Jannx Journal (New York)

Well, I made it to another weekend. This past week seemed to have went by very quickly. Not much to blog about. Yesterday, having told myself that I would not bring anymore books home over the week, I did exactly that. This past week, I was supposed to do some or all of my lesson planning in my classroom, so that I would not have to do any planning at home. Well, it was one "priority" or another that took my attention from my goal. One day it was a giant banner for the conflict resolution component of the literacy program we now use. All class are required to have one due by Thursday. Another day was a test grading. Well, Friday it was bulletin board. My literacy group did an okay job with the writing component. When I saw the results (not great, but interesting), I thought I could use their writing responses for my hall bulletin board. I thought it would be nice to take down my turkeys. I didn't want my turkey bulletin board in December. My original plan was to put up the literacy work for a few days until my class did bulletin board worthy work. What should have been a 30 minute activity, turned into a couple of hours -- a surprise visit by a parent took about 20 minutes of my time. I ended up taking about 2 hours to collect, grade the students' writing, applying the rubric grades, and personalized comments for most of the assignments. I even had my regular students (who were in our school's after-school program) to redo the paper hugs. I ended up finishing the bulletin board by 6:45PM. What was the assignment?

From a guided reading of the story "Willie's not the hugging kind", the students had to write a message to someone they wanted to hug and why. They then had to fold color construction paper into thirds. Cutting out arm shapes to the fold on each end, and making a face to glue on top creates what looks a little bit like a paper doll "hugging" their writing which is glued in the middle. I also took the extra step of attaching a clip art teddy bear into the final draft page that the students would write their message on. The teddy bears came out a bit too dark, so that the write is a bit difficult to see, however, from a distance, it looks a little bit like paper dolls hugging teddy bears. I would have attached a photo here, but I had no idea that I would even be putting up the hall bulletin board, so I did not bring my camera. The bulletin boards are due in about 2 weeks. The end result is that I am now ahead. After all of the work I did for this "temporary" bulletin board, I am keeping this one up until the end of December. I now have time to get my students to type their character sketches. And the 3 or 4 who didn't do one can get it done.

Anyway, by the time I finished the bulletin board, it was time to leave. The custodian came in and told me that I had to leave. This custodian is a bit more "business-like" than the others. I didn't like the business-like way I was told to get out, but for people like me I guess a kick in the pants is the only way we move. I left tired, but with a good feeling. I finally accomplished something that was ahead instead of late. I also left with the feeling that I would do more to get back to my goals of getting organized.

By the time I got to my home MN station, I was tempted to go to the local Chinese takeout (with the promise that I would start going to the gym tomorrow). Luckily, I resisted the temptation. I went home and microwaved a couple of weight watchers' meal. And fell asleep soon after.

Well, that is about it....Oh wait!

A few days ago, another blogger posted photos from his Picasa website. For the heck of it, I clicked a link that said my photos. I wanted to see what would appear. Somehow, Blogger is linked, because all of the photos that I have posted on my blog were instantly compiled into one "album". It made me feel a bit uncomfortable seeing how much information was presented without my knowledge. Now, having revisited my "album", I am feeling a bit better about the album. If anyone is interested in seeing all of the photos that I've posted on my blog, just click on the photo link above.

Now, I have to go to the post office. That is about a two hour walk (one hour each way), however, I am not really feeling in the walking mood. I think I will take the bus and my "Storm of Swords" book. It is still dragging on. Now I am hearing about the "Golden Compass" ads. Now, I want to drop this book to start reading the trilogy with the Compass story. I would like to read the book before I see the movie.

Well, I better go before the post office closes.


Post Date - Saturday, December 1, 2007 2:06PM