h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Didn't realize how relieved I would be to have a whole 2 weeks off for Christmas Vacation. Christmas and New Year's Day should be on Thursday every year if it means getting an extended break.

I was a bit discouraged this year to discover that high school students no longer know the significance of the number 42. Not sure I want to enlighten them, considering that it's so much fun to discover these things on one's own. The movie hasn't been out that long, but for them by now it's "so middle school" they've forgotten it.

My kids in ESOL were a mixed bunch in the Fall semester. My seniors were delightful, most of the time. My freshmen were usually so distracted by the kids who thought they were still in middle school, that not much was accomplished. Managed to convince the powers that be to move several high level, low interest troublemakers on to something more useful for their graduation. They shouldn't have been dumped in ESL 2: Writing in the first place but, once again, Bureaucratese stepped in and insisted that kids who speak English from a family with a second language background must have ESL, whether they need it or not. But the troublemakers have at last been moved on. We'll see how the next semester goes...