No Rest for My Weary Soul

I had an incredibly exhausting and busy week. In addition to all of my school work, I also presented my first two lessons this week on Wednesday and Thursday. My first lesson was on reapportionment and gerrymandering. I was convinced that all of the preparation that I put into it would carry me through until the end of the period. But, wouldn't you know it...everything I had planned on doing finished about twenty minutes early. Fortunately, it was the day after the recall election, so I was able to turn the topic toward that in order to finish out the period. Seeing as it is a Government class, it was related to the course.

On Thursday, I presented a lesson on Congressional leadership. I was convinced that it had gone horribly, until one of the students told me later that day, at the Back to School Night, that I had done a good job. Granted, he is one of the better students in the class who always pays attention. I think that a few of the students had mentally checked out. Here's part of my problem...I'm teaching Government. Government in high school is, by its very nature, a boring class. Nobody likes to take it and it's made even more difficult by the fact that most of them are afflicted with some form of senioritis.

Well, next week I'm supposed to present the ever-popular "How a Bill Becomes a Law." That seems to be the defining moment in any government class. It's the one thing most people refer to when mentioning U.S. Government. So, I am trying to think of a way to present it that won't bore them to tears.

This week promises to be just as busy, if not busier than last week. I was so tired from last week that when I got home from Kennedy at noon on Friday, I laid down and ended up sleeping until about 5:00 in the evening. I have quite a bit of work due next week. There are seven papers due and a midterm, as well as my How a Bill Becomes a Law lesson. I honestly don't expect to get much sleep until next Friday again.

Tonight I joined Shane Ross and John Lin for a night out at the Red Lion Tavern near Silver Lake. It's one of the better German restaurants in the area and my outing at Oktoberfest last weekend had me hankering for some bratwurst and sauerkraut all week.

After leaving there, we went to this coffee shop on Vermont Street in Los Feliz, near Sunset. I honestly can never remember the name of this coffee shop. I was trying to figure it out tonight, but couldn't...they seem to hide it. All I know is that it is green, and is right across the street from the Los Feliz 3 theater.

So tomorrow I'll be pretty busy doing all my school work...trying to get it all finished before Monday evening so I can just focus on studying for my midterm on Tuesday. You'll have to excuse me if I don't post anything again this week.