Ronan's Escape

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XLcfdkkHQE

I came across this really powerful anti-bullying short film today. It is pretty disturbing but I think it would have a really big impact with students!

FYI

Going Un Green

So one of the reasons I chose to buy the house I did is because it was surrounded by woods and nature. I loved the isolation and wildlife that wandered into my yard because of it. 

My land curls around me in a U shape, but the fields in front of my house are owned by someone else. 

Two weeks ago lumber trucks showed up and absolutely decimated the land. 

I've been really depressed about it...

Well today I came home from work and found out that the lumber trucks and bulldozers have been using my driveway as a pathway across the field. 

I can tell that they completely dug the driveway up and then tried to pack it down. 

However, they dug up all the gravel and all that is left is dirt and a pretty sizable dip. The second it rains my driveway is going to be completely impassable. 

I have spent all afternoon trying to contact the correct people to discuss this issue to no avail. 

I just find this to be really rude!

Lovely uprooted trees and dirt!

This field used to be completely surrounded by trees at the horizon line....they are ALL gone now. 

Dirt at its finest. 

My dug up driveway (you can't really tell there is a dip from the pictures)

Another view of my driveway

Point of View

If you are looking for a great opener for differing viewpoints I found this video today:

I suppose it could also work well in a bullying discussion!

Quick Update

I thought I would drop in to say that blog posts are going to be a little spotty this week. 

I thought I could get everything done, but I am admitting defeat. 

On Friday (at the end of planning) we were pulled into a meeting and told that we were going to start mandatory english and math tutoring of students during our planning period starting tomorrow (Tuesday). 

Now I don't mind this because we do it every year. What I do mind is that the higher ups knew this was coming for weeks and waited to tell us until the last second. This left us english and math teachers scrambling to get together lists of students, passes, curriculums, and create answer keys for the teachers who don't teach our subjects and are helping out. 

I am also trying to figure out what my students need to review before their year end test. I've said many times before this is a different breed of student than in previous years. 

Of the 65 kids I have on my roster I have 15 bubble kids (kids that could go either way on the test) which is the highest it has ever been. My test is on May 13th and I can't figure out what will push them over the top!

We also have a faculty meeting tomorrow (grrrr). 

On top of that I am still working on my home improvements which means that I have people coming to my house almost every day to talk to me during the time I would normally devote to writing my blog posts. 

I hope that you are surviving the year end crunch time a little bit better than I am!

I'll try to check in this week with a few little anecdotes! 

Unicorn Blood

I came across this post on The Oatmeal the other day:

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/printers

I have a real problem with printers, and I HATE to buy ink for them.

I mean....really. Why is ink so expensive? This is ridiculous.

I did a little more research and I came across this little gem:

So basically, I can save someone else's life, clear up an infection, get drunk, hydrated, energized, AND drive cross country before I could pay to print a few pieces of paper. 

Something should be done about this.....who's with me?!

Short Story Thursday -Adventureland

Adventureland

One day on Christmas break (the second most wonderful time of the year for teachers) I was eating lunch with my (then) boyfriend when he said, “I want to go on an adventure.” This simple sentence made me like him just a little bit more because I am ALWAYS saying the exact same thing. Being a teacher I sometimes feel like my life is the same thing day in and day out. Wake up at the same time, drive the same drive, spend eight hours a day in the same classroom with the same kids, and doing the same subject 200 days a year can really get to someone. I akin it to the American educational system’s version of Chinese water torture. Eventually, the feeling of, “I MUST do something new” becomes overwhelming.

My boyfriend and I immediately started discussing viable options for an “adventure.”

I brought up to him the fact that I have been fascinated with post apocalyptic novels and dystopias for quite a while. Granted, post apocalyptic books are generally, if not always, dark and twisty, but I can't get enough of them. I think that it all started with reading Cormac McCarthy’s “The Road.” I love the idea of being one of the last people of earth and my whole life being geared toward survival. Not worrying about work, bills, or grown up responsibilities, but simply LIVING.

You've got to admit that it sounds pretty tempting!

However, I wasn’t really able to sell the whole idea of dominating the world and creating our own utopia (or dystopia depending on which end of my world domination you are on) to my boyfriend. He instead suggested we work on an adventure that would be feasible in a weekend and perhaps with less mass casualties (not devoid of ALL casualties mind you, just less).

If he was surprised by my first idea he was even more unprepared for my next response. I told him about a book that I had read last spring that completely stuck with me.

I very rarely laugh out loud at anyone or anything and generally look like I am upset about one thing or another. I can't count the number of times that people walk past me and ask, "Is everything all right?" and I always have to reply, "Yea sorry, this is just how my face looks." It's not that I don't find things funny or amusing neither do I suffer from acute disillusionment (Fun Fact: Virginia Woolf was so disillusioned with life she drowned herself in a nearby lake). It is just that nothing is funny ENOUGH. 

"A Walk in the Woods" is the first book that not only made me laugh out loud but made me HURT from laughing. I stumbled upon 'A Walk In The Woods" because I had just finished John Krakauer's book "Into the Wild" and was obsessed with the idea of dropping everything and running off into the woods and living off the land. The fact that the main character of "Into the Wild" dies of starvation and perhaps poisoning didn't dissuade me at all from my pursuit to learn more. I picked up "A Walk In The Woods" because it seemed to fit right into this desire of mine to rediscover nature. 

From the first page Bryson regaled me with his blunt, sarcastic, and crotchety accounts of preparing for his trip into nature. He details everything from the shopping, to the packing, to the hardships, downfalls, and dangers of the trail in the same witty and irreverent fashion that kept me laughing and calling my friends to share quotes (Seriously I did this...they had to ask me to stop). Bryson also adds in interesting facts about the trail and nature that he encounters on the trail. Some people might find this boring and skip through it, but I actually found it interesting and helpful. For example, I was watching "The Happening" with friends and one boy got so incensed that he shouted to the room, "This is so stupid, plants could never do that!" I was able to pull the book out of my purse and say, "Well actually, according to Bill Bryson's book "A Walk in the Woods" trees and other plants CAN communicate with each other by emitting a chemical that warns each other of incoming danger." People in the room may have made fun of me more for carrying a book in my purse instead of praise me for my remarkable intelligence, but I still got to feel personally triumphant for knowing a useless fact at exactly the right time.

This book was so amusing and addictive I was just waiting for my opportunity to wrangle someone into going on an outdoor adventure with me.

I regaled my boyfriend with sample places and ideas for hiking adventure ideas for quite some time. It didn’t have the desired impact that I had intended because he said, “Wow, lunch was great! I have some phone calls to make so I should go….I’ll call you later.”

I really didn’t feel like wasting a carefree Christmas break afternoon especially since I had gotten myself all riled up so I devised my own plan.

I decided that my puppy and I were going to explore my own backyard. I recently moved into a house that is smack dab in the middle of 8 acres of woods. It seemed like the perfect solution to my problem: easy enough to do in an afternoon, but still new and exciting enough to take a bit of the edge off.

My puppy and I headed out into the vast wilderness that is my backyard. We had a great time crawling over and under fallen trees, splashing in the creeks and rolling streams, investigating animals tracks, and being out in the fresh air. We had a great time, that is, until I realized I had absolutely no idea where we were. Yes, I will admit it, I got lost in my own backyard.

My puppy and I stumbled through the woods for what seemed like days, during which time I realized that it gets really cold, damp, and generally uncomfortable in the woods and it is really not all that fun when the only thing you have to talk to is a dog. I also realized that I am one of the most uncoordinated people you will ever meet. I must have fallen into 27 holes, 3 streams, and slipped on ice that didn’t exist 10 times. Each time I would trip, fall, or maim myself my dog would look at me with a withering stare that I just know was saying, “I can’t believe I got YOU for an owner.”

Finally, after about two hours of “exploring” I heard the sound of cars and rushed my dog towards the direction of the sounds. We crawled out of the woods and I realized that we were right in the midst of someone’s cow pasture. As covertly and quietly as possible (I live in the south where the motto ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ is taken waaaay too literally) I maneuvered my puppy and myself through and over fences so we could make it to the main road at which point I found out we were still one to two miles away from home.

When we made it back to our house I threw myself down on my warm and comfortable bed and decided that maybe my boyfriend had the right idea when he ran away as soon as possible at my “bright” idea.

Reading about adventures and actually GOING on adventures are two different things.

Gearing up...

I have six weeks of this school year left and about four weeks until my end of the year test. 

I was looking through Pinterest and I came across this blog post:

http://learningwithmrsparker.blogspot.com/2013/04/parents-and-common-core.html

This teacher has interesting way of letting parents know how students are doing on each standard - 

She made a copy of the tested standards and highlighted each of them based on how the child is doing in that particular standard. 

green ON Level, yellow APPROACHING level, pink BELOW level

She wrote specific notes for each child as well. 

I feel like this would be a BEAST of a project, but maybe it could also be altered.

You could give each student a copy of the standards and have them gauge how they feel they are doing in each areas. Then they will know what they need to work on before the big test. 

All good things....

All good things must come to and end.....sadly! 

I go back to work today after a week that we have been off for spring break. 

It wasn't a wild spring break, but it was (for the most part) a satisfying one. 

• I went to the zoo with some friends and got felt up by a giraffe (The highlight of the week)
• I had a surprise visit from an old friend that I had not seen in a LONG time.
• I went to a fish store with a friend from work. 
• I went shopping (what lady doesn't like to shop?!)
• I got a LOT of estimates from guys for work I am trying to do on my house.

I bought a house roughly 3 and 1/2 years ago and I have been saving up for a long time to do some improvement work on it. 

My house bucket list:

• New windows and doors (I never turn on my heating and A/C because the windows and doors are so old I can literally hear my money just fly out of the cracks)
• Get the basement waterproofed 
• Get my gravel driveway repaired 
• Get some landscaping around my house (I have no greenery!) 
• I put down laminate flooring when I first moved in but never got the quarter round put down

I know this is a huge list and I don't know what I will be able to afford to get done, but even just talking to all of these contractors is stressing me out. 

Everyone who comes out has a different opinion on what should be done window and basement wise.

I have a few guy friends that have done contracting work and they gave me some tips on dealing with these people. That actually is kind of annoying on its own because I feel like it shouldn't be such a game!

On top of that, I have not been able to get a landscaper or driveway guy to even call me back. 

The estimates are coming back in slowly but surely and I now need to choose people to go with based off of referrals, gut instinct, price, and a little bit of faith. 

Have any of you guys ever done work on your house? How did you choose what contractor to go with?!

Short Story Thursday -Steak and Ale

Continuation of Last Week's Short Story:

Steak and Ale

One of the things I was most excited about during this trip was that every night we were going to get together as a group and go to dinner at restaurants in Atlanta. There was not a lot of variety in the restaurants from back home.

On our first night in ATL at 7pm, we all met in the lobby and proceeded out into the balmy Atlanta night. As we walked down the street we passed interesting restaurant after interesting restaurant I began to get more and more excited about our upcoming dining experience. After about five blocks our group was lead straight to Steak and Ale. It wasn’t the new and exciting restaurant I had been hoping for, but I went with it since we still had three more nights in town.

Our Administrators had other plans for us though and we went to Steak and Ale three out of the four dinners we had there.

On our last night in Atlanta, our group revolted and said that we refused to go to Steak and Ale for the fourth night in a row. The administrators conceded and took us to a Japanese steakhouse. I was BEYOND thrilled because those are my favorite places to eat. We had a wonderful dinner of sushi and steak before heading back to our respective hotel rooms.

The next morning I woke up more sick than I can ever remember feeling in my entire life. I skipped the closing ceremonies of the conference and lay in bed praying that I would just die rather than continue to experience the sickness I was having.

A few hours later I had to call one of my new friends to help me down towards the van home. The only thing I remember saying to the person who helped me was, “Hell hath no fury like ME if you put me on the ASS. Principal’s van.” They took mercy on me and put in the back of their van. It was the most miserable eight hours of my life. I was in and out of consciousness and debilitating pain the whole Time but I finally made it home.

When I was coherent again I googled my symptoms and I am 98.9% positive that I got food poisoning, and based on the Time line, it was probably from the Japanese steak house.

Ironically enough, I would have been better off going to Steak and Ale again!

Famous Failures

I have a big issue this year with kids saying that things are, "Too hardddddd."

Things that have taken previous years 10 minutes will take this group of students 45. 

I feel like students are babied too much and instead of MAKING them do hard things, people have given into them and made life easier on them. 

I refuse to let this continue to be the case and coddle my kids along. 

When we get back from spring break I plan to show them these images:

Then I will show them this video:

The message that I am trying to give them is that

What if all of those previous people had said, "It's too hard, I'm done."

(I might have them make inferences about how the world would be different)

Then, I am going to have them fold a piece of paper in thirds. 

In the middle, I will ask them come up with a goal that they would like to accomplish (hopefully in my class) by the end of the school year.  

On either side I am going to have them write about how life would change for them if they accomplish or don't accomplish said goal. 

I really want them to think about the causes and effects of their actions (which have been basically nothing this year). 

I'll let you know how it goes!

Spring Break!

I am on Spring Break right now!!!

Why can't it be spring break every day?

The first thing I did on spring break was go to a small zoo that is relatively close to my house. 

I met up with some of my friends who moved :( and their daughter. 

We got to feed birds:

So much fun!

My favorite though is the giraffes!!!!

 

This little guy got a little fresh with me! He kept eating my hair (actually got some), licking my face, and nudging me in the chest. Basically, a giraffe got to second base with me. Spring break sure is different when you are a semi-adult!

I love them soooo much! I was talking to Emalee and Tim about getting one. Tim told me that the next time I have to talk to my accountant I should tell him, "Well....my five year plan includes adopting and maintaining a giraffe. Now how can we make this happen?" 

Sigh.....Dreams.

Imaginary boyfriends

So I posted on Friday about book friends I wish could be real life friends. 

Today I thought I would take a few minutes to talk about my current book boyfriends because really....

Boys in books are just better!

Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables

Admittedly I am on an Anne of Green Gables kick as of late as I am reading through all the books, but I love Gilbert! He gives as good as he gets. I've never really dated someone who has the ability to banter with me and that is what I want. Also, he ADORES Anne. How can you not love that?

Lucas from Easy by Tamara Webber

I read this book randomly on my kindle one day and really liked Lucas. He is the brooding character with what appears to be a dark side. What girl doesn't, at some point, want the bad boy? To take a line from Anne of Green Gables, "I wouldn't marry anyone who was really wicked, but I think I'd like it if he could be wicked and wouldn't." 

I have been annoyed with all of the authors trying to take advantage of the Twilight phenomenon and writing crappy supernatural romance, but I liked the first book of this series. That whole bad boy thing also presents itself in Hush, Hush. Patch is a fallen angel who wants to get his wings back. 

I also have a few T.V. boyfriends (who doesn't!)

Nick Miller from The New Girl 

I liked Nick before "The kiss"even if the kiss was pretty epic!

Jonathan Jackson as Lucky Spencer from General Hospital 

 The whole Liz and Lucky storyline started in '97-'98 right around when I was 13-14 and I was hooked. I would record the show and fast forward through everything just to watch their scenes. 

***Nerd alert*** I was even in an online group called the |_ _| (L&L) brigade. I just did a quick search and found our old website: http://www.angelfire.com/or/LandLBrigade/ 

I still think a lot of my ideas of how a man should treat a woman come from how Lucky treated Liz. 

Am I the only nerd our there or do any of you remember the ORIGINAL Lucky and Liz friendship and romance?