Can you help "Us" ?

I just got the following message (via Facebook) from an Us Weekly magazine reporter:

"We are working on a story about Jake Pavelka, The Bachelor, and we're looking for classmates to share fun stories and fun photos with Us for our article! Our readers love him and we want to include a fun walk down memory lane for them! Let me know if you or anyone you know could help! We close tonight. Thanks!!!"

At least I went to High School with a Bachelor that people "love."

LoL

me: "What do we know about blogs?"
student: "They start with a 'B' and end with a 'S'"

lunch time. blissfully quiet. resisting urge 2 lock doors and not let "them" back in. but that won't do... must persevere... /sigh

TOTALLY worth it

finally at the theater. wtg 4 Avatar. Better be worth it!

does that baby have a mohawk? yes, yes he does... and it's kind of awesome :)

working gate at hs basketball tourney. opposing team's coach screams at the boys. entertianing and aggravating at the same time.

Lions and Tigers and Bears!

Oh my!

I've volunteered to help out our 1st-year music teacher who has taken on the ENORMOUS task of producing/directing a musical for our school. We don't have a drama department, but apparently there was enough interest amongst the kids. She has 20 kids for the production of The Wizard of Oz and she was all alone. I told her I'd be happy to help out - I always love music and theater when I was in school. It means staying until 6pm on Mondays for the next couple of months, but it will be better for her and the kids.

In other news... There were two sitings of a mountain lion in my neighborhood at the end of last week. One was about a half a mile down the street. Kaylee is on a VERY short leash. Poor baby, she loves to run!

We won the third round of trivia, but lost overall. And I learned that a group of tigers is called a streak or an ambush. Who knew? Not us.

Hmm... I got nothing for bears... oh wait, there's an adorable German Shepherd mix at the pound that needs a home... his name is Bear!

Ha!

Take that L. Frank Baum!

LoL!

I love being told how stupid I am, but my favorite has to be when a student informs me their mom is a lawyer and she is going to sue me - though the student can't really give me a reason other than I'm being horrible to them (aka making them follow the rules).

That's just awesome!

I didn't laugh in the student's face.... much. I did, however, inform that student that I didn't have ANYTHING worth suing over... I don't own anything other than some dvds, a tv, and my clothes. I'm a second year, single, teacher. So good luck with that!

School Finance

I haven't really gone into detail about this yet, but my school district is in a major financial pickle. We're just one of many school districts throughout the country that are in the same boat.

There are a lot of factors that go into this, including:

1. We are very isolated and if a family/parent loses a job they don't have a lot of other prospects. As a result of the current economy we've lost several families/students to bigger districts. A family with four kids just moved to Arkansas for the Dad's job last week. For each kid we lose the district loses thousands of dollars in funding from the state.

2. The county has lost millions in unpaid property taxes (because people can't afford to pay them) and a hefty chunk of that money would go to local schools.

3. Rising costs of... well, everything.

The district is talking about major cuts. We've already cut over $500,000 since last year and we need to cut $1 million next year and over a $1.2 million from the following year's budget.

The number one (and really only) spot in a school district's budget to make big cuts is in personnel. The superintendent sent out an email last Thursday saying that there was a motion before the board to cut 9 positions from next year and she outlined the district's policy of letting probationary teachers go first. This is perfectly normal, but unfortunately I fall under that category until the end of next school year.

Educating the Teacher

As I just posted, I'm at a tech conference/workshop/class in Denver. We've just finished the morning session and I have 3 pages (single-spaced) of typed notes... and the afternoon session still ahead of me.

I'm overflowing with ideas and excited to hear some more! It's going to take quite a bit of time to process all of this! And I haven't even cracked the idea/handbook that came with the class. YAY!

At the same time I'm worrying about how long I'll have to implement these new ideas...

at tech class/workshop. LOADS of info coming my way. brain hurts, but in a good way. feeling inspired! and only 1/2 way done!