Victorian revelry shall abound

Once again, I'm blogging after a loooong day of work when I should be sleeping. However, once I do get home, it usually takes a few minutes before I can calm down enough to actually fall asleep, so why not blog?

It's been a hectic week. The reason (previous post) I was scouting boys' scarves and plastic battery operated candles at the Dollar Tree is because on Friday my seventh graders and I are having a Dickensonian Christmas party. They read and watched A Christmas Carol, researched the Victorian era, and have taken on the persona of one of Dickens' characters for this shindig, which is being thrown in honor of Scrooge's new outlook on life. They have to talk, walk, behave, and breathe like any young child of Victorian London would have. Parlor games, traditional Victorian music, decor, and revelry will abound in a matter of hours.

The problem is, they (and I) are incredibly unprepared for this. It's amazing how much I assume my students know that they just don't. And when they saw the movie, they asked me where the black people were. I said, "in this room." I told them THEY are responsible for portraying the black version of all the characters, and Scrooge is counting on them to do so.

Don't you wish you could be there? I'll take pictures.

Last night I went to the Behold the Lamb of God concert, which was INCREDIBLE. It's a yearly conglomeration of singer/songwriters who come together for a concert of songs to tell the story of Christ. The songs tell the story of the Old Testament up to the birth of Jesus. It is beautiful. Last year, Derek Webb and Sandra McCracken were two of the people there; this year Bebo Norman and Sara Groves lent their vocals along with regulars.

If you've ever read the blog I write on about school, teaching, and my students (it was part of my final thing for grad school) you know that I am obssessed with Sara Groves, as I wrote bits of her lyrics on the blog ALL the time. Many of her songs have pulled me through tons of very hard days since last August, and last night I got a chance to tell her that. Lo--she was a middle school English teacher! I knew we had a kindred bond. I'm glad Jimmy nearly made me talk to her, as I am not one to leap at the well known. However, it was a very non-awkward, heartfelt conversation, and I didn't stutter. She even gave me a bit of valuable teaching advice. Anyway, I bore you.

More stories and pictures later. Goodnight!