By the Way

No good deed ever goes unpunished... and I will always make the lie come true...
Here's the scenario...
Last week, one of my students asks me if I have ever read (Insert random book title here). She insists that it is one of the best books ever written, and after reading the first chapter, I will surely understand the latest craze and be hooked for life.
So of course, not wanting to let the little girl down, I accept her challenge and she leaves me her book for the day.

I sit down to lunch with the book in hand and attempt to keep my word by starting the first few pages.

I soon realize I have been given an epic tale, of Lord of the Rings proportions that is all about cats.
I make it through the first part, learning all about the secret ways of the warring cat people, their leaders and rituals...
At that point I was torn away, and vowed to finish it after school...

Of course I lost track of time and soon found the student standing in front of me the following day, inquiring how I had enjoyed my preview of one of her favorite things.
I mentioned that I was right in the middle of a chapter and that I needed another day to finish where I left of...
In reality, I had put the book down in my room and it had magically disappeared...
So she agreed to give me another day...

After spending two days tearing my room apart and seeing her hope dwindle as she asked when she would get to continue reading her new book... I realized that it had probably walked out the door with one of my other students. Not wanting to let her down, I only had a few hours to make the lie come true and produce a new copy. But the issue was that I didn't even know the name of the book... Only that there was a picture of a cat on the cover... Not much to go on.

This lead me to Borders in the middle of the night, searching the isles of the children's section for this illusive book that I had only seen for a matter of moments, once upon a time.

I then come to find that this cat book was actually part of a forty book series. Super... Why not make things more challenging by setting the room on fire... add a little more excitement to the search...

So here I am, looking through a bookshelf that had no less than 200 cat books on the shelves, searching every book in the series, scanning the first few pages for any reference to the "medicine cat" which was the only thing I could remember from the whole thing.
But at least I was not alone in my search...
I was soon spotted by the Borders Troll, who after hearing my story, decided to tell me one of her own... She went on to help me by telling me the titles of all of her favorite books and how excited she was about the upcoming Harry Potter films... I asked her if she had ever read (Random Cat Series). She said that she had never taken the time, but that her manager might have...
I had to pretend to be listening to her fascinating stories while scanning each page. (So I guess we did find a way to make my task more difficult...)
In the end, I stumbled upon the last copy through pure luck.
I get to the counter where the cashier inquires if I would like to donate a book to a child for $5, I smile and tell him I already am.
The next day, I peel the sticker off the back, hand it to my student as she walks in the door, and pretended I found it in my desk...

Hey Dad, Here is the House

So it is covered in leaves from all the oak trees, but under it, there is a yard. (Just use your imagination)





There are a ton more photos, but I will post more as the redo is complete...
Right now the paint inside is getting redone, new floors, lights, and everything else that used to be tied down.
Keep in mind it doesn't need anything, these are just cosmetic updates...
So we will see what we will see when the project is farther along.

920 soon to be 985

So this week has flown by in the usual fashion...
Running back and forth between buildings, trying to get everything up and running while keeping track of around 120 students and all of their assignments and work. Monitoring student projects and posting thoughtful comments to every photo that my students turn in across all of my classes, including photography, which entails at least 160-200 photos per day depending on the assignments that have been given and the progress the students make.
It is one of those things, the more work you give to the students, the busier they are, and in return, the more work you have created for yourself to respond to.
I have taken to creating elementary style progress monitoring to help the kids stay on track and be motivated as well as independent... This entails creating 6 pages of class rosters with a colored star for each step in each project that is achieved. This serves as a detailed instruction graphic that tells all the steps required in each activity... and ends with me starring at a screen with a clipboard for hours each week, checking off each comment and image that students have turned in.
Of course this takes forever, and I update it on a weekly basis...
It's my way of helping the kids keep track of all their work and showing them that I notice all the effort they put in each day in class...
Yesterday was the last day of the term, which means I have this weekend to post grades, get ready for conferences, and plan for the next term of new classes... I will be doing advanced levels of all of my courses in the coming term, which means new projects, new assessments, new examples, tutorials, screen casts, and accounts for all of my students.
We set up a great system that allows students to turn their work in directly to me and share their work with the class. The system works perfectly, and allows students to give constructive feedback on the work being turned in... But again, with the additional opportunities, comes more fun for me, as we have a system that has me approve each comment that students make... This is wonderful, as it ensures I can help students learn about appropriate and constructive feedback and help students that need assistance with these comments, but it also means that I need to approve each one, and with classes often posting 3-5 comments each (across 120 students) each day, I end up having to approve them at all hours of the day just to keep up.
I am still getting the hang of the system and soon will figure out a schedule that allows me to stay on top of all the work and not end up spending all of my time outside of work working...
But it seems that the demands of what I do are just part of the plan.
I really enjoy it for all the extra time it requires.
I just hope that I can continue to keep it all up and keep giving the crew a memorable experience.

In other news, I did something brilliant today.
I ended up driving on an expressway at around 55 mph with my emergency brake on...
Needless to say, I was surprised to find my back tires on the brink of bursting into flames when I got home.
The brake accidentally got set when we were moving cars around at the new house, and I was so tired and focused on getting home to go back to sleep that I didn't notice the little red light on the dash, right in front of me.
So I headed over to Les Schwab, ready to accept my fate and take the news like a champ.
This after having just getting my brakes redone only months earlier.
Turned out that they said everything was just fine, but I was halfway through looking up the bus schedule for the area just in case...

So the car is fine, next week is all half days and we are off to Thanksgiving Break, where I will be putting my things into boxes and mentally rearranging my kitchen.

Good times.