Spirit Week!

It's late, and I should be in bed, but it's also Thursday, and I haven't really posted anything about Spirit Week! We make a huge deal out of it, and it's so fun if you have the right attitude. Some of the teachers hate it, but I love this week because it's fun, it gets students involved, it boosts school spirit, and best of all... the teachers can wear jeans every day! Yes, there's the honest truth. I love Spirit Week because I can wear my jeans. And it's not even a pay day week, so I can wear jeans next Friday too. 3 Fridays in a row... score! (And I have a lot less laundry to do this weekend as a result!)

Anyway, tonight was the spaghetti dinner and the community pep rally. My mom came and ate with me, then I went to hang out with this awesome family I know. When I was in high school, I babysat these amazing kids all the time. Well, now they're growing up, but I still love them. And they have a cute new baby brother. So I went over to their table in hopes of holding the baby and catching up with the sweet girls (their big brother is now a freshman and a football player, so it was really just girl time). These kiddos' uncle is one of my coworkers, and he has a 5 year old and a 5 month old, so there were lots of kids hanging around. I sat with them for a long time, then went to the pep rally with them. I sat with their grandma who used to be the cheerleading advisor, so we had an absolute blast. And the 5 year old was totally my buddy all night.

When the pep rally ended, he was getting antsy waiting for everyone to be ready, so I took him home. He just lives down the street from me. But I walked to school, and I don't have a booster seat in my car (anymore... I had one when I babysat this summer!) so I didn't really take him home... I actually walked him home.

To be totally honest... we kind of ran home. NOT my choice! :)

It was a fun evening. I love little kids, but my are they a handful.

And this is why I don't teach elementary school... I'm exhausted.

Goodnight!

Working with Teenagers...

Sometimes it's great... other days... well, they're TEENAGERS...

(Meant to post this Monday after a frustrating afternoon.)

But really, it's not that bad. I usually really enjoy them. One of my girls from last year stopped in to see me today and made me laugh so hard. Teenagers can be really sweet.



And another of my usual odd little anecdotes...

Tonight I was sitting on my porch watching Hulu and knitting. Yes, I know I'm a weirdo, but that's what I was doing, and I was quite enjoying myself. It's been gorgeous outside lately.

And then this group of girls walked by. Four of them. It's dark outside. I've got a porch light, but I can't really see the girls on the sidewalk. One says, "Hi Miss _________, you have a nice house!" I seriously have no idea who that was! Okay, actually, I think it might have been the little sister of a student of mine, who knows me from when we sell pop at the volleyball games, but I really am not sure at all! But that seems fitting, because if they weren't middle schoolers, I'm pretty sure they were freshmen. Oh well.


Anyway, enjoy this picture of my scarf I was knitting! It's a bit longer now than it was when I took the picture, but not as long as it should be. I realized I had knit a row when I should have purled (or vice-versa) and so I had to unravel 15 rows. :(

Sorry the quality kind of stinks... my crappy phone is the only camera I have since my camera I bought when I graduated high school finally kicked the bucket a couple of months ago!

On that note, I am finally up for a phone upgrade in 1 week, which I've been counting down to for a year or more! But I can save that rant for another post, maybe after I get my new phone!

*Sigh*

It's been a tough couple of days. One of my coworkers had her baby this weekend (exciting!) but that means I am now teaching her calculus class. (We can't let just anyone teach calculus!) So, needless to say, the last few days have been crazy. I know how to do calculus... I'm good at it and I even think it's fun (I know, you think I'm nuts)! But it's not easy to give up my class once a day to someone else. So far he (the sub/my ex) hasn't had a chance to teach them anything new, since we had a test today and all this craziness just started yesterday, but it's still weird. I don't like leaving them. I like the calculus class a lot, but I don't know them yet, so we'll see how things go.

I do have a funny anecdote about the first day though! (Yep, that's anecdotes are kind of my thing.)
As I checked the homework the first day, I walked around and looked at the students, and as I got to each one I said, "name?" and then marked their 5/5 on the correct spot. Well, one of the calculus students is the son of another one of our math teachers. So when I got to him, I said "Oh, so you're [insert his name here]..." The kid next to him blurts out, "It's never good when the teachers say it like that!" (You have to imagine the tone of voice.)

Anyway, I gave a test in Algebra I yesterday, a test in Geometry today, and an Algebra II quiz today. And yesterday I didn't finish grading because I was buried under the weight of the calculus and everything else going on. I had started one class yesterday, so I finished those during night school tonight, then brought home the whole pile of the rest of my papers (it's huge!)... I finished the other class of Algebra I but I think the rest are going to have to wait.

I am, however, caught up and even a little ahead with the calculus! I'm really enjoying it, even though its' a lot of work. I like the challenge.

Oh, and I was observed both of the periods I taught Algebra I today, if there wasn't enough going on already! One period by my vice principal and the other by my mentor.

:)

Today I thought I'd introduce you to my favorite comic: XKCD! It's... A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language.

It's hilarious. And nerdy. Oh, SO nerdy. It was first introduced to me by a math professor in college. I wish I could remember which one it was that she showed us that day... anyway...

The artist draws stick figures, so on first glance, you might think he's not so good... WRONG. He's awesome. Like this one: Click and Drag. I seriously haven't found the end of the picture. (This is a rather recent one that I just discovered today, and what prompted me to write this post.)

But I think I should introduce you to a few more of my favorites while I'm on the topic of the best comic ever.

Flow Charts: How to read flow charts presented in flow chart form!

The Carriage: mouseover the comic... his mouseovers are the best part

Movie Narrative Charts: this one is just genius... click on the comic to enlarge it

Newton and Leibniz: for the true Calculus nerd...
Sierpinski Valentine: LOVE IT

Oh, and then this earlier one called "Useless" which I've included here.

There are many more I love, but those are just a few that really stand out or that I found in a quick search or that I think you would enjoy. And if the author of the comic read that last sentence, he'd probably have something to say about the run-on, but hopefully my promotion of his comics makes up for the fact that I can't really write very well and totally lack his creativity. But anyway, you should check them out because they're awesome.

Reflections on Blogging

Blogging... I don't even know what to say about the experience. I'm a math teacher. Writing isn't really my thing and yet I do enjoy writing sometimes. I LOVE to read but I always HATED writing papers when I was in high school and college. It wasn't that I was bad at it, it's just not something I enjoy. I have a journal, but it's mostly full of notes I've taken at church and random tidbits about how things are going in my life, and the occasional ranting about things I'm really excited or really upset about. It's mostly just a way for me to get stuff out of my head and on to paper, so I can stop overanalyzing it.

But anyway... 

...I tend to get a bit off topic...

I think I mostly do this because I love stories. Obviously, as a public school teacher, I can't just tell the whole world about every bit of my day. Teaching has its highs and lows, and you live with the good and the bad. But here's the thing: I work with teenagers every day. If you don't spend much time around teenagers or it's been a while since you were a teenager, let me remind you of something... teenagers are a whole different breed of humans! And sometimes they just make life interesting. 

As I look back on my blog, I'm flooded with memories of the last year and I'm really glad I started this blog. If you want to know what inspired me to write it, you can read my first ever post, entitled Today I was told I should write a book.... A lot of my blog is just random musings about daily life of a teacher, and a lot about the struggles of my first year. But what I really enjoy is is telling funny stories. Like the day a student basically told me another teacher was "hott" or yesterday's post about lunch! I also wrote another one recently with 3 random stories all from that week. Some of the posts are actually serious reflections of my job and my life, but they might be boring, unless you're really interested in learning about the trials of the first year of teaching. 

Anyway, this post is kind of a little trick to get you to read my old posts. Sorry? :) 

Oh, and if you're interested in reading a really awesome blog about writing, read my roommate's blog.

Lunch Encounters of the Weird Kind

So, this evening I was telling my roommate about something that happened at lunch and she said that I just HAD to write about it on my blog. And she made up the title. Because she's a writer, and I'm not, so she's the creative brain when it comes to these things. Anyway, here's the story, and if you want to know more about her, I posted a link to her blog a while ago.

Okay, so here it is...

Algebra II went really well, and before heading to lunch, I spent some time drawing out the graphs for my examples tomorrow so I'd be better prepared. Therefore, I got to lunch a little later than usual. My friend was talking to this sub. Apparently they took post-secondary classes together when they were in high school. So I politely join the conversation. The guy does physics and math, so he obviously wants to get on the good side of math teachers so that he can get more sub days, and hopefully ones where we leave a little more than a pile of worksheets.

So when he finally gets up to leave, he comes over and introduces himself to me. "So-and-so by the way." And then he gave me an awkward limp fish handshake and bowed. Yes, he bowed. How was I supposed to react to that? I think I said something along the lines of "nice to meet you to." Curses, why am I so polite?!

After he left, one of my favorite story-telling teachers came over and did the same thing to me. Said he needed to practice his greetings! Too funny. Then they asked if he kissed my hand, because apparently that's what it looked like he had done. Thankfully he did not! Oh, and did I mention that he was oddly tall?

Then he came back to make tea or something. He was looking around like he was lost, so I told him where the sink was. Seriously, will I ever learn to shut up? Then he overheard part of my conversation with one of the retired English teachers who was subbing and used that as an opportunity to strike up another conversation with me about something he thought we had in common. I kept inching toward the door, offering my last reply as I was stepping out of the teachers' lounge!