Updates

Schedule:
Up by 6, out the door by 7am. Start teaching most days at 8am. Drive home fluctuates, but I usually work until dinner time, and when grading piles up, until 7:30 or 8:30. Happily in bed by 9 or 9:30pm. As soon as I pull up the covers, I'm OUT. Matt will come in 45 seconds later to get a book or a notebook, and I'm already sleep talking. In the morning, as always for over 4 years of marriage now, I have no idea what I said or did, but I always laugh about it. It's like another side of me that I don't know and that I'll never know... Or maybe I don't want to meet the sleep deprived, nonsense babbling, hair sticking out everywhere wife.

Weather:
I don't remember the weather turning to fall quite this early. As soon as school started, temperatures dropped to the 60s and 70s. When I leave for school, sometimes it reads 45 or 50! It's nice, but I wish I can wear my skirts a little longer. To me, pants = winter and since I only have 3 pairs, it gets old.

Garden:
The tomato and bean plants got some terrible disease, which isn't a bad way to go because quite frankly, we were sick of them both. We never got any more than that one delicious and fat zucchini. The peppers are still coming in, but weaker. The weeds have taken over. The groundhog still lives.

Health:
The student body has already seen a terrible cold/cough combo. It spared us, thankfully. I can trust my Clorox wipes for my desks and door knob. Sometimes I even go around to each student, squirting some hand sanitizer in each of their palms. Someone's gotta do it! Mentally, we're both ok too, just a little tired by the end of the day.

School:
I like my French 2 level, and it's the easiest to teach because I'm just repeating what I did last year. Unfortunately, I my teaching boring because it's a lot of grammar and translation. And since I'm coordinating with my colleague (who LOVES translation), I don't have the authority to change it. It's her course, and I have to follow it. What I try to do anyway is go easy on the worksheets and try to get them talking more in French.

My French 3 level drives me crazy because there's too wide of a range in one class: from the kid who is going to AP next year and is super smart and motivated, to the kid who is there because a parents (or college counseling office) wants him to. Plus, I've got a really immature group of 10th and 11th graders, and I often have to bite my tongue. I've never taken dramatic steps (who said being immature is punishable?), but I may have to tomorrow. Every question coming at me was COMPLETELY off topic. Gah!!  On a side note, my French 3 students are dropping out of my class like flies. I've lost two girls to French 4, two to French 2, and 1 to no language. There are a two more "in the works". A class of 12 shrinking to 8 is a big difference (especially with grading--yay!) but I need to keep my job!

I LOVE my AP class. The kids I have this year are so bright and so motivated. All of them (except one girl who really can't talk under pressure!!) should be there. This class makes my year worth it. I would even say that I enjoy teaching it. (Were those angels singing?) The new curriculum is tough, but it's so much more interesting. For the past two weeks, the topic was tolerance and racism. We read articles, listened & analyzed a rap song, compared racism in France and the US, and discussed current events with France's recent decision to expel all of the gypsies. They've completed a dialogue with me, do a 2 minute presentational speaking (which I transcribed and will show them tomorrow), and write a really tough essay. All of those are hard to grade because they all say & write great things, that they should all get As! This week, we started the environment topic and they love it! We listened to and discussed the song "Respire" by Mickey 3D. You should watch it too on YouTube. It's great, even if you don't know French. Tomorrow, they are going to research something they are interested in (related to environment) and present to the class on Saturday. They have vocab quizzes every day, and I'll be teaching grammar "as needed". Since "Respire" has some subjunctive in it, I'll be reviewing that tomorrow.

The busy work is still busy work, and it still envades my "at home" time, but what can you do? I've got to make my students work!

Advisees
My advisees are doing fine. Everyone is "fine". What does that mean? I feel like a mother trying to connect with a teenager. I ask plenty of information questions, but I don't think I'm getting a thorough answer. How to dig deeper...

Projects:
I've decided to make a scarf for each of my advisees, based on their favorite colors. I'm working on a bright lime green one for my crazy Anna. The pattern is crazy just like her. Plus, it's looks like a bunch of Ms (first letter of her real name). I hope she likes it!

And for myself, I've planted some fall mums in my flower patch that look more beautiful every day. And this week I'm hoping to take in two pairs of pants in the leg portion. They are wide leg and I'd like to shrink them down a bit. I have few sewing materials and skills, but I've got to do what I've got to do. If I took it to a tailor, they'd charge me the same as what I paid for them (and the point is that they were on sale!)!

Family:
My parents were just here and we loved having them, though our time was short. It was perfect weather and a great chance for them to see our schools (in a better month than winter), meet some of our colleagues and friends, and just hang! I miss them already, and I can't wait for more family reunions. As for Matt's side, we're counting down the days until we make the drive up north to see everybody and meet our new nephew! It'll also be my first Saturday off from school! Whoo hoo!

I can't believe I had the energy and the time to blog. What a success!!