The Week in Pictures

For the first few years I was here, I held end-of-year parties for all of my students, class by class, in my apartment. It was never meant to accommodate more than 30 people at a time, and my kitchen is not meant to cater that much food at once. I soon discontinued that practice.

This year, to get my kids talking in class – and off their phones, I came up with the ingenious idea of holding competitions. Class by class, divided into groups, whichever team presented the best topic, as judged by their peers, would enjoy a dinner at my house. The exercise culminated in time for the end of the year. Thus, I hosted 4 parties, back to back, during the last week.

I thought I was going to get away from having parties at my house... oh well! These were smaller groups, and we had an opportunity to play outside of class and appreciate our time together.

On Monday, I went food shopping for all of these dinners. No pictures to show of that. It's really not that exciting.

On Tuesday, The FBI made their appearance. We made pizza and quesadillas, and cookies for their classmates 

On Wednesday, my lone sophomore group and I met for a dinner off-campus. I wanted to show my appreciation for them pushing me to be a better teacher. Fortunately, that meal was catered.

On Thursday, The Running Goddesses came by. We had already had a pizza party earlier in the year, so for them it was shepherd's pie, grilled chicken wings, deviled eggs, steamed veggies and salad. And quesadillas, which are proving to be a hit.

On Friday, The TFGirls graced my home. Again: pizza and quesadillas. For them and the Running Goddesses, I made an apple pie – because I had already treated their classmates to home-baked treats earlier in the year.

And this is what I felt like at the end of it all.