What a week

Long time . . . no blog.

Where to start filling you in?

I missed three days this week from school so I spent much of my time doing what I despise: planning for a sub. What a week to have to miss too.

I was gone on Tuesday for a doctor’s visit. Then Wednesday and Thursday were devoted to my MNHS class.

Of course, on Wednesday the common prep topic that I have been clamoring for over two years now finally was to be discussed – and I had to miss it. For those of you who don’t know, common prep is something we have at school where teachers meet during their prep blocks for a presentation or a discussion. I’ve been clamoring for years to have teachers bring in their ‘best’ practices or lessons. I firmly believe we all do wonderfully inventive things in our classes, but we never get a chance to share or see what others do. I would MUCH rather learn something I can actually use in my classes than some of the other mindless junk we’ve been subjected to.

And of course, when this finally comes up, I have to miss it! Damn.

After the doctor’s visit on Tuesday, we had another one scheduled for Thursday, so I had to miss the MNHS class for that. Talk about a disjointed week. Two days of teaching, two doctor visits, and one day of the MNHS class.

I actually had to come in yesterday for my fourth block, despite having a sub, because we are starting our Edgar Allan Poe imovie project. Of course, the computers in our English lab do not have imovie, so I have to book the library’s lab (which has the latest flat screens from apple), but that is booked months in advance and I could only get it for three days (though I was able to get one extra day – thanks Mike!). That means rushing through it at lightning speed, which means their imovies suffer. But that extra day should help.

Today (Friday) order has been restored. My freshmen were glad to have me back. I’m literally having withdrawals from my College Comp class – what a class. Even my juniors seemed happy I was back. I just wish they weren’t such a mob to try and manage.

To top it off, we only have two weeks before the end of the quarter!

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While waiting in the doctor’s office, I found an issue of Time devoted to No Child Left Behind. I have about 100 podcasts on my ipod devoted to this issue, so I thought it would be interesting to read another take on it.

While the article didn’t really offer anything new, it did give me an excellent quote that I’m adding to my email messages – “NCLB is like a Russian novel. It is long, complicated, and in the end, everyone is killed” – former superintendent of schools of Ohio (note the adjective ‘former’).

Amen.

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I’ve exhausted many of my podcasts. I usually listen to podcasts focusing on education on the way to work. Then on the way home I listen to classic horror tales, old time radio, or author interviews or podcasts. I just finished all of the Dean Koontz podcasts. I’m still waiting for the next Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History podcast. Luckily, I found Barnes and Nobles “Meet the Authors.”

The first one I listened to was an interview with Gary Paulson, who happens to be from the same town I teach in. He sounds incredibly fascinating. One of my favorite quotes he said was “Kids should read like wolves eat.” I like that. He also said, “Read when they tell you not to read and read what they tell you not to read.” And another great one – “Anyone over the age of 16 should stop hunting.” Gotta love that.

Paulson seems like the type of person who has a ton of stories stored up. I could just listen to him recount them all day. It’s easy to understand why his novels are beloved by so many young readers.

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