The last week has been more than a little nuts at work. Home, thankfully, is currently trending toward "calmer". Thank goodness.
At work, the search for a new teacher or teachers to cover my co-teacher's classes appears to be drawing to a close. We've got one enormously strong candidate and another less strong one. And one that did her best but was so tremulously frightened that the she scared the students a little.
However, with midterm grades due next week, it's falling on me and the principal to get all the grades together for the classes which are in limbo. This week I helped make lesson plans for those seven classes and my own six classes. I'm trying to find a parent to come in and grade the objective, multiple choice type tests so I can just enter the grades into the electronic gradebooks.
Thank goodness we've found the attendance/gradebook for those classes...one of the subs accidentally took it home.
Today we had a major behavior problem in every single class of every single grade. Nightmarish. Yet the potential new teacher handled the situation involving her students with aplomb and wisdom.
I REALLY hope she takes the job.
Friday, November 06, 2009
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
English Types, This Is Cool!
Everyone in the world probably knows about this, but go here and play with this thing!
Here's my PicLit:
See the full PicLit at PicLits.com
Here's my PicLit:
See the full PicLit at PicLits.com
Maybaby Appreciation Day
I had a whole other post ready to go, but today's events have hijacked my train of thought.
The past two weeks have been...fraught...at work. With my co-teacher leaving, no new teacher in place, students coming unglued and a classic "mean girls" scenario with the ninth grade girls, I ended up last week feeling as a bit wrung out.
Various things ensued which had been making me wonder if I'd done something or said something that gave an impression to one set of parents or to the "mean girls" that I'd taken sides in the dispute. Since I'm quite at pains to never get involved in student drama, I was discouraged and disheartened. By Friday morning, I was beside myself with all the emotion and drama swirling around.
Our headmaster made the time to come over and talk to me about what had been going on, and was at pains to make sure I felt supported and appreciated. I told him at the time how much of a difference he'd made in my outlook; and I did, really. He's been dealing with a lot of difficult issues and situations and it meant a lot to me that he'd come over to this campus and talked to me about it. I felt reassured.
Today, kids kept wishing me "happy anniversary!" all morning. Since my anniversary was on Oct. 15th, I was a little confused, but accepted their well wishes. At lunch, Biker Hubby marched into the secondary lunch room, with a wicked gleam in his eye, trailed by GameBoyjr's entire 4th grade class. Since Biker Hubby takes over lunch and recess for the 4th grade every Tuesday and he often brings me little treats, I didn't think too much about it. Then he whipped out a HUGE card, made by the students and signed by ALL the teachers, staff and middle school/high school students. It said "Happy 20th (and two weeks and six days) anniversary!" I was speechless and I blushed tomato red, instantly. Then Biker Hubby presented me with a little gift bag, saying "This is all from (principal) and (headmaster). I had no idea!" The gift bag contained movie ticket vouchers and a gift card to the local Coldstone Creamery ice cream store.
Then it got better. "The real present," announced Biker Hubby, "is that (headmaster) got you a substitute for the afternoon. You have the rest of the day off!"
You don't have to tell me twice. I got my sub settled with some plans (she's a former English teacher, so I didn't have to pull out the emergency plans, yay!), I took off with Biker Hubby. Unfortunately, our afternoon was full of stuff like driving kids to therapy appointments, but I managed to get in shopping for new work clothes, and we went for ice cream.
Gotta hand it to the headmaster...that's the most meaningful gift he could have come up with...time off! I definitely feel appreciated and much, much more relaxed; my amazement, though, will not wear off for a long, long while.
The past two weeks have been...fraught...at work. With my co-teacher leaving, no new teacher in place, students coming unglued and a classic "mean girls" scenario with the ninth grade girls, I ended up last week feeling as a bit wrung out.
Various things ensued which had been making me wonder if I'd done something or said something that gave an impression to one set of parents or to the "mean girls" that I'd taken sides in the dispute. Since I'm quite at pains to never get involved in student drama, I was discouraged and disheartened. By Friday morning, I was beside myself with all the emotion and drama swirling around.
Our headmaster made the time to come over and talk to me about what had been going on, and was at pains to make sure I felt supported and appreciated. I told him at the time how much of a difference he'd made in my outlook; and I did, really. He's been dealing with a lot of difficult issues and situations and it meant a lot to me that he'd come over to this campus and talked to me about it. I felt reassured.
Today, kids kept wishing me "happy anniversary!" all morning. Since my anniversary was on Oct. 15th, I was a little confused, but accepted their well wishes. At lunch, Biker Hubby marched into the secondary lunch room, with a wicked gleam in his eye, trailed by GameBoyjr's entire 4th grade class. Since Biker Hubby takes over lunch and recess for the 4th grade every Tuesday and he often brings me little treats, I didn't think too much about it. Then he whipped out a HUGE card, made by the students and signed by ALL the teachers, staff and middle school/high school students. It said "Happy 20th (and two weeks and six days) anniversary!" I was speechless and I blushed tomato red, instantly. Then Biker Hubby presented me with a little gift bag, saying "This is all from (principal) and (headmaster). I had no idea!" The gift bag contained movie ticket vouchers and a gift card to the local Coldstone Creamery ice cream store.
Then it got better. "The real present," announced Biker Hubby, "is that (headmaster) got you a substitute for the afternoon. You have the rest of the day off!"
You don't have to tell me twice. I got my sub settled with some plans (she's a former English teacher, so I didn't have to pull out the emergency plans, yay!), I took off with Biker Hubby. Unfortunately, our afternoon was full of stuff like driving kids to therapy appointments, but I managed to get in shopping for new work clothes, and we went for ice cream.
Gotta hand it to the headmaster...that's the most meaningful gift he could have come up with...time off! I definitely feel appreciated and much, much more relaxed; my amazement, though, will not wear off for a long, long while.
Sunday, November 01, 2009
Weird, But Cool
I have a whomping headache. It's so bad I can't finish my grading and I'm going to stagger off to bed and try to sleep it off before getting up for school tomorrow.
In lieu of a post, please accept this recording of the electromagnetic particles around Jupiter interacting with solar wind. It's amazing.
In lieu of a post, please accept this recording of the electromagnetic particles around Jupiter interacting with solar wind. It's amazing.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Happy Halloween!
Zombie Mom Haiku
Hey! Give me those brains
if you're not going to eat them..
do not waste your food.
And a funny video, via Miss Cellania
Friday, October 30, 2009
And, For My Next Trick...
I shall top off my week by going to a fundraiser in which the sole entertainment is a WORLD FAMOUS Elvis impersonator.
No, no...I'm not kidding. There will be wine, though, and Biker Hubby.
Tonight's goal: do not make the local headlines tomorrow morning.
No, no...I'm not kidding. There will be wine, though, and Biker Hubby.
Tonight's goal: do not make the local headlines tomorrow morning.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
OH EM EFF GEE (A Post I Will Delete If I Ever Put My Name On This Blog)
Must be something in the air, today. My school has lost its collective mind. Perhaps it has something to do with this being my co-teacher's last day at school. Good grief. We've had meanness and defiance, rule-breaking, theft and outright lying. And that's just the students.
I am astonished and baffled, especially at the response from the administration. It has not been an easy two days. Things would be a little better, I suppose, if a teacher had been hired to take over my co-teacher's classes. Administration says that they can't discuss the status of any hiring decisions. I don't want to know any names, just knowing that they're looking at resumes and talking to people would be enough.
Today, after being turned away with "Can't talk about it, sorry", I've just made up my mind that it's not my problem. I suppose if they put a succession of substitutes in those classes, they'll have to fend for themselves. I've got too much on my own plate to sort out substitute teachers.
I keep repeating to Biker Hubby: "Has the school always been this way and I just never noticed?"
The last two days, I've taken to my last-ditch stress relief activity: making lists of jobs I could do which are less aggravating and have a better pay rate.
-Front counter at a fast food restaurant
-shelving books in a library
-cleaning up crime scenes
-cleaning houses for other people
-being personal organizer/coach (actually, I would love to do this...though if you saw my house right now, that would make you laugh heartily)
-filing things in an office
-working in a corporate mailroom
-cosmetics counter at the mall
-ticket taker at the movies
-kennel help at the vet's office
I've got about 20 more.
When I start making these lists, it means I've hit the end of my rope. I'm not thinking of quitting, but I spent some time tonight looking at distance learning programs which have ads running for English faculty.
Just keeping the options open.
I am astonished and baffled, especially at the response from the administration. It has not been an easy two days. Things would be a little better, I suppose, if a teacher had been hired to take over my co-teacher's classes. Administration says that they can't discuss the status of any hiring decisions. I don't want to know any names, just knowing that they're looking at resumes and talking to people would be enough.
Today, after being turned away with "Can't talk about it, sorry", I've just made up my mind that it's not my problem. I suppose if they put a succession of substitutes in those classes, they'll have to fend for themselves. I've got too much on my own plate to sort out substitute teachers.
I keep repeating to Biker Hubby: "Has the school always been this way and I just never noticed?"
The last two days, I've taken to my last-ditch stress relief activity: making lists of jobs I could do which are less aggravating and have a better pay rate.
-Front counter at a fast food restaurant
-shelving books in a library
-cleaning up crime scenes
-cleaning houses for other people
-being personal organizer/coach (actually, I would love to do this...though if you saw my house right now, that would make you laugh heartily)
-filing things in an office
-working in a corporate mailroom
-cosmetics counter at the mall
-ticket taker at the movies
-kennel help at the vet's office
I've got about 20 more.
When I start making these lists, it means I've hit the end of my rope. I'm not thinking of quitting, but I spent some time tonight looking at distance learning programs which have ads running for English faculty.
Just keeping the options open.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Newsflash: Report Cards Are In!
GameBoyjr is doing well so far in 4th grade. He's got to let us help him more on his spelling words, but otherwise, he's doing well. His reading comprehension grades are down, but I know he's got trouble concentrating in class when he's surrounded by distractions. At home he disappears into a book for hours at a time, moving only to turn the pages...and he talks about the books in great detail and with great understanding.
MangaGirl is pulling down A's and B's in TEN classes. She's taking half her junior year now so she can do college courses next year to build her portfolio for design school. She's got one C and that's in Algebra 2. I think Algebra is made up voodoo math, so...whatever.
GameBoy, for the first time since starting sixth grade, has brought home a report card with NO failing grades. His lowest grade is a mid-level C. That's even with a dip in his mood and readjusting his medications recently. He was astonished to see his report card and it was amazing to see how his whole demeanor changed.
We're proud, yes. More than that, we're relieved...this shows we're on the right track with his meds and therapy. I'm sure things will gang aft angly again, but for now, I'll take it.
MangaGirl is pulling down A's and B's in TEN classes. She's taking half her junior year now so she can do college courses next year to build her portfolio for design school. She's got one C and that's in Algebra 2. I think Algebra is made up voodoo math, so...whatever.
GameBoy, for the first time since starting sixth grade, has brought home a report card with NO failing grades. His lowest grade is a mid-level C. That's even with a dip in his mood and readjusting his medications recently. He was astonished to see his report card and it was amazing to see how his whole demeanor changed.
We're proud, yes. More than that, we're relieved...this shows we're on the right track with his meds and therapy. I'm sure things will gang aft angly again, but for now, I'll take it.
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