UCLA Redux
So what in the world am I doing with an out of focus picture on the blog? Hopefully, in less words it will give by its style as well as its content the kind of a whirlwind day I had today!
What you’re looking at is the LAUSD Magnet School Faire, a 4 hour information session held by the district (at UCLA) to give parents and students the opportunity to find out more about magnet schools and the opportunities available within them. The crazy part of working is LAUSD is that while we have perhaps some of the worst schools in the nation, we have arguably some of the best magnet school programs in the nation. And as can certainly be seen in the photo, more parents want their children at attend these schools than is reasonably possibly! So we get to resort to squabbling over a point-lottery system for choosing which kids get into the magnets. Yikes. This is pretty overwhelming for the parents who went with me today, most of whom had no idea what it took to get into a magnet school or what other options are available out there for their kids.
For me, this was the second time I had been to UCLA with students in less than a week! And to prove that I’m getting old, this morning as I greeted students and parents at our arriving bus, I asked each if they had ever been to UCLA before, completely forgetting that some of them had, not 6 days ago!!!!
Anyway, the countdown has begun: only 5 more days of school to go before our 3 week Christmas break, which I’m always ready for and yet is always slightly too long. By about December 31st or so, I’m ready to be back teaching. Let’s just see how much of the concept of slope my students remember come January 7th!
Themocracy
“Fan into flame” comes from 2 Timothy 1:6 which says the following:
“For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands.”
This is one of my life goals :)