A Supposed Perk of Middle School

From one fifth grader to another:

"I can't wait 'til I go to middle school. They let you kiss in the halls. That's why I like middle school."

Feeling Behind

I feel so behind in everything. It's like life is one massive to-do list and I can't keep up with getting everything checked off. A lot of the time I think about all of the things that need to be done, become overwhelmed, and make the choice to not do anything at all. After all, it's not like I can catch up. Here's just some of the stuff I need to be doing:

• Write lesson plans, preferably all the way through December.


• Search for and find the best deals on fares to NYC, if that's what Eric and I decide we're doing for Thanksgiving.


• Clean the house.


• Decorate the house. I feel like we still have that "just moved-in" look.


• Unload and reload the dishwasher.


• Find a good quiet time.


• Exercise. I originally wrote "exercise more," but realized I don't exercise at all right now.


• Take Lucy on walks.


• Balance the checkbook and pay bills.


• Write a letter to Sada.


• Do something with this light fixture that is sitting in the chair beside me.


• Visit my grandparents on a regular basis.


• Clean the inside of my car and Eric's car.


• Cook semi-healthy meals more often.


• Buy winter clothes.


• Go to Wal-Mart.


• I need to figure out what to do with my Monday and Tuesday tutoring group.

This may not seem like a lot to some of you, especially you mom's out there who have more than just your own life to take care of. Maybe it's really not that much to do. Maybe I'm just in a funk, as my mom would say. Nonetheless I don't enjoy feeling this way. Hopefully I'll be back to my old self soon.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

A small selection of stories from an elementary teacher and a middle school teacher:

The other day I asked my students if they liked the Texas Rangers baseball team. One of them raised his hand and told me that his cousin, Simon B______, plays for the Rangers. That afternoon I told Eric my super-cool news. "Simon B______?" Eric laughed, "He was one of my students last year!" Apparently my student's cousin plays for a local youth baseball team named the Texas Rangers. So much for my super-cool news!

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Eric's class was reviewing vocabulary dealing with the periodic table, elements, and atoms by playing the "I Have. . . Who Has" game. In this game each student gets a card with a vocabulary word and a non-matching definition. The game works its way around the room as each student reads his card aloud after hearing the definition for his vocabulary word. A card might read, "I have an electron. Who has a positively charged particle?"

As the game made its way around the room today, one student read out the following definition,"Who has the name for the rows in the periodic table?" A boy, who realized his card had the vocabulary word on it, unwittingly called out "I have a period!" Haha! Needless to say the game came to a screeching halt while the students AND teacher had a much needed laugh.

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Each of my students has a planner to write down their homework and whatever other nonsensical things they feel like jotting down. This morning I noticed one of my girls had written the following as her plan for Friday: Watch Smallville and South Park. Pet the cat. :) I schedule a time to give attention to my pet, don't you?

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That's all I've got for now. I hope those weren't the kind of stories that are only funny if you were there. Oh well!

Parent Conference Day--UPDATED

Today is Parent Conference Day.

Have I ever mentioned how much I detest Parent Conference Day?

I feel like such a rambling idiot and I hate delivering bad news to some of the parents.

Can we please just fast forward through the next 5 1/2 hours?

Update #1: The day is going better. After stumbling through the first few conferences I feel like I am sounding a little more intelligent.

Update #2: So much for feeling more intelligent. While I was showing a parent the student's test grades I realized I recorded one grade as a 50 when the student actually made a 75. Oops! I had to re-average her grade and make a request for her report card to be reprinted.

Update #3: I survived! Now it's time to get ready for tomorrow.

A Downer

I so don’t want to be here at school today. This isn’t like my usual complaint of just not wanting to come because I don’t feel like it. I mean I REALLY don’t want to be here. I feel completely drained. I don’t know if it’s because of these longer hours they have us working this year or the fact that I don’t feel like I’m teaching these kids very much. Having a headache behind my right eye doesn’t help either.

I’m not in the mood to correct behavior, because I don’t feel up to the argument that typically comes along with it. I had to tell a student twice to start a new line in the gym this morning and then he began crawling up to the front on his knees. I told him, “_______, get up and walk” 10 times, slowly, and calmly. He never once stood up on his feet. What do you do then? The parent would think it’s ridiculous if I called, the office would kick the referral back, and I looked like a push-over in front of all of my students. I’m not in the mood to deal with this. Sorry for being such a downer.

Oh and by the way, I STILL haven't had my white trousers hemmed. Thanks for all of the advice though. I think I'm like you Janet. I'm not going to judge if someone else wears white pants after Labor Day, but I don't know that I want to take the risk and do it myself.

A Fashion Faux Pas?

So I bought some nice white trousers from Banana Republic back in the spring and have yet to wear them because they are too long. I plan to get them hemmed soon along with another pair of pants that I've had since last winter. I know, I'm terrible!

Anyway, my question is how many of you stick to the fashion rule of not wearing white after Labor Day? Is it an outdated rule? Does it apply only to certain whites or certain articles of clothing? Am I really going to have to wait until next spring to wear these pants?

It's been a while. . . .

I'm too lazy to write a real post, so here's some bullets for ya:

• At the end of July Eric and I met up with some college friends at a Rangers game. It started raining some time after the 7th inning stretch. We waited a while, but the rain wasn't letting up so we left and I didn't get to see the fireworks show. :( Instead, the girls went back to the apartment to eat freshly baked brownies and watch The Nanny while the boys went to play basketball.
• We finally got Lucy's doggy door installed. No more getting up to let her out! :) Now if we could just fix the barking problem. . . .
• Last week was all about professional development for us, which means we pretty much went from one boring meeting to the next. I wish I had had more time in my room earlier in the week, but I did manage to get it looking stellar just in time for Friday's Meet the Teacher.
• Eric's 98 year old great-grandmother is not doing well. They don't anticipate her to make it through the night.
• On Monday morning I learned that one of my former 4th grade students was in a coma. That afternoon our AP got word that he had passed away. Out of my two years of teaching, this was the second student death. Student deaths is not something they prepare you for in college.
• Sorry for the downers. . . .
• On a happier note Eric and I attended Emily's baby shower today. She received tons of lovely gifts and I ate way too much food.
• Monday is the first day of school and I'm nervous. Are all teachers as nervous as the kids on the first day, or is it just me?

Hmmm. . . I think that's about it.