To start break, I went to Phantom Of The Opera with one of my best friends from elementary school! It was a great show and an awesome way to end the term and start break. The city is a great place and so close to home!

After that I went home and didn’t really leave! I did lots of stuff around the house and yard work and things like that. Thanksgiving was great! I got to hang out with the family and play some Wii! Most importantly, I had time to be lazy and do…nothing. After the past 10 weeks, it was a much needed vacation of the mind!

With such a lazy weekend, Monday brought me back to the industrious life of holiday work. I started back at the Chipotle just off campus. It was actually great to go back to work there. I really missed working with the employees there during the school year.

Coming back to campus marks the beginning of D-Term (December Term). Every night there is some sort of activity planned for residents on campus. Tuesday night was a Twister Tournament! Though the twisting was fun, the real entertainment came from Tim Larson (another blogger) off of the Twister Mat. There is something about a ripped tie-dye shirt with matching face mask that brings a smile to everyone’s face…

Today is check-out day! This term is now over and done! In the coming weeks, I plan to work, travel a bit and work some more! The more you work as a student on break, the easier life is during the school year!

During this past week I have been doing a bunch of stuff! Last Friday I went to Pfeiffer Phansies. That was a small production put together in 3 weeks. All of the material was taken from new and upcoming shows from playwrites in Chicago and New York. It was a fantastic show on such a small scale!

Saturday I went to Chicago to hang out with my brothers. I have not seen my one brother in about a year and a half as he works in Las Vegas. However, he was in town as a consulting chef at a new “gourmet and go” restaurant–King Cafe (http://kingcafechicago.com/King_Cafe_Menu.pdf). It was really great to take the train out there and get off campus for a while…

Monday ushered in the beginning of Finals Week. So far, things have not been too bad. My education classes are done and I have only one history final left! This means, I am ready to check my guys out and go HOME! I didn’t have a picture from the weekend, so this is another picture from Europe! This is me by the Parthenon in Athens, Greece!

This has been a really full week!

Last Wednesday was our Concert Choir Concert. It was combined with Women’s Chorale, Hinsdale Central Women’s Choir, Oswego East A Capella Choir and our Concert Choir. All in all, it was a pretty good show! The high school choirs were really great and Women’s Chorale was fantastic, as always.

That night was also my birthday. I got to go out to Downtown Naperville with a whole bunch of different people throughout the week! It was great to see lots of friends from different walks of life. That is a great thing here. You can find friends from all different disciplines and activities.

Saturday was fantastic. I slept in. Watched some movies and nothing all day. That night, we did have an NCC Express show. We sang And So It Goes and She Will Be Loved. Overall, I feel it was a great performance with some happy listeners!

For my laziness on Saturday, I paid on Sunday. I spent most of Sunday working on my Education portfolio. That project was collecting all sorts of “artifacts” or piece of work I have done that demonstrate my skills as an educator. The footwork is rather dull, but the whole product is pretty cool, because it shows my “story” as an educator!

The term is winding down…
NCC Express at “A Little Night Music”

This weekend we closed Thoroughly Modern Millie! It was a great run with an amazing cast…and crew… Millie is probably one of the best shows North Central has put up in a long time. I am really glad I got to be a part of it! After closing, we had an after party that was big fun! Amongst the madness of a production, it is great to just hang out for a while!

Although it is sad to see the show end, this frees up time for school work! There are only two weeks left until break, so it is crunch time! I actually just finished creating a Unit project! It is about the Renaissance and Art and includes all assessment tools (tests, reading strategies, powerpoint, etc…) Most importantly, this weekend, I finished and turned in a big research paper! It was about children on the United States home front during World War Two. Not too much fun to my peers, but I enjoyed it!

This time also marks the wrap up at my practicum. I am teaching my final observed lesson tomorrow! I will really miss those students! They have taught me so much about teaching and myself. They always seem to keep me on my toes!Margaret, me (with some crazy hair) and Adam at the party!