Today I have a kid in class for the second time this year. I barely recognize her. I consider this a victory even though I had nothing to do with it. I have comp & lit kids borrowing: Slut, Bitch, Cutting, and a book about coming out. They are all rather sophisticated books on interesting topics despite the names. They are doing an amazing job of reading. My kids are now keeping reading logs and their reading rate has gone up significantly. They are *reading* for 20 minutes a day without complaint or falling asleep. (Ok, once in a while someone dozes a bit, but they are usually sick or under a lot of stress.)

This is successful. I’m amazed. I have more classroom participation than my mentor teacher can believe. She taught this class for 9 years and she is flat out shocked at how well my kids are doing. That feels so good.