Did you?

Today is my last day at my temp job-hurrah! When I arrived this morning (late, of course�) there was a little cake at my desk that says �Thank You.� Aww�not that I�m sad to be leaving, but it�s nice to be appreciated.

I just hope it doesn�t take too long to start getting those sub calls. I was added to another list, at one of the schools where I interviewed. And while I didn�t get hired there, the principal (and the search committee) really seemed to like me. In this case, I would bet that they went with someone who had like thismuch more experience than me. So who knows, maybe I can build a relationship there.

So here�s one thing I like about teaching college�no classroom management. Here are things I never have to say to college students:

Please get back to your seat.
We do not talk while someone else is talking.
I�m counting to five.
We do not throw things in this classroom.
Your behavior was completely unacceptable.

Basically, I just get to teach, which is nice.

On the other hand, I realize that my only teaching experiences have been as a sub. No one respects the sub. Even the nicest, most well-behaved middle or high school student doesn�t think of the sub they way they do a �real� teacher. Maybe it would be different if I started a year off with my own class, with students who knew me as their teacher and not the sub.

Speaking of which, it occurs to me that I only have three more years to get a full-time job and apply for my permanent certification. Because not getting my permanent certification at this point would not be good.

A few more tidbits for your perusal:

Steve Calvanesco dropped out of the race for mayor. Of course Alan has the scoop. I heart Alan. 🙂

Thomas (Buffalo Bike Taxi) sends the following:

Friday, September 30, I will be riding my bike taxi all over Buffalo to collect donations for the Hurricane Katrina victims. I’ll be giving everything I collect to the Red Cross for their ongoing disaster relief efforts.

Please, do help him out!

Party for the Parks happens tonight. I�ll be there�along with Jen, Rand, and another friend of ours. Anyone else? 🙂 (this will be Rand�s first Jackdaw show�ooh�)

And a mini-rant:

Why, oh why, would anyone EVER have fake bulletholes painted on their nice, shiny SUV? WHY?

Speaking of SUVs, is it wrong to hate Hummer drivers on sight? Because I do. I mean, let�s face it. If you drive a Hummer, you are not a soccer mom who needs the space for kids/dogs/carting groceries. You�re just an asshole. (Okay, that�s not exactly what the story says�I get to editorialize a bit. It is a blog.)

Holy crap, I�m verbose today. This should have been like seven posts. Oh well. Deal with it. 🙂

First things first, a happy, happy birthday to my dear friend Stephanie! 🙂 If you can, do pop over there and wish her a happy day!

Went home over the weekend and spent some time with my family. That was good.

And my Labor Day? It was exceptionally labor-less. I slept in. And took a nap. 🙂

I also watched a bad movie…Along Came Polly. Do not watch this movie. Even if someone tells you there’s a really funny subplot involving Philip Seymour Hoffman in a community theater production of Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s not worth it. 😉 (“someone” in this case would be Rand’s brother…)

The only thing worth seeing in this movie is Hank Azaria’s upper body (Hank Azaria?? Who’da thought?), and you get that in the first ten minutes.

I had my third community college class last night. I don�t think they�re going to be bad. I am going to need some help with that student in my other class�the one who has the unidentified disorder. I just don�t know what to do. He�s really slow, and exceptionally socially deficient. This is a workshop class, which relies heavily on collaborative work, and I can tell that no one in the class is excited about working with him. Right now, the only solution I see is for me to devote a lot of time to him, which hardly seems fair to the rest of the class. ALL of the students who are in this class are there because they need lots of practice and individual attention. (The class only has 15 students, that�s the maximum) I can refer him to the writing center, I suppose, but that doesn�t solve the problem of what to do IN class. Anyone who has advice to offer, please send an email or leave a comment…

Hey folks…the new issue of Toasted Cheese is up! Check it out! 🙂

I’ve been avoiding talking about Katrina, like a lot of people I’ve been reading, because I simply don’t know what to say. It’s overwhelming in its horror. So instead, I give you what some of my favorite bloggers are saying.

First, Jen(nifer) has a list of various relief efforts.

Personally, I’d like to thank Wegmans for doing one of their “give at the register” things for this. I hesitated at first, but when I saw that the donations were going to the Red Cross, I was happy to offer a little something…

Second, an article at Slate, about journalistic outrage.

Third, Eden expresses her righteous indigation about the way this is being handled better than I ever could.

Fourth, Pesky’Apostrophe talks extensively about the tragedy AND a couple of fundraising efforts she’s involved in. I wanted to link to the specific posts, but I couldn’t get the page to load.

Fifth, more righteous indignation from Estephania.

And finally, there are several posts at [Your Agenda Here].

I wish I could do more. I want to give blood, but I am terrified. More on my horrible blood-giving story some other time.

Thanks, Hilary. 😉

The instructions are: List ten songs that you are currently digging�it doesn�t matter what genre they are from, whether they have words, or even if they�re no good, but they must be songs you�re really enjoying right now. Post these instructions, the artists, and the ten songs in your blog. Then tag five other people to see what they�re listening to.

Here�s my list:

1. Striptease, Hawksley Workman
2. The Luckiest, Ben Folds
3. Cold, Cold Heart, Midge Ure
4. The Last Recidivist, Lowest of the Low
5. Once, Jim Boggia
6. Another Town, Greg Klyma
7. Follow You, Follow Me, Red House Painters (cover)
8. Heroes, Jill Sobule
9. Hollaback Girl, Gwen Stefani
10. Raise the Roof, Carbon Leaf

No tagging this time…I’ll just leave it open to whoever. Post a link if you do this, please! 🙂

One of the school districts I sub for is going to an automated calling system. The system also has a web component where you can search for jobs that have been posted in advance. They held a training session this morning, which was pretty much a colossal waste of my time. I got two handouts which gave me all of the information I needed.

For some people, though, the training was obviously necessary.

There was one woman who I can only imagine must be incredibly resistant to change.

Producer: How would you feel about making a change?
Garth: We fear change.

She asked a question every five seconds, most of them displaying extreme assitudery. When we got to the part where you can press star-1 to have the system wait for you to enter your PIN…in case, for example, someone who is not you answers the phone, I thought she was going to have a coronary.

“Oh, that’s not going to happen in my house. Is there any way you can call the system back?”

Well, no. Not really. So she got all huffy. Because apparently, her family can’t handle pressing buttons.

She also couldn’t seem to grasp the fact that you can only enter one period of unavailabilty at a time…like for a vacation or somesuch…but that you can go BACK and enter another one AFTER that period has passed. Really, is it that hard? Good Lord. I wasn’t the only one who felt this way. I looked around and saw other people snickering and rolling their eyes every time she opened her mouth. *Sigh*

My classes at the community college started today, and they seemed to go well. The class they added for me is a “foundations” class for people who didn’t test into 101. It doesn’t seem like it’ll be too bad, and I don’t think I have any students with major attitude…but I do have one student who appears to have some sort of disorder. I would guess Tourette Syndrome, as he seemed to be exhibiting some verbal tics, but he also seemed sort of socially impaired. This should be interesting.

Oh, and in happy, happy news…

Yes, the Sept. 13 issue of Woman’s World, which features MY STORY, is out!!!!!

(please note, the above image is NOT the cover of the current issue!)

I’m sensing a change coming for erin-go-blog. The blog, that is…not the author!

I’m thinking that I want to do something that’s less about my day-to-day life and is more about storytelling. Riding in the car yesterday with Jen, we shared silly stories from childhood, from high school, from college….and I kept thinking “this is the kind of stuff I should be writing. Stuff that might actually generate, you know, stories.”

So that’s where I am today. 🙂

Any Buffalo Public School teachers out there?

I had all but given up on the prospect of having full-time work thisschool year, hence my opting to take the 3rd class at the community
college and sub. Not a bad deal, I thought…

Then yesterday, I got a call from the head of the English department for the Buffalo schools. They’re looking to fill a few positions. I met with administrators at one school, a middle school, and this was clearly not the position for me. I was terrified by talks of gangs, drugs and sex in the bathrooms.

One of the assistant principals walked me out, told me not to feel bad
about walking away. “This place isn’t for everybody,” she said. She also advised me that I’d probably be better off with older students, probably juniors and seniors, and told me I could call her to ask for her advice on any positions offered to me.

So I called back, and said that one was a no. There are two high school positions, both one-year appointments for teachers on medical
leaves. Dept. Head wanted to put me in touch with one of the principals, but he/she isn’t in until Monday. I don’t know much about this school.

Meantime, I have a message from the community college about the third class I’d agreed to take. I’ve been told not to feel bad about blowing
them off if I need to, that this sort of thing happens all the time with adjuncts.

I’m freaking out.

1. Woman’s World is still not on shelves. Wah. Possibly tomorrow.

2. The community college called to offer me another class. I decided
to take it. I’ll be teaching from 4:30 to 5:45 and 6 to 8:30 every
Tuesday and Thursday. So, I’m like a college professor. Sort of. 😉

3. I have a big pimple on the side of my nose, right where my glasses
sit. That sucks. 🙁

4. The scary grocery store next door to where I’m working has two
tables filled with half-price crap, so I bought a bunch of stuff
yesterday. Woohoo!

5. I also went shopping and spent some of my birthday money. I finally
bought a new bookshelf! And a couple of shirts, and some school
supplies.

And that’s me. Exciting, ain’t it?