Farewell, Advisory 803!

Today was my last day as an advisory teacher for this school year.  I've taken on a new class for the semester that begins tomorrow: Participation in Government.  I'm totally psyched to give juniors and seniors some practical preparation for active citizenship.  But, in the interest of my sanity, I had to give up something, so advisory got cut.  I'm sad to leave the eighth graders that I've started every day with during this school year.  I'll still teach them social studies, but advisory gave us an extra chance to talk and get acquainted in the mornings.  We've discussed issues of race in the Dominican Republic together, considered quotes about self-sacrifice when certain students seemed a little too stuck-up, and watched highlights of Mariano Rivera's career when he earned his record-breaking 602nd save.  On Mondays, our group always writes in journals to reflect on their past week, describe highlights of the weekend, and set goals for the week to come.  So, on my last day of advisory, here are a pair of gems from the journal of the infamous Erwin (with an editorial comment from yours truly).