So, whatcha been doing for the last month?

I can't believe it has been nearly a month since school got out. I've been busy, and at this point in the summer, I always ask myself, "So, what HAVE you been doing...?" Not being in school always seems like the ticket to freedom, but it doesn't always mean I have plenty of time for everything I want. In the meantime, I have...

• Done multiple loads of laundry
• I think I've vacuumed once or twice
• Put skirts together for a church thingy
• Watched my sister in-law serge said skirts (she has some pretty sweet skills)
• Interpreted...a lot. I put in my first 12-hour day of interpreting a few weeks ago. I've done "half" a day before while working for my dad, but never as an interpreter. I wouldn't recommend it.
• Gone to a few yoga classes
• Jogged around the park a time or two
• Went to an interpreting training workshop
• Went to a UT-ASLTA conference
• Skipped the Region 5 RID conference
• Attempted to organize summer activities for my ASL students. Haven't been overwhelmed by the response...yet...
• Went to see Karate Kid (love Jackie Chan!)
• Baked a few batches of bread, and tried out the Kaiser roll recipe in Peter Reinhart's book
• Made a batch of 30 Kaiser rolls for the UT-ASLTA conference
• Tried some wicked good ice cream recipes
• Carried around a book for a class I'm taking that I haven't managed to get more than halfway through yet. Better get crackin', book's due on Monday.
• Attended my first week of summer classes at WSU
• Pulled a few weeds
• Brought in a yard of dirt for the garden

Hooray!

I have never looked forward to the last day of school with this much fervor before. It has nothing to do with cranky students. My kids have been great. I am completely burned out. Last day of school, thank goodness you are here at last.

Funny jokes

Ryan and I went to see a movie the other night. We were squeezing in a trip to the accountant to pick up our taxes before the movie, so we didn't have time to stop and get anything terribly wonderful for dinner before we made it to the movie. There was a Subway across the street, so we picked up a sandwich, and Ryan stuffed it in the pocket of his hoodie before we went into the theater. I was feeling a slight twinge of guilt as we walked in, but it all disappeared when we went to the concessions counter.

Let me take a slight tangent to point out one of those differences that you don't really think about until you get married. At my family's house, we have little cups we use for every meal. At one point in the distant past, we used to have glasses. The combined efforts of any number of under-age dish washers has succeeded in eliminating them, one by one from our dish collection. The cups, on the other hand, have turned out to be pretty bullet-proof, and have managed to survive all of the clumsy dishwashers in residence. They have proved to be so tough that they are sticking around for another go-around for my niece and nephews to put them through the paces. Of course we have little cups with our meals. It works!

After a trip or two home to visit my family, Ryan pointed out to me that it takes about 3 or 4 re-fills of one of those bullet-proof wonders to make it through a meal. I hadn't noticed. I don't drink as much during a meal, and in a pinch can go without and not miss it. Not the case with Ryan. He has actually considered bringing his own 16-ounce glass with him when we come to visit.

Back to the movie theater. Ryan needed something to drink to go with dinner, so I went up to the counter and asked for a large bottle of water. "That will be $4.50," the nice kid at the counter said. "$4.50?!?" I knew it would be more than one would expect, but four dollars and fifty cents for a bottle of water--something I can get out of my tap for free? I started laughing. The kid at the counter started laughing too. I forked over the dough, took the water, and went to the movie, my guilt about the sandwich in Ryan's pocket being completely absolved.

We saw Alice in Wonderland. Graphics were fantastic. Plot...meh. Don't waste your money. The best part of the movie was the pre-show subliminal message from Sprint. It was a short movie of a kid writing a note on a slate in a one-room school house, getting caught and getting spanked with a paddle. Cut to grouchy old man sitting next to kid, taking away kid's phone and saying, "...and THAT'S why I don't text when I go the movies."

Cheap Thrills

I'm always looking for ways to make the mundane exciting. Example: practicing signing money numbers. There are a few subtleties when signing money numbers that students don't always pick up right away. I've found through experience that unless they really understand how to sign $1-$9 before you add on money numbers for higher denominations, they end up signing things that could roughly be interpreted as: $3 dollars.

I found a set of colored Jenga blocks in my closet at school. I decided to give my students fake money, and have them "buy" the color they wanted. (The different colors cost different amounts of money.) They all got a chance to come up and tell me what color and how much, which was exactly what I wanted. What I didn't expect was how much they got into the game. I have never seen all of my students on the edge of their seats like that! I heard one girl comment on her way out the door to her friend: "I was starting to get dizzy from holding my breath." Transformers, step aside. All you really need for a night of nail-biting excitement is a set of Jenga blocks.

On a different note, we had the World Language Fair on Wednesday. Many thanks to Dixon and Linda for being willing to help out! It was a long night of noise and chaos. I required my students to go (naturally!), and I've been collecting their "passports" today in class--their proof of attendance and a big hunk of their grade. Most of my students went. I have been thoroughly impressed by the creativity of the students who didn't go. Forget "the dog ate my homework" line. Here's a sampling of what I've heard:

- I was driving to the Fair. Honest. And then I got in a car accident and couldn't come.

- My grandmother died. (There were a few grandmothers who died this week.)

- I had an allergic reaction to a cavity being filled, and my face got all swollen up.

- I got lost on the way there.

- Crap! That was last night?!?

- I was on my way there. For reals. And then my work called. This guy didn't show up for his shift, and I was the ONLY person who could fill his shift.

I'm not saying I'm doubting any of these reasons. It's just been interesting to hear the parade of excuses as they come in. My response: "Wow. Here's your alternate assignment. Have fun with the research project. I'll be anxiously awaiting your presentation in class next week."

Lists

I grew up with lists. The kind on a yellow pad, with my dad's distinctive handwriting. They would have things like:

61st street building:

-mow

-edge

-pick up the bucket of plumbing parts in the shed to leave at Ralston Road building

-pick up trash

-knock on #6, and give Bob Smith a letter

etc, etc.

Theses lists were my dad's way of making sure everything got taken care of when he sent his teenage work crew out to make the rounds of the apartment buildings he owns and maintains. Often, a trip that would be promised to last "a couple of hours" would stretch out long into the afternoon and evening. (It wasn't until I started working at McDonald's, and people would ask for "a couple of hamburgers" that I realized that "couple" meant "two.")

Last week, I made a list for myself of things to do on President's Day. I'm still not done with my list. Ryan says I get it from my dad.

It's all downhill from here.

Twelve weeks left after tomorrow. Not that I'm counting.

My students have been great this year. They are picking up on things, and it's fun to watch the lightbulbs turn on. I've lost a few. The semester break always brings some schedule changes. I can understand the kids who drop when their grades are rotty and they do a potty job in class. What perplexes me are the students who were doing fine and have just disappeared. Apparently, not all schedule changes require a teacher signature, and the names just don't show up on next semester's roll. It would be nice to know they are leaving, especially if they have books checked out to them.

My classes are down to workable numbers now. I can fit all of the chairs I need around the room, without adding a double row. The students who are still there seem to enjoy class, at least most of the time. I have been doing the whole year "voices off", and I feel like they have done a remarkable job of picking things up. A few weeks ago, we watched a video of someone signing a story on a video about a candy bar. A lot of my students laughed at the right place. The first time through. I think this is working. I hope.

Huh.

Life is full of dichotomies. Nothing to emphasize that like the last few days of the quarter. Here are snippets from two different conversations I've had this week:

Student #1: Is there anything I can do to bring up my grade? Please, please, please? I'm desperate.

Student #2: Wow! Is that really my grade? Yes! Yes! Yes!

One student currently has an A-, the other a D-. See if you can guess which student has which grade. (Answers are below.)

At faculty meeting this week, our union rep mentioned to us (okay, handed out a stack of papers, and begged and cajoled us to action) that the legislature is looking at changing retirement benefits for all state employees, which includes yours truly. On the list of possible actions were:

1. Calling legislators.

2. Writing letters.

3. A rally at the capitol building on President's Day.

4. Threatening to take other actions, including only working contract hours.

5. A very unlikely possibility of a walk-out as a last resort.

Item #4 has given me much cause for thought. There are some days when I come dragging in after a 10 hour day (2 hours of which I'm not getting paid for) and wonder if I'm in the wrong profession. Maybe I should just chuck it all and go for a clock-in clock-out job. It's kind of sad when one of the "weapons" in our arsenal of possible political actions is to only work what we are getting paid to do.

But then, on second thought, I think I'll take my kids over a pointy-haired boss any day of the week. (Excluding the last week of the quarter.)

Answer to the question? Student #1: A- Student #2: D- Ahhh, I love my job.