New Year's Resolutions

They say it's better to write these down. Here they are:

1. Be more outgoing when I meet a person the first time.
2. Make one meal a week from scratch (between that and family night I'll have half the week!)
3. Trade clothes out (if I buy something new than something old has to go.

I think that takes care of things.

Post 100

As I close out this school year, here are the things I'd like to have happen in the next school year:
1. Successfully administer the Spanish Language AP test. HUGE undertaking.
2. Not go crazy when teaching all 9th graders. All of the 9th graders in my small school in fact.
3. Get to stay at the same school! and get permanent status!
4. Finally develop that portfolio curriculum in a way that makes sense.
5. Actually help out some more with the theater dept.
6. Keep up with grades. Weekly.
7. Find an apt with a parking place.
8. Manage to keep said apt clean throughout the year. (And keep my school stuff at school.)
9. Make better decisions about public transportation. Especially with prices going up :( (1.50 per ride...)
10. Make it to yoga at least every two weeks.
Sometimes I wish my definition of a year weren't always a school year, but oh well!

Spring Break

It's always important to do one of two things over spring break- 1. Party. 2. Get things done.
My intention is to do a bit of both. Here's a list of what is in store for my Spring Break:
1. My Laundry.
2. Return to working out. It's easier to make it to the gym when you're not at work until dark.
3. File my taxes (Cheating because this is done- just finished this morning.)
4. BTSA. Man I hate this.
5. Plan Shakespeare unit with my coteacher.
6. Plan "Working for the man" unit while planning "What is an individual worth" unit
7. Come up with brilliant idea for Harlem Renaissance Project. Ideas? (I have juniors)
8. Hit up different happy hour every day of the week.
9. Cook some stuff. Since I'll be around to eat it.
10. Finish the book I'm reading about beer. It's a really great book.
11. Finish at least one other book.
12. Order Zeitoun for end of the year project.
I think that's it. We'll see.

Lets see if I can start this again...

Nope not yet.


Pink slipped again though.

Books about war that my kids will read...

They will probably be picking from the following:
1. All Quiet on the Western Front
2. Band of Brothers
3. Slaughterhouse Five
4. In the Time of Butterflies

Now can I have a research paper for one of my classes be on the cost of war? Like they write about the actual cost of a war?

Cliche= This post

But of course, as The Kite Runner points out, sometimes cliches are best.

Things I am thankful for:
1. Getting a chance to live near my brother and sister-in-law- two of the coolest people I know.
2. Friends who spend the large amounts of money/time out of their schedules to visit me in CA.
3. Having a job that frustrates me and excites me and brings out every other strong emotion I can have because I'm doing what I love.
4. Change which allows me to experience all sorts of things this midwestern girl never had before.
5. That I made awesome friends in high school and college that seem to just get better every time we hang out.
6. The chance to get to sing in a choir again. (also yay me taking time for hobbies each week- that can be hard to remember to do)
7. My parents that even other people find cool haha.
8. Marriages ahead! Mark and Jesse, Brady and Brit, Adam and Pam, Emily and David,

and so many more. Happy Thanksgiving!

Books that did not come up in my last list.

Read the list below. Weigh in. I'd say I did better than this list. Here are books that I strictly stayed away from:
1. Harry Potter. The whole series. These characters are too family friendly.
2. Animal Farm. I'm not into bestiality.
3. Macbeth. Some characters are too fucked up to be fucked with.
4. Kite Runner. See above.
5. Any book by Toni Morrison. Yeah there is something to that she doesn't write very attractive males.
6. Memories of My Melancholy Whores. Don't really have a thing for 90 year old men.
7. Julia Alverez books. I like them for their portrayal of women. The men are there to cover what the women can't.
8. Romeo and Juliet. Some stories may be over told. (And over fantasized)
9. Twilight series. Vampires, no thanks, and wolves that can attach to 2 year old children they will eventually marry? gross.
10. Sun Also Rises. I'd say pretty self-explanatory.

To improve on my boring self

Someone has pointed out my blog posts have taken a nosedive in the interesting category. True. Well I happened to also come across some blogger's list about what literary characters they'd like to get it on with, but I disagreed with the list (Macbeth, Heathcliff and Holden Caulfield were on the list... gross). He suggested I should make my own list SO here it is (and I don't include underage characters even when they're fictional. that is gross.)
In no particular order:
1. Edgar from King Lear: He's my Shakespeare choice. good guy, takes care of dad, and comes back to beat the crap out of evil brother. Many girls may go for the bad guys but deal. (Second choice- Benedick)
2. Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice: An overlap from the original list. Colin Firth's portrayal in the BBC made me love him forever.
3. Teacake from Their Eyes Were Watching God: My favorite book and one of the greatest love stories that manages to be not sappy and annoying. I want some of that.
4. Richard Mayhew from Neverwhere: The whole story gets started because he's the only person to notice a homeless girl. Hot.
5. Dave Eggers from A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius: Ok so this is an autobiography but man if he weren't married with a kid I'd be trying to find a way to get to SanFran fast.
6. John Proctor from The Crucible: HOTTTTness. Shady since he cheated on his wife with an underage psycho girl but whatever. He saw his flaws.
7. Phillip Marlow from The Big Sleep: Not from the movie. I'm not turned on by Humphrey Bogart. But the character in the book. I could do that.
8. The Fool from King Lear in the book Fool: He's a crazy do it with anyone guy in the book but he's smart and must be pretty good with all that practice.
9. T.S. Garp from The World According to Garp: One of my other favorite books because this main character fascinates me.
10. I'm going to leave this one open and get back to you. I'm having more trouble with this than I thought I would...

Things I have to grade...

1. Reading journals for all 75 of my students.
2. Essays about the traits of a hero based on The Odyssey and O Brother Where Art Thou
3. Persuasive essays on topics from global warming to gun control to abortion to domestic violence
4. Games, survival guides, postcards, comic books, soundtracks etc. for The Odyssey
5. Stories, speeches and analytical essays about Animal Farm.
6. One day of reading circles for Kite Runner
7. One day of reading circles for Hound of Baskerville

Good thing the end of the quarter is coming up.

Halloween Approaches...

Yeah, school is keeping me very busy. It would keep me busy anyway, but doing a second first year of teaching make it definitely crazy. I've been using work on my current Halloween costume as a distraction. Here's a list of what I've been in the past:
1. Sleeping Beauty (mom made)
2. An Illini Cheerleader (store bought)
3. Evita (mom made)
4. Dorothy from Wizard of Oz (mom made very quickly)
5. Greek Goddess (when I figured out the college version of Halloween)
6. Ballerina (I needed something fast but comfy)
7. Pumpkin (Last year when I had to make a costume last minute)

I realize this is a pretty lousy list. in part because this seems to be all I remember and in part because the costume listed are pretty sad. Except Evita. (and of course the Illini Cheerleader)

My awesome 25th birthday

It was a great weekend celebrating my 25th birthday and here is a list of highlights:
1. I got some very thoughtful cards from special people even deeper than your standard happy birthday card with no personal message. :)
2. Say what you will about facebook, but it's pretty great to receive e-mails all day letting you know that people have said happy birthday.
3. I get to watch the pilot of Sports Night!!!!
4. Nothing like getting 4 new pair of shoes.
5. Brand new real CDs are so rare these days ;)
6. Figuring out where to hang beautiful artwork is a good problem to have.
7. A class of tenth graders singing at the top of their lungs have a pretty great version of Happy Birthday
8. Phone calls with special people is always appreciated.
9. Toy Story and Toy Story II at the El Cap was a good laugh.
10. If you have to go to a class, having chocolate cake there makes it infinitely better.
11. I had an amazing party with lots of wonderful friends and shared with a great person (I do love shared birthday parties) plus about 1000 pictures to remember it by (hopefully some of them are decent.)

Books I'm teaching next

1. The Odyssey
2. Fahrenheit 451
3. no idea....
Do we sense a problem?

In a dream world...

Book rooms are a tricky thing. Luckily I've gotten funding that has allowed me to purchase books for my students but it requires a certain amount of leg work (well internet work and begging work). Here is a list of types of books that if I had my way would be in the book room when I arrived at the school.
1. Books by authors who are still alive. I know it's hard to pick which books will become classics but we have certain authors who are at the top of their game right now, buy their books!
2. Books by authors who aren't white, but who are dead. Generally if the book room does have books by authors who are still alive it'll be a Sherman Alexie or a Toni Morrison as if white authors used to write all the books but recently other races have discovered writing. That's a load of bs.
3. Books that are easy to read and worth reading for 9th graders. The stuff for a good Junior/Senior English class is usually easily sitting on the shelf and Sophomores you can push through that difficult stuff in order to get them used to it, but when a Freshman class first arrives, they need something they can read without thinking reading books is impossible.
4. A play that is not Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, or Shakespeare. Again you'd think there were only three playwrites who exist in the world with no mention of any other options. (Maybe an Antigone or Oedipus is in there).
5. Books of a variety of genres and purposes. Book rooms are mostly fictional sometimes with a bit of nonfiction as long as it's a narrative, but rarely will you see an informational text, a graphic novel, or a collection of articles someone may have written for a newspaper/blog- yet our students are expected to be able to read all of those. (ok so they don't have to read graphic novels, but they are expected to be able to talk coherently about political cartoons which can take many of the same skills)
6. Books of high interest (maybe low in canonical value- gasp!) that aren't just about gangs/ganglife. I get that a lot of students like books like Always Running and get really into them and that's fine, but our kids face a lot of issues beyond just gangs, but it seems that gangs are the only kinds of high interest, grab your attention books in book rooms. What about a Go Ask Alice to talk about drug culture, or a Jumping the Nail to talk about domestic abuse?

Soon I'll be at the donorschoose once again trying to get yet another copy of Maus. And this set will hopefully be the last one I have to go online to ask for.

Things that don't change about the first day of school

I've switched schools which means that the first day of my second year teaching that should be an easier event because I'm used to the school but instead it's like having two first years of teaching! There are however some things that remain the same with any first day...
1. It's annoying that there are names you don't know. I feel pretty shitty about how long it can take me to learn names.
2. I always forget to drink water/take bathroom breaks. Working at a school these activities take maneuvering. I'm not there yet.
3. It's great that every kid walks in believing this is the time they kick it into high gear. Some kids this is true, other kids not so true, but that first day is great.
4. A few kids will act as caricatures of their actual selves and others will be complete dwarfs of what they are.
Happy first day of school! (Like a month after Illinois.)

Dreams I had last night

I'm clearly a bit stressed:
1. Classic woke up in my dreams while it was actually like 12 pm rather than the 6:30 I meant to get up. Finally woke up in a start to find it was 3 am.
2. There was a massacre of Sudenese Refugees within the United States (yes I recently finished What is the What) and since I was apparently friends with the large network of the Lost Boys I went with them to DC (But we're talking very dangerous trip) and eventually saved the President from assassination.
3. I had to go to RIAP today (The first official day I need to show up although there won't be students) and afterwards got caught up spray painting props for a movie my friends were doing (they aren't making this movie). It required purple white and neon green and yellow on black pieces of clothing and shoes. I kept getting it on my clothes which was frustrating--especially when the others were all about 10.
4. I showed up at school late and the teachers were all sitting around a table (well ten of them) and one of them was handing out boxes of organic food and they had all brought food they had prepared (or were preparing there are the table) and were doing this as a part of the food movement. I hadn't brought anything.
Needless to say last night was not my best sleep night.

Return to the good ol' days?

There are certain social norms that we accept today that leads to novels being approached with an "ewww gross" from many of today's students. Luckily these days those "eww gross" situations are coming back!

1. "Ruby and the Rocketts" on ABC Family where one of the main characters is in love with his cousin and not in an "Arrested Development" kind of hilariously awkward way.
2. "17 Again" Yes I get that part of the awkwardness is a mom being in love with a 17 year old kid who is actually her husband, but come on, if that were the other way around gender-wise people would be upset.
3. "Twilight" Domestic abuse anyone?

I'm going to use these the next time for a little compare contrast.

Things I have learned about my new school.

1. They don't have the small school system very developed at all. We'll see how that works out.
2. I meet with the kids 84 minutes every day all year long. Hopefully this will make teaching novels easier!
3. The book room is limited. The school has been in existence for only two years so they haven't accumulated very much. Please give money!
4. They highly value professional development. We don't get out early for it weekly like at my last school but it will be much more structured and hopefully useful!
5. I should keep my mouth shut about district lessons/assessments. Some people at this school love 'em and some people hate 'em. Very different than my last school's passionate hatred.
6. I think I only have one class that another teacher teaches as well. Unfortunately they are very big on teacher independence, potentially to a fault.
7. IB is what humanitas was at my last school. Yay!
8. I should at max have 120 students! That's practically downright normal. (granted I'll have them in three classes.)

Job Received.

And it's at a great school! Highlights that made me know this could be a great fit:
1. The school is a neighborhood school. They take the people from the area into the school and that's it.
2. When they formed they took democracy to the construction process. The community picked the name, the school colors, the mascot, the colors of the building, AND the students picked out the uniform.
3. They have the same small school model that my last school had. I'll be in the Science and Tech one.
4. They have a 1200 person theater. :)
5. Each teacher has an opportunity to apply for a $5000 grant for a project they want to do in their classroom.
6. This is a school that worked hard to keep their laid off teachers.
7. I can take public transportation to work. :)

Favorite Interview Questions

I went to a really good interview the other day that reminded me of some of my favorite interview questions. They are favorites because they show the school knows a little something about what they believe in. (You'd be surprised at how many schools do "boxed" questions they pulled from the internet)
1. What did you learn last year as a teacher and what will you do differently? (this includes when they ask you about a specific unit that failed)
2. What specific types of strategies will you use to teach writing?
3. Our school is really pushing _____, how do you see yourself contributing to that effort?
4. We notice on your letters of rec that someone says you do _____. Tell us when and in what ways.

I'll let you know Monday how things went.

Top Ten Reasons to visit Lindsay in Nicaragua

1. Public Transportation is cheap. For a couple of dollars you can ride a bus across the nation.
2. The Pitahaya fruit is amazingly delicious in fruit and ice cream form.
3. Nothing like showering with cold water in a bucket to make you appreciate the joys of running hot water.
4. Your Spanish will improve. Even if you currently don't speak any Spanish.
5. Did you play Amazon Trail as a kid? How much cooler is to actually be in a rainforest.
6. They grow Coffee, Sugar and Cacao. Now I don't like Coffee but those other two make up for it.
7. The way they grow corn will blow your mind.
8. There aren't many countries you can go to that had a major revolution just 30 years ago and are currently very safe to visit.
9.When you try to come up with questions for Lindsay, you can ask the ones relevant to her life rather than "um tell me anything at all?"
10. Lindsay's pretty great to hang out with.