So, I know I haven't written in awhile... I've been pretty swamped at work... grades are due next week and I feel like I'm drowning...
In related news, one of my high school classes (I teach two this year and four middle school classes) just earned the dubious distinction of having the worse ever class average on a test of any test I've ever given in my two and half years of teaching. Their grades are making me angry, which is why I'm taking a break to type this...
I'll have to wind up teaching them the concept again, making a new test for them, grading the new test after they take it... agh. Waste of instructional time, waste of my freaking time. And then I'll probably get preached at for falling behind schedule or something. Whatever.
Bets, I know you're reading. Honestly, how did you last seven years in this system?
This isn't helping to calm me down... let's see... what else can I talk (type) about?
Well, my husband got our (one) bike fixed and found his rollerblades, so for the past few days we've been riding/skating together around our neighborhood after work. It's been great fun (I love to bike and just be outdoors in general) but now I'm all stiff and sore and tired out. I keep telling myself that it will go away as I get used to it, but right now I'm pooped. In fact, when I finish typing this, I think I'm going to go to bed... I'll finish the last few tests in the morning. I was toying with not even grading the rest of them since over half of the class has failed miserably.
Maybe the chewing out I'll give them tomorrow will motivate them to actually DO something. I swear. My high schoolers are so less mature than my middle schoolers and that's a fact.
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Sunday, September 11, 2011
9/11/11
I wanted to write a really deep and insightful blog today, since it is the tenth anniversary of 9/11... but I'm sure that anything that I could say would only add to what has already been said... so I'll just post what I remember:
I was 15, in biology class at PHS. Mr. Long was out that day and the sub was having a hard time keeping the class in line. Around 9:30 Mrs. Blanchard from next door came rushing in the classroom to tell us that there had been an attack...
School stayed on schedule, but classes did not. We watched recorded footage over and over again of the planes crashing into the towers and the ill-fated flight 93. We saw newcasts and pictures of people jumping out of the trade towers and people running for their lives on the ground. It was terrible. What's amazing to me is that so many students I teach today have little more than a vague idea of what happened, and we're discouraged from showing them footage because "They were too young, and they're too sensitive." And yet I was no older than most of my students, and I and my classmates watched it as it happened...
Were we scared? Heck yes. But more than that, we were angry. Angry that someone would come to our great nation and attempt to destroy our cultural icons, our government and our people. We were sad, too, for the many who died that day trying to survive--and proud of the heroes who gave their lives trying to save others. We grieved, as a nation, for every life lost. And then we banded together. I specifically remember the little town next to ours putting American flags on every lamp post down the central highway. Ten years later, those flags still wave proudly, but many of us don't give them a second glance anymore. We've forgotten what it was like to lose so many. We've forgotten how precious this country seemed to us when we thought we might lose it. We've forgotten so much, and I am included in this.
But today, on the tenth anniversary, I've seen a change in the tides. We're starting to remember again.
I leave with the lyrics from Bruce Springsteen's "Empty Sky" from "The Rising" album which was partially written as a 9/11 album:
"Blood on the streets/ yeah there's blood pouring down
I hear the blood of my blood/ cryin' from the ground...
I want a kiss from your lips/ I want an eye for an eye
I woke up this morning/ to the empty sky..."
Ten years later, I still cry when I think about 9/11 and the cost to our nation. And I still swell with pride when I think about our great country and how we proved that we were stronger than any terrorist threat. We are Americans. And we are still "One nation/ Under God."
I was 15, in biology class at PHS. Mr. Long was out that day and the sub was having a hard time keeping the class in line. Around 9:30 Mrs. Blanchard from next door came rushing in the classroom to tell us that there had been an attack...
School stayed on schedule, but classes did not. We watched recorded footage over and over again of the planes crashing into the towers and the ill-fated flight 93. We saw newcasts and pictures of people jumping out of the trade towers and people running for their lives on the ground. It was terrible. What's amazing to me is that so many students I teach today have little more than a vague idea of what happened, and we're discouraged from showing them footage because "They were too young, and they're too sensitive." And yet I was no older than most of my students, and I and my classmates watched it as it happened...
Were we scared? Heck yes. But more than that, we were angry. Angry that someone would come to our great nation and attempt to destroy our cultural icons, our government and our people. We were sad, too, for the many who died that day trying to survive--and proud of the heroes who gave their lives trying to save others. We grieved, as a nation, for every life lost. And then we banded together. I specifically remember the little town next to ours putting American flags on every lamp post down the central highway. Ten years later, those flags still wave proudly, but many of us don't give them a second glance anymore. We've forgotten what it was like to lose so many. We've forgotten how precious this country seemed to us when we thought we might lose it. We've forgotten so much, and I am included in this.
But today, on the tenth anniversary, I've seen a change in the tides. We're starting to remember again.
I leave with the lyrics from Bruce Springsteen's "Empty Sky" from "The Rising" album which was partially written as a 9/11 album:
"Blood on the streets/ yeah there's blood pouring down
I hear the blood of my blood/ cryin' from the ground...
I want a kiss from your lips/ I want an eye for an eye
I woke up this morning/ to the empty sky..."
Ten years later, I still cry when I think about 9/11 and the cost to our nation. And I still swell with pride when I think about our great country and how we proved that we were stronger than any terrorist threat. We are Americans. And we are still "One nation/ Under God."
Go Lions!
Last night my husband and I joined four of our friends (Maddie and Will, Pat and Pam) at the first SLU home game of the 2011 season! And while the Lions of SLU may not ever be as "impressive" as the Tigers of LSU, I had way more fun there than I think I could ever have at an LSU game--chiefly because while I could care less who wins or loses an LSU game, I get really into SLU winning--because they don't always! LOL.
Besides, I WENT to SLU and being back on campus floods me with nostalgic memories of times past... and so does running into professors. Yesterday I saw Mary White and her husband Brian Crothers (both Biology professors, and I worked extensively with Mary one summer in my undergrad years on a genetics project) and Kurt Nurenberg (head of the SLU Honors Program, of which I was a participant my entire time in college) and Allen Cannon, who was one of the best math profs SLU had (and the goofiest). It was kinda like coming home and seeing family you haven't seen in ages--you realize you actually missed them. :D
However, while I wouldn't mind going to grad school, I'm not longing for my undergrad years too much--it was fun and new and I made lots of great friends (Maddie!) but now I have a great house, money to spend (not millions, but at least I'm not working crappy part time jobs for my supper), a good husband and a job that is rewarding in its own right. Plus, I live closer to my REAL family, and as my good friend Judy (another SLU person, albeit reluctantly) remarked once "Family is really all you have."
And on that note--I dreamed of Pawpaw last night. I don't remember the whole dream, but I remember he was making me laugh. I felt warm and safe with him around in my dream. I love you, Pawpaw.
Besides, I WENT to SLU and being back on campus floods me with nostalgic memories of times past... and so does running into professors. Yesterday I saw Mary White and her husband Brian Crothers (both Biology professors, and I worked extensively with Mary one summer in my undergrad years on a genetics project) and Kurt Nurenberg (head of the SLU Honors Program, of which I was a participant my entire time in college) and Allen Cannon, who was one of the best math profs SLU had (and the goofiest). It was kinda like coming home and seeing family you haven't seen in ages--you realize you actually missed them. :D
However, while I wouldn't mind going to grad school, I'm not longing for my undergrad years too much--it was fun and new and I made lots of great friends (Maddie!) but now I have a great house, money to spend (not millions, but at least I'm not working crappy part time jobs for my supper), a good husband and a job that is rewarding in its own right. Plus, I live closer to my REAL family, and as my good friend Judy (another SLU person, albeit reluctantly) remarked once "Family is really all you have."
And on that note--I dreamed of Pawpaw last night. I don't remember the whole dream, but I remember he was making me laugh. I felt warm and safe with him around in my dream. I love you, Pawpaw.
Sunday, September 4, 2011
Julie Andrews, Carol Burnett, and the 60's...
Okay, so I'm officially avoiding grading right now... my husband thinks I'm working... I think I'm burned out... but I promise, I promise, after I blog this (and check icanhazcheeseburger.com, and get on facebook, and... etc.) I will do some work!
So anyway, this is not the Annie Lennox blog I want to write (I promise, it's coming) but it just as good because it features two of my favorite people: Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett and some of my favorite music (60s-70s)!
When I was a little girl, my favorite people were Julie and Carol. And one of my favorite things that featured them was their performance at Lincoln Center in the 70s (before my time, but then, I was a strange kid). Anyway, my favorite part of the Lincoln Center performance was the 60s and 70s medley they sang toward the end. I just really got into the songs--so much that I recorded just them singing from the TV using an old live recorder my grandmother had... I had so much background noise in that thing, LOL! Anyway, I played the tape over and over again and memorized the entire medley... and then grew up, went to college, got a job and a husband and promptly forgot about the whole thing except on early mornings when I felt like singing... and then just YESTERDAY, inspiration hit--why not make a CD (or two in this case) featuring the actual SONGS that inspired the medley, in the order that Julie and Carol sang them? So... that's exactly what I did. Thank goodness for itunes... :D
So my first CD, which is half of the playlist, features the following songs in this order:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band--Beatles
With a Little Help from my Friends--Beatles
The Beat Goes On--Sonny and Cher
I Dig Rock and Roll Music--Peter, Paul and Mary
Everybody's Talkin'--Chuck Dallas
Gentle on my Mind--Glenn Campbell
Wichita Lineman--Glenn Campbell
Little Green Apples--Bobby Goldsboro
Honey--Bobby Goldsboro
Both Sides Now--Joni Mitchell
If--Bread
Up, Up and Away--The 5th Dimension
Do You Know the Way to San Jose?--Dionne Warwick
I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane--John Denver
By the Time I Get to Phoenix--Glen Campbell
Downtown--Petula Clark
59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)--Harpers Bizarre
Sunny--Boney M*
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head--Burt Bacharach & B.J. Thomas
You've Made Me So Very Happy--Brenda Holloway
Since I wasn't sure which artist orginally sang the songs, or which version they referenced, I picked songs recorded in that era with a melody that sounded similar to the way Julie and Carol sang the song--with one exception: For "Sunny," instead of picking the version I figured they used, I used a Boney M version (right decade, wrong continent) because it was a song I already owned (and why I own Boney M stuff is a story in itself--thank you, Judy...) and I figured it would be a nice personal tie...
Anyway, that playlist comprises about HALF of the songs from the medley. So next month, when I get paid again, I'm going to buy the other half... and make another CD... so I'll have the full medley. And it goes without saying that the whole thing will be an itunes playlist so I can listen to it in full anytime I want...
The bad thing--I owned a least three or four of these songs already, and was too lazy to dig them out of storage (we just moved) so I re-bought them. Oh well. :D
That's my musical nerdiness for the day. Gosh, I love these songs... they bring me back to my childhood... :D
And an added bonus--my mom used to sing some of these to me when I was a little girl, and I didn't realize it until I heard the whole song.
Loves!
So anyway, this is not the Annie Lennox blog I want to write (I promise, it's coming) but it just as good because it features two of my favorite people: Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett and some of my favorite music (60s-70s)!
When I was a little girl, my favorite people were Julie and Carol. And one of my favorite things that featured them was their performance at Lincoln Center in the 70s (before my time, but then, I was a strange kid). Anyway, my favorite part of the Lincoln Center performance was the 60s and 70s medley they sang toward the end. I just really got into the songs--so much that I recorded just them singing from the TV using an old live recorder my grandmother had... I had so much background noise in that thing, LOL! Anyway, I played the tape over and over again and memorized the entire medley... and then grew up, went to college, got a job and a husband and promptly forgot about the whole thing except on early mornings when I felt like singing... and then just YESTERDAY, inspiration hit--why not make a CD (or two in this case) featuring the actual SONGS that inspired the medley, in the order that Julie and Carol sang them? So... that's exactly what I did. Thank goodness for itunes... :D
So my first CD, which is half of the playlist, features the following songs in this order:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band--Beatles
With a Little Help from my Friends--Beatles
The Beat Goes On--Sonny and Cher
I Dig Rock and Roll Music--Peter, Paul and Mary
Everybody's Talkin'--Chuck Dallas
Gentle on my Mind--Glenn Campbell
Wichita Lineman--Glenn Campbell
Little Green Apples--Bobby Goldsboro
Honey--Bobby Goldsboro
Both Sides Now--Joni Mitchell
If--Bread
Up, Up and Away--The 5th Dimension
Do You Know the Way to San Jose?--Dionne Warwick
I'm Leaving on a Jet Plane--John Denver
By the Time I Get to Phoenix--Glen Campbell
Downtown--Petula Clark
59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)--Harpers Bizarre
Sunny--Boney M*
Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head--Burt Bacharach & B.J. Thomas
You've Made Me So Very Happy--Brenda Holloway
Since I wasn't sure which artist orginally sang the songs, or which version they referenced, I picked songs recorded in that era with a melody that sounded similar to the way Julie and Carol sang the song--with one exception: For "Sunny," instead of picking the version I figured they used, I used a Boney M version (right decade, wrong continent) because it was a song I already owned (and why I own Boney M stuff is a story in itself--thank you, Judy...) and I figured it would be a nice personal tie...
Anyway, that playlist comprises about HALF of the songs from the medley. So next month, when I get paid again, I'm going to buy the other half... and make another CD... so I'll have the full medley. And it goes without saying that the whole thing will be an itunes playlist so I can listen to it in full anytime I want...
The bad thing--I owned a least three or four of these songs already, and was too lazy to dig them out of storage (we just moved) so I re-bought them. Oh well. :D
That's my musical nerdiness for the day. Gosh, I love these songs... they bring me back to my childhood... :D
And an added bonus--my mom used to sing some of these to me when I was a little girl, and I didn't realize it until I heard the whole song.
Loves!
Thursday, September 1, 2011
New Blog
Sorry I haven't blogged in awhile... school started up again, and as a teacher, that means I've been swamped with work... for example, here is a list of things I need to grade over the weekend: finish my students' QOD notebooks (10 questions a book, approximately 130 books = 1300 questions); grade the photosynthesis posters my seventh graders made; grade the lab safety quiz they took; grade their microscope worksheet... and then for my 9th graders (I haven't even picked up their QOD's yet--that'll be 75 more tablet to grade): grade their hand-drawn eukaryotic cells (plant and animal, color coded and specific organelles); grade their scientific ethics articles...
Then I have to make a test for both the 7th graders and 9th graders, complete with study guides (they're still young enough to get study guides (if they were older, no way)) and then I'm considering for my 9th graders typing notes on powerpoints that are only partially filled in and uploading them to the webpage in the hopes of making the notes more interactive/ less tedious for them.
Actually, I think I do a lot already to make the notes as interesting as possible, but I'm trying to reach all learners here and ignore my gut instinct that they will tune me out and surf the web instead of filling in their notes. So I'm not sure about that one. We'll see...
But seriously folks... this is A LOT. And I know, I know... I chose this career... and I did, and I (usually) enjoy it. Like today, when I came up with a new, relatively exciting, way to present photosynthesis to my students... that was fun. And I really felt like I connnected with the kids, so it was all good. But at the same time... coming home and having the mountains of work that need to be graded... students, parents and administrators clamoring for grades... lesson plans that take hours each week to complete... plus the actual lesson itself--implementation, materials, etc... sometimes I really have to remind myself why I went into this career, that it's about the kids not the paperwork. And sometimes, I honestly just have to say "screw it" and do what is best for my kids... even if it means getting behind in the paperwork and getting in trouble. I'll deal. At the end of the day, I just want to do my job right. And I know paperwork is part of it, but it shouldn't be the main thing. The main thing should be education... and unfortunately, we have to put that on the back burner a lot of times for other things that supposedly take precedent... anyway, I digress.
I guess all I'm really saying is: I'm only one person and I'll get to it when I get to it. Like Dave Letterman said in his response to the Jihadist death threat: "You want to shut me up? Get in line."
Only I'm saying "You want me to do something else on top of everything that I'm already doing? Get in line." LOL.
Then I have to make a test for both the 7th graders and 9th graders, complete with study guides (they're still young enough to get study guides (if they were older, no way)) and then I'm considering for my 9th graders typing notes on powerpoints that are only partially filled in and uploading them to the webpage in the hopes of making the notes more interactive/ less tedious for them.
Actually, I think I do a lot already to make the notes as interesting as possible, but I'm trying to reach all learners here and ignore my gut instinct that they will tune me out and surf the web instead of filling in their notes. So I'm not sure about that one. We'll see...
But seriously folks... this is A LOT. And I know, I know... I chose this career... and I did, and I (usually) enjoy it. Like today, when I came up with a new, relatively exciting, way to present photosynthesis to my students... that was fun. And I really felt like I connnected with the kids, so it was all good. But at the same time... coming home and having the mountains of work that need to be graded... students, parents and administrators clamoring for grades... lesson plans that take hours each week to complete... plus the actual lesson itself--implementation, materials, etc... sometimes I really have to remind myself why I went into this career, that it's about the kids not the paperwork. And sometimes, I honestly just have to say "screw it" and do what is best for my kids... even if it means getting behind in the paperwork and getting in trouble. I'll deal. At the end of the day, I just want to do my job right. And I know paperwork is part of it, but it shouldn't be the main thing. The main thing should be education... and unfortunately, we have to put that on the back burner a lot of times for other things that supposedly take precedent... anyway, I digress.
I guess all I'm really saying is: I'm only one person and I'll get to it when I get to it. Like Dave Letterman said in his response to the Jihadist death threat: "You want to shut me up? Get in line."
Only I'm saying "You want me to do something else on top of everything that I'm already doing? Get in line." LOL.
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