Playing Hooky!

I didn't really "play hooky" today - I had a doctor appointment in Pasadena and had to take off a half day.

I have a great built-in sub - my former student teacher is available - so it's not even hard to leave.

It does seem strange to drive around in the middle of the day though. I did a lot of errands that were "on the way."

And had lunch at Subway - sat and ate while reading a book. Something I love to do.

Can you tell I'm ready for Spring Break next week??

Just another manic Thursday!!

Actually it was a pretty mellow day at Clifton. It was the Founder's Day assembly at the end of the day, so every period was 10 minutes shorter than usual, and there was no SSR.

Bill Card as principal at Clifton circa 1996.

Marcie got the Golden Apple award, and I was the presenter - so that was fun. It was also MJ's b-day, so I stopped by the homestead - it's always good to be with the girlfriends.

But I did deal with a rude parent. I hate that. I wish I could just say, "What is the matter? Why am I at fault for your bad day? Can I help you?" Instead I have to measure my words carefully so that none of them can be misconstrued.

It won't be the kids who drive me into retirement. It will be the adults.

The Joys of Teaching

I am involved in a collaboration model where I teach. 11 RSP students are clustered in an 8th grade Science class, and I co-teach with the general ed instructor. Since 8th grade Science is physical science - think chemistry and physics - I mostly support the teacher. He does let me do the inter-active reader with them as a group, but I don't think he's sold yet on my scientific abilities. But he does appreciate having another adult in the room to monitor progress - and on-task behavior - and he is growing in his confidence in my abilities!!

The students go with me to my room to take their tests, because some of them do better if I read the questions to them. I have 7 of them in my Study Skills class, so they decided to do their water content project as a group - and it was certainly fun to watch them dive into the project. This is significant, because these are kids who traditionally feel like they aren't doing things right, and worry about looking bad in front of their peers.

They did a good job on the project - it was spread out over about 3 weeks - it involved drying out fruit see how much of the fruit was water - a standard middle school science project. I got a display poster for them, and they tabulated their results and did a nice job of displaying the work they had done. When they were finished, they - at least the boys - wanted to take it over to the science room. All 5 boys "carried" the poster across campus to turn it in. It was gratifying to see the joy and sense of satisfaction they displayed.

I guess this is why I keep teaching!!

What I do, where I go, who I work with!!

Another staff photo to add to my collection. The first few years I worked, I would put them all up on a bulletin board - but after awhile, I thought the emphasis was misunderstood by students, as in "You've been here that long!!"

I've been teaching since 1996. I've been at Clifton since the 1997-98 school year. I guess I have been here that long!!

Most days I'm happy to go to work. Lately I haven't been as happy - some "political" issues have "sapped my energy." But I always love the kids - and I have some great kids this year. We are also continuing with a program of collaboration that I spear-headed, and I'm proud of the progress we are making.

So I will stick it out! Retirement probably has some bad days too!

"A Beggar's Banquet"

For those of you who may be unaware of such information, school teachers, in California anyway, are only paid ten months out of the year. This is not so bad, since we only really work 9 1/2 months out of the year. But it does mean that you go from June 30th to September 30th without a paycheck.

You also may be unaware of the fact that at my school, we have a monthly or maybe every 6 weeks or so potluck lunch in the staff room. My good friend Marcie (who is a member of my ward in addition to being a teacher) usually spearheads things and gets out a flyer. And being the creative woman that she is, she always comes up with a theme. I usually provide the tablecloths and a pretty good main dish - at least it always gets snarfed up first. (That occurrence is more to be attributed to the fact that Marcie and I are the only ones who really "cook" - the rest just "fix food" - than to any superiority of my cooking. But I do have some specialties that are certainly "passing fair.")

So this month we had a "Beggar's Banquet," where we were supposed to come up with whatever we could out of our cupboards and freezers. Marcie made fudge. I made Shepherd's Pie. And there was a lot of chips and salsa too! Some of them must manage their money better, because there were a couple of buckets of chicken - and they hadn't made them themselves! And instead of buying flowers for centerpieces, I wandered around the campus classrooms and offices and borrowed plants !

This little exercise got me thinking, and I decided to see how long I could subsist on what was in my cupboards and freezer. I did go to the store for fresh produce, milk, yogurt, and bread, but I haven't really bought "groceries" for a couple of weeks now. It is somewhat liberating too. I even put on Sunday dinner last Sunday without going to the store (there was a lot of sour cream in the fridge so we had stroganoff.)

We are scraping bottom now though, so I hope I can get out of my meetings in a timely manner tomorrow so I can go to the store before dinner!

School Daze!!

Whether I want it to or not, school starts tomorrow morning.

A big thank you to Ella for helping me get my classroom set up and for suggesting a "Getting to Know You" game - I'll let you know how it goes!

I really just have to get through the first day, and then I'm in gear for the year!