5. We got our closing packets at faculty meeting last week. Wahoo! And then I took a closer look at the schedules they have made for the last two weeks... I have come to the conclusion that whoever made the schedules has not darkened the door of a classroom for a long time. Why do we need an 8 period the week before school gets out for senior check-out? Why is the 8-period day an early out at 12:15 to boot? We basically end up with two extra A-days according to plan--and they are much longer than the B days they alternate with because of short days for graduation, the BIG assembly, etc. Sigh. I shouldn't complain. It just makes it hard to play school when you are out half the time and in the other half.
4. I drive to school in daylight. There's something about seeing the sun in the morning that is just good for the soul.
3. My ETA to school in the morning has slipped from 7:00 to 7:15 to 7:20 to, well, never mind. I have 1st period prep on both days, and it's getting harder and harder to drag my sorry bum out of bed in the mornings.
2. I can count the remaining Mondays on one hand, and that includes Memorial day.
1. Questions like, "What's my grade?" have become much more frequent and urgent.
It's getting close! Can't wait!
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Hey lady, get your kids off the playing field!
In an effort to come up with a "real" application of something we learned in class, I've been looking for an opportunity for my Sign II students to sign the national anthem. The version we learn from the Signing Naturally curriculum is very good, and has come in quite handy for me on a number of formal interpreting occasions when I've had to do it for my job.
It's been a little more difficult than I thought. At the school I taught previously, we performed it one year at the start of one of (the many) assemblies. When I asked at my new school, I got a "No, we don't do that here, sorry!" Meh. Whatever. Which explains why last week when I was policing the halls during an assembly I heard someone in the auditorium signing the national anthem. I guess I didn't batt my eyes enough.
Anyway, I scheduled with the athletic director to have my kids perform at a baseball game. We were originally scheduled for last week, but the location was changed and the game got rained out. So, after much double-checking with the director on the time, I had my kids meet me at 3:10 so we could perform at 3:20. Game was scheduled for 3:30. Athletic director assured me at 3:15 that we would be on in five minutes. I had my kids all lined up ("I have to babysit at 3:30, so this better get over fast." "I have a lacrosse game at 3:30, just so you know." ) and five minutes later we were strolling out onto the field.
"Hey," the baseball couch yells, "whaddaya think you're doing?"
Umm, getting ready for the national anthem...?
"Game doesn't start for 15 minutes! Get your kids off the field!"
Grrr. Obviously not on the same page as the athletic director who told me the time. About 25 minutes later, we were finally allowed onto the field, did our piece and were done. I had a few students who were getting super antsy because they had places to be, but for the most part it went pretty well. I'm sure they will all thank me when they become interpreters and have to interpret the national anthem. Yeah, right. Wishful thinking.
On a different note, I mowed the lawn. It was just mowed Saturday, although you would never guess that. It's supposed to be a rainy few days starting tomorrow, so I figured I better get it while I can.
It's been a little more difficult than I thought. At the school I taught previously, we performed it one year at the start of one of (the many) assemblies. When I asked at my new school, I got a "No, we don't do that here, sorry!" Meh. Whatever. Which explains why last week when I was policing the halls during an assembly I heard someone in the auditorium signing the national anthem. I guess I didn't batt my eyes enough.
Anyway, I scheduled with the athletic director to have my kids perform at a baseball game. We were originally scheduled for last week, but the location was changed and the game got rained out. So, after much double-checking with the director on the time, I had my kids meet me at 3:10 so we could perform at 3:20. Game was scheduled for 3:30. Athletic director assured me at 3:15 that we would be on in five minutes. I had my kids all lined up ("I have to babysit at 3:30, so this better get over fast." "I have a lacrosse game at 3:30, just so you know." ) and five minutes later we were strolling out onto the field.
"Hey," the baseball couch yells, "whaddaya think you're doing?"
Umm, getting ready for the national anthem...?
"Game doesn't start for 15 minutes! Get your kids off the field!"
Grrr. Obviously not on the same page as the athletic director who told me the time. About 25 minutes later, we were finally allowed onto the field, did our piece and were done. I had a few students who were getting super antsy because they had places to be, but for the most part it went pretty well. I'm sure they will all thank me when they become interpreters and have to interpret the national anthem. Yeah, right. Wishful thinking.
On a different note, I mowed the lawn. It was just mowed Saturday, although you would never guess that. It's supposed to be a rainy few days starting tomorrow, so I figured I better get it while I can.
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
SBO Entertainment
I always get a chuckle out of the SBO (student body officer) posters that get put up around the school at this time of year. I don't remember the campaigns ever being that elaborate when I was going to school. They have a special assembly where they perform skits for the student body, and I guess from that the students are able to see who has the best leadership abilities...? I'm always amazed at the things they come up with. The kid bathing in nacho cheese a few years ago takes the cake for odd skits.
I have to hand it to these kids for having the guts to plaster their faces all over the school. I don't think I had that kind of nerve when I was in high school. With the advances in technology and access to fancy printers and such, there are some kids who have larger than life sized images of themselves hanging up.
On some level, I think the SBO elections have a lot in common with real elections--people vote for the guy with the best-looking and most entertaining posters, even though they may not know a thing about what political positions he or she has, and what the duties of the office they are running for entails. The only difference is you probably won't see a slogan that reads: "He puts the STUD back in STUDent government" on someone's sign, although who knows?
I have to hand it to these kids for having the guts to plaster their faces all over the school. I don't think I had that kind of nerve when I was in high school. With the advances in technology and access to fancy printers and such, there are some kids who have larger than life sized images of themselves hanging up.
On some level, I think the SBO elections have a lot in common with real elections--people vote for the guy with the best-looking and most entertaining posters, even though they may not know a thing about what political positions he or she has, and what the duties of the office they are running for entails. The only difference is you probably won't see a slogan that reads: "He puts the STUD back in STUDent government" on someone's sign, although who knows?
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Taking the plunge
I applied to WSU on Friday so I can begin work on my master's degree. I need to be accepted by WSU, and then apply to the Master's of Education program. I'm hoping I can get all of this going quickly, because I would like to get started on it this summer. I didn't realize it, but I've missed some deadlines and the first class that I need to take is full at the moment. I forget that colleges are on a different schedule than the public schools are (my cute little brother informed me yesterday that he is almost done with school--just one more week left).
Getting a master's degree has always been one of my goals, but it's been one that I've put off for a while. Part of the reason I've put it off for a while, is that there isn't a program that has what I'm looking for that's close to home. I know some people go to great lengths to find just the right program (including moving), but I'm not ready to uproot my very comfortable life and job that I love in pursuit of THE perfect degree and school. I'm not really wild about the idea of long commutes, either. One reason for starting now and going to WSU, is that because I'm teaching my high school classes as concurrent enrollment classes, I get 6 free credit of tuition a year. Can't beat being able to go to school for free. As a result, I will be doing the generic MEd program. I might do something more specialized later, but for all intents and purposes, and MEd will suit just fine.
So, here we go! I'm excited to go back to school. I love going to school. Hopefully I'll still love it when I'm done.
Getting a master's degree has always been one of my goals, but it's been one that I've put off for a while. Part of the reason I've put it off for a while, is that there isn't a program that has what I'm looking for that's close to home. I know some people go to great lengths to find just the right program (including moving), but I'm not ready to uproot my very comfortable life and job that I love in pursuit of THE perfect degree and school. I'm not really wild about the idea of long commutes, either. One reason for starting now and going to WSU, is that because I'm teaching my high school classes as concurrent enrollment classes, I get 6 free credit of tuition a year. Can't beat being able to go to school for free. As a result, I will be doing the generic MEd program. I might do something more specialized later, but for all intents and purposes, and MEd will suit just fine.
So, here we go! I'm excited to go back to school. I love going to school. Hopefully I'll still love it when I'm done.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Catching up
It's been a busy month! Here are some of the things that have kept me occupied recently...
First and foremost being our baby chicks. What cute little balls of fluff! They are growing very quickly, and the biggest and bossiest (Audrey fforbes-Hamilton) has tail feathers coming in now, in addition to her very large wings. We are hoping that her remarkable growth is not due to the fact that she is a rooster. We ordered 2 Easter Eggers and 2 Red Star chicks from mypetchicken.com. Unfortunately, the Red Stars didn't make it past day 2, so we had to buy replacements from the local feed store. They didn't have any Red Stars, so we ended up with Rhode Island Reds instead. They have furry feet, so we named the two reds Pippin and Merry. Pippin is the smallest--we figured that Pippin could also be short for "pip-squeak". The other Easter Egger is named Daisy.
Daisy is the one taking a drink, Audrey is the big dark chick, Merry is right under Audrey, and Pippin is off to the right.
So far, Merry is the only one who has really taken to hopping on the perch.
We bought a coop for our girls. They won't be big enough to live in it for another month or so, but we are ready. It's pretty slick--with panels that can be removed on the sides, and a handy little egg door on the end next to the nesting box. Ryan has already come up with about a dozen different ideas for improving on it. We'll see how they do in it.
School has been keeping me pretty busy as well. I'm not sure why, but I never seem to get caught up. There are always the random things that come up at school that make it entertaining. Yesterday, I was cleaning up all the shrapnel that had piled up on my desk after a round of EDvisory (basically study hall on steroids...) in addition to a normal day's worth of classes. One of my kids comes in, totally out of breath. Turns out he is on the tennis team, and they were doing laps inside instead of fighting the wind outside. Did he feel a burning urge to get caught up on things for my class? No, I'm afraid his visit was a "Hey, I'm popping in because I'm supposed to be running and want a break." After I laughed at him, I sent him back out the door to finish his run.
I also read one of the lamest books I've read since I picked up Twilight. Skip this paragraph if you liked The Thirteenth Tale. (Ryan: So why are you continuing to read this book if it's so dumb? Me: Because it's so stupid, I have to see if the end is any better than the beginning.) Fact: The end is STUPIDER than the beginning. Good grief! Maybe the problem lies in the fact that when Ryan looked it up on Wikipedia, it was termed a "gothic" novel. I think "gothic novel" in this case means the most ridiculously absurd twists of plot in a tale involving people who need to get over themselves. In some ways, it was reminiscent of some of the stories my sister and I would make up together when we were kids. Our stories had all kinds of plot twists, one of the most common being that the really evil person would magically end up not being evil--she just had an evil twin sister. In the case of this book, not only did we have a set of twins (one of them being evil), we also had a half sister show up 20 pages from the end who looked EXACTLY like the twins. I dunno. It just stretched my suspension of reality a tad too far. Not to mention the weirdness of the incestuous love affair between two of the characters in the book. Eww. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this book.
Last weekend, we had some last-minute visitors. My brother and his family stayed overnight on their way to a funeral in Idaho. It was wonderful to see them--we don't get the chance to see them as often as we would like. We had a blast playing with their kids. My house is also cleaner than it has been in a few months...nothing like guests coming to inspire a round of late-night housecleaning. We should have guests over more often.
And...I've also been playing with different recipes. I found a pretty good granola recipe on Allrecipes.com, and tweaked it a bit to match what I had in my kitchen. I'll post it--it was really good.
First and foremost being our baby chicks. What cute little balls of fluff! They are growing very quickly, and the biggest and bossiest (Audrey fforbes-Hamilton) has tail feathers coming in now, in addition to her very large wings. We are hoping that her remarkable growth is not due to the fact that she is a rooster. We ordered 2 Easter Eggers and 2 Red Star chicks from mypetchicken.com. Unfortunately, the Red Stars didn't make it past day 2, so we had to buy replacements from the local feed store. They didn't have any Red Stars, so we ended up with Rhode Island Reds instead. They have furry feet, so we named the two reds Pippin and Merry. Pippin is the smallest--we figured that Pippin could also be short for "pip-squeak". The other Easter Egger is named Daisy.
Daisy is the one taking a drink, Audrey is the big dark chick, Merry is right under Audrey, and Pippin is off to the right.
So far, Merry is the only one who has really taken to hopping on the perch.We bought a coop for our girls. They won't be big enough to live in it for another month or so, but we are ready. It's pretty slick--with panels that can be removed on the sides, and a handy little egg door on the end next to the nesting box. Ryan has already come up with about a dozen different ideas for improving on it. We'll see how they do in it.
School has been keeping me pretty busy as well. I'm not sure why, but I never seem to get caught up. There are always the random things that come up at school that make it entertaining. Yesterday, I was cleaning up all the shrapnel that had piled up on my desk after a round of EDvisory (basically study hall on steroids...) in addition to a normal day's worth of classes. One of my kids comes in, totally out of breath. Turns out he is on the tennis team, and they were doing laps inside instead of fighting the wind outside. Did he feel a burning urge to get caught up on things for my class? No, I'm afraid his visit was a "Hey, I'm popping in because I'm supposed to be running and want a break." After I laughed at him, I sent him back out the door to finish his run.
I also read one of the lamest books I've read since I picked up Twilight. Skip this paragraph if you liked The Thirteenth Tale. (Ryan: So why are you continuing to read this book if it's so dumb? Me: Because it's so stupid, I have to see if the end is any better than the beginning.) Fact: The end is STUPIDER than the beginning. Good grief! Maybe the problem lies in the fact that when Ryan looked it up on Wikipedia, it was termed a "gothic" novel. I think "gothic novel" in this case means the most ridiculously absurd twists of plot in a tale involving people who need to get over themselves. In some ways, it was reminiscent of some of the stories my sister and I would make up together when we were kids. Our stories had all kinds of plot twists, one of the most common being that the really evil person would magically end up not being evil--she just had an evil twin sister. In the case of this book, not only did we have a set of twins (one of them being evil), we also had a half sister show up 20 pages from the end who looked EXACTLY like the twins. I dunno. It just stretched my suspension of reality a tad too far. Not to mention the weirdness of the incestuous love affair between two of the characters in the book. Eww. Anyway, I wouldn't recommend this book.
Last weekend, we had some last-minute visitors. My brother and his family stayed overnight on their way to a funeral in Idaho. It was wonderful to see them--we don't get the chance to see them as often as we would like. We had a blast playing with their kids. My house is also cleaner than it has been in a few months...nothing like guests coming to inspire a round of late-night housecleaning. We should have guests over more often.
And...I've also been playing with different recipes. I found a pretty good granola recipe on Allrecipes.com, and tweaked it a bit to match what I had in my kitchen. I'll post it--it was really good.
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