Shopping

The best part of Spring Break - aside from sleeping in - is spending the day with Werty. Not wanting to lose that, I dragged him along for shopping today. He actually knows what my "colors" are and can spot things that might work, even though he considers it to be a chore. Today I bought a pair of maternity jeans, a shirt/ jean shorts combo for summer when I am way more pregnant, and two maternity tops - one of which will be great for work.

I'm finally starting to show. I don't know how much longer I can hide it at work. One easy way to announce it would be to actually wear maternity clothes, but for now my slacks still fit. My biggest problem is that none of my skirts fit so I have nothing to wear on Sundays. It might be entertaining to announce in RS that I am having a boy - without previously announcing that I was even pregnant. One of the difficulties with telling RS is that there are people in RS that I also see at work.

Btw - things are not looking good for my job. There might be an opening at the middle school, or they might have one extra Social Studies section - so VERY part time. It has been suggested to my boss by others that I should become the new IB coordinator - so I would teach 1-2 sections and then work one period on IB stuff as a part time employee. If I weren't having a baby, then the middle school option would be the best for my career - earning tenure and having benefits, etc. Under the circumstances part time wouldn't be so bad - but there's no guarantee that I will be given the option. So we will pray that Werty gets this job - or a similar one with benefits - soon.

Spring Break...the flu and snow

I came down really sick last Thursday with a flu bug, and have been sick ever since. I barely managed to make it through Friday's funeral, followed by the NHS SpEd dinner dance that night I had to chaperon. Friday was a long day - 7am to 9pm, and I was SOO sick. In the end, I was glad that I went to my Aunt's funeral, and I hope that I didn't infect anyone. Saturday was lunch with my mom (in town for a couple days and the funeral), grandparents, cousins, and local siblings. That evening my sister Sue had an open house to show off their new place. So, no real chance to rest.

NHS tried to schedule a 3 hour activity for Saturday (the other advisor is out of town) without clearing it through the proper channels - and I had to say NO, I WON'T be there to supervise, I was there last night - straight from the funeral - and I have prior commitments with family on Saturday. (Can't you see it - sorry Mom, you were in town for 3 days, but I was just too busy to see you because these HS students have procrastinated until the end of the year to get their required hours.) So, students who went to the activity on Saturday could count it as personal hours instead of chapter hours.

For some reason, our school district believes that Spring Break should only be half a week instead of a full week. But at least it is a break. I've been using my time off to get some extra sleep and fluids. I want to be healthy by Monday when school starts again. My biggest fear is the amount of pain I have in my ears and head - since I am prone to sinus and ear infections. One of my students recently had strep throat - but thank goodness I am not prone to catching that. :P I have another student with mono, poor guy. I told my students to get sleep over the break so they don't come back sick - I see it happen every year - they come back more sick and tired than before the break. And since we are enjoying a week of snow and freezing cold right now, a lot of people are getting sick. Poor Werty is trying to fight this bug off and not catch it. He had a good interview last week, and he doesn't want to be sick for the second round of interviews.

It's a BOY!!!

That's right. I'm having a baby in August. We had the ultrasound today and everything looks normal. I have gall stones, but the baby is fine. :D

It was exciting to get our first peek at the baby. Man, the lady was fast! I think we were one of her last appointments for the day. Well, we are happy that our "boy vibe" was accurate. Enjoy this profile shot.

My birthday is coming

We got together with Werty's family today for lunch and birthday cake. We grilled up some hamburgers - I flavored them with spinach, yum! I made a citrus chiffon cake. I figured a mid-day celebration called for something lighter and fresher. Zinx was happy because there was fruit in the filling, and this last week he had commented to his wife that he wanted to see a cake with actual fruit in it. Not sure what we are going to do on my actual birthday. I am a little sad to be leaving my 20's behind, but with so much going on right now, I haven't had a lot of time to think about it.

To be employed, to not be employed...

Monday began with TQ day - Teachers work on end of term grades and go to meetings, kids have no school. Our department meeting went like this: "Well, there are 7 of us, next year we can only have 6." Hmmm, guess who is the only teacher in the department not tenured?

With the bad economy, schools are receiving less money from state and federal funds - some of which is usually generated with investments - and we all know what has been happening in the stock market. Our district is in better shape than most in the area - we started out in the black before the cuts. But my school has to cut 12 teachers. I know that at least 2 of us who were given new positions this year have received "the letter." This is the letter where they legally must inform you that they may not renew your contract for next year.

The week before, word in the department was that everyone was safe. Then the admin decided they would terminate the PAUS program unless they could get enough students to sign letters of intent for next year. With that program now exed - the affected teacher in our department now needs to fill the rest of his schedule with regular class sections - sections that would normally go to teacher #7. (They are also increasing class sizes again, 42-43.)

The school is facing a problem - the IB History curriculum is changing next year - and with money problems the school can't afford to send another teacher to IB training (over $1000). In the training I received last October I was given the new materials. This is the reason why the principal really wants to keep me. But so far, none of the other teachers has decided to leave or transfer. There's me - bottom of the totem pole in seniority.

The good news - if another position in the district were to open up, I can transfer with my admin's recommendation. The bad part of that is - I might be back to teaching ESL, might be teaching at a middle school (shudder), and I would NOT be teaching IB. (Best case scenario - I would be teaching at the rival school, and my 10 'bulldog' siblings-in-law might want to disown me). Plus, adjusting to a new school on top of everything else that is happening next year - I don't know if that is wise.

One of the other History teachers spoke to me when he saw that I was waiting for the principal - when I got the summons on Wednesday - I know what it meant. His comments were SO not helpful. "Well, you'll probably like your new school. You have less attachments here than the rest of us. You've been here, what, about two years?" "Five. This is my 5th year." "Huh. But you worked in ESL before. (so that doesn't count?) Well, I was at another school for 5 years before I came here. Sometimes I think about that school, but I like it here." (Yeah, me too...which is why I worked for less pay than what I was qualified for the last FOUR years to get this job. I decided to stay the last two years because I learned that the IB program was coming to my school - and I wanted the chance to be a part of it.)

So, who knows what is ahead for us. It's one of those times when you have to put things in the Lord's hands because it is all uncertain. At least, I had the chance to live my dream this year - teaching my favorite IB History class to a great group of kids. I hear my old ESL job will be available next year - but at reduced hours - better than being unemployed, right? We'll see what happens.

Some Recent Quotes from the Classroom

Told to me by one of the ESL Aides about a student's loud outburst during Algebra class:
"I feel about his class like Mufasa feels about the hyenas."

While telling a story to my students, I mentioned I had been married six years.
"She's married?" - student #1 to her friend
"How many kids do you have?" - student #2
"None."
"Don't you think you should start working on that?" - student #2
(awkward silence as the rest of the class stares at him - and I keep the retort "Well maybe I should go home right now and work on it" to myself.)
"Teacher, how old are you?" - student #3
"That's not really an appropriate question. But it is my birthday this month."
"Are you 26?" - student #3
"Older."
"Let's see. Most people get married when they are about 24. If you have been married 6 years, then you are 30. Am I right?" - student #4

Today in class: (much nicer version - between myself and a small group of students working on the assignment - totally out of the blue)
"Teacher, do you have any kids?" - female student #1
"Nope."
"Do you want any?" - female student #1
"Oh yeah. I want kids."
"Me too. I want twins - one boy and one girl." - female student #1
"I want at least four kids." - female student #2

Maybe it's the promise of Spring coming. Who knows. Like the worst answer given at the Daffodil Princess pageant to the impromtu question "What does Spring mean to you?" - "I mean, look at all the animals. You know. It's in the air. "

The end of term is getting closer

It feels like the days have been long, but the term has flown by. Since the IB students were working on their big IB paper all term, we haven't had as many assignments. The end of term is in two weeks, and they have no grades yet. None. Don't we love the age of web based gradebooks, where the students and parents can see the grades change as each assignment is turned in...and they can tell when the teacher still hasn't graded anything yet for that class because she was getting the grades caught up in her other classes - the classes that complete about one assignment each class session? Yeah, so I showed the students last week what 5 assignment were going to be making up their grade this term, so they would know. That's the best I could do. I am reading sample IB papers right now, to prepare for grading their actual papers. After I am done grading their papers, IB HQ will choose three of the papers for me to mail so that another teacher in another country can double check my work and tell me if I graded them too high or too low. So, yeah, I am reading sample papers to try to get it right. See why this takes so much longer than the grades for my other classes? It's not like I can get input for another IB teacher either - this is the first cohort of students to complete the program at this school. No one knows if they are grading correctly yet. It's a learning process. But I will say that we are finishing the WWII unit right now, and it was a blast to teach. For being such a peaceful person, I can't explain why the age of dictators and WWII is so interesting to me. However, we are running out of time and we still need to cover the Cold War and "limited" war.

Funniest thing in 8th period on Friday. We were talking about the three branches of government and checks and balances. We got to the term impeach - we discussed how it means someone is indicted, not that they were found guilty or innocent - just means there is enough evidence for a trial. Of course, Clinton was the last president impeached. It's important for the students to understand it wasn't his affair that was the issue - but that he lied under oath, e.g. even presidents can't break the law. (We also discussed Nixon btw.) Before I can get that out, one of my students busts out with, "It was that Monica lady, she was under his desk." Oh dear. Then he tries to say that there is a secret panel in the desk - installed by FDR when he was in a wheelchair...and then another kid says, "Yeah, I saw that on National Treasure." I was laughing so hard. But then I reminded the student to be more appropriate, and the other student that not everything in National Treasure is fact. Yeah.