Chuchería

Oh, hello....

2010-11-06T11:24:00.002-05:00

... where have I been? Oh, well, like many others, I have been lured away by the social network that is known at Facebook. (hanging head in shame...) I'm not going to lie, I do enjoy reconnecting with people. Maybe it's because I live in a big small town. I have made some really good re-connections and have rekindled some friendships. I am appalled, however, at the amount of dirty laundry people air- yikes!

I have often asked myself how the blog differs from the Facebook (I like calling it "the Facebook"- makes me sound kinda retro and folksy). With the blog, I feel like I have "friends"- although I've not been such a good one with the abandonment and all. I actually find myself thinking about some of you and awkwardly telling some of my friends IRL about you..."yeah, my uh... friend in New York/Las Vegas/Portland/Kentucky/California".... it's kinda weird, although perhaps no stranger than the pen-pals people had years ago. I do like the anonymity of the blog- very few of my friends and virtually none (? I hope) of my family members read this. I like to write and this is such a wonderful outlet for that- and connecting with people professionally. In some ways, I don't feel that I can express myself as freely on the Facebook. I have co-workers and former students as "friends", so I keep it pretty light. I can let loose a bit more on the blog. Having said that, I also feel the need to maintain anonymity to a degree, which goes against my nature.

I'm sure I've lost all of my previous followers. Perhaps they will return? Or maybe I will get a whole new crop.

Books Books Books Meme

2009-08-10T21:49:00.002-05:00

I swiped this one from Tense Teacher- check her out via my blogroll.

1) What author do you own the most books by?
I believe Janet Evanovich, since I recently became addicted to the Stehpanie Plum mysteries. Isabel Allende would be a close second. If we count Mr. T's books, then Kurt Vonnegut would be in there as well.

2) What book do you own the most copies of?
I'm not really in to having several copies of the same book, although when I see copies of "The House On Mango Street", I snatch them up so I can loan them to students. I also have several copies of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone"- one in hardback for me, one in Spanish, one in paperback for my kids and one that I bought in the Heathrow airport because it's called "HP and the Philosopher's Stone" and I think that's so cool.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions?
Yes and no. I have long ago come to terms with the whole "prescriptive" vs. "descriptive" grammar thing. I suspect that ending a sentence with a preposition will soon be acceptable, much like the word "snuck".

5) What book have you read the most times in your life?
When I was a kid, it was "Starring Sally J. Freidman As Herself", by Judy Blume. I guess it would have to be "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" or "Anne of Green Gables".

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old?
"Anne of Green Gables"

7) What is the worst book you’ve read in the past year?
"Down River"- it was too stiff for me.

8 ) What is the best book you’ve read in the past year?

"A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius", by David Eggers. I laughed out loud, I cried, I fell in love with David Eggers...

9) If you could force everyone you tagged to read one book, what would it be?

"A Prayer for Owen Meany"- what a fabulous book with much to ponder. Love, loyalty, friendship, war, faith.

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie?

Hands down, the Stephanie Plum novels.

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie?

I assume the question is referring to fiction, so that's how I'll answer. Maybe "American Wife", by Curtis Sittenfeld. Since it's a fictional account of Laura Bush's life, I'd rather not see it on the big screen.

13) What is the most lowbrow book you’ve read as an adult?

I'm going to concur with Tense and say the "Twilight" series. Though I did enjoy them for their entertainment value, I really did not think them to be well written at all.

14) What is the most difficult book you’ve ever read?

Apart from stuff I had to read for lit. classes (in English and Spanish), I'd have to say "Atonement", by Ian McEwan.

15) Do you prefer the French or the Russians?

I guess I'm too lowbrow to prefer either.

16) Roth or Updike?

I've only read Updike, and even then, just recently, so I'll go with him.

17) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers?

I couldn't possibly choose between the 2, since I am a HUGE fan of both.

18) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer?

Shakespeare.

19) Austen or Eliot?

Jane Austen, although I'm not a huge fan.

20) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading?

I'd say that while I was in college and the several years after- I had done so much reading for school, I just didn't do it much for pleasure. Kind of like the postman going for a walk on his day off.

21) What is your favorite novel?

Very hard to choose just one. In my top 5 are "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn", "A Prayer for Owen Meany", "Middlesex", "To Kill a Mockingbird", and "A Handmaid's Tale".

22) Essay?

Um, ??? I seem to recall liking several by Joan Didion when I took a Personal Essay class in college.

Can I include anything written by David Sedaris in this? If so, then I'd go with several from his book "Naked".

23) Work of nonfiction?

"Mountains Beyond Mountains", by Tracy Kidder. (an amazing author)

24) Who is your favorite writer?

Amy Tan, John Irving, Richard Russo, JK Rowling, Sandra Cisneros, Anne Tyler, Anna Quindlan, ...

25) What is your desert island book?

Well, hell, if I'm going to be stuck there for a while, I'd better make it good, right? Maybe "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare". It would certainly keep me occupied and I'd get in some good learnin' to boot.

26) What are you reading right now?

Just finishing "The Other Side of the River", by Alex Kotlowitz for book club, next am going to read some fluff- "Certain Girls", by Jennifer Weiner.

27) What fictional character are you secretly in love with?

Jake Spoon in "Lonesome Dove", Atticus Finch.

28 ) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature?

I don't know. I've read some "winners" and many just didn't do it for me.

29) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character.

I got nuthin.

30) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you’ve seen?

"The Two Gentlemen of Verona"- we've got a local theater company that does Shakespeare and Greek plays in the park during the summer.

31) Favorite Poem?

William Carlos Williams- "In the summer, the song sings itself."

32) Favorite Short story?

"Rappicini's Daughter" (Hawthorne); "Axolotl" (some Latin American author).

33) Who is the most overrated writer alive today?

I don't know- it depends on what you're going for, I guess.

2009-08-06T14:13:00.002-05:00

13 Crazy things I've encountered at school

Remember that show "Boston Public"- crazy show about a public high-school in Boston? So many people (not teachers) criticized it, saying "oh, there wouldn't be that much crazy stuff happening at a school." I'm here to tell you, YES, yes, it is possible. Here are some (13, to be exact) examples of real-life/I-can't-make-this-shit-up things that I have encountered first-hand either as a student or a teacher, or relative of a teacher. I'm hoping to hear your own crazy stories. I know you've got'em.

1. Several principals ago, the principal at my school had to leave town in the middle of the night because he got arrested for soliciting a prostitute a few blocks from the school, just a few short weeks before school was about to start.

2. A teacher in my building had to quietly resign because he was arrested leaving a crack house. (yeah, the kids were so funny about it- "I KNEW it!", they'd say.)

3. One of our social studies teachers came to school in a chicken costume for no apparent reason. The kids say she also had a cat figurine in her classroom that she'd talk to. When I expressed my disbelief ("Nuh-uh!!"), they assured me that oh yes, 'tis true.

4. Assistant track coach (not a teacher- he's an insurance guy who helps with the coaching)dated one of the girls, then got her pregnant. Sure, they didn't technically start dating until after she graduated, but I still think it's a bit smarmy.

5. Old, curmudgeonly psychology teacher who was VERY strict with his students brought a newly-graduated former student to a colleague's wedding as his date. Not illegal, but still a bit tacky. One thing to date her, quite another to parade her in front of the rest of the faculty.

6. 30-something English teacher divorces in November. Starts dating 23-year old Science teacher in Feb. 2 of them coming to school in the morning together in April. Expecting his baby in June.

7. Speech teacher with sallow complexion because of chain-smoking. Chews nicotine gum furiously (like a cow) during the rest of the school day. Never knows what's going on.

8. District's interim superintendent agrees to stay on another year while the search for another superintendent continues. School board agrees to hire a "head-hunter" to do this. They hire the interim superintendent and pay him an additional $40 K. to find his own replacement.

9. This was at a middle school where I taught about 15 years ago. At the end of the year, everyone was getting their rooms all cleaned up and ready to leave for the summer. It was pretty hot, as it can be in Iowa in June. The school was all one level, with a series of interior courtyards, the classrooms all had sliding-glass doors that opened up into them. One of the English teachers was emptying her watering can in the courtyard and happened to look into the classroom across the way. She was pretty sure she saw the sewing teacher folding and sorting fabric wearing nothing but her bra. (Not to be unkind, but it wasn't anything anyone needed nor would want to see.) So, Mrs. English marched down to inform the principal, a little, tiny tough-as-nails woman. Mrs. Principal went to see for herself. "WHAT are you doing???" was what she inquired as to why this woman was working in her bra. "I got hot!" was the response. "You're in your UNDERWEAR!" "I'm more covered up than 90% of the people you see at any swimming pool." Um, yeah, but you're at WORK!

10. Also at one of the middle schools- I arrived to work one morning to find that the cafeteria was closed, that breakfast would not be served that morning because they had to clean up the mess caused by a DEER who had jumped through the window. There was blood and bits of broken glass (and probably deer poo) all over the floor. The custodians (2 awesome old guys who are now retired)managed to seclude the poor deer in one of the bathrooms and called animal control, who tranquilized it, and probably ended up having to euthanize it. No, they didn't serve venison for lunch that day.

11. My mother worked at a school named for a local person of some notoriety. Her portrait hung in a prominent place in the hallway outside the main office. One day, many years after her death, her nephew came to visit the school. The principal took him on a tour and proudly went to show him his aunt's portrait, only to find that it was not there. It was not there because one of the crazy English teachers (who is now a priest) had stolen it months ago. I guess the really funny part was the announcement over the PA. "Would whoever stole the portrait of Mrs.Benefactor please return it to the office, please?" Years later, when asked about it, Mr. English said he had hung it in his bathroom, because looking at her face would "scare the crap out of anybody".

12. When I was subbing at the Catholic high school, we attended the "living" Stations of the Cross. It's a very somber event and the students who presented did a wonderful job. That is, until towards the final stations, when a bucket of white lab mice were let loose in the darkened auditorium! They did look quite striking, since the auditorium was lit only with black-lights.

13. When I was in second grade, one of the 5th grade teachers stabbed and killed his wife. Their only daughter had been struck and killed by a car just months earlier, and it was a strain on their marriage. They were fighting, and he stabbed her. The weird thing is that as little kids, we were always afraid of him- even though he was not our teacher, he was on recess and lunchroom supervision. He was a big, big guy with a big voice. Coming to school the morning after was very strange- probably stranger for those kids who had him as their teacher. Can you imagine recovering from that?

Ducks? In a row.

2009-08-04T19:52:00.002-05:00

At the beginning of every school year, I vow to try something new in my classroom. This year, I've mapped out my entire semester (which on our block schedule is equal to an entire year). When I look at all the short weeks and interruptions that are already on the school calendar, I kind of start to hyper-ventilate. A term is only 43 school days long, including the first 2 days of school, on which we will be dismissing 2 hours early, and the last 2 days of the term/quarter, which are for final exams. That bumps me down to 39 good days. Well, then we've got homecoming, which won't be good for much, and a week at the end of Sept. where the kids are off on Thurs. and Friday due to parent-teacher conferences. I feel like I'm going to have to hit the ground running in order to make the most of the time I have. But enough about the time. What I want to do this year that I've not done in the past is incorporate more writing. I'm going to have them journal in college "blue books". I will only grade them on completion, and not necessarily on content and form. In addition, I plan to have them do 4 other writing assignments- one of them will be part of their final. In the past, I've not given many writing assignments because they are so laborious to grade. One of my friends and colleagues goes through and corrects ALL of their mistakes for them, returns their papers and requires that they recopy their papers, making the noted corrections, not just once, but twice! I would have to shoot myself if I did that. So, instead, I'm going to take the advice of my instructor at my AP teacher training institute, and go with "holistic" grading- looking at the forest, instead of each tree individually. I will basically use the AP guidelines as a rubric. That way, I've got something concrete to back me up when some jackass with a strong sense of entitlement wants to dicker over his (or her, to be fair) grade.
I've even mapped out what the writing assignments will be- crikey, I'm NEVER this organized!

Finish It Meme

2009-08-03T19:38:00.003-05:00

1. My ex … is MIA. I always wondered what happened to him after I broke his heart in 17 places. (what is that from?)

2. Maybe I should...lose weight, start an exercise program, balance our checkbook, clean my damn house…

3. I love… my life.

4. People would say that...I’m fun (?), that I’m a smart ass, that I make a mean guacamole, that they can’t sit next to me at meetings because I’m BAD.

5. I don't understand...finances. When people start to talk “money”, I very much WANT to understand, but all I hear is “blah, blah, blah, blah, interest rates, blah blah blah, stock market, blah, blah, blah.”

6. When I wake up in the morning...I say “Crap! Already?!”

7. I lost…this really cool star-ruby ring. Man, I wish I still had that ring.

8. Life is full of...people I haven’t met yet!

9. My past is...really, really boring. No jail time, no kidnappings…

10. I get annoyed when...I forget to take clothes out of the washer and they sit there and get all sour smelling and yucky.

11. Parties are...so much fun when with the right mix of people, a lot of work when they are at your house, and not fun when you are required to go to them because of work obligations. (except for Mr. T's work Xmas party- that’s pretty fun).

12. I wish...I had more time to spend with the ones I love and to do the things I want to do. ( I have a funny “I wish…” story from my early teaching days. I’ll tell you about it sometime…)

13. Dogs...can hear things we humans cannot. They also have some disgusting personal habits that involve licking and eating things that should not be licked or eaten. In spite of both of those things, I love them dearly.

14. Cats...have always been a part of my life and I can't imagine not having at least one around.

15. Tomorrow...is proof that the earth rotates on its axis every 24 hours.

16. I have low tolerance...for stupid people. There, I said it.

17. If I had a million dollars...is a “Bare Naked Ladies” song my husband used to play with some friends of ours. You know how it ends….(I’d be rich!)

18. I'm totally terrified... of rats, bats, snakes. And possums. Give me a spider, a cockroach, a praying mantis, no problem.

19. My mission is....to live my life with no regrets.

20. When I die...please don’t play that awful song “Wind Beneath My Wings”. I’ll come back to haunt you if you do.

Sunday Snapshot

2009-08-02T19:19:00.002-05:00

This is an oxcart in Costa Rica. They were used to haul harvested coffee beans before the invention of pickup trucks and the like. Each artist had his own particular style, so that you could tell who had painted the oxcart just by looking at it. They had some small ones (more like a goat cart) for purchase, but I thought it might be hard to carry back on the plane. Instead, I bought a miniature one, complete with oxen to display in my classroom.

I'm Back in the Saddle Again....

2009-08-01T13:28:00.002-05:00

So, I took the summer off from blogging - intentionally, and now here I am again. I was recently looking over some of my notes from the summer I participated in the Eastern Iowa Writing Project and I decided that I really do want to continue the blog- it's kind of like exercise, you've got to schedule it in your day, or it just isn't going to happen.

In case you are wondering what I've been up to, I took 16 high school students to Mexico and Costa Rica for 9 days immediately after school got out. It was fabulous and I learned a lot about Costa Rica- what a beautiful, clean, wonderful place! At the end of June I turned 40 and celebrated with a big party at our friends' photography studio. We provided some yummy gyros and salad from a local Greek joint and everyone brought potlucky stuff. I made a music file of songs from every year I've been alive, which was a big hit. I chose 4 songs from every year of my life- thanks to the Billboard top 100 lists I found archived somewhere on the internet. I also spent a week doing AP training so that perhaps one day I will have the opportunity to teach AP Spanish. (Provided that this man either dies or retires.)It was amazing and intense and I really feel ready and qualified to teach it.

My daughters went to camp and got to be in the same cabin- the only year they'll be able to due to their ages. It was a great experience for them- I was a tad nervous about Lydia- she has a history of being clingy and bashful, but she did great- there were 2 of her friends in her cabin and her counselor was her 2nd grade teacher's daughter. (We don't really live in a small town, it's just that Iowa is just one, big, small town).

We've had unseasonably cool weather and tons of rain, so we've not been up to our usual summer activities.

I don't know if it's the weather, or what, but I am actually getting my ducks in a row for the start of school. Aack! I'm never this far ahead of the game, and I must say it's a good feeling. This fall I'll be teaching 2 sections of Spanish 4 and have Student Council for my other class. (on the Block schedule, we have 4 blocks a day, we teach 3 and have a prep. Student Council is considered a class and they will meet every day for a semester. Most of our big projects will take place at the beginning of the year- with only a few at the end of the year.) The Student Council gig is new for me and I'm both excited and nervous about it.

A Sad Adios

2009-05-27T19:16:00.004-05:00

Magical Mystical Teacher is right, I did get some good advice- thanks to all who took the time to comment.
How did yesterday go? Well, it started with a quick faculty meeting in the auditorium- several people hadn't yet heard. We were to tell the kids that a student of ours passed away over the weekend in a car accident and leave it at that. They did bring in several counselors from other schools, but honestly, the kids don't want to talk to people they don't know.
My first 2 blocks were pretty quiet. Only 1 or 2 kids in each of those classes even knew the kid or his brother, so weren't so close to it all. My 4th block class wanted to talk. One girl was with the family most of the weekend- many of them shared where they were when they found out. (Gotta love cell phones/texting- probably 500 people or more knew he was gone within an hour of his passing). I brought a card and all the kids signed it. I kind of let them call the shots- they had spent most of the weekend with each other and talking and crying, so I think they did want a little bit of normalcy in their day- just to know that things go on, that things can be all right.
I am amazed by my students- they have rallied together and organized memorials to be set up in a local park- collecting money for a bench in his name, Facebook pages that are a tribute to him, one kid is collecting money for wristbands, all the boys have shaved their heads (they had to shave his head at the hospital as a result of a head injury suffered in the accident- I guess he was very particular about his hair, so his brother shaved his own head in solidarity.) They set up a little memorial at the site of the accident with posters and markers and flowers and candles. They have arranged a senior prank- one that he always wanted to do (at the graduation ceremony, each kid-class of 400-is to hand our principal a small plastic dinosaur as they go up to receive their diplomas.)
The driver is devastated, as anyone would be. The kids have surrounded him with love, too. He is going to go ahead and have a graduation party, and I'm so glad he is. The parents of the boy who died (C) are having a "graduation memorial" party for their son in a few weeks as well.
I don't know if my student, the brother of C, will return for the end of the school year. I think there is some kind of unwritten rule that says if your brother is killed unexpectedly 2 weeks before the end of the year, you can just have the grade you were getting and not have to do any makeup work or take your finals. Don't you think that's only fair?

Anyone care to weigh in on this one?

2009-05-25T14:00:00.002-05:00

There's been a sad turn of events this weekend. A boy at the school where I teach was killed in a car accident. Beautiful day, right after school, no ice, no drugs or alcohol, just a teenage boy's need for speed, subsequent loss of control of car, crash into tree, killing the passenger. The driver was unharmed physically, but now faces the burden of living each day knowing that he caused his friend to die. Most of the kids in my 4th block class are affected by this in some way- all of as are affected because the brother of the victim is in that class. Many of the kids are friends of the driver and the victim. We are having an "emergency" faculty meeting right away tomorrow- I'm not quite sure I know what we'll do in class. My Spanish 1's probably won't be as directly affected and I can most likely have a "regular" class. But, for my last class? Do I hold class as normal? Do we talk about it? Do we talk a bit, and then do some work? Do we do no work? They don't teach you this stuff in college. Anyone else out there gone through this? Some advice, please.

Update

2009-05-06T20:24:00.003-05:00

Damn- can you believe it's been over a month since I posted last? It's that time of year. Been a bit stressed lately.
A recap:

1. You may recall that I am the default Dept. Head. By that, I mean, no one else really wanted to take it on. (It's unpaid, so there's very little incentive.) We get representation at Dept. Head meetings- I guess maybe the World Languages department is a bit like Puerto Rico in Congress in that respect. I digress. So, it's time to start scheduling for next year, which is always dicey, especially in the French and German classes, as we hold our breath every year, anticipating the day they say that we are going to lose a teacher in either of those subjects. Very stressful- emotions run real close to the surface. Looks like things are ok for now. There's also an added bit of unexpected drama on the part of another colleague and subsequent silent treatment that has also been a big pain in the ass of late.

2. I put my name in to teach an upper level Spanish Civ/Lit. class- stressful only in that my colleague (Mr. Burns clone) usually teaches those upper level classes and kills our program in the process. He zaps any enjoyment and love of language right out of the class and instead demoralizes those students, many of them either fail or drop, leaving him with a class consisting of 10 students at midterm. So I've been worried for weeks now that he's going to confront me and/or call my competency into question, blahdy, blahdy, blah, blah, blah. Long story longer, it looks like I indeed will be teaching that class in the spring. Yay!

3. I'm going to be our school's Student Council Advisor next year- fraught with everyone's 2 cents, of course. Lots to do and consider- homecoming, food drive, fund raisers, blood drives, community service....

4. I'm supposed to take a group of 16 students to Mexico on June 9. Spent most of last week on pins and needles worrying about the damn swine flu. Our travel company is so wonderful, though, and I trust them implicitly. They haven't canceled, so it looks like it's a go.

5. House? Mess. Easter decorations? Waiting to be put away. Laundry? Piling up.

6. Struggling to finish material before end of year amidst Senior Picnic, class meetings, golf meets, track meets, soccer games and unauthorized Senior Skip Days...

How do ya like us NOW?

2009-04-04T09:49:00.004-05:00

Have you all seen the news?

I am so proud to be from Iowa. Again.

GOTCHA!

2009-04-02T16:41:00.002-05:00

No, I didn't just adopt a child. Mr. Teacher over at Learn Me Good sponsored a Blogswap in honor of the April Fool holiday. So, yesterday's post was not written by me at all. It was instead written by the teacher-turned-media-specialist, Chad Lehman over at IMC GUY. He poses s very interesting scenario- that of choosing one's colleagues. Personally, if I only worked with people I liked, I'd have no one to make fun of while at work. Not that I'd ever do that or anything.

So, where was MY post in all of this? Why, it was playing with the Cool Kids, over atScheiss Weekly. Check her out- she calls'em like she sees 'em- especially when it involves over-indulgent parents and children with no manners or self control. She's my hero, but I'll spare you all that terrible Bette Midler song...

Choosing Your Colleagues

2009-04-01T16:59:00.001-05:00

Wanna play boss? If you could, who would you pick to be the teachers in your school? Do you ever wonder what it would be like if you could pick the teachers in your building yourself? Would it be pretty easy to decide who you would “let go”? What would you base your decision for keeping people on? People who are fun? People you get along with? Good teachers? Hard workers? People who don’t complain? Would you want your friends there? For those on their way out, would you like to be Donald Trump and utter those famous two words? Interesting thought, huh?

This may not be as easy as it sounds, but it might make going to work a little more fun. If you work in a district with many schools, picking someone for each grade might not be as difficult as it is for someone who works in a smaller district because of the pool of talent to choose from. Regardless, it might be a rather interesting task to hand pick your colleagues. For most us, though, this is impossible. There were people who were already in our school when we arrived and others who have arrived since, without our consent.

For lack of a better term, we are “stuck” with those in our buildings. For me, like you, that’s probably good in many cases, and not so good in others. I hope we all work in a place where we have friends, people we can talk to about school related issues as well as things happening outside of school. I hope you are in a place with people who push you, challenge you, and make you think. And, people who make you laugh. We all have people that drive us a little nuts – the teacher who seems to be doing the same thing she (or he) did twenty years ago. The teacher who keeps asking the same question over and over, even though you’ve given the answer more times than you can remember. The teacher who refuses to use email. The teacher who complains about everything and nothing at the same time. I bet you have someone pictured in your head right now who would be on the top of your list to get rid of.

Regardless of your situation, realize that these are the people we spend a lot of time with. Whether we like them or not, they are our colleagues and we have to deal with them the best we can – we can’t simply trade them in for a better model. Now, if we could only do something about choosing our students…..

Problemas

2009-03-29T16:42:00.003-05:00

A few questions for you Spanish speaking or Spanish teacher types out there:

1. What are good Spanish equivalents for "locker" and "term"- as in an academic term- half a semester?

2. Which do you prefer for "cheerleader"- porrista or animadora?

3. Is it ok to use the preterite to say "it rained" (llovió)? Our book states that the imperfect is used with weather conditions (it was sunny, it was cloudy, etc..), which I understand. But with rain and snow? Those seem like an event that has a clear beginning and end.

Just when I think I know this stuff...

Helps to have the volume turned on...

2009-03-24T15:31:00.000-05:00

Created by Train Horns

Damn!

2009-03-24T12:42:00.001-05:00

Created by Train Horns

Here I Go Again...

2009-03-16T19:51:00.002-05:00

.. with apologies for making that 80's song stick in your craw for the next several days.

Back to the Blogroll, since apparently it is now fixed. Let's see, where were we?

Ah, yes, Pissed Off Teacher- an incredibly dedicated math teacher in New York. I don't think she seems so pissed off, especially when she posts pictures of the city. Polski is a middle school teacher who frequently asks other teachers/bloggers for their input. I enjoy reading, even though I rarely have much to contribute. Professor J is just that, a professor, down in Austin. She writes honestly and openly about her life, love and loss. Over atQueenly Things you will see a whole host of things I would like and would like to be talented enough to make. I was drawn to her blog initially through Derfwad Manor, I think, and then was thrilled to learn that she had lived on one of the most beautiful places on earth (Isla Mujeres, Mexico) for a short time. Jess Riley is an accomplished author and is funny as all hell to boot. Even when she's writing about things that shouldn't be funny like ovarian cysts, she's funny. Sarah over at Sarah Says was my "I will if you will" bloggy-friend when I did NaBloPoMo a couple of years ago- she cracks me up. Send good wishes her way (Virginia, if you are being literal) because she's unemployed right now and is looking for a job as an elementary School Counselor. Mamacita over at Scheiss Weekly calls 'em like she sees 'em and for that I love her. Once upon a time, these people gave me an award. Such an honor, as I'm certain there are many out there far more deserving than I.

I WILL finish this , I WILL!
Just not tonight. Check out some more sites in the meantime.

Not Quite the Ides

2009-03-05T16:48:00.002-06:00

First of all, does anyone have any idea as to why my blogroll is no longer in alphabetical order? It's really bugging me - I'm just that anal retentive.

My Claire is in her school's production of "Mulan"- very exciting, although I can't help but snicker, since the school's population is primarily white. Good for them, though.

I'm not usually one to bitch about the weather, but I'm going to anyway. I am so ready for spring I can almost taste it. Shouldn't be long now.

School days are flying by- here's a dilemma: what to do with kids who are chronically absent? Our school used to have a policy that stated if a student was absent from a class 10 times in a 9 week term, that student was put on failing status, but could repeal it if the teacher ok'd it. Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances, blah, blah blah. BUT, after 20 absences (in a 9 week term- 45 days), the student would automatically fail the class. Well, a few years ago, the school board deemed that policy unfair and not in compliance with public school law.
So, now I have students who miss 6, 7, 12, times a term and still pass.
My other issue is kids who show up after missing most of the term. What am I supposed to do with them? Catch them up on 5 weeks of missing work while I teach the 26 other students our current lesson? I know it's terrible, but it's easier if they don't come at this point. How can I seriously bring them up to speed in Spanish? I'm sure the kids think that, too- they are already so far behind there's no hope of passing, so why bother showing up at all?
We need a better system- something else to offer them.

Hiatus No mas

2009-02-09T21:45:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the hiatus. Are there any of you still out there?

I just want to share with you all the joy I experienced in my 1st block class today. I have a creepily quiet class. There are 26 kids on my roster, 5 are usually absent or late. Among the chronically tardy is this very quiet kid- hardly ever a peep out of him. So, today, we were doing our work, and I called on him. His answer was a shrug. I stared at him. "Um, you know if you're having trouble remembering those words, you can look on p.39." Again, he shrugged and said, "I really don't care." He wasn't belligerent or anything- just matter-of-fact. I told him that wasn't going to fly and walked him through each of the words. I also explained to him that if he continued in that vein, he'd probably not pass the class, if he didn't pass, he wouldn't receive credit, blah, blah, blah. His response to that? "Duh!" At one point, he said "Why don't you just send me to the office?" Because that's exactly what he wanted, I made him stay and then kind of mocked his belligerence. When he said "I don't care about any of this shit." I snorted- almost guffawed and said "Oh, really? Now you're going to swear? You're cool." Then, later when I told the kids to put their workbooks away and he just sat there, I looked at him and asked "So, is this your idea of being a rebel? Refusing to put away your workbook? Here, let me help you out." That actually got him up off his ass to put his own damn workbook away. It's so funny, I'm not rattled by this little bugger in the least. I'm truly amused. Is that bad?

Guest Poster

2009-01-22T18:42:00.002-06:00

Hey y'all- I decided to get the hell out of the frigid midwest and head down to Texas! Well, in a bloggy sort of way. I'm guest posting today over at Learn Me Good. Apparently I wrote the Post That Ate St. Louis.

Can I freshen your drink for you?

2009-01-05T19:18:00.002-06:00

Everyone comfortable? Have you met any new and interesting peeps? Anyone need anything while I'm up?
Ok, Mrs. Chili's teacher blog is a good one- especially for Grammar Geeks like me. Mrs. Frizzle is like a famous teacher blogger who has recently traveled the world. I was first attracted to her blog when she posted all these pictures of New York at Christmas time.
Ms. George is even more of a Harry Potter fan than I am! Ms.Whatsit, coincidentally posted about collecting social bookmarks in December. She writes about a lot of cool, techie educational stuff. Ms ABC Mom is another kindred spirit- similar birthdays and daughters the same age AND habla español! Glad she's back- she's been gone for a few weeks and I've been concerned. Ms.Teacher is mom to 3, a great teacher and an Obama supporter! La Profesora de español got me hooked, then left me hangin'. Hopefully she'll be in more of a bloggy mood soon. NYC Educator makes me feel like I've got a friend in New York. He also jazzes up his posts with nice pictures.Guusjem is an amazingly dedicated school librarian and also loves Betsy-Tacy books, as do I. Rooster and The Mayor's mom is the funny lady who gave me a ROFL award a few years back when I wrote this post. That was super good for my ego. Sra.Profe is another Spanish-teacher type I like to read. I can't figure out if it's a coincidence or if we are just drawn to each other, or if we, as a group are just generally more verbose than your average bear.Oral Hygiene Queen once wrote a hilarious post about realizing her skirt was a wee too see-through for wearing at work and had to fashion a slip out of found objects. Oh, and she flosses regularly, too. Pendullum is a master story-teller. I think we crossed paths because of Kevin Charnas. PetitHiboux? gone. Petite Anglaise is a real-live author and writes about living in France as an English woman.

Sunday-itis Revisited

2009-01-04T19:35:00.002-06:00

In about 12 hours I will be back at school, a place that I left happily on the sunny afternoon of December 17, anticipating and then getting a snow day on the 18th. I haven't been back since. That PILE of papers I brought home to correct hasn't left my bag. Tomorrow I will wake up earlier than I have all of Christmas break. I will slip slide away down the sheet of ice that is my alley. I will park over in BFE and trudge into school, coffee cup in hand. I will be assaulted with the overly bright flourescent lights in the hallway and the loud voices of students who are psyched to see their friends and show off new clothing and accessory purchases made with Christmas and Hannukah money but NOT to do any actual, well, you know, learning.
So, to make my day all the more interesting, I'm going to make a game out of it. I am positive that I will encounter the following during each of my classes tomorrow:

1. Student who asks "Can we have a free day today?"
2. Student who asks "Can we just sleep today?"
3. Student who asks "What are we doing today?", and not in an enthusiastic way.
4. Student who comes in insanely late.
5. Student who understands not one word of Spanish that I will assault them with.
6. Student who asks if we are going to have any homework.
7. Student who asks if we can just watch a movie.
8. Student who sleeps so soundly that snoring and/or drooling ensues.
9. Fire or Tornado drill.
10.Student still on vacation.

I will not encounter any of this:

1. Fights- they will all be too tired.
2. Christmas cards or gifts that anyone forgot to give me before break.
3. Students who are sad that our semester is coming to an end.
4. Good coffee in the office or lounge. (or anywhere else)
5. People happy to be back.

What the hell am I going to have my students DO tomorrow???? 7:45 am is sooo freaking early. They are just not going to be in the mood at all. And neither am I.

Open House Day 3

2009-01-03T23:10:00.002-06:00

Are you still here? Let me introduce you to Her Bad Mother. I got hooked a couple of years ago when she profoundly wrote about the concept of Santa Claus. Hobo Teacher doesn't let you leave a comment, but I still like it. They don't need my 2 cents worth of anything. Hilarious writings of what goes on at school. Laura Huertero is another one of us Spanish-teacher types- she not only has great ideas for classroom stuff, but she graciously shares them on her blog. Don't bother with the Imagine link, cuz there's nothing there. Miss Profe is yet another Spanish teacher type- she teaches Middle School, bless her. Izzy Mom is another one from back in the Early Blogging Days. She always has these really snazzy headers that I covet shamelessly. John Spencer is a young teacher with excellent taste in music. He has just started a new blog that focuses entirely on education. I don't know where he's gone, but Kevin Charnas is one of the funniest people in my little corner of the Blogosphere. Kids Dish is Girlfiend's food blog. She writes a lot about stuff that a) her kids will eat and b) is organic, natural,locally grown AND tasty. Mama Tulip is up in Canada raising a sweet little family. She was here, then she disappeared for a time and then came back. Minnesota Matron has recently scared the living shit out of me regarding my bloggy-anonymity. Oy. Mother Goose Mouse just had a baby boy last year. She lives in Colorado and I think I first was intrigued by her blog because of her book list. I think. Mr. Teacher is author of the book "Learn Me Good" and has a weekly column, as well.

If I keep going, at this rate I should be finished by the MLK holiday.
See you later!

Open House Part 2

2009-01-02T16:44:00.002-06:00

More guests for you to meet: (I'm just going down the blogroll, which isn't working right now, for those of you who use it.)

He's listed twice, but not for any other reason than my own ineptitude and the fact that Blogroll is not working. I'm talking about Corky, who writes about his young son and other hilarious topics. I can't remember how I stumbled upon his blog, but he made me laugh, so I blogrolled it. Miss Señora is no longer doing the teacher blog thang, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. Death by Children - the name says it all! The Lovely Mrs. G over at Derfwad Manor is my blogging idol. She is definitely someone I'd love to hang out with and she blogs almost EVERY DAY! Props to her! Plus, she's introduced me to the idea of the Secret Boyfriend(s). Dolce over at Dolce Bellezza loves books, red lipstick and perfume. She is my kinda gal. Plus, her son is a lot like my husband was when he was a young lad, so I feel a kinship with her. Kristin is a blogpal from my early days of blogging. She's got 2 boys and a little girl and is very funny. Another bloggy friend from the early days is the talented Wendy Boucher, who in addition to being a lawyer and talented artist, has published 2 novels! Given the date of her last post, though, I am thinking she's bid farewell to the blogging at least for a while. Check out Fred's World next. He's a teacher in Florida and has 3 lovely daughters- one of them was even Homecoming Queen! Girlfiend is another mom who has decided to take a break from teaching to stay home with her babies. She's got 2 boys now and it's been fun watching them grow up on her blog. Happy Chyck was one of my very first readers to comment and I feel like I know her. She blogs about teaching in Las Vegas- and she blogs about other stuff, too. She tells a great story- I particularly enjoyed her Thanksgiving stories one year.
I became a fan of Haven Kimmel when I read her wonderful book "A Girl Named Zippy". Her blog is a delight to read.

Have a drink and some appetizers- I'll continue the introductions tomorrow!

Jackass

2009-01-02T16:40:00.001-06:00

To the Jackass in the Target parking lot: Yes, you are indeed a Jackass for going around the polite person in front of you who was STOPPED because of that red stop sign in the middle of the yellow-striped bit of concrete in front of the store. That person was stopped because it's a cross-walk and people, including me and my children, walk across that part and it's supposed to be safe for them. So, when I call you a jackass, don't get all indignant and self-righteous, because you clearly were in the wrong and you could have run over someone in your impatience.

A New Year's Open House

2009-01-01T18:28:00.004-06:00

I'd like to invite you to my New Year's Open House, which is logistically a tad different than your usual Open House. All are welcome, of course. Those on my Blogroll are already here, so I'd like to introduce you to them. Some I "know" well, others just acquainted with, still others I've lost touch with and haven't yet taken care of that on the blogroll. I can't remember how I came across most of them, but for some reason, their blog spoke to me in such a way that I decided to Blogroll them.
So, starting from the top, I've got Sunshine, a fellow Iowan and amazing blogger- mom to 4 great kids. IBaMath Teacher is a math teacher up in the hinterlands of Minnesota. I've been following his blog for several years now- he's got quite the knack for pointing out the ridiculousness that we all encounter in the American high school. I wish I were fortunate enough to teach with Ms.Cornelius, as I enjoy her blog immensely. Her ability to recall lines from favorite movies is awe-inspiring. Cupcake's tales of her Geniuses will make you laugh so hard you spit coffee all over your monitor, so be careful! I don't get over and Antique Mommy as often, but I do enjoy her musings of motherhood. She's definitely always real, she's not kidding. Next, head on over to Apathy Lounge. Her writings of working with kids in inner-city schools were spot on. April May is one of several blog acquaintances who have had babies since I've been doing this. She is a mom to 3 fabulous boys now. Don't bother clicking on the "Are we doing anything today?" link, because it is a blog that is no longer in service. Too bad, because I really liked it, especially the tagline about students walking into her classroom every day and asking "Are we doing anything today?". I've been following Stefanie's trials and tribulations with her 3 girls, including tiny Sadie for quite a while now. She's published several books and is a kick to read. Mrs. Chili unfortunately lives clear the hell over in New Hampshire, otherwise I'd be over at her house enjoying some of her good cooking, exchanging book, music and movie suggestions. Mrs. Bluebird is one of those rare, wonderful souls who seems to "get" middle schoolers. We should all be so lucky to have a teacher such as her. California Teacher Guy has had a rough time of it this past year, but because of his faith and his boundless optimism and energy, he keeps on keepin' on. He's truly an inspiration.
Not just another "Daddy Blogger", Crouton Boy over at Cheeky's Hideaway is always a fun place to check out.
Definitely a kindred spirit and as much of a Language Nerd as I am, Adeline is mom to 2 lovely little girls and is taking some time away from the classroom to be with them. I feel like I know her- too bad she lives all the way over in Oregon!
Here's a new aquaintance, Miss Teacha. I like her because she's so honest- I especially like her Blog Disclaimer. You go!

That's a lot for one post, so I'm going to let you all just mingle for a while. Talk amongst yourselves, if you will. If you are just arriving, give me a holler in the comments. I'll continue this post....
tomorrow.

Not mine to tell, but I'm going to anyway...

2008-12-10T16:55:00.001-06:00

Overheard in a colleague's classroom:

Teacher: "I've been to the Louvre and the Prado."

Student: "You've been to the loo? TMI!"

Student: "I didn't know Prada had a museum."

Illinois, You're Putting Me In a State! *

2008-12-09T19:35:00.003-06:00

Happy Tuesday! Yes, well, it seems as though I blinked and now December is one third of the way gone.
I won't bore you by telling those who live in warmer climates how awful cold it is here. Or about how for the last few mornings the first thing I do when I stumble out of bed is NOT pour myself a cup of ambition (points for those who get the reference...), but rather log on to the computer and go to Wishful Thinking.com to see if school is canceled or at the very least delayed. To no avail. Every outlying area school district was canceled because of icy conditions, but all of us in town had to suck it up and go. There are a couple of rural districts that I wonder if they EVER have to go to school in the winter. Really- it can be flurrying and the crawler on the local tv station will have them canceling the night before! Our current superintendent used to live in Duluth, MN, however. He never cancels school. "Cold? Snow? You people don't know from cold and snow!"
I also won't bore you with how mad I am at Blagojevich, the bastard. First, he reminds me of a principal we had at the school where I currently teach, though he was never MY principal. He hailed from Chicago. He wore a gold chain. He had a similar-ethnicity-sounding last name. His response to the French teacher saying "Bonjour!" to him in greeting, was a sound "Whatever!" in his best Joe-Chicago accent. Yeah, he got caught soliciting a prostitute just a few blocks from the school and left town never to be seen or heard from again.
So, Blagojevich? I'm so pissed at him. He closed this cute little town, which I have very fond memories of visiting. Our 5th grade class took a field trip there. We have lots of locals with Swedish ancestry. Grrr. The Carl Sandburg birthplace in Galesburg? The Hauberg Indian Museum? Kickapoo State Park? We had Kickapoo Krunchie on the school lunch menu when I was a kid! He's taking away my childhood!
Ok, so last night, I thought he'd redeemed himself by telling that bad ol' Bank of America to go fuck themselves. He's standing up for his people, right? He's got their back.
Riiiiight. And then today? I find out that he's been trying to sell Obama's Senate seat to the highest bidder. What? Seriously?
The thing that really pisses me off about it is that now he's dragged Obama's name into it. He's sullied it before he's even been inaugurated. Bastard.
Oh, and the previous Illinois governor? In jail. So, do we rename the Cook County Jail the Governor's Mansion?
I know you all are probably thinking that I live in Iowa, what do I care about Illinois. But, I live right on the border- the metro area I live in is very much IA/IL. I can see Illinois from my school (not my house)- really. So, the guvna? In a word: Bastard.

*Taken from old Illinois Dept. of Tourism ad- "Illinois, you put me in a haaaapy state!" Anyone remember that one besides me?

Mrs. T goes techno- she wishes!

2008-11-22T19:08:00.004-06:00

I teach in a building that turned 100 4 years ago. It's been beautifully renovated. There is a Civil War monument in the center of the street in front of it. Though not part of the main building, we also have another, smaller building that was the original school- a boarding school built in 1868. It's amazing- there are still fireplaces in the hallway and the lockers are wooden. In fact, a lot of the lockers in the main building were wooden, too, until a few years ago. We have gorgeous terrazo floors. Most of the original woodwork and doors were done away with, they basically gutted the place to bring it up to speed. We love it, the custodial staff takes excellent care of it, the kids seem to respect it as well.

But.

Just because I teach in an old building shouldn't mean that I am stuck in the past, technology-wise. I just found out that my department was denied a technology grant to purchase a media cart for the 4th time. The media cart would be shared between 7 people. It would have the ability to project from a computer onto a screen. It would have an ELMO kind of device. We would have a classroom set of "clickers". We would also receive training on how to use said equipment. We are constantly being told to incorporate technology into our classrooms. We have 1 computer lab available to us- not just to the foreign language department, but one that has to be shared with English, Science and Social Studies. Our school has 1600 students. That computer lab looks like Bagdad most days. The chairs are all stretched out of shape, the mice have no balls, there are usually 5 -8 computers that don't work at all. My other option is to use the computers in the library, which are not all clustered together, making the experience a bit hard to manage if the class is at all wiley.
Business Ed. has their own computers,Art has their own and we have an APEX room that has some as well.
So, I ask you, how am I supposed to incorporate technology into my classroom? I have one computer. I have a television, DVD player and VCR, since our out-dated textbook series has videos to accompany the chapters. Unfortunately, one of my videos got stuck in the VCR, rendering it completely useless. Lucky for me, one of my students said he had a spare at home and would sell it to me for 10 bucks. I took him up on it- VCRs are not so easy to find these days. I also have a CD player, but had to fight tooth and nail to get it. I have an overhead projector whose bulb will no doubt crap out on me at some crucial point in time. I have one white board that has the top 12 inches blank because I am not tall enough to write that high. I have no smart board. I have no Blackboard. I have no laptop, no projector to hook up to the absent laptop.
I realize I have more than many, I truly do. However, others in my building have received media carts through local monies. I feel like Sally ~Charlie Brown's little sister~ "All I want is what I have coming! All I want is my fair share!"
Me too.
PS: Anyone have any advice on scouting out a technology grant? Obviously the local people don't want to give this to us, but there must be someone out there willing to fund our measly $2000 request.

And now a break from our regular programming...

2008-11-12T21:08:00.001-06:00

This is one of the sweetest things I've seen in a long time.

Herding Cats- Now With "Intentionality"

2008-11-11T16:35:00.003-06:00

What would go through your mind if you read the following statement?
"All literacy strategies are to be done with intentionality."
WTF? Itentionality? Are you freaking kidding me? Is that even a word?
Ok, I just looked it up at "AskOxford". It says that it is a derivative of intentional, which means "deliberate". Intentionality is the noun derivative. So, the statement "All literacy strategies are to be done with intentionality," would then mean that we are to do them deliberately? As opposed to accidentally?
Would anyone care to guess the origin of this ridiculous statement?
What? Did I hear someone suggest that it came from an inservice? Well, you'd be partially correct. You see, in an effort to make AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress, for those ~~who didn't drink the Kool-Aid~~ not in the know, we have these committees, of course, one of them being the Literacy Strategies Committee. They have this whole cache of "strategies" for us ALL (yes, even the PE teacher) to implement and we must document our having implemented all o' these strategies, because God Forbid they trust us to do our jobs. We must document that we've used 4 strategies in 2 weeks. The old logs used to be insanely complicated. The newer ones are much more streamlined, but have that inane, poorly written statement emblazoned across the top.
It annoys me for several reasons, not the least of which is the mere fact that it IS a ridiculous statement, but also the tone is a tad condescending. If I am going to be condescended upon, ("upon"? is that right? or is it "to"?), I at least want to be deserving of said condescension. And really, what's going to happen if I do a literacy strategy WITHOUT "intentionality"? Is it like making a promise with my fingers crossed behind my back? Is it like taking communion and not believing in the Real Presence of Christ? (well, that's a whole different post...) Is it like telling a lie? Does it make me a bad teacher? Will my students suffer? Huh? Huh? Huh?

In other ridiculousness, I told one of my extra boisterous classes today that trying to teach them was like herding cats. They thought it was funny. I was serious.

This One Voted for...

2008-11-10T21:57:00.000-06:00

Another Blogthing for you...

2008-11-09T23:01:00.003-06:00

You Are Boggle

You are an incredibly creative and resourceful person.

You're able to dig deep and think outside the box to get things done.

You are a non linear thinker. You don't like following directions

You draw your inspiration from the strangest places sometimes. You're constantly inspired.

What Board Game Are You?

Here's a Teacher Tip For You

2008-11-08T23:19:00.002-06:00

To all you teacher types out there: Did you know that you can peruse all kinds of syllabi and class outlines from other teachers that are available online? It's been amazingly helpful to me- if nothing more than for the validation. One teacher has almost the same expectations and policies that I do- it was like I'd found my cyber-twin. I love it- it's like hanging out with other parents and hearing them say the same things to their children that I do.
I highly recommend it- just google whatever subject you teach and "syllabus" and see what you come up with. Lots are on high school and college websites. It's nice for idea-getting, also.

Stream and Spaniel

2008-11-07T23:04:00.004-06:00

Last term I had a horrible experience with a psycho student. She was surly. She was bitchy. She was uncooperative. She was irrational. She was hostile. She was volatile. I actually had her last year and she was pretty good for me, then deteriorated towards the end of the year. I got her back this year for Spanish 2. Yay! She walked in the door with an attitude. Her mother must have anticipated that her lovely daughters were going to be trouble, because she emailed all their teachers before school even started to let them all know we could call her if the girls caused them any problems at all. I called her the first day to let her know what was going on, then followed up the next week with an update on her behavior. This is how the conversation went:

Me: "I'm having some trouble with Stream. She's not participating, she's not bringing her book, she's putting her head down and disengaging herself from what's happening in class. When her behavior is corrected, she becomes extremely angry and rude and disrespectful."

Mom: "Oh, I know. I'm having the same problem with her at home. Just ignore her when she acts like that. (at this point, I can actually hear the girl screaming in the background..) Can you hear her? I know it doesn't excuse her behavior, but she is on meds for her ADHD. Sometimes she don't take them."

Me: "Well, I don't think I'll be able to ignore her behavior, but thank you for sharing that with me. It's helpful to know about my students."

Ok, so the girl was completely dysfunctional in the classroom, so ended up spending the class period elsewhere. Eventually, she got placed in an alternative setting.

Fast forward to this term.

I've got the sister, Spaniel, on my roster.

And she is hell on wheels. I've never seen a kid soooo angry from the get go. In 9 class periods, she's gotten an office referral 4 times. 3 of those times, she has walked out. Here are some reasons for her tantrums:

1. I calmly and politely- actually almost apologetically told her that students weren't allowed to eat in my classroom as she was eating a pkg. of Smarties. "WHAT?!!" I repeated what I had just said, at which point she told me I didn't need to get an attitude with her and walked out.

2. After waltzing in 5 minutes late (um, we have an 8 minute passing time and her previous class is on the same floor) with no pass, I asked her for one. She didn't have one and just expected to be allowed to come in late.

3. I didn't allow her to sit and not participate.

4. I took her phone and had one of the hall monitors take it upstairs to the Dean's office. "ARE YOU SERIOUS??!!" she asked me. "Uh, yes." "WELL, THEN I'M GOING UP THERE, TOO!" "Really?", I asked. "YES!". I shrugged. "Okay. See ya."

What the hell am I supposed to do with this girl? I don't even get angry with her. I'm actually quite fascinated by how much of a psycho freak she is. Like, what makes her fly off the handle at nothing? And why should anyone have to put up with her mouth? I shouldn't say I don't get angry, because I do get angry with the fact that I even entertain the thought that it's just easier to let her sleep and not participate, and walk in late, and eat candy, and use her damn phone and act like a royal bitch than it is to insist that she follow the rules and straighten up and act like a civilized human being. I also get angry with the fact that while she's being an asshole, there are 28 other students in the room (29 students in a Spanish class- very effective.) who are worth my time.

2008-11-06T16:09:00.002-06:00

Thirteen Movies I'd Watch Again and Again.... (not counting Christmas movies)

1.Home for the Holidays: I have mentioned before how watching this every Thanksgiving is a tradition for the Mr.and Mrs. T. It is hilarious, and touching and most of us will recognize a family member or 2 in the movie. I love Robert Downey Jr., pain in the ass that I'm sure he was to work with, I still have a soft spot in my heart for him. It's that Bad Boy thing I've got.

2. Moonstruck: I think I always secretly wanted to be an Italian girl from New York, so this movie spoke to me when it first came out. I love the cast, I love the soundtrack- even all the opera from La Boheme, which was the original Rent. So many funny lines from this- Olympia Dukakis says to her father as he is busily shoveling food from the table to the pack of crazy mongrel dogs he's always walking, "Old Man! You keep giving my food to those dogs, I'm gonna kick you til you're dead!" Yeah, we say that a lot at our house.

3. Raising Arizona: I don't think this movie could possibly be funnier. I don't think a day goes by that we don't make SOME reference from this movie. I love it when their swinger friends come over and Buford, the real smart one who knows his abc's is shown spray painting "F-A-R-T" on the side of the trailer.

4. The Breakfast Club: I don't get tired of this movie. I watch it whenever it's on tv- it's been interesting to have seen it as a teenager, the target audience, and then again as an adult. I love how they all bond, but when faced with what Monday will bring, several of them very honestly admit that come Monday, they will all slip back into their different groups to play their different roles. I think we've all had this happen/seen this happen, not necessarily in detention, but I know I see it when I've taken kids on trips. The kids connect and have a good time, but once the trip is over, they rarely maintain those friendships.

5. Auntie Mame: I posted about this movie last year. I love it- it's fun and quirky and Rosalind Russell is delightful.

6. Garden State: A brilliant movie with a fabulous soundtrack. Zac Braff plays a troubled young man who has spent a great deal of time being heavily medicated. He's trying to get in touch with who he is and what his place on the earth is. I love the Natalie Portman line about doing one thing that no one has ever done before. The shirt that matches the wall is too funny.

7. The Sound of Music: This movie is such a part of my childhood- back in the days when you had to wait for things to be shown on television. I even got to see it in the theater - they were doing some kind of a retro showing of it when I was like 7. I can sing all the songs. I thought Greta was sooo cute and wanted so much to be like Liesel.

8. Harry Potter: I know, there are 5, soon to be 6 and eventually 7 of them, but I like them all. They are intelligent and magical and for the life of me, I want to go live in England and be a teacher at Hogwarts. I suppose teachers in the wizarding world get just as exasperated with their students as I do, but I'd get to wave a magic wand and have cool stuff happen.

9. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Such a funny, classic and classically delivered line, too bad I now think "Over-the-top Right-Winger" when I hear the name Ben Stein. I'd love to be able to do ALL those things on a hooky day. I love how he eventually wins over his crabby sister, played by the lovely Miss Jennifer Gray.

10. Steel Magnolias: So funny, so sad. I want to live in this funny little Southern town and hang out with those funny women. I like to watch this when I need a good cry.

11. My Big Fat Greek Wedding: "He's a vegetarian? Is ok. I make lamb." Whenever I don't know how to fix something, I always think of Mr. Portokalos and his Windex.

12. To Kill a Mockingbird: Atticus Finch is such an amazing character. When Scout brings Walter Cunningham home and he pours syrup all over his roast beef, he doesn't bat an eye. What beautiful lesson he taught Scout that day.

13. The Trouble With Angels: I don't know if many of you have even heard of this movie, let alone seen it, but it is a perennial favorite of mine. I watched it as a kid, and as a teenager and then recently saw it on cable. It's wacky, but it really gets to me at the end. I won't spoil it for you, but if you've seen it, you might see what I'm sayin.

Question

2008-11-05T21:05:00.003-06:00

How can Victoria's Secret afford to keep sending me Free Panty coupons all the time? Seriously, I get one like every 6 weeks or so. I go in, I get my loot and leave. I never buy anything else. It's great. Wouldn't it be cool to get other coupons like that from other stores?

Election

2008-11-04T23:35:00.003-06:00

Well, I woke up this morning a bundle of nerves awaiting the outcome of the election. I became emotional watching Barack and Michelle Obama vote this morning,knowing that 40 some years ago Black and White Americans couldn't eat lunch at the same counter together in Southern states. But it happened. Our country elected Barack Obama as the President of the United States. I couldn't be happier.

A Book Meme for Monday

2008-11-03T20:20:00.003-06:00

Lifted this from Mrs. Chili.
Hardback or trade paperback or mass market paperback?
I have no easy answer for this. There are some books that I choose to buy in hardback- all of the Harry Potter books, for example. Cookbooks should be in hardback. Sometimes I get incredible bargain books that are hardback as well. I prefer the trade paperbacks for most books, I guess because I like the size of them. "Beach books" can be mass market.

Bookmark or dog-ear? I am a terrible steward of the bookmark. One year a woman in my book club gave all of us these cool beaded book marks that had charms on them with the name of our book group. I think I actually lost mine between her house and my car. I would like to say that I exclusively use a bookmark, but I would be a liar. I sometimes have idiotic bookmarks like coupons or junk mail or gum wrappers if I have any at all. Truth be told, I often dog-ear, which i know is bad and wrong and not good for the book. I've always been a bit of a rebel.

Alphabetize by author or alphabetize by title or random? Neither. I group by genre first, then by author, but not necessarily alphabetical. In certain parts of the house I tend to group by size- we've got some books on top of the piano, for instance, that are grouped because that's where they fit best.

Keep, throw away or sell? Well, definitely not sell and I would never throw a book away. I used to be of the keep, keep, keep mindset, but I'm not so incredibly sentimentally attached to books. I keep those I like a lot and would read again. Others, I either toss in my Goodwill bag, or pass on to friends. I get more enjoyment out of sharing them with friends than hoarding them on my shelves.

Keep dust jacket or toss it?
I like to use the flaps of the dust jacket to mark my place. If I am going to be carrying the book around, I tend to take off the dust jacket so that it doesn't get ripped. I would never toss it.

Last book you bought? Down River, by John Hart. It's the next selection in my book club. Publisher's Weekly commented that Down River "should settle once and for all the question of whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature." We shall see.

Last book someone bought for you? Not as an official gifty, but just to be nice, my friend tossed me some missing Janet Evanovich titles to round out my collection.

What are some of the books on your to-buy list? I really want Mario Batali's new Spanish cookbook. Not really sure- I'm kind of an impulse-buyer in the bookstore.

Collection (short stories, same author) or anthology (short stories, different authors)? For some reason, I steer away from short stories, even though I generally enjoy them and remember them pretty well. I once described it as me wanting a full meal as opposed to just a snack. I'd have to go with the anthology, as it provides a look at so many authors and styles.

Harry Potter, Lemony Snicket, or the velvety embrace of Death? Harry Potter, hands down. I thought I could get an HP fix with the Lemony Snicket books, and I think the author seems delightful, from what I saw/heard on an interview, but the books weren't much to sink my teeth into. Speaking of which, I am gearing up to start the Twilight series and am quite looking forward to it.

Morning reading, afternoon reading, or nighttime reading?
Aint we got fun? "Of course", "yes!", and a "heck yeah!" to all of those.

The books you need to go with other books on your shelves? I don't really get the question. So, I'm going to respectfully decline to answer it.

Do you read anywhere and anytime you can or do you have a set reading time and/or place? I read whenever I can. I bring a book along wherever I go in case I get stuck waiting.

Do you have seasonal reading habits? Yes and no. I think certain types of books are just winter or summer books. I like to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in the winter, Anne of Green Gables in the summer.

Do you read one book at a time or do you have two or more books going at once?
I usually have several going- my book club selection, something non-fiction, something epic and something light.

What are your pet peeves about the way people treat books? I don't know. I tend to treat my books nicely, so that they look brand new even after I'm finished reading them. I don't tend to write in my books, but know of several people who underline and write commentary all over their books and that intrigues me. As a kid, I remember wanting a favorite book of mine to have a well-worn look to it and purposely scrunching every page. I've cracked open the binding so I could read a book easily with one hand. So, I guess I'm Switzerland on this one.

Name one book you surprised yourself by liking.
The Harry Potter series- I had no interest in reading this, it wasn't my usual genre. I also had no interest in reading The DaVinci Code, but ended up loving it.

How often do you read a book and not review it on your blog? Every now and again. Is that non-specific enough for ya?
What are your reasons for not blogging about a book? I guess time, or I think no one cares, or that it will seem like a 5th grade book report.

Sunday Snapshot

2008-11-02T22:22:00.002-06:00

Growing up in the Midwest means being prepared to wear a parka over your Halloween costume. Some years it rained and was miserable. Other years there was just a welcome crispness in the air and we could wander the neighborhood freely wearing only our costume.
I remember my Trick-or-Treat experiences pretty well. There was always a house that gave out full-sized candy bars- I always missed it. Same with the house that gave caramel apples. (back in the days when that was still semi-okay). One house always gave apples, and one always gave out individual bags of popped popcorn. Some well-meaning person gave out homemade cookies, too, but they always ended up just being crumbs by the end of the evening. It seemed as though I got a truckload of the orange and black wrapped peanut butter taffy. I HATED it and gave all of those to my mom. A couple of years it seemed like I got an enormous amount of candy. My mom and I enjoyed it after dinner as we lounged in front of the tv together. Those little Sweet-tart packages with 3 candies in them were good for tv-watching. So was Double-Bubble and Pal gum, which was always much harder than the Double-Bubble.
Chalk it up to Global Warming or maybe just good luck, but my kids have never had to wear their winter coat over their costume. In fact, for several years running, the weather has been unseasonably warm. Here they are- ready for the candy-gettin:

They are dressed as a vampiress (?) and a zombie cheerleader, which to me is much more fun than being a princess.

C'est la vie...................

2008-11-01T23:41:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm going to go for Year 3 of the NaBloPoMo challenge. I did pretty well last year, then kind of dropped the ball around the time I went to Spain.
So, for my first post, I've got this:

Several things to point out, the first of which is that you can hear her in the background saying "some radio station in France". These guys are from MONTREAL, which is in Quebec, which is in Canada, which is very close to Alaska. Maybe she can't see it from her house, but it is very close to Alaska.
Second, all of the politicians mentioned are NOT, in fact, politicians. They are Canadian singers and performers. She truly thought she was talking to Sarkozy- joked that they should go hunting together while getting some work done.

Ah, yes. THIS is someone who should definitely be second in command as leader of the Free World. (Or maybe I should do as John McCain likes to do and call it the "Free World")

Please vote on Tuesday.

Friday Five

2008-10-24T18:52:00.002-05:00

1. $150,000 on clothes for Caribou Barbie and her family? Seriously? Who's going to check up on them/verify that they are actually given to charity after the election? Even if Edwards got a $400 haircut every week, it would take him a while to get up to $150 K.

2. It's Finals Week and as usual, I'm up to my hubs in papers to correct, phonecalls to return and emails to answer.

3. I'm going camping with the girls and Brownie troop this weekend. Yes, all 18 of them and their mothers. I'd really rather have a root canal. The good news is that we will be sleeping in the lodge, and not in soggy tents upon the cold, cold, ground. I'm really not happy with the Girl Scouts in general, but I'll save that for another post.

4. I MAY have found a "new" show for me to watch. Since most of what I like has gotten canceled in the last several years, or is on cable channels that I do not get, or are on some kind of hiatus (Big Love), I have been without a show to follow. That may have changed, after inadvertently stumbling upon "Dirty Sexy Money" they other night. What did it for me was the appearance of The Weepies at the end- that scored major points with me. We'll see how they do. They do have the brother from "Six Feet Under" and one of the Baldwins that isn't Alec and there is affluence and greed and politics.

5. In the words of Mrs. G, Keith Olberman is my new Secret Boyfriend.

A Monday Meme

2008-10-13T17:42:00.002-05:00

So, I stole this from Mrs. Chili. It's a good one. Feel free to steal.

At a certain age women should: put on a few pounds. I'm not talking obesity, here, just a few extra pounds, because have you seen scrawny, skinny old ladies? It's not pretty. Also, I concur with Mrs. Chili on the belly shirts. I also think that tattoos in some places just don't age well. The saggy, baggy elephant comes to mind, only because at my 15th class reunion, the wife of one of my classmates had this whole jungle animal/safari tattooed around her entire midriff- she was showing it off in the ladies' room. All I could think was "what's that going to look like in 30 years?"

At a certain age men should: Realize they have reached a certain age and stop acting like they are 21. They should realize they look silly trying to flirt with women half their age. I also think that at a certain age, men should really stop considering having any more children. Think Tony Randall- fathering a child at age 70? Is that fair to a kid?

When I was a kid I thought I would: Grow up and move far, far away and lead an incredibly sophisticated life. Yeah, well. Here I am in my hometown and not so sophisticated. It's ok. I like it.

Now that I am older I wish: I would have appreciated my younger self. I was thinner (never thin, mind you, but not experiencing the spread that is my current self right now). I had more hair. I turned a few heads (not many, but a couple). I wish I would have had the confidence to do some things differently.

You know you are too old to party when: When sleep trumps sex. Oh, sorry, TMI?

You know you are too young to retire when: I don't think anyone is too young to retire, if "retire" means that you've put your time in, you receive some kind of pension and you are free to pursue other things like travel.

When I was in high school I listened to the music of: Let's see, I liked the Talking Heads, Simply Red, David Bowie, Depeche Mode, OMD, anything trendy and 80's ish. I liked John Cougar Mellencamp, as he was called in those days, Journey, Modern English, the Cure, Phil Collins, the Police, Sting.

Nowadays I find I like the music of: Beck, Joni Mitchell, Vampire Weekend, the Weepies, lots of stuff listed on my profile page.

On my last birthday I: turned 39. I ended up watching one of Claire's friends that day as a favor to her mom. The 4 of us walked up the street to the corner market that grills out every day at lunch. I was suffering from a bit of jet lag, as I had just gotten back from Spain.

On my next birthday I want to: have a big bash with lots of friends. I mean a BIG bash. BIG. Maybe with a band. A band, I tell you.

The first time I felt grown up was: When I traveled alone across the country by train to stay with my dad for a week. Long story- I tell you about it some other time.

The last time I felt like a kid was: At my grandma's house. She has that effect on me.

When I readA Prayer for Owen Meany it changed my life. Those are such powerful words, I hesitate to say that it changed my life. I did LOVE this book, though and laughed out loud and cried all they way through it. It made me examine faith and friendship and war. Good read.

Last year was: Are we talking about 2007 exclusively or the last school year or are we reflecting on 2008 already? I pick 2008. It has flown by. I got to go to Spain, which was amazing, both on a personal level and a professional as well. My mother in law's health took a nosedive and we continue to battle with that. My kids did well in school, have great friends and are a constant source of joy, amazement, frustration and love, love, love.

Next year I hope: we have a new president by the name of Barack Obama.

The post that was going to be, but wasn't , and now it is:

2008-09-28T16:36:00.003-05:00

Where, oh where has September gone? I've actually sat down to post several times, but have backed off. Why? I guess I wasn't willing to devote the time and energy, to give of myself- needing to process some things internally before I "go public" with them.
So here are some things I was gonna write about:

1. Sarah Palin- "thanks, but no thanks". 'Nuff said. (Actually, I could go on and on and on, but it makes my blood pressure go up about 17 points.)

2. Little buggers in my 4th block class- 3 in particular who are making my life hell.

3. Our dog and our new lives as Dog Owners.

4. McCain's publicity stunts that are couched in "policy" and him being a "maverick". November can't come soon enough.

5. That I hate that our parish festival is called Oktoberfest, but it is always held in September and it's always super hot.

6. That I did one of the nerdiest things in my professional life EVER, which was to invite administration into my classroom when I did "learning stations" with them.

7. My review of Chris Bohjalian's book Double Bind. I liked it. It has a big "twist" that I sort of saw coming, but was surprised anyway.

8. How absurd it is to have my teaching interrupted by the sound of what seems to be a pack of 40 dogs barking, but in actuality is probably only 2 or 3.

9. How ridiculous it is that we have 17 girls up for Homecoming Queen. 17.

10. How hypocritical it is for people to criticize teachers for "not implementing technology" in our classrooms, and then not give us any technology to implement. Case in point: teachers at our school are having to spend departmental curriculum monies on projector bulbs on media carts. Students who are preparing to take the AP French test have no working tape/cd players and headphones so that they can practice their listening skills. The World Language dept.'s grant submission requesting a media cart (complete with ELMO, projector, etc.), that would be shared between 6 teachers, has been rejected 3 times now.

So instead of writing about all those things, I'm going to give you recipes for 2 yummy side dishes.

Black bean and Corn Salad
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups frozen corn
1 red bell pepper, chopped into bite-sized pieces (use less if it's a big pepper)
chopped onion to taste
juice of 1 lime
handful of chopped cilantro (or not, if you don't have it or don't care for it)
optional:diced jalapeño, seeds removed
1/2 pkg of your favorite taco seasoning

Toss everything together. If you make this first, then set aside, the corn will be thawed by the time you eat.

Sweet Potato Fries

preheat oven to 450º
4 sweet potatoes
pumpkin pie spice
2 TB cooking oil

Scrub taters. Leave skins on. Cut into thick wedges- put in bowl. Toss with 1 tsp (ish) pumpkin pie spice. Drizzle oil over taters. Toss to coat. Put in roaster or the bottom part of the broiler pan. Pop it in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until taters are done. Stir through them about halfway through cooking time. YUM. And, they are sooooo good for you! My kids even like them!

I'm baaaa-ack!

2008-09-08T16:19:00.003-05:00

Well, it's been about a month since my last post. So nice of several of you to check up on me. I guess I took an informal respite from blogging for no real reason other than just barely getting back into the swing of things and feeling really tired and overwhelmed.

Let's catch you all up on what you've been a -missin'.

1. The school year started with the usual meetings and more meetings. THE buzzword in our district this year: Differentiated Instruction. Those in the know (those who drank the Kool-Aid) call it "D.I.". They are so cool, and obviously much, much better teachers than I could ever hope to be. (Disclaimer: I'm not opposed to Differentiated Instruction. I just hate jargon. I also hate the Bandwagon junkies. I'd rather adapt than adopt.)

2. Oh, and I'm now Department Head, which is no real honor since no one else really wants to do it and the 2 others who maybe would want to do it are "difficult", so our principal probably wouldn't have chosen them anyway. It's an unpaid position, it's mostly so that our voice is heard. Kind of like Puerto Rico in congress. I get to run bi-weekly meetings and attend Dept. Chair meetings. My mailbox is the first stop for all kinds of junk mail for Foreign Language teachers.

3. We have a new addition to our family: a brown and white pointer mix named Sookie (After Sookie St.James on the "Gilmore Girls"). She is a bundle of energy and loves my kids, is about a year old and loves us as much as we love her. Here she is on our kitchen floor. Don't mind the dust.

4. Last Tues. after Labor Day I thought we were all going to keel over from the oppressive heat and humidity in my room- seriously it was like 98º and very sauna-like. Anyone else teach in a building with no a/c? In true Iowa fashion, the temps. plummeted to the 60ºs overnight and the kids were all complaining about "the cold."

5. You know how dogs can sense that it's going to rain? Well, that's how teachers in my building are about fights. In between 3rd and 4th block today, I zipped across the hall to visit the baño, shamelessly shirking the hall duty I'm supposed to attend to between classes. Sorry, Charlie, Nature trumps. As I was washing my hands, I noticed a distinct change in the din out in the hall. I asked one of the girls who came in if there was a fight- she nodded her head. "It's really bad, too." I told her to stay in the baño until all the madness died down. There was a huge traffic jam, as the fighters decided to brawl right in the cross-roads that is our section of the hallway- oh, incidentally also in front of security cameras. It was insane- smaller kids were being picked up and shuffled along by the sheer momentum of the crowd- their feet not touching the ground. Lots of kids were really upset by how violent it was- one kid lifted the other off the floor and then slammed his head down, either into the wall or the floor. At any rate, he was knocked unconscious and there was a whole lotta blood everywhere. Someone called 911 (a kid, maybe) and admin was upset by that- not following protocol, don't you know. The nurse saw fit to send us an email stating that when a student is knocked out and might have to leave via the ambulance, the halls need to be cleared of all students and staff for "confidentiality". Oh yes, that will be quite easy to do, given how bloodthirsty our students are.

Worst Job Ever Meme

2008-08-11T22:08:00.002-05:00

Mr. Teacher tagged me for this meme.

This is kind of a tough one, because some jobs are sucky because of how you feel- snarky co-workers and psycho-bosses. Other jobs suck because of the actual work.

That being said, I'd have to say that my very worst job was one that I took the summer after my freshman year of college. I was bound and determined NOT to go back and work in Chain of Drugstores Retail Hell, I had no "connections", or at least none that I was smart enough to tap into, and I had no restaurant/food service experience. So, I did what everyone seemed to do in the movies and on tv: I went to the Want Ads. Oh, yes, The Want Ads. Given my qualifications (=none), my choices were dockworker, waitress, dishwasher, server, hostess, call girl, telemarketer and maybe if I fudged my application a bit, someone may have hired me to do house painting. Being shorter than short, corn detassling was not really an option for me. How did Everyone Else (you all know them, right?)get to have cool jobs at the Gap and local sports bars? It was all a mystery to me.

I did manage to land an interview- one of those "you'll earn $200 a week, but we won't divulge the actual nature of the job until we meet you" kind of deals. I had to go to this old, creepy building in downtown Rock Island. The man interviewing me was basically ready to hire me before I even sat down. I never really understood the gist of the job until I went home and talked about it with my mom. I was to do something called "canvassing", which I had never heard of. Oy, am I glad I didn't take THAT job- knocking on doors asking people political questions. No freaking way.

Back to the drawing board. What was this? Mailroom? Newspaper? Oooh, how very "His Girl Friday"- I was intrigued. I made the call, set up the interview, showed up early at the office of the local paper. How exciting! Clean-smelling offices, energetic people gettin' the news out! Wow! How many people got their start working in the Mailroom????

Well, as it turned out, the "mailroom" wasn't exactly much of a "room", and I wouldn't exactly be working with any "mail". I would be working from 10:30 at night until about 2:30 or 3:00 am. I would be working in the un-airconditioned warehouse/pressroom, where the newspapers would come flying off the printing presses in stacks of 45. (15, 15, 15) I was to hand a stack of 15 to the guy working the insert machine. He would feed them through the machine, which would stuff the papers full of ads (Walgreens, supermarkets, etc...).

Yeah, so my mom did NOT want me to take this job. Downtown is kind of scurvy and I would be working some creepy hours. I played the "First you tell me to get a job, then you tell me not to take the job I get!" card. I rationalized "Do you really thing I'm going to call back and tell them my mommy won't let me take this job?".
I guess I "won", because I started work the next day.

The work itself was dirty- at the end of a shift, I'd blow my nose and it would be black- from all the inky, papery particles. Many times the presses or the machines would break down and I'd have to stack the papers next to the machine. When the presses broke down, we'd just stand around and wait for them to get up and running again. I advanced from taking stacks of empty, flyer-less papers to catching the stuffed papers. I learned quickly why everyone who did that job wore socks on their wrists- catching and stacking the papers cut the hell out of your arms. I even got to run one of the insert machines- but that didn't last long.

To add to the yuck of the job, we had record-breaking heat and a severe drought that summer. It would still be like 85 degrees in the evening- and humid. When the presses broke down, we'd go hang out in the alley with the mosquitoes and may-flies. Yuck. That's where I really learned a lot about humanity. Most of the folks I worked with were a little, shall we say, rough around the edges. Most were men, save for one girl my age who lasted 2 days and 2 other women. One of them was in her early 20's and had 2 or 3 kids, one of whom was special needs. Because she worked 3rd shift and because she had little money, she would bring the kids to work with her, leave them asleep in the van and park it in the alley. The other woman looked to be in her 50's or so, but in reality was probably more in her 40's. She had severely dyed black hair and was nice enough, but boy could she get down and dirty with the guys we worked with. One guy was older (probably in his 30's~ remember, I was all of 19), and faintly sexy in a scary, untouchable way. Yes, during one of our breaks, he bought cocaine in the alley- it was wrapped in a Playboy centerfold, which he lewdley compared to me. One of the other guys was actually kind of nice and smart, but had been dealt a rough hand. He was constantly talking about his Old Lady. It took me a while to figure out if he meant his mom or his girlfriend. Most of the others looked like they were several bricks shy of the idea of a load and were well on their way to prison. One of them asked me out. I told him I was engaged- to me, ludicrous at age 19, but in that environment? Entirely plausible.

Because the of the roar of the machines, we couldn't really talk while we were working, which was probably a good thing. To pass the time, I sang to myself. That summer, I learned all the lyrics to Ricki Lee Jones'self-titled album, which was then about 10 years old, but I had just discovered it. To this day, I can sing along to most of the songs on that album, especially "Chuck E's In Love".

Driving home in the middle of the night, I would always take the road that followed the river. Because we were experiencing a drought, we mostly had clear skies at night. The moon always looked so beautiful over the water- very "Moon River"-esque.

I had planned to go visit a friend of mine in July or August before school started (a guy who was not my boyfriend but I would have given anything for him to be), so I up and quit (Wow, I don't think I've ever expressed myself as having "up" and done anything before.)right before I left, giving the obligatory 2 weeks' notice, of course.

I probably didn't make that job sound that bad, did I? Well, it was. I promise.

Now, who to tag? Ms Abc Mom, Sweet Adeline, Mrs.Chili, Dolce Bellezza, Professor J and if anyone else is reading this, you may consider yourself tagged.

I don't quite get it, but....

2008-08-09T12:53:00.000-05:00

I am a sucker for Blogthings. Here's my latest:

You Are a Comma

You are open minded and extremely optimistic.

You enjoy almost all facets of life. You can find the good in almost anything.

You keep yourself busy with tons of friends, activities, and interests.

You find it hard to turn down an opportunity, even if you are pressed for time.

Your friends find you fascinating, charming, and easy to talk to.

(But with so many competing interests, you friends do feel like you hardly have time for them.)

You excel in: Inspiring people

You get along best with: The Question Mark

What Punctuation Mark Are You?

Camp? or Camping?

2008-07-29T23:02:00.003-05:00

So, Lydia and I went to Camp last week. Notice that I said "to Camp", and not "camping". There is a difference. Correction: there are differences.

First of all, when one goes camping, one must pack up a vehicle with every known bit of gear that will serve every imaginable situation while in pseudo-wilderness. (I say "pseudo", because really, as much as I do like to muck about in nature, I really don't want to immerse myself in it overnight in the dark, with the coyotes.) This of course includes tent, tarp, camp stove, vittles, lantern and marshmallow skewers. When one goes to Camp, one must pack a Rubbermaid tote (keeps the mice at bay) full of shorts and tee-shirts that have one's name written in Sharpie marker on the labels. Throw in a hideous rain poncho, a raggedy sweatshirt, some pilfered toiletries from your last stay at a hotel and some toxic-smelling bug spray, and you're good to go.

When one goes camping, a cooler full of tasty adult beverages to be enjoyed round the campfire is the norm. At Camp, NO FOOD OR DRINK OF ANY KIND ARE ALLOWED.

When one goes camping, one registers with the park ranger and parks at or near the site. At Camp, one registers with teenage girls who have name-tags that read "Bubbles" and "Sparkle" and "Angel". (A very strange thing, that. Why do the counselors have nicknames and are forbidden to share their real names? Some of the names could double as pornstar names later on. )

When one goes camping, one is free to unload one's belongings and set up camp immediately. At Camp, one must go through and excruciatingly long check-in process that includes having one's head checked for cooties and one's feet checked for creeping crud- right there in front of God and everybody.

When one goes camping, one is free to relax and enjoy the campfire late into the evening. At Camp, Bubbles and Sparky yell for everyone to get their pajamas on and brush their teeth at 8:30. After a lame friendship circle, everyone is dismissed to their cabin/tent. Bubbles and Sparky yell for "lights out" at 9:00.

When one goes camping, one usually stays up late drinking beer by the fire, the combined effect making it quite easy to fall asleep on the cold, hard ground. At Camp, one is not accustomed to being sent to bed before dark and has quite a time of it falling asleep on wicked uncomfortable camp cots. Owls and coyotes interrupt sleep and quell any fleeting thought of walking up to the bathroom just for something to do.

When one goes camping, one must either make a fire if coffee is to be had, or make a quick trip into town for some joe. At Camp, nice ladies in the dining hall make a wonderful breakfast, complete with hot coffee.

At Camp, people spontaneously break into song and encourage others to join in. When one goes camping, a guitar is sometimes brought out and some songs are sometimes sung. But, not usually.

At Camp, you get to ride horses. When one goes camping, one usually wishes a horse would haul your sorry ass back up the hill you trip-trapped down when you optimistically took a hike after breakfast.

At Camp, you do archery. When one goes camping, one hopes not to be a target for any psycho hunters in the woods.

When one goes camping, one can break camp at one's leisure. At Camp, you go by someone else's clock.

When all is said and done, I think I prefer camping at the Hilton.

Book Meme

2008-07-19T17:06:00.003-05:00

Swiped this from Mrs. Chili, who shamelessly stole it from Chatty.

1. Who are your favorite authors? Tough call. Right now, I'd have to say John Irving, Amy Tan, Julia Alvarez, Harper Lee, Lorna Landvik, Betty Smith, Maud Hart Lovelace and Lucy Maude Montgomery.

2. What are your favorite books? A Prayer for Owen Meany, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Anne of Green Gables, Middlesex,A Handmaid's Tale, all Harry Potter, to name a few. It's almost like asking a mother which one of her kids she loves best.

3. What kind of books do you tend to read? I like an epic tale that spans a lifetime. I like books that explore the complexities of family relationships.

4. Do you prefer to borrow books from the library or buy them? Seeing as how I can never seem to get my books back to the library on time, I'd have to say I prefer to buy them- no pressure. I scour the Goodwill and garage sales and get really good stuff, but I also splurge on new books at Borders. Our school has a "Books are Fun" dealer who brings books to school for us to buy and I usually dump some cash with them, too. It's a sickness, really.

5. Do you prefer hardcover or paperback?
Depends on the book. If it's something I'm reading for fun, I prefer paperback, for it's weight and portability. Reference books or books for keepsakes, I prefer hardback.

6. What was the last book you read? What are you reading now? Right now I'm in a "mind-candy" rut. The last book I read was Janet Evanovich's Ten Big Ones, and I'm currently reading Eleven On Top. I love those Stephanie Plum novels- like I said, "mind candy".

7. Do you read everyday? Oh, absolutely.

8. On average how many books do you read per year? Never really counted. Maybe 25?

9. Do you belong to any book clubs? Yes, 2, but I'm thinking about breaking up with one of them.

10. Recommend a good book. Water for Elephants, The Thirteenth Tale, Lottery, A Girl Named Zippy, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents, Lamb. Plus all the other books I mentioned. I will probably think of a gajillion more as soon as I click on "PUBLISH POST".

Friday Five

2008-07-18T14:49:00.003-05:00

You know how we all have our own little hot-button issues that bug the ever-living crap out of us? Here are some of mine:

1. It's "iced tea", people, not "ice tea". I know it's "ice water" and that it defies logic, but it is what it is. Get it right. Write it correctly on the menu.

2. That fruity, ice-cream-like treat that isn't sorbet? It's called sherbet. SHER. BET. As in "Sure bet", NOT "Sure Burt". Only one "r" there.

3. Cheap gauzy fabric= MUSLIN, with an "N".
Member of Eastern religion=MUSLIM, with an "M".
They are not the same thing.

4. Well, I was all set to tell you about the big ol' presentation I went to about the beauty of a well-run "advisor-advisee" program, where the presenter misspelled "advisor", only to discover that "advisor" is an alternate and acceptable spelling to "adviser". Hmmph. Smarty-pants me not so smart.

5. Jargon. Especially Edu-jargon. Here are the words that will be a part of my reality for the upcoming school year:

differentiated intruction
trajectory
paradigm shift
multiple intelligences
community
common planning
common assessment
sub-category
transition

On a Mission from God

2008-07-15T10:16:00.001-05:00

Um, imagine your 7, soon to be 8 year old saying THIS at the dinner table:

"We've got a full tank of gas, a pack of cigarettes, it's dark, and we're wearing sunglasses. Let's roll."

Firecracker, firecracker ...

2008-07-07T15:25:00.003-05:00

Well, I blinked and there went June. Hope everyone had a good 4th. We kicked off the weekend by going to the Mississippi Valley Blues Fest. It's been around for about 20 years- in its early days it was free and rather seedy. I think Steppenwolf played one year, when I was in high school. It's always been held on the levee, along the river. There is a main stage and a tent stage. People bring their boats up close to the banks and enjoy live music and the comfort of their own private boat. You used to be able to bring in coolers, but they put the kabosh on that as well as upped the price from free to $18. Not bad for a day/evening of live music, but still pricey enough to consider not going. This year, they had to move the fest to higher, drier ground because of the crazy flooding. It was basically a street fest with the tent stage moved into the newly-renovated, historic Adler Theater. For me, I'm kind of "eh" on that. I like to hear the blues when it's HOT and humid and I'm in direct view of the Mississippi, a cold beer in my hand, the faint smell of cigarette smoke in the air. (Yes, I said cigarette smoke- when I'm outside, I actually kind of like the smell, as long as it's not too strong. It takes me straight back to my youth.) Besides being NOT on the river, it was actually kind of chilly- like in the mid 50's, which for July in Iowa is downright cold. We were, however, introduced to The Carolina Chocolate Drops, an immensely talented group of musicians from North Carolina. After that, we saw Otis Taylor and the Black Banjo Project, which as the term "trance blues" implies, was really hypnotic for this sleepy, still-jet-lagged girl. We capped off the night with some Elvin Bishop tunes.
Friday we hosted a barbeque at our house during the day, then fireworks at my mom's house. She doesn't actually do the fireworks, but she lives right by the park where the fireworks display is held every year. It's nice, we sit in her backyard and watch, not having to hobnob with the masses.
Last night we went to a baseball game- our team is a Class A, St.Louis Cardinals affiliate. Very exciting, as Ryne Sandburg was there, as coach for the Peoria Chiefs. We got our butts kicked 0-1, but it was still fun. The stadium is along the river, it's pretty, there's lots going on.
I'm trying to get caught up on laundry and sleep, as well as finish my assignments for my Spain class. I have to have it all done before Wed., when I leave for Nashville- the High Schools That Work conference. Is ANYone out there going to be there?

Happy Birthday to Me!!!

2008-06-30T17:53:00.002-05:00

Yes, well, this is my last birthday in the land of the 30-somethings. Woo freaking hoo.
Nothing too crazy for the celebratin', just hanging out.
Did anyone catch the hostile comment left in my last post? I was going to comment on the comment but decided against it and instead just deleted it. I had no idea I could inspire such hate, such venom.
Moving on, yes, I did make my Zurich connection with minutes to spare. We were about 4 hours late getting in to Chicago because of a freak thunderstorm, so we had to land in Milwaukee, where there were blue skies and sunshine, and hang out on the tarmac. We could have DRIVEN to Chicago and back twice during that time, but US Customs regulates that no one get off or on the plane. We also were not allowed to be served any beverages during that time. Even though, you know, they were the EXACT SAME beverages we were drinking up in the sky.
It's wonderful to be home and the jet lag has not really been so bad. I watched Spain beat Germany in the Euro Cup final championship game yesterday- very exciting, as they haven't won since 1964. ¡Viva España!

Spain Post #4

2008-06-26T12:15:00.003-05:00

Well, I´m off to Madrid tomorrow, home on Sat. Please cross all of your fingers and toes so that I make my connecting flight in Zurich. It´s very tight and I really don´t wan´t to get stuck.

I wanted to also share with you the celebration of San Juan here in Spain. They celebrate the Noche de San Juan, which is the longest night of the year (summer solstice). Instead of celebrating his death, they celebrate his birth. In the south of Spain, they make bonfires on the beach and people jump over them 3 times. Sometimes the tradition is for a man to carry a woman on his back, piggy-back style, walking on hot coals. In the north, they make a strong drink of aguardiente and sing a song while stirring it while it´s on fire. We actually did this in one of my classes. They also pick herbs and wildflowers, soak them in water and then bathe with the water. On the northern beaches, it´s bad luck to get in the water without the blessing of San Juan. I think it´s probably just too damn cold to get in the water much before now.

I am surprised at how much Spain is like the US, and equally amazed at how it still feels like a "foreign" country.

I was observing the playground happenings in the Cánovas Park. The playground has that foam stuff on the ground, and cheesy equipment, but all in the shade. THe moms are all dressed to the nines and the kids are in some crazy color combinations, the boys in little espadrilles. I quite like it, but I know that it would be way too "metro" for the average bear back home. I´m sure that if one were to get dressed up like these moms in a similar setting in the states, the other moms who were there in cut-offs and tee shirts would talk about the dressed-up mom. "What´s SHE all dressed up for?"
Still need to get used to saying "vale" instead of "ok".

Spain Post #3

2008-06-24T10:51:00.002-05:00

A few observations on the day to day life here in Cáceres:

1. The woman really do use fans. Seriously. They carry them as sort of an accessory, like an umbrella, but they do use them.

2. I´m seeing lots of people dressed as though they are not afraid of color. They love their shoes here! I myself have bought 3 pair.

3. It is not uncommon to see Spanish women dressed in dresses and little heels as they are out and about. We´ve seen several weddings and boy are they all dressed to the nines!

4. People don´t walk around eating and drinking like we do. If you want a coffee, well, you go to a cafe or a bar and you have a coffee. They seem to take care of their things more so than we do. The conductor on the train will yell at you if you have your feet on the seat.

Did anyone see the Spain-Italy soccer game for the Euro Cup? They were 0-0 for the entire game and went into overtime. We were watching at a bar and then finally decided to leave because it was so late and we were afraid we´d be there all night. So, about halfway home, I heard this roar of people cheering and figured Spain had scored, but I didn´t hear anything else until I was almost home. There was this huge roar, people came out onto their balconies (where I live there are mostly apartments) and were cheering "ES PA Ñ A, ES PA Ñ A!" They were banging on pots and pans, people where honking their horns, lighting fire crackers, singing "Ole, ole, ole ole, me gusta España....", waving the Spanish flag, which they just don´t do here otherwise.It went on for about an hour and a half. So, so, cool to be part of it.

My new favorite snack is a piece of good bread, like French bread, sliced length-wise and toasted. Spread tomato puré on it, but not gopped on, a drizzle of olive oil and some thin slices of cheese, like manchego, which is like a milder parmesan and from sheep.

To answer Bellaza´s question, yes, my lectures are all in Spanish, so I´m learning lots.

I feel bad that I´ve not kept up with reading your blogs, but I´ll make up for it upon my return.

Spain Post #2

2008-06-22T09:26:00.002-05:00

It´s quite hot here right now. 34 to 40 degrees centigrade, which I have trouble making the conversion.
We visited a museum on the outskirts of town of Wolf Vollett who was a German artist in the tradition of Yoko Ono. He made a lot of "happenings". Very interesting. His philosophy was "La vida = arte= La vida". It was in this national park type of place called Barruecos, which are these humongous rocks. The land here is very harsh, hence the name "Extremadura" (extrema , extreme and dura, hard).
The way of life here is so much different. My days have pretty much been like this:
1. Wake up at 7 or 7:30. Drink my cafe con leche out of a big bowl and eat some pan.
2. Walk to our meeting point, which means I walk through this beautiful park called Canovas, which I think means canopy. It´s got palm trees and benches and a fountain, so pretty.
3. Catch the bus to the university.
4. Have classes with amazing professors who are teaching us all about Spain in the 21´st century.
5. Go home for the main meal at around 2. Have a siesta.
6. Go back to class or do something with the group.

So far it has been great. We went to Salamanca yesterday, which is sooo beautiful. We went to Trujillo today, which if it had been much cooler would have been much more enjoyable.

More later.

Spain Post #1

2008-06-17T12:40:00.002-05:00

Hello from Spain.
After a hellatious time at the Heathrow Airport, I am here. We spent a fabulous weekend in Madrid, a much different experience than being here on a canned tour with students. We did 2 interesting walking tours. One was a tour of the Barrio de las Letras, where we got to see the traditional craftsmen of Madrid who are still working. For example, we saw where they make churros, a guitar maker, a silver smith and an iron works/foundry. Very cool, very ``off the beaten path``. In the evening, we went on a tour of the taverns and learned about how they evolved and the legends and customs surrounding them.
Right now I am in Caceres, a small city in Extremadura, to the west of Madrid. I am living with a delightful older woman and attending classes.
Mas later. We are getting ready to go and I´m paying by the hour.

Fiddle Dee Dee

2008-06-03T15:41:00.002-05:00

What's going on with me these days?
Well, we had our 13 year old cat put to sleep today. He's been ill for some time now- kidney/liver failure due to complications from feline diabetes. He was not able to keep food down and was starting to crap all over my house. I brought him home in my jacket when he was 6 weeks old to the day. A woman I worked with had a cat who had kittens and I picked the one I wanted. I remember counting the days and circling the date on the calendar that I could go get him. I miss him.

My mother in law was diagnosed with stage 3 lymphoma and starts chemo this week.

I have a mountain of school work to do.

The girls and I are supposed to go camping this weekend with the Brownies.

I leave for Spain in 9 days.

So, what am I doing tonight? Going out with some girlfriends for dinner and "Sex in the City".

How very Scarlet O'Hara of me.

Small but Mighty

2008-06-02T19:39:00.003-05:00

My very first teaching job was teaching bilingual kindergarten at one of the poorest schools in our district. For the first month and a half, I was in a trailer with no bathroom. I had 26 kids- 24 at all times, and it was like a revolving door. Probably 6 or 7 that I had at the beginning of the year had left and 6 or 7 different kids came to take their place. It was crazy, but I was young, inexperienced and desperate for a job, so who was I to complain?
One of my students was this itty-bitty girl, Sharnice. She was a young kindergartner- had a late spring or summer birthday. She had little braids all over her head and a twinkle in her eye, but you hardly ever heard her speak. She often times could not sit still with the rest of the group and would get up and walk around the room. Her home life was tumultuous. I believe she lived with her great grandmother and her boyfriend, who would haul himself out of bed to walk up the hill to get Sharnice at dismissal time, which was like 11:30 (days before mandated all-day kindergarten.) He wore slippers and a cowboy hat and smelled like a distillery, but was a nice man all the same, and she was pretty attached to him. He didn't quite have the pick up procedure etiquette, however. Instead of waiting for the kids to be dismissed, he would stand outside of the trailer and bellow "Shah-neece!" I would very primly pop my head out and say in my best kindergarten teacher voice, "Are you here to pick up Sharnice?" Oh, I could do perky.
About the middle of the year, this man suffered a heart attack and it really kind of rocked Sharnice's world and she got kind of clingy with me. Her mom was in jail and I can't remember the deal with the rest of her family.
One morning, she was hanging out with me as I got ready for the day. She didn't chatter at me like some kids may have, just stood by me and trailed around after me.
After being with me and being virtually silent, she said something to me. She had a really soft little voice, so I didn't quite hear her at first, so I asked her to repeat what she had said. So, she said a little bit louder, "I found a little baby mouse in my house this morning." I did an internal "ew", but since she had initiated conversation, I prompted her- "You did? Really? A little baby mouse?" She looked quite pleased with herself. "Mmmmm hmmmm, " she nodded, grinning. "And I squished it!"

I wonder whatever happened to Sharnice. I hope she's happy.

Here they come.....

2008-06-01T15:21:00.002-05:00

Dear Helicopter Parents:

Yes, I mean YOU! You, who "hover", thus earning yourself the quippy title "Helicopter Parents". You, who have the greatest of intentions and want whatever is best for your child, as long as it means that they get good grades and possibly extra credit. Notice that I did not say "earn" good grades, because, while many of you pay lip service to the whole "getting vs. earning" of grades, the truth is that you desperately want your children to get All A's All the Time. You spend an inordinate amount of time looking at the online gradebook ~~we have been forced to use~~ gladly employ ~~so that you will quit asking us for an updated grade report every other whip-stitch~~ for your benefit. You send me "concerned" emails when your kid's grade dips below the coveted and much more acceptable "A". You express "disappointment" because your kid was "doing so well". You wonder if your kid can do extra credit ~~in a last-ditch effort~~ to pull up the percentage points to the 90's. See, that way, it appears that your kid is doing really well in Spanish, when really, he's basically a B student with average language skills who could do much better if he studied more and didn't rush to get last night's homework done during the first 5 minutes of class.

Please loosen your apron strings a bit and let your kid earn the grade he earns. He's old enough to operate a large, gasoline-powered vehicle. I think he can handle his Spanish 2 class. It will be ok.

Very snarkily yours,

Mrs T

Welcome to "Pimp My Book"

2008-05-30T20:13:00.002-05:00

I've been reading Jess Riley's blog since I started blogging 2 years ago. She is quite a talented writer, is laugh-out-loud funny and is a Midwest girl like me. Her long-awaitedbook, Driving Sideways has just recently been released. I am excited to read it and am really hoping she does a book signing that is close to my home!

Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?

2008-05-29T08:27:00.002-05:00

I got this as a forward- enjoy!

BARACK OBAMA:
The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!

JOHN MC CAIN:
My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.

HILLARY CLINTON:
When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......

DR. PHIL:
The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must
first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes
after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is
help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT'
problems before adding 'NEW' problems.

OPRAH:
Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he
wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn
from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to
give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and
not live his life like the rest of the chickens.

GEORGE W. BUSH:
We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to
know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is
either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL:
Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image
of the chicken crossing the road...

ANDERSON COOPER - CNN:
We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been
allowed to have access to the other side of the road.

JOHN KERRY:
Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it!
It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's
intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.

NANCY GRACE:
That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his
eyes and the way he walks.

PAT BUCHANAN:
To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.

MARTHA STEWART:
No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a
standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price
dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider
information.

DR SEUSS:
Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the
chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY:
To die in the rain. Alone.

GRANDPA:
In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told
us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

BARBARA WALTERS:
Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the
chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it
experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its
life long dream of crossing the road.

ARISTOTLE:
It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

JOHN LENNON:
Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

BILL GATES:
I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but
will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check
book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new
platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% .........
reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN:
Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the
chicken?

BILL CLINTON:
I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of
chicken?

AL GORE:
I invented the chicken!

COLONEL SANDERS:
Did I miss one?

DICK CHENEY:
Where's my gun?

AL SHARPTON: Why are all the chickens white? We need some black chickens.

The Road to Crazytown

2008-05-27T15:54:00.003-05:00

Pardon my hiatus last week. Apparently, all hell decided to break loose last week at my school.
Let's see, Monday there was a huge fight between 1st and 2nd Block in which a boy pushed another girl down the stairs. He is now up for expulsion. Minutes after that and one floor below, there was another huge fight. I was in my room not doing hall duty, I know, bad me, when I heard the din in the hallway change - sort of a rise in pitch, reaching near hysteria. I opened my door to see my 6'4" principal barely able to hold back one of the kids and a police officer practically lying on top of the other kid to hold him down. Whew. All of this in an 8 minute passing period.
I had to come back to school in the evening for the Junior/Senior awards ceremony. I parked my car in the usual parking lot, left at around 8:15. I checked my school email from home later that evening to find out that there had been a shooting in said parking lot that afternoon at around 4:30. Holy shit! A shooting. With actual guns. Shot out the window of one staff member's car-$2600 worth of damage- insurance will cover, except for the deductible, of course. Who will pay that? I think the district should be responsible for it, but we'll see how that goes.
Tuesday there were 3 huge fights at school- 2 girls got suspended, then one of them decided to come back to school-texted her sister, who was in class and subsequently left in the middle of that class to go fight someone outside. WTF?
In the meantime, we had the honor and privilege of having the youngest survivor of Schindler's List come and speak to us. How amazing was that????
Thursday, a man was shot to death at the IHOP- going to work.
Friday, everyone on my floor was mysteriously hustled into the auditorium during 2nd block because a container holding an unknown substance was found in the hallway. Keep in mind that we've been having all kinds of crazy bomb threats scrawled on our bathroom walls the last month. So, they called in the Bomb Squad to make sure that we weren't all going to be blasted to smithereens. 20 minutes later we were all dismissed back to class. The superintendent came, there were about 5 or 6 cops . And for what? Well, one of the science classes had done experiments using a calorimeter. One boy was trying to put his in his friend's locker and it accidentally got left on the floor next to the locker. The funny thing is that this kid is an itty-bitty slip of a boy- probably weighs 95 pounds soaking wet and is the nicest, most unlikely culprit. I guess they cleared him of any charges, since it was completely without malice.
So, by the time Saturday rolled around? I was ready for some down time.
8 more days ....

Prom King

2008-05-15T16:30:00.002-05:00

There are a handful of things school related that are currently bugging the ever-living hell out of me, but I'm not going to post about them. I'm sure you all have your own fresh hell to gnaw on. I'll save it for another day. Posting about them doesn't promise to be cathartic, but rather to have me re-live them all over again. So instead, I have somehthing nice to share.

There is a senior boy at my school who has mild autism. I'm going to call him Ron. He is quite funcional- I had him in class for 2 levels of Spanish and his written work was impeccable. Socially, he is a bit off- it's like having a brilliant 8 year old in class, but intellectually, his mind is like a steel trap. One of his goals has been to refrain from blurting out answers and waiting to be called on. Having him in class was really delightful, as he and I have somewhat of a rapport and the other kids get used to him and are quite nice to him.

I mentioned earlier that we have a Sadie-Hawkins type dance every winter in which Senior boys are nominated for the honor of being crowned King. Well, this year, Ron was the recipient of this honor. It was really a genuine gesture on the part of most of the student body- there weren't any snickers or sarcastic remarks. He wore that crown all week- and then sometimes just for the heck of it.

Fast forward to April. The kids are in Prom-mode. Ron puts a note up on the bulletin board in the cafeteria looking for a ride to the dance. A Senior girl in one of his classes asks him about it. "Ron, I saw your note. Did you end up getting a ride to Prom?" No, not yet, was his answer. "Well," she said, "I talked it over with my parents, and they'd be happy to drive you to the Prom. And a bunch of us are going out to dinner before the dance and we'd like you to join us- your dinner will be all taken care of." These kids all chipped in to pay for his meal, as well as his Prom ticket, and arranged for his ride home. They didn't do it for any recognition, nor for any fun to be had at his expense. They just did it because he's their classmate, and they think he's cool and they know that he's not like them in many ways, and they wanted him to have a good time at his Senior Prom.

So the next time you see teenagers being loud and obnoxious or hear about some heinous crime commited by teens, I want you to remember this story.

Tree and Random Monday thoughts

2008-05-05T18:32:00.003-05:00

You can barely see the little green buds, but they are there, along with some eager dogwod blossoms. Every couple of years, this tree is amazing when it's in full bloom.

Here's another, up-close and personal"

In other randomness:

- Is it just me, or are we being surveyed to death? Every time I answer the phone it's another marbles-in-the-mouth doing market research. I used to do them, then I got a small case of paranoia and wondered if the people conducting the surveys were really who they say they are and just what exactly are they doing with this information and could it ever be held against me. And, I'm just sick of it, so now I say "We don't do those." and hang up.

- Although I am big fan of The Leftover- a huge believer in the "Cook Once, Eat Twice" philosophy, I think food reheated in the microwave is kind of gross. So, I've discovered that using my huge honking Pampered Chef non-stick skillet is perfect for reheating most leftovers. Just put your stuff in and put the lid on. Sometimes you need to add water or broth- depends on what it is Tonight I had leftover roasted potatoes, and grilled chicken- enough for the 4 of us. We had a Greek salad and pita, which we wanted warm and I didn't want to use the oven, so I wrapped it in foil and just stuck it on top of the chicken and potatoes. Worked like a charm, and I didn't heat up the kitchen with the oven.

- Speaking of Greek salad, here's a recipe:

romaine
feta cheese
kalamata olives
tomatoes (I use grape tomatoes- they have a good taste even in the winter)
red onion, thinly sliced
cucumber
pepperoncini

Assemble the salad to your liking.

dressing

good quality, fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil
red wine vinegar
oregano
garlic
salt & pepper

Pour oregano into the palm of your hand- it should be several tablespoons. Rub it between your palms into a glass jar. Rubbing dried herbs releases the flavor. Crush several cloves of the garlic and add to the jar. Salt and pepper to taste. Add oil and vinegar. Last but not least, add a couple of tablespoons of the pepperoncini brine. Shake it all up. Enjoy. It's good on the salad, of course, but equally good on warm pita, chicken. I would like my casket to be lined with this dressing, please.

I use a 3-1 ratio of oil to vinegar. For a cup of dressing, use 3/4 cup of oil, 1/4 cup of dressing. For more, I use 1 1/2 cups oil to 1/2 cup of vinegar. (I'm sure you are all smart enough to do the math, but it took me a while to figure this out.)

Queen of the May

2008-05-04T21:59:00.004-05:00

My younger daughter, Lydia received her First Communion this afternoon. Her second grade class (they go to Catholic school) has been preparing for it for months. I love that her school maintains some traditions for this celebrations. For instance, several weeks before the big day, the class goes to one of those "paint your own pottery" places and everyone paints their own chalice, which the priest then blesses. After the First Communion mass, which is on Sunday, the school has a special May Crowning ceremony. All of the second graders are to come in their First Communion duds, and the 8th graders who are being confirmed are to come in their special clothes as well. All year long, the 2 grades have been getting together- they are assigned a "prayer buddy" - an older child with a younger. They attend mass together- and it's really cool, because the older kids kind of keep the younger ones in line. So anyway, on the day of May Crowning, the kids come all dolled up. Each family is asked to bring flowers to place around Mary- they haul out this huge statue- they say a few decades of the Rosary, they sing "Salve Regina" and the crowning point (get it?-couldn't resist) is when the 2nd and 8th graders walk up with their prayer buddy and the boys bring a votive candle and the girls all bring flowers to place at the base of the statue. 2 girls are chosen to crown Mary. It's all very sweet and old-fashioned. I love it because the 8 graders are so lovely- some of the girls are so pretty and they have no idea how beautiful they are. Most of the moms cry.

Here is a picture of Lydia in front of a rhododendron in the courtyard at her school:

And another:

It was sure something to see all of the little girls running around in their white dresses and veils before the mass. The boys were all in blue blazers and khakis- horsing around. I could imagine them all in about 15 years at a wedding- acting the same way, pretty much, only probably enhanced by too much keg beer.

Tag!

2008-04-30T20:45:00.002-05:00

Mrs. Bluebird, who is one of my favorite selections, tagged me for this meme.

Here's the rules:

1. The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.
2. Each player answers the questions about themselves.
3. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5-6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they've been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
4. Let the person who tagged you know when you've posted your answer.

So let the fun begin!!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago? Well, I had just returned to work after 11 weeks of maternity leave. I was wondering how in the hell I was going to be able to be gone from my sweet baby girl every day and being wistful about being a stay-at-home-mom.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order): Well, seeing as how today is pretty much shot, I'll go with my to-do list for tomorrow.

1. finish correcting make-up tests for Spanish 1 class
2. copy quizzes
3. make lunch
4. get Lydia all prettied up for First Communion picture
5. start reading "Lottery" for book club

3) Snacks I enjoy: The list would be shorter if I included those snacks I DON'T enjoy, but here they are: popcorn, chips and dip, chips and salsa, guacamole, ice cream, chex mix....

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire: Pay off all debts, invest wisely, give to charity, not stress about money, and go shopping, duh!

5) Three of my bad habits:I'm so glad they limited it to 3, otherwise this would be a bit of a morale buster for me.

1. nervous eating
2. staying up too late because I don't want to miss out on anything
3. not staying on top of grading papers

6) 5 places I have lived:

1. Davenport, IA
2. Galesburg, IL
3. Cedar Falls, IA
4. Colima, Mexico
5. Council Bluffs, IA

7) 5 jobs I have had:

1. cashier, Walgreen's
2. Migrant Head-start teacher
3. bilingual Kindergarten teacher
4. Spanish teacher
5. quality-assurance coordinator/customer service trainer

8) 6 peeps I wanna know more about:

1. Happy Chyck-
my "old" blog buddy. I probably already know a lot about her, but she
tells a good tale.

2. Mrs. Chili- a newer
blog-friend. Definitely a kindred spirit.

3. Adeline New job, new house,
expecting a new baby. If she's got time for a meme, I'd love to
read her responses.

4. Professor J She's
probably up to her ears in papers to grade, but who doesn't love a
meme?

5. Sunshine a
fellow Iowan- she's hosting the Prom this week! It's crinoline free,
so check it out!

6. Dolce -her blog is a
delight to read. I'd love to hang out with her.

Rollin', Rollin' on the River

2008-04-28T17:43:00.004-05:00

So, a week and a half ago, we had this little earthquake. Guess what now? The Mighty Mississippi is expected to crest at 19.5 feet on Wednesday, flood stage is at 15 feet. Oh, it's a sight when that river leaves its banks. The above picture is from 2001- no baseball that spring. So far, the baseball stadium is dry- it's a bit soggy getting into the stadium, but they've got sandbags up. This weekend is prom for the school where I teach, which could be tricky, since it will be held on a riverboat. If the river is too high, I'm guessing they won't actually sail. Before you get all "Oh, how quaint" about having your prom on a riverboat, which I did, think about it. Sails at 9, comes back at 12. You're in the middle of the Mississippi for 3 hours. (a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour....) You are stuck on that boat for the entire time - there's no leaving early. And if you're late? They take off without you. There goes your prom- and my school only had Senior prom, none of this Junior/Senior stuff. The tradition was that the Junior class hosted the prom for the Seniors. And sea-sickness? A little bit- not hurl-over-the-railing sick, but definitely some queasiness. From a parent's point of view, the boat is awesome- you know where your kids are, they are safe and contained. From a kid's point of view, it's a tad claustrophobic.

We're not Oprah

2008-04-26T19:58:00.004-05:00

I've been part of a book group since 1995, or thereabouts. My original group has long since dissolved, but I'm now part of 2 others. One is very much a book clubby book club, in that we really talk about the books and don't just get together for too much wine and "me time" away from kids and bedtimes and household stuff. Not that I'm above that, because I'm totally not. My other one, with which I'm contemplating breaking up, is comprised of several women whose daughters all go to school together and they spend an inordinate amount of time bashing their kids' teachers and things at school. They are all very interesting women, many of them are very accomplished. We share similar political views, although I've come to realize that many of them who are in a much, much, higher income bracket than we are here at Casa de T, subscribe to more of a "do as I say, not as I do" kind of philosophy. It's a little annoying and I sometimes privately refer to it as their WLG , or White Liberal Guilt.

But, I digress. My other book group, the more "bookish" one, is such a treasure to me. We meet every 4-6 weeks, depending on holidays and how big the book is, at 5pm on Sunday. We vary the time SOMETIMES, but not much, since the 5:00 time just seems to work best for everyone. I like that. In the other groups, we'd try to accommodate everyone, which is impossible and then people would cancel at the last minute and try to reschedule- a nightmare. The way we choose our books is to have a particular meeting dedicated to the choosing of the books. Everyone brings 2-3 possible choices to present to the group. Then, the group votes on them. Then, we assign a month for each person to host. No one is obligated to host at their home- we've met in pubs and coffee shops and parks. If you are unable to host during your month, we go ahead and meet anyway. Light snacks and beverages are the norm, but some really like to cook, so they make more. We've acquired several traditions- one is that every summer or early fall, we have a potluck picnic at this wonderful park overlooking the river. The other is that in December, we do not have a book meeting, but rather a potluck brunch with a gift exchange. Gift exchanges can be kind of dicey, but ours is always a success. People choose well - this year there was kind of a "green" theme, probably as a direct result of our reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Small Wonder". In addition to the gift exchange, we've added another element, which was to find the most awful Christmas sweater we could, and wear it to the brunch. The funniest was one woman's vest- made of Christmas calico, it even had bells or other tchockes sewn to it. She said her husband kind of liked it, which we all had a big laugh over. He didn't get that it was a joke.

So here are our picks for the year:

The Whole Truth, by David Baldacci I know nothing about this book, other than my perception of the author is that he's kind of John Grisham-y.

Little Heathens, by Mildred Armstrong Kalish This looks really good- about growing up on an Iowa farm during the Great Depression.

I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith, who also wrote 101 Dalmations
It's the story of a teenaged girl in England in the late 1940's, whose family lives in a decrepit castle. One of those coming-of-age kind of novels.

Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott Many of us have never read this classic! We feel we need to. Actually, Claire and I were reading it, and got stuck about halfway through it. I know what's coming, and Claire does not. I fear that Beth's death will hit her pretty hard.

Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett I mentioned this in my previous post- I just got it today- boy what a heavy book it is! I am considering taking it with me to Spain, but the weight of it concerns me.

The Double Bind, by Chris Bohjalian (sp?) He wrote Midwives, which I did not read, and Trans Sister Radio, which I listened to on tape- a very clever title, since one of the characters was undergoing gender reassignment surgery and the other worked in public radio. Get it? Anyway, I think he's a pretty good author.

Never Let Me Go, by Kazuo Ishiguro This is about students at a special school- it seems like a more complicated version of Lois Lowry's The Giver. The students are "told, but not told", as is the reader. I am very intrigued by this book.

A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genious, by David Eggers It is a memoir, which I've come to be very wary of. David Eggers tells his story of how he had to raise his 3 siblings after the sudden death of both their parents. I understand that Eggers is rather funny, so I hope that will make it less, well, heartbreaking.

Downriver, by John Hart According to Amazon, this book "settles once and for all, the question whether thrillers and mysteries can also be literature."

Water for Elephants, by Sarah Gruen I read this in the other book group and LOVED it, as I mentioned earlier. I highly recommend it.

Lottery, by Patricia Wood This is about a mentally challenged boy who wins the lottery. I predict it will be very Forest Gump-ish.

If I'm of a mind, I will post the runners up later.

The Earth Moved

2008-04-23T20:47:00.003-05:00

First of all, many thanks to those who offered advice and suggestions regarding my upcoming travel, and to those who simply wished me well.

As for the bomb threat last week, nothing happened, but on Friday, we were all awakened at about 4:30 by a freak earthquake. I have all my necklaces hanging on this vanity in our bedroom and I woke up to them shaking, as if a cat had just jumped off of it. I looked over at it and saw no cats, thought that was odd and went back to sleep. It wasn't until later when someone asked if I'd felt the earthquake that morning that it dawned on me.

Want to know what you get on a Friday that starts with an earthquake, during a full moon, the day after a poorly written bomb threat? You get a whole lot of crazy. Boy was I glad to say goodbye to that week! I then spent a crazy amount of time correcting papers that had piled up- ugh.

In other news, I just read Water for Elephants and I am telling you all to go read this book. It has romance, mystery, love, murder, and it all takes place during the Great Depression- in a circus. What an amazing book- it hooked me right away- I read it in 3 days. My one book group chose books for the year- and I'm pretty excited about them. I'll post the list later- I'm too lazy to go downstairs and get the list right now. I will say that one of the books is Pillars of the Earth, which intrigues me to no end, especially after visiting incredible cathedrals in Toledo and Seville last summer. (Sadly we did not get to visit the cathedral in Segovia- only the Castle, which is really cool)

Spring has definitely sprung- the grass is finally green and we've finally rid ourselves of the oak leaves that have plagued our lawn since they finally fell at the beginning of December just in time for the first snowfall.

Update

2008-04-17T16:01:00.002-05:00

Well, after much much time spent on Orbitz, Priceline, Cheapoair, Expedia,Travelocity, I FINALLY got my ticket to Spain. I will leave Thurs. June 12 and fly to London; change planes in Heathrow, fly to Madrid. I ended up booking through Travelocity. On the way home, I will take the train from Cáceres to Madrid, then stay overnight at a small hotel , leave the next day for home. I fly Madrid to Zurich, Zurich to Chicago. I reserved my hotel room and next week I will book my train ticket- you can't reserve more than 62 days prior, for some reason. I will get to Chicago via airport shuttle from Moline, and I booked that yesterday. I am trying not to freak out about making my connections.

In other news, we had a bomb threat at school today. Some dipshit wrote in pencil on the boys' bathroom wall "I'm going to Blow Up this scholl Thurs. 4-18". How seriously do we take that? Hats off to our administration, though. They took it seriously enough without over-reacting. I think some kid thought we'd get to go home early if there was a bomb threat. I did like the email we got asking us to please look around our rooms for any suspicious looking packages. Does any other profession regularly have the Bomb Squad come and have a look-see?

España

2008-04-10T14:40:00.002-05:00

And I was doing so well! I kinda dropped the Blog 365 ball and have cut myself some slack. Some days, I just do not have a post. 3 months was pretty good- now I will just relax a bit. I was getting a little ocd about posting.

So, it looks like I'm going to Spain. I will be taking a graduate level course (or I will be taking a course for which I will receive graduate credit) that is designed for teachers of Spanish. I will live with a Spanish family and class will be held at the University of Extremadura. We just got word Monday evening that the class will run. So now I have the task of getting my plane ticket. I also need to take into consideration that the town where I'll be staying (Cáceres) is several hours away by train; so I'll then have to allow for travel time between the train station and airport, as well as being at the airport 3(is it 3 for international flights?) hours prior to departure time. I have to be in Madrid by 2:00 on June 13 and will leave Cáceres at any time on the 27th. I'm having a minor freak out. Does anyone have any advice on purchasing my ticket online? I've done it many times for domestic flights, but I'm a bit afraid that with all my time constraints, I may have to go the route of a travel agent. Help! (No Debby Downers, please. I'm looking for help, not "you'd get a cheaper price if you'd booked in January". )

El Sucko

2008-04-03T16:35:00.003-05:00

Today my colleague and fellow trip planner were talking to a student about our trip next summer to Mexico and Costa Rica. He asked what the exchange rate was and I said that for Mexico it was pretty good. We explained that we wouldn't be going to Spain because it would be soooooo expensive. I even cleverly, or so I thought, interjected that the value of the dollar vs. the Euro was "el sucko". He just looked at me. "El sucko?" he said. "Aren't you a teacher?"

Um yes, yes I am. I'm a teacher, but I'm NOT FREAKING DEAD! Now, be gone! And grow a sense of humor over the weekend!

Photo Meme

2008-04-02T18:49:00.021-05:00

A fun meme I shamelessly stole from Happychyck Steal if you want. It's tres, tres fun.

Instructions:

1. Go to Photobucket .

2. Type in your answer in the search box.

3. Use a picture from the first page only.

4. Insert the picture into your blog.

___________________________________________

1. What is your relationship status?

2. What is your current mood?

3. What is your favorite band/artist?

4. What is your favorite movie?

5. What kind of pet do you have?

6. Where do you live?

7. Where do you work?

8. What do you look like?

9. What do you drive?

10. What did you do last night?

11. What's your favorite television show?

12. Describe yourself.

13. What are you doing tomorrow?

14. What is your name?

15. What's your favorite candy?

Teacher Talk Tuesday: Second Language Acquisition

2008-04-01T19:52:00.004-05:00

Recent events in my department that I won't bore you with here have caused me to examine my philosophy of learning/acquiring a second language. I did a bit of study in and love the field of language acquisition/language development. I understand that acquiring one's first or native language is different than acquiring subsequent languages, especially if the environment is "unnatural" (like a classroom). I do believe, however, that when learning a second language, that certain similarities from language acquisition of L1 exist. For example, receptive language develops earlier than expressive language. Over-generalization of grammar rules can lead to apparent regression with regard to speaking correctly (kids learn to say "ran", then subconsciously over-think it and then say "runned" before they get it all sorted out). I also believe that anyone learning a language should be ENcouraged and not DIScouraged by nitpicking. I am a stickler for detail, but I think it's a natural tendency to shut down if all you are met with is criticism, so I try and keep it at bay. Children learn to speak well from adults who model good pronunciation, good grammar, broad vocabulary and expressive speech. They learn from being read to. I think that transfers to the acquisition of a second language as well.

1 Potato, 2 Potato (or is it potatoe..... )

2008-03-31T19:02:00.004-05:00

A potato recipe (and I use the word "recipe" loosely):

Boil up several pounds of new(ish)red potatoes. Leave the skins on. When they are fork tender, drain the water and smash them with either a fork or a potato masher. If they are done, they should just pop right open. Dump in some sour cream. Snip some fresh chives into it all and mash/smash some more.

Leftovers? Store in fridge. The next day, or whenever you get to them before they turn black, scoop out a spoonful, form into a patty. Dredge in flour to get rid of excess moisture. Fry in a small amount of HOT oil. Season with salt, pepper and some onion powder. Turn when a dark, golden brown. You can serve with applesauce, sour cream or just enjoy them as is.

I love 2-fers.

For the record, I'm joking about the "potatoe". Anyone out there old enough to remember Dan Quayle? He though Murphy Brown was a threat to society. Nevermind the fact that she was a fictional character...

2008-03-30T21:30:00.001-05:00

Your 1996 Theme Song Is: 1979 by The Smashing Pumpkins

Shakedown 1979

Cool kids never have the time

On a live wire right up off the street

You and I should meet

What's Your 1996 Theme Song?

Mr. T and I did have the pleasure of seeing Smashing Pumpinks in Iowa City in 1994. Who'd a thought we'd ever be nostalgic for the 90's?

Sábado en español...

2008-03-29T19:47:00.002-05:00

Otra vez escribo en español- no porque quiero que me respondan y me hagan crítica, sino porque me gusta escribir y expresarme en otra idioma.

Hay la posibilidad que participe en un programa (es una clase de nivel "Graduate" que les ofrece Iowa State University a maestros de español) en Cáceres, España este verano. Durará como unos 15 días. Digo "posibilidad" porque si no hay suficiente participación, se lo va a cancelar. Con el valor del dólar muy bajo comparado con el Euro, muchas personas no tienen muchas ganas de ir a Europa. Me quedaría con una familia y asistiría clases a la Universidad de Extremadura. El precio incluye esto y un viaje a Madrid. La ciudad de Cáceres está entre Lisbon y Madrid. Me gustaría ir a Lisbon, si posible.

Tengo sentimientos mixtos de ir. Por un lado, no quiero dejar mi familia, por otro, quiero conocer a una familia española. Por un lado, no quiero gastar el dinero, por otro, sé que sería dinero bien-gastado. Por un lado, me pongo un poco nerviosa la idea de vivir con otra gente que no conozco, por otro, entiendo que sería sólo por 2 semanas y puede ser una pequeña aventura. ¿Cuátos lados hay?

Pués, quizás no hay ninguna decisión a hacer si no hay sufientes personas participando. Voy a mandar mis papeles y esperar...

Friday Five

2008-03-28T16:11:00.009-05:00

Five Things I Scored at the Goodwill Today:

1.
The author of this book visited our school several years ago. The kids seem to like his books a lot, so I figured for 38 cents, I could check it out- then put it on my own kids' bookshelf.

2.
This is a piece of Blue Ridge (pottery? china? I don't quite know...) I had a friend several years ago whose mother had an antique shop and she was always picking up pieces of Blue Ridge. I don't know how collectible it is or what it goes for, but I got it for $2.38. Does anyone know anything about Blue Ridge?

3.
These 2 cups were taped together and were a whopping 88 cents. I like the shape of them- I figure I can use them for soup.

4.
Our neighbor gave us the Fisher Price dollhouse complete with, well, everything. This camper goes with the dollhouse and people and was only $3.38. Lydia has already played with it, and it's so cool how it opens up and the beds flop down. It is "gently used"- not dirty and nasty at all.

5.
This is marked "Ardsley" on the bottom, as well as "International Silver Co.". I thought I could clean it up and then use it for a floral arrangement. It was $2.38.

So, for a about $10, I did quite well, I think.

2008-03-27T19:43:00.001-05:00

Thirteen Easter-time goodies at Casa de T

1. Peeps: These must always sit out at least a day or two before being considered even remotely edible. Yellow chicks are the more traditional, but the rabbits are easier to eat.

2. Foil-wrapped chocolate eggs, preferable Hershey's: They really are better- I am really picky about the Easter chocolates.

3. Cadbury mini eggs- NOT the creme eggs- just the small, candy-coated chocolate eggs. The chocolate is divine- DIVINE, I tell you! The preferred method of eating is to pop the whole thing (it's about the size of a Jordan almond)in your mouth and suck on it lightly, so as not to break the shell prematurely, softening the chocolate to an almost liquid consistency.

4. Nerds jelly beans: Oh my gosh, who knew? It's a bumpy, Nerds candy coating AROUND a small, very soft and chewy jelly bean. It's sweet, it's sour, it's crunchy, it's chewy. The only thing is that the red ones are not so good- strange watermelon flavor that I do not care for.

5. Traditional jelly beans- preferably Brachs: Except the purple ones. And the white. What are they supposed to taste like?

6. Chicks and Rabbits: We always buy a bag of these- they are yellow and blue versions of Circus Peanuts, only in chick and rabbit shapes. Mr. T LOVES these.

7. Reese's peanut butter filled eggs: We had these this year- they are foil wrapped, smallish eggs as opposed to an egg-shaped peanut butter cup, which admittedly, is a better candy.

8. Whoppers eggs- candy coated: Skip the candy-coating. I like the chocolate, and I like the malted-milk ball center. The outside coating is just a waste.

9. Dyed eggs- dyed with the simplest, plainest PAAS egg dying kit available. One tablet, 6 TB of white vinegar and cold water. Copper wire egg dipper. No fancy-shmancy for us. We eat deviled eggs and egg salad for DAYS.

10. Chocolate bunny: Nothing too big to eat- just a little something. Ears, then head, then the rest.

11. Money: We put these in the plastic Easter egg-hunt eggs. We like for it to be a bit of a gamble, so we put candy in some, nothing in some, quarters in some, dollar coins in some and a $5 bill in one. Claire scored the 5 spot this year, and do you know? The kids were all perfectly ok with her winning.

12. Some trinket that fits nicely in the basket but they don't really like, need or want. I've got to work on this one. Last year they each got a DVD- that worked well. Maybe a book?

13. That freaking Easter grass- that shit gets all over and we find it weeks after Easter has come and gone. One year Martha Stewart made edible Easter grass- yeah right. I am going to make the switch to green tissue paper next year. I'm usually a stickler for tradition, but that celophane crap makes me crazy.

Don't judge me.

2008-03-26T21:07:00.003-05:00

Although I pride myself on having a pretty good grasp of the English language and perhaps know a bit more than your Average Joe about grammar, there are still many things that give me a great deal of difficulty. I get around most of them by conveniently avoiding their use. Here are some examples:

the former and latter: I kind of know which is which, but I'm not confident enough to use them without paper and pencil to draw myself a diagram.

Is it further or farther? Yes, I've seen the explanation in our paper's grammar column, but so far it hasn't stuck.

transitive/intransitive verbs: *shudder* I took this horrible class called "Problems in English Grammar" that was basically a graduate level class, but half the class was comprised of undergraduates (myself included). Most of the class, including the instructor, were foreign students. They kicked butt. I know I learned about these verbs, but it must have been somewhat traumatic, as I've long since forgotten.

Is it the bane or bain of one's existence? I know it's more spelling than grammar, but I'd still like to know.

This is she or this is her- when answering the telephone.. I avoid by saying "Speaking," or my favorite, "I'm sorry, she's not here right now. May I take a message?"- I like to do this when they are asking for me, but I know it's nobody I want or need to talk to.

lay and lie: I suck at these. I know that I very incorrectly say
"go lay down", when it should be "go lie down" (right?).

I know I struggle with other grammar (or would it be grammatical?) issues, but that's all I've got right now. I hope you all won't think less of me.

Ten Things Tuesday

2008-03-25T16:07:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we visited Herbert Hoover's Presidential Library and museum. Here are some things about him that I'd either forgotten or just plain did not know:

1. He was a Quaker.

2. He attended Stanford, where he met his wife, Lou Henry, also a native of Iowa.

3. His wife and 2 sons were scheduled to be on the USS Lusitania in 1915, but canceled their trip 2 days prior. Good move, since it was sunk by a German U-boat.

4. He spent $1.5 million of his own money to help Americans who were stranded in Europe at the start of WW 1 home. All but $400 was returned to him.

5. He helped get food to starving children in Europe- especially Belgium.

6. He was responsible for starting the campaign to standardize the measurements of things - like milk bottle caps, counter heights, nuts and bolts.

7. He wrote The Child's Bill of Rights.

8. He gave his presidential salary to charity- never taking any money he earned in public office for his private use.

9. Was instrumental in the building of the Hoover Dam, which I've never seen, but looks AMAZING.

10.Died at the ripe old age of 90. He and his wife are both buried in West Branch, Iowa.

Easter People

2008-03-24T22:11:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, at Easter mass, the priest was talking about "Easter people". He told this story about going on RAGBRAI (bike ride across Iowa)with his brother and his brother's overweight, out of shape friend, who, as he described it, was riding a bike that had no business being on the road. His bike broke several times each day- flat tires, broken axels, broken chains... But, he made friends with all the repair people and got to know all kinds of other people on the ride and greeted them by name and started each day with a smile, ready to take on whatever was put in front of him. Many others would have become discouraged and given up miles ago, but not this guy.

Do you know any Easter People? Are there people in your lives who just keep going, no matter what, and don't get discouraged? In the season of Easter, if you celebrate it, and definitely in the Spring, there is rebirth. Small patches of green poke up out of brown, dormant lawns; little leaf buds appear on lifeless branches; flowers poke their heads through the snow. Look for Easter People. Try and be an Easter Person.

It's not just ANY weekend....

2008-03-23T20:26:00.000-05:00

I'm plugging a new (to me) band today- check out Vampire Weekend here and download one of their songs for free if you like it. We got the whole cd and I love it. Great for road trips- catchy, fun, interesting sounds.
"Oxford Comma" is especially good.

Call Webster's

2008-03-22T22:00:00.000-05:00

I love to coin new terms and phrases. My latest? Jackassitude: having the attitude of a jackass. As in "I don't need any more of your jackassitude, young lady."

Friday Forum

2008-03-21T22:47:00.003-05:00

So what's your take on the Easter Bunny? It's not really like Santa and I definitely think kids quit the Easter Bunny before they quit Santa. Is it a man-sized rabbit who comes and leaves candy? Is it a magical rabbit? What's up with the hiding? I could never really get a handle on just who the Easter Bunny really was. And, the mall Easter Bunny? Where you sit on his lap and get your picture taken? Is creepy. I never ever subjected my children to that.

This is one holiday I've never quite gotten a hold of my traditions. We dye eggs, we have the baskets, most years we do some sort of egg hunt, we go to church, we have a ham (although one year I made brunch instead) and usually asparagus. For several years running I made hot cross buns, which sounded, smelled and looked a lot better than they tasted. My grandmother always used to make lamb-shaped cakes for all her friends and neighbors. She bequeathed the pan to me, so I've made one several times. They're cute- you color coconut green to make "grass" for it to sit in. We don't usually get together with the whole family, although when we were first married it seemed like we did.

What do you all do? Ham? Lamb? Brunch? What does the bunny bring? He always brings Peeps, which we like after they've sat out and gotten slightly stale. Jelly beans, of course, and some sort of chocolate eggs. We have a local candy store that makes these football-sized chocolate eggs (hollow) that are filled with chocolates. Yum.

What else goes in the basket? I always used to give sidewalk chalk and bubbles and jumpropes, but they are a bit past that now. Last year I think they each got a movie.

So, do tell. What are your family's Easter traditions? What do you do? What do you eat?

2008-03-20T21:28:00.003-05:00

Thirteen Ways that Mrs. T is kind of "old school".

1. Sometimes I say things like "because I said so" (to my own children) and "let's have more work and less talk" (to my students).

2. My preferred soft drink is Coke (classic).

3. I make my own pie crust.

4. I think thank you notes are a must.

5. I've never used a tanning bed.

6. I enjoy listening to recordings of old-time radio shows like Fibber McGee and Molly and Jack Benny.

7. The t.v. is not on during dinner, which is usually eaten in the dining room, unless it's spring or summer and then on the porch.

8. I think if you're the newbie at a job, you need to show up early the first few weeks.

9. I still can't call my friends' parents by their first names, and with many school friends of my own children, they call me Mrs. - it's more of a reflection on the school climate.

10. I think Seven and 7 is a fine drink.

11. I think talking on a cell phone whilst (I love the word "whilst")shopping is incredibly tacky.

12. I own a punch bowl and use it. Ditto about 20 of those glass "snack sets" ladies had in the 50's and 60's for bridge club and bridal showers. It's a rectangular plate with a little place for a matching punch cup. Some of the plates are other shapes- but you get the idea.

13. I am strangely picky about the pencils I use. I prefer Ticonderoga No.2 (the yellow ones with the green metal band around the eraser). I prefer that they be pointy-pointy, sharpened with a manual pencil sharpener, not hand-held, and not electric.

Baby Steps

2008-03-19T20:01:00.002-05:00

Barbara Kingsolver said in one of her recent books that we can all do our part at conserving precious natural resources by making just one meal at home that is from locally grown and/or organic ingredients. It seems reasonable enough, although in the middle part of the country, where I am, it's pretty slim pickin's in the winter. I have visions of cabbage, beets, rootabegas and dried mushrooms, which wouldn't be so bad for Mr. T and I, but I'm sure the girls would protest. We have a farmers market that has just recently started a monthly indoor market- locally grown wines, meat, baked goods, a few cabbages and turnips. I think we could all make the effort- just one day a week.

Elijah

2008-03-18T16:44:00.002-05:00

This is boring teachery stuff, so avert your eyes if you are not interested.
I've made mention of the piece of crap grading program we are now required to use even though we had a perfectly good, much better, user-friendly grading program we used in previous years. The new program doesn't move students who have transferred out of the building to the end of my roster, which the old program did. That way, you still had record of them being in your class, but by putting them at the end, they didn't get in the way when entering scores from stacks of papers that are in alphabetical order. I think I need a decoy paper to put in the pile so I don't get halfway done and realize that all the scores I've entered are one person off. It could be like setting a place for Elijah. It could be my Elijah paper.

And the winner of the "Close, But No Cigar" Award is.....

2008-03-17T16:15:00.004-05:00

Dear Spanish 2 Student:

"La mula" does NOT, nor did it ever mean "the money". I do appreciate your nice handwriting and the fact that you did include the article "la", but you couldn't be more wrong.
Thanks for playing,

Mrs. T

Beware the Ides of March

2008-03-15T20:48:00.000-05:00

Remember that from 10th Grade English? Do you know what it means? In literary terms, it has come bring a feeling of impending doom, that something bad is going to happen.
However, thanks to "Information, Please", I learned that it's something much, much more boring than that:

"The term Ides comes from the earliest Roman calendar, which is said to have been devised by Romulus, the mythical founder of Rome. Whether it was Romulus or not, the inventor of this calendar had a penchant for complexity. The Roman calendar organized its months around three days, each of which served as a reference point for counting the other days:

* Kalends (1st day of the month)
* Nones (the 7th day in March, May, July, and October; the 5th in the other months)
* Ides (the 15th day in March, May, July, and October; the 13th in the other months)

The remaining, unnamed days of the month were identified by counting backwards from the Kalends, Nones, or the Ides. For example, March 3 would be V Nones—5 days before the Nones (the Roman method of counting days was inclusive; in other words, the Nones would be counted as one of the 5 days).

Days in March

March 1: Kalends; March 2: VI Nones; March 3: V Nones; March 4: IV Nones; March 5: III Nones; March 6: Pridie Nones (Latin for "on the day before"); March 7: Nones; March 15: Ides

Used in the first Roman calendar as well as in the Julian calendar (established by Julius Caesar in 45 B.C.E.) the confusing system of Kalends, Nones, and Ides continued to be used to varying degrees throughout the Middle Ages and into the Renaissance.

So, the Ides of March is just one of a dozen Ides that occur every month of the year. Kalends, the word from which calendar is derived, is another exotic-sounding term with a mundane meaning. Kalendrium means account book in Latin: Kalend, the first of the month, was in Roman times as it is now, the date on which bills are due."

TGIF

2008-03-14T16:28:00.000-05:00

So, my kid who is failing, but needs my class in order to graduate? Didn't show up yesterday OR today. I can't really in good conscience pass him.
As far as my chronically tardy kid, one commenter suggested rewarding him for being on time. The kid is 16 and cocky as hell. I'm not going to go there with him. His reward will be not having Saturday school.
I have next week to get through, then a bunch of kids will fail (they are failing already, mostly because of attendance and non-work) and they won't be back for D term and the dynamics of my classes will change completely. I am amazed at the big Lazy Train that so many of them seem to be riding. I hope it's not a trend.

My book club is meeting this weekend. We will be discussing "Islands in the Stream"- not the Kenny and Dolly song you may so fondly remember, but the Hemingway novel. I'm having a Hemingway block and thus have not been able to get into this book at all. Anyone out there able to give me an appreciation for him that won't make me roll my eyes and think about how seriously this guy takes (took, I guess, since he's deceased) himself? Help!

Blarney

2008-03-13T21:08:00.002-05:00

My kids' school is all over St. Patrick's Day. Their Fun Night is held in March- never ON St. Paddy's, because too many people go out and celebrate on the actual day. They have corned beef sandwiches for sale, Irish dancers come and perform. They used to have green beer (Catholic school, don't you know) until a recent Diocesan ruling that stated that if an event was to be "kid" centered, there couldn't be alcohol. Other events that are for the whole parish are different. Let me tell you, Fun Night is a lot more Fun with a green beer, but oh well. On the day of the festivities, the kids get to be out of uniform- it's kind of cool to see this sea of green.
Where I live, we have the country's only bi-state St. Pat's parade- it starts in Illinois, crosses a bridge and over into Iowa. They throw beads, bands play. The local St. Patrick's society, together with the local paper honor the Irish Mother of the Year, there's a post parade bash. Lots of bars have all kinds of doings. My friend's brothers own a bar and they are having all kinds of stuff going on all day- fun for the whole family- including 2 green goats for the kids to pet from 11-2 on Saturday.
One of the local colleges, which is Catholic, has a tradition of the students painting the statue of the saint bearing the name of the college green. They may have put a stop to that and now they just put a green drape over it.
People were disappointed because the bishop or someone declared that since St. Pat's is during Holy Week this year, there can be no St. Pat's masses. They'll get their bagpipe fix elsewhere, I guess.

What about you? What's going on in your neck of the woods for the wearin' of the green?

Tardy Party

2008-03-12T21:04:00.002-05:00

I am having a terrible time with students in my Feral class coming late to class. Our school doesn't have a specific tardy policy in place other than "late to your class=your problem, you deal with it". So it's up to each teacher to issue detentions or other consequences. I haven't ever had such a problem. One kid- the one who is kind of a sociopath, comes late every damn day- and to top it off, we've got lunch in the middle of the class period and he comes back late from lunch as well. I've issued detentions, which he has not served. I've called home and been ASSURED by his mom that he would serve his detentions on Monday. He acts like I'm moving the clock hands on purpose just so he's late. Never mind the 2 bells that go off- the one-minute warning bell and the actual "you need to have your ass to class" bell. Then the kid wants to negotiate and serve before school. Eff that, I don't have to be there until 7:30, I usually get there at about 7:15. Like I want to start my day with him.

So I ask you: what to do with the Frequent Fliers? Do I keep issuing detentions? I'm beginning to feel like that idiot principal in The Breakfast Club who keeps giving Judd Nelson's character more and more Saturdays in detention.

Teacher Talk Tuesday

2008-03-11T19:11:00.002-05:00

We have the rest of this week and all of next week, which includes Finals, before Spring Break. Our kids are nutty. They will not shut up for love nor money. They have no idea they are talking. They just sit and open their mouths and sound and words come out. Amazing, really, save for the fact that it makes me want to place my head in the doorway and close the door on it repeatedly.
I have kids who continue to be absent and do no work. How the hell do they expect to pass? One boy who has missed about 16 days - maybe 5 of them legitimately- handed his messy notebook to another student to give to me. Is it bad that I refused to look through it? I told him he was more than welcome to SHOW me his missing work, but I wasn't going to go on a scavenger hunt to find it. He was here yesterday, gone today. I don't know why he's even bothering at this point, since he had like a 17%.
I also have several music kids who are leaving on a trip tomorrow and will return Monday. Great timing, that, especially given all the other lost instructional time we've endured this term.
Lord, just get me through.

The Wind Blew Us Back Via ChicagoDes Moines in the Middle of the Night

2008-03-10T19:52:00.005-05:00

In addition to traveling to Des Moines and back on Friday for the basketball game, we also went to Des Moines yesterday for the Wilco show. It's about a 3 hour trip one way.
Before the show, we ate at a Bosnian restaurant. There is a fairly large Bosnian community in Des Moines, I guess they don't mind the Iowa winters. Anyway, the food was tasty- lots of grilled, spicy meat and spongy Bosnian flatbread. The only other customers were other Bosnians. I love small ethnic restaurants- especially when the menu says things like "Sandwiches (it come with the French fries)". It feeds my inner ESL teacher! When I taught ESL, it used to make me kind of sad when our kids would test out of ESL and stop saying their ESL-isms. It was very endearing to me.

After our tasty Cevapci and something else that I could neither say nor spell if my life depended on it and equally tasty Burek, we headed to the Val Air Ballroom for the Wilco show. In addition to being a FANTASTIC show- starting out mellow and introspective and finishing up with my favorites and coming out for 2, count'em, 2 encores, it was also a great night for people watching. There were old people, young people, people with kids, pregnant women, people who brought their 80's hair and clothes with them. There was one woman who stood for the entire show, even though she was at a table and could have sat down, she sang along to every single song, danced (badly) and had this big goofy grin on her face the whole time. At one point, she was standing on her chair, just a singin' away- she looked like she really thought the band was singing to her. She was like a trainwreck, though- couldn't keep my eyes off her!
VERY short night, quite tired today, but definitely worth it!

Saturday

2008-03-08T11:58:00.000-06:00

Ah, sweet Saturday! Tomorrow we Spring Forward, which I cannot even believe. Isn't it awfully EARLY to be doing this? Thanks, W.

Today's plan:

1. Catch up on the endless mountain of laundry that was sent here to tie me to my home. I get kinda ocd about it- once it's all done, then I do this itty bitty loads of the scrap laundry so I can then safely say that ALL of the laundry is done, save for the clothes on our backs. I stuff clothes into creaky dressers, slide hangers to the end of the closet rod.

2. Get Lydia a 1st Communion veil. She can wear Claire's dress from 2 years ago, and probably the shoes, and the white sweater in case it's cold. I want her to have something that's just hers, though.

3. Lesson planning for the week- I've got about 10 show choir kids who will be going to Florida this week and will miss about 4 days of class. Ugh. I hate the makeup work.

4. Watch our boys play for the State title, which they've not held since 1979. No pressure....

5. Go to bed EARLY, or what feels like early, since we'll be LOSING an hour of sleep tonight! Not that I'm upset by this in the least, or anything.

Paying it Forward

2008-03-07T23:01:00.000-06:00

So, the boys basketball team headed to Des Moines today for round 2 of the State Championship. They won by 7 points against a Cedar Rapids team.

We didn't have much time between Wed.'s victory and today's game to round up chartered fan buses, but managed to get 2 or 3. One of our staff members had a list of kids who were not going to be able to afford to go. He took it upon himself to take up a collection from our staff to cover the cost of their bus trip and ticket ($25). Because of the generosity of our staff, 24 kids were able to go. PLUS, once they got on the bus, they were handed a plain white envelope, that when they opened revealed a $10 bill for them to spend on food at the arena. I hope they remember that and pay it forward some day when they are asked to pitch in so that a group of kids can go do something fun.

2008-03-06T20:52:00.003-06:00

Thirteen Days of Lost Instructional Time this Term (aka Quarter)

1. 1st day of term In order to NOT have our finals mid-week and start a new term the very next day, followed by a 4 day weekend, we added 2 days to B term.

2. 2nd day of term See #1.

3. 1/2 Snow Day In anticipation of a big storm, we spent the morning fussing about it, they called a 2 hour early dismissal at about 9, which meant the rest of the day was pretty much shot.

4. Snow Day One of the few that was actually warranted.

5. Snow Day This one was just to give maintenance and Public Works a chance to get streets and parking lots cleared.

6. ITEDS That would be the Iowa Tests of Educational Development for those of you out-of-staters.

7. First Spree Aud I guess some places call them assemblies. They announced the candidates for Spree King and the band played and they introduced the winter sports teams. We were on an alternate bell schedule, but still, it messed with our day.

8. Second Spree Aud They crowned the Spree King and the Show Choir performed.

9. Pep assembly for Boys Basketball tea A big send off to the boys as they prepared for round one of the finals.

10. State basketball game Not an early out, but also not a normal day- kids excited to go on the fan buses (6 student buses and 2 adult buses).

11. Day after game That would be today- lots of kids gone because they got back late and stayed home to sleep. Others just stayed up in Des Moines because they are playing again tomorrow, since they won yesterday.

12. 3 hour Early Out Yes you heard me. 3 hour early dismissal so everyone can make the 3:30 game in Des Moines tomorrow.

13. It's out of order, but I also was gone one day in January, so they kids did sub work, which isn't the same as me being there.

Soup Supper

2008-03-05T23:18:00.000-06:00

Every Wednesday during Lent, our church has a Soup Supper. Different groups within the church sponsor them- the Altar and Rosary, the Men's group, the choir, etc. People either bring a crock-pot of soup or a dessert. Then, at 5:30, they open the doors and people come eat. They have a basket for a good-will donation, which then goes to Catholic Relief Services or Operation Rice Bowl. At first, I was hesitant to go to this- I thought it was going to be all churchy and we'd have to sit and discuss Bible stuff or Lent stuff, which is all fine and good, but not necessarily what I really want to do on a Wed. evening. What I found out, though, was that it's just fellowship. Come together, eat some soup, talk to friends and neighbors, recite some prayers from "Liturgy of the Hours"- like evening vespers, and then go home. And the prayers we recite are actually very beautiful- I don't care what your religious affiliation is or is not, it's really beautifully written.
What a nice thing for us in the middle of the week, in the middle of the dreary winter. How lucky are we to belong to such a great community?