Things that make you go "hmmm..."

In response to a question about someone who is alive/famous today that might be considered a "Renaissance Person":

"Snoop dawg - he is a musical musician. He is very funny and a good person."

From the mouths of children...

"Two reason [sic] Europeans began to explore by sea was it was a lot faster to go by sea then [sic] by feet. Another reason is because they could find more land by boat because you can't walk across the ocean."

An example of creative writing...

"After Christopher Columbus left the Americas, the native Americans' population suffered in decreasion."

Sounds contagious...

It's been a month!!!

Yes, I know.

It's been a crazy opening, what with the master schedule not being right, and hurricanes, and new responsibilities (I'm the team leader).

More later.

The beginning approacheth...

One of the things that I really love about teaching is that I get to start new every fall. Or late summer, depending on how picky you are. Teaching is unique in the sense that what we do has a beginning, a middle, and a definite end. I used to work as an assistant in a tourism office when I was in grad school, I know from what I speak here - there is NO end. Sure, we would finish projects, but then we'd go on to another almost immediately, or rather, we would shift our attention to that project that had already begun much around the same time as the one just completed. But with teaching, you get an end, a break, and a fresh start. I will have all new students this year. I'm also hoping to have some of the same kids I had last year - several of my World History students told me they signed up for AP Psych. Since I'm teaching 3 of the 5 sections offered this year, odds are better than 50% that I'll get a few of them. This is great, because I liked those kids. But back to the new.

Of course, I'm always overly optimistic. "This year I'm going to be the perfect teacher," I tell myself. "I'm going to call parents when there's a problem immediately! I'm going to be so creative with my lessons! I'm going to plan more than two days ahead. I will have great tests and even better essays with fabulous rubrics with which to grade said essays. I will use all the right techniques, and my students will love my classes." Ha ha ha! Well, I should know from experience (this being the beginning of year 5) that that shit ain't gonna happen. But I'll be better than last year. And I will be more creative in some senses. I will use some of the same lessons, but they'll be improved. And dammit, this year I am going to use good rubrics, because it's all about the rubric. What is a rubric? Well, there are all kinds of definitions, none of which really apply, but the way teachers use them is that they are basically something that lists attributes that qualify the writing, project, etc., as an "A", "B", "C", etc. paper. Here is an example: Essay Rubric It's a really good one, by the way, thanks to the author of this one!!!

So while I am sad that my vacation is over (although no students next week, it's just teachers), I am looking forward to the New Year. It will be different, certainly - we have two new teachers, and an interim department chair, but that's part of the reason it's so much fun.

Things that make you go "hmmm..."

So no doubt you've heard about the massive power outages in the northeastern U.S. and Canada. (look here or here for info) Frankly, I'd be surprised if you had heard about anything else, that was all that was on the news yesterday. It was on all the local networks here, plus the cable networks, as well as the BBC news. My question is this. If there was no power in NYC yesterday, how on earth was NBC broadcasting from NY at all? Or any of the news agencies that are headquarterd in NY. Is it all a lie? Are they really just in a small building in Sheboygan?

Catching a cold?

The cat has been sneezing alot the last couple of days. And not those little sneezes that are almost fairy-like, you could almost see Tinkerbell sneezing like that. No, she's been sneezing two or three times at a shot, and they're great big snuffly things. We did go to the vet last week (and it was dog day, apparently, she was the only cat in a waiting room filled with canines), and aside from needing a visit to the kitty dentist, the vet gave her a clean bill of health. Other than the sneezing, I can't see anything else wrong with her, no running eyes, no listlessness, in fact, she's as active as she usually is. If it continues tomorrow I will give the vet a call, although I will also be spending part of the day waiting for the cable guy because my Tivo didn't work!!! So I returned it and got digital cable instead. Extravagance, I know!

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Every fall when we come back from summer vacation, there are always changes at school. Teachers who told you to have a nice summer, and they'd see you in the fall, have gone off to other schools, to higher positions, to pursue other careers. Others who said goodbye to you in June suddenly reappear in late August, as if nothing had passed between you in the spring, as if there had been no mention of their leaving. You whisper in corners with your colleagues about what happened, why did so-and-so come back, what job offer fell through, what was better about this job that made them want to come back? Part of the excitement of coming back in late August is finding out all this information, finding out how everyone else spent their vacation, finding out about the changes, and learning what new inanities the school district has decided we desperately need to do this year.

But sometimes the changes just suck. Well, suck isn't quite the right word for it. The change is good for the person making the change, but it has thrown my colleagues and me for a loop.

My department chair is leaving our school for another position within the school district. She is one year away from retirement, and we all kind of knew she'd be leaving next year, but that was next year. What we were not prepared for was this announcement that she would not be spending her final year with us. For her, it is an exciting opportunity to be able to have more flexible working hours and to be able to be involved in new ways of teaching. For us, for me, it is scary! Who will the new leader be? How will this new person differ from our former leader? Will the collegiality that currently exists in our department continue on? Will this new person trust in our professionalism and allow us to keep our focus as we have in the past? One of the things I like so much about this school that I hear is not the case in so many other schools in my district is the fact that the teachers, especially those of us in the social studies department, are given a lot of freedom regarding how we approach the state tests. Many other schools emphasize rote memorization and massive reviewing towards the end of the school year, something that has never been the case at my school, and our scores have always been pretty good. I hope this kind of trust can continue.

I also feel sorry for this new person for a variety of reasons: first, our former dept. chair is a wonderful woman, a good leader, and an excellent educator. These are some big shoes to fill! Second: we as a department are very close, and (from what I understand from people who have entered the department in the last couple of years) we can be intimidating, and not-so-easy to break into. We don't mean to be, I don't think, but that's the way it is. At least, I don't think we mean to be. For any new person the transition could be difficult. Of course, the new department chair could be someone from within our department. This also has dangers. It could cause resentment. Or it could be great. It's a great unknown, and that is what is so worrying.

I will also personally miss our department chair very, very much. She is not only my colleague, but a friend, and I have learned much from her about being a teacher and about being a leader. She was always a calming influence on my bad days, and always supportive when I wanted to try something new. I wish her the best of luck with her new position, and hope that she'll come back and visit us often. I can only hope that one day I will be half as good an educator as she is.

Tryin' to get down to business

I am excited about this. Heck, I'm just damn excited about today. First, according to the UPS tracking website, my Tivo should be coming today - in fact, it is currently in the back of a big brown truck, on its way from Alexandria!!! I wonder how many houses between me and my Tivo?

Sad, I know.

In addition, the current plan is to begin thinking about school again this week. Yes, I know, I did all that work on curriculum, and thus spent a lot of time thinking about school, however, I was thinking more globally (to use history teacher speak), rather than in my own classroom. Today's plan is to map out the World History course roughly for the whole year. Ha ha ha! In other words, make a schedule from first day until last day that as soon as I start teaching I will have to throw out of the window. The best laid plans... Why am I starting so early, you may ask? Well, it's really not that early, if you think about it. Between now and the first day that teachers go back (which is a week chock full of meetings, spending time with colleagues, and rearranging your classroom three times until it's acceptable (not right, just acceptable)), there are only three weeks, and next week I have a one day workshop, and the week after I have a three day workshop, so it's not really three weeks, now is it.

Wait.

Where the HELL did my summer go????

So, add to the Tivo and scheduling excitment, towards the end of the week, I'm going to Philadelphia to spend quality time with my dad and grandmother, as well as see some friends from my own high school days. Should be very much fun.

Hey, anyone out there know Gaelic?

An odd occurrence for July...

As I was drifting off to sleep last night, I had a few things on my mind, most of which had to do with school. I was thinking about the kinds of things I could do with my students on the first day of school. The trouble with the first day of school is that everyone is getting to know everyone else, and figuring out how to get from one class to the next, and how to pronounce everyone else's names, so it's difficult to actually jump right into the content, although I think I am going to try doing just that with my World History kids. Nothing like a little map work to get everyone started.

Anyway, because that was on my mind as I went to sleep last night, I ended up having an anxiety dream about teaching. I generally only have those during the school year, and this kind of dream is the kind that I haven't had for a while. Most of the dreams I have had about school have been about particular students who worry me (as in I'm concerned for their future due to their performance in my classroom). In the first two years of my teaching, I had a LOT of dreams that were about my teaching ability...ok, well, they were really about me being an incompetent teacher, if we want to be frank about it. There was the dream where one ornery student would lead a rebellion against me, and encourage the whole class to leave the room, thrusting their fists in the air and yelling rebellious slogans. There was the dream where I stood in front of the class and had no lesson plan for the day, had no clue what we were supposed to be doing.

Well, last night was a doozy. It was a combination of the above two dreams. I was in a humoungous classroom where the sightlines were really poor, so I couldn't see all of my students, and there was a group of rambunctious girls hidden off in a corner, being loud and causing all sorts of trouble. I didn't have a lesson plan, and had actually forgotten EVERYTHING I knew about psychology (it was my AP Psych class, you see), and I think there was even another group of kids who were threatening to leave the room. It was such a traumatic dream that I woke up feeling very disconcerted. I think the thing that stuck with me was the complete and utter inability to remember the psychology, that I was standing up in front of these kids, a fraud. So when I did finally wake up this morning and remember the dream, I had to remind myself that I wasn't a fraud, nor was I incompetent, and that the scores my students received on their AP tests was an indication of that.

But why, dear readers, would I have this dream in JULY?

I am NOT apologizing...

I am not apologizing for my atrocious taste in television shows. I LIKE bad tv, dammit! So with that in mind....


I am Piper.


Which Charmed One Are You?
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Just in case you were up late worrying about this...

Yes, they did indeed correct the misspelling of "etc." at the gym. A good thing too, since I didn't have any dry erase markers with me to do the correction myself. I think that I was probably not the only to complain - either that or there's a manager who works there that can actually spell.

Complete and total subject change, hold on to your hats...

I think I mentioned at some point that I teach online as well as in the classroom. Well, no longer. I decided that I couldn't come up with any advantages for students and any reason why this was better, or that high school kids were even capable. So I let the folks at the online learning know I wouldn't be interested in doing it again, and man do I feel free!!!

AP scores are in, and we did really well - well, the kids did really well. 79% of our kids got a 3 or above (which is passing), and 56% got 4 or 5 (highest scores). Woohoo!

Not education related today, sorry

So I did it.

I posted an online personal on not one, but two separate singles websites. I even put up my picture. Hopefully I'm not asking for stalkers or psychos or even just clingy weirdo guys who listen to their walkmen and talk to strangers at the same time. Anyway, thus begins the adventure, or something. We'll see what happens. I'll keep you posted, dear readers, and someone will have to be the designated person to get the call when I'm home from whatever dates I go on so I don't end up in a ditch somewhere.

Boy, that's cheerful and upbeat, isn't it?

See, I told you teachers don't take the summers off...

Went to the gym the other day, and noticed they had put up a white board with helpful hints on how to stay healthy. They listed common hazards to maintaining good health, among them smoking, and then they meant to write "etc.", but they wrote "ect." OY!! So of course, being the teacher that I am, I had to point the error out. I was disappointed to find that when I left the gym they had not corrected the sign. If they haven't fixed it when I go on Monday, I will bring in my own set of dry erase markers and make the correction myself!!!

Our current terror level. I know everytime my eyebrows get like Bert's children go running in the street...

Mmmm, 80's music fest!!!

Going to see the "Monsters of Arena Rock" next week. Really, can you fight this feelin' anymore?

Saw the Reduced Shakespeare Company do All the Great Books. Very funny. I think you have to really know more about pop culture than the great books to really appreciate it, though. They did about 80 books. You can check out the syllabus if you want to see which ones they did. They technically didn't really do all of the books, they relegated a lot of them to just one sentence, and spent a lot of time on some of the other ones. They tackled The Iliad, The Odyssey, Ulysses (brave souls), Little Women (I'm not really sure the football metaphor really worked, but it was funny) and a bunch of others. Kudos to them for using the fight music from Star Trek for the appropriate scenes in the Iliad.

So I was in Target the other day (as always, I went in to buy ONE thing that cost $2, and ended up spending $39, but that's a story for another day) and I walked past the aisle where they have the seasonal stuff. You know, in spring and summer they have the garden furniture, the tables with the umbrellas, the cool plastic picnic sets, and what did I see???

SCHOOL SUPPLIES!

It's not even the middle of July yet! And I stood there and said to myself "The kids must be freaking out!" Then I realized, that hey, I was freaking out! I mean, come on, give me July at least!! But noooo, there they were, row upon row of pencils, pens, notebooks of all sizes, bookbags, folders, binders, calendars, the list just goes on and on.

The funny thing is that the next day I went into work on the curriculum stuff, and one of the people on my team said "Hey, did you see all the cool school supplies at Target? I had a great time buying all kinds of pens and stuff."

Oy.

Ok, so it's been so long since I've posted or even logged in that I didn't remember my username. (Boo! Hiss! Shame!)

I am feeling appropriately abashed, I promise.

So, this summer's plan: read, read, read, get some sun, work on curriculum.

What does this curriculum work entail? Well, so far as I can tell, it requires sitting in meetings. We've met once in June, had an all day long meeting, and so far on the first day we have had two long meetings that haven't really seemed to get anything important done. But from what I understand, that's what meetings are all about. The second meeting on the first day involved us being shown a whole new software program that hasn't even been made yet, and we won't get access to it for several months. Ahh, I just love bureaucracies, don't you?

Anyway, the curriculum work itself is pretty massive. I am working with the World history curriculum (not an easy word to type, by the way), and we're working on combining the state and county curricula. I think that ultimately the idea is that the first year teacher should be able to look at one document (preferably handed to them on a disk) rather than two or three, and it will be less confusing for them. The course is hard enough to teach as it is!

So what makes this job so massive? Well, to start with, the county curriculum (a "world class document") was written by some scholars and teachers a few years ago. It has something like 267 objectives that we are supposed to teach in one year. Objectives like "Explain the causes of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and analyze why the revolutionary government progressed from moderate to radical." The idea is that once the lesson is completed, the students should be able to do the above mentioned tasks. Note that that objective is actually asking the students to do two different things. So while we have 267 objectives, some of those objectives may have multiple tasks within them. So our job is supposedly to weed out some of the extraneous stuff. But what's extraneous??? That is the question. As I mentioned earlier, it is a massive task. It's funny, we all thought it would be a piece of cake. When we met back in June, we said "Oh, we'll be done in 2 days!!!" Yeah, well, we've been allotted nearly three weeks. I'm hoping it's enough time.

As for the reading bit. My plan is to read through all the books in my house that are unread. HA HA HA HA!!! That's a lot of books. I spend waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much money at my two favorite places:
Amazon and Borders

So I have about a bajillion, maybe a tad fewer, books to read this summer. So far (given that we are nearly halfway through July), I have read:

Q is for Quarry - Sue Grafton
The Secret Life of Bees - Sue Monk Kidd (quite good, I recommend it)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - J.K. Rowling (natch)
Bel Canto - Ann Patchett (I really enjoyed it, but it took me about 50 pages to get into the book, but once I was in, I was hooked. I have found that to be the case with both the Ann Patchett novels I've read)
Girls' Poker Night - Jill Davis (standard Bridget Jones-esque. I found that it got frustrating towards the end because I think it took too long for the main character to come to her senses.)

I'm also in the process of reading Wild Swans by Jung Chang, which I really, really recommend, especially if you are interested in 20th century Chinese history. It's about three women and their lives in China starting around the turn of the last century (1900's). The author of the book starts by telling her grandmother's story, then her mother's, and then finally, her own. Very good. It totally has sucked me in.

Yes, I know, it's been a while.

I'm feeling a little overwhelmed and stressed out, and I should be grading tests (two weeks old) right now, but I'm taking a minute out to share this with you:

"King Leopold called Africa a "magnificent cake" because that's just what it was. Africa was pretty on the outside, but mushy on the inside."