October 27, 2005
If I Die...
This is the ofrenda some students created memorializing me for El Dia de los Muertos. That is if I were dead. After this week, they might be wishing it were true! (Midterm grades, oh yea!) Anyway, creating the ofrenda was a Spanish group project where the students had to find out all about my life so they could honor me properly after my passing. Not bad for students who have only known me a few months...
October 25, 2005
So Many Books, So Little Time!
I noticed in Time magazine this week a tiny little sidebar about their critic's picks of the 100 Best Novels from 1923 to the present. Now, I love to torture my husband when we go to the bookstore by standing at one of those "Best-loved" displays and pointing to all of the books on it that I have read. He only reads books in computer language. The majority of my reading is for relaxation. He's usually not very amused with my bragging. Hey! I can't help it that I get all excited over the number of books I've conquered in my lifetime. So for the heck of it I decided to visit Time's site to see how many books on the list I'd read. Only 25! Bummer! Ah, but there are so many on the list I've been meaning to read!
I wondered what other lists existed out there, so I dug around and found some other book lists. Here are the number of books I've read on a few of them:
NEA Teacher's Top 100: 88
NY Public Library's List of 100 Pictures Books Everyone Should Know: 55
The ALA's 100 Most Challenged Books from 1990-2000: 56
"Western 100"--a list of best 20th century fiction written in or about the West: 26
The SF Club's Most Significant Science Fiction and Fantasy Books: 6
Random House Modern Library 100 Best Fiction Books of the 20th Century: 21
Radcliffe Publishing Course's "100 Best Novels of the 20th Century": 45
Pulitzer Prize winners from 1918-2004: 14
BBC's "The Big Read" - Top 100 Books: 45.5
Feminista!'s "100 Great 20th Century Works of Fiction by Women": 22
Oprah's Favorites: 28
The 100 Worst Books of the 20th Century: 13
Just because I'm a teacher it probably isn't surprising that I have read so many children's book, but considering I teach teenagers, it SHOULD BE rather surprising. That's a throw back to my days as a book seller. Had to read what I peddled!
It is startling to me that many of the books I've read on the list I haven't read recently. Of course, several of these lists are from the 20th century and we're WAY passed that now. I wonder if I have been reading just junk the last few years? Some of the best books I've read will never show up on these snooty lists, though. I couldn't find a list of bizarre, edgy books out there. Maybe I'll just create my own!
Well, I have much reading to do...unfortunately, tonight my reading consists of reading what my students have written about the books they've read. Interesting, yes, but not quite as satisfying as a nice thick, engrossing novel...maybe this weekend. sigh
I wondered what other lists existed out there, so I dug around and found some other book lists. Here are the number of books I've read on a few of them:
NEA Teacher's Top 100: 88
NY Public Library's List of 100 Pictures Books Everyone Should Know: 55
The ALA's 100 Most Challenged Books from 1990-2000: 56
"Western 100"--a list of best 20th century fiction written in or about the West: 26
The SF Club's Most Significant Science Fiction and Fantasy Books: 6
Random House Modern Library 100 Best Fiction Books of the 20th Century: 21
Radcliffe Publishing Course's "100 Best Novels of the 20th Century": 45
Pulitzer Prize winners from 1918-2004: 14
BBC's "The Big Read" - Top 100 Books: 45.5
Feminista!'s "100 Great 20th Century Works of Fiction by Women": 22
Oprah's Favorites: 28
The 100 Worst Books of the 20th Century: 13
Just because I'm a teacher it probably isn't surprising that I have read so many children's book, but considering I teach teenagers, it SHOULD BE rather surprising. That's a throw back to my days as a book seller. Had to read what I peddled!
It is startling to me that many of the books I've read on the list I haven't read recently. Of course, several of these lists are from the 20th century and we're WAY passed that now. I wonder if I have been reading just junk the last few years? Some of the best books I've read will never show up on these snooty lists, though. I couldn't find a list of bizarre, edgy books out there. Maybe I'll just create my own!
Well, I have much reading to do...unfortunately, tonight my reading consists of reading what my students have written about the books they've read. Interesting, yes, but not quite as satisfying as a nice thick, engrossing novel...maybe this weekend. sigh
October 23, 2005
Password Panic
In the department meeting on Monday we discussed how the new program to raise our students’ skills is being implemented. We landed on the watch list this year, which is no surprise considering the number of ELL students in our school’s population. Our supervisor reminded us about interim testing and how we would be able to access our students’ results on IDMS rather quickly after the assessment is given so we can use the information to remediate.
Now, I have been meaning to get on IDMS to access my students’ test scores from last year to see if I need to refer anybody to tutoring. There just seems to be a million other pressing things to do. Plus, well, uhm, I can’t remember how to get to IDMS, and I know once I get there, I am not sure I know what my password is. I think I know, but if I don’t, how can I admit to anyone that I can’t remember how to get onto a program I am suppose to be using? I’m too young to plead age and memory loss.
The truth is that I’m losing my sanity in trying to remember all of my passwords to life. It’s mostly at work where I have to know so many passwords, but my personal life is getting a little overrun with passwords and codes, too. How do people keep this straight? Do I need a little address book just to direct me to the important places I need to visit electronically? But if I have these things written down somewhere, does that pose some sort of security risk? Or is my real risk my inability to remember all these little numbers and letters that keep my private business all locked up?
All these codes and passwords started off slowly. I have two personal e-mail accounts that I can easily keep straight. No problem there. Once I memorized my bank account number, it was only a matter of remembering which of my favorite passwords was attached to it so that I could manage my account online. This was a necessity, as my bank doesn’t send out notices in the mail, so without online access, I cannot balance my checkbook. After that it took me a month to stop confusing my ATM pin number with the gate code at my apartment complex, which is also a four-digit number, but I finally have that all straightened out in my head.
The real trouble started when I went to work for the school district. Right away I had more passwords and codes than I could keep straight. My Interact account, the district e-mail system, was not so easy to memorize at first, but luckily it uses a combination of parts of my name and my social security number. The trick was to remember what parts and in what order. I couldn’t even tell you what my user name is to log onto the system each morning because it’s automatically on the screen. Luckily the password is one that I chose, but unfortunately, I have to change it several times a year. Our ESC, which is our school’s computer guru, suggested that we just keep adding numbers onto the back of it. So if my password were “bananas”, the first time I had to change it, I would have made it “bananas1” and then the next time “bananas2” and so on and so forth. This rings true for logging in to take attendance, too. So, of course I chose the same password for both. It works pretty well, but their cycles of password changing do not match up, so I have to remember which password has which number at the end. Our ECS also suggested that we simply use our Interact user name and password for the Edline program that we use to post students’ grades online. She is a genius! Of course she knows how hard it is for the newbies to keep names and passwords straight!
So, once I learned the system of my daily computer use, it wasn’t so bad. But then the day came when I needed to call in sick! Oh holy nightmare! So I went digging through my orientation papers to try to find this magic code. There is no way I could memorize where to go, who to call, and what my password is. Is that a deliberate deterrent to keep us from calling in sick too often? I have it written down in a few places, but my biggest fear is that I’ll be half dead from some virus the students passed to me, and I won’t be able to call in because it’s a process that requires a bunch of random numbers that were assigned to me. A group of numbers that have no relationship to me—they don’t even have a pattern that I can chant in my head to learn. I guess the absolute worst that could happen is that I could get amnesia. On the other hand, there would be much more relief in not knowing I can’t remember what I am suppose to remember—much better than knowing I should remember something, but don’t.
I was coasting along for several months when this password craziness really exploded. Our school uses several online programs, and simply remembering the URL’s can be a challenge to me. Hence the IDMS dilemma where I can’t remember how to get there. Thank goodness for bookmarks, I suppose, which I should remember to use more often. If I did, I wouldn’t be having the IDMS dilemma. But then again I might, since I use three different computers on a regular basis. Besides, I can always use a search engine to find the site, but again, once I get there, I need to know a user name and password. I can’t use bookmarks or search engines to figure that out. Besides checking test scores on IDMS, we have a tutoring program, a writing program, and reading program for our students to use online. In addition to that, my yearbook program is entirely online, there are several educational and research sites we subscribe to as a school, and I recently received the complicated user name and password for the IBO program’s website. I chose to subscribe to none of these things, yet these are the tools we use in education—tools locked up in a cabinet I’m required to unlock with my memory.
Isn't the theory that the more we use our memory, the less we'll lose in old age? It sure doesn't feel like it. I might keep my memory but lose my mind. I’m patiently waiting for technology that doesn’t require me to remember dozens of passwords to protect the safety of my information—or my students’ information. Something like a opti-scan, voice recognition—or hey, in my worst moments I’d be willing to give up blood for a DNA sample if it meant I didn’t have to admit I can’t remember my password.
Now, I have been meaning to get on IDMS to access my students’ test scores from last year to see if I need to refer anybody to tutoring. There just seems to be a million other pressing things to do. Plus, well, uhm, I can’t remember how to get to IDMS, and I know once I get there, I am not sure I know what my password is. I think I know, but if I don’t, how can I admit to anyone that I can’t remember how to get onto a program I am suppose to be using? I’m too young to plead age and memory loss.
The truth is that I’m losing my sanity in trying to remember all of my passwords to life. It’s mostly at work where I have to know so many passwords, but my personal life is getting a little overrun with passwords and codes, too. How do people keep this straight? Do I need a little address book just to direct me to the important places I need to visit electronically? But if I have these things written down somewhere, does that pose some sort of security risk? Or is my real risk my inability to remember all these little numbers and letters that keep my private business all locked up?
All these codes and passwords started off slowly. I have two personal e-mail accounts that I can easily keep straight. No problem there. Once I memorized my bank account number, it was only a matter of remembering which of my favorite passwords was attached to it so that I could manage my account online. This was a necessity, as my bank doesn’t send out notices in the mail, so without online access, I cannot balance my checkbook. After that it took me a month to stop confusing my ATM pin number with the gate code at my apartment complex, which is also a four-digit number, but I finally have that all straightened out in my head.
The real trouble started when I went to work for the school district. Right away I had more passwords and codes than I could keep straight. My Interact account, the district e-mail system, was not so easy to memorize at first, but luckily it uses a combination of parts of my name and my social security number. The trick was to remember what parts and in what order. I couldn’t even tell you what my user name is to log onto the system each morning because it’s automatically on the screen. Luckily the password is one that I chose, but unfortunately, I have to change it several times a year. Our ESC, which is our school’s computer guru, suggested that we just keep adding numbers onto the back of it. So if my password were “bananas”, the first time I had to change it, I would have made it “bananas1” and then the next time “bananas2” and so on and so forth. This rings true for logging in to take attendance, too. So, of course I chose the same password for both. It works pretty well, but their cycles of password changing do not match up, so I have to remember which password has which number at the end. Our ECS also suggested that we simply use our Interact user name and password for the Edline program that we use to post students’ grades online. She is a genius! Of course she knows how hard it is for the newbies to keep names and passwords straight!
So, once I learned the system of my daily computer use, it wasn’t so bad. But then the day came when I needed to call in sick! Oh holy nightmare! So I went digging through my orientation papers to try to find this magic code. There is no way I could memorize where to go, who to call, and what my password is. Is that a deliberate deterrent to keep us from calling in sick too often? I have it written down in a few places, but my biggest fear is that I’ll be half dead from some virus the students passed to me, and I won’t be able to call in because it’s a process that requires a bunch of random numbers that were assigned to me. A group of numbers that have no relationship to me—they don’t even have a pattern that I can chant in my head to learn. I guess the absolute worst that could happen is that I could get amnesia. On the other hand, there would be much more relief in not knowing I can’t remember what I am suppose to remember—much better than knowing I should remember something, but don’t.
I was coasting along for several months when this password craziness really exploded. Our school uses several online programs, and simply remembering the URL’s can be a challenge to me. Hence the IDMS dilemma where I can’t remember how to get there. Thank goodness for bookmarks, I suppose, which I should remember to use more often. If I did, I wouldn’t be having the IDMS dilemma. But then again I might, since I use three different computers on a regular basis. Besides, I can always use a search engine to find the site, but again, once I get there, I need to know a user name and password. I can’t use bookmarks or search engines to figure that out. Besides checking test scores on IDMS, we have a tutoring program, a writing program, and reading program for our students to use online. In addition to that, my yearbook program is entirely online, there are several educational and research sites we subscribe to as a school, and I recently received the complicated user name and password for the IBO program’s website. I chose to subscribe to none of these things, yet these are the tools we use in education—tools locked up in a cabinet I’m required to unlock with my memory.
Isn't the theory that the more we use our memory, the less we'll lose in old age? It sure doesn't feel like it. I might keep my memory but lose my mind. I’m patiently waiting for technology that doesn’t require me to remember dozens of passwords to protect the safety of my information—or my students’ information. Something like a opti-scan, voice recognition—or hey, in my worst moments I’d be willing to give up blood for a DNA sample if it meant I didn’t have to admit I can’t remember my password.
October 1, 2005
Stuart, do you know what the meth heads are doing to our stuffy noses?
It may have been 95 degrees yesterday, but fall is still in there air. That means that whatever I'm allergic to this time of year is keeping me stuffy and runny at the same time. Fortunately for me, some pseudoephedrine, as I affectionally call them, "my little red pills," clears me right up without drowsiness nor pain in the pocketbook.
Apparently, though, it is necessary for me to stand in line at the pharmacy--behind mothers who must have chronically ill families judging by their cart full of drugs--to purchase my $2.84 30-count box of little red pills.
And why is this?
Because of the damn meth heads.
Do I look like a meth head?
Well, I guess it could happen.
But I am not. So, thank you very much to all the low-lives out there who infect the youth with their cheap batches of chemical thrill and and blow up their bio hazard kitchen laboratories.
Thank you very much bringing on another nuisance to my life.
Apparently, though, it is necessary for me to stand in line at the pharmacy--behind mothers who must have chronically ill families judging by their cart full of drugs--to purchase my $2.84 30-count box of little red pills.
And why is this?
Because of the damn meth heads.
Do I look like a meth head?
Well, I guess it could happen.
But I am not. So, thank you very much to all the low-lives out there who infect the youth with their cheap batches of chemical thrill and and blow up their bio hazard kitchen laboratories.
Thank you very much bringing on another nuisance to my life.
September 20, 2005
From the Mouths of Middle Schoolers
"I learned from experience not to run after a boy."
This is from a note the 7th grade teacher next door to me found on the floor. It just makes me laugh.
Learned from experience??
Ah, to be 12 and know it all.
About the third year I was a teacher, I realized that there was no use fighting it. The kids truly do know more than I do. I don't really believe this, but I might as well because I can't convince my students otherwise.
But you know, with true wisdom like the excerpt above...I don't know...maybe we do get dumber with age.
This 30-ish year old is keeping her ears peeled for more gems of wisdom from the young whippersnappers.
This is from a note the 7th grade teacher next door to me found on the floor. It just makes me laugh.
Learned from experience??
Ah, to be 12 and know it all.
About the third year I was a teacher, I realized that there was no use fighting it. The kids truly do know more than I do. I don't really believe this, but I might as well because I can't convince my students otherwise.
But you know, with true wisdom like the excerpt above...I don't know...maybe we do get dumber with age.
This 30-ish year old is keeping her ears peeled for more gems of wisdom from the young whippersnappers.
September 17, 2005
"Dad Says We Can Have Pancakes for Dinner!"
Chris and I went to Denny's for lunch last weekend, but since it was barely noon on Sunday, it seemed okay to have breakfast food instead of lunch. We often eat at those types of cafes where any kind of meal can be ordered at any time of day, and I don't feel compelled to eat the type of foods that match the meal I should be eating at that time of day, but I do often feel guilty. Like my stomach cares. Or the waitress. Or society. Nobody cares! But it usually gives me pause.
So, on this particular Sunday I decide to order pancakes with eggs over-easy. Actually I ordered eggs over-easy because the meal came with hashbrowns, and hashbrowns are best mushed up with runny eggs. With a little ketchup on top. When the food came, I suddenly remembered the best way to eat pancakes was with eggs over-easy between two pancakes. There's something about that buttery pancake taste with eggs. Syrup is an added bonus yet not necessary.
And that just brought back a childhood memory.
Are you with my stream on consciousness, here?
Just out of the blue, I broke into a story to tell Chris (I'm sure he's often confused where these things come from) about how sometimes Dad would come home from work and suggest we have pancakes and eggs for dinner. My brother Tye and I would be so excited because we weren't the type of family that ate pancakes on a regular basis, in fact we were more a cold cereal family. Plus, the idea of having breakfast foods for dinner just seemed so out of the ordinary. Almost taboo.
I flash back to those days when, for some reason, we didn't have dinner planned when Dad arrived home from work. It would be dark outside, so pancake dinners probably happened in the winter. Dad would be in his work clothes, clomping into the house with his muddy work boots, smelling of oil and cold. He would come through the pantry door and ask what was for dinner, and we'd all shrug. (Okay, this part of the story seems weird--like we hadn't a clue what to eat. Where was Mom?) So, he'd say, "Let's have pancakes." So, we'd rush to get the electric skillet out. Gunked and old, it had fried many chickens, bags of potatoes, and only occasionally, bits of liver and onion. (Yuck!) We'd plug it in to warm up, and when it started popping and creaking it's would be ready to go. It only took a few minutes to whip up some batter made from Bisquick, and in just a few minutes after that, we'd be turning out pancakes and eggs. It was all made to order, so on those nights we may have eaten at the table, as we always did as a family for dinner, but it was "Eat it while it's hot!"
To tell it now seems so mundane. Big deal. You ate pancakes for dinner. But then it seemed so special. It wasn't another night of fishsticks and rice. It wasn't chicken and green beans. And it thankfully wasn't another night of hotdish. (I have a gazillion ways to make hotdish.) It was pankcakes. It was special. I was a kid. It was the simple things in life.
Actually, it still is the simple things in life. Perhaps that's why these flashing memories of the strangest things at the strangest times are the best.
So, on this particular Sunday I decide to order pancakes with eggs over-easy. Actually I ordered eggs over-easy because the meal came with hashbrowns, and hashbrowns are best mushed up with runny eggs. With a little ketchup on top. When the food came, I suddenly remembered the best way to eat pancakes was with eggs over-easy between two pancakes. There's something about that buttery pancake taste with eggs. Syrup is an added bonus yet not necessary.
And that just brought back a childhood memory.
Are you with my stream on consciousness, here?
Just out of the blue, I broke into a story to tell Chris (I'm sure he's often confused where these things come from) about how sometimes Dad would come home from work and suggest we have pancakes and eggs for dinner. My brother Tye and I would be so excited because we weren't the type of family that ate pancakes on a regular basis, in fact we were more a cold cereal family. Plus, the idea of having breakfast foods for dinner just seemed so out of the ordinary. Almost taboo.
I flash back to those days when, for some reason, we didn't have dinner planned when Dad arrived home from work. It would be dark outside, so pancake dinners probably happened in the winter. Dad would be in his work clothes, clomping into the house with his muddy work boots, smelling of oil and cold. He would come through the pantry door and ask what was for dinner, and we'd all shrug. (Okay, this part of the story seems weird--like we hadn't a clue what to eat. Where was Mom?) So, he'd say, "Let's have pancakes." So, we'd rush to get the electric skillet out. Gunked and old, it had fried many chickens, bags of potatoes, and only occasionally, bits of liver and onion. (Yuck!) We'd plug it in to warm up, and when it started popping and creaking it's would be ready to go. It only took a few minutes to whip up some batter made from Bisquick, and in just a few minutes after that, we'd be turning out pancakes and eggs. It was all made to order, so on those nights we may have eaten at the table, as we always did as a family for dinner, but it was "Eat it while it's hot!"
To tell it now seems so mundane. Big deal. You ate pancakes for dinner. But then it seemed so special. It wasn't another night of fishsticks and rice. It wasn't chicken and green beans. And it thankfully wasn't another night of hotdish. (I have a gazillion ways to make hotdish.) It was pankcakes. It was special. I was a kid. It was the simple things in life.
Actually, it still is the simple things in life. Perhaps that's why these flashing memories of the strangest things at the strangest times are the best.
September 5, 2005
Cruel Shoes
The day before school started I was doing some last minute shopping at the mall. I was searching for some cool clothing that look professional. I found a cute outfit at Mervyn's that was not practical at all. Well, maybe not an outfit because I don't think I'll wear the pieces together, although I could. The black crops are cute--as if I need another pair of black pants. The pink satin cami is way cute and perfect for the pinstrip suit I bought earlier this summer, although I am still not sure about wearing tops that look like lingerie. The black shrug wasn't practical at all considering it was 105 degrees outside when I bought it.
But it was while I was walking out of Mervyn's on the way to the parking lot that I found the cutest shoes! They're like Mary Jane dress shoes, tennis shoes, and they're SKECHERS! I never met a Skechers I didn't like, and I decided these were perfect!
But it was while I was walking out of Mervyn's on the way to the parking lot that I found the cutest shoes! They're like Mary Jane dress shoes, tennis shoes, and they're SKECHERS! I never met a Skechers I didn't like, and I decided these were perfect!
That was before I wore them. By 7:00 a.m.on the first day of school--an hour before even school started--I was crippled. Some of my helpful friends said, "Put on some bandaids." I did. Shortly after 7:00 a.m. They rubbed off. Cheap-ass bandaids. Another one said, "Girl, you're shoes are too big, that's why you have blisters." No, I was walking with my toes shoved up front so IT WOULDN'T RUB ANYMORE. There were never any blisters. Just open wounds. 
So, what's a girl to do besides suffer? Grin and bear it? All in the name of fashion, yesiree! Well, fashion for one day because for the rest of the week I had to find something professional to wear with my leather sandals. And I'm sure at some points I was neither both professional nor fashionable. Sigh. So much for trying.
The root of this shoe problem is that my feet are not used to being trapped. My heels are going to bleed no matter what shoes I put on--no matter how long I've had them or how painful it was to break my feet into them the first time. It's not just back-to-school time, it's TOUGHEN-UP-MY-FEET-FOR-REGULAR-SHOES time. So, wish me luck as I befriend the devil that lives in my shoes. Gotta dash now to Rite-Aid and stock up on band-aids.
My new favorite shoes. Aren't they cool? No, they're cruel.
Sigh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)