Ebjournal Revisited.

05-29-06_1710.jpg

Tony| Category: General | 0 Comments

05-29-06_1710.jpg

Originally uploaded by bonemuse2004.

Happy barbeque!

Missed it by *that* much…

Tony| Category: General, School Daze, All about me | 3 Comments

Hello gentle 7.2857142857 readers.  You would think with all this time off of my feet that  I would have extra time to charm you with my wittcisms and crafty turns of phrases.  Not so.  If nothing, I feel like my time at school is busier, and my time at home has been more brief.

Since I last checked in, a few things have happened, and a few things have not happpend. I finished my last full week of school with the students, and decided that we should have a Poetry Night.  This night will entail the students practicing, and reciting poems that we have done this year in class.  Each student is working in pairs or groups, and are responsible for participating in three different recitations of poems.  Most of the poems are silly and funny.  The students are still working out their voice and fluency (which is the whole point), and developing motions for their poem.  They love working on the motions. They’re still working on the voice.  Currently I have 25/26 students signed up to come– which leaves just one more family to convince! WOOOOT.
Grad school is up and running again. This latest course is on leadership and professional development.  It’s a really good class, but only lasts for three sessions. The professor is used to four sessions, so she’s crammed all the work into three. At the end of the year, when I’m trying to do progress reports and clean my room out.  So that’s been busy.  We start 3x a week on Monday, June 12.  Can’t wait.
Since I’ve been back to school, I’ve visited the teachers’ lounge exactly three times.  This is a good thing, because it means I’m avoiding snacks.  Why haven’t I gone to the teachers’ lounge?

Because I’m still on the &^%$#@! crutches.

Went to the doctor a week ago Friday, he said “Wow, it’s still swollen. Come back in a week.”  Not wanting to miss more school, I asked him if he had weekend hours. He told me that Saturdays were open by invitation only. Having secured said invitation, I was feeling good about myself because I wasn’t going to miss more school for the doctor.

Mistake.

Why? Because apparently the doctor thought I would be off the crutches by then, and that I would be hobbling around.  He, was wrong.  Yes, the ankle is better, but I still can’t walk on it.  The best I’m doing right now is standing on it, with partial weight on it.
When I got to the doctor on Saturday (two days ago) he was surprised at how swollen it still was, and how I couldn’t walk on it yet. And then he told me something I should have realized a week ago. “You need to go to the orthopedic specialist.  You’re going to need rehab and physical therapy. Wow, I didn’t realize it was that bad!”

He gave me the referral for the orthopedics.  Being Saturday, I took a shot in the dark that they *might* be open.  Nope.  I also tried to call the place that did my X-rays, thinking they might be open.  Nope.

Of course they’re closed on Memorial Day (today) so the earliest I can even call them to schedule is tomorrow, and unless Serendipidity intervenes, I’m going to have to miss school sometime this week so the orthopedics guys can say to me, “Wow, you really messed up your ankle.  You’re going to need a boot. And probably rehab.”  Thanks guys, you’re swell. I hope that they can give me the boot ASAP, because I’m tired of being on MF crutches.
So by trying to avoid missing school, I end up at least four days behind getting in to see the specialist, and getting off the &^%$#@! crutches, and will probably have to miss part of at least one day of school, when we only have four full days left.

Also?  I have to have my room cleaned up and ready for the summer school teacher to move in by Friday. School is done Wednesday, Friday I have to be ready.  It usually takes me a week to clean up.  This year, I have a day. Really looking forward to this.

So it’s busy around here, and I’m stuck in second gear.  Good times.

More updates to follow in a more timely manner.  In the meantime, vote on the new poll!

Guaranteed to not break, will not break… it sprained

Tony| Category: General | 5 Comments

This all started last Friday.
After enjoying a barbecue with some of TLEMK’s friends, we headed over to her parents’ house to greet the family for brother Lou’s college graduation.  V drove because I was not up for it.  Unfortunately, her car has automatic lights, and mine do not shut off at will.  So when we went back to get in the car to head home at about 11:30 that evening, the car was dead.  We got it jumped, but since then my battery felt like it was going to die every time I started the car.

So yesterday, I headed over to Sears to get the battery replaced.  The guy told me it would take about 40 minutes to get done, so I decided to go pick up dinner for me and TLEMK.  I walked from the Sears through the mall lot, across North Ave., and down about a block and a half to the Jimmy John’s.  It was a beautiful night; the flowers were blooming, the temperature was just right, and I was enjoying my free time.  On my way back from picking up the sandwiches, I jogged across North Ave. so that I could make it with the crosswalk signs.  I should have known better than to run, because I never saw the pothole, and just like that I’m in the middle of six lanes of traffic, sandwiches and glasses askew, and in incredible amounts of panic/pain. I get up quickly, and limp across the street.  I still have approximately three blocks to go between the mall parking lot and getting to the other side of the mall to Sears.  However, I was able to hobble over there, muttering and trying not to cry the entire time.  It really hurt, and it felt like my ankle had blown up.  Thank goodness for adrenaline. I took a look at my leg once I made it back to the Sears waiting room.  Not good news folks.  Be sure to check out the pics above to see the blood and guts. Or just misshapen ankles.

Needless to say, I didn’t sleep very well, but TLEMK was an absolute angel.  I got up at three this morning, after deciding that there was no way I was going to teach with this kind of pain, so I wrote out sub plans, and drove up to Arlington Heights to leave plans.  I was done by seven, back at home by 8.  Folks, I don’t get sick or injured very often.  A unfortunate consequence of this is that I have no idea how to deal with insurance.  Thankfully, I managed to get a doctor’s appt., and snuck into the radiology lab to check to see if I had a fracture.  No fracture, just very painful swelling.  And now Walgreens is messing up my prescription.  At least I now have crutches and a brace ( I was hopping everywhere, on discovering that I could not put weight on my foot this morning. Very jiggly, very bad image)

The lesson? God doesn’t want me to run.

One of these things is not like theother

Tony| Category: General | 2 Comments

One of these things is not like theother

Originally uploaded by bonemuse2004.

Ouch

One of these things is not like theother

Tony| Category: General | 0 Comments

One of these things is not like theother

Originally uploaded by bonemuse2004.

Ouch

At Least Someone Knows…

Tony| Category: General, School Daze | 1 Comment

Check out Siberia Minn’s Article on teachers today. Thanks for the props. I’ll be at $75K in about… 15 more years. I do have to say that there were more than a few Friday mornings of my first few years of teaching where we had more “quiet time” than usual, especially after closing the White Horse the night before. However, having made it past the first five year mark, I think I’ll make it to ten, where I’ve heard that another 50% drop out of teaching, leaving only 25% of an original graduating class left.

However, I’m feeling quite appreciated, as last week was Teacher Appreciation Week. This year, instead of the basket of goodies for each individual teacher, the PTA refurbished our kitchen with new utensils, and a mini-convection oven. The kids did something nice for us everyday, including bringing in flowers, and last Thursday, bringing in our favorite candy (which I said was Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups). I now have approximately 5 lbs. of peanut-buttery goodness residing in my freezer, and just about every kind of Cup ever produced, including white chocolate, carmel, and extra crunchy peanut butter cups. The PTA also provided breakfast for us on Thursday, and I’m still full. Parents can seriously cook at this school.

As far as out-of-pocket expenses go, I’m usually at about $600 a year, $250 of which I used to be able to claim on my federal taxes, but that’s been taken away for the 2006 year and beyond.

In the future (nice and vague…) expect a 5,000 word essay on the state of education and my limited views. Until then, go thank a teacher. You’ll be surprised how many of them remember you fondly.

Sent from TLEMK

Tony| Category: General | 1 Comment

Sent from TLEMK

Originally uploaded by bonemuse2004.

Do you see this? A hummer pizza delivery truck?

Hey Summer, Where Ya Been?

Tony| Category: General | 2 Comments

(Whoo-hoo, hoo)

Summer is rapidly approaching. And* while I am looking forward to it, I refuse to have a countdown with my students because we still have some serious learning to get accomplished (Mexico unit, revisit money, biographies, memory books, and publishing our fractured fairy tales all come to mind).

The problem is, I’m not sure I’m looking forward to it. Yes, beautiful weather, the possibility of golf with Marc and Zigzag (though we know who will show up and who won’t ) and a reduced working schedule are all great things. Downside? How can there be a downside? Teachers complain too much, right? Probably, but I still will have grad school for fifteen hours a week, I have a billion things to rework in my language arts, science, and social studies curriculums (math is too dense to touch already) and oh, we’re buying a house, so the Great Moving Adventure is about to re-begin. (My Ebjournal, my words.) I will miss this group of students because though they are not the brainiacs of last year, they like each other more, and get along well, in spite of me. To top it off, TLEMK is also starting grad school, and her schedule is going to be tough on both of us.

So, I don’t think it’s a summer break… just a summer shift.
Should I be excited? Ta-da! New poll question!

———————————————

* Don’t start sentences with And, unless you are comfortable with being labeled by elementary teachers and English teachers.

What’s next? The Cubs winning?

Tony| Category: General, Sports and Wine, Entertainment Tonight | 1 Comment

We both finally made it to a minor-league baseball game.  The weather was glorious, the pitching not so much.  Our seats were three rows behind the dugout, halfway up the first base line.  Close enough that even my camera could take pictures like this:

One pop fly foul ball came within a few rows of us, and the lady that got it wasn’t even watching.  It hit her in the wrist, and sounded like it really hurt.  She should pay attention more.  Perhaps the most stunning sequence of events involved TLEMK.  She not only drank one Goose Island 312, but shared a second one with me!  This is nothing short of miraculous.  Apparently (apparently), you need to have ballpark food in order to enjoy BEvERages.  We shall continue to work on this–it will be my honor and privilege to let you know how developments proceed.

Before the game, we also got to see the famous Clydesdale horses of Budweiser.  They were tall, and some of them were looking at me:

More available on my flickr account.

I heart baseball.  Can’t wait to go in three weeks!

Jinxed no more

Tony| Category: General | 0 Comments

Jinxed no more

Originally uploaded by bonemuse2004.

Still playing

05-04-06_1803.jpg

Tony| Category: General | 0 Comments

05-04-06_1803.jpg

Originally uploaded by bonemuse2004.

Ha!

Mas Beisbol (de menor)

Tony| Category: General | 4 Comments

Spring is still here.

With the advent of spring cometh the Sport Formerly Known as the National Pastime: Baseball. Here at the homestead, we are rabid baseball fans. Not crazy over-the-top-broom-carrying-voodoo fans, but pretty excited about the change in season. It is not limited to me, either.

TLEMK loves baseball. In fact, her pedigree is much better than mine when it comes to baseball; her father pitched for the Illini, her grandfather was in the Cubs minor league system, and her uncle was a relief pitcher for the Schaumburg Flyers until this season. Needless to say, (but said anyway!) baseball is in her blood.

Ask her to sing the Dodgers song to you some time. Just make sure you have five minutes to be wowed.

We are fortunate that we live all of six minutes from a minor league baseball stadium. Elfstrom Stadium is currently home to the Kane County Cougars, a very minor-league affiliate of the Moneyball famous Oakland A’s. Last year, we purchased a five game pack of tickets; one game a month over the course of five months, always on a weekend. How many games did TLEMK get to go to last year?

Zero.

Now some of you may think that is unfortunate happenstance—summer is a busy time, with weddings, reunions, and The Plan to be done. I happen to believe she is jinxed.

Bear with me.

Despite her previous history of not being able to go to the games last year, we nonetheless purchased another 5-game set for this year. This first game was this past weekend, versus the terrible, horrible, no good Clinton Lumberkings. Our seats are 5 rows behind the first base dugout, but we left our gloves at home, lest we raise the ire of Siberia, Minnesota, and headed to the ballpark under dreary skies and the occasional drizzle.

When we got there, the tarp was on, and they made announcements to the effect of, “We are in close contact with the weather service.  We are planning to play this game.  We will let you know at 4:30.” It was 3:45.  And it did stop raining, for like 10 minutes.  They took the tarp off, lined the field, and the players did their hoppy stretches.
We thought that maybe they would play through the drizzle.  We were excited.

Then they put the tarp back on.

TLEMK is jinxed.  She’s destined not to see an actual game.  We got refund tickets for this Thursday.  It’s supposed to be sunny.  But I know what’s next: locusts.

In other news, to satiate my need for minor league baseball, I recently finished The Last Best League, which is the story of the Cape Cod Collegiate League. They’ve made a movie about the Cape Cod League, called Summer Catch.  Haven’t seen the movie; I’ll add it to my imaginary queue. (After reading the IMDB synopsis, the movie seems nothing like the book. Don’t see the movie. Read the book.) The book, even though it wasn’t the best baseball story I’ve read, made me want to go tour Cape Cod and catch all the games. Interesting stuff– if you like baseball, you’ll like the book.

I’ll let you know if we made to the baseball game on Thursday.

IRA–>No, Not That

Tony| Category: General, School Daze | 1 Comment

(warning: Stuck: It’s long.)

You may have noticed a gathering taking place in Chicago.  Planned for months, demonstrations, exhibits of free speech, and camaraderie for the fellow human took center stage here in downtown Chicago.

The immigrant workers’ march?

No, the International Reading Association Annual World Convention.

The 51st  Annual Convention, to be exact.  You see, gentle readers, I am a lucky dog.  This year I am participating on our district’s literacy framework committee, a group of overzealous teachers who are interested in the future of how reading is going to be taught in the district.  Adoption is still three academic years; this group is focusing solely on the philosophy of what should be taught.  Because of this, I heard about the IRA annual convention early, and asked my principal if I could go.  She said yes.  So here I am, between sessions, relating to you the innerworkings of these fancy conventions.

I started out my day at McCormick Place, or as we in Chicago like to call it- “McCormick Place—Hey, we still have conventions! Ignore our hotel and convention taxes, and come here! To McCormick Place!” I was greeted by a throng of humanity— at least 5,000 people, 85-90% of them angry women. Why were they angry?  The line.  Most of us had pre-registered—we just needed to pick up our ultra-spiffy lanyard to mark us to the pickpockets as a rube/out of towner/lost tourist. Lord, the line.  It wound around most of the exhibit hall— horror stories of teachers waiting in line for two hours, just so they could be stamped and allowed in the door.  Thankfully, I overheard one of the only people directing human traffic say, “You don’t need your lanyard to go into the general session,” which was the only reason I would have stood in line.  This was the first of my good fortune of the day.

The next piece of good fortune came when I walked in the huge exhibit room where the opening address was taking place.  Ten people after me, they closed the door—it was full. Who are the first people I see? Three administrators from the district, and they have an extra seat in the second row!  Of course, since I’m friendly (I’m not always snarky—you should see me at school…) they offered me the extra seat.  I made it in time for both the IRA president (who said teachers rock) and Jonathon Kozol (who also said teachers rock, and made me feel bad for teaching in suburbia).  I ducked out of Kozol early, and found the line (yes, another one) for the shuttle bus.  On  the way, I ran into another teacher in my district.  She’s only here for the day, so she was VERY angry about the lines. As I’m standing in the bus line, I hear a voice call out my name.  I turn around and see a teacher I used to work with in Champaign!  Crazy, considering all the people.  She joins me on the bus, and we chitchat about our changes in life.  I get to the Palmer House, where my next seminar is, and find the pre-registration line, with all of four people in it.  I pick up my lanyard/homing device, and head into a symposia on responding critically to literature.  Seven presenters in under three hours.  It was a whirlwind.  Another boon granted upon me by the teacher gods- the meeting room had wireless, so I was able to look up the websites the presenters gave in real time, a good use of technology.  Unfortunately, my laptop died after two hours, and I was unable to reconnect to the web because the user/pw I used to get on expired (or the Palmer House figured out I was “using” their wireless connection).  So here I am, writing to you, because Past Me thought ahead to plan both sessions in the same room.  I should have brought a book.  Instead, I wrote one for you today.

My next session is entitled: Designing Reading Lessons for Diverse Learners.  I hope it doesn’t suck.  More updates soon!