wow!

Wow. This year has flown by. Our first writing camp is Wednesday. I guess today since it is 3:29 and I can't sleep. We are taking the senior re-testers who get to take their next test on October 17. I think we have a real good chance this year of quite a few of them passing in October. Last year it was more like 15%...I'm hoping for closer to 40-50%. The statistics say that every time you re-test 30% of re-takers will pass. I need more than that this time.

I think they are way more motivated than last year's group and they definitely have had all the advantages. We have tracked this group since they were sophomores, put 100+ of them in an extra English class last year and hounded them all summer to take the test. I had a kid yesterday who said to me, "Ms. I just realized that I could have taken the test this summer without studying." This student works and couldn't go to the study class so I told him just to take off mornings that one week of summer and take the test. It couldn't hurt. This week, with needing to pass all 4 tests still, he just realized that he might have gotten lucky and passed one of them if he showed up. Sometimes I just wonder....

I have 3 of my new teachers helping with writing camp. I am not at all concerned about their ability, but I am afraid that I am throwing them out there without a lot of preparation. We haven't really gone over how to teach a TAKS essay yet. I have given examples, explained the concept, but I hope it is enough. I'll find out. The kids will tell me if the teacher was confused. They have done this before, again and again.

On a side note, my 7th period class, hellions that they are, might actually learn how to behave. Now, that isn't set in stone. They still won't sit in any type of assigned seat, but they will be quiet to listen to instruction for about 20 min at a time. Unfortunately, I haven't gotten them so that they will be quiet during individual or group work. We are still working on that. I may have to read every story out loud for the rest of the semester. Then I'm praying for some schedule changes in January. Oh, but I won't be there but for 6 weeks, then I'm out for 6 weeks with the baby! That will be nice. No 7th period for a month and 1/2!

How big is your baby?

So, most people already know...Dan and I are expecting. I found the cutest website and here is the link to how big my baby is right now.

I'm waiting for week 16, that one is my favorite....

School starts Monday

Well, they made me head of the dept this year. I think this may be more of a curse than a blessing, but we will see. :) I have 4 brand new teachers that are going through the alternate certification program. They will all end up doing very, very well, but right now are stressed beyond belief. I was seriously not that stressed my first year out, was I? I had people near tears today. Maybe I was just more clueless about what I was getting myself into.

Got our TAKS scores back from the summer test today...I had 11 kids pass from 25 that took the test. Now, 63 didn't pass in February so that means that 38 didn't even show up to *take* the summer test. Believe me that they will hear it from me when they get back. I might give them till the second day of school...maybe. But I think that most kids that showed up every day to take their tests passed at least something. So my Lit Genre numbers just dropped from 111 kids in 3 classes to 94 kids in 3 classes. I had prayed that 15 kids passed, which didn't happen, but that was when I had 93 kids scheduled in May...Now I'm back to where I started. As long as 5th period gets below 38 kids (like that many are ever going to show up during lunch anyway) and 7th below 34 because 7th period I just can't handle the stress of 34 kids at one time. I am also praying that certain kids don't end up in 7th period again...pray with me please.

My schedule will be as follows:

1st - Lit Genre (33)
2nd - Planning
3rd - Reading I Language Center (19)
4th - Dept chair prep
5th - Literary Genre (38)
6th - Reading II Language Center (18)
7th - Literary Genre (34)

At least have those Language Center classes and plans to keep me sane amist the 30+ classes of kids who failed the test the first time. :) What am i saying though? I wouldn't give up one of those kids to another class if you begged me. They are my babies.

I have 3 boys hired to come help me file and box things on Friday. Specifically the 7000 novels for our novel curriculum and the workbooks that have to be carted all around the school. I told the oldest brother not to show up by himself. If his brothers wouldn't come, he needed to call someone else to come with him. We will see what happens.

A Game of Tag

Five Things in My Freezer
1. Green Chile (about 1/2 sack of authentic Hatch Green Chile)
2. A fish I caught in mom's pond
3. Eggo waffles (dan bought)
4. Egg rolls
5. Seafood for paella

Five Things in My Closet
1. old purses
2. shoes
3. 1 million pieces of scrap fabric
4. hangers on the floor
5. recordable CD's

Five Things in My Car
1. old satellite reciever
2. Ginger snaps and peanut butter crackers
3. The welcome sign for my Japanese exchange visitor last year
4. dad's non-automatic camera
5. gps system (so i won't get lost)

Five Things in My Purse
1. More peanut butter crackers
2. 4 purple pens
3. 1 black sharpie
4. both mine and my husband's cell phones
5. my "as necessary" glasses

I tag Christina in Puebla...'cause other than my sis, I think she is the only person that reads my blog that also has a blog. :)

Le Fin de Semana 3

This past weekend, Dan came to visit. Yes, I was glad to see him.  Yes, we had a good time. 

Thursday night we went and ate with the lady who I am staying with.  She fed us spaghetti and bread and cheese and carne asade (chicken).  It was very good.  Dan told her like 20 times that he really liked it and now I´m eating cheese with every meal.  Thanks. :)

Friday Dan wandered around while I went to class.  I don´t know exactly what he did, but he seemed to enjoy himself.  We met up later and walked around and it rained so we ended up going to the movies to see Cars.  It was pretty good, but we are going to have to watch it again in English later.  I´m sure we missed most of the jokes.  On a side note, it is the general belief that most cartoons are funnier in Spanish.  My kids have always told me this, but i thought it was just cause they knew Spanish better.  However, they apparently use different jokes in Spanish.  Shrek and Shrek 2 are apparently way funnier in Spanish.

Saturday we went to the planetarium, but it was closed so we ended up at the children´s museum.  It had the cutest exhibit where small kids got to shop in a grocery store and choose and pay for their produce at the register.  It was really cute and I wanted a picture, but i was afraid that the parents would get freaked out by me taking a picture of their children.  Then we went to the archeology museum and walked to the fort of guadelupe.  As we are outside at the fort of Guadalupe, it starts to rain.  I, in all my wisdom, thought that it would stop soon, however it only started raining harder.  We left cause they were closing, then we ended up completely soaked going to the convention center at the bottom of the hill.  We waited out the rain for about 4 hours there. 

That night we went to eat at what turned out to be this really nice restaurant.  We paid about $40 for out meal, when usually a meal costs about $10 for two people.  It was very good.  Dan had some kind of stuffed chile with fruit compote and white sauce and pomogranate seeds on top.  I had mole poblano, the traditional dish of Puebla.  It was also excellent.

Ok, I´ll finish up Sunday later, gotta run to class now.

Dan llagó

Mi hermana dije que yo no estaba apprendando español.  No es verdad!  Yo apprendo español, pero yo pienso que mi familia gustan oir para excursions, no clases.

 

A la tarde, Dan llagó en Mexico seguro.  Yo soy muy feliz.  Fuemos a la casa y comimos con mi familia mexicano.  Hoy, Dan es camina en la ciudad de Puebla.

The place I went yesterday

The thing about listening to Spanish all the time and not reading it is that sometimes I can´t really repeat the words correctly.  I am a visual learner if there ever was one.  I can´t remember anything that I don´t see written down, though i can remember pretty well if I stare at something for a minute.  As such, I don´t really remember the name of the place that I went yesterday...but it was really cool.

 

We started by going to a set of temple\pyramids that are in pretty good shape. Two of them you could climb.  One was very unique because it was built in a spiral.  They have erected a cross on top of it now and tie a person on it as a representation of Jesus for Good Friday.  The other was just a straight pyramid, but at the top they had relics of volcanic rock that had been some type of structure on top.  They reconstructed one bit of it and it looked a bit like stonehenge, but much smaller.  That is the idea anyway.

 

Then we went to the largest archeological roof in the world.  It covers a pyramid that has intact murals with the colors that are SO bright.  It was really amazing.  Our guide showed us the plant that they used to get the reds and blues.  The reds come from the insect larvae that lives on the plants, the blues come from a stone...I think lapis probably.  It is that shade of blue.  I got some pictures but it was starting to get dark and come a storm so I don´t know how well they will turn out.

 

It was gorgeous though.  I really liked it.  Incredibly cool and interesting in a historical way.  I promise to post pictures when I get back.  I have taken this insane number so far (like 200 nearly) and my friend Christina and are going to swap photos when we get back so that will probably double....

Teotihuacan

Yesterday we went to the pyramids and then to D.F. (Ciudad de Mexico).  My camera battery went dead before we got to D.F. so I have no pictures there.  Oh well.  I´ll buy a book I guess.

 

The pyramids were super super cool.  When the Aztecs arrived, this whole civilization was already gone so they just built on top of them, but when you uncover what the old layers look like, they are simply beautiful.  There was this one part in one of the temples that some of the frescos on the wall were still intact.  It was really cool. I got pictures of that.  They are really tall, but they let you climb to the top.  At the top of one there was this hole that everyone was sticking their finger in...I´ll have to figure out why, but it was neat.

 

We went to the old palace of the kings.  Castillo.  It was very cool, absolutely beautiful too.  I didn´t get any pictures, but some of my friends did.

 

In the Cathedral in the city center of D.F. we walked in while they were having mass.  You can walk up to the bell towers and walk around in the ceiling.  You know they way that the cathedrals have domes in them?  you are actually walking across the domes!  Very neat.  Then I sat down in the sanctuary portion and it is really really beautiful.  They have different sections for you to sit at.  I´m sure there is some reason why, but you can hear the mass anywhere you sit because of the acostics.  I´m not sure if the mass was in Spanish or Latin, the hall echoed so I couldn´t tell.

 

So that was my weekend, how was yours?

You want pictures?

Go see my friend´s blog:

 

easierthanscrapbooking.blogspot.com

 

She is in school in LA for her masters in nutrition.

Weekend Plans

This weekend we are going to Teotihuacán ...not sure I´m spelling that right....no i wasn´t.  I went and checked.  Basically Mexico´s pyramids....It should be really really cool.

 

I hope everyone is doing ok!  I´m great here.  Dan comes to visit next Thursday for a long weekend.  We are looking forward to visiting D.F. (Mexico City).

Volkswagon plant and new haircut

So this morning we went to the volkswagon plant.  That was really, really cool.  We got to walk around some and then we rode in these volkswagon buses with the tops cut off.  The tour was entirely in Spanish, which is helpful for learning spanish, but at times frustrating if you are still learning ´cause I wanted to know the *information.*  But I got enough clarification that I wasn´t so lost.  They have a school for 15-19 year olds (girls and boys) that teaches them how to make parts and how to run the robots and other things.  They also take Spanish, Math and Science.  Really neat tech program.  I walked in and was immediately like "Those kids are 15 years old!"  But then they explained why they were there.  They were really distracted when we walked in and were watching them.  They giggled and showed off how well they could cut with hacksaws.  Very funny.  We couldn´t have cameras but I would have loved to have a picture of that.

 

Then we saw them make Jettas.  Did you know that the chassis is all one piece?  Then they put on the motor, gas tank etc...Also the dashboard is all one piece, including the airbags.  Very interesting.  Then we saw where they were making the new Beatles, but didn´t go in there.  They make 1400 cars a day.  All very interesting.

 

So this afternoon I went and got my haircut.  I paid 70 pesos ($7) and 20 for a tip and then 30 pesos there and back for the taxi...What is that $15 for a haircut???  Pretty good huh considering it was a really nice salon.

 

Then we went and sat in a mall for an hour or so and got some mango ice cream and then we came back to school...A productive day. 

volkswagon plant

Hoy, vamas para Volkswagon planta en Puebla.  Tomas un taxi para la planta, despues "take a tour."  Muy divertido.

El Gas

One of the interesting things here is that they run all the hot water..maybe the stove, off bottled gas.  They have these gas trucks that drive around with probably twice the amount of what you would use for a gas grill or something.  The trucks play a little gas truck song and every now and then the loudspeaker says "El Gaaaas!"  (the gas).  It is very interesting.  The song annoys most people, they start up at about 7 and stop at about 8 or 9.  The trucks just drive around the neighborhoods.

 

I´m kinda glad that the gas gets piped into my house so I don´t have to go and wave down a gas truck everytime i want to cook something!

new shoes

On Thursday we are going to go to the Volkswagon plant and I have to wear closed toe shoes.  I didn´t bring closed toe shoes.  I wear my Birkenstocks all the time.  There is no need.  I made sure that every outfit I brought would be ok with them then I only brought those and a pair of dress sandals.

 

So I went and bought a pair of mexican tennis shoes (http://www.charly.com.mx/).  I think they are pretty nice.   they are brown leather-ish with pink stripes and elastic instead of shoelaces.  Very cool I think.  Way more trendy than I usually go for.  However, I think they will be fine.  They go with jeans so I think that I´m ok.  I paid a little less than $30 for them at full price in the nice stores.  Sheri, how much would a pair of tennis shoes be in the states?

 

Once again, if anyone wants anything in Mexico, let me know.

Le fin de semana 1

Well, I created this yesterday and it disappeared....how sad.  So I´m starting over...

 

This weekend I went to Atlixco.  It was really interesting.  We visited a church that was on top of this really, really tall hill.  Ok, tall for the girl who has lived in MS or Texas most of her life.  Probably not tall for most people.  It took us about hour to walk up.  I was incredibly tired....Although I´m probably floja (lazy).  We got a lot of good pictures, including some pictures of the volcano.  That was nice.  It is hard to see through the clouds usually.

 

Then we came back and went through the market.  That was really neat, but I kinda ruined it for myself because I was starving and couldn´t  really enjoy it.  I did get some peanuts from the vendors that were really good.  I think they boiled them first and then roasted them?  Not sure, but they were blackened on the outside.  It was really interesting, but I was the only one that liked them.  I was also the only southerner in the group so that may have explained it.

 

We also got to go to a trout farm and eat fresh fish.  That was neat.  It looked a lot like the one in Branson, but maybe not as big...Was that fish farm in Branson or just near Branson?  We didn´t get home until about 10.

 

Sunday I went on an adventure to get a cell phone.  This was productive, I got one for $40 that was supposed to have $30 of airtime.  Somehow that failed and I ended up with only 2 phone calls and some texts to Sheri and then it quit working.  It also quit texting the one message before I was going to have sheri tell dan to call me at the house.  I got it fixed Monday morning so now I have a cell phone.  It costs $1 a call.  Which was very interesting to me.  It took a good five minutes for the salesgirl to explain "per call" to me.  It was pretty interesting   I think she was glad to have something to break up the day.  I was there about 30 minutes.  I can be on the phone for 3 hours or 20 minutes and it is the same price.  kinda cool huh?

 

However, the real adventure was not getting back to the house in a timely manner.  I thought I had taken the right bus...and truly I might have but not gotten off soon enough (I was standing and couldn´t see out the window).  I ended up 30 blocks south of where I was supposed to be and across a river I didn´t know existed.  I met a guy whose daughter spoke English and they told me to walk back to the busy street and take a cab because the directions were complicated.  I did get to see Mexican democracy in action cause I passed about 3 polling sites on my way. 

 

When I got to the house all I had was 100 pesos for a 30 peso cab ride.  I went inside for change, but didn´t have any so I just gave the guy the hundred.  He was really bothered by this and finally gave me a 20 back and we called it even.  So I paid $8 for a $3 cab ride.  however, it was so worth it.   I would not want to be stuck over there and not be able to get back.

 

More later...Check out my friend´s website from the school here.  She is a much more consistent blogger than I am.

In mi escuela

At my school we are learning past tense....wow, do you know how hard that is in another language? you keep wanting to say everything in present. it is very hard. I keep thinking about how my students have to write in past tense...Now I know how hard that is.

I also learned a good deal of slang from my conversation partner. I also confirmed that no one in Mexico has every heard of okra...in English or in Spanish. Slightly interesting because it would grow very well here.....

Ok, tengo sueño...I´m tired so I´m going to end this entry now. I am learning a bit and will try to write more when I am fresh.

I´m in mexico

So, I´m in Mexico....The girl in my class wrote her entry in Spanish last night. I don´t have time to do that right now. I am far far too slow.

While I plan on keeping up and writing here some, right now I just wanted to start by saying where I am.

Class is going well. It is entirely in Spanish. I know exactly how my students feel sometimes. I can see about a dozen things that I can do differently next year that have been suggested before but I have never been really good about remembering to do. For example, Having students turn to each other and repeat the directions. Simple thing huh? I am *dying* for some clarification at times.

Things I have learned in spanish so far....

My kids taught me how to say ¨what did you say?" I´ve been spelling it wrong. It is actually "que dijiste?"

M´hijo´s last name is Cortés. This apparently means polite. I plan on making full use of this.

Miedo means I´m afraid. miado (sp?) means half like "I woke up at cinco miado" I told the lady i am staying with that i woke up at 5 afraid....yeah....gotta re-explain that when i get home.

moving makes me grumpy

In case people don't know this. :) Today I worked on getting my 70 boxes unpacked. I hired one of our cross-country runners to help me, then later on another one of my students showed up to help me. I wish I had taken a before and after picture, but I did manage to get all the 9th grade workbooks sent away, most of the 10th and 11th. The novel class sets are organized along the wall and all my novels are on the shelves. The computers are put on the tables, The files are in the filing cabinet, I have a bookshelf for my teacher that floats into my room. While it isn't all put together by any means, it is a lot better than it was and enough that I can leave on Sunday without stressing about it for 4 weeks.

On a secondary note, I can't keep secrets and told my kids about studying spanish this summer...they were not impressed. I'm so sad! I mean, I guess, big whoop. They all know two languages, why shouldn't I? And if I were going to learn Spanish, why not go to Mexico? But my feelings got a little hurt cause I wanted them to be a *little* bit impressed I guess. Oh well.

My plane leaves for Mexico Sunday at 3:08. I guess I should pack sometime huh?

can you hear it?

They have come up with a new ringtone that can only be heard by the younger generation. Apparently teenagers are using it to let their phone ring in class where the teachers can't hear. :) I can hear it though. Yet another way to catch kids and then ask them, "Did you think that I was old?"

http://graphics.nytimes.com/packages/audio/nyregion/20060610_RINGTONE.mp3

Lazy bum

I slept till 9 this morning....I am such a lazy bum.

Many exciting things going on. For instance the janitors have moved *most* of my stuff (all the boxes, not all the tables, chairs, etc. down the hall to my new room. I'm not complaining cause (now don't tell anyone this!) I should really be in the portables with the other elective teachers...but my friend who got the new position as instructional assistant is influencing the room assignments strongly and told me to just not say anything. :) I may have to hire some cross-country boys to help unpack my room though. There is no way that I will have enough time to get everything unpacked before school starts without help.

Also, I am going to go to Mexico to study Spanish this summer. I am going to the Spanish Institute of Puebla. from June 25-July 22. Anybody want me to bring them something back from Mexico?

Lastly, tonight I get to go to a quincenera. It should be a lot of fun. One of the ladies from school is going with me cause I don't know much Spanish (yet!). A quincenera is basically a cross between a 15 year old birthday party and a coming out party. I've always wanted to go to one and one of my 9th graders invited me this year. It should be really cool.

So are you Dixie?

This is dixie dialect quiz to let you know how Southern, or lack thereof, you really are.

http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/yankee_dixie_quiz.html

I scored 66% which they say is definitely Southern. Not bad considering I have picked up language lots of different places now....

Successes and not quite successes

We got our junior scores back. Actually we got prelim scores the afternoon that we got the seniors' scores. The sheet that says YES or NO.

Of my juniors (who obviously had a 0% passing rate last year since they are in my class) 54% passed. I still have a few who the writing got them...but not many. I had one girl write a 3!!! but she didn't pass. The grammar kicked their butts. Some kids only got like 5 of 20 right. So I have to learn how to teach grammar this summer. I get to say goodbye to some of my kids because I won't have them again next year. I'll miss them, but I'm so glad they won't have to go through the stress their Senior year. I will get to teach Lit Genres still (partly because I sorta pitched a fit and told everyone how hard I worked and how sad I would be if I didn't get to see it through another year). Also I'll be teaching Reading I & II in the Language Center. I'm happy about that. I'm really happy that I don't have to teach Speech. :) I was dreading that.

Speaking of summer, Dan and I are taking a vacation to D.F. (Mexico, Distrito Federal). He is trying to convince me that I should go down a few weeks early and take Spanish classes. I am playing around with the idea. While it would be great to come back and not tell them I learned Spanish--personal dream of mine--I am not sure. Advice, help?

Today I hope to plant my veggie garden. It is a little late so we will have to start from bigger plants, but we should still be fine. I'll post pictures when we are done!

Country Map OR where in the world?

create your own visited country map
or check our Venice travel guide

the final call comes

We got our senior TAKS scores. Of my 22 kids...2 passed. That means that 20 won't be graduating due to their grade on some silly test. At least 2 or 3 of the 20, the English section was the only thing holding them back.

I'm not good with crying. Did everyone know that? I'm not much of a crier myself, though I nearly teared up today telling one boys' father..he was there 'cause said child got his cell phone taken up. I had this one girl sit and weep in 7th period wanting me to tell her why she didn't pass. I'm not very good with sympathy. I think I just made her feel worse, because I told her why she didn't pass. Another boy 4th told me he was quitting...Another told me their dad is pulling them out of school to go to work because he can't pass the test.

The kids on the whole took it extremely well. But you know they are disappointed. How fair is it to work 4 years, get all your credits, pass your classes, do all the work and fail because you missed 2 questions too many on a test? Not fair at all.

We should get the junior scores this week, too. I can see how the rest of my babies did then.

what happens in...

Well, I really hate that thought. That you would do something in another place that you are ashamed of where you usually are domiciled. But apparently that is the rule when you go on conference trips. I was out Thursday and Friday at an ELL (English Language Learners) conference in San Antonio. I did learn the 3 rules of TDY (temporary duty) from our ROTC Colonel.

1) Never whistle while you pack (your wife will wonder where you are going)
2) Never eat when you can drink (that is a whole other thing that I was worried about because I heard stories, but actually they don't drink as much as they say that do.)
3) .......Oops, i forgot the third rule. It is probably something important, too.

I was also renamed Louann, later shorted to Lulu. Praying that doesn't stick....

The conference itself was ok. It was really repetitive of stuff we were already familiar with. I did learn a few good points, like the way that Spanish speakers are taught to write an essay:

Idea
Idea
Idea
Idea

Therefore.....

English speakers write like this:

Main Idea

Support
Support
Support

Conclusion

That is why we get kids who write about their mommas and then stick a paragraph about soccer in the middle of it. (Our classic example of smart kids who have trouble getting the essay.) I'm going to ask some of my students about this and see if it holds up. I'll have to find someone who was educated in Mexico so they will be cognizant of the structure of their writing.

All in all, it wasn't a complete waste of time, but if he had given us a bunch of articles to read and left me alone, I might have learned just as much...

my husband was right

dan suggested i try google desktop .

it is really cool. Not only does it link in your google mail (let me know if you would like an invitation to have a google mail account) but it also links in photos on your computer and scrolls through them. weather, news reports, blog updates a scratch pad and and to do list.

it docks on the side of your screen or in your quick launch bar in windows....

try it out.

Fun blog tagging

This sounds like fun...so somebody comment and I'll try it out....Sheri, Deva, you guys should do this too.

Leave your name in a comment.
1. I'll respond with something I like about you.
2. I'll tell you what song or movie reminds me of you.
3. I'll ask you a question.
4. I'll tell you my first/clearest memory of you.
5. I'll say something that only makes sense to you and me.
6. I'll describe our final fight to the death.
7. If I do this for you, you must post this on your blog.

I have icing in my nose...

Today was the day of my postponed birthday party. We had about 60 kids who said they were coming...this concerned me, but when it was all said and done only about 25-30 showed up. Some didn't stay the whole time, others left early. The teacher across the hall made cupcakes (with the colors of the mexican flag as sprinkles - not a choice I would have made, but he was trying), my friend brought me a birthday cake and ordered pizza, kids brought chips. All in all it was a success.


We invited the soccer team because we owed them pizza for winning against their rival team back during the season...One of them brought a ball. They took the opportunity of having all the desks pushed back to bounce the ball around. It still amazes me how good *the kids who don't officially play soccer* are at bouncing the ball around.

They attempted to get me to dance, but there is no way I am dancing in front of kids with everyone staring at me. My rhythm isn't that good. Plus I tell them that I didn't learn any school appropriate dancing in high school. A couple of girls were brave enough to dance with the same boy over and over again, but that was really short-lived.

Perhaps the most exciting thing was when they decided I should take a bite of the cake....I should known, and had an inkling that there was something up with that. Finally I agreed to take a bite of a small piece of cake (really glad my friend suggested this). Well, when I agreed EVERY KID IN THE ROOM rushes over to see me take a bite of the cake. Four boys hands were on the plate and I was holding it back. Needless to say when I did go to take a bite very little of it went in my mouth. Most went in my nose, on my nose, in my eybrows, eyelashes, hair, etc. I was laughing so hard I almost couldn't breathe. There is a picture..I don't have it (still in my friends camera) and it won't be posted here I'm sure.

And I learned how to say "I am going to vacuum" - "Yo voy aspire." There is currently cake ground into the floor of my room...The room that I am not going to be in next year, apparently I am moving down the hall- 3 years teaching, 3 different rooms. I'll have to bring carpet cleaner on Friday to clean it up.

Tomorrow night they are having another party at the restaurant of the father of two of my students. We have been invited. Perhaps mainly because the restaurant is within 1 mile of my house and I have never been inside. I didn't actually know it was their dad's restaurant until today. I knew one of the brothers worked there, but that was it.

Exciting Mexican food suggestions

Today one of my students was suggesting food for me to try.

First they suggested cactus (there is a specific kind-but i'm from MS and don't know anything about cactuses) that has been boiled in sugar so it is sweet like a candy. I thought the word for it was something like "huitacas" but I can't google that and come up with anything so I will have to double check it.

I double checked with the kids and it is actually quiote-still doesn't google.

Then they suggested raspados (snow cones) that are composed of ice, lemon juice, chili powder and salt. 3 separate kids said they had had this before and it was really good. They told me that I couldn't just use regular chili powder, I needed Mexican chili powder, but they couldn't tell me how to find the right kind other than "go to Mexico."

First I'd like to thank...

First, I would like to thank TEA for all their wisdom in setting the week of TAKS testing the same as my birthday. This year, in all their wisdom, we were required to "actively monitor" the students taking their tests. This translates to pacing the room every 15 minutes to make sure they are cheating and watching them take a test. Gotta say that watching kids take a test is one bar above watching paint dry. . . . Prior years activities like sitting or reading a book were condoned as long as you kept an eye on the kids.

There were some proud moments. For instance on Thursday I was sitting there and gave every kid that finished a book/magazine/etc. By 10:30 I had 2 kids left testing and another 20 that were actually reading actively!!! I really wanted a picture of said spectacle, but my camera was with the phone, battery taken out and resting in an envelope on the white board so that it wouldn't ring and void student tests...plus i'm sure that picture taking during the test is highly illegal. (j/k for those TEA checkers, I know that it is not legal. I would never do that to my kids, they want to graduate high school sometime this decade. Much less sign myself up for jail time and have my certificate pulled.)

But testing is over. Friday for my BIRTHDAY :) All my students came by to give me hugs (by all I mean I must have hugged a hundred kids on Friday). And my TAKS testing kids and 7th period sang to me. All very exciting. We have rescheduled my b'day party until Wednesday after school where we will have music and food for a fiesta grande. We are trying to get permission to be in the small cafeteria because we don't think there will be enough room in my classroom.

Dan got me a new digital camera for my b'day and mom and dad got me GPS system so i don't get lost so often. The combined joy of these was a lot of photos this weekend and an exciting trip to Wichita Falls.

Sheri & I at Joe T's for dinner Friday night.


Pictures of championship awards for the Volleyball dynasty of Windthorst, TX.
Do you people see this? This is not a McAlister's in Clinton or on Lakeland or in Oxford or anywhere else in MS. THIS is a Texas McAlister's Deli. Wow. We had muffelettas and a Spud Max and Sweet Tea. That was a good birthday surprise. I had even forgotten that there was a McAlister's in Wichita Falls, but Dan's keen eye spotted it out right away. Good birthday.

Most fun extra credit ever

Yesterday on my test I gave the following bonus question:

a) Name all 4 of Mrs. Fuller's names.
b) Tell what part of "A Modest Proposal" freaked her out because of her maiden name.

[I didn't use the phrase 'freaked out' because I wasn't sure how that would translate...but I don't remember how I said it now.]

Let me explain. In "A Modest Proposal" it talks [in satire, people] about getting rid of the papists. Well we explained papists is a word for Roman Catholics, that it was satire, etc. But every time I said papists, my skin would crawl a little. So I told the kids about it during the review, and put it on the test.

Of course only half of every class was listening so I got lots of good new names. It was really rather fun.

Eva Maria Gutierrez Fuller
Janeth Alizabeth Smith Fuller (still working on whether to give them credit for the spanish spelling of Janet)
Shaniqua Fuller
Ana Maria Panchachabela Fuller (Pancha= Francisca; Chabela=Isabel)

Fun huh? And I haven't even graded them all!!!

My chilango children did get it right, but I think they cheated.

I was told yesterday that if we take our planned vacation to D.F. *I* could be a chilanga!!! Aren't we all excited?

officially a teacher

According to Dan I'm now officially a teacher. Our house has been egged. We came home last night and the house smelled funny but we didn't think about it. He went outside and saw the egging just now. I think it was yesterday or the day before because we didn't smell it till last night, but he seems to think that it could have been any time. . . . but he is pretty mad because he is the one out there cleaning it so I don't really think he cared exactly *when* the egging occurred.

I don't really think it was one of my students because they don't really know where I live (though they could figure it out, I'm in the phone book). But who knows.

Which Gilmore are you?

I wasn't terribly surprised here. I started watching this as my "daily" show around Christmas on advice from my roommate in college. It is cute. Dan even occasionally watches it with me.

Satire books

Wow, I wish I could invite everyone over for a read-aloud to hear these books the kids did. They are *incredibly* good. I am very pleased because as a general rule I don't get real high quality work on stuff like this. I get average work, just enough to get by. I think it is an outpouring of the fact that I don't grade hard enough.

But this time they were excellent and really funny satire too. I think that is the best part, that I taught these kids satire some of whom have already done satire in English IV last fall and didn't get it.

We are reading A Modest Proposal now, by Jonathan Swift. I don't think I read this in high school, but we did it while I was student teaching. It is incredibly funny if you get past the initial shock of it. If you have never read it, go take a gander. The kids I have who did it in English IV DIDN'T REALIZE IT WAS A JOKE. And that would seriously put a damper on the humor.

My kids favorite parts so far:
*One male per every female for breeding
*Children cannot hold jobs...they can't even be a good pickpocket till they are at least 6
*Teenagers can replace the dwindling deer population.

I'm just sorta proud that they are reading something that was written in 1729 and they aren't complaining the entire time about how boring it is. :)

ratted out

So my teacher friend down the hall TOLD the kids that I said 'juego' in class instead of 'jugo.' They thought it was incredibly funny. I blushed.

Tomorrow the kids are presenting their satire children's books. The stories are incredibly funny. We have the Three Bears with SpongeBob, Patrick and R-Kelly, the three pigs with varying hair colors of Kelly Clarkson (that student actually told me today that he didn't realize that the book had to have the story written in it...he just has a book full of hot girls), red riding hood as a pot smoker in Mexico City (we did actually have to clean that one up so that there were no illegal drugs involved, but it was incredibly funny) and many many more. I'll have to share more of the best ones after I read them all.

This lesson has amazingly been very sucessful. One student even came back over the weekend and said this:

"Hey Ms, we saw Ice Age 2 this weekend. You should show it to your classes next year because it is all satire."

Wow, to see it out of context like that and still get it!!! Super proud of that.

Also I taught my 9th graders stream of consciousness. I love that I taught them stream of consciousness and that they have nearly got it. It is really hard for my kids to look past the content and look at the style of the writing. It comes from not having read enough to see that writers have different ways of saying the same thing. Also, they have not written enough to play with different methods of writing. Most are still too hung up on writing in English to worry about anything else.

Hoy en clase de espanol

Today in Spanish class, I have learned that I must forget the Spanish I know...Ok, just be really careful not to fall back on the Spanish I have already learned.

I was supposed to be saying, "I am buying orange juice (Compro jugo de naranja.)

What I said was, "I am buying orange games(Compro juego de naranja)." I got used as the example of confusing people by swapping vowel sounds. :)

keeping it real...

Ok, not really. But this is a really funny site that will 'gangsta up' a webpage for you.

Look at my page Gizoogled.

Soccer games, writing folders and long, long days

Wow, I have never been so tired in all my life. Ok, that is probably an overstatement (told my kids this week if they are having trouble figuring out exaggeration, just think about how I talk). However, I am incredibly tired. Let me give you a quick run-down of my week.

Monday - Started a new spanish conversation class at TCC. For the low price of $133 I am now learning some spanish. We did pronunciation. I actually think it may have helped.

Tuesday - First the walk-out at school. In case you haven't heard about this
- It is dramatically affecting my teaching right now. Tuesday, our kids walked out at the end of 2nd period. Of course our principal is quoted saying they left at lunch, but whatever. I know when the kids left. I had 6 in my 4th period class, 7 in 5th period. After lunch most came back. I was furious at the kids because they weren't prepared, so many were skipping that didn't have any idea why they were leaving, etc. I am for protests to change injustice, for protests that are done well, peacefully and organized. Kids yelling !Viva la Mexico! is not productive. I scrapped my lessons for the day and taught immigration policy and the differences between the bills. My kids had to do journal articles to reflect on the situation. I tried my darndest to keep my opinion out of the mix. That is really hard sometimes, especially when they ask. But it isn't my place to influence them in this issue. They need to talk to their parents. After school my chilango children showed up...cause they skipped my class 7th...and i told them they needed to go away before they made me cry because I was so upset at them. Two took the hint and left and one stayed to find out the deal so he knew why he went to the protest. he was cognizant of the fact that most of the people there were just goofing off. But he wasn't and neither were most of his friends. They scheduled a 'day without latinos' on april 13th...the school is saying that they won't get to go to prom/senior activities if they skip on those days. they are encouraging weekend/after school protests.

Tuesday night - soccer game. we lost. our game, which was supposed to be at 8 started at 9:24. We lost 4-0. Our kids just couldn't pull it together. bigger team, we got offsides every time we got within shot range of the goal. but we were real proud. one of my students got the district offensive prize. Then I got lost coming back from Denton...Not lost per say, but went the wrong way down 35. Dan was asleep by then so I couldn't get directions and had to muddle my way down 121.

Wednesday - tested a room full of 9th graders in the morning. my friend who assigned rooms heard it from me on that one. spent the whole day discussing immigration issues with kids who are probably half illegal themselves. came home...my testing friend called to ask me to get a sub so i could help her finish up the writing folders to send off on Friday...went to bed at 8:30.

Thursday - spent the whole day nearly in the copy room. realized 7th period that it was freezing in there and I could just set the thing copying and stand in the hall and listen for it to finish. stayed till 7 to finish the stuff up. went to bed at 9.

Friday - wow...is it really friday??? i came home at 4:30 today. it wasn't a bad day, but i'm terribly tired. it has been a long, draining week. i'm going to sleep a lot this weekend.

Pretty Yard

Yesterday one of my student's brother came out and did our yard up pretty. Our beds had gotten washed away in the recent deluge so he came in and re-topsoiled it (with said student and another helper) and put in new mulch. The mulch is some sort of red wood. It is really pretty, stands out nicely too. I'll have to ask Dan again what kind it is.

Today I hope to get a flat of impatients and put them out and replant the bulbs that have been sitting in a box for too long now. Also, I think I have an elephant ear plant around here somewhere that can go outside.

I'm not really a "yard" person. I like my yard looking pretty and am embarrassed when it doesn't, but I can only do about 4 hours work before I get tired of being dirty. And I go inside to wash my hands like every 20 minutes. I am pretty good with my little vegetable garden because it is very small and can be tended in about 20 minutes (I can wait till I'm done to wash my hands!) But it is still early for the veggies. It might get one more cold snap. I think I'll wait till at least the middle of April.

My friend is leaving

On a side note: My wireless mouse just fell on the ground...right into my boot. That is only thing I don't like about these wireless mice. :)

Well, my teacher friend from down the hall is getting an AP job at another high school. I knew this was coming, but she and I had both thought that they weren't going to move her until next year. (I mean, it is March already - post-spring break.) Central office is interviewing her on Tuesday, one month before they interview any other applicants for next year. On a special day of the week - they only do Saturday interviews. So we assume that means she won't be here for the end of the year.

She has started telling the students. She told her classes yesterday that her and I were getting a divorce. She has granted me custody of all our children.

They asked her who was going to defend the LC kids and she told them that I would. I'm a little worried about being the lone advocate. I tend to let her do the talking to the higher ups and I just chime in as necessary. Now I'm may have to step up and take a larger role. I am always afraid to do that.

I'm going to plan a going away party for her. Get the kids involved. That will help them out. I'm going to get one of those journal books and have all the kids sign it and have them bring pictures to put in it. Then I have to find out what the rules are about food and kids in Texas and see what we can do there.

She is really sad and doesn't want to leave the kids. She is going to miss them a lot I know. I would if I had to leave mid-year like that, without the completion of the end of the year. I hope it works out.

Incredibly cold soccer games

I turned down my dad's offer to the portable propane heater last week when we were home for spring break. "Nah, It is spring, we won't need it. There are only 3 more games."

What do we do? Go to playoffs during a cold snap.

One of my sons made it to the paper though.

http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/sports/high_school/14176594.htm

Kids 'fessing up

So my friend today said the kids confessing now, months later is like when kids don't tell their parents the truth and months later go, "Hey mom, remember that time...?" So are we really these kids' parents now?

On a side note, My kitty must be really cold cause she is trying to crawl under the keyboard to get warm. That is really sad.

finding a good story to tell

I don't really have any terrific stories, just a few vignettes.

-Senior math/science scores came in. Not many kids passed. I spent all yesterday and today convincing one boy that he has done better *every time* he takes the test. This last time he was only 1 question away on Science. Read his essay for English, scores aren't back yet....also better but still not quite there. We have been explaining to him that it is just the language. It isn't that he is dumb (he feels dumb), he would have easily passed the test in Spanish, but it is really hard for him 'cause it is in English. He told me he won't drop out for now....

-Funny how kids 'fess up things months later. Remember my child in November that disappeared and came back like an hour after school was over to get his stuff? Told me that he walked home cause he didn't feel good? Truth came out today. He had gone to the Newcomer academy to visit his old teachers. He went, two friends and one little brother of a friend. They were saying they were skipping tomorrow to go to INA and that they had done it before. "Hey Ms., Remember that first time that I skipped? Yeah, that is when we went before, but we didn't make it before school got out."

-Today I wore my new cool green flow-ey shirt and my newly hemmed khaki pants. Apparently my shirt reminds kids of a maternity shirt cause EVERY SINGLE CLASS asked me if I was pregnant. Most of the girls would call me aside and ask if they could ask me something. 7th period mi hijo put it up on the board, "Mrs. Fuller is not pregnant" (had to spell it for him) since it had become such a joke that everyone was asking. I just kept asking them if I looked fat or something. Generally that stops kids but today there were all out arguments between different sides of the room about whether or not I was pregnant. (For everyone's information, I'm not. But apparently I need to lose some weight. I like the shirt a lot so I will keep wearing it.)

-We might have a lead on the computers....they are going to investigate tomorrow.

-It looks like I get to keep my room assignment for next year. They have double-booked my room, but the other guy is ROTC so I think that is a mistake.

-None of my kids have ever heard of okra. since it is the reigning favorite food both for me and a lot of my family (you should see the amount of fried okra that mom has to make at our house!) I decided that I should bring them some. So I went to the store and bought some pickled okra so they could at least see what it looked like, even if it isn't really the same taste as fried or in gumbo. You wouldn't believe the noses that got turned up. One girl who gets me to try EVERYTHING wouldn't take any. I reminded her the number of times I have tried chili-flavored cheese chip stuff and chili-cheese on hot cheetos and chili-covered lollipops...and made her bite off one and then she could throw it away. She did. One boy took one from me so he didn't hurt my feelings and the other teacher said something about okra, "I don't like okra." "But *that* is okra." "Oh, f***." Then we had to have a discussion about appropriate language. :) But he ate the whole piece. One boy left his bag at school rather than try a piece. He said he would get to school early the next morning if we wouldn't open up the room down the hall for him now.

-Dan says that my students years from now will be spouting out Fuller-isms. They already have picked up on: "Does it look like I care?" "Whatever" and the like. Yesterday someone wrote on their paper, "Fiona kicked Robin Hood's a**." I told her she couldn't put that or use the stars, she had to find another way of saying it. "But Ms., How else do you say it?" Another student pipes up and says, "You should use 'tail' instead." This is because I am constantly telling said student to, "Sit his tail in the chair."

Ok, so that is my randomness of the week. Comments? :)

getting up early

I have to say that I love getting up early. Not so much for the early part, but for the getting up and not having to talk to anyone (Dan? Get up early?) or do anything other than drink a cup of hot tea ....and maybe eat some grits. Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Today is my last day of Spring Break. I have to spend it getting together what I am teaching this week. I'm teaching a lesson on satire that I am "borrowing" from readwritehink.org. The students are going to be jazzed that we are watching Shrek, until we only watch 5 minutes of it. :) I'm so mean.

After that I have to come up with something else to teach. I have 2 ideas:

1) a modern play. I'm supposed to be teaching Literary Genres. While this is a TAKS class, I am really jazzed about the title and would like to expose them to some varying genres. However, I don't know a lot of contemporary plays. I mean I know the famous people like Sam Shepard and August Wilson. While The Piano Lesson has a video to go with it (kinda important cause we are talking about a play here). Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot (too obscure for them) and Sam Stoppard - Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are dead (which I saw at Millsaps in high school and loved it - but half of them haven't read Hamlet cause it is in senior English. It is only really funny if you have read Hamlet). I love the idea of it, but I can't quite decide which play would be good. Suggested has been Tennessee Williams, jonquils and the whole bit. Love Tennessee Williams...too much, if they didn't like it, would I be crushed?

2) Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Found a lesson, meant to be taught in Spanish of course, comparing "The Saint" (short story) with Miracle in Rome (video production). Really good lesson. . . Found Miracle in Rome at the library at North Side, but it is VHS so it may be entirely in Spanish. My kids would understand it (about 90% of them), but I wouldn't. Marquez is one of favorite writers since I read 100 years of solitude. I can get "The Saint" in English, but I'm not quite sure what to do with it after that. This is probably my best option though.

Ideas or suggestions? Anyone read anything contemporary (and fairly short - no novels right now) that they liked enough to think that others might too?

So, you are from MS

First I would like to point out that MS stands for, and should immediately bring to mind the state, not the title that I am called at school. I found this cute forward and thought I'd share cause it is pretty true. I would like to add that you are from MS when you get why cotton is a big thing. Sheri and I bought these great shirts to show our MS pride when we were home. I would link to one, but it is apparently impossible to search for "cotton shirt" on the internet. :)

You know you're from Mississippi when....

You've been to or know about the towns of: Hot Coffee, Whynot, Soso, Shuqualak, Okalona, Koscuisko and Noxapater.

When someone talks about The Flag, you know exactly what flag they're referring to.

In any given parking lot, every third car has a Flag bumpersticker.

Your neighbor (or yourself) has the Confederate battle flag in his yard and nothing else.

You eat coon hash.

You know where chitterlings (chittlins) come from.

You know it's coke, not "pop", or "soda."

You know pop is a noise or an action (ie the coon popped out of his hole), not a soft drink.

You can tell, purely by accent, whether a person is from the Black Belt, the Red Clay Hills, the Piney Woods, or the Delta.

You know that the Delta is not the one below New Orleans.

Your church's attendance is reduced by half on opening day of bow season.

The preacher is not there on opening day of gun season.

The last time it snowed, you took fifteen photos and put some in your freezer for old time's sake.

There is a trampoline in your neighbor's back yard.

Teenagers refer to the bus as the "cheese wagon," and refuse to ride it.

You only know five spices--salt, pepper, Ranch dressing, BBQ Sauce and hot sauce.

You actually get these jokes and pass them on to other friends from Mississippi.

Chinese Tongue Twister

Ok, being that my chinese is quite limited I didn't attempt to try this. But I have to say that it amazes me that such a tongue-twister is possible. Literally the only thing that distinguishes the sounds in this story is the tones...and most of my chinese is toneless. I would be up a creek.

On the Eastern Journey

Sunday afternoons at home

Since I guess there isn't a Nascar game on today, we are watching basketball and napping. Basketball by my brother and Dan and napping by my father. This is a typical afternoon. that is about the extent of the excitement level at our household. :) And for the 6th time (at least) in a row I have forgotten to bring a book to read while this goes on! I really should remember it better. I could see about going to the bookstore and buying something to read...or at least dropping by Wally-world to see what they have...Now that's an idea.

presentations in class

Student presentations were today. They were really quite good. All except for the group who started out talking about the Trail of Tears and ended up talking about slavery....I still haven't figured out how that happened. But they say they are going to fix it for tomorrow.

And the masses of kids who said they "weren't ready" and I made get up there anyway. They may have needed one more day to work on it. But lots of kids were finished after two days...of course their presentations weren't terribly good either.

I spent the afternoon helping kids with their English projects that are also due tomorrow. I have now read "The Raven" six times this week. "The Tell-Tale Heart" at least twice. All to help kids figure it out. Then passing out scissors, posterboard and letting them print pictures on my printer.

So when is the last time that you read "The Raven"? Want to know my favorite stanza? He has just been told that he will never be relieved of the pain of grief that he feels at Lenore's loss...then he asks this only to hear, "Nevermore." It is such a sad, sweet sentiment.

"Prophet!" said I, "thing of evil--prophet still, if bird or devil!
By that heaven that bends above us--by that God we both adore--
Tell this soul with sorrow laden, if, within the distant Aidenn,
It shall clasp a sainted maiden, whom the angels name Lenore---
Clasp a rare and radiant maiden, whom the angels name Lenore?
Quoth the raven, "Nevermore."

my sister is wonderful

For those of you who didn't know....My sister is wonderful and considerate.

Today she sent me flowers at school. There was a lot of drama with this because they sent some kid to me who said that I was needed in the office as soon as possible. I thought that there was a problem or there was a parent up there or who knows what. I panic. I find someone to cover my class cause I had 2 rooms full of kids cause a friend of mine had to go to the doctor and there was no one to cover *her* class so they came in with me. Then there were flowers for me. :) then i was testy with the secretary and had to apologize cause it wasn't her fault. the flower people didn't want to let them sign for them. they thought it was better to pull me out of class than to send the flower guy to me. the kid didn't know why they needed me or I would have told him that I couldn't come, just have the flower guy come to me. I need to go and apologize to that new secretary again tomorrow, I think. And thank the guy who covered my classes cause i've been bugging him a lot lately and he didn't really have to do that. I'm far too high-strung today.

The flowers are beautiful. I'll take a pic and post them tomorrow.

I left them at school to show them off to my students tomorrow cause I got them 7th period today.

Tomorrow I have presentations on Modern-Day Genocide to wrap up our unit on the Holocaust. It should be good. I hope they are ready.

drama of last week or The Case of the Missing Computers

Well, I have had these laptops in my room now for ....well since about October I guess. I've had kids actively using them (every day almost) since November. About 2 weeks ago, between 5th and 6th period the keys went missing. This was highly irritating, but truthfully I thought I had mislaid them....for about two days. Just put them down or in my purse or somewhere and couldn't find them.

Then I didn't ever find them.

So I thought, "Ok, some kid is playing a very bad joke and has hidden them from me."

Then no one came forward with them.

So, the next Monday someone put staples in my lock...to try to keep me from locking my door. Well, that wasn't terribly creative, so I took the staples OUT and locked the door. No problem.

Tuesday was TAKS.

Wednesday, someone put glue in my door. At this point I had already moved the laptop cart to the room across the hall because I was to have a sub and didn't want to leave them in there with a substitute. Security came and put a new lock on the door.

All this happened WHILE I WAS IN THE ROOM. That is the most disturbing part.

Then Monday I went to the room across the hall with a new set of spare keys to check on the computers...They were gone. Now, they were there the Friday before. I had been counting them multiple times a day by sticking a pencil through the ventilation holes. Yes, I was cognizant of the risk. But Monday with the keys in hand, the computers were gone...Ok, all but the one that doesn't work because Windows was never loaded on it.

How, might you say, would a thief know that #16 computer is unusable? Did they turn them all on and play with them before they stole them? In a manner of speaking, yes. It means it is someone I know. Some kid that uses the computers. Some kid that I have allowed into my room and put myself out there for. It wasn't some random thug that decided to rip off $25,000 worth of laptops to make a quick buck. It wasn't some kid in my classes that doesn't come use the computers cause those kids don't know that random computers don't work. It was some kid who wanted to use the computers at home. That didn't have one, enjoyed using them and just decided to take 15 of them home to use. And not just one kid, cause no one person could have carted off all 15 in one stroke.

The police are involved. They have a Crimestoppers reward out. We are going to get them. I'm betting we find all 15 of them spread out at my students' houses. The worst part is that we have suspects. I have 4 or 5 kids that I don't trust because they *might* have jacked the laptops. We spent Saturday morning cross-referencing which kids lived next to each other and checking every kid who has ever used them.

Want to know the best part though? They left every one of the chargers. Right now they have 15 laptops that won't boot up cause the batteries should be dead by now. The chargers are about $100 a piece so most of our kids couldn't afford that...well unless they were able to pawn a laptop without a charger, but I doubt it.

That is my drama. I was so upset I almost couldn't teach for about 2 days. I couldn't handle the stress of looking at every kid and thinking, "Are they the one?"

As for those of you who are now worried about the situation where I teach, my school is very, very safe. I just teach kids who, for a lack of a better term, live in poverty. They don't have stuff. It is terribly tempting to want to have something right there in front of you. Daily students asked, as I kicked them out of the room, if they could borrow a laptop and take it home. And they are kids. They don't realize the consequences of taking what everyone is using to only use for yourself. They don't realize that it is hurting everyone cause they only think of themselves.

I, naive as I am, still truly believe that I should try to give students trust and they will live up to it. I don't think it is the kids I always trusted, I think it is those who always bothered me, but I didn't know how to apply too many extra rules to them that I didn't enforce for others. I don't have problems doing that now. I am hoping that someone becomes guilty and fesses up or brags around and gets caught. Regardless, we'll catch them, they weren't so savvy that they could have possibly done this before.

students at work

Today I was talking with another teacher from school and she was saying our students are always really excited to see us outside of school. This is really true, they come up to you and start grinning, etc.

Last night Dan & I went to Sundance, cause it was warm and I like walking around. We went to eat at Riscky's and then went to Barnes and Noble's. My son is working at Riscky's now. He is one of the food runners. We went in last night and I pointed him out to Dan. We waited on our food. When he brought it out Dan was sitting there, just smiling at him. You could tell he was thrown off. After an incredibly long pause Dan glances at me and H looks over and smiles and says "Hey Miss." I asked him how he was doing. All this time he started to blush. I can't say I've ever seen the child blush. He doesn't usually get get embarrassed about anything. I also waved at, though didn't speak to, another one of my students who works there.

Then we went to B&N and I saw a student from my 2nd period who came up and spoke to me. Said he was there with his sister and I told him he should get a book too. :) But I realized it does give me some credibility as a teacher who says they read a lot to actually be *seen* at a bookstore. Cool huh? This is a kid who barely speaks to me at class and is incredibly shy and came up to me in public? Kinda proud of that.

At B&N I got a book journal that you can put a synopsis of what you read and refer back to it. The only drawback is that it is titled "Book Lust" which makes me hesitate in taking it to school. There are a number of things you don't say around high school kids, "lust" is one of those words. :)

80 degree day

Wow, It is incredibly hot today for the first day of March. And I think the hot weather is giving me a headache. Great huh? Tomorrow it is supposed to rain and go down to the 60's.

I thought I would be a better blogger now that TAKS is over, but that hasn't seemed to pan out yet. I have quite a bit of drama at school this week and I am not quite ready to talk about it. But I'm sure I'll eventually post or recover to a point that I feel that there are other topics in this world to discuss.

Dan's birthday was yesterday...Or actually at the second between last night and today, Leap day baby that he is. We got dinner from Central Market, complete with a 6 inch carrot cake, which he can eat all of cause it isn't really my thing and i'm not into sugar right now. I really don't eat a lot of sweets.

TAKS IS OVER

Today I'm having a sick day. :) I am worn out, needed the break and decided a week ago that I would take off today.

While I've been here I got called and told that my kids conned the sub into sitting in my room during lunch and were so loud that Officer M had to come and settle them down. I wish I could take off tomorrow too so I don't have to deal with it.

As for TAKS, the kids did really well i think. They all seem calm about it. I've only had about 3 tell me that they failed, which is pretty good cause that means that they at least did their best. That is all they can do. I hope that I have a good turnout. At least 3 of my kids failed because they decided to make them go home at 5 and they hadn't finished the essay yet. They can't pass the test without a 2 on the essay. If they didn't finish, they probably made 0's.

We have been discussing our academy plan for next year and it looks like I will be a supplementary staff person that isn't actually attached to an academy. That might change if my friend takes an AP job next year and they move me to her slot. She is in the Social Service academy so that would be great with me.

Hot Cheetos and Snickers

Just so you know the preferences of high school students...they like Hot Cheetos and Snickers. Another teacher mentioned today that they probably don't know that any other Cheetos exist. I've never seen any of them carry them around.

Why do I care you might say? TAKS

Last year the 11th grade English teacher made up goodie bags for each of her students to give them motivation and confidence the day of the test. She got them to tell her their favorite chips and candy bar and filled up the bags with random treats. I thought it was a great idea and decided to do it myself. I have been slammed with Writing Camps till yesterday so I am a bit behind. I have 120~ students plus the 10th grade Language Center kiddos that I don't actually teach but know pretty well so that adds up to 148 goodie bags.

So yesterday I put 15 extra credit points on the quiz (they needed it anyway) and asked them some fake off questions so nobody realized I really just wanted to know their favorite candy and chips. 48 kids wanted Hot Cheetos (have you ever had them? they are really not my thing. I don't like cheetos and don't like spicy chips so i sure hope I don't have any leftovers.) 31 wanted Doritos. 39 kids wanted Snickers and a bunch wanted random things like Carlos V (a Mexican candy bar). Dan and I headed off to Sam's and a basket full of junk food and $112 later I have enough to fill up 148 bags for the kids. I'll make address labels that say "Good Luck on TAKS" and then pray that they do their best.

*************************

Learned a number of words in Spanish for someone who talks too much yesterday. 7th I had a girl who I had to ask to be quiet about 3 times. So I put another extra 3 points on the quiz for whoever could tell me what the word would be.

Here is what I got (all in feminine form since my offender was a girl):
chismosa - not really what i meant, more someone who tells secrets, a gossip
habladora - literally a person who talks a lot
perico - a parrot :) metaphor, they get extra points for that
parlanchina - a chatterbox - the best choice for my use, but a little hard for me to say cause the combo rolled r & l isn't easy for me to do...i can repeat it if someone says it but I can't say it from memory with the r done right.

thursday night pre-er viewing

This is what Dan and I watch pre-ER (pronounced Er at our house).

No idea how we happened upon it, but we watch it nearly every week now.

We have a soccer game tomorrow. Our school secretary got on the announcements this morning and told all the kids to wear coats. It may get canceled. We'll see.

Underground internet radio in D.F.

http://www.ugr.com.mx/

Here is a link to an underground station in Mexico City that my students listen to. It has a mix of Spanish and English songs. Right now it is playing Foo Fighters, before it was Ferdinand somebody.

Today we had senior writing camp. I had to tell one of my students that the essay he wrote would not pass the taks while still encouraging him in the fact that he wrote something! And in less than 30 minutes (not a week of class time). Wow, that sucks the energy out of you.

And another one of my students got embarrassed today. She had written on her brainstorming page as a story idea "when my mother died." Another, entirely well meaning kid, read off her paper, aloud, and she freaks out. Her mom only died last summer and she has been having a real hard time. I took the student out in the hall and told him that he can't do that and he needs to be more considerate of others. He said he only read it cause it was a good topic to use, he was thinking of using it himself. However, the poor girl shut down and did nothing the rest of the day. I didn't push her, but I think she was mad at me that I had let it happen.

soccer game groupie

My friend and I are officially soccer game groupies now. I drove to Keller to go to the game tonight, got lost 3 times cause i don't get texas roads. why is it that they have to give everything 3 different names AND THEN NOT POST A SINGLE SIGN WITH ANY OF THEM? yes that deserved yelling capital letters.

tomorrow begins the last two days of writing camp. I'm tired. the TAKS is tuesday, feb 21st. be nice to any 3-11 grade texas students you know. it is a hard test and very tiring.

10 things you may or may not know about me....

Idea courtesy of my sis :

1. I currently hold three masters' degrees. :) MA Theological Studies, MA Intercultural Studies, Union University, TN and MA Education, Teaching, UTA.

2. I always wished I could have played on a soccer team. My brother did, my sister even did for a year. I love soccer and I really think I could have done it. I've never even played in a pick-up game. Probably because I'm not much of an athelete.

3. I still consider myself a Mississippian, even though I haven't lived there in 5 1/2 years.

4. I had my belly button pierced in college. I never told my parents, though I think my mom knew. Guess she will now. :)

5. I am really naiive. I have to get stuff explained to me all the time. Today mijo was wearing a shirt (that I later made him change) that said "Dime vaquero" [Call me or Tell me Cowboy]. Two girls in my second period class had to explain it to me. We learned how to line dance to this song this summer at Billy Bob's so that is the only reason I think it clicked. I had to listen to it for about 20 minutes before I got what it was saying then.

6. I like languages, but am really bad at them. It is 'cause of the southern accent. I can never get the vowels right.

7. I have never had any sense about clothes. My sister had to approve my outfits in high school. It was such a joke among my friends that my roommate in college asked would she get the same priviledge when we moved in together.

8. I have never had a room to myself, always a roommate or a husband.

9. I am incredibly ticky about my computer and how things are set up. I don't like stuff to appear or disappear and I want everything just so. My computer is incredibly neat to contrast the room it sits in (both at home and school).

10. I listen to Casa 106.7. Started it because I wanted to know the same groups my kids do. Now I just really like it. I don't really have a "kind" of music, but I have always really liked hip-hop/rap/r&b. Music with some soul. However, I still can't dance.

blog additions

You can now translate my blog into six different languages! See the translate this site link on the side.

distractions

Wanna know what cracks my students up more than anything else? Sound effects. Yes, and honestly I make a lot of sound effects. Any time I tell a story (especially about cars), today going over the study guide for the test tomorrow. Do normal people not make sound effects? I mean other than 5 year old boys playing with trucks.

It is a lot of fun. I think more people should start.

how I learn spanish

My Spanish is generally learned by need. So I get a lot of holes in it. For instance I can say:

Why are you bothering her? - Estas fastidiando la?

Why are you flirting with her? - Estas coqueteando con ella?

This is not boring. - No esta aburrindo. (sp?)

I check all my spanish past three speakers. I make sure that it is "polite." "Can you say this to your grandmother?" I make sure that it is appropriate for an adult to say to a teenager.

Despite all this I *frequently* find out that I have missed something.

Today I learned that "chilango," which I thought was merely a nickname for those from Mexico City, is actually used for pickpocket...still a nickname for someone from Mexico City. I had been assured that it was polite and simply a nickname. I learned this when mijo snatched my nectarine off my desk at lunch and then asked me did I want a "peach." (I forgave him for not knowing the difference. Pretty impressed he knew the word for peach!) My teacher friend turned to him and said, "You little chilango!" When I inquired, really out of curiosity, why people always say that to the D.F. kids and tease them about taking stuff she filled me in that "chilango" has the connotation of pickpocket.

So there you go...why it is dangerous to learn languages by immersion. :)

google earth

Have you guys seen Google Earth? Dan used it a couple of semesters ago to show an archeological site in Israel. Today I was showing two students after school maps.google.com and they asked if I could look up their houses in Mexico City. So I bopped right over, downloaded Google Earth and showed them satellite photos of D.F. Now they spent 30 minutes and couldn't find their houses, but they did seem to think it was cool.

I went home to figure out the program and find out if there was a way to look up street addresses (not available internationally except in Canada and UK), but they do have user added waypoints. There is a whole community you can join to find stuff.

Gotta say this is incredibly cool.

bad luck

Ok, I've decided I've just been having bad luck lately. Maybe God is teaching me to accept things without stressing out, maybe I'm being tested, who knows.

This morning we go to get into the car to go to church and the back window of my car is broken out. Nothing is gone. For some reason, they didn't want my soccer blankets (choice of maroon or john deere pattern) or my stash of styrofoam cups or empty bags... They did leave dan's new xm radio (which I'm glad about).

So I guess tomorrow I'll be calling the glass repair people to see if they can put in a new windshield.

leftover phrases

Well, sorry I haven't posted in a while because I was only restored to a computer monitor (as opposed to the computer hooked up to the tv) today. My eyesight isn't really good enough to see the words on the TV screen so I was kinda avoiding using it much.

Yesterday I caught myself before saying something (I would like to point out how amazing that is, since I don't usually even realize what I said until much after it is actually said). My friend and I were standing around talking to our students. She asks if she was going to get her bag back from one of the students who had been carrying it around for her. He states that he had brought it to her from Mexico, so we come back by saying he can't just take things back.

I said, "Now, You don't want to be..." and stopped myself. Do you know what I was going to say?

I'm not entirely sure what the view of Indians is in Mexico, but I know that they talk about them and tease each other about being "indio" if they are dark-skinned. Regardless, it is a completely insensitive phrase that shouldn't be used. I *haven't* said it in who knows how long, but somehow that is what my brain pulled out at that moment to say.

My friend turns to me and smiles and says, "I know what you were going to say."

"yeah, but it is completely inappropriate. I stopped myself just in time."

"You're right. It is inappropriate."

Later we tried to figure out what the etomology of the phrase is, but we didn't come up with anything. So strike 1 for being culturally insensitive and 1 point for not letting more than one person hear me do it. :)

random conversations of the day

Conversations I had with students throughout the day:

-There were some men dressed in Mexican army uniforms caught smuggling drugs. The president of Mexico says the uniforms were stolen, my kids say they weren't.

-Why casinos are not good and why in MS they only have them (or used to have them) on water.

-How to pronounce the name of the state of Louisiana (correctly, in Mississippian and in Spanish)

-How to say "can I borrow an eraser" so that can no longer be an excuse to talk in class.

-I was called a "white girl" for needing multiple blankets to sit through tomorrow's soccer game.

-One of my students got a job...I thought he said he was a "foot runner" this was highly confusing, but I had to send him off to class. Actually he is a "food runner" at a restaurant. Still don't *really* know what that is, but it at least makes sense.

-Was I called chismosa today? No, I think that was last week.

-The system of nicknames and some new spanish curse words.

-About how my mom and I have the same sarcastic sense of humor. :) When she was teaching and her first graders would come whining about splinters and such, she would offer to amputate. She said when the lips started quivering she would back off. I say things like that to my kids, of course the humor is lost on them most of the time. They just think I'm strange.

Fairly exciting day. Nothing disappeared and no one said I was a bad teacher. In fact many of my students today told me I was a *good* teacher. That made me feel better.

Third happy thing for the day:

These are two of the sentences that I got when I was grading original sentences for our commonly misspelled words homework.

"H fell from the second floor window, but he was all right."

"When my sister sees Mr. Y, she breathes."

I find both of these interesting. First, what made you think of throwing your friend from a 2nd floor window? Secondly, I get this great mind picture of a girl sighing when she sees her science teacher. :)

Ok, off to the cocoa and ice cream.

Here's the snowman we produced. Pretty impressive for two Mississippi girls! 

I thought I needed happy pictures today. Here's Sher in our snow a few years ago.
 

bad day part II

Well, the good part about today is that I got all my grading done and all of my classes have even seen their grades with the exception of 7th period who couldn't be quiet unless I was sitting in my new red mushroom stool. They were, however, much better than usual.

The bad part is that my projector has gone missing and now I have to deal with that. I tend to want to avoid things that I dislike. I have interrogated every kid I know and no one has fessed up about it. I really hoped it would show back up before the end of the day, but maybe that was just me being hopeful. So today I was terribly stressed out and spent most of the day trying not to cry. Not because the projector is gone, but because I feel like I have some responsibility not to trust my students so absolutely anymore. But I want to trust them. They need people to trust them. I think it will make them worthy of that trust, even if they aren't...but they need to learn to be worthy of it, too.

I'm sad.

So now, since I couldn't find a Marble Slab friend, I'm going to make the biggest bowl of Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint ice cream that I can and pair that with a mug of vanilla cocoa. How's that for avoidance? :)

Pride goeth before the fall...

I looked it up. That quote is in fact an actual biblical quote (Proverbs 16:18) . Instead one of the many sayings that gets attributed to the Bible.

That is my key verse for today...It was the worse day I have had in a long, long time. By the end of the day, I lost my temper and was so mad that my heart was beating and I could breathe. I had to go to Mr. Across-the-hall-neighbor to calm down. I *never* go across the hall to calm down.

2nd period - J, who I have been having some problems with, tells me when I accidently called out the wrong answer for the test question that I need to just stop and think about it because I am confusing him. Ok, that doesn't sound so bad now, it was the tone, but I tell him that he shouldn't criticize me, I never said I was perfect. He continues talking so I send him to the hall. Basically he tells me that he is bored in class because I am not prepared and he sits around a lot. I really want to tell him that there are 25 kids in class, all of whom need special attention and he needs to learn patience. What I do tell him is that he is 18 and I have a master's degree and he needs to just accept that I know more about teaching than he does and that I am not perfect, human, and I do make mistakes. I was furious. I am getting together the entirety of the work for the six weeks and letting him work on it himself. He can sit in the back and speed along at his own pace. After school when I mentioned that I had a bad day, mijo asked me to tell him who it was, "come on, just tell me. I want to know." from a kid who is not violent at all, it was kinda flattering that he would want to stand up for me.

6th & 7th we had an instructional meeting with head honcho from downtown. In these meetings there is sort of an unwritten code that we stand firm with each other and say what we have done to help the students. Last year the lady called us all down individually for our failure rates, told us all students should have a textbook (even though the curriculum doesn't even have a textbook in some cases. we would leave really feeling bad. well, I was incredibly nervous cause stuff like that always makes me nervous, but I got through my part and my friend from down the hall even threw my name in because she did a walk-through in my room this morning. it was going really, really well.

Then the new teacher's turn came round. She basically laid it out that the students didn't know anything and she was starting over from step one and since she had only been there 3 weeks, she didn't know what she could really do before the state standarized test. And since her kids are exit level, she is just doing the best she can. "they don't know metaphors or similes or even what dialogue is." Ok, not only did I teach LOTS of these kids last year, I also teach 85 of them this year...And they do know stuff. I can't believe she got up in a meeting with people from downtown and said that they didn't. Like we hadn't taught them anything the last 11 years they've been in school!

Now I've been told that I shouldn't take it personally, true, because she didn't know her audience and no one was sitting there thinking, "hey who taught those kids last year?"

Then I walk back up the stairs, steaming...to find my 7th period class trapsing out of my room two minutes before the bell. Apparently the sub that was covering my class that class period got tired of them and decided to let them go early rather than fight with them about it. Shame really, she seemed like a good sub. She definitely knew better. Well I start ranting at them to get themselves back into the classroom. Then I got every kid in the class back in their seats and tore them up and down about even thinking about leaving early. Then I kicked out the kid who had already been in my class 4th and decided to come again. After school another kid said they had thought about staying in my room too. I told him that he had better be glad he didn't.

By the time I got up there I was so angry that my heart was beating and I almost couldn't breathe. I made them stay a full minute after the bell to make up for the time they were going to cut out early. They will hear it from me tomorrow, too.

Linked in to the Post?

Somehow last night my blog was ranked. If you search for "Miss Mississippi pageant" on GoogleBlogSearch, I'm the number one link.

And I ended up on the Post's "who's blogging about this article?"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/...AR2006011601489_Technorati.html

Kinda scary..kinda cool.

memories

Tonight we flipped through the channels and are currently watching the Miss America pageant.

When we were kids, Sheri and I watched Miss America every year, cheering for Miss Mississippi (who by the way has more Miss America titles than any other state). Then we would have our own pageant in the living room: changing to swimsuits for the swimsuit competition, putting blankets around our necks for capes and fabricating crowns so that we could both win. We would try to get Mom to pick a winner, which was always pointless because we would always both win. I think we tried to con Joey into judging one year. We would do talent even...although all our acting was during commercial breaks. We would have to stay up late to see the end. Hmmm...9:00 doesn't seem so late anymore.

First Ammendment

We have been having the interesting debate at school about students and their blogs (Xangas specifically). I was sent this article through NCTE

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/
article/2006/01/16/AR2006011601489.html

Basically it talks about a school in DC who have concequences for those who post "inappropriate material" on their blogs. All the stuff I tell them not to write in the TAKS essays: getting drunk, their intimate relationships, etc. I printed it out for a friend who used it as her lesson on Friday with a lot of the seniors that have Xangas.

The comments from the teachers included:
"Yeah, they can post anything they want, they just need to know there are consequences."
"They have to realize that other people can see what they are writing."

I really lean towards we should just leave them alone. But truthfully there have been those who were fired for what was on their blog. For better or worse, should we teach appropriate use before these kids could get in *real* trouble?

Well that's the arguement. What do you think?
Here's a link to random high school blogs so you can get a feel. Not my kids obviously since I'm trying to be better about being more vague. :)

Should I be proud or disappointed?

I have always considered myself slightly better than Oprah book club picks. Now don't get me wrong, I truly appreciate her efforts to get a population of this country reading that wouldn't otherwise. However, they tend to all have the same plots as a Lifetime movie: women in trouble, men fail women, women conquers all...and maybe falls in love. :)

However, the novel I'm reading with class just became an Oprah pick:

http://www.bordersstores.com/features/feature.jsp?file=night_rg

On one hand, it may lend credibility to the book for some kids. On the other...does this devalue the quality of the book? Now that it is mass-marketed to the daytime tv watching population?

mijos

Tonight my friend and I watched our soccer team play an away game at the high school near my house. We brought our blankets, hot chocolate and warm jackets...because we were prepared this time, no telling us about it 7th period.

When we were there we whiled our time away divying up our students as our children. One of our students has been my friend's son, mijo, for quite some time now. And she has all but decided who my son should be, but we have all these other spare children running around! So I think we are up to 4 1/2 a piece that we each claim. One set of brothers has three so we have dual custody to be fair. Apparently we shared a sancho or two along the way to have so many that are actually brothers!

Also, I have been on this kick lately telling my students, when they are whining too much, "Does it *look* like I care?" I know, it is the sarcastic side of me. One of the kiddos, mijo actually, asked me after school how to say it. He kept swapping the words, "Doesn't look it...." So we had to practice for a minute. We didn't work on the intonation so when he says it, it just comes out extremely rude. :) I am going to regret teaching him this; I can see it now.