Thirty posts in thirty days redux 12/30 and 13/30
Day 12 -- What's in my bag, in great detail.
Yeah. I carry a shoulder bag -- the kind that is called a messenger bag, I think? I have had this preference since middle school, and I wish I still had the cheap vinyl one I had then -- it was a cheerful red plastic/vinyl plaid. Unfortunately, these bags are not brilliantly constructed and strong, so they never last as long as I would like.
The ones I have now (I use one until it is on the edge of collapse, and then trade for the other and try to repair the first, then switch again, eventually) I got at Cost Plus, or whatever it's called now. World Market. There was a stand with five different colors and I couldn't decide so I got two. I wish I'd gotten all five. I REALLY wish I'd gotten all five. Here they are:
I do not like purses, generally.
In my bag: keys, wallet, iPod, nice earphones for the iPod and phone hands-free device in a little case, checkbook, with no checks, in a nice interlace-pattern tooled leather holder, lanyard with school ID and school keys, large comb, hair barrette with cloth flower on it, plastic film canister which I put my morning's pills in because I never manage to eat breakfast before leaving for work, and I can't take them until I've eaten, a black mesh bag which contains all the little sundry items like pens and pencils (MANY), eyeglass cleaner and cloths, ibuprofin, lip balm, pencil leads, nail files, etc. You may suspect my motto is 'be prepared'... and finally, my iPad. Occasionally I also try to stuff in my journal, which is bulky and heavy, and a wireless keyboard, which is really an inch or two too long for the bag.
Day 13 -- what was this one? My week in great detail? God, also pretty damn dull. Do I even recall it well enough?
Monday -- the weekend seemed too short. I got to work at 7:15 or thereabouts, stopping at Starbucks on the way, because I couldn't deal with making breakfast and getting to work early enough. My lesson plans and the copies I needed were on my front desk, ready to go, and I had time to change the "Whiteboard Configuration" so it was accurate for the day. I taught Math -- problem solving methods -- and then did the first laboratory experiment ever with my science classes -- a "Senses Lab" where there were five stations, three with blindfolds.
At the hearing station, a group of four students plugged into the listening stations and listened to 10 recorded sounds on a CD, writing down what they could identify. Apparently many of them confused a coyote's howl with a woman screaming or moaning. At the tasting station, they put on blindfolds and took one piece out of four different bags, tasting it (eating it, really) and writing down what they thought it was, and whether it was bitter, salt, sweet, or sour. The tastes were: pretzel, bitter chocolate, dill pickle, and skittles (a candy... it's kind of a sour candy, so I think we could have done better on sweet). A couple of kids told me about allergies to chocolate in time, thank god. At the touch station, they were again blindfolded and felt four objects concealed in paper bags -- a golf ball, a pinecone, sandpaper, and cotton balls. At the smelling station, same thing, blindfolds, then coffee, peppermint, garlic, and ... god, what was the fourth smell? Lavender, maybe. And the vision station, which was nonsense, I'm afraid. I had nothing to do with that. It was a little picture with hidden drawings in it, like from a bland children's magazine.
If I'd had time to plan that, I might have wanted some of those optical illusion illustrations -- not only the ones where you misjudge the length of what you're looking at or whatever, but the kind that have hidden pictures in the color backgrounds that you can only see if you unfocus your eyes. Anyway, I'd been terrified about classroom management during this lab, but it went fairly well, at least for the 4th period class. My 5th period science class has 37 students. That was harder. Then, more Math. I stayed at work planning and venting and destressing and making copies and organizing stuff. For a very long time.
Tuesday, same program, with the one science class that hadn't had the lab yet. Notes from the science book with the other two classes. More problem solving with the Math classes.
Wednesday -- our 'minimum day', wherein students' classes are shortened to 32 minutes, and they leave at 12:18. We then get lunch and then have time for common planning meetings. And other, less useful meetings. On this Wednesday, we took down the Senses Lab and set up the next one -- two in one week, god, I hope that's not common! Then we talked about how we were going to grade the labs, and what we should be starting on after the problem solving mini-unit in Math.
Thursday -- again early, but today there was mass computer based testing. That is, for my classes, these tests were Thursday and Friday, for Math. For science, we did the lab we'd set up Wednesday afternoon. This next lab was one on practicing observation skills and measurement of time and motion. We set up physics stands, a ramp, and a stage. For the lab, one student counted off seconds "zero one-thousand, one one-thousand, two one-thousand..." and another let a wooden car start rolling down the ramp the moment he or she heard 'zero'. A third student marked on tape below the rolling car where it got to at 'one', 'two', and 'three' -- or more, depending. Then they measured the intervals in centimeters to try to determine whether the car went faster as it went downhill.
Friday -- finished up the computer-based testing. Discussed what scientists students have already heard of (not many) and talked about scientific facts, laws, and theories. Did some housekeeping stuff related to grading. Stayed late and organized, planned like mad for Monday and Tuesday, made copies.
There. That's pretty damn dull. Did anything NOT teaching related happen this past week? I ate dinner at my sister's on the way home on Thursday, on the spur of the moment. I was so hungry and I knew I'd just stop for fast food, because I couldn't deal with the thought of cooking. But my mom called and offered to feed me their leftover table scraps. Not really. Their leftovers, though, yes. It was good -- something T. cobbled together from his perusal of cooking sites on the internet. Sort of a stir fry: frozen veggies from Trader Joe's, frozen small shrimp, also Trader Joe's, quinoa, garlic and other herbs and spices, some oil, some fresh greens, I think. And soy sauce. My mom described it as comfort food. It was.
God, I think I am caught up, more or less.
Yeah. I carry a shoulder bag -- the kind that is called a messenger bag, I think? I have had this preference since middle school, and I wish I still had the cheap vinyl one I had then -- it was a cheerful red plastic/vinyl plaid. Unfortunately, these bags are not brilliantly constructed and strong, so they never last as long as I would like.
The ones I have now (I use one until it is on the edge of collapse, and then trade for the other and try to repair the first, then switch again, eventually) I got at Cost Plus, or whatever it's called now. World Market. There was a stand with five different colors and I couldn't decide so I got two. I wish I'd gotten all five. I REALLY wish I'd gotten all five. Here they are:
I do not like purses, generally.
In my bag: keys, wallet, iPod, nice earphones for the iPod and phone hands-free device in a little case, checkbook, with no checks, in a nice interlace-pattern tooled leather holder, lanyard with school ID and school keys, large comb, hair barrette with cloth flower on it, plastic film canister which I put my morning's pills in because I never manage to eat breakfast before leaving for work, and I can't take them until I've eaten, a black mesh bag which contains all the little sundry items like pens and pencils (MANY), eyeglass cleaner and cloths, ibuprofin, lip balm, pencil leads, nail files, etc. You may suspect my motto is 'be prepared'... and finally, my iPad. Occasionally I also try to stuff in my journal, which is bulky and heavy, and a wireless keyboard, which is really an inch or two too long for the bag.
Day 13 -- what was this one? My week in great detail? God, also pretty damn dull. Do I even recall it well enough?
Monday -- the weekend seemed too short. I got to work at 7:15 or thereabouts, stopping at Starbucks on the way, because I couldn't deal with making breakfast and getting to work early enough. My lesson plans and the copies I needed were on my front desk, ready to go, and I had time to change the "Whiteboard Configuration" so it was accurate for the day. I taught Math -- problem solving methods -- and then did the first laboratory experiment ever with my science classes -- a "Senses Lab" where there were five stations, three with blindfolds.
At the hearing station, a group of four students plugged into the listening stations and listened to 10 recorded sounds on a CD, writing down what they could identify. Apparently many of them confused a coyote's howl with a woman screaming or moaning. At the tasting station, they put on blindfolds and took one piece out of four different bags, tasting it (eating it, really) and writing down what they thought it was, and whether it was bitter, salt, sweet, or sour. The tastes were: pretzel, bitter chocolate, dill pickle, and skittles (a candy... it's kind of a sour candy, so I think we could have done better on sweet). A couple of kids told me about allergies to chocolate in time, thank god. At the touch station, they were again blindfolded and felt four objects concealed in paper bags -- a golf ball, a pinecone, sandpaper, and cotton balls. At the smelling station, same thing, blindfolds, then coffee, peppermint, garlic, and ... god, what was the fourth smell? Lavender, maybe. And the vision station, which was nonsense, I'm afraid. I had nothing to do with that. It was a little picture with hidden drawings in it, like from a bland children's magazine.
If I'd had time to plan that, I might have wanted some of those optical illusion illustrations -- not only the ones where you misjudge the length of what you're looking at or whatever, but the kind that have hidden pictures in the color backgrounds that you can only see if you unfocus your eyes. Anyway, I'd been terrified about classroom management during this lab, but it went fairly well, at least for the 4th period class. My 5th period science class has 37 students. That was harder. Then, more Math. I stayed at work planning and venting and destressing and making copies and organizing stuff. For a very long time.
Tuesday, same program, with the one science class that hadn't had the lab yet. Notes from the science book with the other two classes. More problem solving with the Math classes.
Wednesday -- our 'minimum day', wherein students' classes are shortened to 32 minutes, and they leave at 12:18. We then get lunch and then have time for common planning meetings. And other, less useful meetings. On this Wednesday, we took down the Senses Lab and set up the next one -- two in one week, god, I hope that's not common! Then we talked about how we were going to grade the labs, and what we should be starting on after the problem solving mini-unit in Math.
Thursday -- again early, but today there was mass computer based testing. That is, for my classes, these tests were Thursday and Friday, for Math. For science, we did the lab we'd set up Wednesday afternoon. This next lab was one on practicing observation skills and measurement of time and motion. We set up physics stands, a ramp, and a stage. For the lab, one student counted off seconds "zero one-thousand, one one-thousand, two one-thousand..." and another let a wooden car start rolling down the ramp the moment he or she heard 'zero'. A third student marked on tape below the rolling car where it got to at 'one', 'two', and 'three' -- or more, depending. Then they measured the intervals in centimeters to try to determine whether the car went faster as it went downhill.
Friday -- finished up the computer-based testing. Discussed what scientists students have already heard of (not many) and talked about scientific facts, laws, and theories. Did some housekeeping stuff related to grading. Stayed late and organized, planned like mad for Monday and Tuesday, made copies.
There. That's pretty damn dull. Did anything NOT teaching related happen this past week? I ate dinner at my sister's on the way home on Thursday, on the spur of the moment. I was so hungry and I knew I'd just stop for fast food, because I couldn't deal with the thought of cooking. But my mom called and offered to feed me their leftover table scraps. Not really. Their leftovers, though, yes. It was good -- something T. cobbled together from his perusal of cooking sites on the internet. Sort of a stir fry: frozen veggies from Trader Joe's, frozen small shrimp, also Trader Joe's, quinoa, garlic and other herbs and spices, some oil, some fresh greens, I think. And soy sauce. My mom described it as comfort food. It was.
God, I think I am caught up, more or less.