What makes something funny?

A lot of things people laugh at are just so ridiculous to me. Like what's funny about a man stuffing cole slaw down his pants? I've had the tv on, not really watching it and I've seen the same stupid, not funny, commercial over and over. I think it's for "Comedy Central", but what's funny about that..... Nope, just don't get it!!!! Kids are funny, their truthful way of looking through all our bullshit is funny. A man shoving cole slaw down his pants is not funny.

Guess What... Another Snow Day

Jezz, (how do you spell that word?) It's been more than a year since I've written anything here, and I was going to be profound last year. Well, maybe this year. We've missed 7 days of school due to snow. We've been out sledding,and it's now getting old. I'm watching the Grammy's. The best part was the guy at the beginning who poked fun at celebrities giving each other awards. What's the deal with Taylor Swift.... She can't even sing on key. It was sad to see Stevey Nicks take back stage to here. Stevey has more talent in her pinky than Taylor. Sorry Taylor, you're cute, and you can write catchy lyrics, but I can't believe all the hulabalooh over you! It's really sorry that I don't have anything better to write about than Taylor Swift! Not a very good start at being profound!

The Air Smells Like Honeysuckle

It's intoxicating! I've never seen, or smelled, honeysuckle like we have it this year. It smells wonderful and real. I forgo the air conditioner just so I can drive with my windows down and catch the fragrance on my drive home from work. I will miss this olfactory delight when its gone! This smell can't be mass produced by anyone but God. While it last, inhale!

A Teacher's Rant

I am a teacher and I am soooooooo sick of how teachers are portrayed in the media. I am fighting so many battles, on so many fronts, the last thing we, teachers, need is to be degraded by society via the media. I hate this commercial where a little boy walks in and tells his mom he got a check minus because the teacher said he has an over active imagination. He then shows a picture that is a beautiful sketch of his mom's bedroom (the commmercial sells closet organizers I think). Why couldn't the company have gone another route with the idea? Like showing the child's work displayed in an art contest with a big blue ribbon. Same point,their products make things beautiful, without the slam on teachers. All the assumptions made in that advertisement infuriate me. If a child drew a picture like that for me I would stand back in awe,and applaud his "over active imagination". I don't know a teacher who wouldn't do the same. I'm not being overly sensitive here. Nickelodian has a group of kids who sing "I don't wanna go to school... I don't wanna to see the teachers' faces anymore." Seems like everytime my daughter turns on the tv I hear that song, Help people... We need your support, more than anything on the planet we need parents to support us. We need society to pitch in and lend a hand. Check out your states NCLB strategies and the money being put into those "tests". It will make you sick!! Insist your tax dollars are put into reducing student/teacher ratios and enriching the eductional environment of your schools. Volunteer at your schools. I've had a parent help this year with running off papers, and constructing teaching resources. She has been a God send. The flip side is that we sent the same letter out solisiting parental support to all our parents, and she was the only one that responded with a contribution of time. If someone were to actually do a feasiblity study on education, they would find that teachers are performing miracles. I understand not supporting a bad teacher. I realize they are out there. I don't understand taking pot shots at the whole profession. The majority of teachers work their hearts out, and celebrate the imagination of children!!!!!

I should be grading papers....

I've probably already contributed two of my spring break days to school responsibilities, but there are still the last quizzes I gave before spring break screaming at me from my bag. I should have graded them during those two days that it rained incessantly. I was too busy catching my breath though. Three weeks until we face our state mandated assessment. How I dread it. I think I may dread it more than my students. I hate that, for those hours, I am not allowed to interact with my students. The script says we can only say "please get to work" if addressed by a student during testing. My eyes should not even cast down on that ever important document they are completing. How does such an artificial setting become the all in all assessment or our year together? We have shared a lot in the past months, and it hasn't been in this sterile artificial kind of setting. Our learning has taken place through conversation and sharing, trail and error. Hell, a lot of it has occurred through making mistakes!!!! But we can't make mistakes on this test. It will get in the way of our AYP. We can't stress out... We can't communicate to avoid the stress. Why does this whole NCLB thing feel like a lose, lose, lose, lose situation. Who is winning here? Why are we complying with this ridiculous process? Someone said the other day that we do our best with a broken system. What kind of sense does that make? How many workshops have I been to where we hear the proverbial quote that doing the same thing over and over again if it's not working is insanity. Well education must be insane then. Just because a kid isn't on grade level at a certain time doesn't mean he is being left behind. Did anyone ever stop to think that allowing him to learn at a slower pace may make the learning stick, and that if you don't let him learn at his pace he will learn very little. The saddest thing about this mindset is students are getting the message that there is something wrong with them because they aren't learning at the required rate. Kids have different IQ's just like they have different heights, eye color, and a thousand other unique characteristics. They all can learn... just at different paces and ways. They are not defective because they aren't proficient on the state test, It isn't rocket science that no two kids are the same. When will we do something different and quit treating kids like widgets? When will we listen to Piaget and all those smart people we studied in school. When will we implement all the brain research and let kids take 5 during the day. Our 6th graders don't get a recess! There are many days we don't see the sky between 8 and 3. How crazy is that? Gosh, I wonder why kids don't like school.

What will Tomorrow Bring?

It has been a roller coaster weekend. It drags on as I wait for Monday and "the letter" I've been told will be in my box. I haven't really worried about "the letter", although it's been in front of me for the past 6 months. The deal is, I thought I knew what "the letter" would say, but now I'm not so sure. On one hand I hope it brings change, on the other I dread the change it may bring. I've experienced some real invalidating moments in the past two days. The letter could be the final nail, or it could bring a sigh of relief if it puts a different spin on events. It's been looking like a pretty bleak horizon, but maybe "the letter" will shine a little sunshine on things and breath a little hope back into the landscape. I really don't want to consider the storm it may be bringing. I kind of want to just go cower in my storm shelter and wait for tomorrow to pass. Oh ya, I don't have a storm shelter. Better just step out there and face it.

It's a Snow Day!!!

With the first snowflake any good dedicated teacher will begin to look longingly at her phone praying it will soon ring with that longed for message, "School is cancelled!". The scream of delight muffles that of her students. Do I go back to sleep, use this gift of time to fill my depleated sleep banks? Hell no, I take a shower, thinking perhaps that precious phone call won't come and I'll have to be ready to traverse the roads between here and there. I'm wide awake! I look out the window and watch the snow accumulate, about an inch now. I turn on the TV. Looks like tomorrow may be more of the same. Two snow days.... then Saturday and Sunday. What a gift.... an unscheduled 4 day weekend!!!!! The phone rings followed by my scream of delight. The stress rolls off my back. Where are my gloves? I'm headed out the door. Sleep? Where's my sled? It's time to live!!!!!