Teamwork and Tactics, 3rd Period - Friday

[worstofalltime.livejournal.com]

Instead of meeting in the danger shop or getting a substitute teacher, Agent Washington was in front of the class, looking a little more haggard than usual. Someone had not been having a very great past month or so, it would seem.

"I'm sorry about last week, class," he said once the students had filed on in. "There won't be any laps this week. Obviously. Next week we'll get back into the correct schedule, though." So don't think you've escaped that.

"But, today you'll have an easy day with a movie that supposed to show teamwork with a group of very different people against greater odds." He put a movie that... mostly fit that description.

Imagine that!

Philosophy of Loss, Friday, 2nd Period

[living_endless]

The students who made it to class today would have a novel experience indeed. Death -- and today she was Death, no Didi about it -- had lost her usual air of calm good cheer, and instead looked perturbed and vaguely sullen.

Her father had told her to expect a visit. Her father never visited.

"Hi," she said, slouching into a bean bag chair. "I know you're probably eager to either see or avoid your guests, so I'm hoping class won't be too stressful. We're talking about Ghanaian fantasy coffins. Carpenters in and around Accra make specialized coffins carved to look like cars, fish, lions -- anything you can imagine. Usually the specific shape of a coffin reflects the deceased's job or social position. The reason they go to the trouble comes from the Ga tribe's religious beliefs. They believe death is not the end. And because ancestors can influence our lives from their afterlife, you buy them a nice coffin so they'll be in a good mood and help you out."

She spread out her hands, palms up. "That's the religious explanation, anyhow. Some people are more pragmatic and will tell you it's more about honoring the departed and showing respect for their memory. Whatever the reasoning is, you can't deny they make some gorgeous coffins."

Something caught her eye there, a flash of red hair and flowing beard in the back of the classroom; she blinked it away.

"Anyhow, what I'd like for you to do today is design a coffin. It can be for whoever you want -- yourself, someone you lost, a historic figure, a fictional character. You have half an hour to sketch, and then I'd like to talk about your designs. Let me or Kathy assuming she's here know if you have questions."

Don't Be Stupid, Friday, 1st Period

[wrongkindofsith]

They were back in an ordinary classroom this week, with Cara leaning up against the desk.

"It's the start of Parent's Weekend so I'm going easy on you this week." They could all thank her later. "Especially since the weekend itself will be an exercise in avoiding stupidity for those of you with troublesome guests. So we're just going to have two discussion questions today. The first is about what kind of plans you might have made to avoid your guests figuring out this island is completely insane, those of you who either have no guests, or whose guests don't care about it, can figure out ways to help your less fortunate classmates."

She grinned at them. It wasn't reassuring. "Once you're done with that, then you all get to come up with ways it could all go wrong. If you've been here a while, you know some of the things that could happen. Try and figure out how you'd deal with those kind of things happening."