Lego at University.

I don’t know what to say about today. I went to class, did a presentation, came home, went to class again, came home. Although, I must say, being able to create a model out of Lego and present it in a university class is both amusing and alarming. My mom was not impressed. I probably could have told her that we were organizing a series of final assignments for a book we'd read. One of the options was to make a model of important locations from the book. I like having visuals. Legos were convenient.

I think I’m just going to go to bed. Oh! Maybe take a bath... that would be lovely.

Chillin' before a long day.

Lauren.

Me? Fearless?

This will come as a surprise. I am still a student! As a student I still get assigned readings and many of those readings are academic in nature. Pardon my French but "le barf". Reading academic articles is... well, it makes me question, particularly if it's English related, how the hell academics can claim to love what they do. Most of the time I find the writing drier than Melba toast left out in the desert. Why in the desert? I don't know but I'm assuming desert Melba toast would be pretty darn dry. (To scholars I say: Show a little enthusiasm! We know you love this crap! You wouldn't spend years researching it if you didn't.)

On occasion however, I do come across an article that I like, that I can engage in, that doesn't make me want to go to the kitchen and pluck my eyes out with a spoon. Gross? Yes indeed.

Tonight I was super-surprised. One of my professors has essentially been assigning us the same article by different authors since September. Tonight, one of them was different! The phrase that stood out for me was "be fearless with words". I felt like Santa was real again! Also, I felt much cooler. Like I battle words kung-fu style or something.

The article was about developing voice. Voice was compared to DNA for writers. It's how you talk, how you think, how you see the world, how you want others to see the world. To me, if you're fearless with words, you're fearless with yourself. You give yourself the opportunity to speak freely and then to go back and reconsider your thoughts. How many times in life do you get to spew then go back and rework it without consequences? I'm talking about verbal spewing by the way... not the other kind. I keep hearing about this weekend's Halloween parties but that's another story...

Can you tell I love writing?

"Fearless with words." Kind of freeing isn't it?

Write on fearless bloggers!

Lauren.

Babysitting

Late night for Lauren.

Once again, I can't describe how much I envy children their ability to just go and go and go. I was babysitting my second cousin tonight. She's nearly seven. I was falling asleep long before she was. Why is that? How do their little bodies that burn energy constantly and without concern last longer than adults? Seriously, scientists, answer this question and bottle the solution so the rest of us can benefit.

At the same time, I was not warned that there would be two dogs. I'm not really a huge fan of dogs. The one was very friendly. I was eating supper and all of a sudden I had a labrador/poodle mix in my lap. I'm not entirely sure how she got there. One minute she was on the floor. The next I had an armful of dog. The other dog was the control freak. She growled at me and snapped at me all night. When my uncle and aunt came home she was sweet as pie. Damn dog... On top of which, my six year old second cousin could stand in front of her, point and say "enough" and the dog would stop. At one point the dog was snarling at me, my cousin put down what she was doing went up to the dog and told her to stop. Then she looked at me and said "there you go". She's apparently the HBIC. Glee fans will understand.

I just got home about twenty minutes ago. I got into a conversation with my aunt and we just kept talking. Around midnight I managed to say my actual final goodbye and leave.

I'm quite sleepy now. But it was a good day.

Lauren.

Another Day

I spent most of the day being cold. The window in my first class was left open all night, the door closed. I wore my coat all morning. My SpecEd class followed. It ws interesting as always and after that, I had to go to a Federation meeting. It was packed because everyone wanted to go to the first session and go home. Good thing there wasn't a fire because I probably would have been trampled. On the upside, I was able to get out the side door and catch the bus before most people even got outside. Woot!

I ended up going back to school a few hours later. Even though I'm pretty sure I won't qualify for many grants or scholarships, it's worth a try right. Because it's me, when I got to the office, turns out the only person there who could help me was on vacation. So typical. After that I ran up to the other side of the third floor. For some strange reason the third floor has two separate sections. There used to be three.

I've started collecting my letters of reference. I now have two written. It's kind of nice to see that some profs are willing to put themselves out there for me. There are believers! By next week I should have a few more. Then I'll be ready to submit all my stuff and have to hope for the best.

Not a very eventful day. Just... quiet. Not a good day, not a bad day. Just another day.

Lauren.

The Sexuality in Schools Question

Thursdays are very much a repeat of Tuesdays. The only exception is the last class of the day. Rather than Schooling and Education (a class allegedly about current events in Schooling and Education) we have Management (as in classroom management). Today a group did a presentation on bullying as a management issue. Brings back memories... (one moment while I stamp those back down... right, there we go).

Seriously though. They were talking about bullying and a guy in the back raised his hand. He talked about how he felt uncomfortable addressing, I guess I'll call it 'gay specific' bullying issues. Here in Canada we had another kid commit suicide because he was being bullied for being gay so it's a very timely subject. The reason he was uncomfortable addressing the issue is because he's gay. If that's confusing to you, I'll explain my perspective because I'm very much in the same boat.

I'm not even supposed to tell my students my first name. Am I really going to tell them that I'm sexually attracted to women? No, I'm not going to tell them that. It's irrelevant to my job and it's inappropriate. I wouldn't want my children's teacher saying to them "Yeah, I'd bang this chick" regardless of whether they were male or female. So here's the dilemma. Am I being overly sensitive? Am I coming down harder on this one issue because it directly affects me? If I remember correctly, my classmate's issue was that he was worried students would come back with "well, you're gay". Because we've worked hard at being out. We don't want to lie and say "well, no I'm not". Talk about setting a horrible example.

Here's my deal. I know how powerful an out teacher could be. Here's my other issue. I want a job. No, I likely wouldn't get fired or removed from my placement because I'm gay. That would be discrimination. I could however not be considered for a job when I do apply, for other totally unrelated reasons. Like my brown hair. Everyone knows it's the brunette's who are sneaky. A parent could call complaining about inappropriate behaviour. Sexuality is a touchy (no pun intended) subject and I do not want to get in the way of a pissed off parent. My mom is a maniac when she's defending me. I'm not that stupid. And then there's the issue of working in a Catholic board. How do you broach that subject and stay within the school's set teachings and belief system?

My first day teaching my grade nines I said: "I don't know if you're the kind of class where this gets said, but I don't want to hear "that's so gay" or anything even remotely similar to that. I don't want to hear you tell me "it just means I'm happy" because that's not what you mean and I'm not that stupid. I work alongside and know a lot of gay people who are wonderful, so don't say it." Am I over the line? Stepping on it? Still behind it? I dunno. I'm hoping that the gay kid likely hiding out in the group at least sees me as an ally and will feel comfortable talking to me if he/she is having a problem. Last I heard 1 in 10 people is gay. I'm in a class of 30. It bothers me that that's pretty much the best I can do. Of course keeping an eye/ear out is also important. But even then, I feel like I'd be limited in what I can say.

I feel like walking into a school is stepping back into the closet. I know it's not, but that's what it feels like. Sexuality is discussed in hushed tones, by leaving names out of conversations. Kind of weird when you consider that that's all a teenager is thinking about and feeling. If I, a 22 year old, relatively mature, fairly confident, intelligent woman feels uncomfortable with my sexuality inside school walls, imagine what an insecure, self-conscious, hormonal, kid feels like.

Society is weird. And not in the good, charming way. Food for thought society. Smarten up.

From the desk of Lauren Daily, lesbian student teacher.

Waist Up and Waist Down: Two Different Things

I'm really tired and my brain is pretty much only sending out the necessary signals to keep me awake. So, to respect my brain's efforts, I'm going to point form the things I saw today.

1. The upper GI.

Yup. My old lady tendencies kicked in and I had to get some tests done to resolve my heartburn problem. They made me eat stuff that looks like Pop-Rocks (doesn't taste like Pop-Rocks) and drink a liquid that looked like diluted chalk. Yum Yum. The best part was when I somehow misunderstood the instruction to get undressed from the waist up. I'll let you imagine what I heard. How did I figure out that I'd misunderstood? Simple biology. That's not where my esophagus is. Also, the concoction they had me drink had me burping for about half an hour after they'd finished with me. Attractive!

2. A deer

I had to look twice because I was on the bus, but sure enough, across from one of the residence buildings there was a deer. He was just chillin' in the field having a grand old time. Quite camouflaged as well.

3. Beginners

I went to see a movie with POC (Pride on Campus). It stars Christopher Plummer as a gay guy who dies of cancer and Ewen McGregor, his straight son who has a hard time staying in a relationship. It was a good movie. It dragged a bit, was a bit long, but I liked the story and the characters. They did a good job with the dog (who has lines). He was wonderful comic relief. There were a lot of funny parts, a lot of sad parts, a lot of happy parts. It kept my interest, but like I said, got a bit long.

4. Dana!

Dana is on Reading Week. I don't get one of those. I got to do placement (aka slave labour, I joke... sort of) instead. Anyway, because I'm an awesome friend, I dragged her out of bed at six. She met me at my house at 7:30. We were at the hospital by 8:00. Then I brought her to my "how to teach history" class. Pretty cool right? We had a lovely lunch at a place down the street from my house. I discovered that a hot chicken finger can in fact melt Styrofoam. Finally back at home, we popped in a movie and missed the end. Our walk and our early start had us tired. We  fell asleep on opposite ends of the couch. Meeko slept on me for a while too... just throwing that out there. After a quick supper, we went to the movie, then called it a day. It was nice hanging out with her. I miss my non-eddie friends. By the way, do I know how to show a girl a good time or what?

That was today. And in relation to point number 1, I am currently wearing pants. I'm allowed my ditz moments...

Lauren.

Giggle Fits

I have the Tuesday 'blahs'. Tuesday is a long day and I stayed a bit later talking with my cousin. I missed my ride, but thankfully, my cousin drove me home. He just got a new truck and let me say, butt-warmers are wonderful. It's kind of a delightful feeling to have one's posterior heated. I'm not going into more detail. If you so desire, you will need to use your imagination.

I visited a prof today. It was helpful. I'm pulling all my stuff together for my master's applications. I've been worrying about where to apply, what happens if I don't get in nearby, what happens if I have to move... I think six steps ahead. It's usually useful. Not so much with this kind of thing. I've decided to apply to the schools I want to go to and wait and see what happens. No point worrying right now if I don't get in later right? As for funding, the combination of my grades and my desired program seem to be limiting me. Is that going to stop me... probably not. I'll still try. I'm annoying that way. It's all coming along... soon it shall be in the mail and the fees removed from my dwindling bank account.

Not a whole lot to say about today otherwise. I think most of us are still in placement mode, we're all tired, we're all still winding down. We were all quite giggly. By the time we got to our last class, we were giggling so much the prof was having a hard time getting his point across. And it's not like we were giggling as a group. The people in the corner were giggling about one thing, my group was giggling about another thing. Take that pod-seating. Make me sit in a group and don't expect me to talk? HA! I hate those damn pods.

Also, I forgot to mention this yesterday, but I found a new way of saying no. My friends are telling me that I should go to the eddie formal. Not really my thing. Rather than saying 'no' and inciting comments like 'why not?', 'it'll be fun', 'you must go!' I simply replied, "I'll only go if I have a date". I'm not going to find a date. They're threatening to find me a date, but they're eddies too. They don't have time for that. MWAHAHAHA! I'm brilliant! Just because I said that, someone is going to find me a date... it's going to blow up in my face. I sense it.

Lauren.

Happiness and Water Quidditch?

Remember how I was bitching about teacher’s college being boring? For the first time I was able to appreciate being in a classroom. I didn’t have to do anything and I loved it!

Other than that, I had to run back in to placement this morning. I forgot to leave some papers. I then rushed up to school and was late. Which sucked because I was supposed to be first to present a 'teaching strategy'. I was so disorganized today it was ridiculous. Thankfully my professor was kind about it. My presentation went really well, I got a lot of compliments from my fellow students. I used examples from the English class I just taught. I think seeing the actual application helped. Gots to love mnemonic devices! After class I came home for a bit and went back out to my placement. My AT had assignments to give me. I only skimmed them tonight, but I was ridiculously happy to see that most of them were finished.  It amuses me what makes me happy these days. Quiet kids raises her hand to answer a question in class and in my head I’m doing something along the lines of “OMG OMG! SHE’S RAISING HER FRICKIN’ HAND! YES! AWESOME!”.

And in non-education news, one of my friends discovered a way to play Quidditch in a pool. Intrigued? HELL YEAH! It involves pool noodles, various balls, Frisbee like pool toys and rings of some kind. I think. I’m so curious. Oops! My nerd is showing. Sorry about that.

While discussing water Quidditch, one girl mentioned that it sort of kind of sounded like water polo. There’s land polo also… played with horses. So… is land polo then the equivalent of land Quidditch? IS THE INSPIRATION OF QUIDDITCH POLO? But with more balls obviously. Horses=Brooms, they’re both played on a pitch, there are sticks involved in both, there are goal posts in both, there are… people! in both. Yeah… I’m stretching it. I’m still gonna add this question to my “If you ever meet JK Rowling and she allows you to ask her a million questions Question List.”

Lauren.

Wrap Up With Julie

I get to go back to school tomorrow. How different it will be. I will again resume my role as student. People will use my first name again! I still have one... I think. They don't expire do they? I do however have to be up bright and early. In true Lauren fashion, I escaped my placement with some of my students' assignment sheets. I bargained with my mom so I'd be able to get the car. So, I'll be dropping her off, dropping off paperwork at my placement then booting it up to school for a class I suspect I have. I don't know for sure because I can't access my webadvisor where my timetable is located and being held hostage.

Putting aside that minor setback, I'm currently sitting between my parents as we prepare to watch a movie. My dad is arguing about The Sound of Music being a Christmas movie (which I really don't understand) and bitching about the amount of previews. My mom just randomly whipped out the word fjord and now she's going on about "what's a fjord?", "we should ask Bjorn". She's kind of reminding me of Rose Nylan. Next she'll be cooking gafishnafleugan. I hope that's not a real thing. All of this within the first two minutes of The Sound of Music.

Randomly inserting this here... it's probably not a wise idea to ask a man if he's suffering from PMS... just putting that out there.

I think The Sound of Music is a wonderful way to wrap up this week. I was using a song from Mary Poppins to teach the grade nines about dissecting poetry. Whenever I can, I'll find a way to teach people about the wonders of Julie Andrews. But seriously, Chim Chim Che-Ree is a good song to look at... it has a lot of poetic devices. Don't judge me... the students were saying they wanted it as their ringtones... talk about still being relevent!

Alas, school early tomorrow and I still have a novel to finish.

Lauren.

Lady Baldspot

I deal with threats all the time. If I don't do this now, later I'll suffer that. I've been threatened with everything from diabetes to the roots of my teeth degenerating if I don't have my wisdom teeth removed as soon as possible. As it turns out as soon as possible was December 22. How awful is that? I couldn't eat over Christmas. And I was underage when I had it done so even if I did drink, I couldn't drink the eggnog.

Today I was threatened with baldness. Yes, baldness. By the time I'm thirty. Apparently I've been taking horrible care of my hair and as a result, my hair has decided to rebel. But it can be saved if I purchase the sixty three carefully chosen products conveniently available at the place where I was getting my hair cut. I admit, I'm lazy when it comes to my hair (and makeup but that's another story), but I'm not using that much crap on my hair. One or two I can probably get used to... so long as someone else pays for it. Oh, and I now have to get my hair cut every three months. Which I will gladly do... so long as someone else pays for it. I don't have a job. I can't pay for that.

So how long was my hair? Let's put it this way. He took off about six inches and I can still tie up my hair in a ponytail. It's just at my shoulder now. It feels much better.

Following my much needed hair cut, my aunt and mom took me shopping. I got my birthday gifts! Yes, my birthday is in March. It's a belated gift. I got two new pairs of pants and a sweater. Three less items I'll need to borrow from my mother's closet when I go back on placement.

Speaking of placement! My aunt is friends with the grandmother of one of the students fortunate enough to suffer my instruction. I still don't really know how that came up in conversation, but apparently that student rather liked me. Part of me is skeptical (for some reason) but it still felt nice. Especially since that particular student is very quiet. Yay! They like me! They really like me!

Lauren.

Torture the Children

Today was... interesting. I got to teach two classes. One went well. The other... kinda crashed and burned. At least I get three weeks to pester my profs into giving me pointers on how to teach that one class again. Because I’m kind of at a loss as to how it should be approached. 

It was a good day for Daily women.

1. My mom made a kid laugh.
2. My sister made a kid cry.
3. I pissed a kid off.

We asked my dad what he did to kids today but apparently he didn’t deal with any. Had it been a regular day we likely could have added:

4. My dad arrested a kid
to the list.

I was quite happy when the day ended. About five minutes after I got home, changed and sat on the couch, I fell asleep. According to my associate teacher the next placement is easier and less of a shock to the system. I hope she’s right...

I wish I could say that I get to sleep in tomorrow, but I don’t. I’m finally getting my hair cut! How long have I been threatening to do it now? Few people realize how long my hair actually is because it’s quite curly. When it’s straight, it reaches a little passed the middle of my back. Too long! It’s getting caught in stuff. Backpacks, microphones, doors... yes, doors. I’m quite looking forward to eliminating those problems. I’m clumsy enough, I don’t need help.

Anyway, that’s about it for the day. I’m going to bed early and it will be lovely.

Lauren.

More Monkeys! I Need More Monkeys!

I may have developed a case of narcolepsy. Is that possible? I don't know. All I know is that I'm exhausted. Yes, I say this often but this time, I really mean it. For instance:

Today I attended a "Rock the Halls" concert. Basically is was a fundraiser for something. Students paid two dollars to be excused from class and watch an hour long show. At one point near the end, a band got up on stage. Three extremely loud electric guitars, a really long drum solo and microphones and amps turned up really loud. Do you think I stayed awake? The answer my bloggy friends is no. I somehow, in the midst of all that noise, fell asleep.

After that, when I got home, I decided that I wanted to take a bath. I've been going to bed late and rushing my showers. My shower is usually one of my favourite parts of the day. You can imagine how crushed I've been hurrying through them just so I can get five hours of sleep. When I got into the tub the water was all hot and it felt really good. I've been carrying around a forty pound back pack for a week. Imagine Quasimodo. Anyway, when I woke up, the water was cold. Surprised I didn't drown. That would have sucked. Thankful I didn't though.

Even with those cat naps, I'm still totally out of it. I was supposed to grade 30 handouts... again. Yeah, I got through 13. I planned a World Religion lesson and attempted to plan an English lesson. I wrote out yet another quiz, then rewrote that quiz. I'm supposed to fill out an assessment. That's not going to get done. Nope, I'm not magic. Thought I was. Definitely not. So, tomorrow will be interesting.

A monkey could do the teacher's college stuff I'm doing. However, I would need five of me and perhaps a few monkeys to keep up with placement work.

I'm glad I'm done tomorrow because I pretty much hate my life right now.

And on that optimistic note, I'm going to bed. Night!

Lauren.

BED Murder

Another eighteen hour day. Pretty soon I won't need to be stabbed in the face, my lack of sleep headache will do the job splendidly.

I hope Rebecca Black doesn't mind lending me her song but: "Friday, Friday, gonna lie down on Friday! Can't tell you how I'm lookin' forward to the weekend!". Might not even get my ass out of bed on Saturday, Saturday. I'll have to Sunday, because I have a presentation Monday.

Actually, I will have to get up on Saturday... I'm finally getting my hair cut.

See, at least in your BA profs just try to weed out slackers. BEd actually tries to kill you. Everyone I know who is on placement at the moment is:

1) short about 72 hours of sleep (there's a reason the abbreviation is B-E-D.)
2) sick
3) both

Alas, my B-E-D is calling my name.

Lauren.

Poetry: WHY YOU NEED IT!

Finally! Something I learned in teacher's college came in handy today!

Well, that's not totally true. The lesson plan templates, while time consuming to fill in and irritating to do, do have an obvious use. Even though you never get through your plan. Other than that, I was at long last able to put some learning to good use.

Two of my students said:

"I don't understand why we have to do this!" (regarding dissecting a poem)
"I don't see how this is useful in real life!" (also regarding dissecting a poem)

My professors told us not to answer with the following:

1. Because you'll need it later
2. Because it's in the curriculum
3. Because I said so.
4. I don't know

While I did tell my grade nines that poetry would be afflicting them yearly from now until university, I also told them that they used poetry every day without realizing it. In our every day speech we use tons of metaphors, similes, oxymorons, puns, hyperboles, onomatopoeias and we don't even realize it. I made them a video for my first lesson showing poetic devices in TV shows like Friends, Glee and Batman. In spite of my evidence, they still seemed dubious.

So, after explain that they were already using poetry every day, I also told them that I'd learned more about writing from poetry than from practicing my writing. Which isn't a lie. I loved looking at diction in poetry. You know, once I figured out that since every syllable counts, the words poets put to paper are generally very carefully chosen. After that, poetry became fascinating to me and I tried to apply that idea to my personal writing. You have to admit, being able to find and use the right word is a useful skill. They conceded on this point but still vowed to hate poetry. Whatever... I realize I can't win them all.

Otherwise, I got to administer my first official quiz today. And correct it. The correcting was hard. For the most part I knew what they were trying to say but at the same time, it wasn't right. I had a hard time marking those answers wrong. The pun was particularly difficult to define. They were essentially defining homophones. Not the same thing. But, there were a few answers that made me smile. I made it into a few examples. For hyperbole one student wrote "Ms (Mrs?) Daily will kill me if I don't finish this quiz." Which I wouldn't and that student got 100%. I was also used in an oxymoron example: "Miss Daily is a student-teacher". I have to say, I'm happy that student stuck to student-teacher. Other examples were just entertaining. I got two terms smashed together into one. That made me smile. At least half the term was right.

I felt today's lesson went much better. I'm slowly getting into this. And about time, I'm leaving on Friday. In a way I'm excited to go back to school where there's less work to be done immediately. On the other hand, I like the excitement of placement, I like the different interactions.

"Having it all doesn't necessarily mean having it all at once." Tell me about it.

Lauren.

Pavlov for Humans?

Teaching with cookies. Not a bad idea. A time consuming idea. But not bad. The only thing is that it gets kind of long and students tend to stop caring once they have their cookie. Perhaps they are trainable. I still have a bunch of leftover cookies. I'm thinking I should go out and buy a bell...

I'm exhausted. I barely slept last night and this morning when I got to school, I witnessed something along these lines.



I would be the kangaroo. Imagine another four snarling dingos and you've got the battle over the photocopier at 8:15 on a Monday morning. One dude jumped the line and caused an inter-dingo argument that was pretty amusing. I made sure to tell them all that as a student teacher, I was expecting a certain amount of abuse.

Unfortunately, by the time I got the copier, I was a bit flustered and my very basic, basic math skills failed me. I only copied 22 copies when I needed 33. Don't ask... What that translates to is a run down from the fourth floor, a speedy copy job and yet another run back up to the fourth floor. No wonder my knee is acting up.

I've just now finished planning a lesson on Buddhism. What do I know about Buddhism? What the class textbook told me. I'm not exactly comfortable with that... I don't trust text books, particularly not when I'm only reading one. Anyway, it's still interesting though I did take quite a while to figure out the difference between a bikkhus, a sangha and a bikkhuni sangha. Hey, I was giggling over the word "poo" today I'm so out of it. I think I deserve a little credit... in spite of it taking like five minutes for it to sink in.

And on that note, I'm off to bed.  I'm teaching two classes tomorrow. When's Friday again?

Lauren.

Inevitable

Well, it was inevitable that I would forget to post at some point in my blogging career.

Away I must go. My class has arrived.

Lauren.

Perfect Day

Major accomplishment of the day? I slept until nine. It felt wonderful. Even if I did initially wake up at 6:30. Hey, I'm all for keeping life simple.

I did some school work, did some Pride work, did some reading and some writing. Pretty much the perfect day.

How does one end the perfect day? By writing out 33 examples of poetic devices onto thin bands of paper so that one can bake them into fortune cookies some time on Sunday. I'll let you all know how teaching with cookies goes on Monday.

Lauren.

Exhausted but Happy

SO TIRED! Like beyond my normal tired. I probably could have gone to bed three hours ago and slept through the night. To be honest, I think the only reason I’m still awake is the coffee break I had with my dad.

When we finally got home, I cast off my work clothes and donned my “Sunday pants”. They’re about two sizes too big but I think that’s what makes them so darn comfortable. Of course, that comfort couldn’t last. My mom came home and wanted to go to the mall. There were a few things that I needed to pick up and dinner was included.

In both cases, I talked pretty much non-stop about placement. With an embarrassing amount of enthusiasm. It’s funny because my host teacher asked me if I was having fun. If only she knew how much I’m enjoying it. I don’t think I’ve ever worked this much or this hard, but I like the variety. I like how one day is never really the same as the next. I like how there’s routine, but at the same time with fifty different kids, you’re never going to have the same conversation, do the same activity. I like talking to the kids. For instance, today, one student handed in the assignment I set yesterday. He told me he did it because “he didn’t want to make me sad because it was my first time teaching”. How sweet is that?!

So here’s a truth about me. People rarely surprise me. Not my peers, not older adults. I find that kind of depressing. I find that working with kids, I’m constantly being surprised. It’s nice, it’s refreshing and not to be melodramatic, but watching a kid light up kind of helps restore a little of my faith in people.

So, things I learned today at placement:

1.      Though my cousin T makes fun of the fact that I have a jar filled with Tylenol, Advil and antacids, he is not above asking me for Tylenol in the copy room.

2.      I finally passed photocopying 101 October edition. Did all my own copies, by myself. Take that photocopy gods!

3.      When in the copy room, keep conversation volume down. People will close the door on you and it’s way too hot in there to be trapped. That or they were trying to suffocate us... If the faculty is targeting student-teachers, does that make attempts at murdering us a hate crime?

4.      There are identical twins in my English class. I confirmed today that I can in fact tell them apart. I was pretty sure yesterday after learning their names, but as of today I definitely can. I told my host teacher and she promptly asked me how I was doing it. She’s been calling them by their last name so that she’s never wrong. Clever solution.

5.      Note taking is for suckers. Whip out your phone and take a picture. I’ve only been out of high school five years. How things have changed...

6.      Secretaries are not weather people. The front desk secretary assured me that it would be sunny today and that the cloudy weather would clear up. It did not and by the time I left for the day, it was absolutely pouring.

Lauren.

Field Training

You know how I've been saying: BRING IT! for the last few days? Well, I got to teach the full English class today. Let me tell you, it was BA-ROUGHT! Not just brought. BA-ROUGHT! I was surprised by how sneaky those grade nines are. Hiding behind those innocent little faces lie devious minds ready to lash out at unsuspecting student teachers.

Things I learned in Field Training AKA Basic Training AKA placement today:

1. There are two correct answers to the following question: "What's your first name?"
1. I don't have one.
2. Miss Daily.
2. I made the mistake of answering the previous question with "Lauren".  The student immediately addressed me as Lauren. I don't particularly like being called Miss Daily, but there's a reason why that formality exists. That's Miss Daily to you!
3. Do not joke about giving children the opportunity to rename themselves. You'll end up with Diablo, Pablo, Pedro, Fabio, Ernesto (wait... there wasn't an Ernesto). I don't know what was going on, but I suddenly had a whole whack of Spanish kids in my class.
4. Don't get them going on the topic of cows. Cows are apparently like Pringles. Or is it Lays? Once you make one cow reference/example you just can't stop.
5. Not only is it okay, I was encouraged to use awkwardness as a weapon to control the class. I'm so on this one. I'm the queen of awkward! Awkward teen years will take on a whole new meaning.
6. When your profs give you weird advice like: "Don't touch your eyes" it's not random gibberish. I think I touched my eyes and now I'm getting sick. Prof L was right!
7. Even if you passed Photocopying 101 in September, you have to re-qualify in October.

All things considered though, I'm quite  happy with how my first lesson went. I knew I wasn't going to be great at classroom management. That's going to be the one big thing I'm going to have to work on. But my host teacher gave me some good advice and now that that first day is over, I think I'll be able to cope better. It's hard to manage a class, your lesson and your nerves all at once. 

Also, the grade nine class is actually pretty amazing. They're really excited, enthusiastic kids who actually love participating and discussing. First thing in the morning on top of it. They're also really creative and funny. I asked them to write me a paragraph using three poetic devices we'd covered in class and I got some pretty impressive stuff. I laughed out loud reading some of them. It was awkward because I was in a computer lab by myself with some random students on the other end of the room, but that's just normal for me.

So, that's today. For the first time in a long time I truly understand TGIF. And man, I am T-ing G because I think I've worked hard for F. I don't care if that sounds dirty.

Lauren.

asjdfhljbrg;iabfajhfiher;nfas!

The first word I'm going to utter for this blog (I realize it's no longer the official first word) is:

asjdfhljbrg;iabfajhfiher;nfas!

If you can pronounce it, let me know.

Busy, busy day. I want to curl up in a ball and sleep until noon. But I can't. I can't because I'll have gone through two and a half classes by then. And I'm for sure teaching tomorrow! We had another mishap today so I got pushed back again. My "bring it" is now completely ineffective so I won't bother stating it a third time.

Other highlights of today include:

Getting my full driver's license! I left school at 1:45, finished my test in half an hour, woot for green lights, and passed! I had the same instructor as last time though apparently this time, I wasn't PMSing and neither was he. We had a rather pleasant conversation.  I wish we'd been like that 75$ ago.

I also learned that the best way to do a driving test is to have a cop in front of you and an instructor playing with your air vents and scribbling beside you.

My ditz moment of the day:

I stayed late fixing up my handout for tomorrow's class. I reformatted it and everything. I then printed it off in the library and scurried to the copy room. I was bit lost so I asked for help. A woman came to my rescue, pushed some button, said some words in latin and bibbetty bobbetty boo, my copies appeared. I grabbed them and ran. I was late for another appointment. I only realized when I got to my second destination that I was holding 66 blank pages. How I thought 66 blank pages were double-sided copies I'll never know. Must rush in tomorrow morning.

My irritating moment:

I had an appointment with a prof. Either I'm totally messed up in my days or I got stood up. Although, I did get through half a crossword while I waited.

My "this had better work or I'll kick you" moment:

I worked on the new Pride blog with one of my fellow Pride members. This is the third site I make for Pride. If they don't use this one, I'm going to get very angry. Yes, I'm just using weebly but it still takes a while to do! And contrary to popular belief, I do have things to do!

My "kill me now, please kill me now" moment:

I reviewed my lesson plans, made the appropriate changes, got most of my crap ready for tomorrow. I finally took my bra off! (And OH MY GOD! that felt good) and I realized, I didn't blog today. It would have bothered me to no end at this point. So, I've written this in ten minutes and then I'm going to collapse. It's midnight and I'm going to be up and at it in less than seven hours.

Glad today is over.

Lauren.

It Begins Again

Where did today go?

Placement began. I was at school by eight o’clock. I sat in on an English, a Religion and a Math class. My host teacher had to sub for a gym class so I watched that too. It was kind of entertaining. My host teacher was wearing a pair of knee-high boots, a t-shirt dress and a cardigan type thingy. Not quite what you picture a gym teacher wearing. The other teachers who passed her were all kind of smirking.

I think I'm going to have an interesting time. I have thirty grade nines and fifteen grade elevens. My host teacher has kindly spared me having to teach math. They're very interesting groups. It's going to be a challenge figuring out how to get to all of them. 

I should also mention that my cousin T is teaching at the same school. He knew my host teacher. She made him give me a ride home. I like her.

But before I knew it, the day was done. 3:10 never came faster. 

I get to teach tomorrow. First time teaching (officially), forty five minutes, thirty students, poetry… BRING IT! I'm going to keep saying "bring it" until it's been brought.

When I got home I pretty much collapsed with an iced tea and a bowl of pretzels. I don’t know how, but I eventually got up and finished my lesson plans for the week, I emailed two profs, set up a meeting for our newest Pride venture, got some things ready to put in the mail (Veronica, it is part one of your birthday gift), added an article to the online journal I’m working on.

Being this productive freaks me out. I don’t know if I like it or not. I feel like I’m constantly on. Always going. I kind of like feeling unproductive.

I must admit, I was rather sad when Glee wasn’t on. I was looking forward to it. I’m currently watching The Mentalist. Looks like there’s some serious transference and counter transference going on between a therapist and Patrick. That’s a nasty, sneaky issue. I’ve experienced it. It took me years to find out just how messed up and complicated it makes life. It’s one of the few Freudian theories I do believe.

Anyway, I have a really long day ahead of me tomorrow. A really, really, I’d rather be puking my guts out, long day. Bed time.

Lauren.

Thanksgiving 2011

Today was Thanksgiving. My grandparents came over and my mom, sister and I took great pleasure in making what my dad and grandparents were saying sound dirty. Some of it involved whipped cream, other parts involved handcuffs and batons. Oo lala!

Alas, I'm now in a turkey-coma. So is Meeko. At least I'm not alone right?

Things I'm thankful for?

- family even though they drive me crazy (short drive, haha, heard that one before...)
- friends, because they make bitching so much more fun
- food, because it is delicious and keeps me alive
- the letter 'f' because without it, my first three items would be amily, riends and ood. Those aren't words.
- hot showers, do I need to explain that one? They're just lovely.
- writing, because it keeps me from completely losing my mind.
- patience, because I need as much of it as I can get.
- Glee, it makes me happy and it annoys others which also makes me happy.
- children's literature for the wonderful escape it provides

In spite of today being a holiday, I mostly worked on my lesson plans and creative writing portfolio. I'm actually supposed to start teaching tomorrow. I have one thing to say about that: BRING IT! I'm kind of nervous, kind of excited, but at the moment, mostly tired. 

We'll see how it all happens.

Lauren.

The Answer is Always DISNEY!

I spent a bit of time today working on my lesson plans and the various interesting things that go along with them. While reading poetry is super fun (I didn't enjoy it until my third year of university), dissecting it is even more fun (another activity I did not enjoy until my third year of university). Given these facts, and the fact that my students are in ninth grade, I spent a while trying to figure out how to make dissection an activity that would not necessarily entertain them, but definitely wouldn't make them want to tear out their eyes. I eventually decided that I would break them off into groups, give them different poems and have them take them apart together. Then we'd take up the poems as a class and see what they came up with. But what would I use for poems? I didn't want anything really complicated, I wanted something that everyone was familiar with... I figured a few songs would do the trick. Unfortunately, most of the music I'm familiar with is either inappropriate, not the best for poetic analysis or just really old. And then it hit me. DISNEY!

Yeah, I'm using Disney songs. I found four that seem decent. One from Mary Poppins, one from the Lion King, one from Pocahontas and one from Beauty and the Beast. At this point in time, the students don't need to know that chimney sweeps were really five year old kids who often died young from inhaling soot. Neither do they need to know that the Lion King is an animal version of Hamlet (maybe that's why I was never crazy for the Lion King...). They don't need to know that John Smith was a tyrant, that the Virginians killed him and that Pocahontas died shortly after arriving in London. And I'm definitely not telling them that Beauty and the Beast is probably one of the pervier fairytales out there. Let's just say there's a reason why the Beast is male.

Anyway, all of this reminded me of how I spent one of my lunch breaks earlier this week. Interesting where inspiration comes from...



Isn't learning with Disney fun? I think more teachers should be open to teaching with cartoons. Look at the Magic School Bus. That show is relevant all the way up until at least grade eleven bio. It's how I remembered so much about the circulatory system. Thanks Miss Frizzle! Perhaps when my future students think about dissecting poetry they'll think of Mary Poppins and that incredibly historically inaccurate song about the chimney sweeps. Wouldn't that be cool!

This activity still needs to be tested... more on how it worked out later.

Lauren.

Voldemort Versus Kayley Cuoco?

I’m having second thoughts about the whole Kayley versus Mark competition. Poor Mark. Apparently Lord Voldemort’s creepy snake face beats shirtless Mark Salling. What kind of twisted Rock, Paper, Scissors are we playing here people? (Voldemort beats Mark, Kayley beats Voldemort, Mark beats... coffee?). I have to admit, I did not see that coming. I thought picking a good looking guy from a really popular show would be good competition for a good looking girl from a popular show. I didn’t account for Harry Potter Seven Part 2.

For a while I was afraid Mark would be beaten by a cup of coffee. How depressing would that be. Mark, don’t feel bad. Harry Potter has been ten years in the making. Glee's only in season three and it doesn't have a best selling series of books that changed the world of children's literature. And while Sue Sylvester can be pretty epic, I think we can both agree that Voldemort is the most epic villain since Darth Vader. Not that the two are really comparable.

My only other thoughts for today relate to writing. I was working on my portfolio, re-writing a piece to make sure it’s at its best. I have to say that I’m starting to freak out a bit over this grad school stuff. Feels like there’s a lot to do. Because there is. Stab me in the face. And the fun part is that I may not get in. OR! I’ll get into a school and not be able to afford it. In which case it won’t matter if I get in. I feel that it’s important to be optimistic.

And on that note, I’ll be heading off to bed. Much to do tomorrow. I have to finish that piece and finish organizing my lessons for next week.

Lauren.

My Worry

Since I went to vote, I now get to complain however much I like. Here’s the good news. Though a Conservative won for my area, they did not win the province. YAY! Normally I like the colour blue, but Conservatives ruin everything. Canada is too blue.

...WWJLD? (What would Jack Layton do?)

Sure the guy for my area is, regrettably, something of a goober (him I’ve actually met), but he’s a relatively harmless goober.

Aside from that, I’m off to placement next week. I get to teach a full 74 minute period every day. I’m excited, but also nervous. My host teacher gave me a whole unit. Granted it’s only nine days but when those kids go off to grade ten it will be with the knowledge I’m going to try cramming into their heads. Kind of weird being on the other side. Not so worried about them hating me. I know they will. I’ve been informed that I have to give them three summative evaluations in nine days. Hehe, poor kids.

What worries me most isn’t academic at all. I’m smart, I’m flexible, I’m resourceful, academics I can handle. My problem is that I feel almost like I’ve ducked back into the closet. While I’m up at the university I can be open. I am open about who I am. I don’t feel like that’s the case at my placement. My placement is at a catholic school. The superintendent of the board is my religion professor. Her daughter is in my grade nine class. I’m not used to hiding who I am, I’m not used to monitoring what I say or running it through a catholic filter. I can be professional, it’s the hiding that bothers me. Because I do feel that being open about my sexuality would constitute a mistake.

It’s not like I would walk into the room wearing a suit made from a Pride flag and announce my gayness to the class. But I do help run a Pride group in town. There are pictures of me standing with my openly gay friends behind a Pride flag on the Internet. I can’t control who sees that. It’s a public resource. And to be honest, that’s how I want it. I wrote a paper years ago detailing how influential an openly gay teacher could be, both for gay students and heterosexual students. I actually have the research to prove it. If a student were to ask me if I’m gay or how I feel about the gay community, I won’t lie, and I really don’t want to duck around the question. If a student uses a homophobic slur, I’m not going to tolerate it. The unfortunate reality of this situation is that I’m being graded and if I say or do something “offensive” it can get really big, really fast and end really badly for me.

Funny isn’t it? It took me three years to admit to myself who I am, forget telling other people. Now here I am five years later and I feel like I’m going backwards. The things we do, the hoops we jump through to get to the elusive “end goal”. I’m a closeted hypocrite.

And here’s what’s truly funny. I’m teaching English now, but come November I’m actually teaching a religion class, more specifically, the unit of Catholicism. No chance questions will come up then...

Hmmm... WWJLD?

Lauren.

Awesome, Sex Knot and Peanuts

Today I learned about Humanist Learning. What did that feel like? Kind of like I was living in a hippy commune. It was fun for an hour, it was a beautiful day to be sitting around outside, but I also kind of wanted to barf. Though, I must admit, watching four people sit down on one side of a picnic table while the other side was completely empty, that was fun. Never seen four people flip over so fast before.

We were given sports equipment, instruments, legos, craft supplies and books to entertain ourselves. We received no instructions as to what we were supposed to do with them. We just had to do our thing. I read bits and pieces from The Book of Awesome. There were a few things in there that were in fact awesome. Catching a string of green lights. Taking your bra off after being trapped in it for hours. Popping bubble wrap. Opening a new jar of peanut butter. And then there were less awesome things. Like using every kind of shampoo and soap in someone else’s shower. Uh... not so fun for me. Kind of gross more like. Also didn’t see the awesomeness in witnessing a stranger farting. I mean, if you witness it, you’re there right? You get the stinky too. What’s so great about that? Maybe I just misunderstood that one.

While I was doing this, some of my classmates grabbed hold of the instruments and essentially wrote what I’m going to call The Humanist Learning Horror Movie score. It was quite funny though I imagine the classes going on indoors nearby didn’t think so. Yup, I paid nearly 8000$ for the privilege of participating in these activities.

Aside from that I became our section rep’s bitch. She was demonstrating what she called ‘a sex knot’ and I got to test it out. The knot... not the sex part. I don’t remember how to tie the aforementioned knot, but it is kind of neat. Like handcuffs you can easily get out of when you start freaking out. I have met yet another sex guru of sorts. Can I call that irony? It seems ironic to me. Oh, and I am not a very good bitch... at least not the submissive type. 

Well, now that I’ve covered education and sex, perhaps I should move on to politics. Yes, today was election day. Guess who I didn’t vote for. I’ll give you three guesses.

We had to vote in yet another Church (again, clearly a way of keeping Church and State separate). This one kind of smelled like Tegrin shampoo. I don’t want to know why. Unlike last time when the voting lady appeared out of nowhere ninja style, we were greeted by a pleasant-looking elderly woman who promptly directed us to the longest line there. Apparently no one was registered to vote at station 36. The guy at the table who checked my ID was cross-eyed and took a while staring at my driver’s license before passing it off to his table-mate and asking her where I lived. They finally agreed on that matter, then gave me my ballot with specific refolding instructions. I had to show the woman that I had in fact folded my ballot properly before dropping it in the box.

The only question I’m left with is this: Why are there peanuts in a church?

All around the church there were signs indicating that it was not peanut free. Uh... okay. It's church not a cookie... I don’t remember that being covered in the Bible.

Lauren.

Bad Time to be LGBT

I wanted to write this post yesterday but I was too tired to really do it justice. And to be honest, I think a little bit of justice is what this topic needs. I frequently come down on Americans (I know not all of you feel this way) for their homophobic/anti-gay legislature and policies. I don’t necessarily post my opinions, but I certainly have them. Well, today I am going to give my American neighbours a break and focus my attentions a little closer to home. Yup, it’s apparently a bad time to be LGBT in Ontario Canada.

We’re gearing up for provincial elections here in Ontario. The Liberal party is likely going to be trounced yet again, who knows what will happen with the NDP and well, I fear another Conservative party win. What does this mean? Well, let me show you. The following is an ad that was put out by the Conservative Party and it was and is still supported by the Ontario Conservative party leader Tim Hudak.

Now, because I’m me, I realized that a lot of these points are lacking context. I decided to look up the passages being quoted. As it turns out, these points are NOT from the Ontario K-12 curriculum (which I knew before reading the document), it is a teacher resource published by the Toronto District School Board to promote inclusion in schools.

As to the points themselves, allow me to put them in context.

The only reference to cross-dressing I found (in the annex) was regarding the following:

• ·   The Renaissance Transgender Association, Inc. www.ren.org/page2.html
• ·      This site includes a very useful guide for creating peer support, activist, and educational groups. It is primarily focused on cross-dressing.

I found the "fairytale" quote under the accomodations/extensions section of the larger strand meant to teach children about gender stereotypes.  This means that they are in fact accomodations for certain students. The document reads as follows:

•  Accommodations/Extensions
•  Give additional support during the brainstorming session, providing clues for activities. Provide opportunities for students to express their ideas verbally, with pictures, etc. Provide pictures and photographs from magazines to illustrate activities and toys that reinforce gender stereotypes and as a means to enrich the Media Literacy aspects of the lesson.
• Have students cut and paste these items onto their lists.
• Read some traditional folk tales and fairy tales with the class. Have students write/illustrate their own “gender-bending” versions.
• Share stories, articles, and illustrations of people in the media and communities, who break gender barriers (e.g. female hockey player, male teacher who likes to cook or sew)

On top of which, I think it’s a good writing exercise where point of view and putting yourself in someone else’s shoes is concerned.

The Valentine’s Day thing sounded a little weird to me, so I looked that up too. Here’s what that was all about.

• ·       Kissing Booth
• ·       Set up a tent or other structure, in a central place, that students and staff can enter. Decorate with cherubs and hearts. Put together a slide show of anti-homophobic messages and have it run on a continuous loop on a wall nearby.
• ·       Before entering the Kissing Booth students and staff must complete a short 10-15 question school climate survey. In the booth, students and staff are greeted by students who place a stamp of a kiss on their cheek and a few chocolate kisses in their hand. Extend the Kissing Booth activity by informing all home form teachers of the event, ask them to announce it and provide discussion questions for the day after. Publicize the results of the climate survey that kissing booth participants filled out.

And lastly, the reference to teaching the book Gloria Goes to Gay Pride. Here’s the rationale and context behind that one.

• ·       Talk to students about the importance of this day to Gloria and her family. Explain to the students that Pride Week is a week when same-sex families celebrate their community. (This term and other related words such as gay, lesbian, and bisexual should have been introduced and discussed in the previous activity.) Be prepared to discuss aspects of Pride Week that students may have seen at the parade or in photos or news reports. Stress that the way people dress for a parade is different from the way they dress every day and that all gay, lesbian, and bisexual people don’t like to dress in the same way. Be careful that students don’t stereotype LGBTQ people based on certain images they notice.

I haven’t read the document in its entirety. It is over 200 pages. But after looking at the table of contents and perusing a bit, I will be contacting the Toronto District School Board to request a copy. That document is exactly what education needs. It appears to be carefully thought out, age appropriate, inclusive and sensitive to minorities. Children need to start learning early on how to be sensitive and understanding of people who are different from them. We don't accept racism or sexism, why do we still accept heterosexism? And you know what? Just because this subject matter isn’t being taught in schools, doesn’t mean that kids aren’t noticing it. Little Abby has noticed that her best friend Candace has two daddies. Who do I want informing my child? A teacher or other students who also may not understand? Teach hate and fear or treach tolerance and understanding?

To wrap up, I’d like to show you an ad that appeared in the National Post.

There's more to the ad, I just couldn't find another image large enough to be readable.

 All I have to say is that the only children who are confused over their identity (because of society at large and ads like these) are the children who are or will eventually will “come out” as transgendered, transsexual and so on. I don’t understand why intersex is there because I don’t think one can question whether or not they are intersex… I might be wrong on that last point.

So, a rather long post today, but it had to be said. I’m rarely ashamed of being a Canadian. When stupidities like this appear in the press and I'm reminded that hatred exists here as well, I am ashamed. We (all people around the world) should be better than this.

Here’s a suggestion for the up-coming election. Find a way to fix the economy. It won’t matter who’s gay, straight, bi or trans if we’re all broke and fighting for food rations.

Lauren.

Another Long Ass Day

Long ass day. Class kind of makes me feel like I’ve had a lobotomy. By the sixth class hour, I was beyond done. No one can focus that long.

Although, I have to say I did have fun writing our Garage Band song. It’s a really happy, peppy, piano tune and to contrast (because contrast is good) the lyrics are all sarcastic and wry. It begins with pitch altered lalas that make me happy and then there’s... well, us... and we can’t sing. So it’s pretty funny. It was quite the episode looking for an empty classroom.

Anyway, no post on Glee today because I’m actually still watching it. Got to love time zones. Yay for Mike and Tina have more than one line a piece!

Tomorrow I have to be at school for 7:30AM... how awful is that?

Lauren.

Bathroom Scavenger Hunt

For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while (if you’re still there) you’ll remember that I have had issues with bathrooms in the past. For those of you who are just popping in, I have issues with bathrooms. So, we’re all on the same page? Awesome.

Today, I had several issues.

My ‘How to teach English’ class ended at 10:30. I kind of needed to pee, but I’d been late getting to class and I didn’t want to be late to my next one. So I rushed downstairs to my next class. I should probably tell you that it’s impossible to be farther away in the school than this class. It’s literally the last room at the very back.

I sat through class and by the time we got to the break, I definitely needed to pee. I walked quickly out of the classroom. I was well on my way and then I ran into one of the English profs just as she was coming out of the photocopy room. We ended up stopping in the hall and chatting about the English Studies journal we’re working on.

At last we separated and I walked to the end of the hall, turned  right and saw the most horrible thing I saw today. There was a bar across the door with that terrible ‘closed for cleaning’ sign. There were about twenty people in the hall who witnessed me about face while shouting “DAMMIT!”

I ran up the stairs to the second floor and walk/jogged down the hall to the nearest bathroom. What, you may be wondering, could possibly go wrong? Well, in a bathroom containing three stalls, one of them was out of order. And then there was a line. Four girls. The universe didn’t want me to pee! And I really needed to pee!

In the end, the second the one girl opened the stall door, I was already moving toward it. After that, it all went downhill, pardon the pun.

I have to admit that in spite of being annoyed that the bathroom on the first floor was closed, I am happy to see that they do on occasion get cleaned.

Lauren.

So... Sleep?

I love weekends that don’t feel like weekends. This is going to be a busy week. It’s going to be a nightmare. I have projects due, my regular classes, meetings, journal work and I have to get my unit finished for placement next Tuesday. If only I had fewer pointless assignments to do. It would be easier to focus on truly important, worthwhile tasks.

I need a plan. Yes... a plan.

I could... just... you know... sleep? Perhaps I’ll finally master that whole learning/working by osmosis type deal. Just put the book over my face and let the knowledge seep in. Wouldn’t that be lovely?

Maybe if I make a list...

1)      Control temper. Definitely need to control temper.

2)      Take one thing at a time.

3)      Sleep.

4)      Always keep problematic situations in perspective. Classes are only two hours long.

5)      Sleep.

6)      Do not sleep in class. Sleeping during breaks is okay.

7)      Sleep.

8)      Do not let that teacher rile you.

9)      Sleep.

Hmmm... so sleeping is coming up a lot. I have a sense that sleeping is going to be important. I’ve been sleeping a lot lately. I’m kind of terrified. I can’t usually nap and sleep well at night. Lately I’ve been napping well AND sleeping well.  

Speaking of sleep... I have class at 8:30 in the morning. I should probably get to bed. Once this week starts it’s going to fly by and I’m not going to know which way is up. Or down. Sideways? I still have Glee on Tuesday to look forward to.

Lauren.

Jealous of my Cat

My cat is stuffed up. He snores on a good day but now it's magnefied times a hundred. He's snoring and I'm jealous of him. I wonder if I could trade places with him. Think he'd do a good job writing my lesson plans?

See you all tomorrow.

Lauren.