Liftoff

Today, Shuttle Endeavor lifted off for its final voyage towards the stars. I made the decision last night to show the launch in my 1st hour class. It took place at 7:56am Central time, just before 1st period began.

I was hesitant because anyone from my generation or older can remember the Challenger explosion. All those classes tuned in to watch the first teacher, Krista McAuliff, soar to space only to explode just seconds into the flight. Nonetheless, I went forward knowing that this was history they may never see and just might remember. The 2nd to last Shuttle to ever orbit the earth. Atlantis will be the last one from this NASA program.

I had just 2 students at the time of the launch. One had never seen a Shuttle launch. The other said he'd seen it on tv before, but I have doubts he had seen the real deal LIVE on tv. It was textbook perfect. Around 8am, the boosters were deployed and just after the announcements concluded for the morning, the main rocket booster had been loosed. At that, I started class and moved on with my day.

A normal day in most ways. Perhaps these kids won't remember. But just maybe they'll think back on those 8 minutes and remember that they were in high school to see one of the last Space Shuttles liftoff. You never know what kids will remember. I'm sure something will stick.

Next week is finals. One of my traditions is one of those things that "stuck" with me from Mr. Haut, my favorite science teacher. He gave every student a sheet of paper to use on the final exam. You could cram as much as you wanted onto it and write really small (not very useful) or just a few key terms you couldn't remember from studying (very useful). I recall using my ever-present color-coded system for chapters, terms and formulas. When it comes to finals, I give my kids that same 1/2 sheet of paper (color coded by class) and let them write on it and use on the final.

So we're down to 10 more school days, 9 with students. I can't believe it is here already. 4 more days teaching/preparing for finals. 4 giving finals. 1 cleaning my room and 1 just wrapping up the year with whatever I hadn't already completed.

Liftoff to summer in (days) 15..14..13...12.........