I travelled to Louisville today with a fellow colleague to participate in the second session of my first graduate class. We got the syllabus and rubric for our hallmark assessment for this class- a 10-12 page paper. The assignment is action research where I am to formuate a hypothesis, change a variable of instruction and make observations and record data on the results. I concluded that I'm a nerd, but I embrace my nerdity because the prospect of writing the paper really excites me. I love having the accountability and feedback on research and learning that I would like to do on my own anyway. I think my hypothesis is going to be: "To what degree does giving students authentic audience for their reading and writing change their attitudes about the assignment and the quality of the finished product. Riveting huh.

Matt and Ethan are here for a few days, students from our youth group for those of you who don't know them, and I've rarely seen the boys so excited. All three of them stood in the front window for 15 minutes waiting for them to arrive tonight. Elijah was literally jumping up and down waiting to see them. He kept saying, "Matt and Ethan are so funny." Ahhh that the boys can always have such mature young men as role models. Matt, Ethan and Eric are all playing PS2 right now, and I'm sure they won't go to bed until the weee hours of the morning. As for me, I'm off to bed.