Hedgetoad Teaching

Ok, maybe now I'm settling in. Finally, I can find a moment or two for myself that don't require more energy that I can muster. I still have a pile of grading to do, but I'm ok with it... no one will die because their questions on the Masque of the Red Death haven't been graded. Next week, the plan was to start To Kill A Mockingbird - however, our department has discovered that we are about 10 books short. I'll have to check with one of my collegues on Monday to see if he has more stuffed in the closest. Othewise, my almost 2 separate preps for English 10 become actually 2, making for a total of four. The joys of rural teaching. (actually, I did at one time have only one prep and it bored me to tears!) I might also pick up a copy or two at the Border's teachers sale this weekend. AP is working on narrative writing. We've read quite a few narratives and next week, will begin reading one about 'the black death'. It isn't quite the narrative that m...

The first stories were turned in this week. I really have high hopes for them - more than a few students were really into writing their stories. The bonus was that they all have more than one page of writing. I still have sophomores who are confused with the whole concept of a 5 paragraph essay including more than 5 sentences total. With this assignment, creating a good story seems to dictate more detail. My AP class has also settled in - I lost a few students with the period shuffle and didn't really gain any - but we're making due. And it really is less work for me. Locally, the mayoral race has gotten hot, with letters and accusations flying. It's made for interesting reading. Will it lead to a interest in politics in general? I'm pretty sure that all the boys have seem the Obama Girl .

I'm getting the distinct feeling that this is going to be a year filled with petty annoyances. It's officially a pissing contest. I wonder when the community was told about the new "Kids First" campagin, that said campaign would include a pissing contest. For example, this summer I sent an email to our tech person to let them know that the printer attached to my side of the building was nearly out of ink and toner. I was then informed that none would be forthcoming until the beginning of the school year - for the second summer I'm forced to use my own money to get things for the students. I'm refusing to teach next summer. In the meantime, no ink or toner were ordered because the district office refuses to approve any purchase orders. Last week the printer fully gave up the ghost. Still no ink. I'm frantically sending files to my home computer so I can print them there. Luckily we still have a copy machine for the time being. However, I did notice that the...

Whew! What a week! We played musical chairs for the last three days... except that instead of music, it was notes from the counseling center. I had two entire classes moved (which really sucked) and a class where students wounldn't get out of their seats for fear that I'd immediately give it away. I believe that class is currently at 33 students. If you counted the total number that appeared at one time or another on my roll sheet, the number would be closer to 45. Of course, this means that almost nothing was done. I'm not even sure that everyone got a syllabus. My sophomores did get AR books and a jump on reading them because there's no real point to even going over procedures. We had Open House on the 2nd day of school. I'm not sure if it was the schedule confusion or what, but the only class where I had more than 3 parental units show up were the AP course. One parent was shocked by the fact that she was the only parent there - sadly, given the class, I wasn...

As promised, a photo of my classroom with tables - Please note the broom handle... not only split in half in the photo, but desperately needed for the dust bunnies that seem to multiply like, well... bunnies. Please also note the clean desk. This is the last time it will appear like that until next summer. Yes, that is a Yoda poster in the back. In my first year at my current school I was always saying "do or do not... there is no try " whenever a student told me they had tried to do something. Last year, it was changed to "do or do not... there is no like " in response to the incessant whine of "I don't like it". Apparently, if a book doesnt' have a dead body or other horrific scene within the first two pages, it's not worth reading. The blank poster on the door is actually an event planner. I haven't put the titles on the boxes, but the upper portion is for announcements. The middle three boxes are where the jobs for the event are listed...