Did I tell you about my big mistake a couple of weeks ago? Well, I can't be bothered to check, so I'm going to tell you again. :)
One day, I came home and left the gate wide open. This wouldn't be a problem, except I also released the hounds from their kennel. Bad move. They hung around with us until they realized my mistake, then they were GONE. It took nearly an hour and much footwork before we managed to get them back. Even then, we had to lift them over a fence, as they had managed to get themselves trapped inside a neighbor's yard. Stooooopid dogs.
Anyway, since then, Mia had been bound and determined to get out into the "real world" again. One day, she dug a hole under the fence. Another she jumped over the fence, only to find herself trapped in the yard next door. They always keep their gate chained and locked, so the only way for Mikey to get her back in our yard was to dig a hole and coax her under. As special bonus, she managed to terrify the lady next door while she was there. Wheee!
I understand that this recent bad behavior is entirely my own fault. They had been PERFECT for months before I inadvertently gave them a reminder of what lie beyond the fence. Consequently, I have had to go back to square one with the training process. They spent all weekend on Kennel Detention. This means that they are dogs in a box unless someone is outside with them. Just today, I have started letting them roam the yard as long as someone is checking in with them at 5 minute intervals, just to remind them who's boss and praise them for sticking around. In fact...brb...OK, found them. :)
I could just kick myself for undoing everything we had so carefully taught them. Ugh.
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
Sunday, April 22, 2007
20 in 20 Challenge
Ante up, folks. :)
Amy, I know you were just in Rochester trying to convince them to remove more body parts so you wouldn't have to exercise. Quite the scam you have going on there. :)
I am currently holding at the same weight from last week.
Amy, I know you were just in Rochester trying to convince them to remove more body parts so you wouldn't have to exercise. Quite the scam you have going on there. :)
I am currently holding at the same weight from last week.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
As Good As It Gets
As I have mentioned, I am required to interview for new positions because of downsizing at my school. The first round of applications was for the new school opening nearby (the cause of the downsizing, actually). The observations and interviews are taking place this week. I was lucky enough to get mine over with right away.
On Monday, the principal observed in my classroom for about 15 minutes. I had prepared a math lesson on lines, angles, and triangles using PowerPoint as my presentation mode. This was a calculated effort to stick out, as I had heard that she was into technology (and I have been focusing on technology for my prof. development this year). She seemed happy while she was in my room, looking around and paying attention to what they students were saying and asking. I made sure that I was using as many effective teaching strategies as I could. This is something I always do, but I was particularly conscious of it for that brief stretch of time. When she left, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I am happy with how it went, and I really feel that I showed her the best I can give.
Then, on Tuesday morning, I had my interview. They were scheduled for 10 minutes each, but mine ended up being almost 20 minutes. I am hoping this is a good sign. Despite the fact that she is doing 70+ interview this week, I felt like she was really listening to my answers. She seemed to respond well to my responses, and she even let me ask HER a question regarding her report card policy. I left feeling as though I had made a good impression and shown her my true personality and passion for teaching.
So, at this point it is a waiting game. I am going to forget all about this mess for the next two weeks and focus on my class. We are currently finishing up our Colonial/Rev. War unit. Sometime on the week on April 30th, I will find out if my days of uncertainty are coming to an end, or just getting started. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
PS - Thanks to T&K for the Easter card. It's message came just in time to reinforce my belief that LOVE is the greatest aspect of teaching. I made sure to focus on that in both my observation and my interview. :)
On Monday, the principal observed in my classroom for about 15 minutes. I had prepared a math lesson on lines, angles, and triangles using PowerPoint as my presentation mode. This was a calculated effort to stick out, as I had heard that she was into technology (and I have been focusing on technology for my prof. development this year). She seemed happy while she was in my room, looking around and paying attention to what they students were saying and asking. I made sure that I was using as many effective teaching strategies as I could. This is something I always do, but I was particularly conscious of it for that brief stretch of time. When she left, I breathed a huge sigh of relief. I am happy with how it went, and I really feel that I showed her the best I can give.
Then, on Tuesday morning, I had my interview. They were scheduled for 10 minutes each, but mine ended up being almost 20 minutes. I am hoping this is a good sign. Despite the fact that she is doing 70+ interview this week, I felt like she was really listening to my answers. She seemed to respond well to my responses, and she even let me ask HER a question regarding her report card policy. I left feeling as though I had made a good impression and shown her my true personality and passion for teaching.
So, at this point it is a waiting game. I am going to forget all about this mess for the next two weeks and focus on my class. We are currently finishing up our Colonial/Rev. War unit. Sometime on the week on April 30th, I will find out if my days of uncertainty are coming to an end, or just getting started. Keep your fingers crossed for me!
PS - Thanks to T&K for the Easter card. It's message came just in time to reinforce my belief that LOVE is the greatest aspect of teaching. I made sure to focus on that in both my observation and my interview. :)
Sunday, April 15, 2007
My Day
Yesterday was a fabulous day.
In the first game (softball), I got to see my student hit against a very difficult pitcher. She didn't hit the ball very far, but the other team wasn't expecting it and she managed to get to 2nd base (thanks in part to an overthrow at 1st). She was grinning so much I thought the top of her head might fall off!
The classroom part of the day was super productive. I had 2 girls there helping me from 10:30 until almost 4:00. It was like having 3 of me in the room. I would tell each of them what to do and then go work on something else. I had planned it well enough that I always had a couple of things that they could do with no assistance from me and something I had to do on my own. We flew through a bunch of things on the list before 12:30.
I took them to lunch as a special treat for helping me. They were so funny about it. "The others aren't going to believe that we rode in the teacher's car!!" It was fun. After lunch, we got a call from some of the guys. They were nearby and didn't have anything to do so they stopped in to help out for awhile.
With 5 kiddos working for me, we got through quite a few more projects. Honestly, I think it was about the same amount as we would have gotten with just us girls, though. Everyone was quite distracted by those of the opposite gender. :) It was funny to watch how everyone kept switching jobs to work with someone else. After a few minutes, I knew who liked who! :) The boys left at about 4:00 (they were getting a little rammy), and the girls took off shortly after that. I spent 2 more hours doing last minute touches and when I left around 6:00, it looked BEAUTIFUL in my room. I am actually excited to have company on Monday. :)
Then I got to reward myself with another ball game. Baseball this time, with one of my boys and his brother playing. They both had some good plays, although their team lost pretty badly. I had a great time cheering them on. That game didn't end until 9:30. I headed home and fell into bed, tired but happy.
In the first game (softball), I got to see my student hit against a very difficult pitcher. She didn't hit the ball very far, but the other team wasn't expecting it and she managed to get to 2nd base (thanks in part to an overthrow at 1st). She was grinning so much I thought the top of her head might fall off!
The classroom part of the day was super productive. I had 2 girls there helping me from 10:30 until almost 4:00. It was like having 3 of me in the room. I would tell each of them what to do and then go work on something else. I had planned it well enough that I always had a couple of things that they could do with no assistance from me and something I had to do on my own. We flew through a bunch of things on the list before 12:30.
I took them to lunch as a special treat for helping me. They were so funny about it. "The others aren't going to believe that we rode in the teacher's car!!" It was fun. After lunch, we got a call from some of the guys. They were nearby and didn't have anything to do so they stopped in to help out for awhile.
With 5 kiddos working for me, we got through quite a few more projects. Honestly, I think it was about the same amount as we would have gotten with just us girls, though. Everyone was quite distracted by those of the opposite gender. :) It was funny to watch how everyone kept switching jobs to work with someone else. After a few minutes, I knew who liked who! :) The boys left at about 4:00 (they were getting a little rammy), and the girls took off shortly after that. I spent 2 more hours doing last minute touches and when I left around 6:00, it looked BEAUTIFUL in my room. I am actually excited to have company on Monday. :)
Then I got to reward myself with another ball game. Baseball this time, with one of my boys and his brother playing. They both had some good plays, although their team lost pretty badly. I had a great time cheering them on. That game didn't end until 9:30. I headed home and fell into bed, tired but happy.
20/20 Challenge
Alright, you guys...it's time to fess up. How're you doing? I am thrilled to be back at school. The combination of running around like a headless chicken for 10 hours straight and not having enough time to actually eat anything does wonders for the diet! :) I'm down by 3 this week.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
I :heart: Parent Helpers!
This past week has been a stressful one. We were just returning from break, we had to get ready for the field trip, and I had the knowledge of an upcoming observation and interview hanging over my head. The latter is the one that really threw me off.
Normally, I keep my room relatively organized. Lately, I have been noticing piles here and there. There are papers that I am too busy to file correctly, assignments that I still have to grade, and boxes of supplies that have come in. I was doing okay until I realized that we were going to have company. And not just regular company, but important company that has a large amount of control over my future. So, being me, I started to stress about the mess, but didn't really have time to do anything about it.
Enter one of my parent volunteers. She showed up, not once, but TWICE this week to help. She got all the filing completed, changed one of my more tired looking bulletin boards, and then peeked into my closet. My horrible, messy, disgusting closet. I don't normally ask parents to organize my closet because it's a time-consuming job and it feels like making them clean up after me. I don't mind asking them to do something for the kids, but asking them to do something for me is awkward. I bit the bullet (knowing that I only have so many hours in the weekend) and hesitantly asked her, "So...how do you feel about organizing?"
"I thought you'd never ask," she said. "I was going to just start straightening it out anyway, but I thought you might be offended."
Ha! I told her to do whatever she thought necessary. By the end of the hour, I wanted to throw my closet doors open and leave them that way because seeing the shelves made the whole room look neater. I have the best parent help in the world. :)
Now, I am off. I have a softball game to watch first. Then I am going to spend many hours in my classroom making things look nice and neat. This evening I have a baseball game to attend. It will be a long, enjoyable, productive day. Have a good one, yourself.
Normally, I keep my room relatively organized. Lately, I have been noticing piles here and there. There are papers that I am too busy to file correctly, assignments that I still have to grade, and boxes of supplies that have come in. I was doing okay until I realized that we were going to have company. And not just regular company, but important company that has a large amount of control over my future. So, being me, I started to stress about the mess, but didn't really have time to do anything about it.
Enter one of my parent volunteers. She showed up, not once, but TWICE this week to help. She got all the filing completed, changed one of my more tired looking bulletin boards, and then peeked into my closet. My horrible, messy, disgusting closet. I don't normally ask parents to organize my closet because it's a time-consuming job and it feels like making them clean up after me. I don't mind asking them to do something for the kids, but asking them to do something for me is awkward. I bit the bullet (knowing that I only have so many hours in the weekend) and hesitantly asked her, "So...how do you feel about organizing?"
"I thought you'd never ask," she said. "I was going to just start straightening it out anyway, but I thought you might be offended."
Ha! I told her to do whatever she thought necessary. By the end of the hour, I wanted to throw my closet doors open and leave them that way because seeing the shelves made the whole room look neater. I have the best parent help in the world. :)
Now, I am off. I have a softball game to watch first. Then I am going to spend many hours in my classroom making things look nice and neat. This evening I have a baseball game to attend. It will be a long, enjoyable, productive day. Have a good one, yourself.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Field Trip!
My students and I went on a field trip today. We went to a Revolutionary War reenactment camp. It was so much fun. The kids loved seeing the guides in their costumes with their amazing accents. They got to drill like a Colonial soldier, make biscuits, write with quill pens, print flyers encouraging boycotts of tea and such, learn how to politely ask for a dance, and attend a mock trial run by a rude Redcoat. It was a blast. The only sad thing was that we had to leave early and we missed the mock battle at the end. Of course, the reason for leaving made up for our loss. It hailed like crazy and then snowed on our heads. The kids were thrilled, and I didn't miss the opportunity to point out that we were dealing with similar conditions as Gen. Washington's troops at Valley Forge. It was great!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Back to School
The first day back went well. My feet hurt from spending so much time standing on them, but otherwise, no problems. Mikey and I donated blood after work. Now I am tired. Goodnight. :)
Sunday, April 08, 2007
But I Don't Wanna!!
It's time for me to start thinking about school again. I have to be ready for my kiddos tomorrow. But instead of doing any planning or grading or anything productive, I have spent the last 4 hours (yikes!) playing Kingdom of Loathing.
Stupid Food
I was doing very well with my diet/exercise thing earlier in the week. I was down by 3 pounds. Really, I was. Then we spent two days with various family members, some of whom feel that feeding you is the best way to show affection. (Not that I am complaining...the food was delicious.) With my seriously malformed sense of willpower, I was unable to stop stuffing myself with goodies. I am now right back where I started. I guess I should be happy that I don't have to start using improper fractions to show the amount remaining to be lost. Bleh.
If you want me to update your numbers, you should send them to me.
If you want me to update your numbers, you should send them to me.
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Wild Animals
We spent the day wandering around the Wild Animal Park with Mikey's sister and her two urchins. It was tiring, but lots of fun. We got to see the elephant training show, the butterfly exhibit, and lots of cool animals. The lions were so close to the glass that they were practically within arms reach. The cheetah was chillin' in the shade, calmly ignoring all those who flocked to adore her. The antelopes and giraffes and zebras on the African Safari were great fun to look at. We are now quite exhausted, but thinking seriously about getting Zoo memberships so we can go more often. For the exercise and for the entertainment.
Monday, April 02, 2007
GO, me!
I am so impressive. 2 essays down. 1 unit down. Now if I could only progress through the second unit before school starts again.
Cognitive Pluralism
In my studies I have been reading about different educational ideologies. One of my essays requires me to take a more in-depth look into the ideology of cognitive pluralism, the idea that knowledge can be expressed in a wide variety of ways. Although our public school systems tend to focus on the literacy of words and numbers, it is also possible to express thoughts through sounds, colors, shapes, and movement. I especially enjoyed this speech given by Elliot W. Eisner as the John Dewey Lecture for 2002 at Stanford University.
In brief:
There are 6 lessons educators should learn and implement.
1. Experiencing qualitative relationships and making judgements
- evaluating and making decisions without strict guidelines
- "feeling" the correctness of an action
2. Flexible purposing
- developing the ability to allow action to create/influence the goal
3. Form and content is most often inextricable
- developing an environment that is most conducive to the intended goal
4. Not everything knowable can be articulated in propositional form
- respecting non-traditional expressions of thoughts and ideas
5. Looking to the medium
- understanding the relationship between the materials/environment/processes used and the end product
6. The aesthetic satisfactions that the work itself makes possible
- recognizing the motivating quality of the process
Read the whole article for a more in depth look at the relationship between the arts, child development, and what public education SHOULD look like.
Source
*Eisner, Elliot W. (2002) 'What can eduction learn from the arts about the practice of education?', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/eisner_arts_and_the_practice_or_education.htm . Last updated: April 17, 2005.
This, That, and The Other Thing
(This)
Yesterday I got a little cabin fever (not surprising since i hadn't left our 2 acres in 4 days), so we headed into town for a date. First up was a movie at the "cheap theater". If you want something hilariously funny and totally inappropriate, I recommend Reno 911: Miami. I laughed a lot. Then we grabbed some Rubio's burritos for dinner. They have an Especial that is especially good. (This, combined with the greased popcorn and mega-sized Sprite at the movies, means that I fell off the diet wagon for a while, but I am getting right back on.) It was just the right amount of getting out to make me happy to be able to stay home for another several days in a row.
(That)
Today I will work on my masters class. I have been very intently procrastinating these essays, but it is time and I will put them off no longer. I have 2 that were supposed to be done Saturday and 5 more that are supposed to be done next Saturday. Do you think I can do it? I doubt it. But I will make some progress. Here I go...
(The Other Thing)
PS - I just saw a trailer for the most adorable movie. John Cusack is the lead in Martian Child, a based-on-a-true-story film about a science fiction writer who adopts a little boy who thinks he is a visitor from Mars. The trailer made it look funny and sensitive and sweet. A powerful story about the power of love. Definitely on my Must See list. I am curious though...do you think John only signs on to movies that agree to let Joan have a roll??
(That again)
Okay. I'm going now for real. I swear...
Yesterday I got a little cabin fever (not surprising since i hadn't left our 2 acres in 4 days), so we headed into town for a date. First up was a movie at the "cheap theater". If you want something hilariously funny and totally inappropriate, I recommend Reno 911: Miami. I laughed a lot. Then we grabbed some Rubio's burritos for dinner. They have an Especial that is especially good. (This, combined with the greased popcorn and mega-sized Sprite at the movies, means that I fell off the diet wagon for a while, but I am getting right back on.) It was just the right amount of getting out to make me happy to be able to stay home for another several days in a row.
(That)
Today I will work on my masters class. I have been very intently procrastinating these essays, but it is time and I will put them off no longer. I have 2 that were supposed to be done Saturday and 5 more that are supposed to be done next Saturday. Do you think I can do it? I doubt it. But I will make some progress. Here I go...
(The Other Thing)
PS - I just saw a trailer for the most adorable movie. John Cusack is the lead in Martian Child, a based-on-a-true-story film about a science fiction writer who adopts a little boy who thinks he is a visitor from Mars. The trailer made it look funny and sensitive and sweet. A powerful story about the power of love. Definitely on my Must See list. I am curious though...do you think John only signs on to movies that agree to let Joan have a roll??
(That again)
Okay. I'm going now for real. I swear...
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