Happy Sunday!

Just a quick post before I go take a nice power nap. :)

The first week of the new school year was great, as I've already mentioned. There was some grumbling by the kids about the new dress code--guys must tuck in shirts and wear their pants no lower than their hipbones, girls must have modest necklines and are no longer allowed to wear spike heels (I think this goes back several years to a girl fight where a spike heel was used as a weapon--yep, she pulled that shoe off in about 2 seconds and nailed the other girl in the head with it)--but they have seemed to accept that the new admin isn't playing games. Several students were sent home because they were not in compliance. They were not given an opportunity to change and go on with their day...they were sent home. The noise level in the halls has been about half what it was. Even though we didn't count tardies last week, there weren't that many students in the halls after the tardy bell rang. As a matter of fact, there were a couple of days during third block when my class was actually back at work BEFORE the tardy bell rang! And after the bell rang on Friday afternoon, Mr. R was playing some rockin' music over the PA system. Loved it!!

Yesterday, Jess, Lance, John, and I went to Jess's old apartment to repaint the living room and foyer area. Long story about that, but we got it done, and I think it looked great. I love the color, too. It may be the color that ends up on our bedroom walls whenever I decide to paint. It just occurred to me that I had planned on taking this summer off in terms of painting. I almost made it. haha I certainly didn't mind, though. The four of us had a good time visiting.

After we got home, I watched my A&E Biography of Ernest Hemingway and made notes so that I can made a video test for my juniors. I was SO excited when the video came in. And I have two more ordered--F. Scott Fitzgerald and William Faulkner. I love having these on hand for those days when I might be out unexpectedly. It's an easy day for the sub, and because I make out a test, the students must pay attention.

I guess that's it for today. Nothing special or exciting or entertaining.

Have a GREAT day!

Love,

Time to catch up

Whew! This has been a busy few days! In my last post, I had said we were leaving on that Thursday to go to the lake, but that didn't happen. John called about 5:00 and said they were having problems with the PACS (Picture Archival Communication System) and he'd be home as soon as he could. He called again about 7:30 and said he was about to leave the hospital, so by the time he got home, it was almost 9. When he called the second time, he told me that the pups and I could go ahead, but we didn't. It would have been 10:30 or so before we got there, and I just didn't want to be that late getting there by myself. We left on Friday about 8:30, though, and then John came up as soon as he was able to get off work. Nope, he didn't get to take Friday off like we'd originally planned. They were still having a few problems.

We had all the "kids" there Saturday. Katy and Sam got there about 11. Phillip was at a football camp in Cullman, so about 12 John left to go pick him up. Jess and Lance got there about 12:30. We just hung out, which was really nice. I did sneak off to the swim pier for a while. Katy was trying to get Sam to nap, so I figured the fewer people making noise, the better. Bless his little heart--he was getting sick with croup and wouldn't nap at all. After dinner, they bathed him and put his jammies on so that maybe he'd sleep on the way home. Katy sat down with him in the recliner, and within minutes he was zonked. He woke up when they got up to leave, and he was SO wheezy! She called Sunday morning and said he didn't sleep well Saturday night, so they were going to take him to the doctor. She called later that afternoon and said they were going to admit him to keep an eye on him. He did get to go home late Monday afternoon, so that was good. She sent me a text about 5:30 and said he was already asleep. Poor sweet baby! John talked to her a while ago, and she said he was doing better. He had yogurt smeared all in his hair and was wiping his hands on her. LOL

It has been a MARVELOUS week at school so far! Even though there have been some complaints from kids about the dress code, they have--for the most part--complied. Some have been sent home, but that is to be expected. For way too long, they rules haven't really been enforced, and they didn't think we'd carry through this year. The halls have been so much quieter, too. I know it's only day 3, but if they get into the habit, at day 103 it won't be any different.

Every morning this week, I've been up at 4:45 and have been at school between 6 and 6:15. I love that extra hour+ in the morning when it is still so quiet. That's when I get my mind focused on what is on tap for the day ahead and make sure that I have everything ready to go. Around 7:15-7:20, Karen, Don, and Kristen will come in to my room or we'll go to Karen's room. We have coffee (or Diet Coke for Karen most days) and talk. Until lunch at 12:32, there isn't a whole lot of adult interaction. :)

My classes have been tremendous! I think I posted once before about my schedule being the only thing I don't like because I have to shift focus from English 12 to English 11 and back to English 12. The Eng 12 to Eng 11 isn't so bad because there is time during advisement to forget about Beowulf and think about Ezra Pound, but the Eng 11 to Eng 12 shift is a little harder. There are only five minutes between classes, and we're supposed to be at our doors during class change. As long as the technology is working as it should, it isn't a problem because I set my Eng 12 up on one laptop and my Eng 11 up on the other. Today, however, was one of those days of technological difficulty. My LCD projector kept kicking off, and I'd have to get it going again. Finally, I just swapped to the hardwired laptop and used it. Of course, that meant have to swap out flash drives between classes. It got done, and the day progressed as planned.

As far as my class numbers--I have 29 in my first block Eng 12, 28 in my second block Eng 11, and 30 in my third block Eng 12. Of the 30 in 3rd block, I have taught all but 6 of them in a previous level. One of the girls has me for the third time. I had her for Eng 10 and 11. At least she knows what to expect from me, and I know I can rely on her. :)

Y'all, I am about to fall asleep, so I'm gonna call it a night. Take care, and have a GREAT Thursday!

Love,

Busy, busy!

I have been uber-productive today! Everyone at school was. Every time I went anywhere in the building, there were others scurrying around--making copies, locating and moving books, etc. I don't know what is different about this year for me, but rarely have I felt as prepared as I do now. My luck, though, is that I'll walk in on Monday morning, and about the time the students arrive to my classroom, I'll have that "OH NO" moment when I realize that I've forgotten something of major importance. After 16 1/2 years in public education and one year in a private school setting, I think I'd be able to wing it. ;)

My plan for tonight is to get as many of my syllabi for English 12 updated for this term and to put them on my wikispaces page. I know that I'll end up having to tweak them as the term progresses, but if I can get them done tonight and tomorrow, I'll save so much time later. If I can update the English 12 tonight, I can work on English 11 tomorrow.

One thing that I have LOVED about yesterday and today is getting to see everyone again. We always say that we're going to get together for lunch or to go to a movie or something, but we get so busy with stuff that we never do. We've talked, texted, and messaged on Facebook, but it just isn't the same. Talking to Karen about the frustrations of Alzheimer's, laughing at Don's grumpiness, or zinging Kristen for her goofiness is hard to do in a text. LOL

Tomorrow is another work-in-our-rooms day. We do have a meeting about school safety, but other than that, we'll just be getting ready for all those bright, shining faces on Monday. We don't have to go Friday, and I'm not! I wasn't going to go anyway because John took Friday off so we're going to the lake tomorrow, but having everything done will mean that I'll be able to enjoy myself and not worry about all of those little things that I left.

Jess and Lance are going up to the lake Saturday. They've been busy this summer so this is the only time they've been up. Lance has never been to Smith Lake before, so I'm excited about showing him around. Hopefully the weather will be nicer than it was this past weekend.

I need to get busy on those syllabi, so that's it for tonight. I might have time to post tomorrow, but chances are I won't. So, have a GREAT weekend!

Love,

Talk about inspirational!

Today was our system-wide day of meetings. Well, we actually had our first faculty meeting with Mr. Reyes, our new principal. I'm thinking it's gonna be a good year!

We had a terrific speaker this morning. Dr. Crystal Kuykendall, the author of From Rage to Hope and Dreaming of a P.H.A.T Century, spoke to us about expectations and how our expectations as teachers affect the way the students perform and behave, and that in turn affects our expectations. We are all supposed to be getting From Rage to Hope. I can't wait to read it!

Following lunch, all of the schools in the system met for about 45 minutes. Mrs. Waggoner, our superintendent, showed a short video from the Dallas ISD Convocation for 2010. The young man, an 11-year-old student, in the district gave a motivational talk. YOU NEED TO WATCH IT! It is awesome! Check it out.

OK--I have to run down to the sauna to make a few more copies; then I'm heading out. Have a GREAT day!

Love,

Quick hello!

Just here to post a quick HI before I head off to bed. Yeah, it's only 8:30, but I'm tired, and I have to get up early in the morning for the first day of inservice.

I spent a few hours at school today getting copies made and adding info to my wikispaces page. My plan was to go to the school fairly early this morning, BUT today was the day that SEASON TICKETS were delivered, and I did NOT want to miss that! It wouldn't have been a big deal if Mr. UPS Guy did come by because I have to go to the mall in Auburn tomorrow afternoon anyway. A trip to the Opelika UPS office wouldn't have been any extra hassle, but it was worth it to hang around until 10:45.

A couple of years ago, the UPS driver stopped that morning, but I was either at inservice or maybe school had already started. Anyway, just down the street from us is a UPS drop box that he picks up from around 4:30 in the afternoon. He noticed my car was here when he went back by, so he made a special stop just to deliver the tickets. I could have hugged his neck. :)

Back to today--I had to go to Wal-Mart (pure torture) and then Kristen and I had lunch. It was almost 2 before I got to the school. So much for the early start. LOL I did accomplish all that I had planned, but there were a couple of other "if I have time" things I didn't do. And what did I do with my laptop? I left it in my classroom, so those things that I could have done tonight didn't get done. No biggie, though. Since I won't have to spend time Wednesday and Thursday in the teacher sauna, I can work on those things.

A teacher sauna--yes, you read that correctly! We have our very own sauna. What? You thought that money was tight in the educational system? Now, let me set the record straight. Our sauna isn't some fancy schmancy deal, and I know that any other school in the world could have one of its own. All you need is an old room without any central air, one window-unit air conditioner that doesn't work half (3/4s??) of the time, and three copiers that run almost nonstop. Now, it is very important that you keep the one window open, even when it is 90 million degrees outside and the humidity is at 100,000,000%, and you must keep the door closed. We even have a sign that says the sauna is for teachers only. (Laura G, did you do that??) Seriously, it is the one room in the building that I avoid as much as possible. It is H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E!!!!!

OK--I've gone on long enough, and I am really, really tired. See y'all later! Have a GREAT Tuesday!

Love,