Miscellaneous Missives

I'm having a difficult time getting motivated to do anything today.  For some reason, I am not able to multitask when the Cyclones are playing.  As I was watching the game, a commercial for Her Voice an ESPN feature about Imani McGee-Stafford.  I think I can use it during my poetry slam unit.  It's short, but perhaps they'll be a longer video from the show once it airs.  Unfortunately, the ending of the game made it impossible to do anything.  After leading most of the game, Iowa State gave the game away... Sadness. Today I give thanks for... 1) jelly beans 2) a relaxing day 3) friends sending text after the Iowa State loss sharing my misery

It's a crazy time of school for school aged children.  If you think it's merely your school (if you're in a school), it's not merely your school.  As I waited for my dirty chai at Caribou this morning, I had a conversation with a  colleague from a high school on the other side of our district.  It seems the high school students on the "west side" are experiencing the same problem as our 7th graders on the "east side."  The conversation as students entered the building revolved around white and gold vs. blue and black.  Luckily, I had already geeked on the interent and knew it was indeed white and gold.  After all, I saw the picture.  After answering the question no less than twenty times, I exclaimed, "White and gold, but it DOESN'T MATTER."  I started my first class by stating that I would remove any students still talking about "the dress."  Seriously?! Today I give thanks... 1) Happy Hour 2) Friday 3) Tree Octo...

During today's journal writing, we were looking at a picture of a boy who worked in the mines in the 1900s.  For some reason during the sharing of connections, one of my more intelligent students (really bright) said it reminded him of the Monte Python's Holy Grail.  "You mean, what are you going to do, bleed on me?"  After some deliberation, I decided to show the clip. " It's not super appropriate, but it's funny," I said several times.  As I was trying to find the link, my bright kid and another kid were talking.  "What's up?" I asked.  They informed me that not everyone was going to think it was funny because it was more of a dry humor.  I agreed with them and showed it anyway. Today I give thanks for... 1) dry humor 2) people who love books 3) motivation by a colleague whom I rarely talk to

Today I received read a training blog for RAGBRAI.  We were instructed to start getting on a bike even if it was on an indoor trainer or spin class.  I love Wednesday and Sunday spin classes because the instructor is actually a cyclist, not merely a fitness guy.  He knows what he's doing, and he kicks my butt.  Plus, he has a cool blog where he posts the songs he used during "the ride."  One song tonight talked about snow in Mexico.  With as cold as it is, I don't doubt it could be snowing in Mexico.  In fact, it's so cold, that I think the Y should have heated parking, so my sweat doesn't freeze on my neck. Today I give thanks for... 1) spin class with a cyclist 2) social media 3) conversation with like minded colleague after school... I really do work with some amazing people.

I'm certain to quite certain that I have previously blogged about Sweet Search, but I did a search of my blog and couldn't find anything.  Anyway, today we talked about evaluating websites after looking at the tree octopus website .  I'm not sure who keeps this up to date, but I appreciate it.  After going through the web evaluation criteria most of my honors students felt that it would be a legit website for research.  After looking at the website and the criteria, we discussed common sense.  I discussed how several mentioned that the photo could have been photoshopped at the beginning and still fell for the hoax website.  Next, I talked about bias and explained in order to find two sides (liberal and conservative) for their research, they would need to find websites with bias.  Anyway, students were to come with one website today and start their web evaluation.  Many were concerned that their site wasn't legitimate according to the criteria. ...

Tomorrow my honors class will start researching their current issues news story.  They'll need to research the conservative and liberal side of the issue.  I've warned myself that I need to be more responsible with the conservative side since I did create the assignment.  One of my first priorities was trying to find a list of liberal and conservative news sites.  It wasn't as easy as I thought.  Already I can see my bias as I looked at a site that ranked some news sites.  I'm super surprised that ABC, NBC, and CBS are considered a bit liberal.  In addition to this site, I chose two more.  Hopefully, it will help students get both sides of the issue although I did warn everyone that finding information was going to be challenging.  Perhaps I even said, "You'll want to pull your hair out." Today I give thanks for... 1) time at the gym 2) fellow liberals 3) being back in a routine

"Never laugh at live dragons"  ~ J. R. R Tolkien Thursday night while I was in God's Country, I learned about the dragon at Lake Calhoun .  With the hectic events of the time in Iowa, I forgot about the ice dragon until I passed it this morning glistening in the sun on my way to church.  Returning from church, I decided to stop and take pictures even though the actual temperature was -8º, and the windchill was -30º.  I'll say it was worth the stop.  One other visitor commented that we were smart to get there while it was still cold and not melted.  I'll guess it will be guarding the lake for another day or two. Today I give thanks... 1) my church community 2) the ice dragon 3) artists of all shapes and forms

"I'm in love with cities I've never been to and people I've never met."  ~ Melody Truong Last night I saw this great story on Kare11 about a quote John Green stole .  It's a great story because I love John Green, and I love when people "do the right thing."  I'm guessing this story may also find its way into my research unit when I talk about giving credit and citing sources. Today I give thanks for... 1) sunrise 2) reconnecting with friends 3) silence and time to read

Trust in the Slow Work of God Above all, trust in the slow work of God. We are quite naturally impatient in everything to reach the end without delay. We should like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient of being on the way to something unknown, something new. And yet it is the law of all progress that it is made by passing through some stages of instability— and that it may take a very long time. And so I think it is with you; your ideas mature gradually—let them grow, let them shape themselves, without undue haste. Don’t try to force them on, as though you could be today what time (that is to say, grace and circumstances acting on your own good will) will make of you tomorrow. Only God could say what this new spirit gradually forming within you will be. Give God the benefit of believing that his/her hand is leading you, and accept the anxiety of feeling yourself in suspense and incomplete. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ This po...

Today has been a bit crazy.  As I prepared for today's visitation and vigil, the transition of the lake caught my attention.  It's recently frozen and so clear that one can see the bottom.  As I'm blogging tonight, I don't have my words to express today's events and emotions, but I feel the lake shows what I am feeling.  Maybe tomorrow I'll have the words. Today I give thanks for... 1) strong women and peaceful transitions 2) water in all forms 3) the caring and generosity of others

Take Me to Church by Hozier My lover's got humour She's the giggle at a funeral Knows everybody's disapproval I should've worshipped her soon Today is the first day of Lent, and I attended Catholic mass to start the Lenten season.  I'll admit that it wasn't horrible although I was a bit confused when the priest referenced Joseph as Mary's spouse.  Basically, I agreed with his words especially the social justice stuff, but I'm not sure I believe Joseph and Mary were married.  I mean I'm sure they were, but I don't think it's mentioned. Anyway, I'm in God's Country for a funeral.  One that I will not giggle at since it's the funeral of one of my best friend's sister.  In fact, I attended Ash Wednesday service with the family.  It's a crazy time, Lent, as I reflect on my life.  My Lenten practice this year will include reading a book recommended by a wise friend.  The book, Bread and Wine:  Reading for Lent and Eas...

Although I should be embarrassed to share, Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves is one of my favorite songs.  Today I decided to follow what some the lead of a couple guys in the Saturday spin class.  Typically, I attend the 10:00 class, and there is always two or three guys that are still riding from the 8:15 class.  Last week I made up my mind that I, too, would ride both classes and the interim.  The same instructor taught both classes today and had a super strange variety of music.  As the cool down song approached, she gave a little bit of an apology for it.  Immediately, I knew the song and tried my best not to sing along since I know all of the words.  I resisted for most and went to talk to the instructor after I stretched to admit that Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves (the cool down) was one of my favorite songs.  She was surprised then told me it was my Valentine gift.  It seems like a great gift to me.

This sucks.  Actually, these suck.  It appears I didn't water my plants last week, and these peace lilies are always a good reminder.  They are watered, along with the others and sucking water. For some reason my honors class makes me do dishonorable things.  Today was a perfect example.  A student came in and asked me if one could say sucks in school.  I tried to figure out what she was getting at, but I couldn't figure it out.  As I started class, I told her that I could say sucks, but it depended on the way it was said.  Throughout the hour, I used the word sucks on various occasions as we talked about their speech preparation.  Each time I used the word suck, I looked at her to make sure she understood what I was doing.  In fact, since I was proud of my different somewhat (not really) appropriate uses of the word suck, with seven minutes left of class, I told her I could probably use it three more times.  After I hit suck n...

I don't want everyone to think that I'm merely sitting around geeking on the computer and being unproductive, but the interweb has given me another post.  It seems that NYU scientists have found the answer.  I'm a bit disappointed that it wasn't the Rice Owls that took the initiative to answer this question ... just saying. Speaking of birds, the Atlanta Hawks and the Minnesota Timberwolves had a little Spotify battle.  I wish knew I enough titles to make this happen.  Although I don't care about NBA basketball, THIS is awesome. Yeah, I get it.  It seems as if I'm once again ignoring my responsibilities and merely perusing the interweb, but tomorrow is the day I introduce my Gordon Parks theme for journals.  I've readied the slide for tomorrow.  Plus, I'm reading a great novel, All the Light We Cannot See .

rrrrrrG is the opposite of Grrrrrr.  Look what I found on the interweb!  This is good stuff.  I feel less crabby and want the puppy.  It would be good for Kitty Klaus to have something to think and talk about.  By the way, I almost ran up the curb watching a guy running his black lab puppy around the lake tonight.  Maybe I should be concerned that I remember more about the puppy than I do it's owner.  Anyway, puppies and crabby cats make the world a better place.  Enjoy! ...and I found this one...

I'm feeling super crabby today.  The students seem to have no motivation.  Although I'm sure they care more than they're showing, I am frustrated with the sense of apathy I sense in the classroom.  Perhaps it's my fault, but I feel as though I'm working harder than most of these adolescents.  Today was also stressful because I am often easily frustrated with my PLC. Perhaps this is also my fault because I went to happy hour Friday night with two former colleagues and realized how I miss teachers who have a similar mindset.  The good news is that the Cyclones play tonight, and tomorrow is a new day.  Bring it Tuesday!

I'm not sure when the news broke about Harper Lee's "new" book, but I find it interesting that after all of these years it will be published.  From what I understand, the original publisher rejected the book and asked her to write it from Scout's view as a child.  The book's release is not without controversy.  Although I'm unfamiliar with the credibility of this website, I found the article intriguing.  I'm sure I'll read the book if it's released on Kindle, but I may wait until the hype subsides.  What about you?  Will you read it?

Kid in the Park Lonely little question  mark on a bench in the park See the people passing by? See the airplanes in the sky? See the birds flying home before dark? Home's just around  the corner there-- but not really anwhere ~Langston Hughes When we finished our discussion of today's poem, Kid in the Park , one of the students asked, "Wasn't yesterday Langston Hughes' birthday?"  I said I didn't know, and she stated that there was a video on Google's homepage yesterday.  As the students were working, I looked it up online.  Yep, yesterday was Langston Hughes' birthday.  I told the class he would have been 113 and told them how to find the video for those who hadn't seen it.  Cool! The Cyclones play tonight.  Go 'Clones!

Although I love the puppy and the music, I think Budweiser pushed it with the wolf or whatever animal that was... It doesn't even look real... just saying... I also like the lemon Skittles ad, and I am proud that I didn't leave to buy Skittles. And what about thoughts on the Nissan commercial with Cats in the Cradle ? Don't worry, it''s not halftime, and I'm not going to comment on all of the ads, but I would like to discuss GoDaddy.  Recently, they pulled the ad with the dog falling out of the truck because it was offensive that they were using the internet to sell puppies.  For years GoDaddy has been known for showing women's boobs and being misogynistic, and no one complained (or at least no ads were pulled).  Am I missing something?! Go Seattle! BTW- Iowa State has a big game at Kansas tomorrow night.  It'll be on ESPN at 8:00.  I'm sure everyone wants to know, so they can tune in.