Hedgetoad Teaching

Yesterday I didn't shop. Besides the fact that I really don't have a lot of money to shop with, I just didn't see anything that grabbed my attention. It's a sentiment I heard from many people, so I'm guessing that all crowds were of people who just wanted to shop. There were some good lap top deals, but I don't need one enough to fight the crowds. Instead I spent the day doing genealogy research (and laundry). I stumbled on some new contacts on Thanksgiving and they wrote me back almost immediately. I know have copies of my great-great-great-grandfather's death certificate and will. You know what's really weird? With a few exceptions, my father's family all comes from the same general area in OH but apparently never met until arriving in Spokane, WA. I always heard stories about entire towns moving out to WA after getting letters from early arrivals - but an entire state? Even weirder? Part of my mother's family is from the same area too! Makes i...

The turkey is in the oven, slowly baking it's was to Thanksgiving goodness. Dinner will actually be Indian food with my brother and his fiance in Seattle... but I couldn't let the holiday go by without a little tryptophan . Besides, as you can see below, Keavy is waiting with baited breath!

It's been a short week, so not a whole heck of a lot was accomplished. I think, however, we had a bit of fun. Sophomores took a practice WASL essay test. The entire department will be gathering soon to grade and map out a plan of attack to get them over the testing hump. They also took a reading fluency test. I'm hoping that the scores from that test will be able to be used in a formula that a researcher in Spokane developed to predict likelihood of passing the reading WASL. We also started reading A Christmas Carol . Juniors read a selection from Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography. It was, I quote, "boring." Then we went on to the quotes from Poor Richards Almanac and interpreted them. That was much more interesting. My AP classes didn't really do a whole heck of a lot as they are were working on the first major analytical essay for the semester. They have to write a paper proving that Pearl is the most modern of child characters and go on to describe how that...

If you're planning on smashing a pie into someone's face, stick to the old "whipped cream in a pie tin" trick. Using an actual pie can cause eye damage, especially if it's got sprinkles on it. Or bring goggles. We made nearly $300 on our "pie your favorite teacher" fundraiser this past week. There were days when it looked like we would get almost nothing, but some how we pulled through to get a little cash-ola. Especially nice was the cost of the fundraiser - $3 for pie, $1 for bags to put votes into... paper for posters and tickets were donated.

Via hipteacher ... ( about a hundred years ago... I'm always up-to-date) 1. Why did you start blogging? Actually, I started a now defunct online journal back in 1998 - Brain Floss. I started blogging after I was laid off in 2001 before I even thought about becoming a teacher... it's all a writing exercise. I love to write, but often find that I don't have time to do or get distracted. Blogging is a way to almost force myself to write something. 2. What do you blog about primarily? My life. Sometimes teaching is in the forefront, sometimes it's my garden, sometimes it's politics. As an exercise for my writing, really I write whatever it on my mind at that moment. 3. Professionally, what do you get out of blogging? A release of stress and writing out my thoughts helps to organize them or make me realize that I need to go into a new direction. 4. Personally, what do you get out of blogging? A sense of life outside of school. I had a friend ask me just yesterday if all ...

Today I had two more team members quit - one of them was a captain. This has become an exercise in frustration. At this point, both myself and the assistant coach are ready to just throw in the towel. We're in the middle of choreographing our competition routine and this just isn't the slap in the face anyone needed. My favorite student was expelled for fighting. I've been working with this kid for a a long time and we're so close to getting to an easy graduation. In fact, we were just talking this morning about being all caught up on credits and only a year left... I hope this doesn't lead to downturn. It's so easy for that to happen. A personal goal has been set back - again. Some days, I feel like a salmon trying to swim upstream... only to discover a damn.

for this school year -> My area of focus will be to develop a variety of assessment methods that allow students to develop portfolios of work to demonstrate growth in reading and writing. Students will be able to clearly see the improvement in their reading and writing skills by examining a portfolio of assignments. Students will be able to lead the assessment of their own work and reflect upon skill gains and self-determine needed areas of improvement.

This week we started the Navigation 101 program. Sadly, I think, we didn't get a lot of lead up to this - mostly the lead up consisted of "go look at the website." The first class was on Thursday. We didn't get the first lesson plan until Wed. (we aren't going by the website schedule) and it was pretty skimpy. We were start off with an ice breaker, and then move into checking transcripts. Except that I'm really bad at ice breakers and I don't know how the occupational/arts classes break down. Yeah. I told several kids to talk to their counselor the next day. Then the students asked what all the other things on their checklists were and I had to say "we'll get to them another day" because I don't really know what they are really about - I mean, I guess the portfolio shows work the student has done, but what kind and what is going to happen to it, I don't know. It's not that I think the program is a waste of time or not helpful for...

Outside the wind is whipping and rain is coming down in sheets - everyone is predicting power outages. Do you think we could get out of school early? I'm rooting for the trees!

A new book has been making the rounds of the high school and I know it's making the rounds in others. A friend who teaches in another city told me that she read the entire series in a weekend! Ok, so they're not real deep or complex, but highly adictive to teen-age girls. Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. It's actually the first book in a series of three (and continuing), so once the reader is hooked, there's even more to keep them reading. It's got vampires, romance and high school.. what could be better? Oh yeah. It's set on the Olympic Pennisula, so the kids get a little thrill every time they read the name of a town they've heard of or been to. In fact, it is set in Forks, WA . Why Forks? Because as the rainiest town in the US, it's a perfect place for a vampire who doesn't want to be in the sun. Heh. Personally, I didn't find Forks all that much rainier than anywhere else on the pennisula, but the kids told me that the author never actually visi...

As it is October, we are now in the midst of examining goals set in September, the School Improvement Plan and a whole host of other documents that largely make everyone feel like they're doing something. For the first time, we got some actual statistics - these are usually horded by one staff member. Unfortunately, they didn't really tell us much more than each grade level class has different issues. Big shock. So, we wrote up a plan to get past scores of the students actually in our courses, instead of the ones who've moved on. It's a revolutionary idea, but it just might result in better results. Next week we're also starting Navigation 101 . We're not getting a lot of prep for it - the lesson plan for the day will be given to us the morning before. Lack of planning makes teacher nervous and it's becoming a recurrent theme. According the website, the first lesson is become aquainted (insert ice breaker game here) and then create the high school portfolio....

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...

Actually, I've been home for a few days... let me just say that embarking on a home improvement project while simultaneously getting ready for the upcoming school year probably isn't a good idea. Especially if you are the coach of a team that will be performing on the first day of school. I'm a little stressed out. Luckily, for the first time, I seem to be taking the opening of school in stride. I haven't even looked at my rosters since July. It was then that I noticed that my first period class had 46 students in it. I didn't even blink. I believe the current number is now 30 - large for an AP class, but par for the course in my district. Sometimes, it can be like teaching in Central Africa. When I have a moment I'll post some photos of my new tables (no desks!) and some of the fun games I learned at leadership camp. Possibly photos of a fully insulated attic. Still working on that one.

Back from one trip - off to another tomorrow morning. Teaching Meme - tagged by hipteacher 1. I am a good teacher because... I really like most of my students and want them to go on to happy lives filled with cozy homes, babies and jobs they enjoy. I also truly believe that literature and poetry are part of what makes life worth living. Plus, I think grammar jokes are hysterical. 2. If I weren't a teacher, I would be... a corporate flunkie ? a professional nanny? a writer? 3. My teaching style is... nagging? I'm sure that's what my student would say. I think I'd have to say variable. With some classes, it's almost collaborative. With others it's almost authoritarian... hey, I'll admit it... I don't know if I really have a specific style yet. I'm still in the process of developing it. 4. My classroom is... a trapezoid. One wall is full of windows. Sadly it looks into the courtyard. The teacher across the hall has windows that display a forest full of ...

Did anyone catch Wife Swap last night? While at the OSPI conference last week, I read all about the environmental couple featured in this week's episode ... and how they were slightly concerned that they may be made out to look like freaks. P.S. they've never seen the show. Well, they didn't have to worry. I realize that show's producers edit the footage to portray the victims participants in certain manners, but holy crap! The " mainstream mom " (and I use that term loosely) was a complete nut. Obviously she is in need of professional help... it wasn't just the fact that she devotes her life to her dogs to the expense of her family - I nearly choked when she said the other family needed to eat something with nutritional value, like fast food - but she was so mean and rude to everyone. Did she think that she might come out looking good? I'm pretty sure that anyone who "knows what's going on" is aware that use of foul language and throwin...

I went and I survived. Ok, it wasn't really that bad. Terry Bergeson personally served us ice cream when a meeting went late... which was a nice gesture, since I all I got out of the "keynote speeches" was an increase in my tetris skills. At least I didn't snore. One session I attended was given my someone from the Virtual School in Spokane. Somewhat good - although I wish it had been longer - and a link for all sorts of online goodies ! I'm still working on setting up a stable classroom website that is easy to find, easy to use and doesn't require a lot membership levels for students. I'm currently using freewebs, but it's slow to load and blocked by most school computers. It has a lot of the functionality that I want, but not the freedom. I've been trying googlepages, but they don't have the functionality that I really want. For example, I cannot figure out how to get all three assignment calendars to show up on the same calendar page and I c...