5 Good Things - April 30

Today in Room #408...

1) Journalists wore their awesome new shirts! TR, TP, HJ!

2) TR & MH came in early to take green-screen pictures for the yearbook.

3) EH's students made me so proud by their attentive, positive interactions with the interview candidates.

4) MW stepped in as news anchor on Eye of the Needle! Great job, girls!

5) Trojan Learning Campers CB, EH, BB, SD, KH, AJ & CP shared their questions and thoughts about independent reading during professional development. 

5 Good Things - April 29

Today in Room #408...

1) KJ & SF painted the second coat of our First Amendment wall while rocking out to


2) The Omaha World Herald featured a story about three of my awesome journalists: MP, SS & LZ.

3) TM & RW posted their third AHS Minute!


4) Learned that JN is strong and happy; SK is organized; AE is hardworking; and KW can get along with just about anybody!

5) LK, TN, JW, MW, MT & DS forged on with "Much Ado"!

5 Good Things - April 25

Today in Room #408...

1) EJVW & LR helped me move all the books off the shelves to prepare for painting our First Amendment wall!

2) PA agreed (?) to bring her guitar and play a song she composed!

3) Finished "Our Town" with my very special Rabbit Reading Club: ES, AW, NB, NC & TL.

4) TR & MH took awesome pictures of a Friday exit from AHS.

5) Uber-teacher EH helped my 7th period class analyze "Fire & Ice."

5a) My wonderful colleagues JT, EH, JE, JH, JH, SH, BW & MO joined me to high-five our students as they left AHS for the weekend.

Birthday Celebration in Room #408

5 Good Things - April 24

Today in Room 408...
1) HO helped me make a hallway display of the Shakespeare Coloring Contest winners.

My fabulous co-workers EH & JH displaying the winning entries.

2) LS took pictures of DC signing to wrestle at IWCC.

3) WS was selected as an FFA Stars Over Iowa Finalist.

4) MT recommended Going Bovine as a great book.

I was pretty sure MT would like this one...

5) Poetry analyses by ES and JN were notably insightful.

5 Good Things - April 23

Today in Room 408...
1)  30+ Comp students celebrated Shakespeare's birthday with a lunchroom performance of R&J!

2) KM & RW reflected thoughtfully on improvements for next year's AHSneedle.com.

3) CB finished his story about the ACSD board's decision to lower the number of graduation credits.

4) Eye of the Needle continues to improve! KF, MS, MW, BM worked to included surveillance-camera video of a light pole falling on a teacher's car during last week's wind storm. How cool is that?!



5) AA battled her stage fright (and Capulets)!

5.1 Good Things - April 17

Yesterday in Room 408...
1) TS and TM worked all day to cover a dramatic story for AHSneedle.
2) The English department showed up in force after school to help a student with a video.
EW (Eng), JT (Guidance), JH (Math), JH & AB (Eng).

3) Journalists EY & CZ manned the Booster Club concessions stand during the AMS track meet.
4) JD conducted an eye-behavior experiment and determined that when meeting someone in the hall, willingness to maintain eye contact at the crucial 8' "dimming one's lights" distance may be impacted by age.
5) LH & LS surprised me with their over-the-top artistic t-shirt designs for Shakespeare's birthday.
5.1) Science teacher BW invited me into his classroom for five minutes of bridging learning from Anatomy and Interpersonal Communication.

5 Good Things - April 14

Today in Room 408...
1) MW drove back home to get the camera.
2) SOMEONE cleaned Harley's cage.
3) BW cleaned the fish bowl.
4) TS fixed the frozen window in the J-Lab.
5) TR tweeted the school board meeting for @AHSneedle. 1-to-1 passed!

5 Good Things - April 12

Today in the J-Lab (yes, Saturday)...
1) SS wrote up yesterday's track meet.
2) LS said, "I don't know what I'd do without a J-lab at school."
3) CZ signed up for another yearbook spread--without being asked.
4) TB gave me a thank-you hug.
5) AB (me!) cleaned room 408!

5 Good Things - April 11

Today in room 408...
1) LZ shared a short story with me.
2) SF organized our journalism t-shirt orders.
3) Senior Spotlight team redesigned the masthead.
4) HJ found her bookbag.
5) AW wrote a sonnet for Joyce.

5 Good Things...

...today in room 408.

1) G.P. has not missed a day of school since March 11. Today he spent the entire hour writing about perception and empathy.

2) Local paper has asked to reprint L.P.'s story about Every 15 Minutes.

3) Renamed  the J-Lab "Vegas" with M.M. & M.P. What happens in the J-lab stays in the J-lab.

4) M.S. learned how to create a new poll for AHSneedle.com. Would you rather live in an treehouse or a houseboat?

5) J.A. wrote this line of dactylic tetrameter poetry: Arneson Arneson Arneson Arneson.

Sonnet 1, for my Creative Writing Students

By Allison Berryhill

I wanted for them each to find a muse

And push like Sisyphus against a thought--

To hear an inner voice and set it loose

And touch the place where soul with sound is wrought.

To give them tools to carve onto the page

The exquisite release of hidden self,

To gift them ways to transform joy and rage

To poem, essay, book upon a shelf.

But hour six too often slid away

With chattered scattered shot and little more

And what I’d hoped for them to learn each day--

Abandoned, crumpled drafts upon the floor.

Ah, did they learn the lesson of the pen?

Revise, revise, and let me try again.