Still Counting

15 more days...

Getting Better...

16 more get-ups

Keeping Track

17 more get-ups...

Touche

Last week my husband received an informational letter from the Republican Party, with a postage-paid envelope for our anticipated donation to the cause. Of course, stamped on the postage-paid envelope was a message asking us to supply our own stamp to save the Republican Party some money...The informational letter was filled with "anti-terrorism" rhetoric, as you could expect. How we ended up on a list for the Republican Party, I'll never know.

Today, I went onto the Obama website. I copied and printed off his official "Obama '08" insignia with his picture. I wrote, "I hope you enjoy this unsolicited propoganda from me as much as I enjoyed the unsolicited propoganda from you. Signed, A Staunch Democrat."

And, I didn't supply my own postage.

Bad Mood? Me?

Yesterday was our Friday Afternoon Knitting Club. The usual three girls were there plus Amanda's grandma. Last week, Amanda's grandma didn't make it; it was nice weather, and she had been outside gardening and lost track of time. Meanwhile, I had MANY kids staying in that day for not turning in assignments (big ones, like writing and social studies projects). I was angry at these particular students, some who never turn in anything, and will fail next year in middle school if they don't get their act together. Anyway, last week it seemed as if no one who usually stayed for Knitting Club brought needles and yarn anyway.

This week Amanda's grandma came, as I said. The other three girls got out their knitting things. I taught one girl the pearl stitch, and another girl the knit stitch. Amanda's grandma apologized for missing last week.

"No need to apologize," I told her. "I know you have a life...Don't feel like you have to come. I love having you, though."

Amanda then said, "Well, Mrs. Hagen canceled it, anyway. There were too many kids with missing homework, and that put her into a bad mood, so she canceled knitting club."

"Really?" I asked. "I was in a bad mood?"

"Yes," said another girl.

"Hmm. Am I often in a bad mood?" I asked.

She thought for a minute. "Not really," she said.

I don't remember canceling knitting club. I do remember all the kids with missing assignments. That does put me into a bad mood.

True Irony

Every month my students are to read for 30 minutes each night including weekends, and record it on the monthly reading log. They get a log each month, and are to turn it in at the end of the month. I would only get a handful of reading logs turned in, which I found disappointing. So for the month of March, I told the kids that whoever read the most pages, read and recorded their reading every night, and had the reading log filled out correctly and turned in on time, that I would buy them a milkshake. And not just any milkshake, like the junk from McDs. I'm talking good stuff. From Baskin and Robbins. Any flavor they wanted.

Every day when we would fill out our planners with homework, I would remind them of this challenge. It got to be sort of a group chant, as I would repeat some of the same descriptive phrases about this reading challenge. Anyway, Addie won, and got a mint chocolate chip milkshake. She was the envy of all.

New month, and I decided once again to do the challenge. Today was the first day this month, and I told the students that it was a new challenge, a new chance to win a milkshake. I went through almost the same routine as always, and the class would recite some of the same things ("...not just any milkshake, but a BASKIN AND ROBBINS MILKSHAKE! YUM!"). The I told them how lucky they were to have me for a teacher.

"Yeah," said Chuck. "You give milkshakes to the top readers!"

"Yes, I do," I replied. "Perhaps now you will finally actually do some reading, record it on the log, and turn it in!"

How funny that he was so excited about this, but not ever turned in a reading log all year. I told him he was a prime example of irony.

What Not To Wear

At school we've been doing some state-mandated standardized testing (loathed by most teachers in this state), and so my daily schedule has been turned upside down. Students who are English Language Learners go to a different room to test, as do any students in the special ed program. Therefore, for about 4 days straight I barely saw some students (I enjoyed not seeing a few of them...).

So I was stunned when, one afternoon during the testing days, I glanced at Morgan. She was wearing this lacey, sheer top over a white tank top with straps that were of acceptable width. But her pants. They were black and stretchy, but what made me do a double take was what was running up the length of the pant leg, like a stripe on sweatpants. But it wasn't a stripe. It was about a 1.5 inch wide strip of black lace, running from ankle to waist. And under that lace was skin.

Now, I'm no prude, but I couldn't even see underwear there! It was just skin all the way up. Shoot, the kids shorts can't even be shorter than where their fingertips reach when their arms are straight down at their sides. I was in the midst of telling them a story, and I stumbled for a moment as I realized what she was wearing. And how she had gone all day with no one noticing is beyond me. My excuse is that she wasn't with me all morning long.

I pulled her out into the hall at the first chance I got. "Morgan," I said. "Is that bare skin I see showing?"

"Yes," she replied.

"Well," I said. "I don't know how you got by all day wearing those pants, but they are not appropriate at all. I don't want you wearing those pants to school again."

She went back into the classroom and pulled a jacket over her lap. The next day she was absent (as is common the day after she's been chastised for something big...). Yesterday she came back and did a lot of glaring at me. She looks so trampy sometimes. She'd better be careful.