On a balcony in summer air...

Attended the movies with close to 300 8th graders yesterday. Just in case anyone EVER thinks that's a good idea, DON'T. It was re-donkulous. Regardless of how stressful it was, it was a celebratory field trip. Explanation: 8th graders take a state TCAP Writing Assessment every year. This was one of the defining reasons why I was super stressed about being an 8th grade teacher. Dickson Middle has some of the best test scores in the state. Big shoes to fill? Absolutely. Long story short: for 2 straight months my kids and I worked our tails off to prepare for the Feb. test. To make a stressful situation 10 times worse, we were out for snow a full week before the test, and the test was rescheduled. Test taken. Fast forward 2 MONTHS, which was how long we had to wait for test scores. (Drum roll please........)

25 scores of 6 (the most EVER at DMS) 43 scores of 5, 49 scores of 4, and only 2 scores of 3. I'm never one to feel comfortable enough to toot my own horn, but seriously? Who would've thought? Definitely not me. So, toot toot. Whatev.

(Eventually I will get to the purpose of this babbling.)

Anywho, back to the movies. All students who made a 4,5,or 6 got to go to the movies. Hence, how I ended up there w/ the entire 8th grade. A teacher needed to be in every theatre for chaperoning purposes. Because of this, I ended up in "Letters to Juliet." Really? Lame. SPOILER ALERT-Regardless of the romantic comedy BS that made up this movie, there was a really nice historical basis that I, as an English teacher, especially appreciate. Really cool aspect of the movie: women flock to Verona, Italy to visit Juliet Capulet's (THE Juliet of "Romeo and Juliet") former estate so they can write letters to Juliet about love and lose. There are then a group of women dubbed Juliet's Secretaries that write all of these women a return letter from "Juliet." As if my need to go to Italy and the rest of Europe wasn't overpowering enough. I need some romantic European customs in my life to rid myself of my realist attitude.

"Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight! For I never saw true beauty till this night." -Romeo and Juliet