The highlight of today's class Halloween Party is Buster Keaton's short "The Haunted House."

No computer special effects here, kids.

Yay!

I am in love with the weather right now. My students and colleagues shiver and wrap up right in scarves and thickly padded parkas; I joyfully pull out my light coats and jackets from the back of the closet. Now is their time!

I've had the windows in the house open all morning to bring in the cool fresh air but it is already up to 78 or so, so I just closed them. I am making breakfast plans for tomorrow that involve picking up a big fat NYT from Starbucks (only place that carries it around here) and enjoying a press pot o' coffee and some sort of breakfast quick bread on the back porch. Pancakes may follow. Bacon, too.

Last weekend I picked up copies of Gourmet, Fine Cooking and Bon Appetit to see what their Thanksgiving recipes were all about. I may have to subscribe to Fine Cooking; the layout and recipes are delightful.

So, nothing profound today. I am not in the mood.

I am going to ground myself if I don't take my camera out this week. Maybe I'll take it to work; they are clamoring for fotos for the yearbook. That does mean I'd have to shoot my students; portraits aren't my strong suit, although I have had moments with the little learners.

[Go Red Sox!]

All this is to remark that I've been feeling quite dull. No taking pictures, no artsy-crafty adventures, I'm in a book lull (ugh) and I can't bear to sit and watch DVDs. Part of this is due to Too Many Interests and Not Enough Time, but it's been a week. There was a death in the administration at school, among other events.

Saturday was wonderful--Bruce and I went to the SA Herb Market and I (for the most) stuck to my list, the main exception being a kaffir lime plant (!!!) and some romaine. (On the list: lemon verbena, French tarragon, spearmint and chives.) They literally had everything you could possibly want. Gorgeous stuff. Drool.

That meant a trip to the garden center this morning to pick up a couple bags of potting soil and I spent a happy three hours on the back porch today transplanting and rearranging and watering. What an antidote to the rush rush rush of the workday.

But I still feel boring. So here I am looking un-dull:



















PS: I made a lotta Indian food last night and will share my coworkers' lunchtime reactions tomorrow.

I wore a JACKET to work today!

Yeah, I had to open the sunroof and keep the fans on the whole time, but I didn't put on the air conditioning and had a pleasant walk across the parking lot. Upon entering the school, I promptly removed my jacket; it has been hanging on the back of my chair ever since. Sigh. It was too warm to wear it to Mass.

Friday is dragging. Slog slog slog.

I had to write up a 6th grader for volunteering "pimp slap" as an action verb.

So busted.

... I didn't have the air conditioning on during my commute!

I could have, as it was a little muggy, but I didn't.

Ah, mid-October in Texas, when one still wears sandals, a short-sleeved tee shirt and summer skirt to work.

I try to work a few freewriting activities into Language Arts classes every week. Each student has a notebook and the object is to write continually for the set time limit; this runs from 5-7 minutes depending on the lesson. I alway put a question, story starter or scenario on the board. The students are welcome to use my suggestion, tweak it to their purposes or work off their own ideas. Spelling, punctuation, grammar--none of that matters. Some journal, some develop long, involved stories or write poems, song lyrics, commercials. Anything goes. We use the notebooks for brainstorming writing projects and all sorts of things and I regularly collect, read and check off their writing before each grading period.

Report cards are this week, so I read the 8th grade notebooks. Here's the response to the query: If you could go back to any time period, when would you go?

Keep in mind, this guy was born in the mid-90s.














I'm worried that the Social Studies teacher has not quite covered recent US history. Or has he just seen too many episodes of "That 70s Show?"

We had progress reports four weeks ago (I really need to blog more often) so I asked the students to write up a progress report for me and their LA classes. Anonymously, of course (this is utterly meaningless because I know their handwriting!!!) (they don't realize this; I stand by my "kids are dumb" motto, and I mean that in the most kind manner).

Here's a selection of what my 6th, 7th and 8th graders wrote. Some made me very happy and others made me laugh. Spelling and grammar are not corrected.

SUGGESTIONS:

• I think once in a while we should watch little 5 minute movies.
  
• The room could be decorated a little more with like words we use for english. Maybe like WOW! or AH!, ENGLISH stuff like that but otherwise you get a 100%.
  
• I think we need to elaborate more on predicates. Other than this, your class is awesome.
  
• Writing short stories would be a great way to put on our creative thinking caps.
  
• I also think that we should choose an environment: desert, highland, etc. and make a diorama of it. [this is the same boy whose goal for the year includes "do great amounts of research on sharks."]
  
• I think we need to have Homework every other night, because I have "practice" and not enough time to manage, but I still do. I just think it will take some pressure off of "athletes" or kids who do "extracurricular activities." [We haven't reviewed quotation marks yet.]
  
• I think our class is great. Tell you the truth in the beging of school I hated it. The [late work] slips and your teaching methods. Now I understand them there awesome. Oh ... you should try some allergie medicane for your sneeze. You look so tyerd when I see you.
  
• We should sometimes work outside.
  
• And if you would dress more girly then you would look even more pretty than you are now. Instead of the cloths you wear now you should wear those cute skirts and cute tops. And you might want to change your colors. [Thanks, Ms. G. I know it was you.]
  
• I like to do stuff that involves food.

COMPLAINTS:

• Sometimes you talk fast.
  
• What I'm a little agrivated about is that when you ask a question and I raise my hand, you look straight at me and turn to someone else.
  
• You talk a little faster than usual.
  
• Please write a little bigger.
  
• You give us too much homework.
  
• Things are good but you talk a little to fast.
  
• We should write more.
  
• You do talk a bit to fast.
  
• Sometimes I can't see because I'll forget my glasses sometimes but it's ok. I squint.
  
• Sorry to say this but your classroom needs more color it looks boring and plain.
  
• There is to much homework that you assign. It's not that you assign to much, really, it's that the homework you assign is very time consuming.
  
• The way you grade is very strict.
  
• I just dont like when we have to get our test signed [all tests, regardless of the grade, require a parent signature]. Our parents are going to see that grade on our progress report. And it just gets me in deeper trouble.
  
• I think that English in L.A. is really an unecesary class. Of course we should know the basics like what makes a sentence & all, but the simple & complete predicates & verb phrases and all dont apeal to much. I would like to learn something a bit newer.

COMPLIMENTS:

• I think that you are a pretty crunk teacher. [she adds that this means cool but I think she is not 100% correct]
  
• You are the FUNNEST teacher at our school. [but apparently not the best grammar teacher]
  
• I love your class thank you for hearing me out.
  
• Handwriting--A
  
• I don't think there is anything wrong with the way you're teaching us.
  
• I like how you respect us.
  
• I kinda like how u talk alot because you really explain things.
  
• The tests we take are not too hard so people should stop complaining. People need to not feel sorry for themselves and just study.
  
• You talk at a good pace.
  
• Your doing a great job, your layed back, your not a yeller. Thank you. [The teacher next door YELLS. I don't like her.]
  
• Our L.A. class is different from my last L.A. class. My other teachers didn't really seem interested in L.A. like you are.
  
• It's unfortunate that we see you very few times throughout the week. [I only have the 7th and 8th graders four times each.]

Forgive me for indulging myself on the compliments, but teaching sometimes feels like a thankless job. I was most impressed by the comments from the 8th grade; I see them first thing, and besides being "too cool for school," they are barely awake ... I'm not at my best at that time, either.

Since reading these, I've been calling on Mr. Agrivated--or not troubling to glance his way in the first place. I put some more posters up and more student work to make for a more attractive room; the classroom walls were plastered with poems last week. I got new markers for the board and have been writing larger. We are doing more freewriting; almost every student commented on wanting more of that. I'm trying to talk slower but that isn't something that changes. I blame the slower Texan drawl they are used to. My tests aren't any easier (they know what to expect by now) and I still assign the same amount of homework. There are no plans to change my wardrobe.

Today sucks.

The cure for this suckiness includes a hike among the waterfalls of the Columbia Gorge. Unfortunately, that is 2,171 miles away. Dammit.

You know, new brownie pans need extensive testing. I may have to make several more batches over the course of the week. Hmm.

Thank you, Germana! Delicious! All those tasty edges!

One of these days I will get myself outside again (when those high temps finally come down from the 90s) and take photos without the kitchen as a backdrop.

Ta-da, as of a few days ago, I am 30 years of age. Thanks for all the birthday wishes and cards and whatnot, everyone. My face, in an act of rebellion and, perhaps, to hide my age, decided to take on the countenance of a teenager. Ick. I've never had great skin, but it hasn't been this bad in a long while.

But I do have brownies!

In other food news, I am paging through Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking and will be cooking a few items up this week. I'll let you know what my coworkers think; I haven't exposed them to dal yet, but am pretty sure they've heard of lentils.

Time for another brownie before bed.