Today and Student Teaching

This is going to be a mighty short blog and it will be continued when I get home. I am in the computer lab with my kids right now and I had to send my student teacher out to duty. She is all huffy because I told her what was what earlier. She basically cut off my lesson because she felt that it was time to start math facts. Rule #1 as a teacher...sometimes lessons run over and you are flexible and you adjust. My principal said this morning if she can't get it together and she messes up my kids because she isn't doing her job she is out. He said we would have a coming to Jesus meeting...that translates into pull your head out of your ass and listen when someone tells you something. After school should be interesting because her and I are going to have a chat about how she does grades and how they aren't very important to her. Grades and Assessments are the most important thing a teacher can keep organized. I'm not usually a very organized person, but I will tell you what I would recite my assessments for each kid to you because they are so organized. That's rule #2 about teaching. I'm sure she is going to feel all stepped over when I tell her that when doing math facts it only confuses the kids when you give them the wrong answer in order to try to "trick them" into catching it because they got it right. Ugh she has a lot to learn. Look for more tonight!!

Veronica Mars cont...

In case anyone cares...Shannon and I found the guys proposal that was supposed to air on a commercial for the superbowl...then on Veronica Mars. It is cute and if you can watch the reaction video with her it is even better. However, he said he only aired in on Pacific time from 9-10p.m. Hello that's the Veronica Mars that I watched and I still didn't see the commerical...yes I fell asleep but Dave watched...oh well at least I saw the video.
In case anyone else would like to see it, it is mysuperproposal.com

Enjoy!

Student Teaching

Well today was an interesting day. This is my first blog about my student teacher. She is a really nice girl I like her, but she just isn't as great of a teacher as she thinks she is. Last week she had a rough week teaching math. She messed up all four lessons either teaching the wrong one, using the wrong page, or not using the correct vocabulary. Now you have to understand that I am very very protective of my kids. If they don't seem to be understanding something as a whole class, I understand that I probably didn't teach it in a way that they understood. If one or two kids don't get it, then I sit with them and just teach a little more. But I don't go "oh ridiculous how could they not get that!". Yeah she did. And that doesn't fly with me at all. My kids are good kids...yes I teach in Stead no that does not mean I teach all white trash, ghetto kids. My kids are smart and I will not let you tell me otherwise.

Anyway...today was her first day having her supervisor come out and observe her. Now I will watch her teach and I give her some constructive criticism and tell her the things that she is doing well. She acts like she takes constructive criticism well...however she just looks at me like "hmm thanks but you don't know what you are talking about". We are the same age so I think that has something to do with it. Irregardless, it is MY classroom and MY kids and therefore what I SAY GOES! She doesn't seem to understand this rule of thumb. When I did my student teaching if my lead teacher told me what do to, I did it. I took it that she knew what she was talking about because she had been teaching for a while not to mention she knew these kids better than I did at the time. My student teacher acts like what I say means nothing. I'm rambling...let me get to the point.

Today her supervisor watched the lesson. I am expecting this woman to notice some of the same things I did otherwise I am going to feel like I know nothing. Well she does notice that she lacks enthusiasm, she seems sketchy in her teaching and overall she is going to need a lot of modeling. Ok so I think great I am on the right track when I am telling her this stuff. Well the supervisor writes down all these GREAT things that she does and really doesn't tell her that she needs anything to work on. Well after she leaves I'm kind of trying to tell my student teacher that this doesn't mean that she is wonderful in a nice way and she goes well i think she just told me a bunch of shit today. I said oh! My student teacher said that she didn't give her anything that she could work on. I always give her things. I'm thinking that she is hating the stuff I give her. Turns out she actually appreaciates it. Go me!

Here's the kicker....WHY THE HELL DOESN'T SHE WORK ON ANY OF THE THINGS THAT I AM TELLING HER????

Then she goes on to tell me that if she thought that I overstepped my boundaries she would let me know...funny...it's my classroom and I'd be the ones overstepping my boundaries...hmm no no!! This is after she tells me that she DOES NOT have to show me her journal because it's just between her and her supervisor because if there is a problem with the lead teachers that's where the interns get to talk about it without confronting the lead teacher...but wait she just said she would tell me if I overstepped my boundaries with her and I can't read the journal that I am supposed to check off?? Freaking contradicting girl!!!! Like I care what she writes in her journal!

Anyway look for more rambling blogs about this girl in my classroom!!

Veronica Mars and nonsense

Ok I have never seen the show Veronica Mars...I don't watch it and probably shouldn't start in the middle of however many seasons this is. But I was told by two different people that the damn superbowl proposal that was supposed to be on a superbowl commercial had been moved to this show last night. I watched the show. Then my eyes got heavy....yeah I fell asleep for like the last two sets of commericals. DID ANYONE SEE THE DAMN PROPOSAL...DID IT HAPPEN OR WHAT??? Good lord I need a freaking life!!

That's all for this fine morning.

I will have more to write after my day today at school...have I mentioned I have a student teacher...yeah there's plenty to write about there!

Imagine my surprise...

Ok people I have some interesting news. I heard that on the superbowl that some guy was going to propose to his girlfriend. I waited the entire game of commercials to see what a $2.5 million proposal would look like in 30 seconds. Imagine my disappointment when the only thing that I saw was part of a Prudential commercial that had a guy showing a girl a ring and then she hugs him...hmm I'm thinking that can't possibly be the commercial that EVERY tv thing had been talking about. So I'm disappointed. Then I come home tonight and saw that there was something on the yahoo news about this girl that had an extreme proposal...ok this must be the video...well if it is, the damn thing won't load! Oh well I get over it and start clicking on all the links that are supposed to go with it about the best proposals, the most romantic, how to do it without spending very much money and so on. So of course this sets off the part of my brain that I have SWORN to turn off.

Dave is sitting on the couch. I was reading a thing at that time that was saying how you really need to know your girl and how she wants to be proposed to. If she isn't cool with having it done in front of everyone, don't do it in a major public place. If she is very formal go to a nice restaurant and blah blah blah. So I was going to drop the hint that I don't need some huge fancy dinner or anything like that...I want something that is special to us both. So this is how the conversation went:

Me: Honey, have you thought of a place where you want to propose at (I think that's what I said because I can' t remember after my utter shock).

Dave: Yeah.

Me: Oh well I was reading this article...WHAT?????

Dave: I said yeah I have.

Me: uh have you thought of a time? (yeah I am trying to find my question that will get me an answer to let me back down)

Dave: Yeah.

Me: Oh ok that's what I...WHAT?? Let me get this straight you have thought of a time and a place???

Then he goes what would you have said if I said no I hadn't thought about a place...I said I would have just read you the article! I wasn't looking to provoke a conversation about this. Imagine my surprise when not only he had been thinking about this and planning something but I didn't get a rude "I don't know" answer, an uncertain answer...I got a real answer with no prodding!!!!

Then the best part of the entire 3 minute conversation was that when I said that I didn't need a big fancy dinner blah blah blah he goes I don't give a shit where you want to be proposed to or what you want. I know when and where I want to propose to you and that's all that matters.

Um could someone please tell me where/when my boyfriend suddenly got a clear head and stopped being so afraid of all this stuff??? Like I said...imagine my surprise!!!!!!

The First Few Days...

So our first few days with Quincy have been much better than expected. He is actually a really good dog. The first night we got here, he was very jumpy. Imagine that since he has never been in a house before. He barked like crazy at himself in the oven and in the bathroom mirror. He doesn't bark when people come to the house or when he hears noises...no he barks at himself because he can see himself and has no idea it is him! Steve told us that he was going to be really bad in the kennel the first night because he wasn't used to it and he was going to freak out. The dog never made a peep that night other than moving around in the kennel. He has done really good and we kept him in the kennel while we were at work on Friday and Dave came home at lunch and checked on him. He did a really good job...and Tiny...well Tiny is adjusting to living in the bedroom. He became brave this morning and decided he was going to venture out into the living room while Quincy was sitting there...yeah Quincy chased him and Tiny became a ball of puff because he is trying to look all big and bad! So they are still working on adjusting with each other. We will have Quincy as long as it takes Dave and his dad to build the fence and then I think that it will become Dave's dad's dog. Oh well he needs the company since he is out in Fernley by himself. I guess we will look at it like he is our family pet!!

Quincy...the new family member

Well after feeling like complete shit all day at school because I am pretty sure that my nose is going to fall off my face, I get a phone call from Dave. He calls to inform me that our friend Steve's parents have taken their dog (actually our friend Steve's dog) to the pound!! Now you have to understand that they weren't exactly nice to this dog. They might not feed him for a few days and he stayed outside ALL the time, no matter what the weather was like! You can instantly see my problem with the situation. Well Dave has always liked Quincy and thinks he is a good dog. They used him for hunting but he just wasn't as good as their other hunting dog. That's becuase they never practiced with him DUH!! So I can tell by the tone of his voice on the phone that this little dog is about to be ours. I asked if he wanted to go get him and he said yes. So we called his dad. See we can't have pets at our house unless we pay an extra $100 a month and even then she doesn't really like pets. Yeah I hide the cat! So Quincy will live at Dave's dad's house in Fernley until we get a different house. I think it will be good for his Dad because he will have some company now. Anyways back to the story. I call the pound in Silver Springs to see if he is there...he is so I tell Dave and he goes to get him. The lady at the pound is fuming because she knew Steve's dad was lying when he said Quincy was a stray...he just didn't want to pay the fee. I can't believe that someone would just give away their dog...not because they could no longer have him, not because he bit someone or did somethign wrong...but simply because they didn't want him. That's awful.

So Dave went to get the dog. He is going to stay at our house tonight...how in God's name that is going to work I don't know! Then Steve called me today. The totally screwed up part about this is that Steve didn't even know they gave HIS dog away to the pound! He just found out yesterday. While I think he is happy that someone nice like Dave got his dog, he is still really irritated that they just gave the dog away without saying anythin to him. Quincy is a registered, papered dog by the way. So now Steve is a little upset about the whole thing, but like I told him at least he is with someone you know. Steve thought they took the dog out and just shot him and that he didn't really take him to the pound. So at least they didn't do that.

I'll try to figure out if I can post some pictures later once I get a chance to take some. I hope he really is as good of a dog as they say he is. I told Dave if he should hurt my cat in any way...I will hurt Dave in MANY ways! It will be grounds for not talking to him for months!!!!