It's a movie week.

The end of January.

Everyone seems tired. I'm tired. My students are tired. I've worked their little minds to the bones 1st semester and this week marks the transition to 2nd semester.

So, I'm giving them a break. End of semester projects are due today. Plenty of students do not have theirs. Typical of my 9th graders. I'm showing a movie today to finish up class, since presentations are only taking half the class. We're finishing up Stranger Than Fiction, a Will Ferrell movie where the main character, Harold Crick, hears a voice narrating his life and discovers that he's the main character in a tragedy and will soon die. Words like "dramatic irony," "third person narrator," and the like are thrown around. Plus, we recently read Romeo and Juliet and discussed the nature of a tragedy.

Thursday and Friday I would like to show a movie set during the Great Depression, because our next novel is To Kill a Mockingbird. Last year I showed Seabiscuit. I'm think of either showing that one again or maybe Cinderella Man. What do you think?

I think we just need a quiet week and a reward for working so hard first semester. Sometimes we could all just benefit from slowing down. Even at school.