Hedgetoad Teaching

Time really flies by when your sick, and your child is sick, and everyone else is snuffling around you... because all you think about is surviving to the next day. For my students it was somewhat of a holiday - they got to watch part of Monty Python's Holy Grail and were disappointed with my return. I felt the love.   Actually, despite missing work, this semester has started out fairly well. My regular sophomore classes started working on WASL writing - and I found a way to tie it in to the Writer's Workshop. I did attend a session at the OSPI conference this January about using Writer's Workshop in the high school setting, with many practical ideas and handouts. So far, it's going well... but I'm still waiting for the final products. I have high hopes.   Junior classes have to write a research paper this semester - we decided to change up the topic selection this year. We asked the students to take an issue from a book they read in the past. For exam...

For the past couple of days, Lala* has had a somewhat juicy sounding cough. She's always been a bit wheezy, but the cough had been moving slowly up the juicy/more frequent scale. Last night, after charming every mother attending the local high school basketball game (my dance team had a performance), we came home to a screaming- I'm-so-uncomfortable -can't-breathe cold and the nasty elevens. After two showers and sitting next to a steaming tea kettle and about a hundred trips around the kitchen in the stroller, she finally relaxed enough to fall asleep. Might I stress my love of my umbrella stroller? I'm pretty sure it's the single most sanity saving device I have. Lala loves to ride around in it, it can double as a rocker, sit in the bathroom while the shower is running and for a kid who dislikes the car, dryer and being held in any position except fully verticle (while I'm standing-no sitting allowed), well, I may have it enshrined. Today we're off to purc...

School is back in session, dance competition/performance schedule is in full swing... and... the week before last an infant was placed with me! Yah! I was a little shocked that it happened so fast. I took a day off to aclimated and get appointments in. I'll be taking another this week... good thing, since we've come down with our first cold and now have 4 days to fight it off. My arm muscles are crying (most people get to go from 5 or 6 pounds and work their way up) - she's a chunk! Everyone at school has been so supportive, offering me things (homemade soup!) and helping me to manage my time and responsibilities. I even had someone thank me for asking her to watch the baby during our half half-time performance. In the meantime, I'm having a lot of conversations about poop, coughs, food types and which diapers are the best. I'm also learning to exist on short naps - last night, one of my dancers said "you look so happy when you have that baby in your arms....

I spent a significant amount of time yesterday looking for performance poetry that was school appropriate - sadly, just when I thought I'd found a really good one, out would fly some word that I can't use in class. It did, however, make the Taylor Mali's "Whatever" a little more meaningful... the whole lack of vocabulary thing. Taylor Mali - Whatever Taylor Mali - What Teachers Make (cleaner - does have lower level swearing) Nayeli Knutson, Priceless employeed poor ( includes the word shit ) Billy Collins - Forgetfullness (Animated Poetry) Billy Collins - Now and Then (Animated Poetry) I don't know if I'll be able to use any of these in class. Novemeber's storm wiped all the categories in our filtering system. In the restoration process, the filtering system software company informed our technology people that NO other schools had as much openness as we do. I immediately pointed out that their pool of information came from their own clients... bu...

The Social Worker emailed me on New Year's Eve to let me know that my homestudy report was completed and had been sent on to the supervisor. That's the final step to getting my license. It's a little hard to describe what I'm feeling about thist... on the one hand, I'm all fluttery and on the other, I'm all "ehh". I emailed back about a timeline and well, there really isn't one. You just have to go with the flow and hope for the best. I am hoping that I'll have a couple month wait so that dance competition season will end before. Eeek... I do have to have a chat with my boss and a conference coming up at the end of the month. The only thing to really pin hopes on was " but it usually doesn’t take too long ". No, I have no idea what that means.

For the past three years, I've taught poetry during January - it seems like a good choice and it's a nice way to end the semester. Also all the literary language leads nicely into the second semester books, which are a little more... umm... literary. This year, however, I'm teaching Juniors for the first time. I have to include transcendentialism so how and find poetry that will be more than slightly interesting to the class. I need help!

I've always like the idea of New Year's Day. It seems so ripe with possibilities. Of course, it's an arbitrary date and any day has possibilities... but maybe I'm just a traditionalist. So what's on my New Year's Resolution list? Keep up with grading! Eat more vegis Build up my savings account Not very exciting, I'll admit. I think, however, I'm looking forward to a more relaxing year.

I jetted out of school on Friday morning like the devil himself was on my tail... I left my last class to another teacher, so I'm hoping that there wasn't a lot of food left lying around (going away party for a member of the class)... The moutain pass on the way home was predicted to be bad Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday - if we didn't leave on Friday, we might just miss the holiday entirely. Friday was a great day to travel - clear roads, no snow. Since our arrival, it's done nothing but! It's a freakin' Winter Wonderland out there and I'm loving it. Especially since I don't have to drive anywhere or even scrape my windshield clean. The night before I left, I had my final homestudy check to become a licensed foster-to-adopt parent. The licensor will write up the report and hopefully all will be done by the middle of January. I'm hoping I'll be adopt a young girl sometime in the coming year. It's a very long, nerve wracking process and ...

Via Mildly Menlacholy Here are the rules: - Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog. - Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself. - Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. - Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog. 1. I had an Uncle named Ronald McDonald - no one in the family thought it was wierd, just annoying when others laughed. 2. I can have a cup of coffee at 2am and still fall asleep. 3. I own 26 purses and still buy a new one each season. 4. I found my dog's name on pet naming website. I choose it because it rhymed with the name the shelter gave her. Now I wish I hadn't becuase I think it would make a great child's name. 5. I'm usually done with my christmas shopping by Dec. 1 and am always the first to send out holiday cards (Thanksgiving weekend). 6. I read the entire Twilight series (3 books) in approximately 4 days. 7. I'm hoping to adopt a...

Well, things are slowly returning to normal. We were out of school for the entire week, which made for an interesting time this past week. With the holiday break so close and a weeks vacation, everyone was a bit squirrly. The first days everyone traded tales of cold showers and the number of monoply games they managed to get in during the power outage. Did you know that Monopoly now comes in an electronic form? Yes, today's kids don't even have to count their monopoly money - an electronic debit card does it for them. Seriously, I think there is a little too much automation in their lives. Of course, that statement makes me officially old. My sophomore Honours class is doing really well with finding the symbolism and imagery in the Christmas Carol - at least in Stave three. It's nice to have a class that isn't just interested in who's dating whom. They've actually pointed out a few that I never really thought about... it's nice to have a literary discussion...

Apparently, no school tomorrow either. Hey, as long as I've got electricity, who can complain? Heck, there may not be any school this week at all! Latest rumor has it that since the kitchen cupboards are bare, the school can't open. I dunno if we're going to the competition on Saturday either... the roads are still sketchy apparently, and no one is being all that communicative.

What's the old saying... "men make plans and God laughs"... It snowed on Saturday. Really fat flakes that stuck around long enough to make a snowman. Sadly, it melted in the rain on Sunday. Sunday night brought on a big storm - at least to Pacific Northwest standards - kinda like a Nor'easter only with more panic. Really, people around here are such pansies when it comes to inclement weather. I was a little worried about the satellite dish on the roof, but I also knew that there wasn't a clear path for the wind to blow it directly. About 1.30am (monday), the power went out. I woke up about 5.30am to wait for the phone call from school... it never came. Eventually, I found my emergecy radio (hidden next to the emergency candles, except I already had candles out, so looked there last), wound it up and listened. No power anywhere, most of the county was dark. People are starting to call me to find out about school, but no word. I was just about to drive in when the r...

With the holidays coming on and three performances next week, I've barely been online in the last week, avoided email and blogs and just tried to keep my head above water. I still have a ton of grading to do and am debating heading into the big city to meet up with a friend.... decisions, decisions, decisions... Yesteday I got the insulation finished (finally!), in snowed and I finished all my christmas cards. My shopping is nearly done; all that is left is making of cookies for the neighbors and friends.

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.