Caleb Kushi Colmenares

Check me out at http://calebkushi.blogspot.com

Okay..my turn..

What I did...what I wanna do...what I don't really wanna do...
1. Started your own blog (shared)
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community (going to on Spring Break)
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted (by my bro)
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Campfire Girls' mints and peanuts)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone (ligament/meniscus count?)
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating (yum, yum, chicken)
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day (children's book count?)

things i've done thing

Put the items you've done in bold. I've italicized things I want to do.

1. Started your own blog
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sang a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown your own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitch hiked
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught yourself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo's David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had your portrait painted
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies (Campfire Girls' mints and peanuts)
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chicken pox
89. Saved someone's life
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Read an entire book in one day

GRRR...

A slump.
That's what I feel like I'm in. First, I had my observation for our learning differences class and I really thought my lesson was going to go well. Then, of course, the opposite happens and the kids start acting mento. They start losing focus, and start asking stupid questions like, "How do you do this again?" or my favorite, "What are we supposed to do?" So..that sucked. Then came my workshop. Teaching those "PINS" kids can be so tiring and frustrating. I swear I taught them how to do two-step equations (and they were getting really good at it), but after today's workshop class, it felt like it was the first time they ever saw it. Now I don't mind helping them, but if they ain't taking it seriously, it sucks....it truly sucks. One kid was actually whining so much that it almost caused the vein on my temple to explode. I had to even look at the little sayings I had on my desk to remind myself why I'm here..why I'm teaching these kids. That didn't really save me from the headache that was coming, nor did the bell at the end of the day. Even now, it's still bothering me. Oh well, TGIF.

These are just some thoughts from both of us....

• Yay Obama. Yay kids for actually being into an election for once, for whatever reason. Gotta give Lance props cuz I don't ever remember the kids talking about the election as much as they have this year. Let's hope that their fervor and interest carries through to adulthood.
  
• Something to think about...are teachers individually successful, or is their success tied to others? Are we individual players whose success matters more individually or should we consider ourselves successful when our entire team succeeds? And when we fail individually, would we want our team to help us to succeed or just leave us to flail (and fail) on our own? I keep thinking of KG...his individual success didn't mean crap in Minnesota. But when he moved to Celtics and surrounded himself with teammates who believed in the same goals, who worked together as a unit to improve, and who said, "YES we can" when it came to change (heehee, Obama's speech rocked!), he, and more importantly, the team, succeeded. (that was a lot of commas)
  
• Who dictates what "honesty" is? Whose "honesty" do we believe in? If I say I'm being honest, and I believe I'm being honest, but the person/group doesn't believe it's the truth, what is the truth? What they see or what I believe to be the truth?
  
• If we don't see the benefit in something, does that automatically mean there is no benefit? Or does that just mean we can't see it or don't understand it yet? And if we really don't see the benefit in something, can we really ever change our minds about it? I don't see the benefit of Dave playing baseball, Dave doesn't see the benefit of color-coordinating his side of the closet...will we ever see the benefit?
  
• When we don't want to do the dishes because we're playing baseball, is it true that we are just letting it sit in the sink and soak because that's the better way, or are we just being lazy and not doing it when we're supposed to and making up an excuse? (That's my pet peeve with Dave right now.)
  
• 
  

I'm still not sure what's going on with my maternity leave stuff. Still getting two different stories...one from HSTA, one from our SASA. I like the HSTA answer better, but now I'm having second thoughts on which one is correct. I don't want it to be contentious, but I want it to be correct and contractual.

Today was the first day of no cross country practice for Dave. Woohoo. I love that he coaches, but I'm always happy when a season gets done. This season, though, his kids were actually enjoyable and good...we'll see how track is. The only good thing about cross country is at least his weekly practices result in several races...I hate when it's track season, he practices for months with his kids, and they have one or two freakin' races. So poho.

I'm worried about what's going to happen with my kids when I'm gone for third quarter. That's a pretty critical quarter and also the quarter that they really start to slack off and need that extra push. And I'm worried about how some of them will be with a sub...I'm lucky that most of my kids this year are super good so there's only a handful I'm worried about. I don't even know who my sub is yet. And I know that I don't have to provide sub plans, but I have to leave something so my kids can actually get worthwhile curriculum. I'm just nervous.

I'm tired. Tomorrow's Wednesday. Then we gotta go doctor. After which time I think we're going to be having to drive into town every week (besides to pick up Tash) for doctor. Great. Good thing we only paid $2.69 for gas this past weekend. Filled up our gas light on empty tank for $25. How wonderful is that?

Two Seasons Over

Yesterday, the kids ran their last cross country race of the season. I really thought we had a chance to get third overall for both boys and girls races, but it was not meant to be. The boys ended up 5th and the girls ended up 4th (lost to 3rd by 9 points). I was a little bit disappointed but at least most of the kids did their very best. When they announced the winners, you could see looks of disappointment. It's funny to see them look at me after and I have to just tell them, "It's okay, you guys did very well." Even though inside, I'm dying. We had three boys in the top 20 (Zach, Lane, and Jared), and two girls in the top 20 (Roblynn and Alix). I have to admit that the girls ran hard cause they had 6 in the top 45; but just wasn't enough to get them that trophy they wanted. Most of them ran their fastest times, at least. Anyway, the team was kinda sad that it's the last race and we won't have practices anymore. I told them to come by after school on Monday for some pizza and soda. I'm kinda happy the season's done because of all the forms, setting up buses and the meets, and the practices; but then again, I did enjoy the kids company. I guess I just gotta wait for February to come around for Track and Field. Most of them come back anyway.
Another heartache..the Boston Red Sox. Their season came to an end last week and I'm still feeling it. I really thought they were going to pull of another come back. Dang Rays. I hope the Phillies kick their ass.

Random thoughts...

I am SO tired. I feel like just making it through the day is a struggle. Then to think of coming home, cooking dinner, and then planning and looking at my kids' work...I have NOT gotten to the last part yet this week and doubt I will until Saturday or Sunday. Plus my mom is here so that's another excuse for why I'm not doing what I'm supposed to do. Luckily I only have one assessment to look at (for their book #1) and the rest of the classwork we're doing isn't something I have to really look at cuz we're assessing it in class. LOVE the constructed response rubric so the kids can look at their work/partner's work and grade and edit. The multiple choice and defense is so easy to quickly glance over and have them change immediately too. Thanks, Deena!!!! Leish, you sure you no like move 8th grade?? Hehe. No, Deena, you cannot move back down to 7th!!!

Another Wednesday, another wonderful Faculty Meeting. Boss actually ran the WHOLE thing...surprise surprise. And, not a surprise, the whole mandatory online training for 3 credits didn't come out the way it was supposed to, nor did it go over very well. I'm all for 6 free credits...I guess if you're at the top of the pay scale, though, or don't think you could benefit from additional support in the areas of rigor and relevance, you wouldn't see why you should do it. Today's whole thing just showed me that we need more practice or even direct instruction on what rigor, relevance, and quadrant D are all about. Quadrant D has nothing to do with whether or not the lesson is differentiated for all students...it would help if the lesson was differentiated, but that has nothing to do with whether it is or is not D. Finding the area of something DOES have to do with math.

MyAccess takes a lot longer than I thought it would. Well, we only did it with co-teach so far, but just going through with the kids the rules for using the computer, the login and password, getting to the starting point, took almost a period. Today we had the kids actually start writing and they take FOREVER and a day cuz they don't know how to type. I'm appalled at their typing skills. I swear we had typing every year in elementary and in intermediate to teach us the proper way to type. These kids one finger type, two finger at best. It's ridiculous.

JayJay came over today...Dave stayed home with him while my mom and I went to Sam's Club...he threw a fit almost the whole time we were gone. Dave tried everything to keep him entertained but he was fussy as heck. We got home, I took him, he calmed down. I think he just likes females better. Later on, though, he started fussing. Then he proceeded to drink his whole bottle and eat two of his baby mum mum crackers...he wasn't fussy, he was just starving!!!

Reading some literature on saving money for groceries. Gotta figure out how Dave and I are going to survive if I stay home next year and our income takes a dip. I'm amazed at how much money we spend on food, and we don't even eat out that much. I wonder how people make ends meet when they do eat out more often! And we're trying to do the whole unplug all our appliances during the day to see if it will make a difference in our electricity bill, which to me should be under $100, but hasn't been for a few months now.

Kay, dat's all. I figured I'd write something to waste more time....hehe.

pics from Haleakala and with JayJay

Back to the daily grind...

Say it with me...CRAP!! Where did our break go??

I gotta say that Jay's right. When you want a break to last long, you should just stay home and cruise. Going on a trip and doing stuff just makes it fly by so dang fast; next thing you know, it's back to school. The Maui trip was fine (Meet the Fockers V) and quite relaxing, but it's not the same relaxation you get at your own home. You don't get to fart freely, snore away, watch all the soft porn you can, and (don't laugh) but really, really plan lessons for the coming week. I think I can get away with pretty much winging it tomorrow but I sure do need to plan how to start this quarter off well so that my kids do better. Guarantee that my kids have forgotten most of what they did in the first quarter, so at least I can review stuff for the first couple of days, but after that, I for real gotta plan. I wish I was more efficient and actually did some planning during the break. What's worse is that I have no prep tomorrow, got cross country practice after school, and class after that. Sheesh. AND Wednesday we got doctor's appt. AND Friday we have a cross country meet at Kapiolani Park. Dang. This week is getting hella full.

Yay. We went to another Teacher's Institute Day. Usually I don't listen to the speeches at all, but today I actually listened a little bit. It was actually not bad. Semi-interesting.

Then we went to eat lunch at Old Spaghetti Factory. Dangit, that was my choice, and it sucked. The food didn't suck (except for the pewb in Mark's lasagna), but being in a hot, sticky, yucky restaurant with no a.c. and being seated by the biggest, hottest window in the place definitely did suck. But the company was good...hehe. Conversation was good...hehe. My stomach is super full and I'm trying not to take a nap so that I can get a good night's rest tonight.

2nd quarter starts tomorrow. Nutts. I'm going to take full advantage of looking at the quarterly assessment to help me figure out what I gotta weed out and change in curriculum this quarter. I'm so glad to finally have someone else to bounce ideas off of and share stuff with this year...I've missed that since moving up to 8th grade!!! I think it's funny when J tells me that he always thought our department was so united and on the same page...I would never think that about us...we are the epitome of "do your own thing." In some ways I've liked that for the past couple years, but now that I know what it's like to reciprocally share curriculum again, I'm appreciative.

Kay, I better go figure out what's going on for my week.

We've returned to real life. No more laying around like lazy bums all day. Today was actually pretty productive...all our laundry is done, kitchen is more sparkling clean than it was even when we moved in here (thanks, Deena, for mentioning scrubbing floors like Cinderella...I had to try it, and though it sucks to do, the floor feels SO much better), we no longer have a moldy shower curtain liner, Dave's hair is cut, grades are done. Now I'm about to go to bed and Dave is playing his baseball game because Boston has a game tomorrow and if he doesn't play and win his playstation baseball game using Boston, he jinxes them from winning (he believes this...I guess others could probably understand, tho I don't).

About the grading...I have a nagging yucky feeling in my stomach because though I tried to do the whole standards based grading with summative and formative assessments separate and a 5 point scale, I still don't think it reflects whether the students really "met the standard." Here's the breakdown...33 As, 77 Bs, 17 Cs, 1 D. That just seems weird to me. And the thing is, to get an A you had to have 5s on all your summative assessments AND only one formative that was not 100%. That seemed like it would make it very difficult to get an A, which I think it should be, but still, 33 students got As. Like I told Leish, I'm not trying to be like the thick-glasses guy, but sheez, seems to me like more kids should be doing worse. Isn't that messed up thinking??? The part that bothers me most, though, is the Bs...there are some kids who got 4.93 or something like that who got a B and others who got 4.0 and still got a B. Now when I look at them as students individually and the kind of work they did, no way do I think they deserve the same grade. Not at all. But I don't know how to justify giving the 4.0 kid a C, which is what I think she deserves, going on my thinking that A/B is meets, C/D is approaches. The fault of it still lies in the averaging part. Cuz to me, if you never meet on all your summatives, you shouldn't meet on your final grade. But I never set um up like that for this quarter, so some of their grades are skewed. I gotta rethink the whole thing for the rest of the year.

K-den, back to the reality of sku in another day.

We traveled to Haleakala this morning. Whoever thought of the idea of getting up at 3:30, driving 40 miles up winding roads, freezing your butt, and looking at the sun rise over clouds was mento. Heehee. Dave and I never do anything interesting when we come home to Maui so I figured I'd indulge him just this once...and tho the sunrise was pretty (kay, I lie, I'm not much of a nature-beauty lover...looked exactly like a sunset to me except not as colorful)...the ride up sucked. It was dark and super wind-y (like winding, not wind filled) and this stupid jeep behind us wouldn't let up. Add to that the urge to pee got pretty urgent and my side pain from sitting down for so long (and driving) was getting ridiculous, and I don't think I'll ever do this again. Dave drove down, which made for a nicer ride, but still, all in all, the 30 minutes of cuddling in a blanket watching the sunrise could have been achieved in a nice comfy bed at home. Heehee. I thought the stop at Komoda's to grab some donuts and cream puffs would make it all better, but the bill ended up being $20, which is ridiculous to me. Anyways, now Dave and my dad are outside, prepping for some weed-whacking. How the heck do you spell that?? I love that I'm pregnant and that there's Dave here instead of just me cuz otherwise it would be my butt out there in the hot a$$ sun doing these ridiculous yardwork chores. And my dad has a way of starting out with one chore that then turns into several other ones that you didn't sign up for. I'll be a good daughter and wife and make them some ice water in a little bit.

Wow...being on Maui makes me even MORE lazy. Sheez. We got here on Saturday and have done absolutely nothing productive since then. The biggest thing we did was wash the car. I've cooked, but beyond that, nothing. We spent the first half with my mom, who though she got a new computer, has no internet due to the fact that she was still living in the ice ages with dial up, but this new computer has no modem to handle ice age dial up so now she finally has to get road runner. But she leaves for Korea tomorrow and the lady she knows that works at Oceanic is on vacation right now so she wants to wait until that lady gets back. Lahaina, I tell you...everything you do has to revolve around the person you know that works at the place you trying to get it from. How she even knew that the lady was on vacation (to Disneyland with her family, no less) is beyond me. Oahu is so different...who even knows anybody there? Lahaina, you know everybody, when they're on vacation, where they went, why they went, and that their mom had to go Oahu to go watch the other sister's kids while they were gone so only the man stay home cuz he gotta watch the dog. Seriously.

Anyways, surprisingly my dad guys actually have digital phone, tv, and road runner (guess who had to suggest this to them??? Waiehu is even more ice age than Lahaina!). So Dave got his fantasy football fix, I got to catch up on blog reading, and now I actually get to post something. Yay.

Our plans for the rest of our vacation...go Haleakala to watch the sunrise tomorrow morning (Dave's idea...better than driving our butts all the way to Hana...), visit my aunty guys, baby shower for my cousin on Saturday. Then we're back to the hullabaloo of Oahu and school. GRRRReat. See you guys later.

Today was unbelievably better than expected. Maybe I should have a thought that each day is going to be super crappy so when it actually occurs, I can feel thankful that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. This was the first dance I've been at where there's been so much teacher presence that the kids couldn't help but be better. Granted, kids got busted and pulled to detention (GO LAUREN!!!), but I seriously thought I'd be walking my butt back and forth to K1 and I actually didn't pull anyone at all!!! I'm thinking other teachers must have done the lecture thing too cuz it wasn't only my kids that were talking about the "new" rules. All in all, I was VERY impressed with the behavior at the dance today.

Here's two things, though, that are still problems...

• I didn't see admin at all during the dance (Dave said he saw admin outside the gym, by B building...hmmm....)
  
• You can't play booty music that has particular booty moves that go along with it and expect the kids NOT to dance that way (ex/ocho ocho or whatever the heck it's called and pop, lock, and drop)
  

Anyways, yay for the dance, yay for being pau with the first quarter, yay for a week of vacation. See ya all laters...Dave and I will be on Maui for the week, and though we do get internet there, I dunno how much we'll actually be able to get connected, seeing as how my mom still has dial up (way too slow for my patience level) and my dad doesn't see the benefit of being online so we probs won't get to go on the computer that much when we're with him. Have a wonderfully relaxing break!!!

I'm looking in my crystal ball and here's what I see....tomorrow's dance is going to be a bunch of the same ol' shirt again. There will be half of the teachers at the dance who are actually supposed to be there, then only about 3 of those teachers will actually be doing something productive. Most will be congregating by the doors, a few will be standing along the edges of the kids dancing. 3 will be walking through the crowd, breaking up kids dancing like sex-crazed maniacs. I will be irritated as crap that my pregnant ass is standing in the hot crowd, busting kids. Kids will hate me because I will actually take their stupid asses to the detention room, where they will have to stay for the WHOLE time. Nothing will get better, same old lazy asses will get away with being their same old lazy asses, and we'll come back to school after a week to start a shiny happy new quarter. Teachers who have the "I don't give a rip" attitude will look down upon those teachers who are actually doing what they're supposed to be doing...like the crabs in the bucket that they are. GRRRR.

Now I know some will call me pessimistic, but I think I'm being REALISTIC. Who busts teachers that don't do what they're supposed to do? What kind of school thinks it's okay for ONE freakin' administrator to be at a freakin' dance? Actually, we're freakin' lucky even one damn admin is going to be there because at the last dance we had ZERO....due to a freakin' video conference occurring in the air conditioned library that all three had to be at. Would've been small kine nice if the directives about teachers having to be where they're supposed to tomorrow and teachers doing what they're supposed to tomorrow actually had come from admin, but of course, that would make too much sense. "Let someone else be the bad guy. That's what I get paid the big bucks for."

So would I feel better if I just took the "I don't give a rip" attitude too? No, because like I told my kids today (they got the FULL ON raised eyebrow, don't get stupid with me, I'm a raging hormonal pregnant lady lecture today), as a gonna-be parent, I would NEVER want to go to a dance and see my kid getting disgusting on the dance floor like some of these kids do. And I would NEVER want a parent to come to me rightfully and say, "How could you stand by and watch my kid dance like that and not do something about it?" I know I can't control all the kids and what they do, but frick, I can't stand by and let them simulate sex on the dance floor and get away thinking that behavior is acceptable.

Yay...it's Baseball Playoffs time. Now I don't only have to have the tv dominated by Dave playing his baseball game, I actually have to sit and watch baseball on tv. He did warn me a few weeks ago that Boston was going to be in the playoffs, that he would be watching it on tv and listening to it on the radio, and that if I try to have conversation with him while he's paying attention to that, I'm not going to be happy cuz he's going to ignore me. He thinks his honesty will make a difference...how many of you out there think that I'm going to be trying to have a conversation with Dave, have him ignore me, then realize that it's because baseball is on and be all good with it??? Yea right. Nah, maybe that will be my challenge to myself...give him some love by showing him I respect his baseball obsession. Yea, that's going to happen just as soon as everybody in our school changes their mentality on standards based teaching and grading and when the GT keepers relent and realize that they aren't GODS and don't have full reign over GT universe. Basically, never.

Yea, how was that meeting today??? If I were a guy, I might have dirtied my pants when Eubanks started talking about the whole late work issue, grading practices, and giving ALL students a rigorous curriculum. I wanted to stand on a table and jump around. I wanted to do the Zoloft loud laugh of pure excitement.

You know what freakin' eats me everytime we talk about rigorous curriculum, though...GT is always equated with RIGOR. I don't know what universe we live in, but I haven't heard very much from any of our GT teachers about how their curriculum is differentiated in a way that creates more rigor for those students. If they are in actuality creating a WONDERFULLY RIGOROUS curriculum for their GT students, then by all means, share that sh** with the rest of us...but only if it's standards-based and actually incorporates REAL RIGOR AND RELEVANCE. Otherwise, peeps needs to realize that GT DOES NOT in any way equal rigor. Frick.

Yeah..so..

That was an exciting meeting.
I was actually glad that Boss said those things regarding GT and Algebra, etc...but then it sucks that one of her main reasons for doing it is because of budget cuts. I mean, if it weren't for the budget cuts, we still would have Algebra and GT? Sheesh.
Anyway, Ms. Eubanks did a great job explaining why it should be that way, and I hope the people who needed to hear it, heard it (and pondered.."Hmm..this sounds familiar. I think I read it in an e-mail sometime last year when we were talking about Algebra....).

Have any of you ever used a neti pot? Go on google and watch the youtube video. Mr. Ogata had mentioned it to me so I decided to try it since this stupid sinus crap hasn't gone away in over a week. The neti pot thing is so weird. I feel like a reet doing it, but I'm hoping it helps clear out the sinusitis cuz I can't stand that feeling like I've been punched in the eye every morning. I'm grouchy enough as it is, I don't need one more thing making me feel crappy.

Dave is yet again obsessed with his damn baseball game. Grr. What kind of works, though, is that he reads to me or stays in bed until I go to sleep (which is super early), then he comes back out to play. As long as he doesn't wake me up and make me not able to sleep again, I guess that works. Yes, I'm a pain in the butt baby, but too bad. That's what husbands are for.

How many of you think that kids in 8th grade should know that "desolate" is a synonym for "barren" without any context clues? Frick. This quarter one assessment, the more I look at it, sucks butt.

K-den, good night. It's almost 7:15 and I have to shower so I can go sleep. Pathetic, huh.

This is what Dave's bowl looks like when I try to give him vegetables. I dunno how he does it, but he can eat everything around the vegetables and just leave what he doesn't like in the bottom of the bowl. What you see here is the remnants of chicken/vegetable soup when we were sick. He insisted that green beans are gross and he would not eat it. Is this what I have to look forward to with Caleb too??

Pagoda vs. Kolohe Slice and the electives

Before we get to the main event, let's start off with the preliminaries. First, there was Meat Jun starting our committee meeting with her anxiety over the schedule for next week Friday. She hates it when she misses her Period 6, so she's asking our committee if we want to see our Period 6, too. She said that if there are more people who want the schedule changed she would have to change it herself according to Eric. So we took about 5 minutes trying to figure that out, since we had questions and comments left and right about it. Then, as we continue on with our meeting, we get to the point where we were discussing a survey. The survey asked about knowing the math standards, and that's when Kolohe Slice says, "I don't care about knowing the math standards." Then Pagoda says, "This might be offensive, but I don't think it's important for me to know your standards, but YOU should know the standards for social studies, science, english, (and math)." HOLY CRAP! What is wrong with her??

I gotta stop being grouchy just at the mere thought of having department and committee meetings. I can feel the grouchiness envelope my entire being when it's a Wednesday and those are the meetings I gotta go to. And then on top of it, we have Friday coming up, with committee presentations, and though I shouldn't even care about it, I just wonder if what our committee plan is is good enough and if people are going to turn around at this point and tell us to change it. Frick.

At least it's Leish and Deena presenting today for Student Work Review, so we can count on it being done and done good. Not so sure we have that to look forward to for the rest of our Student Work Reviews. I'm so dang pessimistic, huh?

All I know is we better have lunch today. Hehe.

IFC

You guys gotta check that channel out. I don't even know what it stands for, but it just shows movies back to back to back...AND it's uncut and unedited. Amy and I watched "Bully" and "Body of Evidence." That's right...Madonna justifying her love over and over again. Holy crap. It's just like watching porn. They show some "non-mainstream" movies here and there, but they do also show some HBO made movies. Interesting. Anyway, check it out sometime. Channel 675 on digital.

Thank FREAKIN' goodness this week is over. It has been a LONG one. Dunno why exactly, but I'm tired and sick and I just hope this weekend is a relaxing one, despite having a heckload of work to do. Two more weeks then a week of bliss.

I dunno if it's just our kids, but today was an emotional day for them. I had one kid almost crying just cuz he forgot to go take his damn picture and then realized he didn't have his order form and money, then another kid bled on not one, but two seats (girl issues), which wasn't discovered until the following period. Poor girl. How embarrassing is that? We had another kid full on crying cuz he asked a girl out and she rejected him. I'm telling you, all I know is that boys crying in 8th grade just throws me off...I mean, I'm all good with an emotional boy, but come on...for those reasons? Figure it out! Poor Kathy...she has to be sympathetic to all these "issues". I told Dave that's why I cannot teach the SPED resource...those kids always like talk to you about their random stories, and sorry, but I just don't really have the patience to listen to it. Dang, I'm a BAD teacher, aren't I? I should DARE to CARE. Dangit.

Weird...

After school today, Amy had to go to the C-Bldg. bathroom, so, like any good husband, I waited outside, just staring into space. Then, I hear someone say, "Mr. Colmenares..hey, dddddid you run cross country in high school?" It was the younger janitor guy. So, we have a little chit chat about what high school I ran for, and what high school he ran for, etc. Anyway, after a while, Amy comes out and the guy just leaves without saying anything. I really don't have any "history" with this guy, other than the fact that I saw him in church one time and he let me borrow the spigot key, but turns out that this guy graduated 1996 (same year as me) from Campbell. I don't know if anyone has ever heard him talk, but he's got a pretty strong accent. Anyway, I just thought that it was pretty weird to have him walk over all the way from K Bldg., talk to me, then as soon as my wife comes out of the bathroom he leaves without really ending our short conversation. Who does that? I wonder if he was actually waiting to have that conversation with me. I wonder if he's planning what to say to me next time. Anyway, it was pretty weird.

Just thinking about this upcoming week is making me tired. It's a full week again, plus there's a lot going on after school. Monday - baby shower, Tuesday - class, Wednesday - stupid meetings, Thursday - tutoring and dinner with family, Friday - doctor and dinner with friends, Saturday - better get a whole lot of work done, Sunday - gotta be at school at about 5:15 a.m. for Niketown 5K Run. Yuck.

Thank goodness for Dave...at the moment he's figuring out my grades for me because I am mathematically retarded. If not for him, I don't even know how I would figure out this whole formative/summative/overall grade stuff. The last time I tried, I did it wrong and Dave had to help me correct it all. Simply averaging stuff out is like Calculus to me. Please let our baby have his math brain and my reading brain.

Kay, I better get off this and go make like I'm helping him before he gets irritated and tells me to do it myself cuz it's not that hard. All I know is that this ENTIRE day minus the time for cooking, eating, and going to church has been spent looking at student work. Grrr. Yuck.

Real Men of Genius...

Highlands Presents: Real Men of Genius
(Real men of Genius)
Today we salute you, Mr. Special Olympics Gold Medal Wearer Guy
(Mr. Special Olympics Gold Medal Wearer Guy)
For sports day, you decide to wear the one thing that you are very proud of...
The gold medal from the Olympics....the Special one.
(Sooo special!!)
Sure you are proud to flunk kids, write them up, and like to make awkward small talk with everyone.
(I don't know what to say!)
But your 8-inch thick glasses lets you see the real world and not the world others see. But hey, you're a referee, so why WOULDN'T we listen to you?
(You're soo smart!!)
So crack open a cold one, Athlete of the Loveboat. 'Cause we all know that even if you suck at basketball, you will always be someone "special."
(Mr. Special Olympics Gold Medal Wearer Guy!)

My XC Team Kicks A$$!!..then shows A$$ too...

So there I was, watching my cross country team kicking butt when I caught myself thinking, "Wow..this team is going to be special." Boy, was I right.

The kids did well..very well. We had 7 of the top 10 finishers for the girls, and 5 of the top 10 for the boys. They ran smart; didn't get caught in sprinting in the start of the race like the other teams. They ran together, paced each other, encouraged each other, and finished strong. Most of them ran their best times. Some shaved 2-3 minutes off of their previous time. Everyone was happy and were asking excitedly when their next race was going to be. Then, it happened. As the kids were eating lunch, one of my girls decided to get up and change in front of everyone. We're talking about dropping the shorts, no shame, showing the panties in front of everyone type of changing. She had her jersey on, thankfully, but no bottom. I couldn't believe it. A.D. Popeye couldn't believe it. We just looked at each other in disbelief. I thought I saw his tooth fall back out. So, before any of my boys decide to get a dollar out and start waving it in the air, I tell her to go put her shorts/pants back on. While she's scrambling and trying to hide her bottom half with her jersey, one of her female teammate/friend got curious and decided to lift up her jersey to see what kind of panties she has on. What the hell???? Anyway, that was an interesting event. We got back to school, talked to the team about representing Highlands and one's self in a respectable manner (again) so that they can continue to go to these activities. Of course, I had to call up the girl's parents to tell them about what happened. Dad just said, "Whoa, what's wrong with her? So stupid, yeah?" Mom said, "I am so sorry that happened. I can't believe she did that. It won't happen again." It better not.

Now it's my turn to vent my frustrations and let it go. That's my hope, anyways. And if you going get offended, no read. Basically you will get offended if you are a person who is an excuse maker, think but no do-er, lazy ass. If you going get offended by my HONESTY, don't read. All of you remind me of my flying off the handle HONEST tirade at Alex's house...this might be similar. Beware. And there's no alcohol excuse to take the edge off of these comments...these are straight up my vents.

First of all...does Zoloft like any story? I really want to know cuz seems to me like every super interesting story I read with my kids has some kind of issue. And then she wonder why I make comments about anxiety and personality.

That wasn't really the big irritation, though...here goes.

I'm sick and tired of people making excuses. I'm sure I do it too, but seriously, if anyone says "I'm not doing anything that doesn't directly relate to student achievement" I'm going to kick them in the head. Especially if they're talking about standards walls...granted, we still have work to do with the standards wall and moving everyone to use it as a teaching tool, but just cuz you cannot see HOW it can be used as a teaching tool doesn't mean that it ISN'T a teaching tool and CAN'T lead to student achievement. It just means YOU don't know how. So don't get pissed off at peeps cuz they did what they were supposed to do...just do what you're supposed to do and do it well and shut up.

Secondly, the same way that one of our blog crew gets irras at peeps who think he doesn't do crap and gives him stupid comments, I'm tired of peeps who try to hold down those who are trying to do their best and working hard. No get mad and act stupid and sit there like a freakin' lump on the log and act like one baby just cuz you lazy and other people doing things. And don't be that irritating negative jerk who wants to find a fault or hardship in every little thing so that nothing can move forward.

Hypocrisy kills me. It kills me. And when I hear people saying that they won't let kids turn in late work cuz they're teaching them real life skills, I want to FREAKIN' scratch their eyeballs out of their heads then kick them in the face. Why so violent, you ask? Because these are the same damn peeps who ALWAYS do crap late, or not at all, and come up with a myriad of excuses to justify WHY they don't do crap. REAL LIFE? Your butt still has a job, doesn't it? So it's okay for you to do stuff late or never, but no way can we afford some slack to 7th and 8th graders who have way shittier home lives than you. Maybe it's cuz some peeps never had hardships so they can't empathize...lucky peeps who think either you're leave it to beaver or too bad for you.

Okay...I think I'm done. It must be full moon cuz EVERYBODY and their mother is getting nutts. Tonight I'm going to pray for peace and for help with moving past my issues into a happier, calmer, less judgmental, more forgiving place. I'm leaving these issues behind...until next week's department meeting. Just kidding.

Depart....Mental issues...depart.

Today's student work review went okay...but I thought it was funny that we had to have someone new to make sure that we did it correctly. We were all trying to make sure that we follow the agenda, be quiet, and share productive comments. Now, prior to this, it was Pagoda that talked about how we, as a department, needed to do the student work reviews well and come up with really good assessments (high rigor, high relevance) so that others will follow suit and also bring well made assessments. WHAT HAPPENED??? Pagoda comes in and gives us the stupid "stoned trees" worksheet as her student work review. Now, the assessment is not bad. It follows the benchmark, guides the students well, and it was a creative way of getting students to think about patterns...BUT...personally, I thought it was weak. Weak because it was exactly the same thing she had on her standards wall; weak because, in the back of my mind, she planned it that way so that she wouldn't have to think up of something better; and because it was low on the relevance scale (a 2, depending if you like to make your yard nice or not). I mean, what happened to bringing relevant assessments? What happened to "I'll be an example for my department so everyone will bring something worth talking about."? That wasn't the end of it, either. After our facilitator leaves, we go back to our normal loud-ass meeting, and the following discussion occurs:

Pagoda: "Let's not do the benchmark assessments anymore; let's just make the AIR tests a big part of their grade so we don't have to keep correcting quizzes. We have to correct those AIR tests anyway, why not just make it a part of their grade?"

Corky: "Sounds like a great idea!!" (THINKING: Great, I don't have to do those benchmark quizzes that we all agreed to do!! Hmmm...Pagoda looking real good in her dominatrix-like clothes...)

King Kong Bundy: .... (THINKING: I don't know what everyone else is talking about, but I'm digging on Pagoda right now...I don't care what everyone else says, she is my Goddess. Whatever she does is perfect...I will follow her, with or without the whip.)

Me/Jay: "Nah, we're going to do the benchmark quizzes because that's what we agreed to do in the beginning. Besides, aren't you going to have lots of failures if you just grade the AIR test?"

Pagoda: "Ok, up to you guys." (THINKING: I don't care about what we agreed on in the beginning of my reign. I will say one thing and do another. I got Bundy kissing the ground that I walk on and Corky who always wants the easy way out. Nobody will listen to Jay and Dave because who would ever believe THOSE guys can do anything? Jay needed help to make his standards wall and Dave can't teach because his kids that I have now in Algebra are getting Fs!! A true reflection of his teaching...tsk, tsk..)

Well...another day, another great example of how our DH continues to give us the feeling of being "united." Hey, at least I got to tell her to go down on all fours...

I have to clear my mind and get to a happy place. I wasn't unhappy when I walked into school today, in fact, I was surprisingly happy. But then I had to listen to people talk and that just made me irraz and I don't even know why.

Just cuz a kid has poor math skills, doesn't mean they're sped. It does mean that they lacked a good foundation in math, which could have been caused by many factors...lack of schooling, different program placement...and though testing could have been done last year, if it wasn't, and you think it's a big deal, do it now.

I realized that I'm an old jaded lady. Things that a newbie finds a "big deal" just don't phase me. Okay, so a kid who is often off-task was doodling instead of doign his work. I'm not going to make a big deal of it unless you make me make a big deal of it by bringing his artwork up to me and making like the world is ending. Now I have to go over there, bust him, and make like I really cared that much. So kids almost got into a fight...there were no blows thrown, it's all good. Talk to the kids, figure it out. No need make big hullabaloo. Jaded. That's what I am.

I'm just going to try to be thankful that today is Wednesday...it's a short day, it's the middle of the week already, and Dave and I are eating shrimps for dinner because the Endless Shrimps commercial for Red Lobster keeps playing and making me ono for shrimp but not ono enough that I will go there and pay for it.

Kay, let the wonderful day begin.

Can it get any freakin' hotter?

BTW, I hope you all are enjoying Dave's wonderful words of wisdom. He was given a book, THE SOUL WOULD HAVE NO RAINBOW IF THE EYES HAD NO TEARS AND OTHER NATIVE AMERICAN PROVERBS (I can't figure out how to underline, so that's why the title looks like that), from his dad last night and has been out of control with spouting off his proverbs. He does take time to write them out to you guys...hopefully he gets over his trip soon.

Right now I'm trying not to be irritated by the fact that our team has yet to figure out who is going on Incentive Day field trip next week Tuesday...and that I got a text message asking ME about the forms. What forms? Why you asking me? How about you THINK about these things ahead of time??? Grrrr.... I'm not going to stress about it cuz that's out of my hands.

Tomorrow we have our wonderfully educational class again. Yay. It would make it a whole lot easier if she wouldn't make us work in partners with people we don't know. At 3:30 on a Tuesday afternoon I'm at my least sociable (hehe...I HATE socializing)...especially when I have to listen to the stutterations of a mento-head. Thank goodness for friends and snacks in that class or I'd shoot myself in the head.

Good night...I'm going to bocha and get in bed with the fan full blasting at me.

I laughed out loud reading Mr. Man's post!!! It was funny because Dave woke up at 7:45, woke me up, and asked me what I needed from the store! Hilarious to read why he did it....

And I seriously did not think up all the chores because of football...consciously, anyways. I just felt like today was the day to clean the window screens and louvers...so why not wipe down the ceiling fan, rearrange our bedroom, vacuum, and do the sheets at the same time??? Heehee. Now that I think of how much chores we did it's freakin hilarious.

In response to Deena, yes, Meet the Browns was junk. Totally not Diary of a Mad Black Woman and Why Did I Get Married, which I really liked. A little part of it was that it was Rick Fox, who can't act to save his life and whose eyes bother me cuz they just look like he got them done.

Official Start of THE Season..
Okay...hope this new look for our blog ain't too gay. It took me a while to figure it out but got it finally.
Football is WONDERFUL. Our fantasy league is WONDERFUL. Being able to check if my team is winning on the computer, and watching football on TV is WONDERFUL...but it didn't come easy. Just like in the first game of the season when teams have a gameplan to win, I had to figure out how I was going to eventually get the chance to kick back, relax, and watch some football (without getting the stare down, or the feeling of guilt from the wifey). Keep in mind that I couldn't do any house chores yesterday because of the cross country meet and the night out with Tash. So my gameplan was to do all the chores and schoolwork way before even mentioning the word "football." Then, maybe she'll just say, "Okay, you deserve a break," or "Beb, don't you have your football thing today?" or "Beb, thank you so much for doing all the chores, but I think you should watch football for the rest of the day, okay?" So, first thing on the to-do list was grocery shopping in the morning for her so she can cook dinner. Then, do the chores...vacuum, windows, laundry, ceiling fan, rearrange furniture...and that's when it hit me. My wife, who of course is like GT in Marriage 101, has probably figured out by now that I am waaaaay too willing to do anything and everything for her today all because of football. So there she is, figuring out different things for me to do just to prolong the inevitable. A bit of trickery, but it was part of the gameplan so what could I do? Just like how football teams keep running it up the middle against a stacked line, there I was, doing what I had to do to open up for the "big play" later.

Then..it got worse. Amy, in retaliation of my "Netflix- hogging," decided to rent "Meet the Browns." It came in yesterday, but I was hoping (and praying) that she wouldn't want to watch it yet. But, of course, even after doing the chores, there we were watching it...instead of football. It's a good thing Lance kept me updated through text, otherwise, I would have gone mento. Amy watched the movie (which she claimed later on, "sucks") while I planned for the week. Then, after that grueling movie was over...she gave in. Thank GOD!

Anyway, the football season may have begun (YAY!!!)...but the "kiss-my-wife's ass more" season has begun, too (BOO!). We'll call today a tie..but next week, I'm going for the "big play" early and often...(that's what she said..hurr, hurr, hurr).

Thus begins the freakin football madness. Dave tells me last night that he doesn't think we're going to church tomorrow because he has a lot of work to do and we're having his parents over for dinner. As I thought this comment through, I realized that his desire to stay home today has nothing to do with work...it has everything to do with the fact that he believes that the tv will be filled with football today...and that the computer will be used for checking his stupid fantasy crap. Haha...guess what's on tv right now and who's dominating the computer!? That's right...queen of the castle/oompah loompah. I'm making him watch Paula Deen make some biscuits right now. But not that it matters, because just prior to this he was on the computer and his phone, "discussing" trades and pick ups with Lance. Frick. Now Lance and him are going to be text buddies and all I'm going to hear all day is his text buzzer going off. Whatever. Enjoy it while you can, hubby, because those days will end in three months and one week (hopefully).

This is how it works

Dave's posts are always going to be in this font and color (sorry Jay, you won't be able to tell).

Amy's posts are always going to be in this font and color (sorry Jay, but I think this will look like the same color to you).


This blog is going to be strictly for anything BUT the baby.