Items of the week
Aug. 22nd, 2009 03:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ringsandcoffeeValiant, but not in a good way
One of the vocabulary words the class was mapping was "valiant." Part of the assignment is to draw a picture showing what the word means, and one girl drew me and a boy in the class, J, who is rather outspoken. I asked why it made me valiant and she said no, J is valiant because he's not afraid of you.
Did you, did you?
I have a ticket system this year, and every Monday I open my store where students can spend their tickets. I've told them to write suggestions for items they'd like in the store, and I got 2 notes so far. One of the boys, R, asked me a couple times over the week if I'd gotten the items he suggested. He was very polite, and I assured him I had his list and would look for his suggestions. He just made me smile.
Um, it wasn't an option.
We spent a week on a writing assignment, where I made sure to teach conclusions since I usually don't get around to that part. In their plans, the first thing they did was write the topic sentence and the conclusion, copied from a list they could choose from. Fast forward to yesterday when I'm collecting the final draft papers. I look at one paper, and ask if the girl is finished. When she said yes, I asked where the conclusion sentence was. She very innocently answered, "Oh, I didn't want to put one!" Kids, kids, kids. It was in your rough draft, silly, all you had to do was copy it!
Because I have so much free time
I finished The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, by Syrie James, on Wednesday, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Last night I bought Shirley since I found it in Penguin Classics paperback. I'm partial to Penguin versions of books. So many books to read, so little time, and so many other things I ought to be doing!
Perplexing
Last night while walking across Tempe Marketplace to meet Jen, I found myself a little freaked out by all the families with children playing in the fountain area. Then I wondered why I get weirded thinking these strangers have too many kids but my friends with children (Jen has 3) don't bother me at all.
More "Only in Arizona" things
Only in Arizona are you excited to stand in the rain, in the middle of a shopping center. Only in Arizona do you not completely care that the lightning is flashing about you as you stand in the rain.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
mysterygal11 , I think you would have gotten used to the weather here had you stuck around longer.
Flashes
Little things all over remind me of my dad. They don't make me sad, just make me think of him.
Attitude may not be everything, but it's a hefty portion
I'm determined to be more positive this year, and not stew in worry and anxiety. It's really helped in class. Instead of getting angry, I just wait until they are listening or issue a consequence. There's a lot of prayer going on as well. Some is just to myself, and some is when Susan comes over in the morning to pray together. It's doing a whole lot for my sanity, to be sure.
One of the vocabulary words the class was mapping was "valiant." Part of the assignment is to draw a picture showing what the word means, and one girl drew me and a boy in the class, J, who is rather outspoken. I asked why it made me valiant and she said no, J is valiant because he's not afraid of you.
Did you, did you?
I have a ticket system this year, and every Monday I open my store where students can spend their tickets. I've told them to write suggestions for items they'd like in the store, and I got 2 notes so far. One of the boys, R, asked me a couple times over the week if I'd gotten the items he suggested. He was very polite, and I assured him I had his list and would look for his suggestions. He just made me smile.
Um, it wasn't an option.
We spent a week on a writing assignment, where I made sure to teach conclusions since I usually don't get around to that part. In their plans, the first thing they did was write the topic sentence and the conclusion, copied from a list they could choose from. Fast forward to yesterday when I'm collecting the final draft papers. I look at one paper, and ask if the girl is finished. When she said yes, I asked where the conclusion sentence was. She very innocently answered, "Oh, I didn't want to put one!" Kids, kids, kids. It was in your rough draft, silly, all you had to do was copy it!
Because I have so much free time
I finished The Secret Diaries of Charlotte Bronte, by Syrie James, on Wednesday, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Last night I bought Shirley since I found it in Penguin Classics paperback. I'm partial to Penguin versions of books. So many books to read, so little time, and so many other things I ought to be doing!
Perplexing
Last night while walking across Tempe Marketplace to meet Jen, I found myself a little freaked out by all the families with children playing in the fountain area. Then I wondered why I get weirded thinking these strangers have too many kids but my friends with children (Jen has 3) don't bother me at all.
More "Only in Arizona" things
Only in Arizona are you excited to stand in the rain, in the middle of a shopping center. Only in Arizona do you not completely care that the lightning is flashing about you as you stand in the rain.
mysterygal11 , I think you would have gotten used to the weather here had you stuck around longer. Flashes
Little things all over remind me of my dad. They don't make me sad, just make me think of him.
Attitude may not be everything, but it's a hefty portion
I'm determined to be more positive this year, and not stew in worry and anxiety. It's really helped in class. Instead of getting angry, I just wait until they are listening or issue a consequence. There's a lot of prayer going on as well. Some is just to myself, and some is when Susan comes over in the morning to pray together. It's doing a whole lot for my sanity, to be sure.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 02:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-08-23 02:00 pm (UTC)I don't think I'm made for temperatures higher than 105 F. However, I do miss the desert in December and January. It was very pretty.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-27 05:30 am (UTC)...
You scary, scary monster you.
no subject
Date: 2009-08-28 02:00 am (UTC):D
no subject
Date: 2009-11-17 09:08 pm (UTC)I want to catch up on your life ... sounds like a rough year at school. We have the benchmark testing crap, with an extra load from TFA, but my direct supervisor is pretty hands-off. This is a GODSEND. Even he is bowing to pressure from above for everything standardized now, though, so I think I might transfer to another school.
I will teach at least another year, and one of the core elements that I love is the creativity to design and teach my own units. This ability sounds perilously destroyed at your school. That stinks, and I am very sorry for it.
Finally...I stayed sane last year by escaping into books--silly books, serious books. Read the whole Twilight series to "connect to my students." Regardless of one's opinion of it, it felt so good to just escape. There is something healing in escaping into an entertaining novel. Cathartic. Necessary.
Now, in marriage, it's been nice to realize I can still do that, thanks to a relaxed husband.
Anywho. I look forward to finishing my reading of YOUR blog now, too! And my prayers are with you, both emotionally, and strategically (for teaching).
Abigail
no subject
Date: 2009-11-18 02:20 am (UTC)Thouhg it would take a lot of time, I'd LOVE to plan my own units, where I could teach actual content and not just reading strategies and fluency and beat math to death. I think my friend said it best today when she said we should have a certain person do a guest lesson one day. The boss-man came in as we were discussing today's math and gave his not really helpful suggestion of flashcards when I told him the vocab isn't the problem, it's recognizing the differences between the triangles they were looking at. Anywho.
I've been reading a lot this past year, actually. I'm reading Charlotte Bronte right now, and will maybe hit Anne's books after. I've read a bunch of Austen-related stuff as well. I love books, just not Twilight :)
Looking forward to hearing more about you as well.