This is the part of town I work in...

So, in case it was in any doubt, I found out what part of town I work in last night when, from 10:30-11:00 I was digging up part of the playground to bury some "artifacts" that my 8th graders are going to unearth today and decide if the society that left them behind was, in fact, a civilization. Fun stuff. Well, around 10:45, a policeman drives by on the road that runs behind the school. He stopped. He turned his spotlight on and lit me up. "Hey buddy, what are you up to?" Obvious concern in his voice - not really concern for what I was doing, but the kind of concern that's like "What in the world do you think you're doing outside here at this time of night?" So...I'll try not to repeat that level of procrastination again.

In other news, I was pumped this morning when I called a student in from the carpool line. I made a new seating chart for today, and I put this kid, who can be absolutely awesome (and can also be very loud and talkative) next to a student who rarely shows his ability to behave. They're friends. I was kind of counting on the one (who has been trying to help keep his friends in line for the past two days) to keep the other in line. I asked him what he thought of the seating chart, and he responded immediately, "He won't get in trouble if he's next to me." I was so happy. The period that just ended went pretty well. I had them reading a really challenging article from The Economist (I opened my new one yesterday and the first Briefing had to do directly with what I was wanting to start talking about today. It was really hard. They worked really well on it. I asked who thought it was too hard at the end of class. About 75-80% raised their hand. I asked who enjoyed it. An easy 50% raised their hands. Reasons ranged from "I like to learn about other cultures" to "We didn't have to get out that big book [the textbook]." I'm probably going to run with this for as long as they let me.

Time to greet my 6th graders.