Money, Money, Money

Remember how my computer mysteriously stopped working? I've been borrowing a laptop (thank you!! mwah!), but it's time to buy a new one of my own. Someone found the Dell deals, and I ordered a desktop with a flat panel for less than $500. Sweet! It shipped today. Hurrah!

Yesterday the travel deals came out by email. Oh, man. Y'all know that travel is my weakness. Last May my mom and I bought our Christmas tickets, and I'm really thinking about doing that again, this time for London and Paris, since a certain someone has never been to either place. I've been wanting to do Christmas in London for a few years now. Might as well jump at the chance!

Technically, I have the money for neither of these luxuries. But hell, if computers and plane tickets aren't what credit cards were invented for, what is?

School is going well; it continues to speed by.

Yesterday there was a trip to a Brooklyn green space, for two of my classes. I got stuck with my lower/worse class, and they did horribly. About half of them ran around, yelling and playing, not doing the fun pondwater tasks. I was so upset with them all day. Their behavior on both bus rides and at school before and after were equally repulsive. As such, I have punished the worst eight of them (as well as myself, I suppose) by giving them not only Saturday detention, but a week's lunch detention. I will make them sit silently and do grammar exercises. Might as well try to hammer in some basic skills while we're at it.

Next week we'll finish up the poetry stuff and move into drama. Although it won't be that simple, since we're supposed to be ALSO doing grammar work, test prep review, and writing/revision/portfolio stuff. SO fun and easy to do!!

As you know, I have been doing a little grammar stuff. And it's been working! Today in two classes I had them review the eight parts of speech. They did well! Most didn't get all eight, but at least four of the eight they've only seen in the last week on Schoolhouse Rock. When we did them all together, there was no problem.

With one class, they had trouble understanding what I meant by 'state of being' (verbs). So I took the verb "to be" and first quickly explained infinitive/conjugation. I came up with a great metaphor. An infinitive verb is like a toy you haven't opened yet: it's still in the wrapper, there are no batteries, it hasn't been personalized or changed in any way. Then you take off the plastic, flip the switch, brush its hair or put on the stickers, and that's like conjugating the verb: changing it according to your wishes or subject. THEN I tried to say that you use the verb "to be" to tell how you are. "I am happy"--that is the state of my being, that is what I'm feeling. "AM" is just to get between you and your feeling or something. Most of them got it, and didn't stare into space or roll their eyes. Phew.

Then! I challenged them to identify ALL the words in these two sentences: Cotton candy is my favorite candy. And Two girls jumped onto the wagon. We reviewed it super quick all as a class, and they did well! Hurrah! Progress!

I have not made any progress on unpacking, because in theory I have been working my ass off for my thesis...um, yeah. I'll let you draw your own conclusions there. Use your clues from the text, don't forget!

I'm even behind on television, not like I really care. There's just not enough time or energy in the day! All week I've been exhausted by ten. Lame!

Less than two weeks, and this part will be over. I just have to keep reminding myself.

Sunday Afternoon Blues

I think it's a gorgeous and sunny day outside, but I don't want to open the blinds and see.

All day yesterday was spent shopping. As you might have seen by the photos yesterday, I bought a television (hurrah for a return to normalcy!), shelving, a folding table and chairs, a great sea-foam shag rug, as well as an office chair. The chair and two shelves have yet to be assembled; I'm saving it for more energy and space, as I still have a bunch of boxes to unpack.

Eventually, most things were put together and it was starting to feel more homey. So my special someone and I settled down to relax. We watched Noises Off!, a movie chock-full of big names (Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve, John Ritter, Julie Hagerty, and more) and bigger laughs. Seriously, it's a hilarious movie and if you haven't seen it, do.

Now it's Sunday and I'm tired and want a break. However, the dreaded thesis beckoned. After I had to conveniently clean the bathtub, I began working on this dastardly paper. First I made my references page, while correcting my APA format. Then I updated my methods section, mainly the setting and participants. Next I opened up the lit review. Of course I did the formatting first, but then I finally buckled down and took a look at two of the three sources I need for my intro. I read one article and browsed a chapter. Then I typed out a decent first draft of the intro...it's all bullshit anyway.

I still have to finish up the intro, plus do a few paragraphs and conclusion for the lit review section. I also need to rework the results, write the discussion, plan and add the appendices, and write another section-intro or two. It doesn't seem like a lot, but I think it's deceptive and I'll probably regret not doing more sooner.

But ugh, I just can't care. I can't muster up the will to do much. I'm trying, sort of, to peck away a little at a time. I don't have energy to do anything during the week, and I told myself I would work "all day" today on it....Yeah right.

New Pretty Apartment Things! Eee!

Ode to My Students in Class 2

O, how you do such great work;
Paying attention, wide-eyed,
Eagerly attempting anything,
Producing interesting work.
O, how I do appreciate it:
Your intelligence and wit,
Your skepticism of
my weirdness.
O students, you are wonderful
And I love reading your work...
But still, I can't wait for the year to be over.

--

Now read these AWESOME odes my students in all three classes wrote! These kids ROCK sometimes. If you're lucky, maybe I'll transcribe some of the fantastic ballads they wrote.

*

O, you magnificent basketball,
you complete me
how do you do it
with your bright orange color
O, you magnificent basketball
you are so great
with your five thousand little dots
just waiting to be held
O, you magnificent basketball
you are so perfect
just spinning round and round
on my little finger
O, you magnificent basketball
you complete me

*

"Ode to My Thumb"

I sing to thee
O mighty thumb
Your armor be impenetrable
O how I love your flexibility
How you allow me to go through doors

O mighty thumb
How you give me strength
O how you push buttons for me
How, when I wake up, you greet me
By letting me up

*

O my bookbag organizes my books
O how it keeps my books safe
O how it's so special, I use it every day.
It is one of the most important things
I just use it most of the day
O how can I go to school without
My bookbag that organizes
about everything I use for school,
Everyone in school has it
School will just be different
without my bookbag.

*

"Ode to Rubber"

I love thee
O Rubber
You make my life worthwhile.
You make it able for me to buy boots, sneakers and high heels.
O magnificent O special O amazing Rubber
Never leave me.
Rubber that is on the cushions
On my pen so my fingers will not bruise.
O useful O necessary Rubber
Keep coming O Rubber
The buttons on that tv remote makes it possible for my brain to mush.
O Rubber O Rubber
I love you Rubber
O gracious O useful Rubber
O Please keep coming to me.

*

"Ode to Chocolate"

O chocolate
how sweet
O chocolate
ranging from white to dark
O chocolate
how you sweeten my life
O chocolate
how you light up my day
O chocolate
what would I do without you
O chocolate
there is no better joy than you
O chocolate
you are the best
and
will always be!

*

"Ode to My Notebook"

O, you're so organized
You keep my words
Inside you
Storing everything I write
I look back at you
To put the information
You have
Into my mind
You make me so smart
I just love to write in you.

*

"Ode to iPod"

O iPod, I do appreciate thee.
Always helping and calming me.
I always go to you when I need help.
I trust you to soothe me,
Always sticking by my side.
I will always appreciate thee.

O iPod, I do appreciate thee.
I can depend on you for anything.
Thank you for your entertainment.
You rescue me from boredom.
Thank you iPod, I do appreciate thee.

I'm Back!!

Hi, friends and bloggers and internet in general!

I am totally moved into my new apartment--since Saturday--and am exhausted, and getting poorer, and getting annoyed with the kitchen roaches....BUT! I do like, nay, love, my place. It is shaping up pretty well. I have some plans for the floors and walls (shag rugs and photos, respectively), and still have furniture to buy. (Right now I have a pile of electronics instead of a dining table.)

Teaching has been spur-of-the-moment stuff, like tests and figlang review and such. Today I showed Schoolhouse Rock. Before I put it on, I told them that this was before their time (and mine, really), and it was cheesy, but it was still fun and good. They reacted well, and when I played songs second times, a good number were bopping and singing along. Ha! Adorable. Sixth graders think they're all grown and stuff, but give them animated songs and they're five again. Love it. The best part, as a teacher, is that they LEARNED stuff. They'd never heard of interjections, and after the song--which is very catchy--they did. I had them read and look for some in their books. There was some confusion, but overall, they got it. Sweet!

There is a ton of work to do on my thesis. It is due in three weeks. Less, actually. I have a decent amount done, but I need to finish the lit review, and do the whole intro, which involves reading three more articles, redo my results, finish my methods, get a consent form, get some tests back from the kids (yeah right, good luck, me), work on the formatting (which I will totally do first, as it's my favorite part since it's not actual work), and do the discussion. And put it all together. These three weeks cannot go fast enough!

Much more later, I'm sure.

Blah!

WHY is it only the end of April? HOW in the world is it already the end of April? Why can't the year end now, when I still love my kids? Why can't the weather get just a teensy bit warmer and then stay like that for the next four months instead of getting sticky and humid?

Why, why, why?

Things have been fairly busy and stressful around here lately; I have too many important things on my plate. (Just for the record, teaching is not one of those things.)

I told myself that I am moving this weekend. I want to get out of this place as soon as possible, my keys arrived late last week, I got the electric bill in my name and got an appointment for tv and internet. Oh, and I even officially put in my change-of-address online (you can do that now! cool!).

I was hoping to find boxes, just laying around or something. My stupid roommate wouldn't let me keep/store the boxes I used to move here, so I am starting completely from scratch. But after a day of even pretending to hope for boxes at school, I caved and bought a box kit online. It was $45 with one-day shipping, and with what should be plenty of boxes for all my shit. The December move was further lengthened by the fact that I used any box I could find, and a lot of them were little ones. So I'm hoping that by using bigger and uniform boxes, it will be easier and faster and smoother. Let's hope so.

I hate moving. Duh. We all do, I know. It just sucks. I don't want to pay for some guys to haul the things, though I wish I could. I don't really have enough stuff for that. I also don't want to load and unload my not-big car four times, struggling with stairs and uneven boxes. So far I have two people who have offered to help, which is fantastic and I love them.

So now I'm trying to figure out the logistics of all this, because I'll need to hire some kind of vehicle. I just now made a reservation for U-Haul, and I found a bed on craigslist but it's in Brooklyn fifteen miles away. I will have the van from 1pm to 7pm. I think that should be enough to get to Brooklyn, put in the bed, get back to my place, load it up, and unload at the new place. But damn, what a crazy day.

I will still need all the other furniture: tables, rugs, bookshelves, more kitchen stuff. My concern isn't getting or finding all those things, whether I get them new or used, it's the transportation. Argh! So stressful!

The other very stressful thing going on is my thesis. I did not do the literature review when we were supposed to. It took me the whole time just to do the 20-page annotated bibliography. So now I'm having to go back and work on the lit review just to catch up, plus keep up work on the methods/results section. I've got all my data, and at least twenty charts, and the first shortish draft of the write up. The slow-but-sure thing is working fairly well; I just need to push myself to work on it more often.

Did I mention packing? Yikes. I've done three boxes--two of books and one of clothes. The rest I need to do tonight.

In terms of teaching, for which I haven't been planning or grading at all, this has been a fun and pretty easy week of poetry. Today I took them outside to the tiny front yard of the school to observe and be inspired to write poems. I wrote some myself too. But before we did that, I 'primed' their other senses by playing classical music. They listened closely and reported what they saw in their minds as the music played. Shockingly enough, they enjoyed it.

I suppose more poetry next week, but like I said, that is nowhere near the top of my agenda. If it's on there at all. Too much other shit happening.

NOLA Work: What I Did (A Long But Worthwhile Post)

My first day of work was last Friday. I went out with a gut crew to a 'new' house; it had not been visited yet. In fact, it had not been touched since the flood.

The furniture was strewn all over. Personal effects--letters, medicine, toys, photos--were tossed around on the floor. It reminded me that though it must have been extremely tough to leave all your worldly possessions behind, it's more important to make sure everyone survives.

Clothes and bedding littered and clogged the bedroom floors. Everything was piled haphazardly on everything else by the ruthless waters.

The water lines were clear. Mold and mildew stained not only the walls and items below the water lines, but continued creeping up, all the way to the ceiling. It was especially noticable when we got down to the sheetrock.

It took all morning to empty the house. It was hot and humid, and we had to wear long pants, gloves and respirator masks. It was hot and sweaty in the mask, and it also felt like you weren't getting a full breath, since the air was only coming in the pink filters.

I was already exhausted by lunchtime. After lunch we had to clear out the work shed, which was crammed with ruined tools and books, dishes and other stored items. Many of them still held the fetid water from last summer.

Then the real work began: the gutting. First we had to tear down the wood paneling, which of course had to be preceded by removing the molding at the tops and bottoms of the walls. Then we took crowbars and hammers to the paneling and tore it down in big sheets. Very satisfying. Finally, when all the fake wall was gone, it was time to get rid of the moldy sheetrock.

By this time, I'd already had to take at least one break. Working in the heat like that had really done a number on me. Perhaps it was a migraine, or a touch of heat stroke, or pure wimpiness. But my head throbbed, my stomach was queasy, my eyeballs ached, I felt lightheaded. Oh, it was awful.

For nearly an hour, I quietly and methodically hammered down sheetrock. It was immensely satisfying. It was disgusting, seeing the damage the floodwaters had done to materials all the way to the ceiling. The ceiling itself had fallen in many places, actually. As you can see, the air was thick with dust and particles. We were grateful for the nasty masks.

All the furniture, personal items, walls, sheetrock, insulation, and everything else went out the doors and windows, piled up on the curb outside the house. The pile grew in length and height throughout the day.

The family who owned the house was there the whole day, helping out and chatting with us. They had owned the house for thirty-seven years and raised five kids. They were in their seventies and just the sweetest southern old folks you could ever meet.

I took several more breaks throughout the afternoon, doing my best to head back to work once I felt marginally human again each time. I didn't have the energy to talk, or bend or move much, but I did what I could. I helped clean up and soon enough our day was over. We were all exhausted, dirty, sweaty, and smelly. I'd begun the day with all new work clothes, but by the end, oh man was it all broken in, but good. My lovely new gloves dyed my hands yellow/orange. And that is a very dirty arm (I am very pale under there).

As soon as we got back to base camp, out of the heat and out of the work clothes, I immediately began to feel better. The headache didn't really go away, but it did lessen after I took some pain relievers.

This was all just my first day working.

Day Two, Saturday, was finishing up gutting a house, and it was just a morning with a small group of us. I spent most of the time perched on a ladder, removing nails from the ceiling with a hammer. It was a pretty easy half day after the ass-kicking day before.

Sunday was Easter, and it was also the lull between volunteer people, so camp was pretty deserted.

Monday I joined four others in traveling to a Boys and Girls Club, where our task seemed to be fairly easy: getting tile up off of two floors.

However. The tile was some kind of wood laminate that was very well glued down to the floor. We tried using crowbars, sledgehammers, axes, a metal broom thing, but the best way was just to hack at it with hammer prongs. So we sat on the floor for a whole day, banging away at the floor. We all developed blisters and sore hands and wrists. It was slow-going, tedious work, and we were also very, very sweaty and smelly by the end. We didn't even get half of one floor done, but we did pretty well for being such a shitty job.

Day Whatever-is-next was Tuesday, when a group went back to the first house I was at. We had to finish it up: take out the ceilings, take out the bathroom tiles, rip up the flooring. It was a tiring day. I was one of the people who went up to the attic/crawlspace. The ceiling there consisted of wooden planks nailed to the support beams, so I couldn't just stomp them down. I used a hammer to loosen the nails and then hit or kicked them down. I had to be careful, shifting between the support beams a foot and a half apart. But it was fun. I made a big mess, and it was extremely satisfying when a long plank crashed down to the floor. It was not so fun to push down all the crumbly insulation, however.

I made sure to take breaks every hour, but by early afternoon the migraine/heat stroke hit me again. We were all worn out but got the floor in this whole room up. Loud work that was not made easier by my sore hands and blisters from the day before.

I have so much respect and love for the long-term volunteers in the Gulf Coast. People have been there for weeks or months, working their asses off in awful conditions. They are really making a difference. AmeriCorps NCCC teams are all over the place. The team at Hands On New Orleans right now will be switching out with another team in a few weeks. They're the ones that got the operation up and running smoothly. Talk about heroes!

Next post will be about the fun and the sight-seeing. It was not all sadness and hard work. There was plenty of exploration, laughter, comaraderie, and good times.

"The Big Easy"? Thoughts, in no particular order

I have been home for a day and a half now. The situation in New Orleans seems to have a more powerful impact now that I've left. Perhaps that while there, it was so commonplace, and so many people had seen much worse, that I was almost taking it for granted.

Public schools reopened on Tuesday. This week. EIGHT months after the hurricane. Two months ago--six months after the hurricane--most stoplights weren't working and trashed/flooded cars and other debris still littered the streets. Now, most stoplights work and the streets are fairly clear. Plenty of roads were themselves damaged by the waters, and you still saw lots of stranded cars along the sides of streets, but overall things were fairly normalized.

Buildings are still intact in New Orleans; it's not the utter destruction that the Mississippi Coast saw. However, the water lines go forever in some neighborhoods. Some neighborhoods have no water lines at all. The city was built on different heights depending on class. The plantation and slave-owners' houses are built on higher land, and the slave quarters were built on the lower land. Those class distinctions from 150 years have carried over to now, so that the poor were overproportionally affected by the floods. Of course, there were plenty of middle-class homes affected too; they just didn't show that on tv.

At first I thought that things were livening up. You saw cars driving, lights on, people walking--IF you went to Canal Street or the French Quarter. Even so, many shops and other businesses are still closed. I saw more people in one block of Queens yesterday than I did on Wednesday afternoon on the whole of Canal Street, which is a long main thoroughfare running north-south. Cafe du Monde (above) is back serving their famous beignets (squares of fried dough covered in powdered sugar), and Bourbon Street is 'open.' However, I know that they are relatively empty compared to the pre-hurricane economy. Most, not all, bars are open, but most of them also stood empty.

The heat is already oppressive, especially to my sensitive temperate-climate-raised notions. I kept forgetting that it's only mid-April. Also, the hurricane season starts in June. Again.

Hands On has been a huge presence in the Biloxi/Gulfport area since October or November. In general, there are tons of volunteers and groups helping out over there, and not nearly as many in New Orleans. The Hands On chapter only got to New Orleans in February. They're already two months' behind in fulfilling work orders and cannot take anymore. They lead volunteers out to the community and gut damaged houses, at no fee to the homeowner. They also remove and treat for mold.

I worked in one house for several days. The house was raised at least three feet off the ground, and the water line was at least four feet. That means there was at least seven or eight feet of water there. And the damage did not only extend to the things the water touched. Most of the ceiling had fallen down and become part of the floor. The mold grew up the walls to the ceilings.
More on that in another post.

But all that seems almost irrelevant when you consider the Ninth Ward (see next post with pictures). Wards are like neighborhoods or suburbs or something, and the Ninth sits immediately to the east of one of the leveed canals. The gap in the levee was astonishing. I tried to, but could not, imagine what it must have been like when the water breached or broke that levee. A wall of water must have submerged the entire neighborhood within a few minutes. Most of the houses there were not built on real foundations; they were propped up on concrete blocks. When all that water poured in, it just lifted up the houses. Some dropped back down almost on their blocks, sinking in the middle. Other houses were left stranded in streets, or crashed into trees, or crashed into other houses, or just completely demolished into nothing but planks and splinters.

It was unbelievable, surreal, and horrible. Looking at it felt like seeing some kind of natural holocaust, except we know that it's the fault of humans. There were no people there at all. Why would there be? Everything was destroyed, even if the shell of the house was still there. Whole fields and yards lay bare where less than a year ago were residences.

It struck me that some may think taking so many pictures of the destruction is morbid and exploitative. Actually, I believe that it's actually doing something to honor and remember the reality of the situation. A way to remind us of the awful things to help prevent more in the future.

Pictures tell thousands of words: The Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Eight Months Post Katrina

No melancholy here!

I am having a fantastic time here. These people, who work and volunteer here, wow....they do amazing and incredible things, and are so awesomely nice to boot! The group I made friends with (they welcomed me and invited me out with them within an hour of my arrival!) have already sent out emails and pics.

Sunday we had a day off, so two guys and I went out exploring in town in the daylight. The French quarter seems fairly busy with touristy types, and it looks normal. I hear that economy-wise it's still very depressed.

Today is Monday and I went with a team to a Boys and Girls Club they've been working on. Our task was to remove tile from one (possibly two) rooms. The tile was glued down and the only way we could get it up was by bashing it with the prong end of a hammer. It was tedious and difficult labor, but we stuck it out. After lunch we finally got some tunes going and that helped. Someone had a mix cd of mid-90s radio hits, and that was awesome. Counting Crows, Gin Blossoms, Verve Pipe, Blind Melon, that kind of thing. We left around 3, exhausted and worn out. I have two blisters, one on my palm and one inexplicably on the outside of my right pinky. My hands and arms still have the shakes and are sore from gripping a hammer and also an axe. Axing the floor is fun!

Tomorrow is my last full day. I am sad to go. I want to see more and help more. I really want to go to Mississippi, but they have a ton of people in Biloxi, and not as many in New Orleans. Which I think is kind of strange, but anyway.

I have already taken well over 200 photos, and I can't wait to view and post them all!

Though I don't want to come home very much, I am definitely looking forward to Thursday's teacher-blogger event.

Last week I was telling someone about that, but we were in a club (it was 80s night at One-Eyed Jack's), and the girl didn't hear me. She was like, "Teacher logger? Teacher Flogger? What?" Heh.

Wow.

I've been here just over 24 hours. Already I'm amazed: at the amount of damage, at the amount of emptiness, at the friendliness of the locals, at the incredible relief effort happening here, and at the friendliness of the volunteers.

Today I worked on a team with seven other people, and we gutted an entire house. It was very sobering, but joyous too, because we met the family; they were helping out and chatting. It was really hard work, and that plus the heat did a number on me. I had to rest a lot of the afternoon; I've gotten pretty weak in the last few years.

But it's a wonderful experience already. I hope that some of you might find some time to get down here and help out yourselves! They will be rebuilding for a long time and need all the friendly volunteers they can get.

More later!

Freedom! Hurrah!

We made it to spring break. It's a miracle!

I haven't updated in what seems like forever, and I'm sure there's a lot to update.

Mostly, I've been tired. Class sucks and teaching was getting tedious.

In a few minutes, I am leaving for the airport. I am headed to New Orleans to help with the rebuilding effort, with Hands On New Orleans. I am very excited to get down there and do whatever I can. Right now I'm terribly tired and a bit stressed, with the shopping and packing and all that. But once I get to the airport, all will be good.

I expect there will be computer access there, so I will update as soon as possible. Hopefully with pictures!

Have an excellent Passover, Good Friday, Easter Sunday, and Spring Break, everyone!

Your Reign of Terror is Over, O Passive-Aggressive One

...because I just signed a lease for my very own studio apartment!

This is the main room. It's got fresh paint, new blinds and a new air conditioner.

There's a separate kitchen (fresh floors) with a dining area and another window.

I can't believe it yet, but I am very excited!

Media study is fun!

"Imagine you're standing on a country road, alone and bored in the middle of nowhere. You hear something getting louder. Around the corner comes a big truck. In the back is a big, loud party! How do you feel?"

"Sad and mad."

"Why?"

"Cause I'm not up there."

"So what are you going to do?"

"Stop the truck and see if I can get on it."

"Aha! THAT is a bandwagon, our fourth method of advertising."

That was yesterday, along with endorsement (the scientific/expert ads).

Today we reviewed all five types, and then briefly discussed 'smaller' techniques that are used within ads. Things like exaggeration, triggering an emotion, using 'eye candy', making it human.

For that one, I asked something and a student brought up a PopTart ad where one of the PopTarts is Irish or something.

So I introduced the word "anthropomorphise" (because apparently I'm British). I broke it down: "'Anthro' is a root meaning 'man' or 'human', like anthropology. And have you ever heard of something 'morphing'?" "Something changing into something else." "Yes, 'morph' like 'metamorphosis' means change. So anthropomorphise means to take an object and make it seem like a person."

Miraculously, I think they got it, because they had all seen ads that do it. Sweet! Look at me, building the lexicons for tomorrow's critical viewing citizens!

I also briefly wrote and mentioned the word 'objectification', but I'm going to save the demo for tomorrow.

Their task from there was to synthesize and apply all their knowledge. (Look at the higher-order thinking! I am a first-rate teacher!) They had to choose one of the methods, and one or more technique, to make a final-project-worthy ad for their l!t c!rcle books (which they've been using to practice each type in class). I gave them construction paper, markers and crayons, and some guidelines (make it clear which type you're using, make it colorful and creative, etc), and told them they're going up on the bulletin board tomorrow.

They excitedly set to work getting started. As they were packing up to go, I actually heard a kid in Class 2 say at the end of class, "This is fun!" I think it was one of those accidental outbursts. But I was happy to hear it. I said, "I'm glad! Has it been fun" to the surrounding students. They nodded. "Has it been interesting and useful?" More nodding.

Hurrah! We're all having fun! THIS is teaching, my friends.
LOVE IT.

We are supposed to be starting poetry this week. The rest of the teachers are, because their poor kids don't get to do this media analysis study. I think I'll actually finish up the week with media like I originally wanted to. Thus, tomorrow they will finish up their group ads, and then have time to write and quickly rehearse commercials for their books, then Friday they'll perform.

By the way, thanks to Nancy's suggestion awhile back, I signed up on poets.org for the teaching-poetry-in-April thing, and was happy to receive a packet of five poetry books to use in class! Go see if you can get in on the deal! If nothing else, they've got poems *and* lessons to teach them. Excellent. I think my poetry unit will begin on Monday.


--------------


Wednesdays are supposedly an 'easy' day for me; I teach the first two and the last three periods. However.

--Third period I had a coverage, for girls' gym. It was fun! They played volleyball (two courts, with FIFTEEN girls on each side of each court), and had decent, excited games.

--Lunchtime, I had to go to my room because those pesky children are always showing up, wanting to see me and help me and hang out. I let them get lunch and bring it up to the room, so that I can snag their tater tots. Yum. Again, however. I also cannot normally stay in the room the whole time, as there are many other things to be done. Today I had to run out and make copies, since the copier was actually working again, for the first time in a week. But the kids stayed in my room and did their thing like the good little children they are.

--Fifth period, I had a meeting with students to finish up the P#nny H#rvest. That took the whole 'hour.'

--I noticed the sky out the window; it was the color of a week-old bruise, and kind of creepy.
Later I went to the bathroom. The window was open and I could see that it was pouring down rain...but something wasn't right; I realized that I couldn't hear anything. First I thought, huh, what kind of material is over here that absorbs sound that well? Well, I looked outside and was completely dumbfounded to see that those sheets of rain were actually big fat snowflakes!

--My classes after that, despite the falling snow in April out the windows, were so great. We did theme with a shared reading piece, and actually had an extended class discussion about it, beginning with story detail questions, moving to inference and analysis questions, leading up to them writing the theme of the story. They faithfully paid attention and participated, and I was proud of their thinking and grateful for their good behavior.

--Last period, my Chatty Class Number One was hopped up. A few were out of the room for some silly thing, and so the class felt looser and less official, if that makes sense. But they shaped up and we got our stuff done.

--I got my brakes looked at after school. It took nearly an hour and a half, but I didn't mind. It wasn't the brakes that were bad; there was air in the system. So they flushed it out and replaced the brake fluid. And now all is better, and it was much cheaper than needing the brakes replaced. Again, hurrah!

--At home I had some fantastic email that made me smile and swoon.

--I really don't know why I had such a pleasant day in the middle of the week before Spring Break.

One week left! Hurrah!

I'm at class right now. So, so sleepy and anxious to get home.
I wrote some poems for class. They are cheesy but still entertaining. Here they are.

Acrostic:
Just an regular girl
Under a lot of stress lately!
Luckily, she takes the time to travel
In her mind and across foreign lands;
Everywhere there's something new to discover.


Cinquain:
Teacher
Caretaker, Motivator
Talking, Walking, Thinking
What a long day!
Educator

---

I think I am getting a new apartment! I stopped by an open house on a whim on Sunday. It's a top floor, very sunny studio with a separate kitchen/dining space. And it's near the trains.

It's a lot more money than I'm paying now ($950 as opposed to $650), but my situation now is pretty lame and was meant to be temporary. I have been able to save a lot of money in the last four months. I hadn't planned on moving until summer. But if it's a good place, should I just take it? I like it. And I am anxious to move out of my current place. I won't be getting a raise until September, so my budget will get tighter. I suppose it's worth it to finally have my very own place for a whole year.

Exciting! I think!

---

Ugh. One more stupid class tonight. I want a nap! And to watch tv! Boo!

Meta-Analysis: Education Thoughts

I think this idea is fantastic! Students looking at teachers, not to sue them, but to improve them. I think it's helping students become critical thinkers, helping them take more responsibility for their own education, helping their authority figures become better at helping them, the students, and creating a positive environment for everyone. Congratulations.

Because I so often forget that I'm supposed to be a grown-up, I took a look at this little piece: jobs for new grads!

8. Teaching
This is a great job that almost guarantees you a position no matter where you live or move in the future. And the work can be very rewarding and can offer great retirement benefits. Continue your education to the masters or doctorate level and watch your pay grow!
Average Starting Salary: $29,016

The other eight exciting careers, according to this article, have average starting salaries of $38,000-$50,000.

Who in their right mind would go choose something that pays less? And more importantly, is anyone out there still innocent and naive to think that teaching is something all sparkly and mushy: You can save the world, one child at a time! Please.

Yes, your pay will grow as you earn degrees, but the gap between you and your 'real' professional peers will only widen as you get older.

At least you'll have a job, whether you deserve it or not.

Gee, I'm inspired! I'm gonna TEACH!

Does it say something about the NYC education world that I'm so embittered in my second year of teaching?

For a less sarcastic and more interesting take, here's one man's eloquent thoughts about the pitfalls of teaching. This result is extremely not surprising.

[Thanks, as always, to NYC Educator for the thought-provoking links!]

As I've said before, I still am not sure how I feel about teaching. I've never had any job that I could say, Yes, I love this and want to do it forever.

This year has been wonderful in many ways, mostly because I can contrast it with the nightmarish struggle that was last year. This year, I am better, my students are better, and I think (most of) my students and I are all pushing to improve ourselves as the year goes on. My administrators respect and appreciate what I do, and they support me in good times and bad. My colleagues and I get to (not very often) trade ideas and thoughts about making things better, easier, more fun, more intense, whatever.

But good lord, the politics. The gossip among the faculty, about the administration. The administration, with the mandates and directives. (For the record, I do know that they're getting most of that from the top-down and can't really help it. Also for the record, most of the directives in my school are fairly reasonable and I respect my administration for pushing and challenging the faculty.) The lack of sanctity in the building; there is nowhere to go for some peace and freaking quiet. The union posturing and threats to both sides: to the administration to follow or stop some rule, and to the faculty for complaining without filing grievances. The city officials who don't respect what we do. Hell, the PRESIDENT who thinks we're a bunch of automatons producing widgets instead of the next generation of thoughtful citizens. The parents who think their children don't do anything wrong. The children who think they can just sit there and goof off or stare into space and still think they should pass. The five MILLION things we are asked or required or want to do all at once, every day. The ONE copier we have that breaks down all the time and there's no support or money to fix.

It is exhausting. And quite honestly, I know people who have much worse situations.

After a professional development thing in the city the other day, I was worn out with all the rules and expectations and talking and posturing. I tiredly thought to myself: maybe it's not at all worth it to stay for a third year and deal with all this crap.

And really, what a shame that is. I'm no superstar teacher, but I am pretty good at what I do. I have the knowledge and excitement about my subject (more knowledge than some of my colleagues, and thus more I can impart to the students), and I have the drive to keep improving myself. Without any conceit, I can say with certainty that those are hallmarks of a good teacher.

I will be here for a third year. I have commitment and stubbornness to keep going. But I AM going to leave the city in the time shortly after that. In no way would I want a full career teaching in New York. Obviously, teaching in other places is no picnic, but at least there are resources, and more-with-it parents, and possibly better pay and lower cost-of-living.

My Weekend

Squee.

Sigh.

That is all.

Gotta love New York

Homeless-type guy in his 40s, on Sixth Ave, to me:

"Well, hello there, dear! You have very nice breasts!"

I just barely kept a straight face.

Then I was almost insulted that he didn't compliment my ass as he passed by me.

Very nice

I am happy about the short teaching week!

Yesterday morning, however, I was not so thrilled. I woke up with a headache, a sore throat, and soon after a nosebleed. Good morning to you, too! The throat thing backed off enough to let me yammer on all day, but the headache continued into a migraine, which made that yammering not very easy or enjoyable.

Other than that, we are getting into the media stuff but good! Today we reviewed the second of four (or maybe five) types of advertising. I have been explaining the rationales behind each and showing examples, then leading them through a discussion about the images, words, and messages being sent. It's quite fun.

The kids are easily drawn into this, because it's pictures and things they are familiar with. I like to take the point of view that this study (and media literacy in general) is a way to talk back and avoid being manipulated. As I point things out in the ads, and they become more and more absurd sounding, I see the lights dawn on their faces that yes, advertising really does do a lot of silly things to make them think certain ways.

Some of the ads the kids turned in for homework were really great. Except for the kid-like drawing and pasted-on pictures of celebs like Lindsay Lohan or Beyonce, the ads do sound like real ones. Very impressed. Although, since this generation has been exposed to more media than any other, it makes sense that they should easily recreate it.

The other thing this week was tests. For me, not the school or state or anything, thank goodness. No, it was time for some good old assessment. There was a vocabulary test, which is part of two things: my nefarious plan to build some serious lexical awareness, and my thesis research project.

Then it was time for a grammar test. A week or two ago we learned the types of nouns and verbs. (I think I posted about it.) I finally got around to squishing in a test on it.

It took me all day yesterday to grade the tests for ONE class--my lowest one--and when I was done, I was utterly dismayed. There were two parts of the test. One had four sentences, and they had to underline nouns and circle verbs, and then identify each. You know, that 'bear' is a common singular noun. The second part was simply to make a few nouns plural, and I think I got most of the rules in there (changing y to ies, adding es, blah blah).

I got more than a couple 'berrys', one 'teacher's', and? one 'foots.'

The first part was just atrocious and I was pretty sure an inaccurate tell of what they actually knew. So, being the reflective and thoughtful teacher that I am, I talked to them (remember, this is my low class) first thing.

I reminded them of the process that we went through in learning nouns and verbs. Just to remind them and make them think about how yes, all from the test had been done in class, and reviewed as a class, and wasn't tough. I said, I am willing to drop the results of yesterday's test, for you to do this one.

For the first time, I really walked them through a test. I started with having them write the categories. I walked around and checked each and every paper to see if they had it. God love them, all but a few dunderheads did. (Whee! They DID learn!) The ones that didn't, I tried to jog their memories and nudge them to rethinking what they had (because they were stuck in 'person, place, thing') without telling them what the correct ones were. (I did honestly think about doing that--the four categories--as a class, just to make sure they had it right. But I decided that that would take too much away from them and their responsibility to learn and retain and recall information that is done and practiced in class.)

The next step was a list of varied nouns that they had to classify. I asked the class, "Out of the four categories, how many does each noun fit into?" "Two," a number of them chorused. Hurrah, they remembered! They completed that task.

The third part was identifying nouns and verbs in sentence context. Yesterday's test had fairly complicated sentences for having them look for parts of speech. So I wrote much shorter and simpler sentences for today's. Still got a couple just plain stupid shit ("the" as a helping verb), but overall, I was thrilled at the many correct responses. Fully half the class got between 95-100% of the things done right! This is the class with the lowest comprehension and test scores!

I felt really good. First, I was excited that the students would have a high test score to end their quarter. Second, I was hugely relieved that they proved to me (and themselves) that they did know it after all. Third, I was proud of myself. I saw that something was wrong, that maybe I had erred or overestimated. But instead of stamping my feet about what they couldn't do, which honestly is my usual reaction, I did something to fix it, and gave the kids a second chance, a more attainable task...and by gum, they stepped up. It was a 'good teacher' realization for me. Look at me grow and better both myself and the students!

Today is Wednesday. Which means that I had class last night. With a migraine. UGH times three. I took some pain relievers before I got there, and soon enough they did kick in. The caffeine in them worked; I got a lot done. We have a huge pile of things to turn in next Tuesday. BUT, it won't be graded. The prof is just going to give us feedback on whatever we do turn in, because all the real stuff is due at the end of the semester. As she did say, she tried to break it up for us and help make the gargantuan tasks get done faster and easier. (We're talking a ten-article 20-page annotated bibliography that is to be turned into a 10 to 15-page literature review. Plus a handful of small and silly things.)

That was a huge load off my mind. I've been pecking away at the bibliography, rather like an academic fireline. I first went through and put in the easy stuff, then went back through and began filling in the more detailed and complicated. Now I have to make my final rounds, completing the more difficult and time-consuming tasks of reviewing results and discussions from my research articles.

So, I'm going to do my best to get things done. I'll turn in everything I have. Interestingly, knowing that I don't have to do it will probably motivate me to actually do it. Because I'll be doing it for me, to get it done and out of the way and evaluated, rather than just kicking my own ass to finish it to meet an arbitrary deadline. I've got a twisted mind about schoolwork. Thank god this is my last real full semester.

With the five kids who actually show up every day for the stupid minutes, I've been doing grammar with them. Yesterday we started going through a worksheet that made them choose the correct tense of irregular verbs (ie, chose versus chosen). They paid attention and learned about the "have/has" being a tell to use the past participle [chosen, for those of you who've been out of English class for awhile ;)]. Today, we continued with that. I keep asking them why they chose what they did. I have also been asking them to identify the present tense of the verbs. They didn't really get that because it's not one of the choices. Exasperated, I began the very tedious operation of explaining infinitives and conjugation. It's not easy in English because most of it is the same.

So, don't you know it, I showed them an example in French, just to let them see how it works and changes according to the subject.

I said that the infinitive always has a "to" in front of it, to show that it hasn't been messed with, or broken down yet into conjugations.

I used "to be" because it's the most irregular of English verbs. When I prompted them for the conjugations, they were befuddled. So I said, "Well, sometimes you hear people say, 'He be late.' What's the correct way to say that?" And they replied, "He is late." And so on.

So for the most part, they stuck with me and seemed to begin understanding. I explained that this is really important, to know grammar of your own language, if you ever want to learn a different language. Plus, one of my girls knows French (she's originally from one of their colonies), so she was excited to share her knowledge when I conjugated 'dormir' (same meaning in French and Spanish, which I love).

So today, I say, Go with Grammar, my friends.

.....


For the ladies out there: Do you wait for him to do the asking out, or do you take the risk?

Nice Friday

Yesterday was mostly a pretty cool day, because I got to feel proud of my students.

At the end of the day, we held our third P#nny H#rvest meeting. We've done things very quick and dirty, since I got a late start on it and the deadline is in two weeks. Last week the kids found possible organizations online, and then they looked more closely and decided on whether or not they wanted those organizations to be included on our donation list.

This week, we had to make phone calls to those places. First I led them in coming up with questions and then we practiced conversations. This meeting I had to be a little more involved than before (and I was extremely proud of what they did on their own the last few meetings), partly for time and partly because now's the time to start dealing with adult strangers, which is intimidating.

Finally, after nearly forty minutes, we made our way to the office and three students made three phone calls. The first was very short; the person told the kid to email instead. The second was a long one; the student spoke clearly, professionally, not robotically, remembered to ask the questions they'd thought of, and I was just so proud! I spoke briefly with the rep, and she too praised the student's phone manner. The third call was shorter but the performance from the student was also mature and responsible.

I was just really happy with the whole thing. So proud.

Earlier in the day, I went on a trip with my favorite class. Unfortunately, due to bus scheduling issues, we all sat around for over an hour killing time. I had to fight the noise and play, but I was not comfortable with relinquishing control. It was tiring but eventually they did calm down, like the good kids they are.

At our destination, the students behaved wonderfully. They followed directions of the staff members, participated in the discussions and activities, and really paid attention. I heard that one group took notes--of their own accord! They enjoyed themselves and learned new things.

Like I said, they are my favorite class anyway, because they are all very smart and driven and self-motivated. And they're nerds just like me; they happily sit reading for a whole period and prefer Madlibs over trivia games.

I expected they would be decent on the trip, and I was very happy with how they did. One of the staff complimented them, within earshot of one of the very smart girls. I said, 'yeah, they're a good group. Social and chatty sometimes (teacher look at the girl), but they're very smart and just good kids.'

The other teacher who was with us was grateful for my involvement in handling and managing the kids. He said he's been on trips with teachers who don't pay attention or wander off or let the kids act like crazy people. I was bothered but not surprised by this, and I felt a bit vindicated for my strict manner.

But these kids are actually quite wonderful despite (or because of, if you want my opinion) my strictness. One or two had cameras and took pictures of their classmates and friends. One wanted to take a picture of just me. Cute! Several shared their snacks with me, because they know I like treats and goodies. They packed away their trash conscientiously after lunch.

What a lovely way to end the week, having a fun trip and seeing one's students behave like the model citizens they're becoming.

Why I'm not a patriot (brought to you by Wikipedia)

Wow, I honestly did not expect to hear about something like this. Not the burning cars in the city thing, but a real movement. Not in 2006, anyway.

It's not terribly surprising, however; France, Paris in particular, has a very long history of popular revolt. I find it fascinating and inspiring, actually. The French have always had a very strong sense of nationalism and freedom, and if one begins limiting or threatening the other, they do something about it. They stand together and make a fight. They physically take to the streets and construct barricades. People march, and to protect themselves from police, pile random shit together to make a huge wall.

For over two hundred years (the mere lifespan of our own country, in which we hold our Constitution sacrosanct) the French have repeatedly reinvented themselves. Now, that was often because some guy let the power go to his head a little bit, but the country as a whole is okay with saying, 'Well, this hasn't gone too well. Let's scrap it and start over again and see if we can do it better.' I believe that is a much more natural and democratic way to go about being a national entity. Rather than, say, idolizing a single document regardless of changes in time and crime and sentiment and all kinds of things, using it as the end-all, be-all answer to what it means to be American.

I believe the French are up to their fifth or sixth constitution.

Each time that I learned about another popular uprising in France or Paris, I was astonished and awed anew. The people took matters into their own hands. When they were being wronged by someone in power, they ALL banded together to make a serious statement and DO something about it.

I think that this country will never be what it purports to be: the land of the free and the home of the brave. There are too many imprisoned in poverty or actual prisons. It began as, and has only become more so, the land of the rich and the land of the privileged.

To be a real, true democracy, the people rule. However, while that's the tagline of America, the reality is the 'every man for himself' and 'fighting for the American Dream.' These are singularly individualistic notions.

Now, obviously, the sheer size of both the physical land and the population make true synchronized rebellion difficult if not impossible.

But just imagine.

Imagine whole regions of people banding together to take up the fight for real freedom: economic opportunity. Why just let the rich and powerful populate and run the influential schools, universities, corporations, and media conglomerates?

Imagine an entire indignant profession deciding to stick up for themselves. Because dammit, they just weren't gonna take it anymore. What is wrong with fighting for rights and equitable pay?

Imagine a country looking at its leader and seeing a manipulative, lying, pampered oil prince, and the people DOING something about it? ALL of them, not just the crazy left-wing uberliberals?

Obviously, attempts to rise up have been made occasionally. Those brave souls risked their lives and jobs and reputations, sometimes in vain. But sometimes it works.

In this day and age, the likelihood of something like that working would be stifled by a very simple thing: it would probably be covered up and ignored by the mass media, since it's all controlled by the folks who don't want to see the dominant paradigm move a damn inch.

One can only hope that the young folks of the country have more awareness of the truth and the power of the vox populi, as well as the increasing importance of smaller, independent media to spread the word. Only then can this country embrace their freedom to actually seek true equity.

Now, that is what I will call a land of the brave and the home of the free.

Ugh.

This morning, my daily personalized mug of hot chocolate sat forgotten on my desk until third period.

That's the only explanation I have that around the same time, I became irritable and cranky, and later, tired. It's NOT PMS, thankyouvery much; I was just impatient and annoyed at the clinginess and neediness of some students and the loudness and brashness of some teachers.

I hate the teacher's lounge. I know it's fairly common for younger teachers to say this, because of the negative energy and disgruntled teachers. Sometimes I need that, it's an effective if not pretty way for us to work off steam about difficult students or impossible parents.

Most of the time, though, it's just loud. Or smelly, from the food being cooked or eaten. Last week, I got halfway into the room before I had to quickly turn and leave again; something nasty was in the microwave and I was near choking at the smell. (I'm a really picky eater, but in no way one of those proselytizing save-the-animals types; I just don't want to eat most things. I am also really sensitive to strong food smells. Like turkey, or fish, or a lot of ethnic cuisine and dishes.)

If there's a class using my room, there's only two rooms for teachers to go to. One of them is occasionally unavailable, but neither are quiet or peaceful. That's why a couple times I go to the dusty, secret book room.

Today, I didn't feel like going all the way up there, so I stayed in the teacher's lounge, but with my discman on and up, to drown out the teachers. I read the Smithsonian magazine that came yesterday. (Did you know that 75% of Saudi Arabians are under 30 years old? Incredible!)

Speaking of food, it's been a big thing this week. I bring things to eat to school: yogurt, a little plastic thing of dry cereal, a granola bar and maybe some cookies. But these things do not do anything to make me not hungry. And after a year and a half of hardly eating at school, apparently my body has had enough! Every day this week I have been way hungry and counting down the time til I could go home and have some real food and feel sated.

I have some new baja ranch dressing, lettuce, cheddar AND pepper jack cheese, chips, and new orange juice, and zesty pickles....easy to see why I can't wait to get home. :)

This afternoon, after eating and checking email and that, I had to actually take a nap for about an hour or so. That really rarely happens, and I don't know what to make of it.

Bleh.

----

Today the students finished their findings graphs and charts. As they shared, I asked some questions to get them thinking about WHY they saw what they saw. Not sure if it worked, but I gotta try. Things like, to the class, what can you tell about what they were watching while seeing this type of commercial?

The majority of groups, across all three classes, had the biggest category as food ads. That included candy, cereal, restaurants, all that. Like, way more than toys or electronics or anything. Food-type things, since not much IS actual food.

One group did their classifying as including 'healthy food' and 'unhealthy food.' They called me over yesterday to ask about Coca-Cola. To ASK about Coca-Cola being healthy food! You know what else was on their so-called 'healthy' list? HONEY COMB and GUM.

Good lord. I shook my head in sadness and disbelief. They giggled a lot at that.

Tomorrow, I am very grateful that I am going on a trip with one class. I don't know at this mment how I'd be doing regular teaching stuff.

And next week is only three days with the students. Yes, grateful indeed.

Man, this really is a slumpy time of year for me.

Auspicious Beginnings, I hope

I began the lesson, and the media literacy unit, today in the style of a carnival barker:

Ladies and gentlemen! I have something inside this box that will change your lives. It will blow your mind! 99% of students who used it said their academics improved. If you use this product, your grades will increase. People will like you more. Your life will be better!

[Dramatic Pause]

What do you think is in the box?

The kids went nuts, yelling out what they thought was in there. It was loud but I certainly had their attention!

I asked them what had I just done. Immediately they responded, 'advertise.' I gave them definitions of and we discussed examples of media, advertising, and propaganda.

I quoted from a fascinating book the following ad for an advertising agency: it was a big picture of the president, with these big words: "If you have high ambitions, hire us. He did." Smaller print: "If we can produce advertising that persuades Hispanic Democrats to vote Republican, we can get them to buy your product."

The students were appropriately floored and shocked by this, and I led them in an analysis discussion, reading between the lines and inferring what the agency thinks about consumers.

Their favorite part of the lesson, however, is the homework: Watch television. I gave them the worksheet, the one I posted a while back, for them to keep track of the commercials they see while watching a show tonight.

I can't wait for class tomorrow, when they report and synthesize their findings!

Monday, Monday

First, I am feeling better, rest-wise, than I was all last week. Progress!

Second, during one of the book skits, in which the book was about a rural country girl in the 1800s, one girl said this line, "My mama didn't raise no fool!"

Third, I glanced over the extra credit essays that were turned in today. The assignment was to choose an interesting person from the abolition/suffragist movements (since they have found research and begun a timeline, they were aware of when and who this involved) and write about their work. Here are a few of the choice figures chosen: Louis Armstrong. Rosa Parks. Martin Luther King Jr.

AND!!!

Adolf Hitler.

I don't know WHERE that child has been, but it sure wasn't my class. Jeez.

~~~~~~~~~

Math updates:

Yes, I looked for actual classes. Half the CUNY schools either don't have summer sessions, or if they do, they don't offer math. The ones that do, their summer sessions either start in MAY and go during the day, or start later and end in mid August. And all of them go FOUR days a week.

And that all just sounds awful to me.

That's why I thought the CLEP would be a better option.

I saw a recommended college algebra tutorial site, so I went there yesterday and completed one of the basic tutorials on polynomials. Now, I'm not stupid; I learned all this stuff. But it was actually back in high school, and I never enjoyed or practiced math even when I was taking it. So it's nearly gone from my brain. The tutorial was exactly what I needed: a review of things that I once knew. I scrolled down, looking through their examples, and at the end I did the five practice problems. I got them all right!

That made me feel much better. Phew, I'm not an idiot, I'm just getting old. :)

However, I did take a look at that SUNY online catalog (thanks for the tip!), and found a good-sounding, liberal-arts type class that is done before July.

I would need to use some of my AmeriCorps money to pay for a class, so tomorrow I will need to call the advisor and get some more info, and see if that will be the best option after all.

Gah, math.

Math Anxiety!

According to my wonderful college, I need to take another math course. An option is to do the CLEP exam.

I have not done math since the fall of 1997, when I took pre-calc in my freshman year of college. So I knew it would be really tough either way.

After looking at the summer schedules, I decided that the CLEP would be the best way to go about it. So I ordered the exam review book on Amazon this week, and it arrived last night.

This morning I took the first practice test, as a diagnostic, to see where I was.

Well, it was pathetic.

Out of the 60 questions, I only answered 30. (A number of those ended up being guesses.) Out of those 30 I answered, I got 11 correct.

ELEVEN!

I will read this review book, and perhaps ask the friendly math teachers at my school for help. But maybe I should find a class to take after all...

My pirate name is:

Red Jenny Rackham

Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from fidius.org.

Moving....just barely

(Me and the week both)

This week, with the testing madness and my general malaise, I decided to begin grammar stuff for reals. On Tuesday we started with nouns. I put up notes with the four categories and examples (common, proper, singular, plural), and then made a little game. I said, name as many ____ nouns as you can in one minute. The last round we did was plural proper, and that had them stumped a bit. I was walking around, pointing at people at random. For a not-exactly-exciting lesson, it ended up being kinda fun. Ish. Oh, and then they had to practice by copying down some sentences, identifying the nouns and then figuring out what type of nouns they were. They did well and I was happy with it.

The next day, we finished up the sentence noun work. I was tired, so after the first few, I said, 'I'm tired of being the teacher. It's time for you guys to do the work. I just called on so-and-so, and he/she will be the one to call on the next one and pretend to be me.' It was fun to watch. I certainly saw more hands up and waving around; they all wanted to participate when their classmates were the ones calling on them. My last class didn't do so well, though, descending into confusion, and they kept looking at me and saying, can you be the teacher again? or telling a student, you're not a good teacher! I had to stop myself laughing. After I got their attention again, I said, well, I hope you can appreciate that teaching is not so easy, and also how the chattiness of the class detracts from the discussion. They all nodded with renewed understanding. Funny.

Today we hit verbs. (Get it? I'm very punny lately; about the skits, I said yesterday, If you haven't done your script yet, you better get your act together! ha!) Regular verbs are pretty easy, so my challenge was getting them to understand and identify helping verbs. I gave out copies of a bunch of blurby articles from a Scholastic science magazine, directed them to the first paragraph of a particular mini-article, and let them identify all the verbs. They did need my guidance with it, because the sentences were very complex, two or three verbs or verb phrases in each sentence. But by the end, I think they were getting it. We'll continue with another mini-article perhaps tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to bed earlyish last night. Sadly, I mostly dreamed about giving vocabulary tests. That's the kind of dreaming that actually makes you feel like you haven't been sleeping at all, and you feel not only tired but cheated out of true rest. I hate that.

Once again, I felt....more than just tired or sleepy. I think I have slipped into a bit of a melancholy spell. Feeling sad and pointless and lonely. This morning, while walking up with my students, I very nearly began crying. For no reason at all. Needless to say, that worried me a bit, and I really just wanted to curl up in a cozy bed and wallow. So 'teaching' was no fun today. My kids have been behaving pretty well lately, and they've been especially cooperative since I've asked them to do regular work even with the test. Maybe they're just being good so they can keep doing the skits (I'm always having to tell them things like, 'When you guys are so chatty, that tells me you don't deserve fun projects like skits, and I am very willing to accomodate that.' Heh, I'm awesomely mean.). My point was that the day went well despite me not being anywhere near the top of my game.

Skits tomorrow and a little bit Monday, then it will be time to start the media stuff! I can't wait. I hope I'm adequately prepared in time. I've been putting things together, but in the mindset that it was off in the future. So this weekend I need to solidify the plans. I've actually already planned a 3 week unit plan (daily agendas), I guess I just need to review and adjust it if needed.

But mostly, I need to get some rest and figure out how to boost myself back up. Spring break is still a long way off, and I don't want to be desperate for it like I was last year. I think March is always just a bitch of a month, so long and without respite. Ugh.

[YAWN]

I can't even take how tired I am. It's been one of those days when my body feels like jello, I can't stop yawning, and everything takes too much energy.

Is it Friday yet?

Friday is the drinking holiday...and I could use some fruity alcoholic beverages...

When someone tells you 'teachers have it easy', send them this post.

I forgot the best part of last week!**

Late last week, there seemed to be bugs going around. I didn't know this til late Thursday, though. Here's why.

My homeroom class comes back to me at the end of the day. They line up and wait in the hallway until my 8th period class is all done and out of the room.

So on Thursday, a minute or so after the bell rang, I opened the door to dismiss my last class. I opened the door to find...

...a huge puddle of vomit. It was pink. The kid who was standing there looked miserable. Probably because he was about to vomit again. (He did, and we all saw.)

This puddle was bigger in diameter than the doorway. Plus, it was the stinky vomit.

So yes, that's right. We were trapped.

TRAPPED in the classroom by VOMIT!

You can possibly imagine the reaction of the thirty eleven year olds who were inside the room. Screaming and freaking out and generally, immediate pandemonium.

I stayed calm. I shut the door and let the teachers in the hallway deal with those kids. I called the office to tell them to send a janitor, stat. I didn't breathe too deeply because the puddle had splashed under the door jamb. Thus, we could still smell the vomit.

I opened both of the windows that open. Sadly (well, usually happily), they are both high up. The students rushed to the windows, clamoring for fresh air.

You think that doesn't sound too bad?

We were trapped there for FIFTEEN MINUTES waiting for a janitor. I called the office a second time. Five desperate minutes later, I called a teacher on the first floor, and asked her to walk and find a janitor and tell someone to get upstairs immediately.

Kids were calling their parents, and fretting about the missed busses. One girl handed me a cell phone, because her mom wanted to make sure she wasn't lying about where she was.

I blew my whistle a few times to try and calm the crowd, reminding them that screaming about it wasn't going to make it any better. "This is not a fun situation right now, but unfortunately we're stuck in here and we just have to deal with it," I said.

I took out my trivia deck and asked a few questions. That worked fairly well for diverting their attention, which was a relief, if only for a minute.

[For the record, this is not the first time I've dealt with vomit in the classroom. Twice over the last year or so, kids have puked IN the classroom. Thankfully, both times it was a small amount and not the smelly kind, so I could easily hold my breath and put a couple paper towels over it until the custodian got there.]

Oh, and you know the kicker? At about 2.35, after the inside class finally escaped and the locker class had quickly gotten their things, I still had to do math with my tutoring group. I'm quite sure I was totally useless; talk about frazzled!

**As most of you should have been able to infer, this is a little something we like to call sarcasm.

Phew. What a week.

I don't know why I've not posted this week; a ton has happened. I guess I'm just lazy. Shocker.

Actually, before I get into anything else, I want to state for posterity that this weekend I've been surprisingly productive. I have read the rest of my articles needed for my annotated bibliography, and I have graded a class set of last month's author project, and updated two classes' grades in the computer. Go me!

Yesterday I got to go to Project Cicero. It is the coolest thing: someone or some organization gathers books all year, and then in two days, they invite a bunch of TFA/NYCTF-type teachers to come and take a big box of books for their classrooms.

Do you remember the contests on Nickelodeon, where you could win a shopping spree in a toy store, and have like three minutes to dump as much stuff as possible into your shopping cart? Didn't the very idea of that just thrill you to bits?

Well, going to Project Cicero was like that for the nerdy, more grown-up me. AND without the time limit. I didn't speed too much, though I tried not to dawdle either, since the books were flying off the tables and I wanted to see as many as possible. But I didn't pore over any books; if it sounded familiar or vaguely interesting, I added it to my pile.

A free book shopping spree! Man, talk about a thrill.

I stayed for perhaps forty minutes of my hour and a half shift. I didn't even fill the box because I only brought my medium-sized rolling suitcase. As it is, I must have gotten nearly sixty books and packed that suitcase as much as it could go.

I had driven my little car into the city, on a Saturday afternoon. I'd hoped that the traffic wouldn't be too bad and it wouldn't scare or intimidate me too much. And you know what? The transportation gods were with me: it was so easy and quick (relatively). I parked in a garage a couple blocks from the event and they let me drop my full suitcase in the garage office.

Then I had some hours to kill. I got a very tasty smoothie on Sixth Avenue, and then sat in the food court of the Manhattan Mall, chatting on the phone and reading research articles (though not at the same time).

I did feel bad about being inside on such a gorgeous day, so after I felt like I had spent some worthwhile time on work stuff, I left the mall and strode outside into the dusk. It was still very pleasant, and I really enjoyed just walking down the street.

I walked for a good twenty blocks before I figured I had to get on a train. The blocks were the north-south mini ones, though. And I came across a salon, so I went in and got my eyebrows threaded. That was a new experience for me. It's kind of ticklish and a very odd sensation. I don't get how the thread pulls out the hairs, but I think it's pretty neato.

On the train, read a bit of my advertising book, and then met up with Ms Frizzle. There were supposed to be a few people getting together, but it ended up being just the two of us. It was nice, we just sat and talked about boys and work.

The other weekend I had drinks with Ms M, and that was really nice too. I think more of that talk was about traveling. Ooh, and then we found a crepe place! I was so excited. We were both annoyed at their many menu misspellings and inauthenticities. For one, once they were done cooking, before serving them, he let them sit on the plate thing, which made one edge all crispy. Also, the guy put the crepes on plates! To be eaten with a knife and fork! Not cool.

If I haven't said it recently, or at all, I am so glad and grateful for the wonderful people I have met through this silly blog. Thank you to all you friendly NY teacher types!

At school, this week was rather tiring. Prejudice has been the unofficial word of the week, and not necessarily in a good way. Ugh, I think I'll just leave it at that.

I'm having my students do some work on the beginning of equal rights work: abol!tion and the suffr@gettes. I told them about how the two movements grew up at the same time, only a hundred sixty years ago, and that all movements since then were possible because of those first fighters. I let them know that this is an important project to do, because it's so personal and sensitive. None of us would be here without them. I'm crossing my fingers that they get into it and learn a lot. (So far they've at least learned/heard the terms for the movements. That's new to them. I suppose that's a good start.)

Um, what else? Hm. It feels like I might be forcing myself out of the lazy-bum phase I've been in for awhile. I hate working at home, but I also hate feeling behind. So now I have only one set of projects to grade, a project to sort-of plan, and a media unit to polish.

I've started the annotated bibliography. I'm taking it on like an assembly line: I started with the really easy stuff, the citation and summary. Now I can continue to put in the more detailed parts of each article. It's due in three weeks or so, so if I keep up with working on it some each week, I should do okay. Shit, I keep forgetting that that has to be turned into a literature review, and they BOTH are due in three weeks. Yuck. Still, I'm making progress. Hurrah.

And now I have to go get groceries because I'm hungry. Food!

Please Help Now!

I have somehow refrained from mentioning this so far. My silence will be no longer!

In early February, the President released the proposed 2007 budget. The budget included a reduction for all of AmeriCorps, and only a few million for my program, the National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC). This money is to SHUT DOWN the program entirely.

Those of you who know me, or have read my blog for awhile, know that NCCC was an incredible and life-changing experience. Thousands of my alumni around the country agree with me. The possibility of this program existing no longer is just too painful to think about, and it's unacceptable.

A website has been set up, savenccc.org. There are links to "Find your Congressional Representatives" as well as sample letters or messages to send them.

Even if you've never done the program, or never met anyone who's done it, please take some time to learn more, either at the above site, or at the official NCCC site. Once you've done that, please take a few minutes to send at least an email to your state's representative or senator. If you're like me and have origins/family in another state, contact those reps too.

While the program does not bring in money, the work that comes of it is priceless. We work with organizations that could not continue or offer as much without our help. It costs nothing to have a strong and motivated team of ten to twelve young people to charge in and get some things done.

In particular, one of the most incredible aspects of the program is the partnership with the Red Cross. Because teams are mobile and have very few belongings, corps members can be called immediately to respond to natural disasters. Both times I went, I had notice overnight, but another time, two teammates had a mere two hours' notice before they had to go. No other organization or group gets people on the ground that quickly or effectively.

Here are excerpts from a recent emailing:

NCCC Set to Deploy Large Contingent to Gulf Region

AmeriCorps*NCCC (National Civilian Community Corps), the team-based AmeriCorps program for young adults, announced today that 18 teams of 10 to 12 members each have recently begun work on more than a dozen projects related to hurricane relief efforts in the Gulf Coast region.

Among the projects: mucking out flooded homes with AmeriCorps Alums and Hands On Network at the Hands On New Orleans and Hands On Gulf Coast sites; building homes with three Habitat for Humanity affiliates in Louisiana and Florida; and supporting the work of the AmeriCorps St. Louis program in Pass Christian, Mississippi, which has made a yearlong commitment to help in a variety of ways rebuild the coastal town as part of the Corporation’s partnership with the ABC television show “Good Morning America”;

“Katrina relief and recovery is the highest priority of the NCCC program in fiscal 2006,” said Merlene Mazyck, Director of AmeriCorps*NCCC. “Currently, approximately 30 percent of NCCC resources are focused on supporting Katrina recovery efforts, and we expect to maintain this level of support throughout the ’06 fiscal year.”

Recently, NCCC has decided to expand its Gulf Coast Relief effort by deploying nearly 80% of its available member force throughout 2006. NCCC leaders gathered last week in New Orleans to finalize the deployment and logistics strategy for the large scale effort.

Congresswomen Matsui Spearheads Dear Colleague Letter

On Monday, March 6, 2007 a Dear Colleague letter was released by Congresswomens Matsui, DeGette, Holmes Norton, and Congressman Gilchrest- in it they strongly voiced their support for NCCC. An excerpt is as follows:

We are writing to express our concern regarding the proposed cut of the Americorps*National Civilian Community Corp (NCCC) in the President’s FY 07 Budget. As you are aware, there are five campuses in the United States that serves as both a wonderful place for young people to get involved with their community, and necessary aid for hundreds of communities across the country. It is with that in mind that we respectfully request that the Budget Committee include $25.5 million, the same as requested in FY 06, to continue funding this program.

You can help bolster this effort by urging your congressperson to support the Dear Colleague Letter. For more information on how to contact your congressperson and seek their support, please click here now. AmeriCorps Alums recommends that you that you fax in this request to your Congressperson, as this is the most likely way for your congressional representatives to take note of the correspondence.

Senate and House Appropriations Committees to Begin Mark-ups
Members of both the U.S. Senate and U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committees are expected to begin the process for arriving at the FY 2007 Federal Budget when mark-up sessions begin in late March to early April. This process is a major indicator of Congress' funding priorities for the year ahead. In order to effectively make headway in our SAVE NCCC Campaign, it is critical that we communicate to Congress the value of NCCC. Please contact the members of both the Senate and House Appropriations Committees immediately.

To view a list of members belonging to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee, please click here.
To view a list of members belonging to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee, please click here.

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Find and Contact your Elected Officials

Blah.

Holy crap, how is it still Monday night?

I got home after 4.30, which is kinda late for me. We had a faculty meeting after the minutes. Then I stayed a bit to finish up my bulletin board. (I don't put grades on the student work---shh!)

After stuffing my face with a zesty-cheese pizza-for-one and orange juice, as well as a Cadbury Egg (yum!)(I am a health nut, can't you tell?), as well as checking email etc, I was bored enough to actually work out. AND clean up my room, including vacuum. Dang!

If only tomorrow night was NOT class, I might actually stay bored enough to attempt working at home on either my thesis research crap or grading projects from a month ago.

Blah.

Since I'm not wiki-fied

Stuff like this is what made me even contemplate going into education. In college, I loved doing work and workshops deconstructing advertising. I just find it fascinating.

Last year I was bummed to not have time (or wherewithal) to do any media studies.
This year, I'm excited to tie it into our l!t c!rcles.

The next week will be spent in a mini-drama unit, where the students will write and perform skits based on exciting events in their books.

Without further ado, read on, fellow friends and educators! Let me know what you think!

Media and Advertising Mini Unit

March 20-24
Monday: Introduction
How many of you have a television?
Etc
What is media? What is advertising?
Take PBS Quiz and Discuss
Introduce Media Project
HW: TV Ad Matrix

Tuesday: What did you see?
Groups chart ads into categories
Poss: toys, food/drink, beauty/health, tv/movies
Begin discussion of advertising techniques
Testimonial, Celebrity, Lifestyle, Bandwagon
For each technique we discuss, we will find/examine a print ad and then discuss/analyze it.
Then each group will make an ad for their book, using that strategy.

Weds-Friday: Continue learning and analyzing techniques
Ask yourself questions and talk back!

March 27-31
Monday: Target audience and Demographics
Happy Meals
Whose Best Friend?

Tuesday: Fact vs. Opinion in Advertising

Weds: Groups review all techniques and tricks. Then decide which technique they’d like to use for their book ad campaign.
Begin working on print ads.
Target audience: 6th and 7th graders (hopeful exchange with Ms F’s 7th grade ELA)

Thursday/Friday: Inservice

April 3-7
Monday: Analyzing TV ads
(poss Jean Kilbourne video?)

Tues/Weds: Finish Print Ads and Create a Commercial/skit

Thurs/Fri: Perform for 6th and 7th Graders. Hand out print ads as playbills.