Category Archives: teaching

School board meetings (PORN! Part 2)

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So, I remembered that the Depew School Board meeting was last night, so I had to check the paper to see what happened. As expected, a bunch of people showed up to talk about John Green’s book, Looking for Alaska. Some of them were in favor, others were opposed. the board will review the book and make a decision next month.

Reading this story made me SO HAPPY that I am no longer required to attend school board meetings. I did this back in PA for a couple of years, and briefly covered Sweet Home for the News.

Of course, one of the people who showed up to bash the book was a member of the taxpayers association:

Jan Wiercioch of the Depew Taxpayers Association called the novel “disgusting.”

Back in my hometown, we always had a member of the taxpayers association ON the school board. “Taxpayers Association” should be code for “I’m a raving lunatic.” Basically, his job was to make sure that the district never spent money on anything. Seriously, I think that guy voted no to everything that came before him.

My favorite quote was this one, though, from a parent:

“Would any of you read this aloud at a board meeting?” Miller asked the seven-member board. “What’s next? Free condoms and unisex showers?”

Incidentally, this was from the parent of a 9th grader. The book is being proposed for 11th grade English.

I cannot wait to read this book.

Don’t forget to visit John Green’s webpage.

PORN!

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Ah, now that I have your attention…

I’m wondering if anyone in the local blogosphere has picked up on this. It’s getting a lot of attention on the book/YA lit blogs I read. I first caught it on Meg Cabot’s journal, and I just saw it on Cecil Castellucci’s LJ.

The story is that some teachers at Depew High School wanted to teach John Green’s book Looking for Alaska. (I haven’t read the book, but it’s now at the top of my to-read list) Because the book does deal with some potentially touchy issues (SEX! he talks about SEX!) they jumped through all the proper hoops…sent permission slips home, offered students the opportunity to read another book if their parents did not sign the slip.

Apparently, that wasn’t enough. Parents of kids who aren’t even in the class are trying to get the book pulled. Because it’s apparently “pornographic.” It’s filthy and evil. *eyeroll*

The author addresses the situation here, as well as on this video on YouTube:

Meg Cabot offered the following information:

There are many supporters of this book among teachers, administrators, librarians, and the school board in Depew (as well as authors, such as…me! Well, I don’t live in Depew…but you get what I mean). To help them, John is asking people to email letters of support for the book at sparksflyup@gmail.com.

So, if you’re a fan of the book, please send a thoughtful, non-hysterical email to let them know there are many, many people who loved the book.

Also, if you live near Depew, the book will be discussed at the Depew Board of Education meeting on February 5th at the Depew High School Auditorium at 7 PM.

I haven’t met this kind of situation firsthand, of course, but as a teacher (and as a book lover in general), it hits very close to home. It frustrates me that people are so reactionary and close-minded

Thursday Thoughts

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Tomorrow is my last day of full-time teaching in the job I started at the beginning of the year. It’s a very, very strange feeling. I only see three of my five classes tomorrow, and I’m letting them all have “parties” for me during the last part of class. (Party will probably mean cupcakes/brownies/cookies and some sort of game…)

I have *a lot* to do…the marking period ends tomorrow, so I want to try and have grades done (including comments for report cards) for Monday. I still have a small pile of research paper rough drafts to grade, too. Fortunately, I have two planning periods and a study hall tomorrow. I’ve been chipping away at getting my stuff out of the classroom for the past week. I still have a small box of things that will have to go home with me tomorrow.

It’s going to be very strange on Monday when I don’t go to work (or if I do go to work, it’ll be going to sub for someone else…).

I’m guessing it’ll be equally strange for the teacher who’s coming back. That would be incredibly difficult, and I suppose I’d rather be in my position than in hers. (Except for the fact that if I was in her position, I’d have health care and be on a tenure track…ah, one day…)

At any rate…tomorrow will be a weird (and probably a little sad) day for me.

Day off report

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So I was especially happy to have the unexpected day off because Rand has been sick, and I’m feeling a bit under-the-weather myself…not full-blown sickness, but like it’s trying to get me. I broke out the Zicam and bought some Airborne upon the recommendation of a friend. Here’s hoping.

I had originally thought I’d get all kinds of things done today, but my body told me it needed to rest, and so rest I did. Rand and I watched some TV…finished season 2 of My name is Earl and watched some more Buffy. Oh, and I napped a little. And drank a lot of water. Exciting life, huh?

The bad thing is, I had a whole stack of papers I had planned to tackle during my planning periods today. I’m leaving early tomorrow to go to the doctor (not illness related…I’ve had this appointment scheduled for months) AND I need to prepare sub plans for Friday. Meh.

I’ve been away from the computer for most of the day, and I expect that trend to continue…the next couple of weeks are going to be pretty busy for me. Hope everyone’s doing well!

Crunch time

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My apologies to anyone I’ve been neglecting lately. I haven’t forgotten you…I’m just getting buried by typical end-of-semester stuff plus holiday stuff, and I don’t have as much time as I’d like for all of the little things I’d like to be doing. My load will lighten considerably after next week, and possibly even more considerably at the end of January (unless another work opportunity presents itself before then…)

I’m just keeping my head above water with the grading now–and I’ll be doing a whole bunch of grading over the weekend. The college class will be over next week. Next Friday is the start of winter break from school, and then I’ll just have a few more weeks left in my current position. Most of that time will be devoted to reviewing for the January ELA exam. Woohoo!

So anyway, if you’re wondering what I’m up to…that’s about it. 😉

Thursday Thoughts

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Gonna be a short one tonight…it’s been a long day. Here it is, in bullet-point form.

A couple of wedding-related things, first:

  • My Skechers came yesterday, and now that I’m seeing them in person, I think they’re too dark. They’re more beige than the off-white they appeared in the picture. They do come in white…not that my dress is white, either, but I think the white might be a better match. I dunno, thoughts?
  • Also, I was browsing etsy yesterday for jewelry, and I found these pretty things. (That sort of mauve-rosy color is what I’ve been thinking about…)

Let’s see…what else…

  • The first marking period ended on Friday, so the last couple of days have been busy with entering grades and report card comments and the like. Report cards allow us to give up to two comments. There were one or two kids I wished I could give about ten. 😉
  • Lately, I’ve been completely addicted to the Italian Wedding Soup from Wegmans.
  • I’ll be attending the World’s Largest Disco next week, and I have secured myself an appropriately heinous dress to wear. What I do not have is appropriately heinous shoes. Any suggestions? (the dress is silver)

Various and sundry

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I am Miss Crabby-Pants today. Watch out…

*Last night, Samantha hosted a little get-together in honor of Rand and his promotion to the directorship of the D’Youville College library. Yay! Many good friends were in attendance (including Jen and Mark and Thomas), and some others couldn’t make it, but sent their congratulations. It was a lovely evening, filled with food, drink, and good conversation. I took a few (but not many) photos, which I will post later…

*On Friday, I got the *official* word (meaning I signed paperwork) that my long-term placement has been extended to the end of January. Woohoo! A little more $$, and a little more time to figure out what happens next…

*I decided that there is no bloody way my schedule would allow for NaNoWriMo this year, so I signed up for NaBloPoMo instead. (I’m “eringoblog”) I’m pledging to post every day in the month of November. I’m thinking I might give myself some sort of schedule or posting challenge to make it more interesting for myself.

*Eden‘s all famous again. Last week, she was interviewed for a story in the Washington Post. But that’s not all! On Monday, a crew for Good Morning America is coming to her house to interview her for a segment. oooooh…

I’m certain there was more, but I’m tired and cranky and I have grading to do. Later!

College

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My friend told me about an incident at her part time job. I teach part time at the same college, and so I felt compelled to chime in.

Another part time instructor had scheduled a library instruction session. He got sick and decided to send his class to the library without him, even though he wasn’t going to make it in. I can understand the reasoning behind this thinking…library instruction sessions are supposed to be scheduled two weeks in advance. It could potentially screw up the entire schedule to have to push a session back two weeks.

Apparently, the library in question didn’t see a problem with it, because they went ahead with the session. My friend, as the on-duty librarian, taught the class.

She ended up in a situation with a belligerent student calling her a c**t and walking out. Here’s the comment I gave her:

I think that probably several assumptions were made in this situation…

1. The library assumed that they were dealing with adults, not children.

2. The library assumed that the instructor had done his job up to this point.

3. The library assumed that the instructor had already given his students guidelines for the assignment.

Apparently, those assumptions were wrong. 😛

I admit, when I first heard about this situation (without knowing it was you, and without knowing the details), I wondered what the big deal was. I’ve never done this before, but I’m fairly confident that I *could* have sent a class to the library without me, without incident. I would have explained the assignment to the students beforehand. I would have made sure that the librarian in charge had excruciatingly explicit details about the assignment. I would have made sure that the students knew that any questions about the assignment would have to be saved for ME.

At any rate, no one should have been expecting you to play substitute teacher (or babysitter, as the case may be…).

Clearly, this guy doesn’t have control over his class…and if he’s really missed that many classes, he has no business teaching. That’s ridiculous. He seems to be leaving a lot of people to pick up after him, which is uncalled for. No wonder his students don’t know how to behave themselves…

I’m a little bit shocked about a couple of things…first, that this guy has really missed several classes. We’re not even halfway through the semester. I’ve felt guilty canceling A class on those rare few occasions when I had to.

Second…well, I’m shocked that college students can’t be expected to behave themselves for an hour-long library session without their instructor present.

Mid-week musings

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How can a short work week seem so long?

Received some potentially good (but unofficial) job-type news today. I’ll update, should it become official.

Things are going well at school…not much to say there. Still very, very busy, of course!

Watched Pushing Daisies again. I am charmed…I really am. I just don’t see how the concept is sustainable long-term. I loved Kristin Chenoweth singing “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” I *love* Chi McBride. I love that last week, when I said Ned reminded me of a male version of Jaye from Wonderfalls, I had totally forgotten that he played Jaye’s brother on Wonderfalls. (God, I loved that show. Stupid FOX.)