Last Day of Spring Break

The last 2 days prior to Spring break were insane to say the least. The weather was beautiful to add to the mix. I write this as I am looking out of my window watching up to 9 inches accumulate outside.

On Thursday I broke up 2 fights with 2 different sets of boys and on Friday I broke up a girl fight of my own homeroom. Happy to be able to leave and begin a weeks worth of grading, I managed to get all the way to my car with all of my bags when I noticed a fight with 2 other girls from one of my 7th grade classes. I dropped my things, had my 2 of my students watch my bags, break up the fight, and managed to bring one of the girls to the Principal, explain what I saw, and leave for my break.

Now I am on my last day, with lesson plans to write, laundry to do, grades to enter, grocery shopping to do, and an apartment to clean. I have done nothing but work but feel even more behind than ever. The only thing I actually did for myself this whole week was go to lunch with my BF and some friends from the company I worked at before teaching, and managed to get my eyebrows threaded just before. That was the first time in 2 years I've had the chance to have it done professionally. My silly plan of actually having time to work on something for myself was a dream. Guess that work will have to wait until summer vacation. Oh, wait, they decided to go with year round school this year. What summer vacation?

Last Saturday School......Till Next ISAT

Yesterday was the Saturday school for me, Hazzah! Only 3 students showed up for class. They were probably thinking the same thing that I was, ISAT's are over why have class? Since it was such a small class I thought it would be quiet. My usual "difficult case" was not there so the constant disruption would be gone. Silly me. One boy who is normally quiet decided to take his place. He was bouncing off of the walls for the entire 3.5 hours! I had him at one point do some jumping jacks to get some of the energy out of him. I swear, he must have eaten an entire box of CapNCrunch before he came to school.

With ISAT's over I didn't feel like putting them through drills of extended responses. Instead we played a version of Jeopardy. It was actually a lot of fun. Except for my bouncing off the walls boy. He just couldn't focus to save his life. Being a parent of a child with ADD/ADHD all I could see was what my child looked like in 7th grade without meds.

All I have to say is, one more week till Spring Break!

No More Taxes

I guess we should get some sort of congratulations here in Chicago. We will now have the highest sales tax rate in the U.S. Now if I spend $100 on an item I will be paying an additional $10.25 for that item. Don't get me wrong, I understand the concept of taxes and don't argue them. But when I drive over literally HUNDREDS of potholes on my 60 mile round trip to work (and they just keep getting bigger and bigger. I saw the entire front end of a car swallowed a few weeks ago by a pothole. I was just thankful it was in the opposite direction from the way I go to work!) and gas is projected to be $4 a gallon by summer, something has got to give. I already pay $3.29 a gallon and have to fill up twice a week.

Progress Reports

It's funny how a class full of students that refuse to be quiet, rarely turn in work, and are disrespectful become enraged when they see D's and F's on their progress reports. I waited until I was dismissing by the door to individually hand them out and push them out the door. Other teachers gave out the reports before we left. I was accosted by 10 students enraged by their grades, one student who gave me a high 5 because his Dad came to school a few weeks before after he received an F (he was pulling a C and was not only happy but very respectful), and one boy who looked almost at the point of tears because he got an F. He is a sweet boy but never seems to be able to keep his mouth closed. I usually have him as a helper to burn off his energy but it doesn't seem to be enough.

Tomorrow I will probably have 15 calls from parents who can't understand how I could give their child a grade of C, D, or F. What they should be asking is, why is their child earning those grades? Most of the parents who will call I have called several times about behavior issues. At least it is only Progress Report, not the actual 3rd quarter and I have the data to back up my grades.

Too Much Time....

Since the 1st week of January I have been teaching Saturday school at the current job. We have been trying to get the students ready for the ISAT's. I have been working with the remedial readers and it has been a struggle getting up every morning at 4:30 and not getting home till 5, 6 days a week. This is the first time I have had a 3 day weekend, hell even a 2 day weekend since Christmas. I woke up this morning and didn't know what to do with my time.

There are so many projects I want to start but know I will not have the time to finish. Since my hard-drive was wiped I have to re-install all of my software. That includes my genealogy stuff. I just don't think I can get to it in such a short time. Instead I completely cleaned the apartment and now I don't know what to do.

If I were smart I would return some long overdue e-mails...

It's been a long time since I've had a minute to post. Thought you would like to see the new members of the clan.

Benni & Joon.

Benni is our puppy and Joon is our wonderful fluffy kitty.

It has really been great coming home to creatures that are always glad to see you.

Wish the classroom were more like that. I do have some great days but then, some days really suck too.

The huge plus about my current teaching position is, I will be in the documentary they have been filming this year about the arts in my school. Both of my school wide projects will be in it, with of course me too. The first project was coordinating a debate with 4-8 grades debating Civil Liberties for Social Studies/Language Arts night. It was the focus for the entire night. Currently we are working on a project I developed on the Colonies. Students will grow their own crops and create a virtual colony. I am pretty stoked. I've also attached a pic of the new school.

The Other Boleyn Girl-sigh

It really saddens the heart when facts don't seem to be as exciting as a "good movie". Though I have not read or watched the film I have a pretty good idea where the story is going. The issue I have with the retelling of actual events is that Anne was not in England for most of her upbringing. She was in the French Court, in France. She went back to England to marry Lord Percy.

Anne did not chase Henry VIII. Henry VIII chased her. That is, after denying her the right to marry Lord Percy. The first time he laid eyes on here was when Lord Percy and Anne were before him for his conscent to marry. Henry had already left Mary in the dust at this point, while she was pregnant. Henry was so crazy about Anne he wrote her poetry and a song we still know the melody of today. The original title is "Greensleves" (Henry wrote the lyrics and music). Today we know it as a Christmas Carol called "What Child Is This".

I will probably see it when it comes on cable and feel sad. I dedicated my academic focus on the Tudor Monarcy. Though my focus was between the years 1554-1558, I still am pretty familiar with the entire reign 1495-1603, up until Elizabeth I death and the passing of the throne to James I of Scotland.

It was the same thing when "Braveheart" came out. Sure, I saw it and liked a several scenes but it was not historically accurate. Just as I fear "The Other Boleyn Girl will be.