Archive for the ‘Rants’ Category

Some of you have been blogging happily about your kids going back to school this week.  Yeah for you!  Here in Canada we don’t go back until next week and in most cases the week after.  My students will arrive all full of enthusiasm and fear on September 7th.  Some of the students I will have are in my room by request, others based on the conversations with staff members to see how each students works, how they get along, etc.

I have a grade 6/7 split this year.  Unlike last year where I had 3 grade 7s, this year’s group is almost 50-50.  Either way, it’s not a great split.  It’s a split that crosses two divisions, which for one thing means the grade 7s have more work, not just generally speaking but because the social studies get split in grade seven to be history and geography.  Tee-hee-he!  I get to give that one away.  And the grade 6s have to write the provincial test.  For me, the test is no big deal.  I’m going into my seventh year at my current school and six of them I have taught a grade that has provincial testing.

I don’t stress provincial testing, until we get the results, which sadly/gladly rarely surprise me, after all I taught the students for an entire year.  Why don’t I stress the test?  Simple, I teach the curriculum and know that I have done everything I can to get each group of students through the year and ready for the test.  Do I teach to the test?  I’d be lying if I said no.  Unlike my American cohorts who have testing every year, we only have it in grade 3 and 6, in the elementary grades.  I teach to the test from the standpoint that I look at tests from the previous year and share strategies with my students on how to go about answering those questions.  I teach them how to write properly, I try to teach them how to problem solve.  See, it’s not really all that hard…and gee, aren’t these two skills that the students will take beyond my teaching them anyhow.

I’m actually going somewhere with this post.  Several weeks ago I left a comment, actually it was an email because the comments were closed at that point, about the lack of creativity in schools.  Sadly there are quite a few teachers who insist on teaching using what is affectionately known as the drill and kill method, or rote learning.  I’m not one of those people.  Love it or hate it, I’m one of those teachers who rarely uses her desk for anything more than a coatrack and dumping ground.  I’m one of those teachers who is constantly looking on the internet to see what other’s are doing, to see what I can do better.  I’m one of those teachers that some teachers don’t like.  It may be because I make them uncomfortable, it may be because I use technology.  I don’t do this for either of those reasons.  I do what I do in my classroom for my students.

I have only been teaching (in the classroom) for eight years and I can honestly say that I am not teaching the same way now that I taught then.  I have changed my teaching probably every year.  What worked for one group may not work for another group.  This is one of the reasons I do not believe in the drill and kill method, because students learn differently.

I had a student a few years ago who just needed to stand to work.  The student was in on was disruptive when working, as a matter of fact as long as he could stand to work, he was no only on task, but often so on task he almost zoned out.  I had no problem with this method of working at all.  My supply teachers, well that was another story all together.  It drove them nuts!

I’m not saying any of this to toot my own horn. I’m sharing this because of the email exchange I had with this person (I’m sorry, but I don’t have a blog name, just the email addy).  I’m sharing this more to tell you that there is definitely creativity going on in schools, I promise.

Have you read Mocha Momma?  If not, why not?  She’s an educator who inspires me to keep up my crazy ways. She’s also proof that there is creativity still going on in schools.

It’s coming, maybe not this year, maybe not next, but there is a change going on in schools.  It’s just a matter of time before people are not needing to post about the lack of creativity in schools.

This is just another example.

I found it fascinating to read about what is going on in the education system in New Orleans since Katrina.  I just hope it doesn’t take a disaster to bring change to your schools.

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Care to join in on the fun…or to see what others are writing about today?

I was up late the night before because I lost track of time when putting together my classroom newsletter than goes home at the beginning of every year.  Not a big deal, it’s still summer and I didn’t have to get up that early to go into the school.  That said, I also figured it would mean I would be good and tired the following night and be able to get a good night sleep.  HA!

11 pm – Get ready for bed. I was pretty tired at this point so things were looking pretty good. Remember to take allergy pill.

11:20 – Let the dog outside one last time.

11:30 – In bed.  Hubby had left the TV on so I thought I’d watch it for a few minutes.  Apparently I was tired enough though because I couldn’t even tell you what I was watching, but I think it may have been Entertainment Tonight.

11:45ish – Give up on TV, too tired and ready to sleep.

12:10 am – Here a dog barking down the road (I’m in the country, this is not a normal occurrence). My dog starts barking, of course!

Toss and turn, toss and turn

12:54 – My nose decides this is the time to have a sneeze attack.  Wake Hubby up with all the noise.  Oops.

12:55 – Hide in the washroom until the sneezing is done and my nose isn’t running anymore.

1:00 – Back to bed.

Toss and turn, Toss and Turn.

Refuse to look at the clock, because really all I want to do is sleep!  Refuse to get up and do something, because, although I can’t get comfortable, I am more comfortable lying down.

5:00 – Alarm starts going off…not mine, Hubby’s

5:09 – off again, plays a little bit

5:21 – off again

5:30 – off again, here a bit about traffic not being heavy ( I know people commute, but I almost want to say Duh! to the radio because traffic should not be heavy at 5:30 in the morning).

5:40 – off again

5:50 off again (now, I can usually sleep through these, but considering I wasn’t sleeping anyway…)

6:00 – off again, Hubby gets up and turns off the radio!  YEAH!

6:30ish – Hubby comes into to say goodbye.  YEAH!  I should be able to get more sleep.

Toss and turn, toss and turn.  This time with the dog beside me, not Hubby.

7:00 – Oh look, that’s the time.  I’m NOT getting up yet.

Toss and turn, toss and turn.

730ish – Dog’s panting “wakes” me up.  Turn the ceiling fan higher.

7:54 – Really?  It’s only been an hour since I last looked at the clock, how can that be?

8:30 – Damn, only 30 minutes later…and I’m still not getting up. Pull blankets up closer because the ceiling fan is making me too cool now and I refuse to hit a button to lower the speed.

9:00ish – Cat jumps up on the dresser and somehow opens the top drawer, trapping her up there.  Jump out of bed to get her down.  Screw it, I’m going back to bed.

9:45 – Heck, this just isn’t working.  Drag my sorry butt out of bed and hope I’m so tired tonight that I will actually be able to sleep!

10:40 – Sitting here typing this because that’s about the only thing I have energy for or care to do.

Sidenote: Coffee will not be helping me stay awake today…coffee in fact puts me to sleep.

So I will probably flog this one for a week or so, but after having several people ask me about it last week, and many more ask me about it in the previous weeks and months I have finally added a Google Friend Connect widget. The only problem, it’s not that easy to find. You’ll have to head right down to the bottom and add yourself because the silly thing is wider than my sidebars. I’d love it if you would add yourself.

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It’s almost time to head back to school. Actually, classes start exactly two weeks from today. Last year was such a very hard school year, despite having a great group of students that it’s taken everything I have to get ready for the coming year. I’m very glad to hear that I am not the only one who has felt like this. Apparently, several of us A-type teachers have done next to nothing this summer. I’m not sure if this is a good thing or a bad thing. On the good side, it means we have tried to relax and rejuvenate. On the bad side, we’re likely to do the same thing to ourselves again this year because we will feel like we are so far behind.

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Friday night Hubby put the movie Airspeed on.  Oh, it is not a good movie in any way, shape or form, but I found myself watching it anyway.  I wish that Canadian productions were better, but they are not,  not even close.  What I did find funny, aside from the horrendous acting was the fact that Elisha Cuthbert (from 24 fame) was in it and I didn’t even recognize her!  Let’s just say she’s come a long way in her acting abilities since then.

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Have you heard of Groupon, or FabFind, or Teambuy or Living Social?  I cannot tell you how much I’m loving these sites.  I don’t buy from the very often, but last week I purchased a coupon from Groupon…$25 for a $50 GC at the Gap!  Love it!  Needless to say I went shopping for a few back to school items on Friday.  Between the coupon and the additional money I had to put in, I ended up with a savings of about 40% off the amount I spent…on top of the sale prices the clothing already was. I hope that makes some sort of sense. (BTW, I’m not being paid for any of this paragraph at all…I just love the sites!)

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I have been as lazy as I could possibly be this past week because I screwed my knee up AGAIN!  I actually did it while we were at the race in Michigan, but I haven’t bothered mentioning it until now.  I know better, but I can’t help but push myself a bit more than I should.  I was planning on making a Dr. appointment to get it checked out over the summer, but it hasn’t bothered me until now.  I’ve had knee problems for over 20 years now and back then there was nothing that could be done for me.  I really should make the appointment though so maybe I can get some physio or something for it.

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Speaking of bad body parts…my FIL got some really bad news last week about his bad.  Long story short, his doctor said the problem would heal, and now, months later he finally got to see a specialist who was hopeful that he would be able to help him with the pain.  Not so, unfortunately in the time that it took to get to the specialist and set up the procedure the spine has gone too far and the surgery would have been too risky and the doctor didn’t want to risk it.  So, now there appears to be nothing they can do and my FIL has to live with the pain.  Sadly, this is not the first time small town doctors in my area have screwed up…years ago it took two months to diagnosis my father’s heart attack.  Sometimes small town living can really suck the big one!

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On that note, I’m off to enjoy what is left of my summer vacation.  I only have one day that I HAVE to go in before school starts and I plan on being a bum for as much of the rest of it as I can.

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Oh and just to plug it again…I finally added a Google Friend Connect at the very bottom if you are interested in adding yourself to my list of followers.  Thanks in advance.

I grew up in a small town where street lights were a normal everyday illumination in the evening.  When I went away to school I went to the big city, where slag dumps lit up the night sky like you wouldn’t believe.  It was actually pretty cool and for some this was a family event…driving across town to see this nightly occurrence (I liked on the right side of town).  I am now a country girl, a country girl who enjoys the darkest, dark there is to be had.  I have troubles sleeping during a full moon because the moon is too bright for me and actually keeps me up – it’s worse in the winter when the moon reflects off the snow, I’m miserable the next day if I don’t fall asleep on time.

And what exactly does this have to do with my possessed satellite receiver?  It’s out to get me, I swear it is.  This phenomena has been happening for months, and Hubby wouldn’t believe me.  Now the receivers are banding together and they’re out to drive me nuts.

Sometime over the winter I was awoken (okay, I wasn’t really asleep yet, but the eyes were closed) by a bright light, a light so bright I could see it through my eyelids.  It was the little green glow on the satellite receiver box.  It was bright, I was annoyed.  I was annoyed because I knew darn well that I had turned the box off and why, or why was it on again, waking me up?  By the time I rolled over to grab the remote it had turned itself off.  Was I imaging this stupid light being on?  No!  Is it possible it was on and then turned itself off?  Hubby doesn’t think so, he thought I was nuts and the time and I haven’t brought it up since.  But you know what, the damn thing has continued to do it, not nightly, but enough to drive me nuts with annoyance.  I need my sleep people, I’m an 8-9 hour  a night person.  I’m grumpy without my sleep, sometimes very grumpy!

What ever the stupid box in the bedroom seems to be out to get me.  I’m starting to think TVs in the bedroom are a bad idea, but I like the comfort of being in there when I don’t want to watch what’s on the livingroom.  Hubby falls asleep with the TV on nightly, so I guess it’s staying.  Stupid box and all.

But you see, the other night, the night where the boxes seem to be plotting for my sanity, the same thing happened in the livingroom.  As a matter of fact it’s happened twice in the past few days.  I distinctly remember turning the box off and when I look up again, the little blue light in back on taunting me.

The first time I noticed, I had turned off the box the other night and was sitting here doing the internet thing.  Next thing I know I saw a little blue light out of the corner of my eye.  I questioned myself, but yes, I did  in fact turn it off.

And why am I sharing this with out now?  I part because the stupid one in the bedroom did it again last night!  And in part to see if anyone else out there has had this experience – by the time I would wake Hubby the stupid light would be off again anyway.

What’s really funny…seeing Hubby’s face when he wonders why there is a sock thrown over the receiver box. Sometimes it’s the only way I can sleep though the night.

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Care to join in on the fun…or to see what others are writing about today?

G8 and G20 are plain crazy!

aka

G8 and G20 are too expensive!!

I simply can’t leave it at six words today.  If you haven’t heard all about the craziness that is surrounding next weekends G8 and G20 summits here in Canada, just hop on over to my post yesterday for some of the tidbits of information.

I hope you’ll hop over to Cate’s site to see what other’s are writing about on this Six Word Saturday.

I live in an area that will be close enough to the G-8 and the G-20 that it is all I have heard on the news for weeks now.  If it hasn’t been the first story, it’s usually in the first five minutes.  We know what the leaders will be eating, drinking and almost everything else short of what colour underwear everyone will be wearing.  In case you haven’t heard…Canada has spent more than $1 billion (with a B, yes) on the security for these two summits.  That’s just plain crazy.  That’s the equivalent of just over $33 per person in Canada.  Sure, when broken down like that it doesn’t seem so bad, but admit it, you jumped or gasped just a little when you read the cost for security.  That doesn’t cover the cost of food, lodging, transportation, cleaning staff or anything else, just security!  Nuts!!

If that was not enough add to that the fact that both G8 and G20 were supposed to be held at the same location until someone realized the Town of Huntsville could not accommodate the number of people involved with the G20.  And, the fact that it was too remote and security wold potentially be an issue.  There are two points here.  First, yep, makes sense to move it to Toronto, a city of more than two million that has already had potential terrorist threats over the years.  That’s much easier to keep secure (more on that in a minute).  And my second point…could host the G20, but my fine Prime Minister has personally invited other countries to join the G8 and now there are apparently 18 countries being represented.  So 2 less that the G20 for those of you who may be challenged in the area of math.  Couldn’t handle 20, but apparently 18 is fine?!?!

Let me also point out the fact that the G8 is being held is some of the best cottage country in all of Ontario, and perhaps even Canada.  Those who own property on the lake where the summit is being held…they will not be allowed on the water in any form of water craft whatsoever during the summit.  And if it’s a hot summer day, they will only be able to swim in front of their cottage.  They will also not be able to have guests over as some will have to have security clearance to even get to their cottage.  The way things are going, I figure before the actual they will dredge the lake of fish, just in case someone gets bit by one?

Around the entire property where the G8 is being held, they have installed a 3 metre fence.  So much for a pristine natural setting.  Apparently a fence is also being set-up in Toronto too.  They have already started moving in cement barricades to prevent people and vehicles from entering the area.  As it is some companies have told their employees to stay home because there is no point in them even trying to get to work, even with credentials.  I good friend of fine is someone who works in the general area.  She’s opting to take vacation days or risk getting fired by choosing to work at home.  The G20 is being held in the heart of Toronto.  That must be much easier to secure than the wilds of Muskoka.

As it is I feel for anyone who had planned a vacation to Toronto prior to the G20 being moved to Toronto.  The CN Tower is being shut down for several days, the theatre district is going black, the Hockey Hall of Fame is closed (despite this video telling you it’s a great place to visit during the G20), Union Station is closed.  Heck the Toronto Blue Jays had to move their game to another city because the Roger’s Centre that close to the restricted area.  The subway systems will not be running through the restricted area either.  Yep, much better than the middle of nowhere!

Oh and I guess I shouldn’t forget the fact that they are spending $50 000 to create an indoor lake to look like the one in Muskoka.  Don’t hold it on a lake, let’s create a lake.  Nothing like a wonderful, natural environment.

I cannot make this next point up…the City of Toronto is going so far at to remove small trees so that branches cannot be used by protestors!!!

During just the G8, a one day meeting, there will apparently be  over 100,000 cups of coffee served. I wonder if it will be Tim Horton’s, it is after all the iconic Canadian coffee?

Where the G8 is being held, they have apparently are installing 800 mosquito magnets so no one attending or working the summit will get a mosquito bite!  Heaven forbid these people get the true Canadian experience.

Needless to say this is getting so out of hand it become a joke.  All of this is being done for a total of about 3 days worth of meetings with world leaders.  3 DAYS!

What makes me sad, is the fact that all these stores in small town Huntsville are hoping and planning on having people visit and spend money.  They are also preparing for the possibility of damages being caused by protestors.  The government will help businesses if they think they lost revenue, but will not cover any damages caused by protestors.

And Americans are being told to not visit Toronto next weekend.  This alert has apparently been but out by some American tourism group (I mean no disrespect, I simply don’t know exactly what group).  So all the tourism money businesses are hoping for have just been stomped on with that notice.  Go figure.

I’m sure before next weekend there will be even more crazy and insane stories that I will feel the need to share with you.

That said, I hope you’ll join in or hop on over and check out some of the other people participating in the Friday followings.

We have had an ant problem for weeks now.  I don’t know why this year, but I can tell you that it is driving me completely nuts.  At first I was all nicey, nicey about it and threw them outside.  Now, I flick them to the floor and happily tap my toe on them.  Don’t judge me please, it’s just that it is getting that bad and has gone on that long.  We have tried all sorts of things, short of getting someone to spray the kitchen, which I’d really rather not do (more on that in a minute).

I reached the end of my patience on Saturday.  I went to get myself a bowl of cereal (I eat breakfast bars throughout the week because I can’t eat when I first get up).  I really enjoy my bowl of cereal on Saturday morning.  I thought I had rolled the packaging enough to be able to keep the ants out, but when I went to open the first box, I found ants, several, a few, I didn’t count, inside the bag!  Grrr!  I was really looking forward to my Brown Sugar Mini Wheats.  Alas, that was not to happen.  I grabbed down the box of Raisin Bran, which was rolled even better.  At first glance things were looking good, it looked like a bowl of cereal was in my future.  I unrolled the bag, took a look inside and all looked fine…until…I saw one lone ant crawling around.  I don’t know about you, but I just couldn’t do it. I could not eat that box of cereal either.

What’s ridiculous though?  I completely forgot to put the milk that I bought last night in the fridge…until this morning.  Anyone ever drank milk that had been left out that long?  The milk was not warm, but had been out for about 10 hours.  Several websites said it should be perfectly fine, but I thought I’d ask you guys for your input before I went about looking/smelling/tasting it.

Back to the ant story…the reason I am hesitant to spray the kitchen, aside from the obvious, it’s the kitchen is because I remember visiting my grandparent’s condo in Florida and we were often there for spray day.  I always found the ants interesting when I was down there…because their condo was on something around the 29th floor.  How on earth do that many ants get that high up there??  On spray down, we always made sure we were out of the condo for the entire day.  Really, as a kid I couldn’t complain.  Being forced to spend the day at the beach, oh that is just too painful!

As an adult, these ants are just ticking me off!

Mother Nature is being such a pain in the ass.  I can’t really complain because we had a very easy winter here, compared to normal and compared to last year.  But, when you get a few treats of temps in the 70s and 80s, in March and April, let’s be honest, you want it all the time.  That’s not how Mother Nature works though.  Right now, as I type this, it is freezing outside.  And on the weekend we had snow.  SNOW!  The silver lining, my perenials are growing, and growing well, I might add, so that must mean that spring really is here and the temps have to go up, right?

What’s really funny with this whole weather thing, okay, funny may be the wrong word, but we have actually had several rather large grass fires in the area.  If we have one or two tiny little ones a year, that’s one thing.  This year, they’ve been big, many acres, big.  We’ve already been put on fire bans, in April.  This is pretty unheard of and although I want the warmer weather, I hope this isn’t an indication of what is to come.

I know, I’m never satisfied, am I?

And, this bloody volcanic plume, yes, I may be no where near it, but it is causing me problems.  My parents are supposed to be travelling to Europe on Friday.  This is to be my dad’s first trip overseas, and my mother’s second, but since the first was 40ish years ago…  Of course my mother thinks it’s her fault, being jinxed and all.  Yes, because you, and millions of others could foresee an Icelandic volcano deciding to spew ash, right around the time you are planning on travelling, and right at the end of spring break over there.  I was hopeful that things would be fine for them, now, not so much.  What I find even more humous is the fact that mom actually looked into taking the Queen Mary II across, just to add to the experience.  Who knew that that may have been the better option?  I’m keeping my finger crossed (could you please cross your finger too, or pray – I know this isn’t life and death) that the trip still goes off, as this is a trip my father has been wanting to do FOREVER!!

I have many other things I could ramble on about today, but I gotta save some of them for another time.  Actually, it’s more like I have to get ready for work.

I hope you’ll join in on the fun, or at least visit some of the other people playing along.

I’ve the past week or so waxing poetic rambling about the fact that spring is on the way and in the air.  With the warm weather comes bugs – mosquitos and black flies.  It is however, very much still winter here.  Yes the snow it melting and the temperatures are warmer during the day, but there still is snow and the temperatures drop below zero at night.  So where in the heck are all the ants coming from?

I don’t remember ever having an ant problem in the house in March.  Summer, yes, March, NEVER!  I don’t know where they are coming from, but in the time it too me to fill the water reservoir on the Keurig and make two drinks I think I killed about 10 ants.  TEN!  Heck there were two in the reservoir when I took it off.

This has beeen going on for about two weeks now.  Usually they are in the dishwasher, which I keep closed – although I don’t rinse the dishes…so I get why they would gravitate in that direction. The dishwasher was not the first place we found them though.

I don’t know where they are coming in the house from but I really would like them to just disappear because it really is starting to creep me out, alot!  I may just have to go and buy some ant traps, but I really don’t like the idea of putting them on the counter, where most of the ants are.
I haven’t seen 2012, but my students keep talking about it.  There isn’t anything in the movie about ants taking over the earth is there?!

So, for those of you who don’t know me, we are a NASCAR family.  Don’t call up on Sunday (or Saturday night if the case may be) because we won’t likely pick up the phone. That said…I’ve been mulling about writing about this since the incident happened. Sunday during the race Carl Edwards intentionally hit Brad Keselowski’s car and what could have been a simple wreck, most certainly was not.  What’s worse, is that he tried at least two other times before he “succeeded” in hitting him.
 

Photos courtesy of:  Marty Smith (ESPN) and Jeff Gluck, via Twitter.

You can see the video here.

(I’m glad NASCAR made changes to the car so the roof was higher, but I still don’t know how Brad walked away from this!).

Many of the media and quite a few drivers spoke out against what Edwards did on the track…especially considering Edwards himself went flying with his car into a fence last year and a spectator was in fact injured.

In response for his actions Edwards posted this on his Facebook fan page: