Summat Inspiring

I sat here, thinking it was time to write summat inspiring*.  I Googled it:

I sifted through the quotes and the cartoons and the jokes.

Now I'm depressed.

They were either sickly sweet and made me gag, or were negative and whiny.  The few that weren't were kind of stretching it. I briefly considered posting them and making fun of them, but quickly realized I would prefer not to join in the fun-poking.

So... I watched my new favorite movie again:




I'll try for inspiration again tomorrow. For now I will watch Dr. Horrible attempt to join the Evil League of Evil.


*Hagrid says "summat" instead of "something" and I tend to follow the WWHS (What Would Hagrid Say?) idealogy.  Read an article regarding Hagrid's accent here.

Flashers

Thanks goes out to N.O., S.C., S.M., L.E.,  and my pops for donations and suggestions regarding flash-drivey-ness.

Special thanks to L.E. for donations of pens and keychains and paperclips.  We will use them in good health.

We are a village.  Or... we are the world.  Or... yeah.  Thanks.

Classroom Prep Time

This Caped Site Lead has turned back into this Caped Teacher and is preparing her classroom for a new year.  School starts painfully early this year and there was not a lot of transition time.  Teachers spend a huge amount of time in their rooms and many spend much of their own time, money, and energy making it a good place to be.

My theme this year focuses on the colors of my school--green, black and white.  I found this border at Frog Street Press.  It was perfect except for that pesky pink and black part.  So... I cut off the pink.  Yes, it took a long time to cut a band of pink off of 144 feet 216 feet of border, but it looks great!!!  I know I'm a little obsessive, but my eyes are happy when I see it along the many feet of black background paper I put up. It was worth it.*

I found these coordinating pieces as well, but did not buy them.  I made myself a deal that I would only spend $100 on my classroom this year, and I have already nearly doubled that on academic materials.  So... these pretty pieces had to stay in the online shopping basket:

I did stumble on a conundrum while I was poking about the online store, however.  This set looked good for a minute...

It is called the Zebra Create and Decorate.  I had to wonder, though, why there are alligators in the Zebra Create and Decorate package.  Don't Zebras and alligators fight or something?  So, I emailed and asked.  I just wanted to know, you know?  Surprisingly, they did not answer.  Ah well.  

Anyhoo, I might take some photos of the room when it is done up. As I'm sure you are holding your breath for the big reveal, I will try to hurry.

* Note--I have to admit, I only cut 144 feet of it myself.  The other 72 feet were cut by the office manager at one of my Summer School sites.  She was bored and did it for me.  I just can't pretend I did the whole thing by myself.  That would be rude.

Seriously?

from The Onion

I had to break up a fight yesterday.  Let me share some of the phrases that were being bandied about (with some details altered to protect the guilty):

A: "It's 10:55."
B: "Nuh-uh, it's 10:54."
A: "My watch says it is"
B: "Then check your cell phone."
A: "You can't talk to me like that."
B: "You can't talk to ME like that."
Me (trying to come between them):  "How about you let me take care of this?"
A: "You come here and say that to me."
B: "You are being ridiculous."
A: "YOU are being ridiculous!"
Me: (physically moving one of them away) "I will take care of this.  Go stand over there."
A: "It's 10:55 now. "
B: "No it's not.  It's 10:54 and 30 seconds."
A:  "How dare you talk to me like this!"
B: "How dare you talk to ME like this!"
Me: "No.  Really.  Stop.  Now. "

Here is the interesting part.  This was not, as you might safely imagine, an argument between two children. This was between two staff members.  And no, I am not kidding.  There was yelling, posturing, name-calling, accusations.  It was cah-ray-zee.  Get me back to my classroom, please!!!

We Do What We Can...

I have a request...

I am looking for a bunch of small flash drives for my students.  I was shopping online and realized that lots of companies seem to be handing out little flash drives with their logos on them for advertising.  I don't need tons of space on any one flash drive, just enough for each student to have an alternate save space for their work (because of a temperamental network).

So... my point?  I am wondering if any of you fine folks have any of those little, freebie, flash drives laying about your workspaces that you don't want.  Yes, this is, in effect, begging.  I am thinking though, that there may be more than one secret stash of practically useless flash drives around that you would like to recycle.  If this is the case, may I request that you send them my way?  I will gladly pay postage, or coffee, or...  well that's all I'd actually pay I think.

If, in your search for useless flash drives you find other useless objects you think a poverty-stricken classroom might use, I will gladly take it off your hands.  Budget cuts, you know...

Please feel free to ignore this message if you are thinking any of the following:
"Ummm... what?"
"Budget cuts?  I'll show you budget cuts!"
"Flash drive?  Useless?  Never!"
"Who IS this?"

Quote of the Week #7

Working on colors with a very young boy-child with no school experience...

Me: Show me green.
D: Green.
Me:  Good! Show me yellow (putting yellow and purple in front of him).
D: Green.
Me: That was green. Now show me yellow (pointing to yellow and purple).
D:  See the TV?
Me:  Yes.  Now show me yellow.
D:  I watch TV later?
Me: Yes, later.  Now show me yellow (lifting up yellow and putting it down).
D:  This is green.
Me:  Yes!  It is!  Now show me yellow.
D:  I lay down now.
Me: First show me yellow (pointing to yellow and purple)
D:  Yes I lay down.
Me: Do you have green?
D:  Yes.  This is green.
Me:  Good!  Now show me yellow...

R@NDOM

It turns out that being a Caped Site Lead for summer school takes more energy than I thought.  Either that, or my expectation of energy expenditure was too low, and my actual energy expenditure was too high, resulting in an all-over slug-like laziness.

Anyhoo (yes, I will tell you about Nana and the "anyhoo"), I have a list running of deep-change-the-world questions I could talk to y'all about.  I will list them.  Then, perhaps, I will attempt to answer.  But not both in one day.  That would be too much!

• Do Site Lead duties this year include more than bus issues and paper towel emergencies?
• If you arrive at one of your sites to find a firetruck and a paramedic, are you allowed to be short-tempered with your office staff for not telling you why? 
• How does this caped teacher plan for the teaching of two little boys who are home-bound due to illness?  How does this same teacher not scoop up said boys and hug them and squeeze them?
• How does this caped teacher like her new haircut? What does it feel like to be "the principal lady with the purple hair?"
• Why did I think my dog was trying to shake me awake from a nap today, when she was nowhere near me?
• How cool is it that J. taught G. to how to sit in his chair?
• How did one such as I learn to love polyester pants?

Those are the questions we all ponder, are they not?  Share thoughts if y'unta.  I still plan to answer at least some of them.  You may suggest which ones.

Taking Credit

I received an email from a former student this morning.  She is a-maze-ing.  I told her I will be taking credit for that.

Just to ease the minds of folks who might think I actually think I mean that, I don't. In reality,  I will only take credit for realizing she is amazing.  In my made-up world of super-hero teacher things, I will pretend I created her amazing-ness.  See how this works?

Anyhoo (remind me to share the story of my Nana and the word "anyhoo"), here is a small portion of her email.  This is the part where she compares me to two other teachers:

"...up there with the sassy anthropology teacher who threatened the class on a daily basis and the apparel design professor who reminded me I was not hot shit on a daily basis (she would use those exact words, too.) Those [kids] are super lucky. I would tell them myself, but I would probably terrify them. In all reality, I am a beast. "

Now.  It appears I am in the company of teachers that are threatening students and telling them that they are not as amazing as they are.  Hmmmm.  Analysis time.  Of course I prefer to focus on two things.  First, I am  indubitably sassy.  This is a fair comparison.  Second, from her email I can see that this young woman is clearly in tune with herself, intelligent, and on a fulfilling life-path.  THAT is the very best thing to see.  To hear now that any one of my little chic-a-dees are happy, healthy, and moving forward is the greatest thing about this job.  It doesn't matter how that happened.  YEAY to you J.!!!


**Note--I must admit to one small failure on the part of this young lady.  As her Spanish teacher, I always hoped she might have learned... you know... Spanish.  It appears that, when in danger of incarceration by the Mexican authorities, she was only able to pull out the following phrase, “Bailo en el baño con un mono feo.”  While I am tickled by the thought of dancing in the bathroom with an ugly monkey, and the fact that she used correct grammar to communicate this idea, I am a little concerned about her safety.  I am also now forced to admit that I may well be one of the Spanish teachers I heard tales about.  Sigh.