Not counting today there are 15 school days remaining on my work calendar. I tried to post a nifty little ticker to commemorate the countdown, but it didn’t go over so well. So I thought I’d try something a little different. My mantra has always been a combination of “I can do anything for a … More Fifteen Beautiful Things, or “Please, please help me.”
Teacher: We need bees to pollinate flowers–if not for the bees we’d have a shortage of plant life. Student: Why do we need flowers anyway? We don’t eat them. Teacher: Most fruits and vegetables start out as flowers. If there were no flowers we’d have no fruit. Student: I don’t eat fruit. I eat meat. Teacher: What about grass? … More Overheard in biology class
Calliope asks: Who will win American Idol? I am probably one of the only people in America–no, the WORLD–who doesn’t watch American Idol. I have watched the audition episodes exactly twice. I am extremely anti-reality show, and I don’t listen to much mainstream music or watch much mainstream television, so the show doesn’t really interest me. … More Give me a topic, volume 2
Jen asks: Have you had any other jobs besides teaching? As an adult, no, unless you count coaching, but I think they are parts of the same whole. I was the night and weekend manager of a successful hair salon my last two years of college, however, and I loved it. Not only did I get lots of … More Give me a topic, volume 1
In response to my request for blogging material, Lo suggested more battle stories like the one about the girl plucking her facial hair and the kids playing poker in the class I had to cover on Monday. Unfortunately, there are so many such stories in a day that I try to deprogram my brain on the way home every … More Girl in the war
First of all, let me just promise you that I will never be so late to celebrate your birthday or Christmas as I have been in posting these monthly letters. You may want to remind me of this promise when I am sitting at the kitchen table making Christmas gifts at 3 a.m on Christmas Eve. I’m … More A la mia cara Mia: 4 months
If you go back and read my May entries from 2005 and 2006 you’ll notice a pattern. It’s quite similar to the one that is developing for May 2007. I don’t blog much in May. Not only is it a–how shall I say nicely?–trying time in the public schools, but it’s also the time of year when … More Same story, different year
1. Today a kid asked, out loud, during class time, “Why do we have so many principals around here?” I started to tell him (one, because one of our assistants spends half the day here and half the day at our other sites, and two, the new principal for next year is going to be … More Why I need to get out of the classroom: an ongoing list (edited already!)
I’ve been taking a young adult literature class for my master’s degree. We’ve read a little of everything–problem novels, poetry, historical fiction, mystery and horror, romance, adventure. My current required reading list includes a graphic novel of my choice. I don’t like graphic novels. They are too busy for me, too much on the page, and … More Things and stuff
A dog attempting to pick up a large plastic Easter egg with her teeth is highly amusing and entertaining.
one small corner of the universe 