sixpence none the richer

1. We got our schedules for next year and I'm teaching three sections of English I Honors and two sections of English II CP. I expected the former, but not the latter. In a way, I'm flattered that they would put me in 10th grade, which is the year of high stake testing for English in Maryland. However, I think I more got it because others didn't want it. I asked for either English II or English III as my second class, and heard early last week that it would be English III. I was pretty excited about teaching Juniors again, as the curriculum (Macbeth, Lord of the Flies, Frankenstein, The Fifth Child, Othello, Brave New World) is more fun than the 10th grade curriculum (The Scarlet Letter, Reservation Blues, The Great Gatsby, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Their Eyes Were Watching God, a bunch of Puritan and colonist shit) and it would be nice to teach upper classmen again. This last minute change means I'll be teaching some of the students I had this year, which could be a good thing, but more likely will be a bad thing, as I wasn't that happy with my performance this year. One hopeful positive, though, is my curriculum team. All three of us English II teachers have never taught the class before, but we're all good friends and good teachers so we will work well together.

2. Speaking of which, the irony of it all is that I had my end of the year evaluation meeting today and I was given a score of 100/100 for my evaluation. I was told that less than ten teachers (out of 80) in the building got that score. This is crazy, because I was so agressively mediocre this year, with the floating and what not. I'm attributing the score to pity for me because I had to float. I guess I'll take it. Also amusing was my assistant principal's comment that, "And you never complained about it at all!" Huh? I was a whiny bitch about it for much of the year.

3. The Noah's Ark Pub Crawl was fun. We only hit five bars, which I guess is a part of getting older - the pub crawls become a lot shorter. I enjoyed all the bars we hit - Gecko's, Wharf Rat, Cat's Eye Pub, Horse You Came In On, and Max's - and got a ride home right around midnight. I didn't overdo it and feel just fine today.

4. Today, after getting a ride back out to Fell's Point to get my car, I stopped at Liquid Earth for lunch. That place is expensive, but I swear to god that their Vegetarian Reuben is one of the best foods ever created for human consumption.

5. A trip out to Trader Joe's was a downer. The cashier told me that they would not be carrying salmon jerky any longer, at any of the Trader Joe's on the east coast. I live on that stuff, so that sucks. I wish I could mail order them or something. Maybe I'll check around the internet.

6. I've been doing a lot of checking around the internet today, looking for a grammar book for 9th and 10th grade next year. No luck yet. I've gotten a lot of good recommendations for Daily Grammar Practice, but I'm leery of something with such a bad website. I know some teachers read this site - do you have any good recommendations? I'm looking for something the kids can buy for about $10.