Take My Final Exam!

1. Draw the plot chart. Label it. Give definitions for the first and last points.


2. If an ad slogan says, “Everyone is doing it—you should too!”, what kind of ad technique is being used?


3. Choose any two poetry types. For each, give three characteristics.
Type_______________ Type________________
1. 1.
2. 2.
3. 3.

4. Identify the rhyme scheme of this poem:
Today I managed something
That I’ve never done before
I turned in this week’s spelling quiz
And got a perfect score

5. What kind of poem is this?
There once was an old man from Esser
Whose knowledge grew lesser and lesser
It at last grew so small,
He knew nothing at all,
And now he’s a college professor.

6. Write the mnemonic sentence for the parts of speech.

7. Write the parts of speech. Give a definition for EACH. Give examples for FOUR of them.


8. Identify the parts of speech in the following sentences. EACH WORD must be identified. Be specific!

John walked slowly toward me.

She resembles a green monster.

Wow! My cat won a gold medal!

Cats and dogs are friendly animals.

9. Read this short passage:
Pat left all the car windows open. Pat also did not lock the car doors. That night it poured for three hours.

Make an inference about Pat:

Make a prediction for what will happen:


10. What is wrong with this dialogue excerpt? Fix it so it is in correct play script format.

William: walks to door. When will I see you again


11. A book is divided into chapters. What is a play divided into?


12. You pick up a book and look at the back. The story is about a young soldier and a nurse who meet during the War of 1812. What genre bin does it belong to?


13. Identify the type of figurative language in each sentence. For each type, give a definition.

You are the sunshine of my life.
Type:
Definition:
It’s so cold that my fingers have turned to icicles.
Type:
Definition:
His face was as pale as the moon.
Type:
Definition:

14. Decide where each word goes and write it in the blank. NOTE: Not all words in word bank will be used!!
Word bank: they’re, their, college, break, there, where, collage, brake, were, wear

When I go to ______________ I will major in chemistry.

_____________ is _____________ house?

I better get my _____________ fixed; I don’t want to get in a car accident.

What ___________ they doing over _____________?


15. Draw a four square. Fill it out in response to this prompt:
What are the three most important inventions of all time?

Use the four square equation! Remember, a four square should not take very long.

ON THE BACK of this page, write the FIRST TWO PARAGRAPHS of the corresponding essay.

Unit Plan! for sometime this fall

The other day while at class, I wrote out a unit on narrative accounts. I've done it twice already, taught it I mean, but neither was very satisfactory. So this one is more detailed and I included texts to use for specific pieces.

There is so much great children's literature out there that it's almost overwhelming. So, friends, I'd love to hear about specific texts that you use or know of, and what strategy it might be good for. Thanks!

Here goes, enjoy!

Narrative Accounts Unit Plan

Texts Used:
Paper Bag Princess--Robert Munsch
Frog Prince Continued--Jon Scieszka
Fantastic Mr Fox--Roald Dahl
Eleven--Sandra Cisneros
Two Bad Ants--Chris Van Allsburg
The Wretched Stone--Chris Van Allsburg
Harry Potter series--JK Rowling

1. Elements of Plot
Read Frog Prince Continued
What is plot? Discuss plot chart and five points:
Exposition, Rising Action/Conflict, Climax, Falling Action, Resolution

2. Practice Identifying Plot Elements
Read-Aloud Paper Bag Princess and discuss plot together
Identify elements in independent reading books
Use Aladdin/Lion King worksheet

3. Quiz on Plot
Draw chart. Listen to new story and fill in plot chart.

4. Begin read-aloud of Fantastic Mr. Fox
Keep track of plot
(begin characterization)

5. Take note/discuss/write plot elements of other books and movies

6. Use four square to map out plot ideas for students’ own stories. Storyboard the plot in cartoon form.

7. Use knowledge of plot to make predictions
Predicting Fantastic Mr Fox
Option: foreshadowing in The Westing Game?

8. Write new endings of picture books and independent reading books.

9. Write Draft #1.

10. Descriptive/Vivid language
Read aloud Two Bad Ants without pictures
What things did you hear described? How were they described?

11. Types of vivid language
SNOT, figlang, sensory
Practice rewriting boring scenes or descriptions
Practice describing the same thing in opposite ways

12. Identify vivid language
Read aloud Eleven

13. Character Traits
Re-read aloud Paper Bag Princess
What kind of people/How can we describe the characters?
Actions and Statements reveal personality
Come up with personality traits
Describe and define traits
Choose one or two and write a scenario about a character with that trait

14. Analyze characters from books--Making Inferences
Fantastic Mr Fox
Eleven
Draw pictures
Harry Potter

15. Revise Draft #1 and Write Draft #2
Include vivid language
Use clear character traits

16. Dialogue
Elements, Rules, Punctuation
Purpose
Macaroni/Comic Books

17. Practice with Sentence Strips/Dictation game

18. Speaker Tags
Same words, different speaker tags create different story atmosphere

19. Quiz on dialogue

20. Revise Draft #2 and Write Draft #3
More descriptive language
Correct dialogue format
Dialogue with purpose

21. Leads
Different types: action, descriptive, dialogue
Practice identifying
Practice Using

22. Revision
First for peer work, then own work
Questions: Can you easily identify the plot?
Does it make sense? Does it move at an appropriate pace?
Can we ‘see’ the main character?

22. Editing/Proofreading
Spelling and grammar
Discuss run-on sentences and fragments (Use grammar books)
Review commas
Review dialogue rules
Comment and mark peer draft then own draft

23. Revise Draft #3 and write Final Draft (#4)
Include Title page and at least one illustration

Rubric elements to evaluate final drafts:
--Complete, identifiable plot
--Plot pace
--Lead technique
--Descriptive language
--Character Traits
--Dialogue format
--Dialogue with purpose
--Free from run-ons and fragments
--No spelling errors
--Typed and neat
--Title page
--Illustration

Woohoo! NOW the end feels near.

We still have a week and a half, but ooh, damn! is it gonna go fast.

Miracle of miracles, on THURSDAY we got information about schedules for next Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The first two will be practically half days for my grade. Hurrah!

The rest of the classes/time will be spent writing and typing and hopefully performing plays.

All this week I gave tests. That's FOUR DAYS! Bwahaha, I am so evil. The first two days were the gradewide reading tests--sort of a pre-baseline. My kids took the practice 7th state test. I was actually surprised that they did fairly well on the high-level multiple choice questions. The writing was another story, and the editing...whew, what a disaster.

Yesterday and today I gave my kids a final testing the major things we have covered this year. I'm going to post the questions so you, dear readers, can challenge yourself to middle school academic standards. Heh.

The bad thing about all the testing is the large piles of tests which must be "graded." But happily for us all but most especially my sanity and good teacher standing, I multitasked. While the kids took tests, I graded others. I'm finished with all the first set. And, because I'm a big fat NERD, I made a spreadsheet with a breakdown of those scores, to see which things they did poorly on. I still need to input a few things, and then I'll print it out and give it next year's teacher. Fun for him/her; he/she will probably toss it. But at least I did my part proactively!

**

In personal news, today marks the two-year anniversary of my move to New York City. Twenty-four months ago today, I lumbered around the Brooklyn subway system--three trains? and all their attendant stairs--with two bags, one of which was large and awkward. I think it took me two or three hours to get to my sublet apartment, and I was extremely sweaty and irritable and tired. It was the first of my Herculean efforts of living in this damn city.

Two years! In one place! AND as a teacher! Holy shit.

**

Last night immediately after getting home from class, I did three of the six sections of math homework. Yay me! It was fairly easy stuff like prime factorization and exponents and integers and fractions. Some of it I didn't even need to check the book. That was a relief, to know that I had at least some basic skills.

Sadly, this afternoon the internet was out, so I had to wait and hope. I had dinner with my friend N whom I've hardly seen lately, which was fun. Then when I got home, the internet was back and I got to work on that math. Finally, I completed the other three sections and then took my quiz. Ladies and gentlemen, I got 19 out of 20, which is a 95%. Yay me! I really thought I'd gotten 100, but hey, I'm still happy. I think it's the highest quiz score yet.

Now I feel like a REAL teacher...

This afternoon, during a phone call, a parent threatened me!

Sweet.

More later, perhaps. Not sure if I should rile myself up all over again by rehashing it.

Now I must run to my silly two-days-a-week class. And I didn't even get a snack yet!

Education Carnival Fun!

The Science Goddess (from my homestate!) is hosting this week's festivities, about end-of-year madness. Go check it out!

Already Thinking Ahead

The principal announced this morning that our school has successfully escaped the shackles of the city regulations! We can do our own thing and be more creative in raising student achievement.

I knew this was coming, but of course it's a relief to know that it's actually going to happen. Plus, we got the official go-ahead to begin planning for and with our own curriculum ideas.

Last week I actually began planning for September anyway, after we discussed a pacing calendar for next year in common planning.

Here are my thoughts and theories:

I want to start with and emphasize the basics. These students do NOT have any foundations in spelling, vocabulary, sentence structure, grammar, not to mention the reading deficiencies. So I want to get that going right away.

We'll use an art-like project to introduce the writing process, and we'll use a book like Fantastic Mr Fox--funny, simple clear plot, very short chapters--to introduce the elements of a story.

Then, every weekend's homework assignment can be to write an essay or creative fiction. Inundate them with writing, and allow them to explore different topics and discover their own writing voice. Then, to make it even better, use the rest of the week to work in the writing process: on Wednesday night do some brainstorming, Thursday do the planning/graphic organizer of choice, over the weekend write the essay/story, Monday night revise and edit, and Tuesday night publish. How awesome is that?

I'm of two minds about this idea: One, that the structure and repetition will be great tools to help the kids grow as writers. I hope to get them to think about a lot of topics and genres of writing. Switching between essays and stories will, I hope, keep them from getting bored and slacky. Working on the process and publishing every night will result in a lot of products, and open the kids' eyes to what writing really entails. Two: that I will get off track and want to have homework that is more relevant to the classwork. But perhaps, since this is the beginning of the year, the work will be these kinds of things? I'm not sure. Also, again with the boredom.

I will give them my fun mnemonic (remember those snooty aardvarks?) and begin work on the parts of speech. I have been SO impressed and proud of my students in the past month or two. I've really been pushing them to know AND apply (see the Bloom's taxonomy??) these basics. By God, it's working! When they master that next year, we can easily move into parts of a sentence (subject-verb agreement, fragments, clauses, all that fun stuff, as well as punctuation quirks). Just imagine how EASY the editing test portion will be! To state it in more educational terms: mastering the knowledge and application will make the evaluation a walk in the park.

(Er, I have a sidebar about that. Keep that in mind.)

We will certainly have lots of word study. Perhaps we'll begin with prefixes and suffixes; they should have at least a rudimentary knowledge of that anyway. Then we can move into Greek and Latin roots. I'm thinking about "Root Families of the Week" to get them to see how these words are already in their lexicon and all around them. As much as I want to get them to learn sophisticated language, I recognize that they first must master the basics and grade level language.

I was conferring with a colleague after the session this afternoon; we were talking about vocabulary and other unit ideas for next year. She brought up the fact that fiction passages are really easy on a test, but the nonfiction passages require more thought and careful attention. So it would be a good idea to do some nonfiction work in the fall--reading test passages for practice, reading real magazine excerpts, and writing some reports. Perhaps build into this with those weekly essays? We can write about people or places or things. We can incorporate other disciplines, like science and social studies.

Once we get good at writing for a purpose, we can really explore stories more. My colleague suggested creating children's picture books, and then linking with a nearby elementary school. They could be matched with classes there and share their own published writing. Since younger kids look up to the older kids, my students would be more intrinsically motivated to push themselves to create a better product to better impress the little ones. Obviously this kind of thing would require a lot of logistical planning and organizing and blah blah blah, but it's pretty damn cool and I suppose I should keep it in my agenda regardless.

Okay, back to my sidebar. I was talking about giving my students a better foundation in the basics, and how that will not only transfer to their everyday writing skills--good lord, we hope--but it will be perfect preparation for their next-year's big test involving proofreading/editing.

Here's the catch--their next-year teacher!

First, I need to admit to a bias--if you're an adult, I expect you to have a firm grasp of the written English language, and that includes not only an appropriately highish-level lexicon but an understanding of mechanics. I don't stand for grown people not knowing the difference between their/there, or lose/loose (holy cow, I see that mistake all the time from adults), or not knowing how to use commas and semicolons.

You can be a good teacher all you want. But in the field of reading and writing, if you teach it, you need to be fluent and talented in it. You need to have your own knowledge that's higher-level and more sophisticated than your students'. I expect you to know how to really read and write, and that includes grammar and sentence structure and literary devices and poetry and punctuation and all that.

Sadly, all English teachers are not created equal. There are people in my department that I don't really 'trust' to impart true content knowledge to the students. They are nice people, probably decent teachers, but I know they won't get the real job done, so to speak. There are only two teachers in the next grade that I do trust--and it's likely both of them will not be on that grade next year. I am really concerned about the welfare of my kids! Their educational welfare, that is. Sure, they'll get by okay. But I'm so worried and annoyed that all my work this year bringing them up to speed (not even grade level here) will go to waste. If I pass my students along to another teacher who would continue where I left off and get deeper into it, and that the year after that, yet another teacher would keep on going with these things, we could achieve true mastery of material. Good writers should be the rule, not the exception.

In this era of test madness, we are raising, and only pretending to educate, an entire generation of people who cannot write or think deeply for themselves. To understate it, I am very concerned. I'm going to do everything I can to counter it; how about you?

Man.

I have--we all have--been really spoiled by once-weekly classes at grad school. Tonight I had to go there AGAIN! Ugh!

As soon as I got home after our professional development-type day, I did my math homework (the second time that I've got it done a day BEFORE it's due! Look at me!). It was not easy. Monday I did logic, and that was all new and strange to me, so I had to really concentrate on it. This time it was number representation, like using other systems (Babylonian or Mayan) and using different bases. I went with it pretty well until I got the part about using division. Problems were like "Change the numeral 362 into base seven." You had to use the calculations for exponents of seven and divide the 362 by the largest seven exponent, and then keep dividing remainders by the next seven exponent. I did NOT get it and got a bit frustrated. Somehow I followed along with the examples and got it done, and it started being slightly less mysterious. But still.

Oh, and I got 9/10 on the logic quiz, but a mere 21/25 on the logic exam. They said two were incomplete? That was weird. Anyway.

So right after finishing the crazy number stuff, I had to leave for class. I was kinda hungry and just not in the mood to be in class. Then I got there and people were all cliquey and chatty and talking about things that were not relevant to the class subject matter. Gah! Shut up already so we can leave!

Sitting in one class for three hours is NOT cool. In undergrad, all my classes were two hours, and I could hardly deal with those. That's why I always had snacks or doodled or something. But three hours? Yikes.

I have said absolutely nothing of value or interest just now. Sorry about that.

Here you go: Less than three weeks of school (teaching)!! Hurrah!

Totally Made My Week

You know what the girls from Class 3 did? The ones who hang out in my room at lunch and help me with things and give me their tater tots? They planned a surprise party for me, for a week. It happened today at lunch, and I really had no idea.

They pulled me into another teacher's room and yelled, "Surprise!" They were all there, with a table piled with goodies--beverages, chips, cookies, donuts, even a little cake with "Congrats Ms --." Decorated balloons were strewn around, and crepe paper streamers, and there was a message written on the board. Someone also bought a tshirt from my college, and they all signed it.

I was so touched! It was really so, so sweet. I gave them a big group hug and took pictures. SO adorable. They like me, they really like me! Aww!

Fun and Smart Lessons!

In the last month or so, I've been going back to the basics: parts of speech and homophones. In this last silly few weeks of school, I'm still working on that. Today we even attempted to cover transitive or intransitive verbs! Eek.

On Monday, I once again told my students that words are like Legos: put small pieces together to make bigger ones. For words, we can use prefixes, roots, and suffixes. I gave them an example on the board. Then I gave each table a bunch of construction paper cards. One color had prefixes, another color had roots (things like 'act', 'geo', 'anim', along with origin and meaning), and a third had suffixes. They were to mix and match and see how many words they could build.

They set to work and it was great! They saw words right away and started playing with the word parts. I had to prompt a few of them to find all the words: if they saw "impossible" then they could also get "possible." Or "possibly" too. But it was definitely successful and the kids seemed to enjoy it.

This lesson was to be a primer lesson for the lesson which I composed while trying to sleep last week. I've noticed all year that the kids have no idea about spelling rules and things, so this lesson is to address that. Better late than never, I say. Enjoy!

Previous lessons: What is a prefix? What is a suffix?

Objective: Students will learn when to double consonants.

Motivation:
Name all the vowels.
Name five consonants.
Name some common suffixes. (ing, ed, er)

Quick review: What are long vowels? Make the sound of the name of the letter. Ee, eye, oo, [you], ai
What are short vowels? Eh, ih, ah, uh, etc

Mini Lesson: Let’s think about certain verbs, that end with a vowel-consonant-vowel. How do you know what to do when you add a suffix—do you double the consonant or not?
Ape

Bring two students to front of room. Tell one to be the letter A, and the other to be the letter P. Teacher is the letter E.

When you have a vowel, consonant, followed by the letter E, the E can reach over the consonant and lengthen the vowel to make it a long vowel sound.
Demonstrate reaching over the P and pulling up the A to make it a long vowel.

If there were two consonants in this word, the E would not be able to reach over both of them and the vowel would stay short.

So, when you add a suffix like –ing, that I can do the same thing. Let’s take the word Write. Students to be W, R, I, and T. Teacher is E, shows that the I is a long vowel.

Let’s add the suffix –ing. First we drop the E though.

Bring two more students up to be N and G. Teacher becomes I.

See how the I can still reach over and elongate the first I? That makes the word “write-ing.”

Let’s check our answer. If we put another T in there (doubling the consonant), what happens? One more student to be the T. Look, now as the I in –ing, I can’t reach over both Ts, which leaves the I a short sound. Should “write-ing” sound like “ritt-ing”? No! So we know NOT to double this consonant.

Thus, when you have a word with a LONG vowel sound followed by a consonant and ending with another vowel, you DO NOT double the consonant when adding a suffix.

How about words that end in a short vowel and a consonant?

Four students to be S, P, I, and N.

Let’s add the suffix –ing. Three more students, I, N, G. What’s that I going to do?
Tell the second I to reach over the N and pull on the first I.

Should “spin-ing” sound like “spine-ing”? No! We need another consonant, stat!
Grab another student to be another N. Tell the second I to attempt to reach over both Ns.

Observe, boys and girls! If you have a word with a short vowel sound, keep it short by doubling that consonant!

Your turn: Think of as many words that fit both these rules. Add –ing or –ed or –er suffixes, and decide whether or not to double the consonant.

Once you’ve got a list of a few words, write some sentences that include correctly-spelled suffixed versions of these words. For instance, write a sentence that has the words “spinning” and “writing” in it.

Examples if they need them: Spin, Begin, Cut, Scrap, Run, Ape, Write, Skate, Hate, Bike, Scrape

NOTICE! If it has two consonants at the end, like “jump,” you don’t add or subtract anything! Leave the word and add the suffix letters. “Jumped,” “jumping,” etc.

Congratulations to me!

This morning I attended the commencement exercises for my grad school. Technically I graduate in the summer, since I still have to take another class that starts next week. But they let us walk anyway. Only about five of my cohort classmates were there, but it was a relief to see familiar, friendly faces.

The ceremony itself was kind of blah. One of the Senators spoke briefly; his theme was "Go For It!." Also, Canadian military guy spoke. He'd been involved in the Rwanda 'peacekeeping' efforts, and his theme/motto was that "All humans are human. No one person is more human than another." I definitely agree, and there are definitely lots of thoughts and analysis to be done with the statement. If anyone wants to get started, go ahead. :)

The other reason I'm congratulating myself (Note to Universe: Don't worry, this is not hubris, this is merely celebration) is the math. My online math course has now gone for about a week. As you recall, the first chapter homework and quiz was due on Friday. Chapter 2 homework and quiz was due yesterday, Wednesday. Not wanting to break my productive streak last week, not only did I complete my report cards on Monday morning--two days early--but I also did three of the five chapter two sections!

Yesterday evening, I got home at 6pm. The internet was down! I could not deal and I was trying not to freak out when I remembered the rest of the math was due. Eek! Thankfully, around 9pm it came back on and I got right to work. I completed the last of the homework sections and then I took the quiz. Sadly, I only got 11/13. But that's a solid B that's mixed with my chapter 1 100%.

Today was Test #1! I just finished it. It was thirty questions and I got four wrong. I wish I knew how to review the answers so I could 'fix' it in my head and not get them wrong anymore. But anyway, that's still an 86% on the test. With the homework, quizzes and test, my grade is currently an 89%! That is pretty great for someone who hasn't gotten an A in math since eighth grade. PLUS, the two lowest quiz grades and the one lowest test score will be dropped. So things are looking good indeed!

My mom arrived safely last night. I was so excited to show off my awesome apartment (the rest of you will be seeing it in a couple weeks!), and she indeed loves it and is so impressed with the size of it and the furnishing that I've done. Hurrah!

In an hour or so, we're going into the city for dinner at a new restaurant. Fun times for celebration!

I Heart the Internets!

Holy crap, how have I not heard of this until today? It is the best thing EVER.

Go check out Pandora. Quickly! Go!

Helpful Hints

Pretty A*rdvarks Never Vote Ins!de Crumbling P!nk Arenas!

That little mnemonic will (I hope) help you remember the eight parts of speech. I made it up for my students. Pronoun, Adjective, Noun, Verb, Interjection, Conjunction, Preposition, Adverb.

We also went through some troublesome homonyms and made up our own mnemonics for them. Some of the best:

Your stomach goes 'gr' when it's time to eat. (great)
Grate the cheese on a plate. (grate)
Turn right at the light. (right not write)
A bare bear does not wear any clothes. (bare/bear/wear)
A bear will kick you in the rear. (bear/bare)
Where did you go? Oh, here and there. (where/there/here)
You hear with your ear. (hear/here)
The IRS owns everything; it's theirs (THE-IRS).

And my favorite:
It's a great day to eat grated cheese that I ate. (great/grate)

Ooh, I think we'll tackle lose/loose next week, among others. I forgot about that one.

Anyway, if you forget which words go where, or if you have your own kids or students, perhaps these little tidbits will help you. Or at least that you enjoyed them. :)

Happy Long Weekend!

I am LOVING the fact that it's Sunday night and I DON'T have to have the Sunday Night Anxiety.

On Friday, there was some anxiety, however. As you know, my online math course began on Monday. And I bought the textbook that evening. The prof assigned a pretest and a couple bulletin board postings. I could definitely do that, pretty easily, in fact. The first chapter was also assigned, which I patently could not do. The book was supposed to come on Thursday night. I figured, well, that's cutting it close, but I can get it done.

So, come Thursday, there's nothing. I checked the tracking, and it said there was no apartment number. Hm, that was odd, but I called and gave it to them, and the woman assured me it would be redelivered the next afternoon. Wow, really cutting it close, I thought, but I can easily come home, do the math all at once, and still have time to get into the city for some fun.

Friday afternoon, when I got home, nothing. I waited around for about 45 minutes, and then called to check that it still was out to be delivered. The person told me that the package was at the warehouse, because it's missing the apartment number. Shit, I thought. They're only open til 5, and it's rush hour on a holiday weekend.

I got in the car about 4, and I was happy to arrive at UPS in about 25 minutes. The traffic going the other way was nearly stopped, and that got me a bit nervous about the return trip, but anyway.

At UPS, the line to pick up packages was actually OUT the DOOR. It took an entire HOUR to get my textbook. I didn't panic; I just read my magazine and tried to be in the moment.

Staying on the local roads, I got home around 6 pm. No problem, I thought, I can still get this done pretty quickly and get on the train within an hour or so.

There were three homework problem sections to be done and submitted online. First I had to set up all the installations and web stuff, then the first homework set took me nearly thirty minutes to do. The second one didn't go much quicker. The third one only took like ten minutes. But I had a quiz to do too! I wasn't sure what it would be like, how long it would be, how difficult.

All this would be no problem, except it turns out the special someone had gotten tickets for a real Broadway show, starting at 8. I was so thrilled and surprised, and then crushed that this STUPID math crap was going to get in the way. At first I thought I'd make it. But it took too long to discuss and decide.

I did the quiz and it literally took me five minutes. Cake.

Then I thought I might try to make it into town after all, and get in during a scene change or something. It was such a nice thing that he wanted to do, and I was ruining it!

It turned out that he got stuck on a train and was late also. So we had a night out, but not the one we were supposed to. Boo, math!

Saturday was an afternoon road trip involving an outlet mall and a very small mountain. And today I slept past 7.30 for the first time in weeks, watched a movie and caught up on grading.

And there's still another day without work! Hurrah!

Hurrah for Productivity!

My friends, the work continues. And it is good!

Today, I FINALLY got caught up on homework and extra credit grading. Then I made a dent (a tiny one, but a dent nonetheless) in grading the poem projects from a week or two ago.

At lunch, bunches of students have been helping me clean and organize my many piles of crap. Among other things, a stack of paper at least two feet high was tossed. I am trying to consolidate and purge to ready for the end-of-year packing that's coming all too soon.

Last night, I finally set up my own computer and office nook for real. I'd kept on using the laptop on my 'portable office desk' (aka my folding kitchen table) until I was done with the thesis and other grad school stuff. Just to keep it easier. But now I have my real computer set up, and it is so great!

So this afternoon, I came home and got started immediately on grade inputting. I'd ignored this all quarter, due to the fact that I've actually had a life for the past two or three months. I was annoyed even thinking about it, and then slightly panicked when I learned the due date for report cards. As such, I had to cancel even the idea of going away for Memorial Day. Grr!

I have completely input two of my three classes. And I haven't done the third just because of wrist fatigue. So perhaps I will try to finish up tonight or if not tomorrow.

The only fly in my productive ointment is that my math book did not arrive today. Apparently they don't have my apartment number, so while they were here, I did not get what I needed. I called and gave the extra info to them, so it will get here tomorrow afternoon. That means I have to sit down and do one chapter of math between getting home at 2.30 and going into the city around 6. No problem!

My mom is coming to town next Wednesday. I'm excited to show her my awesome apartment and get her help with some decoration. And a week from today I will be 'graduating' from grad school! That is very exciting indeed.

You know what else is exciting? I will have a two-day work week next week. Tee hee!

Yesterday, I had students in all three classes read "Who's On First?" by Abbot and Costello. I made sure to pick students who could voice-act and who could read well, and boy, they were great. I laughed every single time; talk about comedic genius! Man. Anyway, Class 3, my slowest, didn't really laugh or giggle audibly. I think some kids were smiling or silent-laughing, but it was weird. Class 2 really laughed and was delighted, as was Class 1 (both classes are much higher-level). It was funny; kids kept looking over at me. It was either to watch me laugh out loud, which they rarely if ever see, or to 'get permission' to find it funny and laugh. Regardless, they all loved it and Class 1 even begged to read it again immediately.

Today, I had them read a readers-theater script I found of Casey at the Bat. I had read it to them last month for poetry, so I suppose they were sort of familiar with the sound of it and the story. I was pretty impressed with how they did.

I think next week we will start drama in earnest. First I will have them perform short plays that I will give them. The next week, I will have them write their own. I found a great site--aaronshep.com--with tons of scripts and other drama tools. One of them is a regular text that the students have to adapt to a play script. That will be excellent practice before they have to write a script from scratch.

We also have to do portfolios. I began that for real yesterday. I'm using that as an excuse to get down and dirty into spelling and grammar even more, so that then they will be equipped to do some real revision. And actually, it's sound instruction, because they'll need to do this on their state exam next year, so there. We win!

It's only six! What on earth will I do with the rest of the evening?

Guess What?!

I'm DONE!!!

WOOHOO!

I just turned in my tech portfolio, and my thesis is all ready to be turned in. "Class" starts in an hour and a half; the prof is making us "present" our action research to the class. That means we'll probably be here for two hours. Rrr. But at least it will be OVER!

Now I have to turn my attention to my online math class, which officially opened yesterday. Because I've been a bit preoccupied with going out of town, moving, shopping, writing theses, I haven't thought about this class at all, and I didn't go buy the book (online). So I ordered it last night and am crossing my fingers it gets here right fucking quick, because the chapter 1 assignments are due on Friday.

I took the pretest, and it was great. Nothing surprising or difficult. So I think this class--Contemporary Mathematics--will turn out well for me. The online-only thing is weird; I figure I'll get used to it soon enough. There's a lot of different places to go read and check. It's fine.

Woo!! Hurrah!! Finito!! I'm so happy and proud! Whee!!

Hey, now here's another stupid thing. When I got back from New Orleans-a MONTH AGO-there was a huge pile of mail. I didn't look at it because I had to get back to work and start packing. I put all mail and other vital into an Important Box. Wouldn't you know, four weeks into living my new apartment, I finally cracked the Important Box. I saw all the tax documents I got from the accountant, and I found a thing for graduation. It said to return it by APRIL 24. Um, oops...so I filled everything out right away--Sunday night, and crossed my fingers that they would take pity on me. Mama Melancholy is flying out next Wednesday to see me graduate, so I got a little worried that perhaps I wouldn't be in it.

So that was my first stop this afternoon when I got to campus. The lady kind of laughed and sighed but took my application card. PHEW! She gave me the important information, and then I went right to the bookstore and bought the outfit, then got the extra ticket for the department ceremony, which will be after the main one. It's on a Thursday, by the way. Have you ever heard such a stupid thing as a major college graduation held on a WEEKDAY?! Ridiculous! Nice way to get out of school, though.

So I'm all set to graduate, even though I won't officially finish until mid-July. Still, it will be a nice experience, I think. A way to celebrate all the difficult work that has been the past two years, even if most of it wasn't around the actual grad school work.

Ooh, I'm hungry. Think I'll go grab some food to kill some time.

Sunday already?!

It's only one pm, but I've been very productive! Hurrah!

I crashed around 11, and staying up even that late was a stretch for LAME me. I was awake before 7.30 this morning! But I didn't mind because my plate, she is full.

First, I sorted laundry and got ready. At eight, I went down and got two loads started. When I got back upstairs, I started on my portfolio for the tech class. When I looked at the assignment again, I felt, ugh, maybe it's not gonna be as simple as I thought. But alas, I buckled down once again and got to work.

In the last four hours, I obviously got the laundry done, but also nearly all of the portfolio! I need to write out or copy some lessons to include, but it's mostly finished. Hurrah!

I have copies to make for the thesis and I tried to get all that ready and in my bag to get done first thing when I get to school.

I also finally opened the tax stuff that the accountant sent me a month ago. I need to send out all that stuff, plus a bunch of other things. So on the way home tomorrow, I need to buy stamps and also groceries. And then completely finish up both the thesis and portfolio. At this point I shouldn't have to stay home on Tuesday, but I suppose I'll keep my options open if I need to.

My online math class starts Monday night, to make things more complicated. So maybe I need to keep Tuesday for me after all. I don't know how I'm going to cram it all in.

Man, I feel like it's already evening. I don't want to work any more! I'm gonna get bored. I can't wait til it's Wednesday!

Progress! Woo! THREE DAYS...

Today is Saturday. On Tuesday, my master's thesis is DUE. Eek!

Up to now, as you all know, dear readers, I haven't kept on top of things quite as much as I should have. I did do some work, but it was irregular and sporadic at best, because my addled brain just couldn't handle much more.

This week, well, just Sunday, Wednesday, and today, I have gotten some things worked on, improved, and done.

This weekend was my dedicated time to really buckle down and finish this sonofabitch. Yesterday after school, it turned out that there was a last literacy workshop--aka fifty dollars--so I went to that. Then I found out that this morning there was a seminar/workshop thing in the city that would be interesting and also payable, so I went to that too. (It wasn't even a big deal to get up early enough for it, seeing as how I actually fell asleep around 9.30 last night. What an interesting life I lead!)

When I got home, naturally I stalled as long as possible, checking email and seeing what other people had to say about the Grey's Anatomy three-episode-finale. Whew. I very nearly began watching the other three finales I have not yet seen.

But! I am proud to tell you I found that inner buckle and...downed it. Or something. I got to work, anyway. I went to the sections I needed to work on, and I worked on them, and I finished them! For now, anyway; I hope to read through it all at another time to do last minute touchups. I have obsessively saved everything; in fact, I accidentally "saved" this post automatically. Twice. Durr.

I even have all the things I need to put in my appendices. (I love words that pluralize from -x to -ice!) I just need to print out labels and page numbers. There are some graphs that need fixing, but I'll have to physically cut and paste the correct info on them, and then photocopy them.
And I have one more assignment to do for this class, a reflection on my 'journey' during this class.

Of course, I still have that pesky portfolio for my tech class to even start, not to mention finish. Grr. At least I printed out all my pretty assignments already.

Which, ooh! I can't believe I didn't post about this earlier in the week.

This week, some classrooms in the school, including mine, received three resources. Brand new, technological ones. Two of them have monitors and keyboards, and one produces documents. Can you guess what they are? They are gorgeous, is what they are. I am in love with them. The last one is a COLOR instrument with laserlike speed. Oh man, did I mention the love?

The students are also very interested and excited. However, the same day we received them, I gave a solemn talk about the privilege and responsibility we have been entrusted with. We were chosen because we are trustworthy to use them in a good way. These resources mean we can do almost anything (except get a whole class on them at once), which is very exciting. We need to protect them so that we can use them and learn. I actually assigned a homework to write about ideas for projects we can use these technology items for, to get them to feel ownership and responsibility and excitement. I think it worked, because the first afternoon ten kids wanted to type their assignments. Awesome.

I must save and exit. And watch some tv. God knows I'm not capable of working at a computer for more than two hours. Salut!

My Wee Small Engineering Adventure

Plop!....Plop!....Plop!Plop!....Plop!Plop!Plop!....Plop!....Plop!Plop!

This was the sound of raindrops splattering onto my air conditioning unit, beginning at four a.m., as well as the gradual cracking of my sanity.

For the next hour, I alternately tried to ignore it, sing along to it, wait it out, and invent solutions to it. By five, I just couldn't take it anymore. So I got up and went to take a look. Mostly I was afraid of me opening the window and seeing the unit fall five stories and shattering, then me having to explain and buy a new one. And me, I am broke-ass and not about to buy a damn thing that's not food.

However, that problem was delayed when the window would not actually open, because the unit was screwed into the actual window frame. Hm.

But I was just too exasperated and exhausted, so I got my screwdriver and unscrewed the three screws, carefully. And nothing fell out, thank goodness. I easily lifted the window, and still nothing fell off the ledge. Phew!

I placed an old shirt on top of the a-c unit. Hm, still noisy. A dishtowel on top of that? Nope. Look around, ho-hum...ah, yes, extra bath towel. Fold it up, place it on top--perfect. I waited and watched the big drops pound the towel, hoping that they wouldn't pile up and make more noise. But it seemed to work, easily muffling the sounds. Hurrah!

I closed the window, rescrewed the screws, and fell back into bed, and blissful sleep.

Home Sweet Home is Getting Sweeter!

This is a "before" picture of the other half of my main room. You'll remember (or see, below) the other part, with the shelf storage and television/media stuff, and the bed is over there. This is the other half of the room. Except that until yesterday, there were at least seven medium to large boxes sitting, piled haphazardly, taking up space. Yesterday I finally unpacked those and attempted to further organize all my crap. (Which I can do, because I have FOUR closets.) And I brought in the other rug to prepare for a real set-up.

This afternoon, I think I completed my big apartment shopping trips. I bought another shelf unit, laundry stuff (because I was all set to do laundry this morning, only to discover I don't know what I did with my previous detergent), food and supplies from Costco, and other random things. Then I came home, and my super had brought up the new computer. And then the rest of the afternoon was spent in set up.

And it is so cool! I had bought this smaller, cream-ish rug on the first shopping trip, three weekends ago. It was sitting in the corner just chilling. Once I bought the other green shag rugs, I figured I'd put the other one in the kitchen or something. Then, yesterday, I had a genius idea: use the rug and turn the desk to create an office nook. Observe!

Isn't it so cool? I love it. The new computer is shiny and pretty. Look at the flat-panel monitor! I feel so lucky and happy.

Two cords were needed, but there were no appropriate plugs nearby. So I used my ingeniosity and got an extension cord behind the bed and under the bathroom door (which at some point will need to be secured down, but whatever), and I got an long ethernet cable, which I cleverly ran beneath the shag rugs. And you can't even tell. But what else is cool is that the two rugs, when put together like that, they look like one big rug. And the rugs feel really neat. We decided that when I finally have a housewarming gathering (second weekend in June, mark your calendars!), it'll be a 'sit on the fun rug and play games' party. Awesome!

I have to go because Grey's Anatomy is almost on. Whee!

I kind of hate Sunday nights, and especially this one, because I feel like now that I've worked so hard on my apartment, I deserve a day to actually enjoy it.

And I totally haven't done any thesis work this weekend. Tomorrow an Ameri-friend that I haven't seen in four years is coming to town, so I'm going to hang with her. And I have to finish a tech project by Tuesday night, so it's going to be a crunch. But Wednesday, I'm gonna work on it a lot. And all weekend, too. I'll even have a backup plan to take off school on Tuesday if I need to.

Hurrah for my new pretty place! Come see it in a month!

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.