melovecows

12:35 pm - moving...

http://melovecows.blogspot.com/

07:37 pm - Back to school, back to school...

That's right.  Tomorrow i go back to school.  And with that begins my continuous lesson planning.  This year i actually have some money to spend on books.  Yay!!!  So here is my question to you guys: what book (or books) should my high schoolers read?  I am completely open to ideas and would love to hear yours.

Some of the books have/will be reading: The Catcher in the Rye, Things Fall Apart, Ten Little Indians, The Kite Runner, A Raisin in the Sun, and short stories by Edgar Allan Poe, Ray Bradbury, and Isaac Asimov

06:22 pm - Countdown to the Olympics

I wanted to make people aware of two events that are going on during the Olympics with regards to China's actions towards TIbet and Darfur.

1)  The first is Candle For Tibet, which occurs the day before the opening ceremonies of the Olympics.  People around the world will be lighting candles in their homes, workplaces, etc. on August 7th at 9pm in their own times zones.  By lighting candles, people will support the freedom of the TIbetan people from China.  On the day of the opening ceremonies, the organizers of the event will send letters to every head of state in the world telling them the number of people from their country who participated in the event and support the idea of a free Tibet.  More info is available at: http://www.candle4tibet.org/en/

2)  The second event, Switch Over to Darfur,occurs during the airing of the Olympics and is geared toward the Olympic sponsors.  While they are not responsible for the decisions and actions that China has made, many of the companies sponsoring the Olympics have remained silent about the connections between China and Darfur.  The business that China does with Darfur provides finanacing for the genocide that is occuring there.  The people taking place in the protest are writing the sponsors and telling them that unless they choose to speak out about the situation in Darfur, we will be switching the channel during the airing of their commercials.  There will be alternative programming about the situation in Darfur airing at the same time as the Olympic games so that people will be able to see what is happening and how they can help put an end to the genocide.  More info is available at: http://www.switchovertodarfur.org./

Again, no pressure.  I just wanted to let people know what will be going on during the Olympics so that they can participate if they choose to do so.

09:44 pm - Yay!!!

I just checked my proposal at donorschoose.org cause i haven't looked at it for about a week and it's fully funded!  That means that i get to buy a bunch of children's books to start a library of them for my kids to take to Goddard with them.  I'm totally psyched about it because all of the money came from donations (if you were one of the donors, thank you, thank you , thank you) so in a little over a month my $278 proposal has been fully funded.  That makes me totally excited about people in general because while i knew some of the donors some of them were complete strangers.  It also makes me want to post more proposals so that i can do more creative projects with my kids since i'll have the opportunity to get some more materials.

The other thing i found out today was that the fundraiser my school did with the rotary club during Carmelfest raised $600, which is all going to go towards books!  My kids are going to have so many books this year that they won't know what to do with them.  And what am i going to complain about at school if i'm actually going to have the materials i need?

03:37 pm - With our powers combined, we are PLATYPUS!!!

So Andy and I are back from our fabulous week in Portland with Barb.  It was SO good to see my roomie again (two years is way too long to go without seeing each other...)  We did all kinds of fun things including, but of course not limited to:

-exploring New Seasons and eating the awesome curried chicken salad
-visiting the zoo and the rose test gardens
-making it through Andy's birthday without a car accident (Yay!!!)
-driving up and down the coast to see the Pacific for the first time
-hanging out at the India Chat House with the awesome Sikh guy who made the best somosas and chai i've had out of India.  I asked him if he had a brother or a cousin who could come cook like that in Indy, but sadly he doesn't:(
-hanging out in Powell's the HUGE bookstore that i'm totally in love with.  I made it through about three of the eight or nine rooms before i got stuck in the fiction room and Andy had to drag me out.
-shopping!
-drinking Jamba Juice, which i'm SO craving now.  Argh!
-having my mind changed about chihuahuas by Colby
-eating yummy food prepared by Natalie
-playing Wii after Andy bought himself a birthday present and creating Mii's with Barb so that i think of her whenever i play Wii
-and most of all hanging out with two of my very favorite people in the world because as Barb said, we would have fun if we had hung out in her apartment the entire time and not done anything.

Overall, i couldn't have asked for a better vacation.  We definitely need to make sure that it's not two years between this trip and the next Barb!!!

10:44 am

 Now that i'm finished with summer school, i'm trying not to think about school for a while.  But before i start doing that i wanted to give you guys a heads up about a great website that lets teachers write proposals for materials they need for their classrooms and people donate to help them get those materials.  I have a proposal up for my children's literature class here: http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/proposal.html?id=188962  Alright, i'm done with that and ready to enjoy the rest of my school-free day!

11:58 pm

So summer school is finally over.  And my students didn't make it easy.  One of them left me with a wonderful moral dilemma.  My session of summer school officially ended at 1:00 today.  One of my students emailed me his research paper at 1:28 today.  That is the ONLY thing he had to do during summer school.  So here's the question: do i tell the student tough luck because he emailed me his paper too late or do i do what i would normally do and be overly nice, accept the paper, and go in next week to grade it?  Thoughts?

04:46 pm

I wrote a whole post, but i just deleted it by accident.  Argh!!!

So here's what i wrote in a nutshell:

School is so busy and taking up a ton of time.  I don't know how many seniors we'll have graduating, but since they do so on Wednesday, i guess i'll know soon.

Andy and i are good, but it's hard sometimes because we are so different from each other in some ways.  I know that those differences also serve as strengths, but lately it's been hard for me to see them that way with everything else going on.

Polka dots, cats, confirmand, sister, brother, bright pink...

09:01 pm - Since i love to share what i'm reading...

"Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways.  We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God's love for them.  Friendship is an opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to, reminding each other who God is.  When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life.  We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can't always see from where we are....

True friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into the deeper level of who we are, when we cross over in the broken, fragile parts of ourselves.  We have to give something up in order to get friendship like that.  We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect.  We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us.  We have to overcome the fear that when they see the depths of who we are, they'll leave.  But what we give up is nothing in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us.  Friendship is about risk.  Love is about risk.  If we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it's something else, but if it's really love, really friendship, it's a little scary around the edges."

-from Cold Tangerines: Celebrating the Extraordinary Nature of Everyday Life by Shauna Niequist

12:19 am

 "In our rush to reform education, we have forgotten a simple truth: reform will never be achieved by renewing appropriations, restructuring schools, rewriting curricula, and revising texts if we continue to demean and dishearten the human resource called the teacher on whom so much depends.  Teachers must be better compensated, freed from bureaucratic harassment, given a role in academic governance, and provided with the best possible methods and materials.  But none of that will transform education if we fail to cherish - and challenge - the human heart that is the source of good teaching."-Parker J. Palmer

I'm not posting this to complain.  Instead, i just want to use it as a reminder that there are good things that go on in my school, no matter how much i complain about it or how eagerly i wait for breaks to come.  This year is so much better than last year.  I am more confident in my teaching abilities, which makes me more in control of my classroom and less willing to put up with inappropriate behavior from my students.  I have received more books for my class in the past week or two than in all of last year.  And i know my place in the school and i'm comfortable with it.  I'm willing to speak up when i need to, going as far as attending board meetings so i can speak out, and willing to do whatever else i need to in order to teach the students.  

It's nice to take a few minutes to think about this, especially since i've been spending most of my free time working on the portfolio i have to turn into the department of ed in a few weeks.  I have to evaluate my teaching and my methods and basically prove that i know what i'm doing, even though i know that i know what i'm doing, which makes the whole thing that much more frustrating.  But it'll be over in a few weeks.  Yay!

09:16 pm - Spring break NEVER comes soon enough...

...and it's still not here.  That's right.  I have this week and then next week and then FINALLY spring break.  I really need it this year.  The students are beyond lazy and annoying me so much i could scream at them.  They're not doing anything, but expecting me and the other teachers to bend over backwards when they decide that they should pass their classes.  I had a girl come to me today asking for extra credit when she hadn't done about three weeks of work in my class.  You can understand why i didn't give her any.

On top of that, i'm in the middle of writing this stupid portfolio for the department of ed to show that i know what i'm doing as a teacher.  No matter that i've been teaching in my own classroom for a year and a half or that i'm in the middle of trying to prepare lesson plans, teach, and grade all of the work that comes from that, while also maintaining some semblance of control over my classes,   I should definitely have time to document two-three weeks of classes for them as well as videotape a lesson that i'm teaching and then be sure to put it in the format that they demand it in (double-spaced with page LIMITS is not good for a wordy English teacher like me) and send it in on time.  No problem.

I am so frustrated with school and students and this portfolio that that's pretty much all i'm doing right now other than praying for spring break to come.  Tonight i made myself take a break from all of it so i wouldn't go crazy, but i'll be back at it tomorrow.  Oh goody!

Current Mood: frustrated

08:03 pm - I "borrowed" this from a friend's blog

1. What is the one BIG goal you hope to accomplish this week? Working out every day.  I'm doing a good job so far.  I managed to survive a whole hour of zumba this afternoon;)

2. What is the one household chore you do NOT like to do? Loading the dishwasher.  I don't mind emptying it, but i hate loading it.  If Andy and i end up getting married, that is officially his job.  (And, yes, he already knows this...)

3. What would you buy if someone gave you $2,000.00? (all debts and bills paid) I would take trips!!!  I want to go visit Barb in Portland, which i'm already planning on.  I would also go to Mackinac Island and stay in the Grand Hotel because i've always wanted to do that.  I would also go out to Boston and take the train up to Maine, which i really, really, really want to go to.  And i'd take Andy to Greece because he's never been out of the country and i know he really wants to go there.

4. Describe yourself using one word. Loquacious.

5. What is the one saying or theme that you live by? "If you could envision the type of person God intended you to be, you would rise up and never be the same again." -Anonymous

6. What is the one household item you can NOT live without? My AWESOME milk frother!!!  I bought it at IKEA for three dollars.  I should have bought one for everyone i know, because it's like having your own little coffeehouse in your kitchen.

7. If you had one chance to go any where in the world where would you go? I think i answered an awful lot of this above, but i would probably go to Maine because i've ALWAYS wanted to go.  And no, i don't really have a reason.

8. List the one person you admire the most. My mom.  She does EVERYTHING.  She maintains a positive attitude, despite everything she's been through.  She is willing to drop whatever she's doing to help out her family and friends.  And she is never afraid to speak her mind, which is something i definitely am not able to do all the time.

9. What is one thing people may not know about you? Since most people don't see me teach, they probably don't know that i'm willing to make a fool of myself to teach my students something. I'm always coming up with really over the top examples, more or less singing hello to them, drawing horrible illustrations on the board, and anything else i can do to get them to remember things and learn them.  For example, today i read my creative writing students a story i wrote along with them about a snake eating toys, the California raisins, and what the Smurfs would do if Smuffette died.  (And if you really want to know, i said that they would have to date outside their species, despite the fact that their future children could end up with strange skin colors like orange or peach.  Or they would have to become gay, which surprisingly no Smurfs are.  Not even the one that keeps staring at himself in the mirror.)
 

10:52 pm - Something to make you think

"I sometimes think that every education writer, every would-be education expert, and every politician who pontificates, as many do so condescendingly, about the 'failings' of the teacher in the front lines of the nation's public schools ought to be obliged to come into a classroom once a year and teach the class, not just for an hour with the TV cameras watching but for an entire day, and find out what it's like.  It might at least impart some moderation to the disrespectful tone with which so many politicians speak of teachers."-Jonathan Kozol

While i was reading today, this part struck me not just because it's true, but because i have a class that i'm teaching right now that is strictly ISTEP prep for the students that are retaking the ISTEP in the spring.  Do i believe that the students should know most of the things that are on the ISTEP?  Yes.  Am i secretly glad to get to drill essay writing into their heads so that they can at least do that form of writing well?  Yes.  But the fact that i'm teaching a class strictly so that these students can pass the ISTEP is so much against everything education should be about.  The students have to pass to graduate, but you have to remember that forty percent of the school in which i teach is made up of special education students, some of whom literally cannot pass the ISTEP.  

Also, the number of students who take the ISTEP (as in show up to school to take it which is a HUGE challenge with our students) and pass the ISTEP helps determin whether or not our school reaches AYP (Annual Yearly Progress).  Thankfully, we actually made it this year, but we haven't in past years and that, along with failing ISTEP scores and the number of expulsions we have, is the type of thing that gets printed in the paper and gives our school a bad reputation without putting things in context.  If people actually took the time to look at some of the things these students deal with, they would see that the least of their worries is passing the ISTEP and they would see how hard they do try to accomplish the things they do.

Anyway, that's enough of a rant for now.  I was just thinking about that and how grateful i am to be teaching where i'm teaching.  It is challenging.  And some days i feel like i'm barely keeping my classroom under control, let alone actually teaching them anything, but i really do love my kids and love getting to hang out with them all day.

10:33 pm - YAY!!!

I love my Manning boys!!!

06:38 pm - A possible snow day(?), a classroom management plan that involves not teaching, and yay for yoga!

Nothing terribly exciting to say other than i'm PRAYING for a snow day along with the rest of Indiana's teachers and students.  The teachers at school attempted to declare tomorrow a snow day at about 12:45 this afternoon, but for some reason our principal wasn't so keen on that.  I wonder why.  Things at school seem to be going well.  I think i figured out how to deal with my crazy class that won't ever stop talking long enough for me to teach.  I gave them what they wanted.   Me not teaching.  On Monday, I totally rearranged me room so that no more than two students would be sitting next to each other.  I put them in a new seating chart, which was met with grumbles and groans as always, and then passed out the work they had to accomplish during the class period.  Then i announced,  "Okay.  You have your work.  You can do it in any order you want as long as I have it by the end of the period.  If you have a question, raise your hand and i'll come help you.  Go..."  And it worked!  At least it worked better than anything else has seemed to work with that class so far this semester.  So i think i'm going to continue it and hope that it continues to work.

I went to my last yoga class of the month last night.  I was a little worried about doing yoga with other people because i don't think i'm very good at it, but when i talked to him last week, the instructor suggested that i move up to intermediate yoga, which i was totally psyched about.  And then last night i was talking to him about shoulder stands, which i managed to master (as much as i expect myself to master them), and he told me that i was really flexible.  So not only am i keeping up in class, i'm being told that i'm flexible and to move up to the next level of class.  Yay!  I just had to take a minute to brag, especially because when i move to the intermediate class next week i'll probably barely be keeping up.  But it's fun and i'm liking it.  So yay!

11:47 am - Yay for 3 day weekends!

I saw 27 dresses last night and it was so cute!!!  The dialogue was witty and realistic, which i loved.  If you're thinking about seeing it, you definitely should.

And i am so excited for the rest of my 3 day weekend.  This week at school was crazy because 2 of my favorite kids (including my very, very favorite) got in trouble.  As in we had to drug test them trouble.  I'm disappointed in them because they're so much smarter than that.  And i know i'm not supposed to have favorites but it's kind of impossible not to have at least a few.

So what's on my schedule for the rest of the weekend?  Nothing too definite, which is my favorite kind of weekend.  I'm going to clean my apartment, do some major grocery shopping, do a little yoga, clean my car, drop my recylcing off, give blood, read, knit, and hang out with Emma cause she's in town this weekend!  (You may be wondering why i'm telling you all of this.  If i tell someone else what i plan to do i'm much more likely to actually do it.  So even if you stopped reading after the first line of my post, i still feel like someone's holding me accountable.)

10:26 pm

I went to my first yoga class today.  (Another resolution for this year down!!!)  And i was really excited because i could do everything we did, except for this one really crazy arm thingy that i was nowhere near being able to do.  I'll be happy to show you how to do it so that you can exclaim, "Well of course!  It's so easy!"  And then i can show you that i still can't do it;)

Other than that, things at school are seeming particularly crazy right now.  I would have thought that things would be more normal this week since it is the second one, but i guess not.  At least i can make it through the rest of this week and relax this weekend.

02:14 am - New Year's Resolutions (I know. I'm extremely original.)

I'm not usually one to make (and actually keep) New Year's Resolutions, but this year i'm making an attempt.  

Some of these things are actual resolutions in the sense that i might not be able to keep them.  Others are things that i'm already doing, but want to make sure to keep doing.  And then there are a few things that i have wanted to do for a while and have a better chance of accomplishing them if i put them on a list because i enjoy checking things off lists.

• walk at least 10,000 steps a day (since i got a pedometer for Christmas)
• drink more water
• turn the tv off when there's nothing on
• recycle
• don't shop at Walmart
• up the amount of money that goes to my 403B
• diversify my investments
• study for and take the GRE (so i can eventually apply to a Master's program)
• take a yoga class

How am i doing on these so far?  I've been making an effort to work out and drink more water.  I've been turning the tv off and reading, which means i've been getting so much done.  I've already been recycling and not shopping at Walmart for the past few months, so that shouldn't be too hard to keep up.  The last few resolutions are things that are easier to check off the list.  I'm going to finish up some reading about the financial stuff before calling the guy that manages all that stuff for me.  I'll probably scope out some stuff about the GRE so that i can take it during the beginning of the summer.  And as for the yoga class, which will be my favorite to check off the list, i've already signed up for a four week class starting next Wednesday.  Yay!

And now i'm going to finish up this episode of Gilmore Girl's season seven, which i had to pry out of Sarah's hands so that i could share in the experience of our joint Christmas present.

Current Mood: happy to still be on break!!!

01:09 am - 38 Things You May or May Not Have Known

 Stolen from Rachel;)

1. What did you do in 2007 that you’d never done before?

Celebrated New Year's somewhere other than in Indiana.  Visited the Gulf Coast.  Taught summer school.  Started doing yoga.  Started reading more nonfiction than fiction.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I didn't make any.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

Nope.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My grandpa...

5. What countries did you visit?

Only the ever exciting United States.

6. What would you like to have in 2008 that you lacked in 2007?

The ability to be less worried and anxious.

7. What dates from 2007 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

I guess none.  I'm not so good with dates.

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Making it through my first year of teaching!

9. What was your biggest failure?

Wasting time watching tv and worrying about stupid things.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I managed to totally stress myself out because of school to the point where i was haivng chest pains, which was not so fun, since i had to go to the doctor about three times for him to finally tell me that it was just stress.

11. What was the best thing you bought?

My gigantic blue chair and ottoman from craigslist.  (I'm totally addicted.) And my new-to-me antique bedroom furniture.  Also from craigslist.  (I told you i was addicted.)

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
My students who sucked it up and passed their classes.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

There are a few who drive me crazy because they do things SO SLOWLY that it seems they aren't doing them at all...

14. Where did most of your money go?

Normal stuff.  And lovely car repairs.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Andrew moving to Indiana!!!  Getting to go to the Gulf Coast to help Hurricane Katrina victims and the chance to see New Orleans.

16. What song will always remind you of 2007?

Girlfriend by Avril Lavigne.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
 a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?

a)happier b)fatter, but i'm working on changing that c)richer since i make a little more money this year

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Taking time out of the things i thought i should be doing to relax and hang out with people.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Stressing out about teaching and lesson plans.

20. How did you spend Christmas?

At my parents house avec ma famille.

21. Did you fall in love in 2007?

Stayed in love, though it was an interested transition from long-distance to living in the same place.

22. What was your favorite TV program?

Brothers and Sisters was my new fav.

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nope.

24. What was the best book you read?

Wow.  Probably Eat, Pray, Love or The Great Deluge.

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

Not sure i had one sadly.

26. What did you want and get?

Andrew living in the same state as me.

27. What did you want and not get?

Through my reading list, though that's not ever likely to happen.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Becoming Jane

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

Nothing too exciting.  Presents, cake, etc.  24

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Having confidence in my teaching abilities so that i didn't stress so much.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2007?

Same as always.

32. What kept you sane?

Sleep.

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Whoever i felt like at the moment.

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Human rights.  As always.

35. Who did you miss?

Liz since she's in Mozambique with the Peace Corps.  Barb since i don't get to see her on a regular basis anymore.  Believe it or not, Indiana's a lot closer to Michigan than Oregon...

36. Who was the best new person you met?

Hmm...definitely some of my students, though i don't have a particular favorite from this group.  And i started hanging out with one of my friends from high school again so it's like we met each other again since we'd changed so much since then.

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2007.

You can do whatever you put your mind to.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
Let's see how far we've come...

08:19 pm - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

That's right.  I've finally made it to the part of the school year when i can actually look forward to Christmas.  I'm done teaching my classes.  I have a few more grades to put in during the next two half days, but tomorrow is party with the students and then party with the teachers, finished up with seeing a friend of mine who's been in Africa for a year and meeting her Mozambican (is that how you spell it???) boyfriend for the first time.  It'll be a crazy, crazy day, but i'm SO excited about it.

Then i have only one more half day until my long awaited Christmas break.  And what am i doing during that you might ask?  Not much at this point.  Obviously there are the normal Christmas festivities with friends and family, including attempting to keep ornaments on the family tree when the dog and cats insist on playing ring around the rosie around it.  We'll see how that goes.  And it'll be the first Christmas without my grandpa, which will be hard on the family, especially my grandma.  But we'll make it through because we always do.  Other than that, i'll have a few days without Andrew because he's going to Michigan to see his family.  (which might be good for us because we've been a little tense with each other lately.  We'll see...)

I plan on doing lots of sleeping and reading and hanging out with people.  Sleeping because i haven't been doing a lot of that.  Reading the huge stack of books that i have piling up that i've been waiting to read.  And hanging out with people because there will be wonderful people in town and time to hang out with those who are always in town.  Needless to say, i'm excited!

And i have all of my shopping done and all of my presents wrapped so i'm thrilled to be able to start giving them out;)