Check out this video that three of our Navo Students recorded today. Their math class with Mr. Hummel had a contest to see who could write the best Math Rap, and these are the three winners. The two boys in the video are two of my most fun students. Bright kids. I don't teach the girl, but I'm sure she's great, too. lol
Enjoy! :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yx-y7O0_Po
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
Renig
ok... sorry guys, but we will be postponing the house party. Aaron is a kind husband, and requested that we wait until school is over for me (only two more weeks!!! YEA!!!). He wants me to be able to focus on work while that's what I need to be doing, instead of party planning. I would much rather be planning the party, but I am thankful for his responsible mind in waiting. I don't need any help in procrastinating with my responsibilities! :) I wonder if I will go through "Senioritis" symptoms EVERY year... Probably.
My prayer this week is that I will be diligent in my work to prepare and stay on top of everything that I need to be doing this week (which is a LOT...). I told Aaron I have a feeling I will be here at the school for many late afternoons/evenings this week (hopefully not next week as well, but maybe...), and that's okay, but I want to be diligent and hardworking while I am here so that I'm not just wasting a lot of precious time...
Recap: Party is postponed, but we will let you know for sure when we get the final date set!
My prayer this week is that I will be diligent in my work to prepare and stay on top of everything that I need to be doing this week (which is a LOT...). I told Aaron I have a feeling I will be here at the school for many late afternoons/evenings this week (hopefully not next week as well, but maybe...), and that's okay, but I want to be diligent and hardworking while I am here so that I'm not just wasting a lot of precious time...
Recap: Party is postponed, but we will let you know for sure when we get the final date set!
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
A Day in the Life of a Middle School Teacher
I must appologize for being so tardy in my posting. I have been thinking much about the post that is to come, but I lack the apropriate pictures to acompany it. Therefore, the blog has remained stagnant for many days. Sorry, friends!
To make up for the days of silence, I decided to give you a snipet of my life at a Middle School teacher. The following account is from yesterday. First class of the day. I emailed this to my husband yesterday afternoon, and he was so entertained by it that I felt you might be, as well...
As I am about to post this, I am wishing that it was a humorous story instead of infuriating, but hopefully I'll have the humor side by the end of the week... Let's see if we can take this full circle... :)
(I have changed the child's name for obvious reasons...):
Me: Joe, are you talking (during a quiz)?
Joe: yes
Me: why? What do you need?
Joe: (no response. Simply looks back at his quiz.)
Me: Joe, did you hear me?
Joe: yes
Me: okay. What do you need?
Joe: (no response. Ignores me completely)
Me: Joe, please do not ignore me. What do you need?
Joe: (completely enthralled in his quiz paper. Ignoring me completely – still).
Me: Joe, step out of the classroom.
Joe: (no response or movement)
Me: Joe.
Joe: (no response or movement)
Me: (I walk over to his desk to help him gather his notebook and open the door for him)
Joe: (snatches the notebook away) I AM!
Me: Joe, get outside. Now.
Joe: oKAY! (very sarcastically )
As Joe is walking out the door, I am holding the door open for him. I shut it after him, however, he decides to pause right in the doorway, so the door clips his shoe as it closes. He opens the door back up and for the entire class he says, “YOU CAN’T HIT ME WITH THE DOOR!”
I go out in the hallway after him and speak with him more. Every response from him is disrespectful, completely claiming innocence and oblivious to what actually happened. He tells me that all he was doing was asking what the last part of the question was. I ask him if that were the case, why didn’t he just tell me that the very first time I asked him what he needed. He does not have an answer.
He continues to have an attitude as we talk, and I tell him to go down to the office. As he is walking away he is muttering disrespectfully under his breath, so I tell him to stop. He ignores me AGAIN. I tell him to STOP. He stops and says, “WHAT?! You told me to go to the office!”
I tell him that it should not take me two times of speaking to him to get a response. He says, “I don’t care.”
I say, “You really don’t care?“
He says, “nope.”
I tell him that he can just go to the office and wait for someone to talk to him. He says again, “I don’t care.”
When the bell rang to let out 2nd period, he comes back to my classroom and asks me who he’s supposed to be talking to. I sent him back and again told him to wait for someone to talk to him.
Later that afternoon, "Joe" brought me a note folded up in the fashion we used to love in middle school (the fold with the little tab that you pull to begin unfolding...). It read:
"Joe's Apoligy Letter
Dear Mrs. Power,
I am truely sorry for my actions. I know that I deserve the concequinces that I have brought upon myself. I apoligize for treating you in such a way that you don't deserve. I promise that this kind of situation will never happen again. I apoligize that I'm disrespectful at times. I realize that you are trying to help me when you get on to me about my behavior. I promise you that my behavior will definately change over the remainder of the year. You are really a great teacher and I just wanted to let you know that I appriciate you always being there when I need help. I really hope that you accept my apoligy, Because I really meant what I said. OOOOh, and another thing that I forgot to mintion (you are a really really great stepper).
,Luv Joe Tyrone Jones.
Lol:)"
Yes. I know a lot of it is misspelled, but I wanted to give it to you the way I received it. :) Gotta love my eighth graders... haha.
Here's to hoping for a great day today. I'm going to do my best to make it fun for them. I'm praying they don't turn it into another "yesterday"... My seventh graders are going to do some fun things with The Brothers Grimm stories, so that should give me a good story or two.... right?! :)
...I'll do my best to get some good pictures of the garden/house by next week. PROMISE!
also: we are going to have a House Party next weekend! the 29th. We didn't want to call it a Housewarming Party because we don't want people to feel like they have to bring us gifts. We just want you with us!
It'll be the classis BYOMeat & bring a side (and drink(s) if you like) to share! LOVE this kind of party! It's to celebrate the many friendly gatherings to come in our new home. Having our friends (aka: family) over to our home is one of our MOST favorite things to do. We're really excited, so we hope you can make it! email me if you need the address/directions! denisecpower@gmail.com
To make up for the days of silence, I decided to give you a snipet of my life at a Middle School teacher. The following account is from yesterday. First class of the day. I emailed this to my husband yesterday afternoon, and he was so entertained by it that I felt you might be, as well...
As I am about to post this, I am wishing that it was a humorous story instead of infuriating, but hopefully I'll have the humor side by the end of the week... Let's see if we can take this full circle... :)
(I have changed the child's name for obvious reasons...):
Me: Joe, are you talking (during a quiz)?
Joe: yes
Me: why? What do you need?
Joe: (no response. Simply looks back at his quiz.)
Me: Joe, did you hear me?
Joe: yes
Me: okay. What do you need?
Joe: (no response. Ignores me completely)
Me: Joe, please do not ignore me. What do you need?
Joe: (completely enthralled in his quiz paper. Ignoring me completely – still).
Me: Joe, step out of the classroom.
Joe: (no response or movement)
Me: Joe.
Joe: (no response or movement)
Me: (I walk over to his desk to help him gather his notebook and open the door for him)
Joe: (snatches the notebook away) I AM!
Me: Joe, get outside. Now.
Joe: oKAY! (very sarcastically )
As Joe is walking out the door, I am holding the door open for him. I shut it after him, however, he decides to pause right in the doorway, so the door clips his shoe as it closes. He opens the door back up and for the entire class he says, “YOU CAN’T HIT ME WITH THE DOOR!”
I go out in the hallway after him and speak with him more. Every response from him is disrespectful, completely claiming innocence and oblivious to what actually happened. He tells me that all he was doing was asking what the last part of the question was. I ask him if that were the case, why didn’t he just tell me that the very first time I asked him what he needed. He does not have an answer.
He continues to have an attitude as we talk, and I tell him to go down to the office. As he is walking away he is muttering disrespectfully under his breath, so I tell him to stop. He ignores me AGAIN. I tell him to STOP. He stops and says, “WHAT?! You told me to go to the office!”
I tell him that it should not take me two times of speaking to him to get a response. He says, “I don’t care.”
I say, “You really don’t care?“
He says, “nope.”
I tell him that he can just go to the office and wait for someone to talk to him. He says again, “I don’t care.”
When the bell rang to let out 2nd period, he comes back to my classroom and asks me who he’s supposed to be talking to. I sent him back and again told him to wait for someone to talk to him.
Later that afternoon, "Joe" brought me a note folded up in the fashion we used to love in middle school (the fold with the little tab that you pull to begin unfolding...). It read:
"Joe's Apoligy Letter
Dear Mrs. Power,
I am truely sorry for my actions. I know that I deserve the concequinces that I have brought upon myself. I apoligize for treating you in such a way that you don't deserve. I promise that this kind of situation will never happen again. I apoligize that I'm disrespectful at times. I realize that you are trying to help me when you get on to me about my behavior. I promise you that my behavior will definately change over the remainder of the year. You are really a great teacher and I just wanted to let you know that I appriciate you always being there when I need help. I really hope that you accept my apoligy, Because I really meant what I said. OOOOh, and another thing that I forgot to mintion (you are a really really great stepper).
,Luv Joe Tyrone Jones.
Lol:)"
Yes. I know a lot of it is misspelled, but I wanted to give it to you the way I received it. :) Gotta love my eighth graders... haha.
Here's to hoping for a great day today. I'm going to do my best to make it fun for them. I'm praying they don't turn it into another "yesterday"... My seventh graders are going to do some fun things with The Brothers Grimm stories, so that should give me a good story or two.... right?! :)
...I'll do my best to get some good pictures of the garden/house by next week. PROMISE!
also: we are going to have a House Party next weekend! the 29th. We didn't want to call it a Housewarming Party because we don't want people to feel like they have to bring us gifts. We just want you with us!
It'll be the classis BYOMeat & bring a side (and drink(s) if you like) to share! LOVE this kind of party! It's to celebrate the many friendly gatherings to come in our new home. Having our friends (aka: family) over to our home is one of our MOST favorite things to do. We're really excited, so we hope you can make it! email me if you need the address/directions! denisecpower@gmail.com
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
When All You Need is Dr. Mario
What goes on inside my brain would be hard to describe. I'll try, though, however, if you'd like to read something more interesting, I recommend www.relevantmagazine.com, becasue they always have interesting articles. For those of you who are from the DFW area, I'll put it like this: take the intersection of I-635 & 75, Woodall Rogers and I-35 near the AAC, and any road in Denton and pretend they all exist on top of each other. That's my brain. I would like to come to a conclusion, speak a well-crafted sentence, maybe even stop drooling, but I can't. It's a traffic jam, and I'm not even in school anymore. What can I do to clear this up? I think there are several things that I could do. I could stop caring about a lot of ancillary things. I could condition myself to filter out all things that don't improve the relationships in my life I care about, or I could stop talking so that I'd have time to think, arrange, and delete the thoughts I need/don't need.
OR I could wait patiently for the Lord to answer my prayer for patience and the never ending river of lava in my soul to cool. Yes, I have lava in my blood. It courses through me. Most people would call it anger but I call it lava...lava blood. The worst part is that when I'm pressed, squeezed, put on the defense, I start gushing. The aftermath of the eruption is nothing good. You see, when the book of James says that when sin is conceived it gives birth to death is true. If someone doesn't believe in God they should come hang out with me, because my lack of ability to be kind and loving would prove to these people that sin does run it's little old feet over to death and high-five it. And then there I am just chilling, going, "Well, I guess I'll go workout and be grouchy." What a tired game that is. At what point does the open-heart surgery come that I really need? When does the Dr. Mario-esque healing come? So many questions to be answered. However, if I were to step outside of myself and look at myself, I'd probably say something to the effect of, "Are you praying about this? How can I tell you're serious about squashing your sin? If you really are serious, why aren't you on your knees right now?"
Aren't those the questions I could be asking? Probably. I don't want to wreck my household and as we all know from both Tommy Lee Jones and Pierce Brosnan, volcanoes are no laughing matter and lava really does jack stuff up.
I can't end on a funny note. This is a real struggle for me. Impatience and anger. I really need help.
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