Perusing Teacher tube

Cool (?) way to start the school year?



This would be very fun to make.....I'm totally geeking out, I know



Not as good as a recently submitted student rap about atoms I have (will post later) but kind of fun in its own right...


Hmmmm.....


This has been circulating the FB


Admin walk through...


Powerpoint how NOT to


If some people got this idea......

Sicky McSickerson

Ugh...oldest has the flu...no, not THE flu...just the flu.....grrr.....she has a meet this weekend....needs to get rid of the 103+ fever though....more prayers needed....:(

2 years ago today

I had my final installment in the girl trio that is heart of my little family. Due to being breech, it was a scheduled C-section and other than that and the gestational diabetes, it was a fairly uneventful pregnancy. I am very blessed with a healthy and happy (well, mostly happy most of the time) two year old. Happy Birthday, Beans!

TGIF

My colleagues here crack me up. Our Friday afternoon "choir practice" always brings a smile to my face even with out the caloric beverages. One teacher is a Southern Belle. She is certified as a clinical psychiatrist and teachers IB and AP psychology. She is the life of the party. Some of her favorite expressions are: Is the Pope Catholic? Does Chatty Cathy have a plastic heiny? Does a hobbyhorse have a wooden pecker? I could probably write several posts about our inside jokes but I will save them for "the book".

Who Dey PSA

These are bangles as in bracelets




These are bengals as in Who Dey


Questions?

One of those kinds of days.....

This morning as I checked my school mailbox I was looking for the county issued science assessment I have been ordered to administer but which really holds no weight for any one and therefore I am wasting as entire day in class with. It wasn't there even though I was supposed to give it on Tuesday but the county had not yet delivered them to the schools at that point. As I am mentally preparing a plan B for the day (more like a plan ZZ at this point but....) my brain connects the dots that I was supposed to pick up my testing stuff from a certain administrator. Thanks for kicking in there, neurons. I like to be at school early so it is about 6am at this point. We are not contracted to be there until 7 and that is most people get there just for that very reason. So I had about a hour before I expected to find said administrator or her secretary. I head off to my classroom and try to be productive.

I had a parent ask me the day before when I arrived at school so that her and her son could come by (son not behaving so well and I have contacted Mom a few times regarding the behavior). About 10 til 7 after seeing no parent, I head over again and anxiously wait to get to my test box. After standing outside a dark office I find the nearest adult, the very 'seasoned' guidance counselor for the building. After having to chat (well, listen) to him for about 7 minutes he finally keys me in and we get what I need. Off to first bell as the warning bell is signaling time for the kids to get to class.

First period begins and even on a good day this class just rubs me the wrong way. I don't think many teachers are at their best first bell of the day or at least they get better as the say goes on. Maybe I am just not a morning teacher/person. Maybe I should ask for 1st bell as plan next year. This first bell has a sense of entitlement to them. Everything is too hard or too much work. For example, when introducing a mini-"project" today a student says, "How many projects do we have in here?" My reply was to refer to the syllabus where I listed them all including this one. I think she felt like the one they turned in last week meant they were finished with projects forever. As a whole they constantly whine and want to exude as little energy as possible when actually thinking about things. Again this is the overall class demeanor. There are some really good, courteous and intelligent students there. They just get over shadowed by all the squeaky wheels. I make it through that class. Second bell comes in. This is a lower academic level that the prior so some students take this assessment so seriously that they personalize it with their drool. They did attempt all 23 questions first though. Third bell and fourth bells which are honors level are concerned where the data from this test is going, how it will affect them and their science classes in the future, etc. I am not at liberty to tell them all of the truth: doubt anyone is really going to look at the data and it means nothing or if they do look at the data it still really means nothing I am just doing what I am told because I need my job and this is what they told me to do. The rest of my classes were fairly uneventful in the same manner. I felt accomplished just to make it through my teaching day.

My last bell plan period has been interrupted by a floater. Yes, some other teacher is coming in my room to teach a different class (biology). I did my best PC whining to administration about how I am in a chemistry lab and I switch rooms when the neighboring chem teachers need the gas hook ups or fume hood and a floater is not a good idea with the access to the chemical stockroom, etc. Didn't work. I have a floater. What is worse right this moment is that I have a floater's class but the actually real teacher for this class is not yet 'legal' to be in the building - hired but needs the BCI and orientation and all. So this class of freshmen (a breed all their own....) were taken from another teacher about a week ago (school rearranging of courses due to high class numbers and we got funding to hire another teacher for the department to cover these classes) and have had a different sub everyday since then in a 'new to them' chemistry classroom. AS you teacher readers know any one of these things would cause chaos but to have all these issues at once....well, that is when you pray that everyone comes out alive. They are off the wall crazy. The sub they had today has worked in our department a lot and is a good sub but things were just not going my way today. I had a dentist appointment at what I was told by my DH at 1:30 (ahem, this plays in later). At lunch I agreed to help the sub for this class today by providing a video AND a set of questions on a worksheet to go with it already copied. I was cuing the Bill Nye as the classes changed from bell 6 to 7. The bell rings to start bell 7. No sub. I piddle and wait around trying to ignore the 28ish kids in front of me and about 4 minutes later (which seems like and eternity in teacher time with a group of kids you don't know) the sub shows up. I would have taken roll but there is no class list. Yeah, how many fine students are skipping this class..... The sub had been locked out of where her stuff was.

Finally I try to leave. A football coach and I pass on the stairs (me with my full backpack, large purse, box of projects to grade and over sized insulated water mug, He with his big self) and he runs into me almost causing me to drop everything not to mention fall down the stairs in my flowy skirt. I had to set down half of my load to unlock the gate to leave the school grounds. Get in my car. I then get a call from my dentist office asking where I am. I tell her the location. She says she is not familiar with that part of town. My appointment was at 1:20 and DH (not so dear at the moment) said 1:20 but figured that was close enough to 1:30 that it wouldn't matter. (HA!) She asks if I thought I'd be there in 5 minutes. I said yes. She told me she'd see if they could still take me for the cleaning when I got there. When I got there she asked the hygienist and the answer was no. WTH?????? I was SO livid. I guess the fact that she was waving the $75 cancellation fee was supposed to make me happy. So the CLEANING that I was trying to schedule during the summer is now rescheduled for the day before THANKSGIVING! I am thinking I need to find a new dentist b/c the latest appointment they have is a 3:30 on Wednesdays which she says is booked until March right now! ARGH!!!

Hopefully tomorrow will be better.

Anticipation & Disappointment

Weird evening. Waiting on something that never happened. Wondering why. Was found but not followed through with. Strange.

I attended the Veteran's Memorial dedication and it was nice to be there to support some old and dear friends who lost loved ones in combat. I can't even imagine being in that situation. Hearing admirable stories from veterans was very surreal. They did not hold back any details and these men talked freely about how many they killed. They referred to their nationalities when talking about the killing ("shot that Chinese in the face", "used a grenade in the bunker and killed 7 Koreans"). I wonder how these men feel about immigrants from those countries. Another thought I had was how Christianity and military combat mix. You know, tho shalt not kill (then is fine print unless you are fighting for your country???). It was very surreal and got me thinking.