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July 24th, 2008

Today and Tonight

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Today I woke up at eight o'clock when my purrrrfect kitty was hungry. We snuggled for a few minutes and then I was up and feeding him his breakfast. I took a shower and then made some turkey bacon and an egg. Of course, my cat that had just eaten wanted my turkey bacon.

I got online and checked the usual web sites and read the journals and such. I also managed to get a movie from netflix finished that I had started two days ago. I went to the pool for a few hours and came home and took a nice long shower. Then I made lunch.

I sat down and read my book club book, "Water for Elephants" which reminded me I needed to finalize some plans for the BBQ/Book Exchange/Meeting coming up in two weeks. I went to the dollar store to look for circus items cheaper than party city and lo and behold... I found some circus themed toys, some small ceramic table toppers, and popcorn bags that I can use as centerpieces.

I went home and picked up my notebook because I had a JCC 20's and 30's Activity Committee Meeting in Lake Worth. We (nine of us) sat around and discussed program plans for the group and discussed options that may or may not be of interest to the main sector of members (2,500 people on the mailing list) but to a smaller portion in the 40-80 member range. I am in charge of talking to a local bar about karaoke for a group of forty as well as looking into museum trips, and a bowling night (Besides my JCC Book Club which starts in one week.) Other JCC C.M.'s are in charge of a party barge night, dog park events, beach luau/potluck, baseball games, bonfires, ice skating parties, happy hours, brunch, and wine tasting's. We also are talking about starting a Torah on Tap event where a rabbi meets people in a local bar (beer provided by the JCC) and members can ask the rabbi about theology while drinking. Apparently this method works well in NYC and Miami and there is no reason why it won't work in West Palm Beach. The survey that was distributed had 45% of pollee's asking for more Jewish Awareness activities so that is what we are trying to provide.

I am really excited about the events and being part of a committee feels very good. I have some goals for myself and I am listing them below.

Goals:
1) Meet other Jews in my age range.
2) Meet people with similar interests.
3) Find a nice Jewish Boy to date.
4) Become part of a community outside of religious services.
5) Help bring some culture to young Jews.

Olympics

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Does anyone have any great ideas or fantastic resources for doing an Olympics unit this fall?

TIA!

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I am at a loss for what to have my students do for a unit on Asia!  This is what I have so far....

I want to teach China, Japan, the Koreas, India, the "Stans", and Indonesia

Any fun project ideas?

I teach 6th grade geography

Student teaching

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I start student teaching for elementary school in the fall.  Four more weeks of freedom and then a three day orientation where I find out where they've assigned me, and hopefully, what the hell I'm supposed to be doing.

I'm pretty nervous about it. I've heard some horror stories about student teaching.

I'd love to hear about people's experiences with this.  Was it better than you thought it would be?  More work?  Less work?  Was it the way your teacher ed program said it would be or was it totally different than what they'd prepared you for?

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I just graduated and have a K-5 and Teacher of Students with Disabilities (endorsement) certificate. What is the difference between CEAS (cert. of eligibility with advanced standing) as opposed to the other kinds of certificates? If there even is a difference.

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Elementary teachers: what do you do on your first day? First week? I'm working on creating my "script" so I'll know what the hell I'm doing.

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I have an interview Monday for a kindergarten position due to a maternity leave (Sept-Feb) and possibly a full time position. Is it ok to ask at the interview if I would get a contract?

from teaching high school SENIORS to 8th graders...and the FCAT!

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Hey all! Here's my situation. I'm a Language Arts teacher. I've taught high school seniors for the past year and a half and then my school had to surplus a bunch of teachers due to a new school opening up and lowering the student population. So I managed to get a job at an awesome nearby school but it's a middle school.

I just found out that I'll be teaching 8th grade. Aside from being nervous because the grades and ages are so different there's also a lot of pressure since 8th graders have to take the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test). I'm not so worried about teaching them essay writing as the other stuff since when I was in 8th grade there WAS no FCAT!

So, if anyone has any resources they recommend or any awesome tips on adjusting to middle-schoolers (classroom management, what kind of behavior to expect, any awesome books for 8th graders to read, etc.) or any 8th grade FCAT resources you recommend - I'd really appreciate it! I'm sure the school will help me out but I don't want to fall behind at the beginning of the year by not knowing ANYTHING about the FCAT or how it's answered.

Thanks a bunch!

Help one of the good people of this world

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Paul Haines ([info]paulhaines) is a hell of a nice guy and fellow writer who's literally fighting for his life against bowel cancer.  After going through surgery and chemotherapy, he has recently discovered that he has spots on his liver.  The therapy being offered to save his life is chemotherapy combined with a monoclonal antibody (Avastin).  Unfortunately, Avastin, isn't covered on Medicare and will cost $20,000.

How much is the life of one of the good people worth?  You can donate via the paypal link found here.

Some days are good

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Some days it’s pretty good to be a writer. Especially when the men in the basement are doing their job. In other words, I’ve ironed out the problems with the second of the problem chapters. Characters are doing things that make sense now, which makes me happy.

And for those curious, I’m far more fond of the idea of having little men in the basement working away at writing than I am of having a muse. It’s not so much getting inspiration from something external as dredging up stuff from the morass of the unconscious for me. Which is possibly why refuelling that morass is very important for me.

I haven’t been doing a lot of refuelling of late, not in terms of reading, anyway. What I have been doing is rewatching Twin Peaks. David Lynch is a genius - when he gets something right, he gets it very, very right. I just wish there had been more of the show.

Today’s progress:

Project: Shaede draft four
New words: 3,242
Total word count: 23,613
Goal: 100,000 words (or thereabouts)

Writing: Seven solid chapters revised. I didn’t end up fleshing out this last chapter overmuch, but it does make more sense now. After this, I should be heading into the editing of less problematic chapters. Hopefully.

Real life: Short walk this morning, grocery shopping done, load of laundry. It’s actually been a productive day. Maybe it’s because it’s sunny today.

Total words for 2008: 306,500

[cross-posted from my website]

Um

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I may have just ordered myself a Dr Girlfriend shirt.

Need some advice

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I'm new to this community .. just joined it today.

I'm a teacher in a one room school house. I teach K-8th grade (13 students) and I had this job last year. I was not hired until the middle of September and therefore things were already rolling when I got in there. Theres all those boo boos and what not that you have as a first year teacher (last year was my first year as a full time full year teacher) and I'm sure that I'll have them again being that its such a unique school. (And also very small.) This year, I'm implementing some new rules, I guess you could call them. For one, everyone is getting the same color of EVERYTHING so I dont have to hear "S/he has my stuff!" because ... its all the same color and nobody has the same as someone else. I'm implementing a homework tray where their homework will go. Last year I just had their parents sign their binders wehre they wrote thier homework and corrected it at thier seats, but I'm hoping the homework tray will help to get them to school on time as well as give me some extra time to correct homework because I can do it during the day and get the stuff I need to get done in the morning done (They have violin class from 8-9 .. which gives me an hour, but during that time I have to deal with issues that have cropped up, obv, in the morning and it doesnt' always leave me time to correct their homework, and then the day gets going, adn you all know how it is . you forget...) and with that being said, I'm hoping it gets them to school on time nad homework in because if it isn't, recess time will be lost. Tardiness was a huge thing last year, and I'm doing everythign to keep it at bay this year. We dont have buses, the parents drive the students to school.

If any of you have any suggestsions, things that you have used that has worked in teh past for you, I'd be much appreciative.

Thanks so much!

July 23rd, 2008

A Must Read For All Teachers For A Good Laugh

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I am reading the book 32 Third Graders and one Class Bunny" This book is hilarious and I could relate to much of this. I can even put names of my children in place of the one in the book.

It is an easy read and fun for all. My 5th grade son wants to read it after I laughed so hard reading it today. Now he will know what I go through in my classroom

I gots a jorb!

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Thanks to all who gave me such good advice on my last post.

After lots of disappointing interviews, I finally got my job today--7th grade life science. Sicen my student teaching was in a high school, most of my resources are for 10th grade. Any advice on curriculum? Teaming? Dealing with kids? Room setup? My room is a lab with no lab tables. We have those crappy desk-attached-to-chair-with-basket numbers.

Oh, yeah. I start Monday because it's year-round school. o_O;

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In need of some advice / reassurance. I'm teaching 6th and 7th grade Language Arts in the fall.

It was implied that I had complete control over my curriculum, but I just spoke with the head of the school (a small private school) and it appears:

1. The book list has already been set for this coming year and sent to parents! He said in coming years though I'll have a lot of control and can discuss with the other LA teachers and change what we use -- which implies that we all have to use the same books?! I'm fretting about this because I have strong opinions on curriculum but hate confrontation -- so what if another teacher hates my ideas? (Complaining: I really wanted to teach The Giver this year :( )

2. They have grammar/vocab textbooks (I can't decide if he was saying I had to use them or just saying they were available) which don't strike me as very effective.

3. Because I'm to be planning with the other LA teachers, I'm worried I might not be able to do reading/writing workshops like I've been planning. Maybe this is just paranoia, because surely even if we have to teach the same books, I can fiddle with my own class structure?!

But here's the other thing about #3. I have a BAD HABIT of completely isolating myself from other teachers (not in a hostile way, just not planning together) and building my own classroom from scratch. Which was very effective in my last placement in terms of how my class worked out, but I got SO burnt out. I told myself at this job that I would NOT do that -- I wouldn't be a perfectionist, I wouldn't have to create everything from scratch, I would ASK others for their ideas and rely on them for help, etc.

But now it seems like I might have to choose between using their ideas and going along with a less effective class structure, or isolating myself again and trying to do the hopefully-more-effective structure I had planned. Am I just thinking about this as black/white when there are really ways to do both?

Sorry for rambling... any thoughts and/or encouragement would be appreciated!

Some days the men in the basement actually earn their keep

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Today it has been raining. A lot. Thankfully, the roof appears to be fixed - we haven’t had any leaks, anyway.

Like an old woman, the rain gets into my bones. I’ve been dealing with higher than usual pain levels, which have slowed me down a bit. Mreh. Despite that, I’ve been productive. I made a painful decision and trashed the last two chapters of edits I’ve made and went back to rewrite. Something had been bugging me, and I couldn’t figure out a way to fix it. And just like that, I figured out what it was, and how to fix it, and strengthen a subplot at the same time. Listening to your instincts can be a very good thing.

As a result, my word total for this manuscript has taken a step back. But I’m now happy with this chapter, and I can move on from a much more solid base.

Today’s progress:

Project: Shaede draft four
New words: 4,425
Total word count: 20,371
Goal: 100,000 words (or thereabouts)

Writing: Six solid chapters revised. I have a pain-in-the-butt chapter to deal with tomorrow which needs some serious fleshing out. I’d love to be able to write it today, but that would be pushing things. The men in the basement can get to work on it, though ;)

Real life: Managed to get out for a walk before the rain started this morning. Very glad that I did go out when I did, for it’s been raining solid for the last four hours. Marvelled at having a roof that doesn’t leak.

Total words for 2008: 303,258 (!)

[cross-posted from my website]

Shinies, you know you want them.

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Because I keep on forgetting to blog this.

[info]shadesong is raffling a bunch of really pretty shinies as part of her Blogathonning this year to raise money for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Centre.

Amongst these shinies is one of my pieces - Firebird's Child.

I'm drooling over some of the other stuff as well, especially the Sihaya Designs necklace.

July 22nd, 2008

Princess Bride & Zorro

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Does anyone know if there's a stage adaptation for either of these stories? Directions to rights holders would be appreciated.

Sound and Light Board Op needed for FringeNYC queer solo show - XY(T)

[info]quirkism posting in [info]queer_nyc
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PoMo Freakshow Productions is currently looking for a sound and light board operator for a FringeNYC show.

The show is called XY(T) - it's a one-queer-show about testosterone and
gender (more details about the performance itself here:
http://pomofreakshow.com/kessmain/?page_id=6). It's a fairly simple
show, as far as tech goes; one person can easily run both boards.

XY(T) will be performed at FringeNYC VENUE #13: The Players Loft.

Performance dates/times are: (running time is 50 minutes)

SAT 8/9 @ 5:30 pm
SUN 8/10 @ 7:00 pm
WED 8/13 @ 5:15 pm
FRI 8/15 @ 7:00 pm
SAT 8/16 @ 2:15 pm
MON 8/18 @ 7:00 pm
FRI 8/22 @ 3:30 pm

The cue-to-cue and tech rehearsal is scheduled for Weds, 8/6 in the afternoon. Optimally, we would like to schedule a dry tech rehearsal atsome point before that to go over cues, familiarize you with the
piece, etc.

Please do not respond if you cannot be present for the tech rehearsal and ALL 7 performances.

This position offers a stipend, as well as program and resume credit, a fabulous reference, and undying gratitude.

Do you think that you might be interested? Please send a brief email detailing your experience and your interest in working on this production to kestryl@pomofreakshow.com

Thank you for your time and consideration!

X-Posted (If this is not allowed/appropriate for this community, please let me know and I will remove it.)

A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do

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If I could get the songs from Dr Horrible out of my head, I’d be doing well today. Damn you and your catchy songs, Joss!

Ahem. Writing today was a bit so-so. I could blame it on the fact that I’ve had repairmen clambering over the roof for most of the afternoon, but I won’t. My concentration was shot before they came, too. I muddled my way through a chapter, but I’m not really happy with it. I’m feeling like I want to go back and rework it - it just feels like a whole lot of padding right now. I may go back and do some more work tonight, depends on how I’m feeling.

I was developing what felt like a migraine right around lunch time, though painkillers and caffeine kicked that in the butt, thank the Gods. Though that could explain the lack of concentration, too. I’m full of excuses today.

Today’s progress:

Project: Shaede draft four
New words: 2,905
Total word count: 23,101
Goal: 100,000 words (or thereabouts)

Writing: Seven chapters down. So far I’m doing okay on the chapter-a-day resolution. It shows how uneven my chapters are, though. This one in particular feels too short as it stands. It definitely needs a little more work.

Real life: Listened to guys stomping on the roof, talked to a very confused roof repairman who couldn’t understand why the roof was leaking where it was (and thought that it should have been leaking elsewhere). Grabbed some groceries, staved off migraine.

Total words for 2008: 298,833

[cross-posted from my website]
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