Lucy, OFF!

We've been suspecting for a while, after noticing little leaves and spots of dirt on the upholstery... but this confirms it.

and again, in Ricky Ricardo voice, "Lucy, you've got some 'splainin to do!"

to write or not to write, that is the question...

My students are finding me on the interwebs, which is why I haven't been posting and why I've blocked my blog for the present.  As someone who wears her heart on her sleeve and loves to share (NEEDS to share), it's been difficult to view my blog as a place for just partial divulgence.  I mean, teaching is practically my life right now; how do I not write about it?  And writing has always been a means of catharsis; how do I not rely on it now as I grow through one of the toughest challenges I've ever faced?

I wish blogger had a way of hiding certain posts while making others public, like livejournal, but until then (which, according my research, will most likely be never) I am probably best off deleting all my harsh posts about teaching, and move forward with a more filtered approach. 

I don't have the heart to do this just yet... those struggles are a part of me and my growth.  So until then, I'll keep my blog private (email me if you want to be added to my readers list), and copy certain posts over to Facebook, which is where most of "my readership" is from anyway.  (I use "my readership" loosely as a concise way of referring to those who may casually encounter my posts, not because I am so conceited to believe I have any sort of a following... though by adding this parenthetical comment, I have already negated all my intentions of being concise in the first place).

jet lag..........

And I thought I was impervious.  With a touch of smugness, I even proclaimed to Wayne, who gets disoriented after daylight savings (!), that jet lag never really gets to me.  But look who's sleeping like a rock and who is up blogging in the wee hours of the morning.  And this is NOT part of my usual up-with-the-birds routine.  It's 5:48am, and I haven't slept a wink.

Tomorrow/Today is a big day too... I'm visiting Steph and Steve and Noelle with Angela in the morning, driving out to SF with her and stopping off at the outlets first, then hanging out with Colleen, then Natalie in Fremont, then Jessie, Debbie, and Karen in the evening for dinner... then driving home.

I apologize to my friends if I am a zombie tomorrow/today.



(look at this cute zombie I found.)

(almost) famous.

Look who's the first to pop up in Google images when you type in "right to bear arms costume"??

Wayne's also featured in someone else's blog post about last minute costume ideas!

Too funny!!

Christmas spirit

everyone's getting with the Christmas spirit! even Indee!... sort of.

I love Christmas!

We picked out a tree today, Wayne hung lights outside, and we're streaming Christmas music galore from Pandora! It's Christmastime!!!

Can you find it? If you look closely at our tree, you'll see Lucy's contribution of her stuffed squirrel.

7th Period Late-Breaking News

A kid lit a wad of paper on fire with a lighter today. on fire!! I called for security and admin support who came and searched backpacks and bodies, but they didn't find the lighter (darn!), but they did find a knife in one kid's bag.

sigh... Thank goodness tomorrow is a holiday!

dodging the draft

during a discussion about a poem on a civil war...

student: Mrs. To, why do people fight if they don't want to?
me: Sometimes, they have no choice... Like during WWII, if you were of a certain age and were healthy, you were DRAFTED into the war.
student: Were you drafted in WWII?
me: WWII??? ..... no, I didn't fight in WWII. ...I stayed back and took care of the wounded soldiers in the hospitals.

Happy Birthday, Lucy!

Our baby is two today! My, they grow so fast...

We had planned for a fun outing to the dog park, but alas, Mother Nature has rained on Lucy's parade. :( We'll make it up to you, though, Goose... how about some chicken broth with your kibble?

two years ago...

herding cats

I love that piece of imagery--herding cats. That's exactly how it is in 7th period every day, down to the fact that I don't like cats. But today, the kitties/kiddies weren't so bad. Full of energy as usual, but I played off their energy. I also set up a chair in the front of the room that was my "time-out" chair, though I didn't call it that. I sent students there for 5 minutes when they were talking out of turn... Time-outs work--even with 9th graders! Today, my kids were on-task, did all their questions, participated by RAISING THEIR HANDS, and discussed THEME!

One student whom I was having a REALLY hard time with has been coming after school the last two days to make up missing work. He's such a good kid, and I had a good time talking with him about wrestling and playing the drums. In the course of two days, he's brought his grade up from an F to a C!

Am I getting better at herding cats??? ... No, it's probably more because 8 students were absent, 3 of which are Trouble, bringing my class count to a manageable 26. Still, it was a good day in 7th period. I'll take it!