GREEN

We have green appearing on our property. There are tiny, little forest green plants growing out of the sand, topped with minuscule, violet flowers. There are friendly, green leaves bursting out of the apple trees and lilac bushes. The tree near our lawn furniture is a big, snowball of white flowers, buzzing busily with bees. Even the prickly plants that typically intersperse themselves across our yard are looking a little lusher than usual.

Looking for a Laugh?

Jonathan Coulton. You must listen. Here are the ones that I like so far...

The Presidents - tells a tiny bit about all the US presidents in order. If it weren't for the language, I could use it in my class - "...Kennedy was killed by a magic bullet, Johnson murdered kids in Vietnam, Nixon was a sweating filthy liar..."
Code Monkey - the lament of that elusive creature, the code monkey - "...Much rather wake up, eat a coffee cake, Take bath, take nap, This job "fulfilling in creative way", Such a load of crap..."
Re: Your Brains - An office memo put to music - "...All we want to do is eat your brains. We're not unreasonable. I mean, no one's going to eat your eyes..."
Tom Cruise Crazy - We all know it's true - "...Tom Cruise is Tom Cruise crazy, Just be glad it’s him not you..."
Mandelbrot Set - an ode to the great mathematician "...He saw that infinite complexity could be described by simple rules, He used his giant brain to turn the game around..."
Skullcrusher Mountain - yes, he's a crazy maniac, but he just wants you to love him - "...The voices inside my head say I shouldn't kill you yet..."
IKEA - the real story behind this unique chain - "...And they sell things for apartments smaller than mine, As if there were apartments smaller than mine..."

I think these songs all came from an experiment in which he created one song a week for a whole year. They are actually quite good. And highly entertaining.

YM

I spent a couple of hours yesterday watching one of my students graduate from recruit to official member of the local Young Marines group. This particular student has had a rough year and is a challenging child. He's very bright and incredibly headstrong. Although he is quite capable, he has struggled immensely this year. I am hoping that being part of a group that encourages respect for others, hard work, and responsibility, we can get him on the right path before things go too far astray. This is the one goal he has been willing to work for all year, and I was thrilled to be invited to his graduation. I sat through the whole thing hoping that this would be a turning point for him. At least I know that he will have a support group once he leaves my classroom. I am especially comforted, because the commanding officer and his wife are friends of mine who I trust completely to look out for him and do what they can to personally see that he succeeds. Although I am not a fan of the military, I am a big fan of this group and what I have seen them do for kids, especially ones who need a strong, guiding force in their lives.

Wither the Weather

The weather here has been gorgeous for the last several days. It is as though summer is seriously on its way. The sun is shining, a delicious breeze blowing, and things are looking beautiful. We slept with the bedroom windows open last night and woke to the sound of birds and such stirring. Since this is the very beginning of the nice weather, the biting ants have yet to awaken, and the heat has yet to head into the range of "sweltering". All in all, it is perfect weather for sitting out and reading. The dogs are thrilled that we spent so much time outside with them this weekend. I am sad that I have to waste the next 5 days indoors.

Too Much To Talk About to Actually Talk About It

I had a long and rambling rant going in my head all the way home, but I'm too busy to actually write it tonight. It is long past time for me to tuck myself in. I will leave you with this teaser and the promise that I will probably forget to ever write about any of these things...

*I am extremely frustrated with my job situation at this moment. I am especially disappointed that my union apparently gets gobs of my paycheck each month for NO REASON AT ALL.

*5th grade curriculum is broad and deep enough that planning thoroughly for all subjects (reading, writing, math, science, social studies) is next to impossible. It seems like something is always being neglected.

*Lucky for me, my entire class hit puberty at once (roughly Wednesday of last week) and they're all taking it out on me. To be fair, it's probably more like 25% of my class...but you try dealing with 7 pissed off pre-teens at a time. Gah.

Hmm...I really thought there was more going on than that. How is it that so few things can be taking up so much of my life? I will just keep repeating my mantra:

Only 2 weeks until Spring Break.
Ohm.
Only 2 weeks until Spring Break.
Ohm.
Only 2 weeks until Spring Break.
Ohm.

Losing Face

I'm not that good with faces. I can usually recognize that a face is familiar, but I often have a hard time recognizing when or where I have seen it. This can be a problem when someone (usually a former student or student's parent) comes up to me in the grocery store and starts talking. I can usually fake my way through the conversation or guide it in a way that gives me a clue who the mystery person is. However, when I am watching a movie with numerous characters, I often lose the plot because I am not sure which character is which. I totally and utterly lost interest in part III of The Godfather because of this. By the end I knew pretty much everyone was dead, but I had know idea who was who. Problematic.

Anza Living

This morning the wind was blowing through the Redshank bushes so enthusiastically that before I opened the blinds it sounded just like the waves crashing over rocks on the beach. Pretty nice, really.

I can't hardly believe it. I managed to leave school carrying nothing but my empty lunchbox and my purse. No papers, no textbooks, no nothing. Of course, I had to stay until 6:00 pm to get my report cards done first, but still...

- - - -

I have been calling in all week to find out if I have to go to court for jury duty. I thought today would be the last time, but instead they tell me I need to call in tomorrow at noon. I don't know which is worse - the idea that I might be expected to call in at noon, get a sub, and be in court sometime before the end of the day or the idea that I might have to go in on Monday. I wish I had called to reschedule it for summer. I really wouldn't mind going, but it is SO disruptive to my job.

- - - -

I liked the Penn and Teller show "Bullshit" during its first two seasons, but we're watching the third season now and they seem to be working hardest for shock value rather than debunking of stupid ideas. Or maybe it just bothers me that now they are arguing against things in which I believe.

- - - -

This has been the longest week ever. After having two Mondays in a row off, and being out of my classroom at least once a week for the last 2 months, I am finding it quite difficult to get through a 5 day work week. Poor me.

- - - -

I have been reading the book Empire by Orson Scott Card. Although he is a little bit crazy in his personal political beliefs, he does a nice job of presenting multiple sides of a political debate. This book discusses what would happen in the US if there should be a Blue vs Red battle for supreme control. The most interesting point he makes (in my humble opinion) is that there are huge numbers of mostly sane people on both sides of the fence who just want to go on with their lives. It's the few on the radical edges of the spectrum who call for violent end to the other side. I truly feel that when we start listening to those radical few and stop working for compromise, that's when the real problems begin. Of course, that is the opinion of someone who has never had to compromise my core beliefs in an attempt to maintain peace. How would I react if my way of life were openly attacked? Perhaps I would be more willing to follow the path of those "Progressive Restoratives" in the book, fighting to wrestle control from the hands of a dangerous and close-minded group. I don't know. The book has proven to be food for thought, at any rate. Whether they are thoughts worth listening to (especially after an extra long day at school), I am even less sure.

- - - -

I am reaping the reward of teaching my students to be free and independent thinkers. They are all acting and thinking freely. They keep trying to make their own decisions and choose their own actions. The little stinkers actually think that when I told them to "Question Authority" I was including myself. They say what they are thinking, question my decisions, and debate every issue.

I couldn't be prouder.
Or more frustrated! :)

- - - -

Good night. I will return soon. Peace.

I'm here. Now I'm leaving.

We have satellite! Despite the downpour that occured all day long. Hooray.

In other news, I had a crappy day. I had to lead a meeting where we had too little time to cover too many important issues. It was a rainy day, so the kids were squirrely. I have had a headache all week from the wacked out barometric happenings. Someone keeps leaving prank messages on my voicemail at school. Report cards are due to go home this week, so I am scrambling to get them done. I am required to call in every day at 5:30 to see if they want me for jury duty the next day. And it seemed as though every time I turned around there was some horrible emergency needing to be dealt with. Bleh.

David Wilcox is coming to San Diego in April, though. And I even know someone locally who would be interested in going with me. I have always wanted to see him live. So, it hasn't been all bad.

Oh. And if Amber is reading this:

I tried to post a message on your site and couldn't. I tried to send you an email and found I had lost your address. I just read about your loss and I want you to know I am very sorry. I hope your father is in a better place and that you and your family can be a comfort to each other. Peace be with you all.

Now, I am going to bed to try to sleep off some of this nasty migraine. Night-night.

A frustration and a success

I have told anyone and everyone who will listen about how wonderful my class is this year. I have an amazing number of dedicated, motivated, enthusiastic learners. We are having a lot of fun and doing a lot of learning. I wish I could take even a tiny bit of credit for the accomplishments of those individuals, but since they were just as wonderful last year, I don't feel I had much to do with it. If anything, I have spend more time telling these kiddos to relax and ease up on themselves. I had to have a long conversation with one little girl this afternoon explaining to her that four As and a B+ make for an admirable report card and that she didn't need to spend the whole evening crying about her failure to receive straight A+s. I especially feel her frustration, since she had 5 As before taking the rediculous district assessments. "A"s that she earned through hard work and dedication. Because of the "standardized" tests and the stress that goes along with them, she feels that she is a failure despite 12 weeks of amazing effort. Our final agreement was that we would ignore that B+ with the understanding that multiple choice tests like the ones we just took only tell me if they know how to take multiple choice tests. Since everything she did all trimester shows me that she knows how to learn and how to read, write, and figure math at an appropriate level, that is what we are going to focus on.

On a more positive note, I have one little guy who has been struggling for...well, basically forever. He has a challenging homelife, and his self-esteem is in the toilet. He used to sit in the back of my room and bang his head on the cabinets when he got frustrated by an assignment. Last week, I had to tell him that he was in danger of failing 5th grade. He had several Fs and his highest grade was a C-. I handed him a pack of assignments that had never been turned in (his biggest problem is not academic ability, but instead lack of confidence and a consequent refusal to even try) and told him that if he spent a week making academics his number one priority I thought he could bring all his grades up to at least passing. Although we have tried things like this in the past (always starting strong, but fading quickly), he put serious effort into it this time. He spent time before school and after school, during recess, and during lunch working on these assignments. He always chose to work in close proximity to me so he could ask for help when he needed it, but he did all of the work on his own. As of today, even with the district test scores, he had pulled every grade up to passing. Some of them are pretty close calls (60.9% close), but he is not failing anything. You should have seen the look on his face today when he realized that HE had managed to make such a difference. He was especially amazed at how relatively easy it had been. It wasn't the agonizing torture he thought it would be.

In a perfect world, he would realize that it made more sense for him to do the work when it was assigned, but I am not going to hold my breath for that. I would be happy if he just decided that he was, in fact, capable of succeeding when it came to 5th grade work. I know he can do it, and now (hopefully) he does too.

Tuesday

That's when we will find out if my lack of posting has really been because of the crappy internet connection we have or if that has all be a big, fat excuse on my part. Thanks to Daddy, we did some research into satellite internet access in this area, and we found a place with reasonable pricing and bandwidth allowances. On Tuesday, they will be hooking us up. I will be able to surf the net at speeds that have been unknown to me since moving out into the Boondocks. We will also be able to have numerous computers online at a time (or at all times, if we wish!), so I will no longer need to boot Mikey when I want to check my mail and drop y'all a line. Hooray!

Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Washington

Just in time to prevent me from total mental breakdown, we are rewarded with 2 three day weekends in a row. Lincoln and Washington - you are my two favorite gentlemen.

Yesterday, I plowed through a massive pile of grading. Today I did nothing. Well...I read, I took a long bath, I took a long nap, I played Elebits. Enjoying much and accomplishing very little. Tomorrow, I will go in to school to complete necessary planning and prepping and decorating. Next weekend, I will (hopefully) make progress on my masters class. With a little luck I will manage to do all this without getting sick (thank goodness for Airborne!) or going crazy!

Wii!!

Mikey finally got his Wii. (No, I'm not being vulgar. It's a game system!) Although I am not at all interested in playing a "typical" game on it, since using the motion sensitive remote for things like running around the Zelda world or driving cars isn't remotely interesting (haha. I am punny!). I do, however, like some of the more unique games available for this system. I am somewhat hooked on tossing rooms in search of Elibits and I am seriously addicted to the rush of saving lives in Trauma Center. I even enjoy the baseball, tennis, and bowling bits of Wii Games. Anyone else out there enjoying their Wii? (Okay, that time I was being a tiny bit vulgar.)

Perspective

It's all about perspective, isn't it? This evening I was walking with the dogs. It had rained all day and we were all glad to take advantage of a break in the clouds. I looked at our trees and thought about how unimportant I am to them. I looked at the huge gray masses slowing drifting across the sky and realized that they didn't care I was there. I gazed around the world and knew that I didn't matter at all. Little, insignificant me. I am nothing but a microbe in this gigantic universe.

Then Mia and Trooper ran up to me. As they sat in front of me, waiting for a kind word, a pat on the head, (who am I kidding) a cookie, they gazed at me adoringly. And I realized that I am their whole universe.

It's all about perspective.

Busy!

I'm a person who likes to stay a little ahead of the game. I can procrastinate like crazy when I have to write something (Apparently I can only write if there's a deadline hanging over my head. This is something I learned repeatedly in college.), but for the most part I get things done in a timely manner. It makes me nervous to let projects go undone for too long.

This is perhaps why I have been feeling like I am about to cross the stateline between Calm and Overwhelmed. For the last month, I have been working like a maniac to keep ahead of the deadlines that keep coming at me fast and furious. I have become involved in so many things - inservices, school projects, classroom experiments, observations, etc. - that I don't have enough time in the day to devote to all of them.

I suppose I should stop letting people volunteer me for things, but many of them have been out of honor. It feels good to get recognition and I like knowing that I am trusted and respected. Since I can't back out of anything I am currently involved in, I need to just make it to the end of these projects and then avoid starting up too many new ones. Hopefully that will be enough to keep me from moving across that dreaded state line into Overwhelmed.

I've got to run, though. Today is one of the many days recently when I have had to leave my lovely classroom for meetings and trainings. Don't want to be late!

Play!

Yesterday, we had our second annual Groundhog's Day party. It was a small one, with 6 of the 8 families invited cancelling for some reason or another. Never-the-less, a splendid time was had by all who did show, especially the 4 small girls, who had a blast searching for Groundhog shadows in the yard. For the first time in weeks, the sun was out in all its glory. I'm not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Back in MN, I would have been worried, what with the threat of extended winter, but around here I am almost tempted to think this means that this winter weather is on its way out. I know, I should know better...what can I say?

Today, My pal "K" and I headed to Solana Beach for lunch and a play. We have season tickets at a rep theatre and so far, we have greatly enjoyed them. Today's play was a Depression Era drama by Eugene O'neill. It was well done, if a bit too melancholy for me. Any excuse to get together with "K" for conversation is wonderful, though.

Returning?

I make no promises about the regularity or quality of any writing happening on this blog from now until next summer. Still, since I am here...

Life has been quite busy lately. I have become the queen of continuing education. I am still working on my masters. On top of that, I am reading a book on how to best standardized reading scores (without selling my soul), attending district funded training on how to work with technology, English Language Learners, and Gifted and Talented students. I have learned so many new things lately that my brain is leaking. The only disappointment is that I can't do everything all at once. Unfortunately, I don't trust myself to remember all these great tricks for as long as it takes for me to get them all implemented. Regardless, I am enjoying all the brain exercise.

My students continue to amaze me with their depth of thinking, creativity, independence, and thoughtfulness. It is a pleasure to work with such a responsible and cooperative group. I still have to deal with missing homework and blurting and hormone driven "girl drama", but it is on a dramatically reduced level. This has given us opportunities for many extra activities and experiments.

We are currently trying something new with our seating. We threw out the seating chart and the kids are allowed to sit wherever they need to in order to get the current task done to the best of their ability. All desks are communal property, switched and moved many times a day, while personal belongings are stored in individual cubbies. After two weeks, we had a class meeting to discuss the new arrangement and voted overwhelmingly to keep it despite the minor frustrations. I have had 4 students request (and receive) permanent desk assignments, but the rest are doing quite well at choosing the best work space for any given activity. The funniest thing is that when I told them they could arrange the desks however they wanted, they lined them up in three long rows facing forward. I guess that is the "novel" arrangement in this age of "table grouping".

The weather has been crazy. It regularly gets below freezing here. We have had a few nice, warm days, but on the whole it has been much cooler than I would choose. We have only had a small dusting of snow (back before Christmas), but the dog water is often frozen several inches deep when I head off to work in the morning. Luckily, the garage is enough to keep my little diesel Jetta happy.

Speaking of Christmas, I had a very pleasant time entertaining family in my little home. It was one of my happiest Christmases since leaving Minnesota, actually. I got to talk "teacher" to my hearts content with Dad. Brooks and I played poker and video games, chatted, and hiked in the mountains. All in all, it was a wonderful time.

I can hardly believe how quickly this year is flying by. (Keep in mind that my teacher brain considers the "year" to begin in August and end in June.) We are already half-way through the second trimester. The very idea that I have been writing 2007 on my schedule for a whole month already is mind-boggling. Anyway, I think that is enough for now. I make absolutely no promises regarding my next post. Until then - Peace.

Christmas!!

I am way into the Christmas spirit this year. It sure helps to have company coming. Now I have a reason (beyond myself) for decorating and cleaning and planning. I am looking forward to sharing the holidays with 2 very important members of my family.

Winter Break

The weather gods are taking the "Winter" part of my winter break seriously. Last night we got at least a half inch of snow and a whole lot of sleety rain. It didn't get above 40 degrees all day. Brrr.

Blogger: New and Improved

I finally logged into Blogger, after a month of absence, to find that there is newness and improvedness to be enjoyed. I haven't been able to explore it all, because as soon as I saw that I could add labels to my posts (so they can be categorized) I started doing so. Several hours later, I have labeled only 300 of the 2000 posts in the archive. Yikes. I think i am giving up.

It was fun reading some of my old thoughts, however.