arrgh in a non-pirate way

Arrgh, things are not so great right now, and I'm feeling pretty de-flicted (yes I'm using a made-up word on purpose, yay!). Grr! Grrr! I'm a messsssssssss...I don't see myself getting much sleep tonight. I also don't see myself working tomorrow because it's really hard to do that if I'm not doing too well on the sleep front. Yikes!

On a brighter note, we hung Christmas lights today, and dug out the boxes with all that holiday shwag. It was nice and warm outside for a change...and sunny too.

On a completely different note, can I just say that I hate LED lights?!? I first noticed them last year, but this year they're everywhere. In fact, it's kinda hard NOT to get them--about 50% of the lights on the shelves at the stores are LED lights. As much of a raging environmentalist as I am, you'd think I'd ADORE LED Christmas light, but sadly I am traumatized by their very existence. I hate them enough to not be excited by how much lower my electrical bill could be, how much energy I could be saving, etc, etc. Don't get me wrong, I love LED technology in some other forums...but not as Christmas lights, NO WAY! Why not? Because they're too damn bright, but in a way that's just disturbing and WRONG! I'm kind of relieved to know I'm not the only one out there that finds them to be eye torture. I can't even look at them, which kinda defeats the purpose of Christmas lights for me. I see them all over the neighborhood, and I just have to look away--it's like everything that's bad about fluorescent lights times 100. Seriously, I think they were created by the same evil twisted minds that invented plastic bags, and put perfume in everything. Grr.

It looks like the kids in the punkrawk house down the street must've moved out, or been evicted or something because there's a pile of stuff on the curb including a box of dirty clothes, a record player (cabinet), some canvases, and three non-matching chairs. The house is empty, quiet, and sterile.

Today I made some awesome sweet potato soup! Here's the recipe:

Totally Awesome Sweet! Potato Soup

2 medium sized sweet potatoes baked in the oven until very mushy
1/2 medium onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 box of butternut squash soup
1 can coconut milk
half a leek, chopped
some garlic and some ginger
the crumbs in the bottom of the sweet potatoes chips bag

I chucked all of the above into a crock pot and cooked it for about 5 hours. It was heavenly. It also makes rad leftovers to take to work and be the talk of the lunchroom because people think you put so much effort into it and really it's just a little chopping and the crock pot does everything. (Crock pots are the salvation of harried and overworked people everywhere who still want home-cooked meals.)

I make a variation of this all the time in winter, ever since I lived at declerye. I swap a few things from time to time (sometimes it's butternut squash cubed with sweet potato soup base), or add a thing here and there (peppers, carrots, apple juice), but overall it's the same beast we used to eat. It's a good winter friend, especially when you don't have a woodstove or good lap cats. It reminds me of Sue, Casey, and Denny, and the time when it was basically just the four of of riding out the winter together...I just looked up and saw these kids dancing around on TV...I guess they're in Philly but really it could just as well be Memphis. People always said they were kinda similar places in a lot of ways. I've never been to Philly, so I wouldn't know.

Digging out all these old Christmas cards makes me feel nostalgic. I wonder where people are, and what they're up to. I haven't been good about keeping in touch with anyone. It got especially bad after I started grad school. Now most days, it's a function of being really tired after work. I know that for some of us, it's just the fatigue of our lives. Some people are busy raising younguns and don't have time or energy to do much else. Others have just drifted out of range or off the radar. But even if I don't know where people are, or what they're doing, I still wonder about them. There's a lot of people I haven't heard from awhile, and wouldn't mind hearing from...but this also means that I need to do my part too. sigh.

Civil War=Ouch for OSU

Poor Oregon State, they totally lost. It was just SAD.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not from Oregon, so I don't have any strong feelings either way about the Beavers or the Ducks. To me they're just teams at schools I never went to. My loyalties lie elsewhere. But I couldn't help getting a bit excited about watching the game after watching the kids get all dressed up on Wednesday...

But yeah, this was sad. Oregon annihilated Oregon State. Pulverized them. Touch down after brutal touch down. Players that no one could tackle. It was just sad. It was like watching IU play Purdue.

Poor Beavers. I'm sure I'll be hearing about nothing else for the next week...

internet crack

Thanks to Daniel, I've discovered a new and improved time waster over at xkcd.com. Yes!!! As if my obsessive compulsive relationship with the internet needed anymore fuel...

down under

Yay! I got a guest appearance from Lil' Goat! That so made my day...

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, world! Yes, for once I am staying home and doing absolutely nothing, and lordy it feels good. My goal for the next four days is to do as little as humanly possible.

It would have been nice to go to Astoria, but I realized that more than anything I need to veg out for a few days. I've been on the verge of coming down with something for weeks now--kinda sick, but not enough to write home about.

I'll admit that I'm missing my family right about now, but who can afford to go anywhere right now? Not me. And I don't miss the hassle of flying either. So I guess they're all partying without me. Oh well. I'm staying home, watching bad movies, and making snowflakes. (BTW: thanks Margo for teaching me that, I've really been putting it to good use).

maybe I should have stayed home...

Today was kind of a mixed bag. In some ways it was totally awesome, but in others, it sucked. Things that sucked included leaving my lunch at home, not having any caffeine, and freezing. Things that didn't suck included a pancake breakfast, a very familiar school environment, and fun kids.

Today was a showdown between Beavers fans and Duck fans in anticipation of the Civil War Game. So everyone was decked out and it was a good time.

I had a pleasant afternoon of supervising middle school kids, teaching my partner how to make 5-pointed snowflakes (something I learned the day before from Margo). It would have been even more pleasant if I wouldn't have left my coffee sitting on the kitchen counter, but that's a tale for another day. In my next life, I'll be the person who always has it together...

A reflection on substitute teaching thus far

Now that I've been at it for a few months, and things are picking way up, I thought it was time to do another reflection about substitute teaching. For me, subbing is going surprisingly well. Since I tend to be a very relationship-based teacher, I still feel most successful when I am in situations that involve some continuity (a multiple day assignment, a school whose routines I know really well)--it's so much easier when I know who everyone is.

My only complaints (besides the hours--getting up at 5am is not half as fun as it sounds) are that sometimes I wish I could do more actual teaching. Most of the time I get called in on those days where there's not much academic stuff happening (a test day, or a day when there's an assembly, or some major non-academic time). I can't blame teachers for taking those days off. I guess the other thing is that teachers like to leave subs with stuff that's "safe"--things that don't call for much instructional talent. I don't mind doing some actual teaching if it's relatively within my realm of knowledge.

Other than that, subbing is usually just fine. I get to test drive different kinds of jobs and job titles, find out what certain positions really entail--the kinds of things you can't learn from a generic job description on EdZapp. I get to see what the difference is between different kinds of schools (K-8, traditional 6-8/9-12 configurations, and charter schools). I get to see the difference between 6th graders and 10th graders, 8th graders and 9th graders, and so on. I get to do a lot of improv "acting" every day, so to speak, since I'm basically pretending to be someone else every time I enter the building. Substitute teaching is a lot like improv in the sense that you never know what role you may find yourself in...the job title on the callout can be incredibly vague.

The best part about subbing though is that I get to hang out with kids and get paid for it, which is almost always fun for me. Most days of subbing are at least 75% fun, and maybe only 25% not that fun. Some days are even 100% fun if I get lucky. Substitute teaching is way more geared towards the classroom management end of the spectrum and less towards promoting academic learning, but sometimes you get a group of kids that can pretty much do it themselves. The ones that can't give me endless opportunities to learn more about the fine art of classroom management, the spectrum of challenging behaviors, and new and exciting strategies for group management and traffic control. Occasionally I'll end up with a tough crowd, or a few really challenging students, but frankly as long as nobody gets hurt, I'm fine if people decide they need to act goofy. I just ignore it. There's always one or two kids in every classroom that decide they want to try to push my buttons, but once they discover that I'm not gonna put on an entertaining "angry sub" show for them, it usually dissipates. Besides, I know that usually the kids that behave the worst are usually just about as bad for their real teachers, so I know not to take it personally when they need to show me their best moves. Usually though, the majority of kids get along just fine with me, get over the novelty factor, and are able to have a productive and pleasant day with me.

I could be at this substitute teaching thing for awhile. I'm living in a teacher oversupply state (unlike the states around me which are absolutely desperate for warm bodies to fill their overcrowded and underfunded classrooms). Most people here who go through teacher training have to sub for a year or two before they can get a real job. On the plus side, building principals in the schools I am interested in working at will get used to seeing me in the building so when I show up for interviews, I won't be some random person off the street to them. Also, the other teachers know who I am, and a lot of times, they're on the interview panel as well.

So yeah, substitute teaching is not all that bad. You have to be kind of choosy about where you go and what you do if you want an optimal experience (know where your comfort zones are), but for me, it's also a time for pushing my boundaries a little bit and dabbling in new/challenging areas with minimal risk. (For me that's EBD/Behavior Classes). Subbing is a great way to develop some skills in the kinds of things you decidedly AREN'T taught about during teacher training (organization, strategies, and interventions). A little bit of out-of-field work is great way to broaden one's understanding of how education works (or doesn't) as a whole. Maybe by the time I get to have my own classroom I'll be a real pro at working with totally unmotivated, very high-risk, or very needy adolescents. That's the plan, anyhow. For now, it's a chance to get to know a whole lot of people (adults and children), get really good at figuring out what makes teens tick, and taking advantage of endless opportunities to indulge in some on-the-spot problem solving.

It's not always totally intense though. Sometimes substitute teaching is about laughing at really corny jokes, learning something unexpected from a kid, goofing around while you're on recess duty, and just kicking it with a bunch of teens during some downtime. When I'm not redirecting misspent energy, I'm usually laughing (or trying really hard not to), and having a great time. I don't bother with a tough-guy persona, I get to be "real" most of the time, and the kids usually respond well to that.

are you feelin' lucky?

I had pretty much decided that I was just gonna take the day off and stay home. I've been feeling a bit worn down lately, and thought maybe I should just take it easy and let things settle a bit, but lo and behold, there's a very familiar looking name on subfinder. Yes, it looks like I'm going to pick up this little half-day gig over in North Portland. Yeah, I can handle a half-day surely, even if it's a tough crowd. Besides, it'll give me just the excuse I need to go take care of some bizness.

So off I went. It's kinda nice knowing that no matter how crappy you're feeling, you only have to fake it for four hours. It's good to have these little practice runs. Some day I'm probably gonna get enough gumption to pick up the full-day model...but for now this is probably more my speed. On the plus side, I got to learn a new craft!

It was kind of a light day overall. The kids only had half a day of school and it was the day before thanksgiving break. That means not much is happening, and that's probably fine. I was in a minimalist mood anyhow. Some interesting stuff went down, but nothing TOO interesting.

After all that, I went over to another completely different universe and dropped off my sub application with another district. I really don't need more hours exactly, my main goal is just to have an excuse to see the inside of a couple of schools that I might want to work at in the future...We'll see if anything comes of that.

big score

There's nothing I love better than a 3-day job, except a 4-day job. It's totally great knowing exactly where you're going and what you're doing. Heck, you even know half of the kids names by the second day, which vastly enhances your subbing superpowers. I even got to see a familiar face on day 2. So this was a good week for me. Very enjoyable, indeed. Middle School is surprisingly fun...and 8th graders are starting to grow on me in a way I had never seen coming.

Wish this sort of thing could happen all the time...It's nice not to have to do the 5am routine for a few days...

i'm back! (AGAIN?)

It's funny to work at the same school twice in the same week on single-day jobs. In my experience, that's pretty rare, but I found myself back again on Wednesday for a second dance.

I had a pretty light day, in a really small class, making things super easy for me since it's testing week at this school. I had lots of time just to enjoy the kids, talk to other teachers, and chill. Not the most exciting day in the world, but hey as long as I'm getting paid, it's all gravy. Besides, in the world of subbing, sometimes excitement is WAY overrated.

On the plus side, I also had the distinct pleasure of watching an 8th grader solve a Rubik's Cube in less than 5 minutes. Totally awesome!

room fulla squirrels

Today I went to a school I used to sub at all the time back in the day. Because it had been over a year since the last time I was there, things seemed vaguely different, and the kids were all bigger than I remembered. There were a few new kids, and a few old ones that I had forgotten, but I saw a lot of familiar faces. The best part of that really, was being able to see their progress-socially, academically, and behaviorally. It's a group with a lot of needs, so it was very pleasing to see so many signs of growth and progress.

On the other hand, everyone under the age of 18 seemed really worked up, uncooperative, and cranky, and everyone over the age of 18 seemed really lethargic and cranky, so it was an interesting day for yours truly, and definitely a multi-coffee day. I got a lot more defiance than usual, which is always much more comical with children than it is when you have teens on your hands: Don't want to wear shoes? Fine, no recess for you, I'm not crying/not sad. I'll just wait it out.

I have to admit though, that even cranky kids have moments when they're cute.

Speaking of the uncooperative, I got stuck behind the slowest driver in all of Portland and could not pass for miles and miles. It's pretty frustrating to be stuck behind someone who insists on going 25 mph, and not be able to do anything about it. This is the reason why sometimes I prefer teen drivers to elderly drivers. They're both bad, but in very different ways...

I finally got my badge, so no more sticker badges for me! I'm a real person now. Well maybe...there's no proof yet!

This week's been pretty weird for me, and I'll be pretty relieved once Friday's over. I need a break, which is pretty sad when I acknowledge the fact that I had Tuesday off due to veteran's day. Sad indeed.

fab friday

You may wonder what benefits a secondary teacher might gain from subbing in an elementary school aside from pay. As Ken Peterson would probably say, some of the most innovative things tend to happen in elementary school settings, and there's a lot to learn from that, even if you aren't necessarily planning on being an elementary-level educator.

I picked up a gig for Friday over at an elementary school I haven't been to in quite awhile. While elementary school jobs are not necessarily my first choice in assignments, I knew that if nothing else it should be a pretty fun day since Fridays often are in elementary schools. And I always enjoy meeting new people.

I also had numerous opportunities to see some pretty good disciplinary moves in dealing with the antics of difficult kids, new teaching ideas, and PBS strategies. In fact, I tend to carry around a notebook so I can record some of the good ideas and other things I see so I can use them later on in my own classroom.

It was a pretty interesting day. I got to go to a hilarious morning assembly, music (fun), and goof around with some kids at recess, do a fun art project, hear corny jokes, eat popcorn, discover new books (Diary of Wimpy Kid is hilarious), and meet some interesting kids.

Yes, Friday are Fabulous!

rainy thursday blahs

It's November alright, and that means the rains are back. They mostly held off until mom left town, so it's alright I suppose. It's hard to get excited about walking the dog in this drizzle, so it hasn't been done in a few days and I feel bad about that. So far she's taking it well, but gets fired up at the slightest indication that something interesting might happen.

No luck getting a job for today. There was only one or two available and they went like hotcakes. I did manage to pick up one for Friday though, and that's always a good thing.

Spent most of the day reading about autism on Neurodiversity (something I tend to get inspired to do after spending some quality time around kids with ASDs because they're so interesting), working on more teaching materials, and perusing the offerings of Flashcard Exchange. Oh, and laundry. You could say it's been a real quiet day around here. Probably a good antidote to 3 days spent with adolescents, as much as I tend to enjoy that...

The last month was very busy for me, although mostly in a good way. I did enjoy seeing my mom for awhile. And I feel like I've accomplished a few things professionally as well (I got my ORELA test results back, and I only missed one question!). Now we'll see how this month goes...

I Think in Pictures, You Teach in Words

"I Think in Pictures, You Teach in Words" is the title of an article, but I thought it would be a good title for today's entry.

Today, at the very last possible minute, I got called for a job at a high school, a job I couldn't possibly arrive at on time, but one I took nevertheless. I've been on track all week in the work department, so I wanted to stay onboard. So I called the school and let them know I wasn't going to make it on time, but would make it out there about the same time as the kids.

There's nothing like the terrifying thrill and near state of panic of picking up a last minute sub job on the fly...it's a lot like catching a hot freight out of the yard, and hoping you know where it's bound. The loss of equilibrium of having to land on your feet is magnified by prospect of having to locate a completely unfamiliar school in a part of town you've never been to--and fast. Needless to say I try to keep this sort of thing to a bare minimum, and pick up jobs the night before. Better still, is having people request you ahead of time...

The only sane way to deal with this life is to be as prepared as possible ahead of time by having some clothes you can quickly throw on, having your bag of tricks ready to grab and go, scrounging around desperately for anything edible that's lying around, and having a container that you can fill of whatever beverage you're going to drink while driving down the road...trust me you will not have time to get coffee on the way...

While driving down the road, I realize the map I printed off of Mapquest is a bit vague...the names of the streets by and large are missing. Oh no! Fortunately I had the address of the school to go on, but I had to watch all the streets very closely until I found the right one.

I pull up and realize right away that it's a huge school with huge parking lots and multiple entrances. I park in the back with all the late arrivals and run in the rain while simultaneously clutching my bags and trying to button up the blouse I was wearing. I veer towards the side door that I see students entering, and start asking right away for directions to the office when it becomes readily apparent that the office isn't something I'm going to find quickly on my own. I finally locate it, but have a case of mistaken identity--apparently there are two employees with VERY similar names. Finally, I'm on my way to the classroom...

Fortunately after I get there, things settle down immensely. The other paras show me where to settle in, and once circle time is over, I start getting to know the kids. It's a pretty small group of kids with ASDs, who are on the higher end of the functional spectrum. I spend the rest of the day assisting and hanging out with a fun group of kids.

I'll admit that I had a pretty good time, but then again, I tend to enjoy kids with autism. I enjoy their individual eccentricities, don't get overly concerned about/bothered by quirky behavior and odd personal traits, and am always fascinated by how they see the world. Many of the students in this group were very artistic and liked to draw and paint, and today's title, "I Think in Words" is my reflection on that fact that many children and teens with ASDs are obsessed with anime or comics.

I can relate to that because I grew up watching anime, and reading manga/graphic novels. As an adult, I still enjoy these things...I don't watch much TV, but do tend more towards the Simpsons, and Southpark. And I too, tend to be a visually-oriented type of learner. In fact, I am always looking for ways to demonstrate things visually to students. At one point, we got to talking about languages and how difficult Japanese is...I think part of the reason I can handle learning Japanese and Chinese is because Kanji/Hanzi is a visual/conceptual sort of writing system, as opposed to most other phonetic scripts used by other langauges. It's definitely harder to learn, but it's easier to look at a completely unfamiliar word or group of words and "see" the meaning of it.

election stuff

I don't really feel much like talking about the election after hearing about it endlessly for months, but I'll just say a couple of things:

1. I'll have to admit that I'm actually rather excited about having Obama as a president. I can't recall ever being even remotely interested in presidential elections in the past (other than desperately hoping certain candidates wouldn't have control of the country for the next 4-8 years). This time, I'm actually kind of excited about it. The way I feel about Obama is kind of hard to explain...I'm not obsessed with him the way some people are, and I didn't dare get my hopes up that he'd win because it seemed sooo unlikely given that there are a lot of people out there who still hold some very racist beliefs. Now that he's been elected, I feel a great sense of relief that maybe things are going to change for the better in this country, some of the crazy repressive stuff will stop, and we'll start moving in a more positive and productive direction as a country. If nothing else, the economy should recover finally now that the Republicans are gone, and my job prospects will finally improve after nearly a decade of life under Bush. Lastly, someone told me once that Obama's an INTP, which is a rather odd MBTI profile for a political figure. I'm an INTP too, so I figure I'll be able to understand the way he sees things. If nothing else, I figure us INTPs gotta stick together.

2. I was super glad to see that Measure 58 didn't pass. As much anti-immigrant sentiment as there is in this state, I'm pleased to see that enough people voted against this and we won't end up like CA and AZ. As a teacher, I have every reason in the world to care.

3. As far as the rest of the ballot measures go, I was pleased that Bill Sizemore had his ass handed to him. I wish he'd go get a life, and apparently most of the rest of us feel the same way.

4. I'm still stuck with Gordon Smith, and I guess I'm not surprised by that.

5. A lot of the races were really close this year.

Okay enough election stuff. I'll be happy to get on with my life and not see another political ad for quite awhile, although I'll have to admit it was cool to see the kids so interested in the elections. Usually they couldn't care less.

squirrels or students?

Middle school students are like puppies, as I always say. They wiggle and squirm a lot and chew on things (pencils and pens especially), and they're awkward beyond belief, but they're kinda cute and tend to grow on you.

I spent Monday and Tuesday subbing at a middle school, and have to admit that middle school kids are not too bad. I like working at this school anyway even though it's far from home because the kids are pretty awesome and it's a PBS school which makes things pretty easy on the discipline end.

I really used to be kind of leery about kids this age, and wasn't sure if I even wanted to pursue middle-level licensure, but I am starting to discover that kids this age can be a lot of fun. In some ways they're easier to deal with than high school kids (less defiant, usually more cooperative). They still like to push your buttons, but they're not quite as good at it yet. They're definitely more silly and goofy and I find that kind of charming.

It was a great way to start the week--I enjoy being requested anyhow because it means I know what to expect when I arrive, and I like going back to a group of kids I already know because once they get to know you they tend to relax a lot more around you.