that's about it

It's been a while!
Not a whole lot has gone on.
The week leading up to Thanksgiving break was long, but worked out. My PowerPoint on the 1940s/1949 went over well. Wednesday we got hit with a nor'easter, but still had to go to school. I had about 7-9 students show up for a class that usually has about 25-27 kids show up. We watched newsreels from the 40s. They got as much of a kick out of them that I did, which was good.
I've been grading essays and getting ready to start reading the Catcher in the Rye on Monday. My department head told me that she's not worried about me at all and that I'm doing fine. She really enjoyed the PowerPoint, too (she came into one of my classes to observe).

For Thanksgiving, we went over to Corey and Megan's apartment. It was in a part of town that was mysterious to us. The mystery is now solved: it's the Super Suburbs (complete with water fountains/waterfalls installed on the outside of HUGE houses! Woohoo!). We had a huge spread! We brought the green bean casserole (it was very tasty) and I made my mom's cheesy stuffed bread. I made a loaf and a half (used the other half the night before to make sure I made it right.) and it was gone quickly! Apparently, it was "on point" and I got asked for the recipe. Awesome. After we ate, we played Settlers of Katan (Catan? I can't remember how to spell it) and Cranium (while watching Elf! awesome!). It was a good Thanksgiving.
We actually went shopping yesterday at Target and Plan 9. Found good stuff for good prices. Some DVDs, some CDs, some tights (I always seem to leave Target with tights!), and some laughter at crazy Christmas shoppers.

inside and outside of my dream

I woke up at 5:49 A.M. this morning. Jackie got me up. I leave at 5:45 each morning. CRAP!
I was up and out the door at about 5:53-54 (the clocks were all different). I AM AWESOME.
A shower after school never felt so good. The whole day I kept thinking, "That shower this morning would have been so nice. I am so incredibly greasy and dirty feeling today."

This week at school has been pretty awesome, so far. I think the 4-day weekend for the kids was exactly what they needed. The knowledge of a 2 1/2 day week next week probably doesn't suck so bad for them, either. This is perfect timing. Of course, having so many days off really sucked for the whole "bring back a rough draft!" homework assignment, but the kids out of my 5th bell surprised the holy crap out of me by bringing in a whopping 10 completed rough drafts! I told them their class was well on their way (and way ahead of the other classes) to the free movie day. For the first essay, they were the class with the most turned in on the due date. So, hopefully they win it. If they're working this hard, they deserve it.
Monday was an all-day professional development day. It was completely mind-numbing. It was 6 different sessions. A lot of info. Not a whole lot said. One session was AMAZING. One of my co-teachers, Sue, and I were both there and decided we would definitely use it for the next essay.
Tuesday after school we had this loooong meeting (seriously. It went from 2:15-3:45). The first part was about recognizing possible gang-related tags, tattoos, etc. This year, so far, they've already had 9 gang-related issues in the school. As Mr. D said, "Last year, as you all know, we had zero." So. We got informed about all the different signs, tags, language, etc. and the three major gangs they've identified in Norfolk. Ugh. I'm pretty sure of a few of my students being related to gangs or in gangs. I don't ask, they don't offer. I told a few of them that that crap doesn't belong in school and especially not in my classroom. I told them to watch what they put on their folders and their papers. So far, I haven't had a problem. Other teachers (mostly 9th grade) have apparently seen kids flashing money, hand signals and all that crap. I'm glad that the few kids that would just LOVE to show off like that just don't do it in my class. But... those 9th graders, man. They're a different story. I am not looking forward to the kids in the 9th grade coming into my class. I do, however, trust the 9th grade English teachers to whip their snappy attitudes into shape by the end of the year.
Speaking of attitudes, my two "bells from hell" are actually IMPROVING in their response, attention, stamina, and general respect for themselves, classmates and their teachers. This is wonderful. Sue and I are definitely enjoying it. Yesterday and today was Picture Day (yaaay.). They took pictures in their English classes--oh joy! I told 2 of my classes who had a high-risk of being complete fools not to embarass me. I gave them a list of what to do and what not to do. I can say that my students were some of the best behaved students down there. I was proud of all my little hooligans. Especially my 8th bell. As one of my students in that class said, "Man, Mrs. Pushie, this WHOLE CLASS has, like, ADD or something!" Truer words have never been spoken. They did fantastic though! They followed all directions even when the other classes (which were 11th and 12th grade classes! They were crazy!) came down and started acting like fools. It was amazing. Again, I was very proud of my students.
Yesterday I stayed after school with a few students to answer questions and help them outline their essays. The essay they have is tough. It involves a lot of interpretation and inferencing, which a lot of these kids are completely intimidated and uncomfortable with. They're all doing fine and know what they're doing, but, since it's all kind of new to them, they're in panic mode, which makes the writer's block come on hardcore. I stayed until 3:30. The last half hour, we just talked about starting up a discussion club and then went into talking about a GSA. One girl (who is a friend of one of my students and a student of the teacher who I share a classroom with) said she thought there was a Gay/Straight Alliance last year, but there was none on the list this year. We were talking about why they're so controversial and a problem to start up and all of that. One student said he wanted to start up a HIV/AIDS awareness group to educate other students. Basically, I love my students. I would say 80% of my kids enjoy talking about politics, social issues, etc. They are way more socially aware than I expected and more aware than I remember my classmates being at that age.
I was supposed to stay after-school with some kids today to help them with late work and essays, but all after-school events were cancelled in Norfolk due to weather. All day we've had a Tornado Watch. Apparently, there was a tornado in North Carolina. We had some power surges in 8th bell, which made it so much fun. The power flickered a few times and went out at one point in time. I totally thought it was the light bulb in the overhead projector until I looked into the hallway.

Anyway. In non-school news... Glenn might be coming down for an extended visit with us. Details are still being worked out. I've been super tired recently since I've had to stay so long at school then come home and do everything else. Tonight I'm going to try and relax and read something of my own choice! (and not student work!) I'm starting to really look forward to the trip back to Michigan for x-mas now that it's getting closer (and now that I've started making "dates" for the few days we'll be in Kzoo).

west philadelphia, born & raised...

I HAVE FALLEN IN LOVE WITH A CITY!
Since I had Friday off from school, we decided it was a perfect weekend go to visit Miss Amanda in Philadelphia. What a wonderful decision! We had so much fun.
There's a lot that we did and I'm kind of tired and would like to rest a while, so this will be in list form.
Friday:
-After facing much traffic and the worst IHOP IN HISTORY, we got to Philly about 7:30. We took a wrong turn, but it didn't matter because we were close enough, had time and noticed there was a power outage that took out all the traffic lights in the area
-We called Amanda to let her know we were in town (she worked until 11). Walked around U of Penn's campus and had some pizza.
-Called Amanda back and asked for directions to her theatre so we could pick up her keys. Hung out with Elliott for a while in her apartment until she called me at 10:45, asking to be let in cause she got out of work early. yesss! We spent quite a while talking and sipping on mimosas (we brought stuff to make Amanda's favorite drink, of course!) until we passed out from exhaustion (but not until after giggling and talking in the dark like a slumber party for a while)

Saturday:
-Woke up around 10 o'clock to a beautiful sunny sky. Amanda made apple pancakes. David went to get coffee and spilled his all over the porch because, as he put it, he couldn't see why he should put down one of the coffees to get his cell phone out to tell us to let him into the house.
-Walked to trolley, hopped on the subway and headed into Center City. Went to the Indepence Hall Visitor Center to buy tickets but found out (since it was Veteran's Day weekend) that it was FREE! Walked past the Liberty Bell (line was way too long!)
-Saw the most amazing looking carriage driver EVER! He had white hair, all crazy Einstein looking, and some pretty wicked looking facial hair. Basically: he wins.
-Went to Independence Hall. Saw the most amazing "guide" ever. David did best impression of "guide" ever. We then became the assholes giggling in the corner during a patriotic weekend in a very patriotic place.
-Walked over to George Washington Square and the Grave (Tomb?) of the Unknown Soldier (I probably got the name all wrong, I know)
-Walked down to Moriarty to have lunch. Saw a "celebrity"- Rake Yohn of "CKY" and "Viva la Bam" fame. We spent about 2 hours there, enjoying the food and the drinks. We also had some coffee to give us some energy to continue on our journey.
-Introduced Amanda to LUSH.
-Walked towards Museum district. Saw a plaza-type area that had game pieces all around it. Some pieces from Monopoly and Sorry!, dominoes and chess and bingo pieces. Also, the biggest mayor statue EVER.
-Went into Love park. Y'know, the park that's in tons of skateboarding videos and also famous for the love sign that's in it.
-Walked to the most amazing fountain ever!
-Walked in circles (and past many historical signs) to get to H&M as the sun set. Now... the day was so unseasonably warm that we barely needed the jackets/sweaters we had until about 7/8 o'clock. That was amazing luck, 'cause it was the perfect day to be walking around the city. The bad part was that all of the businesses were SO HOT because they all had their heat on already! H&M and LUSH were both so warm! (Some of the stuff in LUSH was melting because it was so stuffy in there). We took a quick look around H&M before leaving to walk down to the Delaware and Penn's Landing.
-Stopped in 7-11 for some energy drinks
-Walked by a lot of amazing swanky and nicely designed restuarants. So many different types of food! A lot of them had really nice outside seating areas, too. I love when cities have areas like that.
-Got to the Delware and saw an amazing memorial for Irish immigrants. One end started at the beginning of their journey and the other ended with them landing here. It was pretty amazing.
-Walked back up Walnut to Eulogy, a Belgian tavern. We went because Amanda told me that their upstairs part had coffins for tables. SOLD! We needed a break from being on our feet most of the day, anyway. We split a pitcher of Belgian beer that was both sweet and tart and also a 500 year old recipe. We also shared some Belgian meatballs that were delicious.
-Walked to the bus stop and found the saddest journal ever. Left it behind,
-Got some Chinese food
-Ate food, hung out and introduced Amanda to "shoes"

This morning we got up, got bagels and coffee (or tea) at the Green Line Cafe and then we headed out. The drive back was so much quicker and nicer than the drive there. A lot less traffic. Whew!
The rest of my photos from the trip are on my flickr site, if you want to see them.
All in all, an amazing weekend. I am in love with Philly and I told David that he's going to have to look for jobs there. Amanda said she's been checking out schools for me-- awesome! So, who knows? Maybe we'll be in Philly in 2008.

still alive! really!

Long time, no post. This week I either didn't have enough time or energy to post due to being really, amazingly productive, or I didn't feel I had enough to say.
This past week was amazingly productive. I had everything planned out and it all went pretty smoothly. Comparing and contrasting the trailers for "Ju-on" was an amazing thing to do. The kids really enjoyed it and I really enjoyed being able to do that. In my 5th bell, after having a "coming to Jesus" chat with them, they've been a lot better and also supplied me with the funniest thing of this week. Since the computer in the room we have class in doesn't have big speakers, but just the built-in ones, I had them come around the computer and TV area so they could see and hear better. One of my students (whom I adore!) was a little pensive about watching them. In the Japanese release trailer, it starts off very slowly and silently. It pans slowly over to the bed, where the protagonist is laying, and her eyes slowly open and look over to her right. BAM! Sound effect and creepy little kid! It's a very creepy moment that only gets creepier, but at that exact moment, this students jumps and yells a little, causing others to jump and yell. Then we all laughed. It was a good, shared laughter. Some days, I really love that class.
This next school week is going to be awesome because we have only 3 days with students. Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday it's school as usual. Tuesday is Teacher Records Day. Friday is Veteran's Day, so we all have it off. The students get a four-day weekend (!!!), we only get a 3 since next Monday is a district-wide prof. development day (joy!).
Since this upcoming weekend is a 3-day weekend, we're going to see Amanda! I am totally excited! We've already figured out what little treats we will be bringing with us. Seeing Philadelphia will be cool and hanging out with Amanda in Philly will make it even better!
This weekend, we went to see The Prestige. If you haven't seen it, I suggest you see it. It was amazing! I love Christopher Nolan's style. The story was great, the actors were some of my favorites and how could you say no to David Bowie as Tesla? It was amazing. When Mr. Bowie first appeared, I heard little whispers around our area in the theatre, "Is that... David... BOWIE?!" I said the same thing to David. haha. We also got Saw 2 and High Tension from Netflix and watched them early and late on Saturday. Saw 2 was okay, there were some pretty nasty parts. High Tension made me feel literally sick to my stomach because I was so uncomfortable. It was an amazingly well done movie. The background music, sound effects, realistic feel and creepy-as-hell twist at the end made me incredibly nervous. I could barely watch it.
Since we've recovered from the shopping trip to Norfolk, we've gone back to our weekly buying of an album each at Plan 9. This week, we found some good deals and both walked away with 2 albums of our choosing. I chose the Blood Brothers's new album (very good!) and Thunderbirds are Now!'s new one (it wasn't there a few weeks ago, I was glad to snag the only copy they had). David found a Hank Williams album and also Kings of Leon. I already know what I'm going to look for next week. Too many good albums out right now! I'm so glad we can finally buy CDs again. Now, if I only had a CD player in my car...
By the way, the picture with this post is Jackie making a frozen pizza box her bed. We left it there for her for 3 days and she kept on using it. What a strange, lovely cat.
Also, happy birthday to Natalie and Chris this upcoming week!