Best Laid Plans

I have decided that I never have enough time. I was debating whether this is just a fact of life, and actually nobody ever has as much time as they would like to get everything done that they would hope to, or whether it is something about my particular situation.

First, I decided that everybody thinks that they don't have enough time. There is always something fun that you want to be doing but can't do because of something else that takes priority. I don't think that is the same as not having enough time though, because as long as you are still accomplishing required chores and leaving enough time to better yourself a little and enjoy yourself here and there, you have enough time. Really, what most people mean is that they wish they could allot the time differently and spend less on chores and more on fun.

I really don't feel like I have enough time though. I think it is just getting used to being a teacher, teaching two different classes, having a hundred students ( i only had 50 last year), and going to school at night. Now that I have students that care about what they are learning, I have so many ideas and ways to engage them. The only problem is that I never have the time to type up the handouts, plan the powerpoints, grade the projects, etc. I started out my thesis wanting to really do some good research and learn a lot and now Im just barely getting done what I need to for class each week. I am sure it will be better next year when I have taught the course before and when I don't have to go to class at night.

If any one would like to volunteer to do my dishes, grocery shopping, laundry, cooking, or cleaning, these services are all also in desperate need of being done. Applicants must submit a one page resume with a cover letter and at least one letter of recommendation. Serious applicants only, please!

Good Teacher Website

I just found a good teacher website on the discovery channel website. It makes a bunch of different types of puzzles, like wordsearches, crosswords, math cubes, etc. Also, there is an area of logic puzzles that are nice little warm up, thinker type questions for any age.

The puzzlemaker part of the site is at http://puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com

The site in general is discoveryschool.com

I love sites like this. If anyone else has any other good teacher resources, let me know please. Thanks!

Working Too Much

On the good side of it, I am going to make almost as much in per-session pay as I am in regular pay this pay period. However, Outside of school hours, in the last four days I have worked 20 hours. Man oh man. Anyways, I will post more later. I just wanted the world to know Im still alive.

Real Estate

ok, so I am inserting the links that I was sent by my realtor for possible properties, in case anyone is curious about how it works to make an investment in only a piece of a building. So weird.

Possible Co-ops


Possible Condos

Unplugging 100 Computers

Ok, I dont know if it was actually 100. I am sure it was at least that though. Every classroom has 3 computers. There are 2 teacher work rooms that each have 3. The big workroom had 12, plus all of the administrative offices (about 20).

I was a proctor for the PSATs today. Originally I was going to post about that. It's not as interesting anymore. Afterwards, I stuck around because the school quartet was rehearsing and the violist wasnt there yet, so I sat in. In the middle, the power went out. 1 out of every 4 lights in the hallway was still on, but everything else was out. I was just about to leave when it happened. Well, I was still there, the AP (assistant principal), and two other teachers were still around. The AP said he unplugged his computer, and I said, "Don't they all have surge protectors?" He said no, and that his was on at the time, so he turned it off. I said, "Umm, I think if they don't have surge protectors it doesnt matter whether they are on or off when the power comes back on." He was like... right.. So, in a school with hundreds of thousands probably invested in technology, they decided to spare the 6 dollars per computer on purchasing surge protectors. So, to be safe, we went around to every classroom, and unplugged the computers, printers, and monitors.

Absolutely ridiculous. The only two rooms that had power strips were the main office (NOT the principals office, but the office where like visitors check in and I have no idea what they use computers there for anyways) and the room with like 20 keyboards (of the piano style, not computer style). Of course, the keyboards were not actually plugged into the power strips though, or at least only 2 or 3 were, so we still unplugged all of them.

On the journey, we did realize that a science teacher who wasn't supposed to had taken a laptop and a projector and had them stashed behind the door. He also took a telescope home without permission to "calibrate" it. Dont they have to be recalibrated every time they are moved though? Fishy....

So that was my day. However, thanks to the union, any work that is done outside of scheduled hours, regardless of what your yearly salary is, is paid at the rate of 37 dollars per hour. Thats nice.

The Top 5% of our Generation

My friend Frank always (or at least a couple of times) says things about being in the top 5% of our generation. This week, I've been calling a lot of my friends just to say hello. As I do, and I hear about what everyone is doing, I am constantly reminded that the people that I am friends with, both from high school and from college are definetely in the best 5% of the people in our generation. I especially want to discuss my high school friends right now.

Linda and Laurel. Wow. That's just all I can say. No wait... I can say more. Laurel was always a little ecclectic in high school, and that's probably why we were friends. Now though, she is my prime example of why students should pay attention to fields that they dont think they will ever be involved in. Laurel was always in drama and won the artist of the year award every year that we were in high school. She left and went to Boston. Now she does the graphics for ESPN. Right - she has a jock job. All those graphics and everything that goes on during a game have to come from somewhere, right? But if they had given an award in high school for the least likely to ever have anything to do with professional sports, Laurel would have won it. Plus, she actually went far away for college, survived it, and now is making it in LA. She even travels for work. She is that important!!

Linda I already talked about when she got her blogger. She is going to be an awesome pharmacist. Already, I trust her more than any doctor that I would go to. But also, she has always been the perfect example of a great friend and a loving wife (not to me, but to Casey). I just love her. That's all there is to it.

And back to the original person that I mentioned - Frank. I don't talk much about Frank for two reasons. First of all, he was in Japan for the last two years, and second, because he doesn't have a blogger. I am very clic-ish about my blogger people. But he reads my blogger, so I guess for now that will be good enough. He's still getting used to the states.
This year, Frank has done one of the most amazing things that anyone I know of our age has done. He took custody of his 13 year old brother. Because of family situations, Frank didn't think that his little bro was facing much of a life the way things were going, so he went through the courts (and still is) to get custody of his little brother as soon as he came back from Japan. He didn't wait awhile, live it up in the US again, and then send for him, but instead as soon as he got here, they moved to Great Lakes, Illinois together (where Frank is now stationed). I can't imagine even having a roommate, let alone raising a child at this age. Frank has to establish a home for himself while also worrying about registering his brother for school, finding a home where he would go to a good school, geting school supplies, and on and on. Now, instead of going out, meeting people, hanging out with other marines, or basically doing anything that he used to do, Frank spends at least an hour every night helping his brother with his homework. WHen his brother isn't sure about a measurement, or anything else involving numbers, Frank makes it into a math problem to help him improve his math skills. He is patient with his brother and tries to help him learn and understand things in all areas. I know that I teach students every day, but I don't think that I could do what Frank is doing. I am truly impressed every day.

So, to conclude, I just want to say how lucky I am to know all of my friends. When I wrote in the right hand margin taht those are links to Wonderful Talented people, I truly meant it for every person. All of my friends are the kindest and most intelligent people of our generation.

The Passing of a Friend

Someone from IF called me yesterday and told me that Ben Thomas passed away last week. I had known him since fourth grade, although not seen him once since we graduated high school and he moved to Colorado. He was always a very funny person and sweet. In 4th grade, every morning I would walk to school with him, Cait McCracken, and Jason Spicer. Cait passed away last year, at about this same time. Life really is a gift. I haven't spoken to Jason in about two years, so I called him today. It's nice to have old friends.

I wasn't able to find the obituary online, so I emailed the Post Register and they sent it to me. If anyone else would like to see it, I will forward it on.

ACI makes me mad

So here's the story... the kid from the Bronx, Alex, was having problems working out the financial situation at ACI. He still went there in the fall on the good faith that they would actually help him work it out when he got there. The school itself only gave him like 3 thousand dollars. He got all the federal aid, including a big stafford loan and a PLUS loan, but it still wasnt enough.

Here are my complaints.... He shouldnt have had to pay anything. He was in the top 5% of his graduating class; he had tons of community service and school involvement; he had a recommendation from an alum; he's hispanic; and he is TOTALLY unique for that school.
He deserves a full ride WAY more than most the people that I know.

When he got there, the way they helped him work it out was to tell him to apply for a bank loan. Well, that's great except that nobody in his family can cosign with him because they don't work and he has no credit. So, they told him to sign that he would make payments. Again, that would be like 300 dollars a month and he at that point had just got there and had no job. Even still, thats a good chunk to pay each month your freshman year.

I wrote an email to Bennion, Juanita pearson in financial aid, the president and arnold hernandez. Bennion and Pearson wrote back and said they were on it. A couple of weeks later, Juanita wrote again and said thanks to the great efforts of many people, they were able to help Alex resolve the situation. I called Alex and he said that the "resolution" was that they got him a bigger stafford loan (I am guessing that they added an unsubsidized chunk) and that he was still short money. How the heck is that helping him?? It's like they haven't even noticed that he really can't afford this. I just don't get it.

So, I think I am going to write to the alumni people and just let them know that since the school is inept and have their heads shoved in bad places, that I will never be giving a cent to the school or recommending any more of my students to go there unless this is resolved in a much better manner. If anyone else would like to express their displeasure with the situation, or have any other ideas for how to go about helping him out, please let me know. Thanks!

Bush vs. Jesus

I totally stole this graphic off of a friend of a friend's blogger, but I thought it was great. I am a Jesus loving, Bible reading, Christian woman, and my posting this is completely to help point out how super great Bush is.

Jesus vs. Bush graphic


( i removed the graphic because it was annoying me)

Discipline Codes

Today in "advisory" we distributed the city-wide discipline code. As we began going through this little "true-false" activity with the kids where they said what they thought to be true about the discipline code, and we corrected them, I realized how crazy writing one would be. For example, one of the questions was whether a student can bring a guest into the building. The correct answer is that they may, but the guest must be approved by the administration and check in with the front desk. The same applies to guests of teachers.

The punishment for an infraction of this sort can be anything from detention up to a superintendent's suspension which last for anywhere from 6 to I think 30 school days (6 weeks of class). The students were appalled at such a harsh punishment for simply bringing in a friend, and I was too at first until I remembered last year, and other's stories from last year.

At Stevenson High School, a mob of students came into the building, broke the lock or handle on a teacher's door (i teacher I know personally) and came into the room to beat up a student over some gang problems. Obviously, bringing guests of these types into the building SHOULD result in a harsh punishment. I explained that to my students here, that this school is a hundred times safer than most schools in new york city.

Which brings me to the main point. How can one discipline code be expected to apply to such a diverse population of schools? One code works for every middle and high school. I think that the discipline procedures should have general guidelines, but that they should be made at least at the regional level (NYC is divided into 10 instructional regions) or else at the district level. The code is so loosely written that swearing can be punished by anything from a call home to a suspension. Basically, all it says is for almost everything, your home can be called or you can be suspended, based on the severity and the repetition of the offense.

Just another part of educational policy that I would hate to deal with. I wonder if the money is worth it.

Naps and VapoRub

Well, I mildly gave in to my sickness. I have been sick for about a week now. Last Thursday, I took a nap and woke up with a sore throat. The next day I drank 6 thermoses of green tea. I have a water cooler at work that dispenses hot water, so I have had a steady tea stream going every day since. I thought I was starting to get better. I blame my classroom though. The air conditioning that I loved, and which was actually the final factor in my accepting this job, has now become my worst enemy. The temperature in my classroom is literally about 55-60 degrees. I wear my coat all day long. But I think that my germs are dancing with glee because of it. I've been trying to fight this thing completely without any sort of chemicals (no cough drops, cold pills, tylenol, etc.) Today though, with a great cough and chest pains to accompany, I am breaking down and using vaporub. I have two variations of it - the standard, and the greaseless cream - so I am reverting back to being like 8 years old, sitting in a tank top, and smelling of the distinct aroma of menthol. Its a beautiful thing. We'll see if it helps. By "we" I mean myself and you, my adoring public.

I'm getting loopy too. I drew a picture of Idaho and put all these labels on it for where ACI is, where my home is, drew some stick figures of cats and me and me as a kid, and hung it on the wall in my classroom. Then in 8th period today, after a nice cough attack, I asked the students if anyone has a parent thats a doctor so I wouldnt have to go in. Nobody did. Im trying my other classes tomorrow. I need to start using these kids more to my advantage.

I took a 4 hour nap today. I'm not necessarily directing that comment to any certain person in particular, but if you feel like I would be sticking my tongue out at you in a sort of "What do you think of that?" sort of way as I say that, you are probably right. Some things you just can't change. You're either born a napper, or you aren't.

A Very Sad Day

Right before school today, a freshman girl was hit by a car in front of the school. I was already in my room, but I heard a lot of crying in the hallways. Apparently a lot of students saw it happen. The street in front is busy enough that its dangerous, but not busy enough that cars have to move slowly. They said the girl was alive, but not moving.

I know nothing like this ever happened at my high school. People got hurt, but nothing ever happened that so many people saw. I've never seen someone get hurt. Not even a broken bone before. I can't even imagine.

For those that pray, meditate, think deeply, or whatever, please keep the girl and the other students in your thoughts. Thanks.

New Blogger

I just want to give a shout out to my friend Linda who has recently joined the blogging world. She is one of my bestest friends from high school and one of the most intelligent, amazing people I know. She is currently doing her rotations for pharmacy, so for those of you med folk, particularly Arzhang, you should get to know her. Well, everyone should, because she is great.

As a side note, I know a few people ask me who the other people are that i have links to their bloggers. Here's the breakdown: Brandan is my cousin, Laurel and Linda are from Idaho Falls High School (yeah Tigers!) and Arzhang, Mike, Cassie, Dave, Sara and Bill all went to ACI. Bill is from Idaho Falls too actually, and knows Linda's husband from high school. Mike and Cassie I met freshman year. Arzhang is my math buddy that I couldn't have passed some classes without working with him. Dave I really only have gotten to somewhat know after college. Sara is the extremely talented flute player who played with me in my senior recital and in The Magic Flute. Really, to complete the family though, LaDonne needs a blogger.

Drama update

For those of you that know what's going on, this is to avoid contacting each person individually. For those of you that don't know anything about this, I will be speaking relatively in code. Sorry. If you have questions, you can always email me personally.

So, there was an arrest made yesterday. An order of protection, known as a restraining order in Idaho, was issued in court. This is good because otherwise getting an order of protection is a rather lengthy process which would involve me going down to the courts. In reference to the missing items, I don't know about their recovery. I should hear something today. The detective has been extremely nice throughout this whole thing, really trying to help me out. That's refreshing. Actually, all of the officers have been. Some day I really better write a book though. Anyways, so the charge is now burglary, which is a felony, and possession of stolen property. It was originally grand larsony, the grand in reference to the dollar amount, but since they feel they have reasonable evidence that the entry was undesired, the charge of burglary is more apt. The ring was admitted to, but nothing else, so the grand larsony may have been brought down to theft instead, so the burglary was apparently the better route.

Things seem to be winding down. Hopefully all will be over soon. For those who do know what's going on, thanks for everything.

Update

Okay, so, I have fallen behind on my blogging. First of al, I apologize. I know that there are some out there which have pet peeves about unupdated blogs. I will try to do better.

Life has been crazy over here. Some things are good crazy, some things are bad crazy. Mostly good though. My job still totally rocks. I could not ask for a better set of administrators or students. My seniors have a lot of gaps in their skills. I had been warned about that, but it really is a problem. The saddest part about it at this school is that the students are all so intelligent, but the math teachers that they had here before were so poor that the students haven't learned a lot. I'm doing my best though and I've seen changes in so many of them who came in saying that they hated math and now they are saying that they think they actually like math. It's nice to be working in a job where there are some immediate signs that you are actually making a difference.

I got my new lease in the mail, 3 months after I was supposed to receive it. So, I have two months to decide whether or not I want to stay in this apartment. I love the apartment, but I am sick of throwing away so much money each month (a thousand dollars). Katie Comstock just moved in about ten blocks away though and having a friend has completely changed my whole view of the city. I realized that I had become a little hermit here. Katie and I now have a regular Saturday morning brunch, plus we are close enough that if one of us is just bored, we can walk to the other's apartment. Nothing is going to make me give that up right now. So, I am looking at buying an apartment, a co-op to be exact, where I will then kidnap Katie to come live with me. We will see how it works out. I may end up waiting until next summer to actually close on it. I am going to do another post on the whole real estate situation in NYC.

I've made some new friends and become closer with some old friends from the Teaching Fellows program. Every teacher that is starting their second year seems to say that their goal this year is to actually have their own life. That's mine too. I think we all worked ourselves so hard last year and sacrificed so much of our own time that over the summer we realized how much we had changed. I know I did at least. Last night I was supposed to hang out with a couple of people, and I told my mom, "If they don't call by 9:15 I am totally geting my pajamas on and going to bed by 10," and I was SOO excited about it. So, I am still working on convincing myself not to be a hermit, but I did end up hanging out and I had a great time.

Again, I will try to be better. It's just a matter of getting back into the swing of things at work.