I find myself confused, perplexed and befuddled today. I understand that 2 of my classes took a test today and that I have had quite a few students gone but why are the llamas so quite today?

According to the wetter-channel (that’s what we call it) it currently feels like 72 degrees outside, the sun is shinning and the students are quiet. And HELLO, it is friday! My llamas have been super quiet today, I noticed it after lunch when the bell rang for students to return to class and most of the kids were quiet as they walked to class. Then I noticed that my 5th hour which is my largest and loudest group of llamas was pretty tame. Now 3 hours later, the last class of the day and the loudest noise all hour was the horn we just heard honk.

This is abnormal, we have lest than 10 minutes of the school day left, everyone is working and I haven’t heard hardly a peep about anyones weekend activities. Why are high school students, on a friday, so very very quiet? 

Just a side note, I am not complaining about the quiet. Most days I would be going batty with the lack of noise but today it soothes me, maybe it soothes the herd too?

oh man I wish I could be this strong!



Teanne Harris, bride jilted at altar, turns Halloween-themed wedding into party for senior citizens

BY CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Originally Published:Monday, November 2nd 2009, 12:49 PM
Updated: Tuesday, November 3rd 2009, 1:42 PM

A jilted bride turned her heartache into a Happy Halloween for hundreds of senior citizens.

Teanne Harris, who lives outside of Chicago, was supposed to walk down the aisle Saturday when her fiance suddenly got cold feet.

And when Harris and her mom went to retrieve their deposit from the suburban catering hall where the reception was to be held, they were told it was too late.

Sitting in the parking lot sad and depressed, Harris was commiserating with her mom, Bari, when they glanced over at the Asbury Court Retirement Community across the street – and a light bulb went off in their heads.

“It was a hurtful time for her,” said Mary Eichenfeld, the resident services director at the facility in Des Plaines, Il. “They were just sitting in their car and decided to make something good out of the disastrous situation.”

Instead of letting a Halloween-themed wedding reception go to waste, Harris, 34, and her mom decided to move the festivities across the street.

“She came in one day and said she wanted to make a donation,” said Eichenfeld. “I don’t think she knew anybody here, and we don’t get offers like that. So we were thrilled and so were our residents. It came out of the blue.”

By all account, the bash was a blast. The wedding DJ played oldies. The tables were decked out with candy jars and feathered masquerade masks. The banquet hall served up a senior-friendly meal. And the guests dressed up as everything from Dracula to Raggedy Ann.

As for the bridal bouquet, Harris had it placed in the chapel of the old folks’ home.

“She came to the party and while I saw her smiling, I’m sure she was feeling pretty bad,” said Eichenfeld.

Harris’s mom, Bari, said she too felt sad for her daughter but glad she could give the seniors a treat.

“Yes, there’s mixed emotion,” she told the local CBSstation. “It could have been a lot worse, just sitting at home, knowing that nothing was used.”

Harris was believed to be en route to Hawaii on Monday and could not be reached for comment. Her intended, who is identified on her on-line wedding registry as Matt Harker, did not return a call for comment.

“That was supposed to be her honeymoon, but she’s going alone,” said Eichenfeld. “I say good for her. I hope she finds a nice guy who deserves her.”

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Read more:http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/weddings/2009/11/02/2009-11-02_bride_jilted_at_the_alter.html#ixzz0VpoW12QC

Not to brag on myself but I am super polite with service people. I always acknowledge the cashier with a “hello” or a how are you today” or I might even comment on the craziness of the store at that moment. I also say please and thank you  and even a may I when speaking with a waiter/waitress. Some have even commented on my need to say please and thank you when getting food at a drive through.

Last night while visiting the golden arches (I like my nuggets okay). The golden arches must have a new policy because I have on several occasions pulled up to the drive through and been asked, “What can we make for you today?” Which I just love, I know it is ploy to make me think my food is super fresh and that they think I am just super special, I fall for it every time, politeness goes a long way with this girl. So anyway, I ordered my normal meal, said please, thank you and all the rest and was told to pull up to the first window. No big deal right, well she didn’t just stop there she proceeded to add, “have your payment ready.”

Excuse me! “Pull forward and have your payment ready!” It was 430, there wasn’t another car behind me, nor in front of me, so I know you are not in a rush, no one is going to get angry if I pull forward and then rip the 20 from my purse to hand it to you. Is it really safe to pull forward around a corner while digging for some cash? I think not! While I know this may seem petty, I can not in this blog post convey her tone. It was like I had disturbed her precious solitude, how dare I go to a food joint and order food!

I try to be polite I really do, but I wanted to take back my pleases and thank you’s to this rude woman. Maybe she was having a bad day but doesn’t “please pull forward work” why remove the please only replace it with a rude, “have your payment ready”

I know that I haven’t taught for a life time or anything but I have never seen anything like this!

I have a hall pass that hangs on the wall by the door, when students need to go to the bathroom or get a drink, my requirement is that they ask, wait for a nod and then go. This has worked well for several years. This year I have a handful of students that will look to see if the pass is on the wall and if it is, then they get up from their seats, grab the pass and then go. I know that this is what other teachers have them do in their classroom. Day 1 we talk about how you have to ask, to leave the room, we talk about that this isn’t because I think they are children or that I think that they can’t patrol themselves but that it is a safety issue and that anal Ms. Sassybug is that she needs to know at all times who is gone. (I think this is due to the fact that my first week of teaching we had a bomb threat and had to evacuate campus and I had no idea what to do with my kids, how many there were, or even what their names were).

The second week of school or so I caught a student just grabbing the pass and leaving, when he returned we had the discussion that while it worked for other teachers that action just isn’t acceptable in my room. I am still flabbergasted by the number of kids that still think this is okay. They hear at least 5 class mates ask to use the restroom on a daily basis, so why don’t they get that they to must ask?

This whole bathroom thing is making me crazy, I have kids come back from lunch and aren’t in the room 2 minutes before they ask to go to the bathroom. I think I need a new plan… any ideas?

This has started way to early!

lunch time

So our district has just gone nutty this year playing the numbers game, so I decided to do some number crunching on my own with my first nine weeks grades. This will bore most of you but I find it interesting.

College Prep Math:

- in 41 days I graded 82 assignments for each student

- out of 26 kiddo’s I had 1 failure for a 96.2 % pass rate!

- last year at this time I had a 83.3% pass rate!

This increase means a lot to me. This class is my baby, no one else teaches it and I can do just about what ever I want. Last year was my first year teaching the class and I struggled a lot in my first semester, I was trying to follow the previous year’s lessons from another teacher. I guess what I am saying is that I feel more confidant teaching this class this year and by the numbers I think what I am doing is working. BTW, this is not an easy class and I expect a huge amount from these kids (if 82 grades didn’t tell you that). I am so glad to see that they are rising to meet my expectations. Having said that these are also the kids that are taking a math class because their parents are making them or because they chose to take a math class, these aren’t calc students but they are a bit above average for our school!

Geometry:

 - this one is a little harder to swallow.

- in 41 days I graded 67 assignments for each student

- out of 60 kids I had 16 failures for a pass rate of 73%

- last year at this time I had a 66.1% pass rate.

This failure rate is a bit hard for me to take but almost 75% of the kids passing is pretty good, really good if you consider that we have changed so much this year. I also think this is great considering that due to circumstances outside of my control I am 2 weeks ahead in the material to be covered than I was at this time last year. This time line I think is really hurting our kids and I wish that I could have seen pass rates with out moving through the material so quickly but I don’t think that will ever see the light of day.

Are you bored yet? Why is this important to me? With so much going on in my personal life, staying on top with my teaching has been a real struggle. Also due to all of the personal crud, I promised myself that I was going to work harder this year as a teacher, that just because my personal life was falling apart I wouldn’t let it effect my students in a negative manner. These few numbers tell me that I have succeeded, at least a little bit, an they encourage me to keep moving!

So I have my llamas do a warm up every day and we turn them in on Fridays. If a llama is absent I have them write down what days they were absent on their warm ups, this saves me some headaches as it is one less absent thing I have too keep track of and get kids caught up on. Beechy Llama (she is grouch all ‘da time) turned this in today:

I think I was absent thurday too.

Let me be the first to admit that my grammar and spelling are far from perfect. Often I type up a blog post or an email and when I proof read I find several mistakes. There are rules of grammar out there that I have probably never even heard of but I got an email from the college today that read (exactly):

Hi  I will need a Substute for next saturday. I will be on business leave for a Nation Conference in Portland Oregon. I have arranged for a test to be given on that day.

 

This was from one professor to the entire department. What do you think?

According to Sesame Street Magazine, October 15th is National Grouch Day – a day for all Grouches to celebrate their way of life.

A Grouch’s mission in life is to be as miserable and grouchy as possible, and pass that feeling on to everyone else. Only then will a Grouch feel in touch with his or her world and be happy. Yet, even though a Grouch may show happiness at anyone’s misfortune (including his or her own), a Grouch would never admit to being happy. Such is the stability of a Grouch’s life: so balanced, and yet so unbalanced. (Source: http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/National_Grouch_Day)

So the tech lady just invited me to a chat, she had a computer question. The command I was supposed to tell her is “apple” Shift” “P”. I forgot a letter in the word Shift, I’ll let you guess which one.

Maybe this is my sub-conscience trying to tell me something, like how much I loathe these computer tests.