Ok so maybe it was that I am an incompetent pool owner. I left the pump running all day today (after following Mike's laundry list of cleaning solutions), and wouldn't you know it? The pool is practically crystal clear now. At least that's one thing I don't have to worry about anymore. *phew.
Today, the newly (as of yesterday) hired teacher came to school. And she's young and seems GREAT. I am overjoyed about this and hoping she will exceed my expectations and possibly even be a new friend. I'll keep you posted.
However, I am totally bummed.
I also received the schedule for this year and *GASP* for the first time since I've been teaching there I will not be teaching 7th grade literature. I love teaching 7th grade literature. 7th grade literature is the class where I teach all of my favorite novels. Of course, I will offer my book choices to the new teacher, but there's no telling whether she will take me up on my suggestions or not. And, even if she does, I want to teach The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. It's not fair!
It's right about now that I wish I was a little kid so I could have a good excuse to stomp around and throw a temper tantrum.
Instead, I'm throwing a temper tantrum in the adult way and writing a complainey-blog about the whole thing.
Thanks for reading. I feel much, much better now that I got that off my chest!
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Sabotage
I am really starting to get suspicious.
I mean, not a few days had gone by after Mike left for his Afghanistan training when mysterious green patches started appearing in the pool.
I smell sabotage.
Either the pool has a mind of its own and likes to torture me when he leaves or he is rigging it so that the pool decides to self-destruct as soon as he makes his exit from the scene.
I know what you're thinking and you can just erase that thought from your mind right now. I swear to you I am not an incompetent pool caretaker. I PROMISE.
Day by day the pool has been getting greener... and greener.. and I finally broke down and emailed Mike about the situation. He was indignant. Hose out the filters! Go buy more chlorine tablets! Brush the sides! Do not let the pool turn green!
Hrmph.
So I did. I followed orders. I did what I was told. I moaned and groaned about it the entire time. I was no happy camper.
And after all of my hard work, I tell you, that pool darn well better be less green tomorrow when I get home from work or I am going to be peeved.
Personally, I would just let the whole thing turn green. In a few days the pool guys are going to show up and drain all the water out of the pool, anyway, so who really cares at this point? But, Mike is somehow convinced that they might refuse to work on our pool if the water is absolutely disgusting. I have my doubts about that. I would prefer to continue with my first thoughts and believe that Mike and the pool have somehow joined forces against me to make my life miserable every time he leaves. I think he does it so I'll miss him more. Well, I can tell you right now...... it's working.
I mean, not a few days had gone by after Mike left for his Afghanistan training when mysterious green patches started appearing in the pool.
I smell sabotage.
Either the pool has a mind of its own and likes to torture me when he leaves or he is rigging it so that the pool decides to self-destruct as soon as he makes his exit from the scene.
I know what you're thinking and you can just erase that thought from your mind right now. I swear to you I am not an incompetent pool caretaker. I PROMISE.
Day by day the pool has been getting greener... and greener.. and I finally broke down and emailed Mike about the situation. He was indignant. Hose out the filters! Go buy more chlorine tablets! Brush the sides! Do not let the pool turn green!
Hrmph.
So I did. I followed orders. I did what I was told. I moaned and groaned about it the entire time. I was no happy camper.
And after all of my hard work, I tell you, that pool darn well better be less green tomorrow when I get home from work or I am going to be peeved.
Personally, I would just let the whole thing turn green. In a few days the pool guys are going to show up and drain all the water out of the pool, anyway, so who really cares at this point? But, Mike is somehow convinced that they might refuse to work on our pool if the water is absolutely disgusting. I have my doubts about that. I would prefer to continue with my first thoughts and believe that Mike and the pool have somehow joined forces against me to make my life miserable every time he leaves. I think he does it so I'll miss him more. Well, I can tell you right now...... it's working.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Bad
I feel really bad.
I was just getting a much needed facebook fix, and I read something that made me feel like a really bad teacher. It was a girl's fb update that went something like this, "Exhausted from cutting lamination, labeling files, and doing bulletin boards, but SO EXCITED for the school year to start!"
......
Yeah. Like I said. Bad.
I was just getting a much needed facebook fix, and I read something that made me feel like a really bad teacher. It was a girl's fb update that went something like this, "Exhausted from cutting lamination, labeling files, and doing bulletin boards, but SO EXCITED for the school year to start!"
......
Yeah. Like I said. Bad.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Welcome Back
Today I bit the bullet and finally made my way into school.
When I arrived, I took a deep breath, opened my classroom door, and surveyed the damage.
Oh, the room looks better than I remember, I thought to myself.
But wait! Those filing cabinet aren't mine. Those filing cabinets are the math filing cabinets. Why are they in my room? ..... Oh no!
That's right my loyal readers, for the first time in 4 years of teaching I decided to wait until the very last minute to start working in my classroom, and it apparently was the wrong decision.
It seems as though my principal decided that I was going to move to the classroom next door this year. It would have been nice had I known this oh, say, a couple of weeks ago? I certainly would have gone in sooner had I realized that my getting ready for school duties were not simply going to consist of decorating my classroom and arranging the desks.
The first thing I did was enlist the help of the secretary, who happened to be the only other person at the school when I arrived. I asked her if I was moving classrooms. She wasn't sure, but she directed my attention to the number over the classroom door. It had been changed from an 8 to a 7.
But no one contacted me. I naively told myself. If they didn't contact me to tell me I was going to be switching classrooms, certainly they wouldn't expect me to switch. The filing cabinets must be a mistake.
Deep down in the pit of my stomach, though, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one would have moved those heavy filing cabinets into my classroom if they hadn't meant for them to stay there.
So, I did what any other insane person in my situation would have done. I went into my classroom and started putting my books on the shelves. My (irrational) thinking was that when the principal finally arrived on the scene and realized I had already finished putting all of my stuff out in the room she would quickly reassess the situation and not ask me to switch classrooms.
My plan failed, however, because not 30 minutes later I saw her car pull into the parking lot. She quickly made her way to my classroom and broke the wretched news to me that I would, indeed, have to move all of my things to a different room.
My head started pounding before she even finished breaking the bad news to me.
So, yeah. If that doesn't say WELCOME BACK, then I don't really know what does. It appears as though this school year is going to be even better (dripping sarcasm) than I thought.
When I arrived, I took a deep breath, opened my classroom door, and surveyed the damage.
Oh, the room looks better than I remember, I thought to myself.
But wait! Those filing cabinet aren't mine. Those filing cabinets are the math filing cabinets. Why are they in my room? ..... Oh no!
That's right my loyal readers, for the first time in 4 years of teaching I decided to wait until the very last minute to start working in my classroom, and it apparently was the wrong decision.
It seems as though my principal decided that I was going to move to the classroom next door this year. It would have been nice had I known this oh, say, a couple of weeks ago? I certainly would have gone in sooner had I realized that my getting ready for school duties were not simply going to consist of decorating my classroom and arranging the desks.
The first thing I did was enlist the help of the secretary, who happened to be the only other person at the school when I arrived. I asked her if I was moving classrooms. She wasn't sure, but she directed my attention to the number over the classroom door. It had been changed from an 8 to a 7.
But no one contacted me. I naively told myself. If they didn't contact me to tell me I was going to be switching classrooms, certainly they wouldn't expect me to switch. The filing cabinets must be a mistake.
Deep down in the pit of my stomach, though, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that no one would have moved those heavy filing cabinets into my classroom if they hadn't meant for them to stay there.
So, I did what any other insane person in my situation would have done. I went into my classroom and started putting my books on the shelves. My (irrational) thinking was that when the principal finally arrived on the scene and realized I had already finished putting all of my stuff out in the room she would quickly reassess the situation and not ask me to switch classrooms.
My plan failed, however, because not 30 minutes later I saw her car pull into the parking lot. She quickly made her way to my classroom and broke the wretched news to me that I would, indeed, have to move all of my things to a different room.
My head started pounding before she even finished breaking the bad news to me.
So, yeah. If that doesn't say WELCOME BACK, then I don't really know what does. It appears as though this school year is going to be even better (dripping sarcasm) than I thought.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Novels Wanted
In my endless quest to find the perfect combination of novels for my literature students to read during the school year, I have spent a good chunk of my summer vacation browsing through bookstores and online for book ideas. I have also spent many-a-day skimming and perusing through book after book that has fallen short of my expectations for one reason or another.
I have to be careful to find books in various genres, that cover different topics, and as much as I love certain authors, I also have to be careful to provide the students exposure to a variety of writing styles. For example, I absolutely love the author Avi. But, last year my 7th graders read (and LOVED!) his novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. And, though I also absolutely adore his novel Nothing But The Truth and have read it with 8th grade classes in the past, I won't use it for this 8th grade class because I want them to experience other authors.
I also am looking for books that grab the reader's attention and hold it - something that is probably the key element of a novel that is successful in a jr. high classroom. Because, quite frankly, I couldn't really care less that Watership Down is a classic and a staple in many-a-classroom. It would bore the hell out of my students and probably only about 5 of them would read it cover to cover. The rest would get plot summaries and character descriptions from the internet and call it a day.
My goal is to get my students reading the novel the whole way through. It is also to get them to discuss and question, wonder and theorize. I look for books that will cause my students to read ahead instead of staying with the group. I mean, really, everyone needs to experience the feeling of not-being-able-to-put-that-book-down a few times, and I sure would love it if some teenagers experienced that because of a book they were reading in my class.
I have the 6th grade novels pretty well set. We begin the year with a fairly light and entertaining read with Matilda by Roald Dahl, next we delve into the still fun, but thought provoking Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, and we close out the year with the slightly more difficult read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Of course we cover more than just those 3 novels in the year, but I like to always do at least 3 novels together as a class.
For 7th grade, I feel as though I have thousands of options. I still haven't made my final decisions for this coming year, but I will choose 3 from the following list:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, Ann Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and The Giver by Lois Lowry
Right now, I am leaning towards The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (it was a true hit last year and one of my favorite books for this age group), Ann Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (because it is a small class of all girls and only 1 boy I think they will really get into this book), and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry.
It's 8th grade that is really giving me problems. I have cast book after book aside, as mentioned above, for various reasons.
The only book that I am 100% sold on is a book I read with the 8th graders last year called Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. It is Melba's memoir of her integration into a white school in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is an eye-opener and a page-turner for sure.
Beyond that, I am really coming up short. I am unhappy with every single other book I've ever read with my 8th grade classes of the past so am starting from scratch with other options.
I recently finished a book called Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Meyer which gives an honest look at the confusion and pain of War. The only problem is that it covers the first 6 months of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- a "war" that is still going on today. I have to say, it was quite captivating for me to read, considering that as a military wife whose husband has served 2 tours in Iraq, it really hit a personal note with me. Walter Dean Meyer is a popular author who has written many well-known and award winning novels for teens. He does a really good job of staying impartial about the war and giving the reader the opportunity to ask his/her own questions and come up with his/her own answers at the end. It's about the reality of war rather than a political position on the topic. It was a very good book. I'm just unsure whether a book on this topic is even appropriate in the classroom at this time. It might all be a little bit too close to home, a little bit too fresh to broach in literature class.
Long story short, I really don't know. I have about a week to find 2 more books that I absolutely love for my 8th graders. Suggestions and comments are more than welcome (unless of course you disagree with one of my definite choices. If that is the case please keep it to yourself or you will send me into a tailspin!) :)
Until then, I must go for I have much skimming, perusing, and reading to do in order to find those perfect jr. high level novels.
I have to be careful to find books in various genres, that cover different topics, and as much as I love certain authors, I also have to be careful to provide the students exposure to a variety of writing styles. For example, I absolutely love the author Avi. But, last year my 7th graders read (and LOVED!) his novel The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle. And, though I also absolutely adore his novel Nothing But The Truth and have read it with 8th grade classes in the past, I won't use it for this 8th grade class because I want them to experience other authors.
I also am looking for books that grab the reader's attention and hold it - something that is probably the key element of a novel that is successful in a jr. high classroom. Because, quite frankly, I couldn't really care less that Watership Down is a classic and a staple in many-a-classroom. It would bore the hell out of my students and probably only about 5 of them would read it cover to cover. The rest would get plot summaries and character descriptions from the internet and call it a day.
My goal is to get my students reading the novel the whole way through. It is also to get them to discuss and question, wonder and theorize. I look for books that will cause my students to read ahead instead of staying with the group. I mean, really, everyone needs to experience the feeling of not-being-able-to-put-that-book-down a few times, and I sure would love it if some teenagers experienced that because of a book they were reading in my class.
I have the 6th grade novels pretty well set. We begin the year with a fairly light and entertaining read with Matilda by Roald Dahl, next we delve into the still fun, but thought provoking Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, and we close out the year with the slightly more difficult read Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbitt. Of course we cover more than just those 3 novels in the year, but I like to always do at least 3 novels together as a class.
For 7th grade, I feel as though I have thousands of options. I still haven't made my final decisions for this coming year, but I will choose 3 from the following list:
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle, The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred D. Taylor, Ann Frank: Diary of a Young Girl, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton, and The Giver by Lois Lowry
Right now, I am leaning towards The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (it was a true hit last year and one of my favorite books for this age group), Ann Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl (because it is a small class of all girls and only 1 boy I think they will really get into this book), and Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry.
It's 8th grade that is really giving me problems. I have cast book after book aside, as mentioned above, for various reasons.
The only book that I am 100% sold on is a book I read with the 8th graders last year called Warriors Don't Cry by Melba Pattillo Beals. It is Melba's memoir of her integration into a white school in Little Rock, Arkansas. It is an eye-opener and a page-turner for sure.
Beyond that, I am really coming up short. I am unhappy with every single other book I've ever read with my 8th grade classes of the past so am starting from scratch with other options.
I recently finished a book called Sunrise Over Fallujah by Walter Dean Meyer which gives an honest look at the confusion and pain of War. The only problem is that it covers the first 6 months of Operation Iraqi Freedom -- a "war" that is still going on today. I have to say, it was quite captivating for me to read, considering that as a military wife whose husband has served 2 tours in Iraq, it really hit a personal note with me. Walter Dean Meyer is a popular author who has written many well-known and award winning novels for teens. He does a really good job of staying impartial about the war and giving the reader the opportunity to ask his/her own questions and come up with his/her own answers at the end. It's about the reality of war rather than a political position on the topic. It was a very good book. I'm just unsure whether a book on this topic is even appropriate in the classroom at this time. It might all be a little bit too close to home, a little bit too fresh to broach in literature class.
Long story short, I really don't know. I have about a week to find 2 more books that I absolutely love for my 8th graders. Suggestions and comments are more than welcome (unless of course you disagree with one of my definite choices. If that is the case please keep it to yourself or you will send me into a tailspin!) :)
Until then, I must go for I have much skimming, perusing, and reading to do in order to find those perfect jr. high level novels.
My Summer Vacation is Over?! Already?!
After a week of hitting all of the (kid friendly) San Diego hotspots, I just returned from dropping my sister and her family off at the airport.
They were my very last visitors of the summer, and at this very moment, I am forcing myself to come to terms with the fact that today is my very last day of summer vacation.
Tomorrow I will make the long trek into school to be ambushed by the thousands of things I have forgotten over the course of my incredibly relaxing summer vacation. I am not looking forward to it. I expect a wave of anxiety to flood over me as I make my final approach and see the school looming at the end of the street. I expect a feeling of dread to spread throughout my body as I open my classroom doors and realize that in my hurry to begin my summer, I left my classroom in slight disarray. I expect tomorrow to be not exactly the very best day of the year.
But, I also expect that I will get over that. And I expect that there will be a few faces that I will be happy to see. I also expect to dive headlong into the planning for this coming school year. I've stated many times that it will be my last - at least at that school - so I certainly don't want it to be a flop.
While I currently feel as though I would die happy if only I could live in an eternal state of summer vacation, I do realize on some level that once I get myself back in the swing of things, I will be happy to be there.
For a few weeks, anyway.
Today I plan to catch up on email, get an oil change, do a little school clothes shopping, and get to bed early.
I will need to be well rested for my day tomorrow, afterall.
Wish me luck.
They were my very last visitors of the summer, and at this very moment, I am forcing myself to come to terms with the fact that today is my very last day of summer vacation.
Tomorrow I will make the long trek into school to be ambushed by the thousands of things I have forgotten over the course of my incredibly relaxing summer vacation. I am not looking forward to it. I expect a wave of anxiety to flood over me as I make my final approach and see the school looming at the end of the street. I expect a feeling of dread to spread throughout my body as I open my classroom doors and realize that in my hurry to begin my summer, I left my classroom in slight disarray. I expect tomorrow to be not exactly the very best day of the year.
But, I also expect that I will get over that. And I expect that there will be a few faces that I will be happy to see. I also expect to dive headlong into the planning for this coming school year. I've stated many times that it will be my last - at least at that school - so I certainly don't want it to be a flop.
While I currently feel as though I would die happy if only I could live in an eternal state of summer vacation, I do realize on some level that once I get myself back in the swing of things, I will be happy to be there.
For a few weeks, anyway.
Today I plan to catch up on email, get an oil change, do a little school clothes shopping, and get to bed early.
I will need to be well rested for my day tomorrow, afterall.
Wish me luck.
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Update
Quick Update:
They've been reporting on the news lately that according to a recent study, border collies have been named the most intelligent breed of dog in the world!
If you backtrack a bit and read this blog that I recently wrote about my border collie, you will come to the same conclusion that I did.
Apparently being smart and having a sense of self-preservation are two very different things.
They've been reporting on the news lately that according to a recent study, border collies have been named the most intelligent breed of dog in the world!
If you backtrack a bit and read this blog that I recently wrote about my border collie, you will come to the same conclusion that I did.
Apparently being smart and having a sense of self-preservation are two very different things.
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