This week I turned my computer off for the first time in 2010.

this may have made me tear and definitely deserves an award

Struggling with its immortality, a discarded plastic bag (voiced by Werner Herzog) ventures through the environmentally barren remains of America as it searches for its maker.

letter from my choir director

Ladies,

Every Thursday after choir the men need to be motivated to return the tables to their original positions. As all of you know a man's memory is very short and selective. Men's intentions are good, but they are easily sidetracked and they need to be kept on point. God made women specifically for this purpose.

Now, if the women are still lingering in the soprano section after choir, the men become confused, disoriented and unsure of their surroundings and their default reaction is to run to their cars. We need the guidance of the ladies to help us find our way of this conundrum.

Ladies, here is how you can help.

As soon as choir is over, please pick up your chair and belongings and move to the middle of the room. That sudden equilibrium unbalance should strike the male "I need to fix it impulse" and thus the men begin setting up tables restoring balance and harmony to the room.

Thank you so much for your help and guidance with yet another man in your life.

I just told my co-teacher that we will no longer be collaborating. I am shaking. But also elated.

bureaucracy

So back in public school, the gatekeeper for ordering supplies was the office manager, the secretaries, the supply person, the program director, and the principal. It was nearly impossible to order anything. Scratch that -- It was impossible to order anything. There was no opportunity whatsoever to say, Hey, I need this for my classroom, is there any way to get it?"

Since Charter Schools have control of their own budget, things should be different, and for the most part they are, but I'm finding that our office manager has become a sort of gatekeeper for which supplies get bought and which do not. I completely understand the need to be economical and save money, but when it comes down to ordering the cheap pencils that break and the more expensive pencils that can be used for longer, it seems like the choice should be easy. At least to me, who actually has to deal with the fallback from having cheap pencils break every ten minutes and students sharpening endlessly. I tried to explain this to our office manager but got nowhere as she continued to insist that we are really tight on money right now.

But buying cheap pencils is like throwing away your money, I tried to explain, because most of the pencil gets sharpened away! Why not buy the pencils that can be used for longer? Office manager who uses pens and white-out claimed that the pencils work the same.

More frustration because the price difference is about TEN CENTS per hundred. Good pencils are definitely worth that extra.

UGH

four am

Earthquake last night. Thank god I wasn't totally hallucinating. The first thing I did was put on pants. Then I went and checked the internet but couldn't find anything. Guess what, it's because I'm faster than the speed of information. I went back to sleep thinking that maybe I am crazy.

USGS reports that it was a 4.4.

NCLB lite

Fantastic article from LA Times that says everything I wanted to say, only better:

Education is a slow, arduous process that requires the work of willing students, dedicated teachers and supportive families, as well as a coherent curriculum.