Who knew a little white bug could be such a problem?

You're not going to believe this. I'm on vacation for the rest of the week. Yes, today is Tuesday. Why? Well the little white bug I'm referring to is lice. We've had a little problem with it in our school. I'm not sure what the total count is as of right now, but it's not small. So they're closing the school so a professional company can come in and fumigate it. Today we had to clean out all the desks and lockers and take everything home. Before you get too jealous let me tell you that more than likely I"ll have to make up these days at the end of the school year :( Especially if we get snow days. But for now I'm happy :) I get to catch up on sleep, get healthy because I've been fighting a sinus infection, and work on all my grad school projects that I haven't had time to do. Hopefully I will stay lice free. It's not hard to get rid of - just use a special shampoo, but I don't even want to begin to think about everything I would have to clean. Sheets, clothes, more sheets, coats etc etc etc.
Anyway I'm gettin outta here. Happy Halloween!!!
(=

Rent - the musical

This is mostly for Caryn because she's seen this musical so many times. I just watched the movie for the first time this weekend. Everytime I saw Idina Mentzel I thought "Elphaba" but she's still awesome in Rent too. I haven't seen the end of it though. My friend Kelly had it Tivo'ed and so I thought I would watch it while the boys were taking a nap. I got to about where Angel dies and then it just stopped. The timer said I still had 30+ minutes left, but it was just a blank screen :O So yesterday I got home and was eating a snack and saw that Rent was just starting. So of course I watched it. But after an hour and a half I realized I had a lot of work to do b/c report cards are due this week and I have a midterm tomorrow, so I stopped watching. So one of these days I'm going to have to buy or rent it and finish it. The music has been stuck in my head since last Friday. Right now The Tango Maureen is playing. I especially like all the harmonies since there are so many main characters.
Basically this post had no point and I've just rambled on. But if anyone has any thoughts about Rent I'd love to hear them :)

It's been so busy around here. I'm on my lunch break. Usually I eat downstairs with the other teachers, but today I've been going non-stop, so I decided to just sit in my classroom and have some peace and quiet. I should be grading or trying to sort through all the papers on my desk, but I just need to relax for a few minutes.
Last week I had a presentation due in my psychology class. It was on Albert Bandura. In case you wanted to know he did a famous experiment with Bobo dolls (the inflatable dolls with the weight on the bottom that you hit and they bounce back up). It was to determine how much children learn by example. Anyway That went alright. For my Thursday class I had to turn in these "Teacher created Manipulatives". I took plywood and cut it into 9in x 12in pieces (actually my boyfriend did that - I probably would've chopped off a couple fingers). Then we glued these foam sheets on top of each board. On those I drew a coordinate plane and you can use pins and yarn and pipe cleaners to graph lines and parabolas, etc. I also attached a plastic sheet protector to each board that you can write on with dry erase markers. This way I can put graph paper in there, dot paper, geoboard paper, worksheets, etc. etc. I only have to make enough copies for 1 class b/c you can erase. Saves paper and time.
This week I have to "teach" in my Thursday class. I have to have a guided discovery lesson which means I don't teach the topic. I give them manipulatives and a problem and say "Go for it!" In my real classroom I would give a little more explanation, but for this class we can't. I was hoping I would get some new teaching ideas out of this class, but so far... notta. Of course I don't suppose I should expect much because I have more years of experience teaching jr. high math than my professor does.
The Algebra class that I am teaching this year HATES using manipulatives. The buzz right now is to use hands-on activities to teach concepts, not just paper/pencil with the teacher at the front talking to the chalkboard. Everytime I try to do something different with them, they freak out. They would rather me show them how to do something, then give them homework. Forget trying to visualize a problem.
Ok I have to go get my kids. Have a good day! (=