Clix over at Uncomfortable Adventures has been hosting the Education Carnival for a while now, and she’s disappointed that so few people come to read.

If you’re interested in what other teachers have been thinking and writing about, head on over and check it out. Clix even poached one of my posts for the Carnival this week (sorry Clix; I really need to get better at submitting entries. I’ve got a couple of good ones this week, though…)

I sent this to my boss yesterday:

Dear Carrie,

First of all, I’m sorry you’re not well.  If there’s anything I can do to help you out, remember that I’m literally right up the street; just call.

I wanted to give you a heads-up on what’s been going on in my classes lately, just so none of it surprises you when (if) it circles around to you.

The elimination of the Pretty Pink Paper Policy is going well on my end, but not so much on the students’.  I am still seeing a really astoundingly low number of students actually doing the work – today, for example, I received two assignments from my III/IV class (three if you count Maya’s; she emailed them to me after class.  I’ve decided I’ll accept them – I doubt she could have put them together that quickly, so they probably were done ahead of time – but she’s mad at me because I cut her off before she had a chance to tell me her excuse for not having them in class).  That’s out of 12 students, and I’m surprised by it, really; I’m not getting work from kids I’d really expect would be the ones to do it.

In terms of homework compliance, the I/II class isn’t doing much better.  Further, some of the work that they’re handing in cannot, by any rational standard, be called “work.”  Just this week, Jeff decided to answer a complex and in-depth prompt with a barely literate sentence fragment, and both Mike and Peter have handed in either “I didn’t read the chapters, so I can’t answer the questions” papers or blank worksheets; this morning, Peter handed in an essentially untouched apostrophe worksheet with the excuse that “I didn’t get it.”  He didn’t make ANY attempt to reach me – no email, no message on the Ning – to get clarification, and he never spoke up when I was giving the apostrophe lesson yesterday in class.  I can’t chase them down if I don’t know they’re struggling with the material.   I’m not giving credit for work that doesn’t at least show some effort at meeting the requirements for the assignment; they don’t have to hit it out of the park, but they at least have to swing at it.

Peter, Linda, and Damian spent this morning in Mr. W’s room because they hadn’t done the reading for today, either.  If it’s all the same to you, I’m going to make it a policy for the rest of the semester (what have we got?  Six weeks left?) that kids who haven’t done the reading (and who therefore can’t participate meaningfully in the conversations and activities we’re doing around the reading) will leave the room.  I am still pretty good-natured about it, but I’m sick to death of the kids not even bothering to do the barest minimum to get by.

The upshot of all of this is that, at this point in the semester, I don’t think many of these kids have a realistic expectation of passing English.  I don’t have my grade book with me as I write this (it’s on the computer I keep at school) but I know that at least five students are failing in the I/II class and I’m pretty sure I’ve got at least three or four in the III/IV class who are averaging failing grades, as well.

I’m not asking you to do anything about any of this, I just want you to know what’s going on.  I’m also wondering how this impacts the idea you have of teacher evaluation; how do we assess the work we (try to) do when the kids simply aren’t showing up?

I know this probably hasn’t helped, but I hope you feel better.

Warmly,

Chili

She responded:

Hi Chili,
Your final question is exactly what I want to look at.  I want the teacher evaluations to reflect what CHS teachers are doing and struggling with; I definitely do not want a simple, out of the box, fill in the blank, teacher eval form…. yuck!
I am not sure what to do about the lack of work.  It’s everywhere. We have some lazy students and it’s contagious, too.  I guess they can go be lazy again at their old school.  I am struggling with this one, as well.
The thing about mono that sucks the most for me, besides the awful body aches, is the unbelievable tired feeling.  I lie here and think about how good lunch would taste but can’t imagine walking down the stairs and going through the really difficult task of making one…..
I will stay in touch!
Carrie

I LOVE my boss….

I’ve got this kid.

I’m astounded by how completely fucking clueless kids can be. This kid chose to answer this question:

For homework tonight, please go online and find two “rants,” one with which you agree and one with which you don’t; think about people like Dennis Miller, Keith Olbermann, Glenn Beck, George Carlin, Rachel Maddow and the like. You may also find blog posts or letters to the editor if those suit you better.

For each of the two presentations, write at least a page in which you critique the argument being made. What is the author’s purpose for the rant (what is he or she trying to accomplish)? Who is the intended audience? Are you a member of that audience and, if so, how does that affect the way you feel about the piece? What specific tactics does the author use to get his or her point across? Are they effective? Why or why not? How does the author introduce the topic, characterize the opposition, support his or her claims, and conclude the piece? Finally, what emotions or attitudes does the piece leave you with? Do you have unanswered questions or concerns? What could the author have done differently to make the piece more effective and/or convincing.

with this response:

Watching glen beck’s psycho, brain losing, crack induced, rant, he was FLIPPIN OUT on a lady calling and trashing him on health care and he yells swears and freaks out and calls her a f’n pin head.

Download the free MP3 of today’s message and music here.
You can also read the full text under the video below (video may take a few seconds to load).

Allow now
this is how we tap into the oneness
this is how we tap into the truth of who and what we are
allow and let the vibration flow through you in you
as you
yes source is all around you through you
in you
and is willing to allow you to feel every good thing if you would but only allow it to be so
let go of the tensions the frustrations the blocks and obstacles by changing your focus yes
that is key
changing your focus specifically to vibrations of love
in whatever way moves you most
whatever thoughts and feelings you feel love the strongest
let them center around your heart and spread from there

this is important for your development and important for your overall growth
it is from the heart center that your connection begins
yes
this is where you bring the source energy of love from best

now
focus on that
and allow your body to feel love starting from your heart center
the left side of the heart is where you want to allow the energy to begin and let it flow to your heart and expand to your heart center, the center of your chest, then expanding throughout your body yes
let it remove blocks, melt tension and restore the proper functioning of your body
the proper flow of source energy
allowing you to tap into that which is there for you
let it redirect your mind away from the limiting beliefs you have entertained and back to the true nature of your limitlessness
yes
you are limitless love
and so it is

- Morning stream of consciousness writing from John Stringer

Sign up to get these messages delivered to your email at http://snipurl.com/myrn

Ten things I love about my CHS job:

1.  My coworkers.  I’ve got a serious bunch of kick-ass colleagues.  I’m certain that I’d not be as wildly enthusiastic about my job if I didn’t have these people around me every day. The math teacher and the social studies teacher in particular really rock, but they’re all pretty damned great in their own ways.

2.  My students.  While there are a bunch of them that make me stark-crazy furious (“are you KIDDING me right now?!“), most of them are really great kids. I love it when the light bulbs go on over their little heads…

3. The rest of the students. There are a bunch of kids at CHS who aren’t in my classes, but with whom I have a relationship, anyway. They hang out at my table at lunch, they come to me for SAT help or to ask me to proofread their college essays or to challenge me to a game of Scrabble (to their detriment) – there are a lot of really great kids at this school.

4. The work environment. While I’d love to have, you know, BOOKS, I really do love the environment at CHS. We teach in an old building; the place has a lot of character, it’s sufficiently warm in the winter (once we got that whole no-heat thing worked out, of course) and we’ve got a perfect mix of private and public space. We’re close enough to be cozy, but we’re not up in each other’s stuff all the time; it’s really kind of great.

5. The hours. Yes, I work a lot more than the hours would indicate – every teacher does (don’t even start with me about summer vacations, either). I have a good schedule worked out, though; I drop the girls off at school and head right to work, giving me about a half hour to do copying or grading or whatever, then I teach two back-to-back, hour-and-a-half classes, then it’s lunchtime. I very often stay through the rest of the day (though, technically, my responsibilities end at 11); I get a lot more done if I stay at work than if I come home and start blog-surfing.

6. The administration. Technically, the administration consists of Carrie, my boss and the director of the school. She is the mistress of walking the line between talented professional educator and capital-G-Girlfriend. She’s supportive and no-nonsense, she is fair and even-handed, and she’s funny as hell.

7. The professional freedom. Essentially, I was hired and told to “do what you do.” I don’t have to follow a set curriculum, I don’t have to teach to tests, and I don’t have to justify every single thing I do in the classroom. In fact, I have been tasked with coming up with a whole new English curriculum for next year (I’m still waiting to hear back from those of you who said you’d think about it and get back to me…). While I’m excited at the prospect, I’m also a little intimidated by it, so help a girl out, would you?

8. Location, location, location. I have, no lie, about a six minute commute. It takes me about as long to walk from my car to the top floor of the building where the school is located as it does for me to get from home to the parking lot. LOVE. THAT.

9. Electronic classes. Our goal is to never have a snow day, so we’ve set up virtual classes that we’ll hold when the building is closed. This means that we’ll not be in school until nearly July. I’m totally behind that.

10. I’m getting paid (albeit, not very much, but still) to do something that I would happily do for free. I LOVE the job that I do, and I actually look forward to going to work every day. So few people get to say that, and I know how lucky I am to have found my professional place in the world. Someone once said that, if you find a job you love, you’ll never have to work a day in your life. That person wasn’t far off the mark…

Happy Tuesday!

As some of you may know, I was riding my bike one day this September when a car door viciously attacked me. It’s a wonder I walked away from that accident, although my beloved bike didn’t. The man responsible for dooring me fell over himself to apologize and offer money for my bike and medical bills. With the naivety of a bruisy, I stupidly believed him.

Almost three months later, this is the most recent correspondence I have had with the man. I am obligated to publish this so that others may begin to understand the burning frustration that has extended from my checkbook to my heart. His lack of punctuation, the sentences with no beginning or end, the nonsensical explanations, and the inability to provide me with a solution. God he’s just like my ex boyfriend. By the way, he writes this email from JAIL (where he has been for the last few months, god knows why).

Take a deep breath:

i can tell you right now i am not working and i have three judgement on me  as i am talking to you so one more does not hurt me thank you i will let you know the frist judgement was hitting a car that was my cousin in a fight the second one was hosphal bill for a fight the last one was a parking grag and so on i will like to help you before you do that  with the court i can see helping you then not to help you so if it go to court i do not have the money to pay  anyway  i know if you agree to this i will get it done one way or the other thank you for understaning  ps i will check my email wed 2 09

I refrain from publishing his legal name as to avoid a hit man at my window tonight. But trust me, his first name is that of my childhood Springer Spaniel and his last name is also a word used to describe dumb blonds. At least this makes for a good story to tell the grandkids.

Some mornings you just want to ask, “Who got up this morning?” Which one of my mothers am I going to be dealing with today? Is it the one that is pretty with it and does things on her own without being prompted? Or, is it the one that is really lost and needs to be constantly told what to do all day long? Sometimes it is obvious, you come upstairs and Mom is dressed for the day and has already had breakfast, fed the dog, and maybe even gotten the paper. This should be a good day. Other days you come upstairs and you can see she was up earlier (could have been the middle of the night) and had breakfast, but now she is back in bed. If she doesn’t appear again by, say, 8:00 a.m. then it is probably going to be a difficult day. Sometimes you can’t tell by the morning because the difficulty doesn’t start until the sun starts to set. That is one of the hardest things to cope with right now. Do I change the plans we had for today because Mom is not moving well, or do I push her and get her out the door? We have only had two mornings where she just didn’t want to move and I went out without her, once to swimming and once to church. I guess what upsets me the most about these days is that I know that at some point if she doesn’t cooperate we won’t go out. Going out is as important if not more important for my sanity as for her quality of life. This is something to ponder and probably even plan for.

It’s 2.51pm on a Monday afternoon. Technically we’re supposed to be signing a lease today.

We’re supposed to be out of our current place in time for an inspection on Wednesday evening.

Currently, we are still waiting the landlord’s permission to move in, as there was a mix up with our guarantor forms going to the estate agent. It sat in her spam folder for 4 days, and it’s taking more than a working day to check the references.

This is cutting it very fine. Almost too fine. The Newtown rental market was never this bad.

Everybody cross fingers. Please.

I know I have you all a little stressed too about our living situation, and I am truly sorry about that. Sometimes I forget that I’m writing to other people. I get in daydream mode (or crazy annoyed and blinded mode as the last post showed) and I just forget.

You’re all so sweet for your replies and for caring. Thankyou!

Today was a different day. I woke up relatively unstressed, and it continued that way as I meandered through cleaning chores and played with the girls, squeezing their little bodies till I thought I might “kill them with kindness”.

Today felt really different. I think once I ascertain the root of my frustrations (realising I actually wasn’t trusting in God) and set some course of action (actually trust in God), then my thoughts fall in line. Whoever said “go with your heart” obviously had no idea how deceitful a heart can be. Mine almost always leads me in the opposite direction to truth.

My day was filled with conversations with my Mum over tea and then a spot  of cleaning (delightful), conversations with the carpet cleaning man (also delightful even though it cost me $120), conversations with my church friend Elise (continuing the delight), and then ending with a final delightful dinner with some old friends, Sally and Sammy (they’re not old, but the friendship is…) And I’ve got to say that I think a “spaz out” every now and again may be good for me. As some of you know, I’m not a fan of physical exertion, so the energy occasionally peaks in stress and finds a vent to break free. Fortunately, the vent is now sealed again, and the steam will hopefully turn to water soon if God can help me along a little more with the trust issue. Plus, doing some intensive exercise every now and again wouldn’t go astray…

A couple of things that just couldn’t wait:

• Mr. Chili went by his parents’ this evening to break the flu news.  It seems that my in-laws don’t get flu shots – ever – and that they are under the (VERY mistaken) impression that, and I’m quoting here, “they can’t get the flu.“

Let that sink in for a minute.

I’ve done a little research and found that the CDC believes that some older people may have some latent immunity to this strain, given that it’s possible that older people may have been exposed to something like it before – and that’s pretty much the language they’re using, too, though the emphasis is mine -  but the fact that my MIL adamantly believes that she’s somehow immune to all flu just floors me.

Now just you watch; she’ll catch something and wind up in the hospital for a month.  Over Christmas.  No kidding; you wait.  Even better, they’ll BOTH get sick at the same time.

Then, of course, they’ll blame it on ME.

Oy.

• As we were coming out of a Wal*reen’s this afternoon, we passed a particularly surly and insolent bell-ringer for the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign.

image credit

Look, I have NO problem with on-the-spot charitable giving of this sort, I really don’t; in fact, if I HAVE cash, I very often pony up.  It just so happened this afternoon, however, that I DIDN’T have any cash on me – literally none; in fact, I recently dumped my coins into the girls’ emergency lunch money jar the other day – I’m talking no cash at all, people (ask Boywer; that I don’t carry cash confounds him).

As we’re walking by, trying to be inconspicuous, the woman turns to me and says (and here’s where I REALLY wish I had that sarcasm font I talked about yesterday) “You have a nice Thanksgiving, now.”  What she was really saying was “you selfish, cheap, arrogant bitch; you can’t spare a dollar for the fucking Salvation Army?!”

I smiled sweetly at her and said, “Thank you!  You do the same!”

I think that the SA really ought to train their people a little better.  Just because someone doesn’t put a drop in the bucket outside the market doesn’t mean they haven’t gone grocery shopping SPECIFICALLY FOR the food drive their daughters’ school was sponsoring.

Don’t even start with me.

“Eat right and exercise.” I’ve heard it over and over again. Why do ‘they’ always leave the 3^rd part out? Sleep plays a huge role in any weight loss journey. Any LIFE, for that matter. And insomnia, I’m convinced, is the inability to sleep until just before the alarm goes off. Call me Sleepless in Seattle the Midwest.

I just can’t shut my brain off! There’s always something to do, watch, read, clean, etc. Sunday evening was no different – gotta do this, gotta finish reading that, gotta get the house ready for Thanksgiving guests – gotta gotta gotta!

Then I was late for work Monday. Fail. Lather, rinse, and repeat for Monday night. I was irritable and tired on Tuesday. For good measure, gimme a 3peat…

Fail. fAiL. FAIL!!!

This morning wasn’t as bad, but I didn’t get to actually sit at the breakfast table and eat – I ate on the road. Not especially safe, even in my hicktown, and I hate being rushed through a meal.

I’m sabotaging myself. Ack.

Oink.

Bad news is that the doc says it’s most likely H1N1. Good news is that I’m on day 5, which means I’m on my way out of it. I’m feeling pretty okay today (of course, that’s relative, you know). Now the big question is whether we remove ourselves from the Thanksgiving gathering. Doc says I’m probably not contagious anymore, but the rest of my family might be incubating this little bastard bug and the in-laws are both over 80 and not exactly the picture of blooming pink health; do we really want to chance it?

I need it.
I want it.
And I’m having migraines without it.

badly.

***

You know, if it didn’t actually HAPPEN to me, I wouldn’t believe it, either…

1. A month ago, I announced, loudly and for about a week, that my Pink Paper Policy was coming to an end. I posted the details of the new and improved homework policy on the classes’ websites. I handed out hard copies of what I put on the sites. Further, I told the kids that they had until today to get in everything they owed me; anything that wasn’t finished by today stays a zero in their grade book.

LAST NIGHT, a girl whom I’ve not seen for about three weeks (not sure why she’s not coming to school) emailed me.
Hi,
Im sorry I have been out
Could I have an Updated list of things I need to turn in to you
thanks
Um. No. I’ll see you in class next year, because there’s no way you’re passing this term.

2. One student – a painfully immature junior – decided to resubmit an essay I’d sent back to her for a rewrite without actually rewriting it. I don’t know what she thinks that’s going to get her; the piece earned her zero points the first time, and it’s clearly no better now.

3. I’ve got one kid in the freshman sophomore class who fancies himself a wordsmith. The end result is that his papers are almost always nearly incomprehensible. I think he subscribes to the “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit” school of thought; I really do believe that he thinks that if he uses “big words,” people will think he’s smart. Here’s a hint, my darling; in order to sound smart, you’ve really got to understand what all those big words actually mean.

4. One boy, who’s done just about nothing all term, proudly handed me a stack of make-up work this morning. A quick glance through it showed me that he must have spent all of ten minutes putting the answers to my (pretty complex) questions together. I’ll replace his zeros with 50s, but there’s no way he’s getting full credit for two-sentence answers to essay questions.

Oy. I’m actually looking forward to this five day break.