Dear Chicagoland friends,

Students at my school are doing valuable research for a full-year research project for an AP Research class.  One is researching the connection between religion/religious practice and political views/activity.  She is looking for adult participants from the CHICAGO adults of voting age.

It is a VERY short survey.  If you ( Read more... )

I had a student from TEN YEARS ago write me the following last night:
"I was in the process of writing you a very detailed message about how your awesome teaching influenced--and continues to influence me today. It was lost because of my crappy phone.
"I wrote a Genre Analysis piece on Beyonce's "Formation". It was the most radical thing that I've ( Read more... )

I would like to state, for the record, that "Da Lime in Da Coconut" is high on my list of Really Annoying Earworms. :-P

Most Ironic License Plate of the day goes to one that read "GOD WL PRVD" ...and was on a Cadillac.My last comment is on the fact that, despite what many of my 17-year-old students might erroneously have "discovered" in their ( Read more... )

Well...as someone who is behind on grading and has to get a whacking pile of it done REALLY SOON (like, really, 2 weeks ago)...just, THIS:

In Memoriam: Justin Aaberg, 15
In Memoriam: Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, 11
In Memoriam: Seth Walsh, 13
In Memoriam: Billy Lucas, 15
In Memoriam: Tyler Clementi, 18
In Memoriam: Jaheem Herrera, 11
In Memoriam: Asher Brown, 13
In Memoriam: Zach Harrington, 19
In Memoriam: Aiyisha Hassan, 19
In Memoriam: Raymond Chase, 19
In Memoriam: Holly ( Read more... )

I love my students. I'm going to miss my seniors (it's their last day). I understand the celebratory nature of the day. I wish I had time to chat with them. I am, however, still grading their last papers because I gave them far too long (till today) to turn stuff in.

And, for the life of me, I cannot get work done effectively because they are ( Read more... )

On the theme of what messes with my head ( Read more... )

So far today, I have graded somewhere in the neighborhood of 78 papers. Not all of these required in-depth feedback (in fact, most didn't).

I have remaining:

• one set of Shakespeare Quotes Tests
  
• one set of in-class essays (which require an explanation of why each scores as it does)
  
• about 21 Skin of Our Teeth papers which include (or should) a ( Read more... )

hyare put Elf's hair up in pigtails with her new Dora hair things. Until she pulled them out as I was just typing this, she looked So Incredibly Cute!

The kids have really taken to all our visitors. Elf ADORED my students yesterday (especially Bri and Crys) and also adores hyare and keeps climbing on them. Ben even sat on hyare's lap this morning.

So.

I just got this email from a student who was sending me a copy of her paper (which I requested because it was fantastic):

We all missed you today. I think we need some fudge to help alleviate the suffering that we went through today. It's just a thought...=) Hope you are feeling better, and if so, I will see you tomorrow.Could that BE cuter??? ( Read more... )