Firsts...

In my attempt to make the randomness I call my life fit into a loose theme, I bring you a list of "firsts" that I've experienced recently.

• First time I've taught Romeo and Juliet to freshman...or to anyone, for that matter. Observations from this experience: Shakespeare was a rather "dirty minded" man, and at least one student will pick up on almost every sexual reference made in the text that I try to skim over. "Sex sells" apparently is not a new concept. Freshmen have hilarious opinions about what they would look for in a potential date. Among those "must have" qualities: she needs to have nice "assets" (his attempt at being school appropriate and making a pun with the name of a school club "The 40 Developmental Assets"...I'd be lying if I said I didn't chuckle a little), he needs to not be smelly and dirty, and my personal favorite "she needs to not cry too much."
• First time I've taught students how to write a research paper. If only it could be a "first and only" situation. Lesson learned: explain things in 200% more detail and repeat directions 10 more times than I think necessary.
• First time God has answered a prayer by suspending a student. Please don't think I'm a terrible person. I did not ask God to suspend this particular student, but he did have me at the end of my rope every single day, so I had definately prayed for help. I don't think it's a coincidence that the day after I almost cried during my planning period, this particular student was suspended for 12 days (rest assured, nothing related to my class).
• First time Scott has helped a woman color her hair (at least I hope so!). I decided to go more natural for the winter but was afraid I was missing spots with my at-home hair color kit. Scott came to the rescue, squirting dye on the spots I was missing.
• First time I've played Axies and Allies. This is one of those "conquer the world" games, which, you know, is totally me (please sense the sarcasm there :) Its takes 30 minutes just to set up the board. Most games I like are finished within that timeframe! Actually, though, I had a fun time, am willing to play again, and made my husband incredibly happy in the process. You should have seen his face when I answered his question to play with a "Yes." Priceless.

I'm sure I'm missing something, but I, like my students, am starting to "check out" in anticipation of the holiday break (only eight more school days!) Gotta go use my brain cells to figure out what to teach now...