though I'm not sure this parents is the best role model either.
Friday, February 10, 2012
The 21st Century Research Paper
Infographs. I've put dozens on this blog. They're interesting and engaging. They easily communicate complex information in a manner that is easy to digest. I think you'd be hardpressed to find an English teacher (me included) that would apply the former two sentences to any research paper they've ever written, assigned, or had to read. Okay, I'll argue that the multi-genre research paper is the exception.
But there's a reason most English teachers I know (me included) aren't exactly chomping at the bit to grade the research papers they assign.
But the infograph? What would happen if we assigned infographs as supplements to the research paper?
For whatever reason, the size of the infograph is crummy. Here is a link to a much larger picture of the above infograph.
But there's a reason most English teachers I know (me included) aren't exactly chomping at the bit to grade the research papers they assign.
But the infograph? What would happen if we assigned infographs as supplements to the research paper?
For whatever reason, the size of the infograph is crummy. Here is a link to a much larger picture of the above infograph.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Saturday, February 04, 2012
What I'm Reading This Morning
Thanks to Twitter, I totally encounter the news and my professional reading in an entirely new way.
No longer do I go straight to yahoo news nor do I have to wait for my English Journal to come in the mail or for our media center to get in their excellent array of professional journals and then put the tables of contents in my mailbox.
Now, I just go to Twitter - almost exclusively on my BlackBerry - and then see what others post. Since I follow many other educators and ed reformers, they often post links to interesting articles or sites. With just a click, I can send these article or sites to my email. Then, like I am now, I open up my email and start getting the news.
Here's a look at some of the interesting things I'm reading this morning.
From Education Week - States Mulling Creativity Indexes for Schools.
There's no question I'm all for teaching creativity and innovation in school. But that's all public education needs is another way to measure (or attempt to measure) the productivity (or creativity) of a school and its teachers and students. I'm all for going by this creativity index, if we can chuck the other measures.
From Mashable - How Higher Ed Uses Social Media (infograph).
If there were more hours in a day (or when I get my prep block back next year), I'd set blogs up for all of my classes. But right now I'm just using one for my College Comp II course, and it's making the course better than ever. Couldn't imagine teaching without social media.
From Alltop - Sweatpants go business casual.
It's the end of society as we know it. It's bad enough staff don't always dress up (in my opinion), but what example are we setting for the students? You've seen how great the athletes look for home games, but compare that with how they dress for away games? And it looks like half the school is in their pajamas. Stop the insanity.
Fromm Alltop via YouTube - Insane Russian Urban Free Climber.
Just watch the video. It defies logic.
From John Merrow's most excellent site Learning Matters - The American Teacher Quiz.
See how well you do. It blows my mind that nearly half of the teachers in America already have part time jobs (and I don't believe this accounts for summer jobs).
Finally, for fun, utter brilliance. This man built a Super Bowl replica of Lucas Oil stadium. Out of Legos. And he only needed to order 30,000 pieces. A true hero!
No longer do I go straight to yahoo news nor do I have to wait for my English Journal to come in the mail or for our media center to get in their excellent array of professional journals and then put the tables of contents in my mailbox.
Now, I just go to Twitter - almost exclusively on my BlackBerry - and then see what others post. Since I follow many other educators and ed reformers, they often post links to interesting articles or sites. With just a click, I can send these article or sites to my email. Then, like I am now, I open up my email and start getting the news.
Here's a look at some of the interesting things I'm reading this morning.
From Education Week - States Mulling Creativity Indexes for Schools.
There's no question I'm all for teaching creativity and innovation in school. But that's all public education needs is another way to measure (or attempt to measure) the productivity (or creativity) of a school and its teachers and students. I'm all for going by this creativity index, if we can chuck the other measures.
From Mashable - How Higher Ed Uses Social Media (infograph).
If there were more hours in a day (or when I get my prep block back next year), I'd set blogs up for all of my classes. But right now I'm just using one for my College Comp II course, and it's making the course better than ever. Couldn't imagine teaching without social media.
From Alltop - Sweatpants go business casual.
It's the end of society as we know it. It's bad enough staff don't always dress up (in my opinion), but what example are we setting for the students? You've seen how great the athletes look for home games, but compare that with how they dress for away games? And it looks like half the school is in their pajamas. Stop the insanity.
Fromm Alltop via YouTube - Insane Russian Urban Free Climber.
Just watch the video. It defies logic.
From John Merrow's most excellent site Learning Matters - The American Teacher Quiz.
See how well you do. It blows my mind that nearly half of the teachers in America already have part time jobs (and I don't believe this accounts for summer jobs).
Finally, for fun, utter brilliance. This man built a Super Bowl replica of Lucas Oil stadium. Out of Legos. And he only needed to order 30,000 pieces. A true hero!
Google Doc'ed out
I'm sure one day I'll be fully converted to Google Docs, but after my current frustrations, that doesn't appear to be any time soon.
I can see why our school is moving toward being a Google Docs school. Every student can have the same type of email address, sharing documents is possible, and the calendar tool is quite useful. And I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface.
But so far for me it's been a nightmare.
First, students do not use their Google Docs email addresses often enough. Like anyone, they resist change and are loyal to their nefarious hotmail accounts or prefer their already established gmail accounts.
Second, sharing documents has turned into a colossal pain for me. Now, I'll admit this is my fault. I have my beloved First Class email account. So I use that one predominantly. Then I had to create a gmail account about six years ago when I began blogging. Now I have my new gmail account for school. On top of that, I have a stupid AT&T email account I had to set up with my stupid BlackBerry.
Here is where it used to get painful: students will usually email their work to me at my First Class address. This usually works fine. However, there will be an issue every once in awhile with them using a program my Mac doesn't recognize (wps is often the one students use), but a quick and free conversion with zamzar fixes that.
Now that students have been strongly urged to go to gmail accounts, and students are like me, not that well versed in Google Docs, so those who have their school accounts will also try to share their work with me. And here is were the trauma begins. They will mess up the sharing process (not even sure how they mess this up), but I do know that instead of sharing it with my school gmail address (kurt.reynolds@myprowler.org) they will mix the two addresses up (kurt.reynolds@trf.k12.mn.us). Thus, I get an email at my school address telling me that a student has shared a work with me. Then I'll click on the link to their work only to have Google tell me that I don't have access privileges to it. This is usually because I'm already logged in under my other gmail account. So when I log back in with my school account, I expect to have permission, but no. I'm denied again because the students shared it with an imaginary email account!
Here is another source of frustration (again, this is mostly self inflicted) is just trying to track down student work that has been submitted via email. I've already stated the four separate email addresses I use (1. My favorite: &trf.k12.mn.us / 2. my initial gmail account that I have to be logged in to (like now) when I blog / 3. my stupid AT&T email which is used on my phone / 4. my new @myprowler.org account). All of these emails come to one email folder on my phone (where I answer and read 99.9% of my emails), but since it's in one generic folder, I never can keep track of where the messages are sent when I have to go to my computer and print them out.
So let's say Nick emails me his latest essay on Monday evening to my @myprowler account. I get a notification on my BlackBerry. But I don't actually get around to tracking it down so I can print it out until Thursday (see what I mean about these issues being self inflicted?). By this time, I scan my @trf.k12.mn.us account. Not there. Then I go to Google Docs. Sometimes the papers show up shared in there. Not there. I realize I'm logged in with my blogger gmail. Log back out and then log in with my @myprowler account. Then I check Google Docs. Not there (I'm not sure why or how some students share things via Google Docs and others via email from their gmail accounts). I then go to my mail. It's there. I open it and about three different screens come up. Do I want to just print it? Yes. But then it prints out of format and Nick's works cited is in the middle of his last page (not how he set it up though). So I click download, which bring up another screen. I have to actually download it to my desktop and then open it up in .docx to get the true format. After all of that, I have to find it on my desktop and print it. Whoa!
On top of all of that, I may end up deleting the message on Tuesday or Wednesday because I get so many emails! Let me tell you, I've become efficient at undelete on the First Class account. Furthermore, maybe Nick asked me a question on the paper via email. But I read it on my phone and responded by my phone. This of course doesn't go to any of my email accounts. Just my phone. So when he sends his paper as a reply to my email, it now just exists on my phone and none of my other accounts. Now I have to forward that email to my other accounts and then repeat the download process.
Again, imagine going through this at 3:30 on a Friday when grades are due Monday.
It is enough to make me go back to just turning in paper copies.
I have found, though, that scribd.com is far easier that google docs. The biggest hurdle is getting students to actually sign up for a scribd account, but once it's up on scribd
Since I have an account, students can upload their paper to scribd and then follow me (and then I follow them - kind of like Facebook or Twitter). This means that I get an email notification when they have shared an essay with me. Since we follow each other, anything they share automatically is shown on my account in a simple user-friendly way (similar to Google Docs). But what I really love about scribd is that it also has the ability to send the document to Facebook (if a student wants to share a personal essay on their grandfather, they can post it to FB and Grandpa can read it), Twitter (I often will upload assignments to scribd and then send them out via Twitter), email (so old fashioned), and, best of all, scribd allows you to embed the text in a blog. So if I have my students uploading their exploratory essays to scribd, I can easily embed all of them on our class blog.
See what I mean by being Google Doc'ed out? Much of this frustration, though, will likely be alleviated in the inevitable future when we phase out or First Class accounts and I (hopefully) upgrade to an iPhone (goodbye stupid BlackBerry/AT&T email account). Also, another year of training with Google Docs might just get me to see the light. But it ain't happening yet!
I can see why our school is moving toward being a Google Docs school. Every student can have the same type of email address, sharing documents is possible, and the calendar tool is quite useful. And I'm sure I'm just scratching the surface.
But so far for me it's been a nightmare.
First, students do not use their Google Docs email addresses often enough. Like anyone, they resist change and are loyal to their nefarious hotmail accounts or prefer their already established gmail accounts.
Second, sharing documents has turned into a colossal pain for me. Now, I'll admit this is my fault. I have my beloved First Class email account. So I use that one predominantly. Then I had to create a gmail account about six years ago when I began blogging. Now I have my new gmail account for school. On top of that, I have a stupid AT&T email account I had to set up with my stupid BlackBerry.
Here is where it used to get painful: students will usually email their work to me at my First Class address. This usually works fine. However, there will be an issue every once in awhile with them using a program my Mac doesn't recognize (wps is often the one students use), but a quick and free conversion with zamzar fixes that.
Now that students have been strongly urged to go to gmail accounts, and students are like me, not that well versed in Google Docs, so those who have their school accounts will also try to share their work with me. And here is were the trauma begins. They will mess up the sharing process (not even sure how they mess this up), but I do know that instead of sharing it with my school gmail address (kurt.reynolds@myprowler.org) they will mix the two addresses up (kurt.reynolds@trf.k12.mn.us). Thus, I get an email at my school address telling me that a student has shared a work with me. Then I'll click on the link to their work only to have Google tell me that I don't have access privileges to it. This is usually because I'm already logged in under my other gmail account. So when I log back in with my school account, I expect to have permission, but no. I'm denied again because the students shared it with an imaginary email account!
Here is another source of frustration (again, this is mostly self inflicted) is just trying to track down student work that has been submitted via email. I've already stated the four separate email addresses I use (1. My favorite: &trf.k12.mn.us / 2. my initial gmail account that I have to be logged in to (like now) when I blog / 3. my stupid AT&T email which is used on my phone / 4. my new @myprowler.org account). All of these emails come to one email folder on my phone (where I answer and read 99.9% of my emails), but since it's in one generic folder, I never can keep track of where the messages are sent when I have to go to my computer and print them out.
So let's say Nick emails me his latest essay on Monday evening to my @myprowler account. I get a notification on my BlackBerry. But I don't actually get around to tracking it down so I can print it out until Thursday (see what I mean about these issues being self inflicted?). By this time, I scan my @trf.k12.mn.us account. Not there. Then I go to Google Docs. Sometimes the papers show up shared in there. Not there. I realize I'm logged in with my blogger gmail. Log back out and then log in with my @myprowler account. Then I check Google Docs. Not there (I'm not sure why or how some students share things via Google Docs and others via email from their gmail accounts). I then go to my mail. It's there. I open it and about three different screens come up. Do I want to just print it? Yes. But then it prints out of format and Nick's works cited is in the middle of his last page (not how he set it up though). So I click download, which bring up another screen. I have to actually download it to my desktop and then open it up in .docx to get the true format. After all of that, I have to find it on my desktop and print it. Whoa!
On top of all of that, I may end up deleting the message on Tuesday or Wednesday because I get so many emails! Let me tell you, I've become efficient at undelete on the First Class account. Furthermore, maybe Nick asked me a question on the paper via email. But I read it on my phone and responded by my phone. This of course doesn't go to any of my email accounts. Just my phone. So when he sends his paper as a reply to my email, it now just exists on my phone and none of my other accounts. Now I have to forward that email to my other accounts and then repeat the download process.
Again, imagine going through this at 3:30 on a Friday when grades are due Monday.
It is enough to make me go back to just turning in paper copies.
I have found, though, that scribd.com is far easier that google docs. The biggest hurdle is getting students to actually sign up for a scribd account, but once it's up on scribd
Since I have an account, students can upload their paper to scribd and then follow me (and then I follow them - kind of like Facebook or Twitter). This means that I get an email notification when they have shared an essay with me. Since we follow each other, anything they share automatically is shown on my account in a simple user-friendly way (similar to Google Docs). But what I really love about scribd is that it also has the ability to send the document to Facebook (if a student wants to share a personal essay on their grandfather, they can post it to FB and Grandpa can read it), Twitter (I often will upload assignments to scribd and then send them out via Twitter), email (so old fashioned), and, best of all, scribd allows you to embed the text in a blog. So if I have my students uploading their exploratory essays to scribd, I can easily embed all of them on our class blog.
See what I mean by being Google Doc'ed out? Much of this frustration, though, will likely be alleviated in the inevitable future when we phase out or First Class accounts and I (hopefully) upgrade to an iPhone (goodbye stupid BlackBerry/AT&T email account). Also, another year of training with Google Docs might just get me to see the light. But it ain't happening yet!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Suck on it, Bauerlein
A couple of Canadian millennials launched a Lego minifugre into the reaches of outer space. All for the fun of it.
This single event dispells so many myths that Mark Bauerlein spreads about the millennials. The two students were able to get off Facebook and Twitter long enough to devote four and a half months into this project. Not only did they handsew the parachute needed to return their cargo to earth, but they also constructed a styrofoam box to carry the minifigure, three cameras, a cell phone, and a GPS app.
Their ingenuity is wonderfully refreshing in the face of Bauerlein's insistence that millennials are dumb and anti-inellectuals: the boys bought a weather balloon online for $85. They used helium from a party supply store. They also put two mitten warmers inside the styrofoam box to keep everything warm and functioning properly on the way up. In all they spent $400 - just because they wanted to conduct an experiment, one they were inspired to after watching a video (no doubt on-line via that dastardly invention known as YouTube) of MIT students who sent a balloon to near space.
Bauerlein claims that his book, The Dumbest Generation, in part is designed to have millennials prove him wrong. The problem is that he is so biased that he will never admit to being proven wrong. He will no doubt assert that these two students and their uber-cool science experiment (done, by the way, completely out of school) is an incredibly rare example. He would argue that the run-of-the-mill millennial is not doing activities like this.
And he is probably correct. But we could level the same argument at him. The average baby-boomer is not busy needlessly bashing an entire generation when the bulk of his peers acknowledge that no one generation is smarter or dumber than any other. Just equipped with different skills and expectations.
This single event dispells so many myths that Mark Bauerlein spreads about the millennials. The two students were able to get off Facebook and Twitter long enough to devote four and a half months into this project. Not only did they handsew the parachute needed to return their cargo to earth, but they also constructed a styrofoam box to carry the minifigure, three cameras, a cell phone, and a GPS app.
Their ingenuity is wonderfully refreshing in the face of Bauerlein's insistence that millennials are dumb and anti-inellectuals: the boys bought a weather balloon online for $85. They used helium from a party supply store. They also put two mitten warmers inside the styrofoam box to keep everything warm and functioning properly on the way up. In all they spent $400 - just because they wanted to conduct an experiment, one they were inspired to after watching a video (no doubt on-line via that dastardly invention known as YouTube) of MIT students who sent a balloon to near space.
Bauerlein claims that his book, The Dumbest Generation, in part is designed to have millennials prove him wrong. The problem is that he is so biased that he will never admit to being proven wrong. He will no doubt assert that these two students and their uber-cool science experiment (done, by the way, completely out of school) is an incredibly rare example. He would argue that the run-of-the-mill millennial is not doing activities like this.
And he is probably correct. But we could level the same argument at him. The average baby-boomer is not busy needlessly bashing an entire generation when the bulk of his peers acknowledge that no one generation is smarter or dumber than any other. Just equipped with different skills and expectations.
Friday, January 27, 2012
In her element
In his classic book, The Element, Sir Ken Robinson talks about not only the importance of being able to do what you love and what you are passionate about, but he also stresses the importance of being in an environment that also engages you (Robinson calls this last part "finding your tribe"). When these two factors comes together, your life is changed and work become play.
Fortunately, this is how I spend every working day of my life.
Now, KoKo has found not only her element but also her tribe. And we have a different kid in the house because of it.
This has not always been the case for KoKo, but now that she has more success than she ever had previously, she is absolutely flourishing.
This is evident in so many ways.
Last semester she honestly looked forward to going to school almost as much as I did. That was because Expressive Connections - a Magnet Arts class with Mrs. Stock - started off her day. It tapped in to her creativity and she flourished.
For a good chunk of second quarter, KoKo and I were able to discuss the novel she was reading in her Lit & Lang 11 class, To Kill a Mockingbird. And I didn't even have to bring the topic up. This was topped off by an essay that Mrs. Groven assigned. KoKo actually came down from her loft and talked to me about how she planned it out and went about analyzing her subject in her essay. All I had to do was listen.
That eagerness continued into her Visual Art class where she poured a ton of effort into designing a sculpture for a contest to design a Prowler statue. Despite some trial and error, she finally submitted her design . . . and it won. Then came the hard part . . . building it. Her teacher, Mrs. Adams, really went out on a limb with this project and she put the kids through the ringer, this included teaching them how to weld with Mr. McGlyn. KoKo loved it all. And after a lot of hard work, with every student chipping in their unique talents to bring the sculpture to life, they unveiled at the most recent recognition assembly, and it blew us away. I couldn't have been prouder of KoKo.
Here is a link to the story the local paper did on it.
KoKo's next assignment was creating and painting a window pane sized painting. She labored long and hard on it. To show how much she cared about KoKo getting it done, Mrs. Adams went out of her way to allow KoKo to come in and work on it on a Saturday! Talk about feeling like teachers care about you.
This care and kindness was matched by Mr. Rogalla late in the semester. KoKo was working on her final assignment for his Web Design class when tragedy struck: her computer froze. She lost 45 minutes of work and had a mini-meltdown. When I saw him at lunch, Mr. Rogalla explained to me what happened and that she was close to tears so he told her to take it easy and learn from this. As he said, "Here's a life lesson. Always save and learn to deal with things that come up like this." He calmed her down, comforted her, and told her if she needed some extra time to work on it, she could.
Yesterday at lunch Mrs. Adams said, "I looked out the back of my classroom and I saw KoKo with her boyfriend and some of their friends standing there looking at her painting. She had a smile that stretched from year to year. I was so happy for her."
Even when KoKo doesn't have a teacher for a class, she feels welcomed and respected. This happened on the inservice day prior to the start of third quarter. We saw Mr. Froiland when we came in and he said to KoKo, "I was in the building this weekend and saw you working on your painting. You must have been in heaven to have the art room and all those supplies and the afternoon to yourself to just work."
Again, KoKo smiled ear to ear.
As nice all those comments and actions were, Coach Mumm pulled off the ultimate praise for KoKo. She was quite ecstatic that she earned a 4.0 this semester. But that accomplishment pales in comparison (for KoKo anyway) to these fifteen words Coach Mumm offered up for his teacher comments on KoKo's report card: "You are truly the best of the best. We are lucky to have you here!"
Imagine being in a school where you are so loved and cared for and inspired.
Yes, KoKo is totally in her element. I am so proud to work with this people. I am so inspired by them. Coach Mumm has a mantra about LHS: "We do it better."
There is no question about that. At all.
Fortunately, this is how I spend every working day of my life.
Now, KoKo has found not only her element but also her tribe. And we have a different kid in the house because of it.
This has not always been the case for KoKo, but now that she has more success than she ever had previously, she is absolutely flourishing.
This is evident in so many ways.
Last semester she honestly looked forward to going to school almost as much as I did. That was because Expressive Connections - a Magnet Arts class with Mrs. Stock - started off her day. It tapped in to her creativity and she flourished.
For a good chunk of second quarter, KoKo and I were able to discuss the novel she was reading in her Lit & Lang 11 class, To Kill a Mockingbird. And I didn't even have to bring the topic up. This was topped off by an essay that Mrs. Groven assigned. KoKo actually came down from her loft and talked to me about how she planned it out and went about analyzing her subject in her essay. All I had to do was listen.
That eagerness continued into her Visual Art class where she poured a ton of effort into designing a sculpture for a contest to design a Prowler statue. Despite some trial and error, she finally submitted her design . . . and it won. Then came the hard part . . . building it. Her teacher, Mrs. Adams, really went out on a limb with this project and she put the kids through the ringer, this included teaching them how to weld with Mr. McGlyn. KoKo loved it all. And after a lot of hard work, with every student chipping in their unique talents to bring the sculpture to life, they unveiled at the most recent recognition assembly, and it blew us away. I couldn't have been prouder of KoKo.
Here is a link to the story the local paper did on it.
KoKo's next assignment was creating and painting a window pane sized painting. She labored long and hard on it. To show how much she cared about KoKo getting it done, Mrs. Adams went out of her way to allow KoKo to come in and work on it on a Saturday! Talk about feeling like teachers care about you.
This care and kindness was matched by Mr. Rogalla late in the semester. KoKo was working on her final assignment for his Web Design class when tragedy struck: her computer froze. She lost 45 minutes of work and had a mini-meltdown. When I saw him at lunch, Mr. Rogalla explained to me what happened and that she was close to tears so he told her to take it easy and learn from this. As he said, "Here's a life lesson. Always save and learn to deal with things that come up like this." He calmed her down, comforted her, and told her if she needed some extra time to work on it, she could.
Yesterday at lunch Mrs. Adams said, "I looked out the back of my classroom and I saw KoKo with her boyfriend and some of their friends standing there looking at her painting. She had a smile that stretched from year to year. I was so happy for her."
Even when KoKo doesn't have a teacher for a class, she feels welcomed and respected. This happened on the inservice day prior to the start of third quarter. We saw Mr. Froiland when we came in and he said to KoKo, "I was in the building this weekend and saw you working on your painting. You must have been in heaven to have the art room and all those supplies and the afternoon to yourself to just work."
Again, KoKo smiled ear to ear.
As nice all those comments and actions were, Coach Mumm pulled off the ultimate praise for KoKo. She was quite ecstatic that she earned a 4.0 this semester. But that accomplishment pales in comparison (for KoKo anyway) to these fifteen words Coach Mumm offered up for his teacher comments on KoKo's report card: "You are truly the best of the best. We are lucky to have you here!"
Imagine being in a school where you are so loved and cared for and inspired.
Yes, KoKo is totally in her element. I am so proud to work with this people. I am so inspired by them. Coach Mumm has a mantra about LHS: "We do it better."
There is no question about that. At all.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
John Lennon
Here is KoKo's finished painting of John Lennon. She completed it as part of the Magnet Arts program.
I know I've said this before, but I'm saying it again: because of LHS and the teachers, and especially Mrs. Adams and the Magnet Arts program, we have a different kid in our house now.
KoKo has found her element and is totally absorbed in it. As a result, she is almost glowing with happiness and confidence in her abilities.
I know I've said this before, but I'm saying it again: because of LHS and the teachers, and especially Mrs. Adams and the Magnet Arts program, we have a different kid in our house now.
KoKo has found her element and is totally absorbed in it. As a result, she is almost glowing with happiness and confidence in her abilities.
Oh the horror!
Yesterday I brought Kenz to school with me since we had an inservice day before the start of the second semester.
Since I spent five hours in my room on Sunday, I didn't have to do a whole lot other than read some papers and finish up grades and maybe make a few copies.
With a three and a half year old, that was a lot!
So after being a good girl and sitting through a 90 minute department meeting, then helping me in my room, and a trip to McDonald's playland, she was tired. I couldn't stop though, so I made her make shift little bed on the floor.
I had no idea she'd actually fall asleep though.
Sure enough, after making some copies I came back to my room and didn't hear anything.
"Kenz?" I asked. "Are you in here hon?"
Then I peeked around the corner of my desk and saw this:
Now, I know I've put other people's kids to sleep in class before but never my own!
Since I spent five hours in my room on Sunday, I didn't have to do a whole lot other than read some papers and finish up grades and maybe make a few copies.
With a three and a half year old, that was a lot!
So after being a good girl and sitting through a 90 minute department meeting, then helping me in my room, and a trip to McDonald's playland, she was tired. I couldn't stop though, so I made her make shift little bed on the floor.
I had no idea she'd actually fall asleep though.
Sure enough, after making some copies I came back to my room and didn't hear anything.
"Kenz?" I asked. "Are you in here hon?"
Then I peeked around the corner of my desk and saw this:
Now, I know I've put other people's kids to sleep in class before but never my own!
Sunday, January 22, 2012
End of the Season
Two weeks ago the Bengals season came to an end when the Houston Texans spanked them in the first round of the playoffs.
Still, the fact they were even in the playoffs was a miracle. I mean there was no one in the world giving them a shot at the playoffs in August, especially after their miserable pre-season. Not when they were starting a rookie quarterback (usually the kiss of death for franchises) and a rookie wide receiver and were coming off a four win season the year before with a lot more talent (Terrell Owens was not going to be resigned, Ochocinco was traded to the Pats for a late round draft pick, and Carson Palmer, who would later be dealt in a Herschel Walker type trade in a few months, was threatening to retire rather than play for the Bengals). Oh yeah, they were breaking in a new offensive coordinator who last coached in the arena league.
Yet, the Bengals righted themselves after a 1-2 start and reeled off five straight wins before struggling against a very difficult late schedule. The eventually made the playoffs as the last wild card in the AFC with a 9-7 record.
And that rookie quarterback? He was outstanding. He showed more leadership than Palmer ever did. And that rookie wide receiver? He was even more outstanding. No rookie receiver since Randy Moss had as many big plays as AJ Green did.
Green was so good that he was voted to the Pro Bowl. Now this week we just learned that three more of his teammates would be joining him: Andy Dalton (who was voted a first alternate and will play in place of Tom Brady, who will be practicing for the Pro Bowl), DT Geno Atkins (who was a first alternate behind Vince Wolfork, who will also be in the Super Bowl), and their second year tight end Jermaine Gresham (who was a third alternate behind Rob Gronkowsi, who will be in the SB, and Aaron Henderson (Gronkowski's back up who also will be in the SB) and Owen Daniels, who is hurt). Now, if we can just get our superb LT, Andrew Whitworth, somehow, it would be awesome.
No one would have ever in their wildest dreams have dared guess the Bengals - in one short season - would go from an awful team who seemed destined to draft Andrew Luck with the first pick in the draft, to being on the verge of taking a good run at the AFC North title for years to come.
They are a very young team (Dalton and AJ are the first rookie qb and wr combo ever voted to the Pro Bowl). They don't have much in terms of star power to resign in free agency. Now that new rules force owners to spend up to the salary cap limit, maybe the Bengals will be more aggressive in going after serious free agents (or at least resigning their own, losing Pro Bowl corner Jonathan Joseph really hurt their secondary this year). On top of all of that, the Bengals shipped disgruntled Palmer to the hapless Oakland Raiders for their first round pick this year (#17 overall) and a second rounder next year (which turns to a first rounder if the Raiders play in the AFC Championship game, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen).
A quick look at the talent the Bengals have been able to stockpile in the last few drafts: Andrew Whitworth, Dometa Peko, Leon Hall, Andre Smith, Ray Malualuga, Jermain Gresham, Carlos Dunlap, Jordan Shipley, Geno Atkins, and now Dalton and AJ Green. If the Bengals can land more impact players with those two first round picks (they have four picks in the first three rounds), they should be that much more stout.
Still, the fact they were even in the playoffs was a miracle. I mean there was no one in the world giving them a shot at the playoffs in August, especially after their miserable pre-season. Not when they were starting a rookie quarterback (usually the kiss of death for franchises) and a rookie wide receiver and were coming off a four win season the year before with a lot more talent (Terrell Owens was not going to be resigned, Ochocinco was traded to the Pats for a late round draft pick, and Carson Palmer, who would later be dealt in a Herschel Walker type trade in a few months, was threatening to retire rather than play for the Bengals). Oh yeah, they were breaking in a new offensive coordinator who last coached in the arena league.
Yet, the Bengals righted themselves after a 1-2 start and reeled off five straight wins before struggling against a very difficult late schedule. The eventually made the playoffs as the last wild card in the AFC with a 9-7 record.
And that rookie quarterback? He was outstanding. He showed more leadership than Palmer ever did. And that rookie wide receiver? He was even more outstanding. No rookie receiver since Randy Moss had as many big plays as AJ Green did.
Green was so good that he was voted to the Pro Bowl. Now this week we just learned that three more of his teammates would be joining him: Andy Dalton (who was voted a first alternate and will play in place of Tom Brady, who will be practicing for the Pro Bowl), DT Geno Atkins (who was a first alternate behind Vince Wolfork, who will also be in the Super Bowl), and their second year tight end Jermaine Gresham (who was a third alternate behind Rob Gronkowsi, who will be in the SB, and Aaron Henderson (Gronkowski's back up who also will be in the SB) and Owen Daniels, who is hurt). Now, if we can just get our superb LT, Andrew Whitworth, somehow, it would be awesome.
No one would have ever in their wildest dreams have dared guess the Bengals - in one short season - would go from an awful team who seemed destined to draft Andrew Luck with the first pick in the draft, to being on the verge of taking a good run at the AFC North title for years to come.
They are a very young team (Dalton and AJ are the first rookie qb and wr combo ever voted to the Pro Bowl). They don't have much in terms of star power to resign in free agency. Now that new rules force owners to spend up to the salary cap limit, maybe the Bengals will be more aggressive in going after serious free agents (or at least resigning their own, losing Pro Bowl corner Jonathan Joseph really hurt their secondary this year). On top of all of that, the Bengals shipped disgruntled Palmer to the hapless Oakland Raiders for their first round pick this year (#17 overall) and a second rounder next year (which turns to a first rounder if the Raiders play in the AFC Championship game, but it doesn't look like that is going to happen).
A quick look at the talent the Bengals have been able to stockpile in the last few drafts: Andrew Whitworth, Dometa Peko, Leon Hall, Andre Smith, Ray Malualuga, Jermain Gresham, Carlos Dunlap, Jordan Shipley, Geno Atkins, and now Dalton and AJ Green. If the Bengals can land more impact players with those two first round picks (they have four picks in the first three rounds), they should be that much more stout.
Sunday at work
Since I'm not really ready for the new semester (taking an overload of 31 freshmen will do that to you), I spent four hours in my classroom today.
It was just like the old days. I bet there was not more than a handful of weekends that I wasn't in my classroom at least Saturday or Sunday (and sometimes both days) my first three years teaching.
Now, I rarely stop in on the weekends.
But today it was a must.
So I got down to finally organizing my room. I'm a stacks person. When I'm done with copies of a story, I stack them on a table in my room and just keep adding to the stacks over the course of the semester. That leads to quite a pile up of copies of stories and assignments and articles and samples and books that I need to sort through and organize once again.
Yeah, I tell myself every once in awhile that I'll make a resolution to organize the stacks at the end of every week. Then Friday rolls around and I'm busy correcting, writing a recommendation, talking shop, or updating lessons . . . anything but organizing my stacks.
So I put an hour into that today and got everything finally filed away (or recycled).
I was also able to spend some time making copies of the first few weeks of readings for College Comp II.
I haven't taught Lit and Lang 9 since my first year at LHS, but I've got the teacher's text and love that the first story is "The Most Dangerous Game." I read that too, I think, as a freshman. It should be a lot of fun.
I think I'm going to stick pretty close to the textbook for this class. But, then again, I always say that and then start supplementing the readings in the book quite a bit.
I have two sections of College Comp I and am so well versed in that class that I could walk in right now and be off and running with my young scribes in a matter of minutes.
Now that the house cleaning stuff is all done, I can devote our inservice day tomorrow to finishing correcting (I still have my College Comp II MGRP and Career essays to grade) and a few things to clean up in Lit and Lang 9R and then I'll be set.
Still, as I was heading out the door, I couldn't help but pause to snap a quick picture of the calm before the storm.
But just wait until those 31 freshmen get a hold of this place!
It was just like the old days. I bet there was not more than a handful of weekends that I wasn't in my classroom at least Saturday or Sunday (and sometimes both days) my first three years teaching.
Now, I rarely stop in on the weekends.
But today it was a must.
So I got down to finally organizing my room. I'm a stacks person. When I'm done with copies of a story, I stack them on a table in my room and just keep adding to the stacks over the course of the semester. That leads to quite a pile up of copies of stories and assignments and articles and samples and books that I need to sort through and organize once again.
Yeah, I tell myself every once in awhile that I'll make a resolution to organize the stacks at the end of every week. Then Friday rolls around and I'm busy correcting, writing a recommendation, talking shop, or updating lessons . . . anything but organizing my stacks.
So I put an hour into that today and got everything finally filed away (or recycled).
I was also able to spend some time making copies of the first few weeks of readings for College Comp II.
I haven't taught Lit and Lang 9 since my first year at LHS, but I've got the teacher's text and love that the first story is "The Most Dangerous Game." I read that too, I think, as a freshman. It should be a lot of fun.
I think I'm going to stick pretty close to the textbook for this class. But, then again, I always say that and then start supplementing the readings in the book quite a bit.
I have two sections of College Comp I and am so well versed in that class that I could walk in right now and be off and running with my young scribes in a matter of minutes.
Now that the house cleaning stuff is all done, I can devote our inservice day tomorrow to finishing correcting (I still have my College Comp II MGRP and Career essays to grade) and a few things to clean up in Lit and Lang 9R and then I'll be set.
Still, as I was heading out the door, I couldn't help but pause to snap a quick picture of the calm before the storm.
But just wait until those 31 freshmen get a hold of this place!
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