10.31.2005
A digestible digest.
It's about freaking time, isn't it?
Well, don't think that just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean there's nothing going on--nay, it's merely because I don't like you.
(Obviously, this isn't true. But it IS what I tell my students whenever I praise someone and someone else wants to know "what about meeeeeeee?" "Oh," I always reply, "I don't like you." Then, they get all wide-eyed, pouty and indignant, and I have to tell them I'm just teasing. Kids are so cute, especially since they don't really get sarcasm. "HEEEEEEEYYYYY...")
So anyway, a couple weekends ago, I went marching to Zion, with Annalise and our friend Liz! No, really! Well, technically, I suppose it was hiking. At any rate, it was in Zion National Park, in Utah, a comfortable three hour drive from Las Vegas. Canyons, red mountains, actual deciduous (leafy, fall-colored) trees, breath-taking heights and views. It was, in short, very much not Las Vegas. A welcome 36 hour vacation that set me back on the right track at a rather difficult and stressful time.
...Which started right back up again come Monday morning, but, çest la vie. I was good to go for the rest of the week, and here's the best part of all: I took THE ENTIRE NEXT WEEK OFF, this past week, which was even cooler than marching to Zion. Here are some details of this past week:
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Well, don't think that just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean there's nothing going on--nay, it's merely because I don't like you.
(Obviously, this isn't true. But it IS what I tell my students whenever I praise someone and someone else wants to know "what about meeeeeeee?" "Oh," I always reply, "I don't like you." Then, they get all wide-eyed, pouty and indignant, and I have to tell them I'm just teasing. Kids are so cute, especially since they don't really get sarcasm. "HEEEEEEEYYYYY...")
So anyway, a couple weekends ago, I went marching to Zion, with Annalise and our friend Liz! No, really! Well, technically, I suppose it was hiking. At any rate, it was in Zion National Park, in Utah, a comfortable three hour drive from Las Vegas. Canyons, red mountains, actual deciduous (leafy, fall-colored) trees, breath-taking heights and views. It was, in short, very much not Las Vegas. A welcome 36 hour vacation that set me back on the right track at a rather difficult and stressful time.
...Which started right back up again come Monday morning, but, çest la vie. I was good to go for the rest of the week, and here's the best part of all: I took THE ENTIRE NEXT WEEK OFF, this past week, which was even cooler than marching to Zion. Here are some details of this past week:
- On Tuesday night, Annalise and I went to Circus Circus, which is on the north end of the Strip, then walked all the way down to the Luxor, which is four miles south! It was a cheap date, and lots of fun. (We tried to invoke our teacher status in order to visit Sigfried and Roy's Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat for free, only to find that (a) it was already closed and (b) contrary to Urban Teacher Legend, it's not free for teachers or anyone else anyway. (The Shark Reef at the beautiful Mandolay Bay IS free for teachers, $15 for everyone else, ha ha, but we didn't make it there that evening.)
- On Thursday, we went to Red Rock Canyon, a beautiful hiking, biking, and rock-climbing spot approximately 10 minutes to the west of Las Vegas. There's a cool little ghost town/Wild West tourist trap up there as well, called Bonnie Springs. The best part is definitely the free petting zoo, which featured pigeons, deer, wolves, goats and sheep, about 10 million peacocks(!), and many other variations of beast and fowl.
- On Friday, Annalise bought a car! This car, only white, to be precise. Isn't it beautiful and impressively expensive-looking? It's really fun to drive, too! This new development comes about courtesy of the other car she bought having developed a grisly condition known as "Blowby". This means that the engine is in a slow, continuous state of death-by-internal-burning, resulting in billowing clouds of smoke out the tailpipe. (Note to future car owners: don't buy a used car from a dealer who goes by the name "Dino." In fact, I'd avoid Fred and Barney as well.)
- On Saturday, we finished cleaning house, or at least the living areas thereof, for the first time ever, and had people over for vegetarian quiche, soup and salad. It was delightful.
- On Sunday, I completed the only school project I decided to work on this whole week: final production of The Twos, the brand-new, debut, smash-hit single of the hottest new children's hip-hop group in Vegas: Mister H and the Math Emcees. Check 'em out:
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// posted by Tom @ 7:14 PM 
10.10.2005
Holy crap!
I just got back from--are you ready for this?--a professional development session that actually wasn't a complete waste of time! Can you believe it? I know, right?
Seriously, for those of you just joining us, these trainings aren't inherently evil. It's just when you work in SPED and you're worried about how you're going to track each of your 20+ kids in accordance with their individualized education plans, which all have different goals, but you have to teach them in groups anyways, and all the district support you have at your disposal is to go to all these new teacher general ed trainings that only cover remedial classroom management issues, you might find that the so-called support infrastructure isn't actually there and is instead an active, unnecessarily time-consuming pain in the ass.
At least, that's the standard fare.
Today, however, was different: it was a session on inclusion, and I attended it with my special ed facilitator, one of my co-teachers, my principal, and the literacy specialist (who incidentally shares my room). The pacing was (gasp) surprisingly refreshing, the content was almost entirely (gasp) relevant to what I'm doing, and the overall atmosphere was pleasantly productive. In short, it was a huge relief, especially since I had to miss the day and plan for a sub--who ended up being outsourced to another classroom at the last possible second, rendering me with a day of entirely cancelled classes--GRRRRRRR--but I digress. I'm very grateful for this opportunity.
---
A few days ago, I was highly complemented by one of my students. She said, admiringly, "I used to think you were New School, Mr. ------. But you're not. You're Old School!"
It's good to be Old School. I've figured out that much. But I honestly hadn't encountered the concept of being "new school" before. I think it has something to do with being uncool, or having a bad attitude, if UrbanDictionary.com is any indication...
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Seriously, for those of you just joining us, these trainings aren't inherently evil. It's just when you work in SPED and you're worried about how you're going to track each of your 20+ kids in accordance with their individualized education plans, which all have different goals, but you have to teach them in groups anyways, and all the district support you have at your disposal is to go to all these new teacher general ed trainings that only cover remedial classroom management issues, you might find that the so-called support infrastructure isn't actually there and is instead an active, unnecessarily time-consuming pain in the ass.
At least, that's the standard fare.
Today, however, was different: it was a session on inclusion, and I attended it with my special ed facilitator, one of my co-teachers, my principal, and the literacy specialist (who incidentally shares my room). The pacing was (gasp) surprisingly refreshing, the content was almost entirely (gasp) relevant to what I'm doing, and the overall atmosphere was pleasantly productive. In short, it was a huge relief, especially since I had to miss the day and plan for a sub--who ended up being outsourced to another classroom at the last possible second, rendering me with a day of entirely cancelled classes--GRRRRRRR--but I digress. I'm very grateful for this opportunity.
---
A few days ago, I was highly complemented by one of my students. She said, admiringly, "I used to think you were New School, Mr. ------. But you're not. You're Old School!"
It's good to be Old School. I've figured out that much. But I honestly hadn't encountered the concept of being "new school" before. I think it has something to do with being uncool, or having a bad attitude, if UrbanDictionary.com is any indication...
// posted by Tom @ 4:03 PM
10.08.2005
Long overdue
Hello to my faithful reader (Mom!).
Lest you think I'm dead, here's my two point update:
1. I got a keyboard! It's a Korg N1, has 88 keys, wasn't all that expensive considering, and has some great sounds and capabilities for my purposes. I am so happy to just be able to sit down and play when I want to/need to. It's something I have sorely missed.
2. Weekend Entertainment: tonight, I'm going to watch Day 2 of the Grand Sumo Tournament at Mandalay Bay Casino. These tickets normally cost $130, but I have a friend who had some free tickets to share, so there I go!
I cannot tell you how excited I am. I typically don't really get into the commodofied violence of the Wrestling on TV, but Sumo is a time honored tradition--an art form if you will. And the participants this evening are some of the top stars from Japan, so it's a multi-cultural event too! (Maybe I can get professional development credit out of this...)
I'm still teaching too. I just feel like I'm swimming these days, in stuff to do, schedule changes, professional development trainings that are utterly worthless (or at least entirely lacking in the "Hey! Here's something new!" department.
So to recap: No, I'm not dead. Yay keyboard. Yay Sumo. And last but not least, yay weekend.
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Lest you think I'm dead, here's my two point update:
1. I got a keyboard! It's a Korg N1, has 88 keys, wasn't all that expensive considering, and has some great sounds and capabilities for my purposes. I am so happy to just be able to sit down and play when I want to/need to. It's something I have sorely missed.
2. Weekend Entertainment: tonight, I'm going to watch Day 2 of the Grand Sumo Tournament at Mandalay Bay Casino. These tickets normally cost $130, but I have a friend who had some free tickets to share, so there I go!
I cannot tell you how excited I am. I typically don't really get into the commodofied violence of the Wrestling on TV, but Sumo is a time honored tradition--an art form if you will. And the participants this evening are some of the top stars from Japan, so it's a multi-cultural event too! (Maybe I can get professional development credit out of this...)
I'm still teaching too. I just feel like I'm swimming these days, in stuff to do, schedule changes, professional development trainings that are utterly worthless (or at least entirely lacking in the "Hey! Here's something new!" department.
So to recap: No, I'm not dead. Yay keyboard. Yay Sumo. And last but not least, yay weekend.
// posted by Tom @ 6:33 PM
