The Absentees

Everyone told me that newschool had a problem with attendance, but my peeps have been showing up everyday like clockwork. Until the past few weeks. Today I had 6 absentees. So that means I was teaching 14 kids. That just feels odd. I feel guilty not doing amazing things with this small group, but there's still a plethora of kicking, yelling out, throwing objects and growling. And roaring. Some of the growling and roaring I'm doing. But not all of it. Still, the last two days have had some fun to them and maybe we're turning a corner. Or just thinking about approaching the corner sometime in future. I hope my Austin trip doesn't set us too far back. When I return, I'm going to try to act a little kinder.

The TV

Patriots are winning and Husbandman has the temerity to tell me we don't root for the Patriots. Land of my birth?

The Ennui

Well, I'm not doing any work tonight, so let's just accept that tomorrow will be a living hell. I'm thinking about starting a wiki. Richard Beach talked about wikis at NCTE, so they're probably good.

The Tote

Tote is full of stuff that I need to work on. Bah. But on the good side, the day has been a good one. Relaxing. I'm trying to figure out how I can exercise more than I do now, which is not at all. There has to be a way.

The Trip

I've gotten my act together and ordered some gifties on line today. And I took out some holiday decor yesterday. I want to work on my sub plans today because I'm going to Texas on Wednesday. I've never been to Austin.

The Decor

It's always sad when the visiting ends and the rellies head off for distant lands. Now I'm trying to decide if I want to bring out some holiday decor this afternoon. Or read a book.

The Canopy

Last night we all gathered downtown for the canopy of lights to be turned on over the courthouse square. We sang a few carols and then walked over to the history museum to check out the exhibit on the history of fans. Our town has so much to offer. This morning we're off to the craft fair at the Showers Building. Teendaughter has broken out the holiday CD's. I'm filled with cheer.

The Kingfisher

When we walked at Lake Griffey, I did see a Kingfisher with my new binoculars. I also saw an eastern towhee in the yard this morning. New sighting for the backyard. So that's awesome. And No Country for Old Men is very good.

The Turkeys

The hand turkeys have been made. They're looking extra fine. Soon the pies will appear. The fun never stops. It just never stops.

The Wild

I'm reading Into the Wild. I like how Krakauer always backs up and describes connecting stories from the past. Well done, Krakauer.

The Day

There's some serious cooking going on over here. My favorite part of the meal is the stuffing, so I hope they're paying extra attention there. Plus, the mushroom souffle is going to be fantastico.

The Walk

Woke up late, heading for a walk. Menfolk are playing football. At a pal's house. Just like the Kennedies. Happy Day Friends.

The Runway

I pick Lea, Steven and Carmen to get kicked off next the runway. Go here if you want to contest this.

The Fans

We may be seeing an exhibit about fans this weekend. Right now we're waiting for lasagna. I'm going to blog a lot this weekend.

The Feast

Today we're having a feast at school. I brought cups and cider. The rest of the fam is staying home, playing tennis, and heading out for manicures. I'm happy for them in a way.

The Trip

NY? Yes, way fun. Running from here to there. Good sessions and v. good meals. Now it's time to teach one more day and then enjoy the company of kin. Woohoo.

The News

I might be on the news tomorrow (Wednesday) on CBS. My kiddos are part of a story they're doing about fundraising pioneer and pal JB who invented freerice. The newspeople came 2 hours before they said they would come and decided they didn't want to film in the computer lab, but in my classroom, so I had to invent a lesson plan on the spot. It wasn't a great one, so I hope they just jump to the kiddos at the computers in the back of the room. The kiddos were very excited and even kept it together for most of the filming, which was long. Only one child had to deal with me whispering in his ear, "Get out. Get out now." The rest were wonderful. The day went downhill from there, but at least we had those amazing moments.

The Jest

There has been a lot of hitting in the classroom of late. And choking. And kicking. In the head and stomach. One mom asked, "Where were you when my kid was choked?" And I could only stare back at her and wonder the same thing. I felt I had let the kid down, but I sorted out the incident with all involved, to our mutual satisfaction I believe.
Later, I had an altercation with one curmudgeon, who spent most of Friday yelling out (whenever anyone looked his way), "Stop staring at me! I'll slap you in the head!" After the 10th time he interrupted my read aloud, (an awesome book by A. Clements called No Talking), I jokingly told him that I would slap him in the head if he wouldn't let me read the book. This is never a good thing for a teacher to tell a child. And I'm just hoping the remark came off with the humor I kind of intended.
When we walked to gym a bit later, another young man ran up to me and grabbed my hand. He said that a classmate was going to hurt him and seemed to be seeking protection of some kind.
I asked him why she would do that.
He replied, "She says I slapped her in the face."
"Did you slap her in the face?" I asked.
"No I did not. If I slapped her in the face, I would be dead by now. That girl is from Detroit."
We're going to have a serious talk about the hitting situation on Monday. I'm sure we can do better.

The Election

Because of recent school shootings around the nation, our schools are now closed on election days. So I used the day not only to vote once again for our democrat mayor, but to visit the bursar's office to pay for microfilming, sit at the computer to figure out how to convert the diss to a pdf file, head over to graduate studies office to submit acceptance papers and abstracts, and spent some time ordering cap and gown and hood. The day off was a windfall. The woman at grad. studies asked me if I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. I told her I was not yet ready to make that claim. They still have to check over my electronically submitted diss for pagination and margin errors. I'm heading back into the school site. Newboss evaluated me on Monday and the peeps were poorly behaved as I was being observed. I looked like an amateur. I'm not happy with them, but the day off has helped me to cool off. Bottom line...more days off. They're good for all concerned.

The Defense

The Defense went well. I gave my chat, the committee asked questions. There were parts of the dissertation that some readers found "naggingly problematic," but overall, people seemed to like it, or at least find it interesting. I do not have to make revisions to the dissertation, and happy about this I truly am. I have a few clerical things to do before I can walk on my commencement date, but basically, stick a fork in it, I'm done. As I wrote in my acknowledgements, I could not have done it without this blog and its readers. You got me thru, peeps. Now we need to come up with a new subheading. Let me know what you think.