Grad school blues...

I am sick of Grad school. I know I have said this before, the feeling just wont go away. I have had a clod for a few days, and therefore have not gotten any work done. I took my first two sick days yesterday and Monday, which is a new record for me. I usually get very ill in October and again in November. As usual, I have awoken from my cold hibernation only to panic at the amount of work to be done. I am behind on my lesson plans, I need to make a new seating chart because I decided to rearrange the tables the day before I got sick, I need to write an article summary/critique for my class tomorrow, and rewrite the questions from my midterm that I got wrong explaining why I thought the answer was right, all for tomorrow. Instead of doing any of these things I am blogging. I find comfort in complaining, why I am not sure.
I'm tired, I might go to bed early and worry about it all tomorrow.

I have been an emotional wreak. I am so happy, so proud, so relieved. We did it, everyone that voted for Obama did it! I feel like I have been quoting Michelle Obama all day, "For the first time in my adult life I am very proud of our country."

My students were super hyper today for a good reason. I had decided on the way to work, when I couldn't stop crying, that my students should make a collage to express their feelings about the election outcome. Discussing this was more difficult than I had expected. I had a difficult time explaining the idea because so many students wanted to interrupt and share their opinion, stories, worries, etc. I am glad they are aware of the enormity of this day, but if we could speak one at a time we could express our feelings through art.

At the end of the day we had a "family" meeting in the gym. All the students and staff gathered to talk about the election. We discussed how we learn about dates in our history courses that changed our country, but this date we lived during, we experienced, and we will never forget. One staff member shared that being a minority she always felt off to the side, never really included in the "American dream." Now, because a minority is the president elect she feels the dream is a reality, you really can be anything you want when you grow up, even the president of the United States of America.


Another staff shared a text she received, you may have heard it;
"Rosa Parks sat so that Martin Luther King Jr. could walk, King walked so that Obama could run."

Nov. 4

Well the big day has finally arrived! I have been looking forward to Nov. 4 for a long long time, about two years. I have been wanting to vote so that I can stop being nervous, but I am still nervous. I woke up a bit early, 7am is early when I don't have to work, jumped out of bed told the kids to gather up some books and coloring because we were going to vote. They were not nearly as excited as I was. I think the exact quote was "Do we have to go?" Yes, I said this is an amazing and historic election, I want you to experience it. So I showered, got dressed, and piled the kids in our decrepit minivan.

If you do not know about our decrepit minivan, let me explain. Our van is not old but seems to be aging very fast. The gas gage does not work, we keep track by miles. The radiator overheats unless you always have the heat on, which is fine in the winter, not so good in the summer. Last year while I was at a professional development on Cathedral St. downtown Baltimore, my passengers side window was broken so the thief could have my bag, which looked like a laptop bag but really was only holding my year of lesson plans and a year of research. We have not been able to afford to replace the window, which is ok when you need fresh air because of the heat. Recently the steering began to make loud squeaking noises when I turn. So the van has issues.

When I got near the retirement home where I vote there were cars parked down the street. I kept driving hoping for a closer spot. I found one very close and saw a very long line.

It wrapped around the parking lot several ways and I could not see a door in site. I knew my children would revolt so I asked them if they would like to wait in the car, they did. Luckily for my excellent parking spot I could see the car the entire 4 1/2 hours I was in line. Yes I did say 4 1/2 hours! I arrived at the parking lot at 8:40am and got to my van at 1:15pm. I kept jogging back to my car to make sure the kids were ok, they were of course. Zeek brought 2 books and finished one and started the other. Little blue was not as content and wanted some music, I agreed. I was very happy to see so many people wait so long and I did not hear any complaints, except for my stomach. I voted successfully and ran back to my car. Kids were good, but hungry. I turned the key, the battery was dead. The decrepit van had used up the battery listening to music for an hour, usually the radio does not use enough power to drain a battery. Well, kids time to walk! Luckily we live close.
Now I am still nervous, I want to hear reports, but it is too early. Hopefully everyone reading this has already voted, and now all we can do is wait for the good news.

Update: As I was finishing up this post my husband came home, he only stood in line 45min. He said that our polling station was on the news for having the longest wait.

Update 2: the following picture I found on a local news channel website. I am in this picture, reading a book that Zeek had finished. At that point I had been waiting almost 4 hours.

On the other side of the trees is the retirement home.

Sometimes things work out

My last blog I was pretty defeated. Friday was definitely better. The new schedule is actually better because instead of having three 6th grades for 45min each, I will have one 6th grade for 70 Min's. They will get more work done, the extra time is all for them. My drill, instruction, clean up times all remain the same its just their work time that increases.
I took Monday off to spend with my kids since they don't have school, so I have a 4 day weekend to finish my grades and chill with my own kids. I think the break is much needed so that I can start 2nd quarter a bit more refreshed.

I spoke too soon....

Today was not good. My first period was so horrible, students talking during their test, cursing, some students wouldn't even take the test, and a parent stopped by to observe because she had been hearing such horrible reports from her son. Great.

My other classes were ok, but not good. Then we (teachers) find out there will be an adjustment to the schedule, but it will only affect the SPARS, that's what I teach! On top of that the 8th and 6th grades are reorganising their students, classes that I have been teaching will be all mixed up, I might have new students, and lose others. BOOOOO!

At least some of my students made fantastic campaign posters,

So Far So Good

Well, I am having a great week! I had my formal observation on Monday, and my AP said she was impressed! No one has ever said that before, usually they say I did great and then tell me all kinds of ways to make it even better. I also feel like I have earned some respect from my students. I have had decent behavior and did not have to call school police at all this week. I made several phone calls I made last week and have seen a huge difference in 3 of my difficult students. Yesterday, out of the blue, a computer repair person appeared in my classroom. The librarian had showed him to my room because he knew I had several iMacs. I never placed a work order, someone else in my building had called him because there are several other iMacs they wanted removed and by accident he was delivered to my classroom. He replaced the hard drives in all of them and re imaged them with new software! I now have 11 working apple computers, that run faster, have office, and can go on the Internet. What can I say, so far, so good. :)

I read a book today, and I loved it!

I was at the book store yesterday because Zeek wanted to read "Ida B...and Her Plans to Maximise Fun and Avoid Disaster, and Possibly Save the World." This is not something Zeek would normally see and want to read but his school is reading it for a book club and he wants to participate. While I was at the book store (which by the way did not have the Ida B book I was looking for and I had to drive to Towson in a rainstorm to get it) I saw The Diamond of Darkhold by Jeanne DuPrau! I LOVED The City of Ember, The People of Sparks, and The Prophet of Yonwood. If you haven't read these you need to. I had no idea she was writing a fourth book and was a bit excited.

This is the first page from The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

The Instructions;
When the city of Ember was just built and not yet inhabited, the Chief Builder and the Assistant Builder, both of them weary, sat down to speak of the future.
“They must not leave the city for at least two hundred years,” said the Chief Builder. “Or perhaps two hundred and twenty.”
“Is that long enough?” asked his Assistant.
“It should be. We can’t know for sure.”
“And when the time comes,” said the Assistant, “how will they know what to do?”
“We’ll provide them with instructions, of course,” the Chief Builder replied.
“But who will keep the instructions? Who can we trust to keep them safe and secret all that time?"

I love mysterious beginnings.
The newest Book of Ember, The Diamond of Darkhold is a fantastic end to the series.
If you haven't heard the first Book of Ember is now a movie, so read the book first, books are always better.