September 27, 2007

I don't like days like today. The pressure continues to mount as I struggle to keep up with the pace in World History. So today I ran through hundreds of years of history in Greece, from the Peloponnesian War, to Alexander the Great, and covering the many cultural achievements of the Greeks to human society. I spent most of the day lecturing on the subject just to get through it. At one point, I actually forgot that I was talking at students. I felt like I was just talking to an audience. It was not until a student raised her hand that I was brought back to reality. It is days like this that I know are too much for the students to absorb. As 9th graders they can easily be bored by such an intense period. Fortunately they are honors students so most are able to focus and stay awake, despite how long winded I get.

Tomorrow I am to distribute progress reports (or interim reports) to every student. I almost forgot about it. I planned on staying late at school today in order to make sure my lesson plans for Monday's substitute would be ready, in stead, I graded a few papers and entered the grades into the computer so I can print the progress reports first thing tomorrow morning (again, thank goodness for 1st period planning!). Most of the time I have a huge lecture prepared that is aimed at the students who are not doing well. An attempt to try and motivate the students. This time, there is no need. The classes are all doing well enough where I can fore go any such pep talk. I can't think of a time when I haven't had to do this, I guess there is a first time for everything.

Today's Headlines:

Nine Killed as Myanmar Cracks Down on Protests (Reuters.com)
What began as a protest over a government increase in the price of fuel has become an all out rebuff of the Myanmar government by pro-democracy supporters. Myanmar (the southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma whose name was changed by the military junta when they took over in 1989) is no stranger to pro-democratic protests. And what is going on presently is reminiscent of protests of years gone by. As is typical for the country, the military government confronts these protesters with violence, at times directing soldiers to fire into the crowds of peaceful demonstrators. Fear of this type of action by the government is what normally keeps the citizens in line. But now, supported by Buddhist monks, the protesters continue their struggle against the government.

ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is in the practice of staying out of the way of each other's internal struggles. And this is proving to be no different. Meanwhile, "President" Bush has called for all nations with influence in Myanmar to pressure the nation to cease violence against the peaceful protesters. At this time, the United Nations General Assembly does not see this event as a crisis and is not yet ready to interfere.



-MC