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