It's question time.
Evenin'. Not much to report tonight. The second day of work went well. I actually had to make myself leave at the end of the day, and I wasn't exhausted when I got home. Plus, I didn't have trouble sleeping last night or waking up (much earlier than last year) this morning. Pretty remarkable, given my usual insomnia. I just hate that I'm having to fill up my car much more often. :)
I do have a rant, though. We often have to attend presentations by consultants hired by the district. Yesterday's presenter stood in the auditorium for six hours (with breaks) and lectured, accompanied by a PowerPoint and handouts. Same thing this morning -- but a different woman and topic. These consultants are usually former teachers or principals who are chosen to share with us their expertise and amazing successes. They're quite knowledgeable and have interesting things to say. BUT. They fly in from other cities and are paid thousands of dollars to share new teaching strategies or ways to motivate students... yet they simply stand there, click through their .ppt, and talk for hours on end. If they're going to show us how to make learning interesting for middle schoolers, why do they expect us to sit quietly and take notes -- the polar opposite of what they want us to do in the classroom? I really liked the topics of both presentations, but by the end I was ready to scream. And I'm sure the same thing must happen in the business world. *sigh*
In lieu of anything else interesting in my life, here are a bunch of links.
-- Paris Hilton responds to McCain ad. Don't let that turn you off; this is surprisingly clever. ;) More oddness: Twinkie Experiments.
-- TV stuff: Salon asks how realistic is Secret Diary of a Call Girl? TV Squad interviews Larry Wilmore. And Blogging Project Runway is quite impressed by Terri.
-- A new novelist asks, Why won't you blurb me?" And another question: why do we capitalize the word "I"? All I know is that lack of capitalization drives me crazy!
-- Movie week at Mental Floss: they discuss the marvelous documentary Hoop Dreams and a pop-up video version of the Chuck-E-Cheese band performing "Love In This Club".
-- Vulture asks, Did Breaking Dawn ruin the Twilight series? I have absolutely no idea and don't really care, but I'm amused that they linked to Fandom Wank.
-- From the Times: Olympic gymnasts won't be able to earn a perfect "10". They also talk about the, uh, rise of zeppelins.
-- From Jezebel: hooray for small breasts! and a review of Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming. As a kid, I *loved* that novel.
-- And for my fellow Atlantans, an ode to The Varsity on its 80th birthday.
I do have a rant, though. We often have to attend presentations by consultants hired by the district. Yesterday's presenter stood in the auditorium for six hours (with breaks) and lectured, accompanied by a PowerPoint and handouts. Same thing this morning -- but a different woman and topic. These consultants are usually former teachers or principals who are chosen to share with us their expertise and amazing successes. They're quite knowledgeable and have interesting things to say. BUT. They fly in from other cities and are paid thousands of dollars to share new teaching strategies or ways to motivate students... yet they simply stand there, click through their .ppt, and talk for hours on end. If they're going to show us how to make learning interesting for middle schoolers, why do they expect us to sit quietly and take notes -- the polar opposite of what they want us to do in the classroom? I really liked the topics of both presentations, but by the end I was ready to scream. And I'm sure the same thing must happen in the business world. *sigh*
In lieu of anything else interesting in my life, here are a bunch of links.
-- Paris Hilton responds to McCain ad. Don't let that turn you off; this is surprisingly clever. ;) More oddness: Twinkie Experiments.
-- TV stuff: Salon asks how realistic is Secret Diary of a Call Girl? TV Squad interviews Larry Wilmore. And Blogging Project Runway is quite impressed by Terri.
-- A new novelist asks, Why won't you blurb me?" And another question: why do we capitalize the word "I"? All I know is that lack of capitalization drives me crazy!
-- Movie week at Mental Floss: they discuss the marvelous documentary Hoop Dreams and a pop-up video version of the Chuck-E-Cheese band performing "Love In This Club".
-- Vulture asks, Did Breaking Dawn ruin the Twilight series? I have absolutely no idea and don't really care, but I'm amused that they linked to Fandom Wank.
-- From the Times: Olympic gymnasts won't be able to earn a perfect "10". They also talk about the, uh, rise of zeppelins.
-- From Jezebel: hooray for small breasts! and a review of Cynthia Voigt's Homecoming. As a kid, I *loved* that novel.
-- And for my fellow Atlantans, an ode to The Varsity on its 80th birthday.