my weekend:

In answer to yesterday's question, the late bird gets scolded. I had an uncomfortable conversation, which ended up with me saying to take me off the list. There are just too many provisoes needed for me to go. I hate being so wound up in my job right now, but I am. And, I'm lucky/blessed to have one. And, it's good to have a friend miffed that I can't come; well, far better than her being indifferent.

Today I went to Greensboro to the Southern Baptist Church my mom grew up in. Afterwards, we went to the cemetary where my grandparents are buried. Then, we ate a delicious meal my aunt prepared. It was a solemn and wacky time. My family is always a bit wacky. We listened to the Carolina Panthers game on the way home.

I'm up past my bedtime, which means nothing good for me come 5:30am tomorrow. I like sleep. I'm not the average sleep-deprived American. I respect sleep and am scared of the person I am without it.

I planned lessons after getting home from Greensboro. I'm teaching adjectives, Tale of Despereaux, portraiture and the Arabian Peninsula next week. I'm also teaching 7th graders. I'm trying to be excited. It's jeans week. There's a Halloween dance on Friday (2 hours--we'll have a shortened schedule). I have a four-day week the following two weeks. We're off election day and Veteran's day.

Life is good even if it seems somewhat perfunctory and mundane. Yay, for my tweed skirt.

what does the late bird get?

My week was quick and crappy. I dreaded my last period-- the leaden lump in my stomach, don't eat kind of dread. Then, everything came to a head, and I survived. My students were relatively subdued Friday afternoon; perhaps, their antics exhausted them as well.

I'm supposed to head to DC next weekend for a friend's PhD party, but it seems that I've waited too late and the airline tickets are exorbidantly high. I'm brilliant.

I sewed a cute, tweed skirt today at G's. Spending time with her is always such gift. She's so different from my family-- she thinks before she speaks. She's a sewer not a reader. She's so patient and wise.

I have some tales to tell. Alas, I'm tired.

union

So, I'm a union member nowadays. Thanks to my mom's stern sentence: "Not joining NEA is unethical." So, as tiny as my salary is I shell out the $450 dues. I get nothing tangible for it, but I do have a clean conscience.

Anyway, I got a note in the mail that shows my problem with education (pay attention to the wording).

"Dear New NEA Member,

Welcome to the National Education Association, the organization that stands for great public schools for every child and never stops working for you...."

I read this sentence and got really upset. Then I realized that this word choice defined the difference between my goal as a teacher and the school systems. I want to EDUCATE my students; they want to SCHOOL them. "Educate" comes from the Latin "educare/educo" which means "to lead out". "School" comes from the Greek "schole" which means "free time". Schooling and education are separate yet connected. This philosophical difference is the crux of my frustration. I could educate my kids if I had 16-20 in a classroom, but with 32 in my room I provide them with schooling.

थे बेस्ट लैड plans

Ah, in August I planned a field trip to this science place. I thought a nature center and trails and a rapture center would be really fun and entertaining. We'd get to play outside and learn cool stuff. Then, only about 3/4 of our kids signed up, so I had to stay back. I was bummed that I didn't get to go. Today was field trip day. It turned out, I got the better end of the bargain. I stayed back with twelve kids... another eight or so of our kids played hookie. One of our kids broke his collar bone playing football last night. Another was suspended, etc.

My day rawked!! We read O'Henry's "The Ransom of Red Chief" to start off. Some complained it was too long. Others enjoyed the crazy humor. Red Chief was a lot like Laurie in Shirley Jackson's "Charles". Then I had them different picture books of folk and fairy tales that they needed to map out the plot. Then they did collages. Then we went for a long(er) walk. Then, we read a play. It was a fabulous day. Apparently, the field trip was a bit of a bust. The girls didn't want to get dirty (they had to collect insects and fungus) so they just stood around. The raptor lecture was really good. But, they had to walk a lot. (Actually, I think I would have really enjoyed it... but I'm a geek.)

I didn't get to enter as many of my grades as I was planning to this week due to technical difficulties and time constraints. So, I went to enter the grades and the site is having scheduled maintenance from 5pm Friday to 6am Monday. Awesome. I'm screwed. I guess, my weekend just got more fun.

थे बेस्ट लैड plans

school pictures

I got a package of school pictures today. The pictures were a bit of surprise since I hadn't ordered any. Besides the extremely awkward angle my chin is at, they're okay. The whole incident made me chuckle... what am I going to do with school pictures? It brought memories of other school pictures-- my sixth grade and first grade are the most memorable because of my mullet-esque hairdos and fabulous garb.

Update: I woke up at 5:13 today. I had to pass a car illegally on my way to work because I was running late. "Had to" is a bit of a stretch. "Chose to" is a better fit. It was a stupid and dangerous stunt and I'm glad I survived and nobody got injured-- three cars were coming the other way. I didn't recall my stupidity until I was headed to spiritual direction, which functions partly as confession for me.

My spiritual director wants to come and meet my class. Woohoo. And, I've decided I want to take my students to UNCC to visit a college campus. And, maybe take the ones interested on a Saturday trip to Chapel Hill. We could catch a baseball game maybe.

man-oh-man

It's 7:30pm, and I'm going to bed. Today we studied the five conflicts in story: character vs. character, character vs. fate, character vs. nature, character vs. society, and character vs. self. We'll classify this character vs. fate. The protagonist succumbs to her fate only to rise before her alarm tomorrow morning. I thought that I'd blog so that I wouldn't feel thoroughly routed. We went to see "Body of Lies" this weekend. I want to see it again because it's so dense. And, we hung out with my cousin who will be deployed to Iraq in December. It's getting closer and closer. He promises he'll be doing office work over there (he does have a JD). That seems a little ineffecient. And, I hung out with my first W242 small group members. It was so much fun. I got three pairs of shoes: 2 danskos and 1 keen. And I bought fabric to make 3 skirts. Today after school I entered tons of grades and emailed the teacher union about getting dumped on. At least I took some action regardless the outcome. Be reckless. Be daring. Go to bed early.

Nighty-night.