unintentional scatology...

Yesterday in one of my junior classes, a student was reading aloud. He has pretty decent reading skills; occasionally he'll pause and say, "Miss, what's that word?"

As he was reading, he came to the word "recital."

Without hesitating, he read confidently, "... rectal."

The funniest part? None of the other students caught it. It was all I could do to calmly correct him with a straight face...


I love my students.

lookin for fun & feelin groovy!

Not only was Valentine's Day a snow day, but Thursday was as well! That day was less exciting because Mom had to go to work, and Ethan & Jayne had school. Good thing Emily is homeschooled.

Friday, oh Friday...
First day back after 2 snow days
+ Belated Valentine's Day for all the kiddies
+ Day before February break
+ A boiler broke so we had no heat
= no learning.

It was a great week for learning flexibility as a teacher!

Mr. decided to show a video about man's landing on the moon in his classes. Here is an interesting discussion before the viewing in one class:

Mr: "Some people say that Neil Armstrong never actually landed on the moon..."
Student: "Yeah, that's cuz he's black!"
Mr: *blank stare*
Mr: "Neil Armstrong was not black."
Student: "Are you sure? I coulda swore he was."
Me: "Are you thinking of Louis Armstrong?"
Student: "Oh... yeah."

Ah, student teaching, you never fail to entertain...

So this week we have February break, which has been delightful. Went to Michigan this past weekend & visited Doug & some friends. I anticipate a lot of lesson-planning in the next couple days.

Also, today is the first day of Lent - I am giving up chocolate...

snowflakes of love smiling down on me

Happy Valentine's Day, indeed!

Ah yes, another snow day for the teachers of the Rochester City School district!

And what a day it has been:


Staying warm inside...

Mom & me, performing in our kitchen band...


From Michigan, with love! :)


snowy day






And snow days obviously give me too much time...

Click on picture to enlarge.

Happy Valentine's Day to all!!

my name's the teacher

Well, after back-to-back snow days to kick off the week, the sophomores and I are off to a lovely start.

We read AThe Lottery,@ by Shirley Jackson & held our own mock lottery.

[spoiler warning]

I had Mr. draw the slip of paper with the black dot (okay, we cheated and he drew a regular piece of paper then drew a black dot on it while no one was paying attention), and the students Astoned@ him with wadded up pieces of paper. They seemed to enjoy that, perhaps a little too thoroughly? One student suggested using books instead of paper…

I am in the process of grading some book reviews from the AP classes, and I’ve been surprised at some of the finished products. The assignment was to re-read a favorite book and analyze the messages therein. Here are some fun excerpts, with an all-encompassing [SIC]:

·“As a reader “Fallen Angels” is a book that would be read at least about five times. “Fallen Angels” story and story line is so addictive that once the story is finish the reader would start over right then and there.”

·“Pike captures the average teen-aged so well that it is a little frightening that a man can capture a teen-aged girls persona so well.”

·“The troll striking fear in the goats doesn’t seem like a well thought out idea but it true as I stated differently but similar on page, the troll says that “I’m going to eat you up” that statement would creep people out at the same time it sounds scary because no one wants to be eaten by a fairytale type creature.”

·“The morals that G-spot, an urban erotic tale written by Noire portrays that money can’t by you happiness.”

Ah, the joys of teaching…

Good news - I got my Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) scores - I passed both English & Music! This means that I will be certified to teach in Michigan upon graduation. Booya.

baby, it's cold outside

Today is a SNOW DAY!!
I don't know if I'm allowed to say so, but even though I love the students & all... I still get excited about snow days.

My first week of student teaching went well, although I didn't do any actual teaching. I took attendance each day so I could begin learning names, and I helped out with odds and ends in the classroom.

Stories from the week:
-Mr. got a phone call and stared at one male student while he was talking. After he hung up, he said to the same student, "Your parole officer is looking for you." The student started to gather his things, at which point, Mr. laughed and said, "Just kidding. Call your dad at the end of the period."

-One of my first interactions with a student:
"Hey, miss, what's your name?"
"Miss Bannister."
"Miss Bann... can I call you Miss B?"
"Of course."
"Miss B, do you got any food?"

-Thursday afternoon we had two fire drills, half an hour apart. Mr. and I cheated and grabbed our coats and mittens before we went out. Teachers were highly suspicious that these fire drills were not initiated by administration, but rather, by some dubious ruffian...

Other than that, the week was uneventful, fairly routine.

This week I start teaching the sophomores - Mr.'s "worst" class... and my favorite, naturally...