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.

if you like educational policy...

Hey Obama,

Want our educational system to be better than other countries? Go check out what they are doing. I am willing to bet my state-sponsored health insurance that not a single nation besides ours is using Open Court Reading. I would also wager that most foreign countries teach subjects besides reading and math, so that a student will have seen a world map before the sixth grade.

Behold: Your blueprint and my commentary.

We will set a clear goal: Every student should graduate from high school ready for college and a career, regardless of their income, race, ethnic or language background, or disability status.

I don't think anyone disagrees with this. Lofty goal, slightly unattainable, but that's what goals are for.

But actually, one more thing: Do all students have to graduate in the same time frame? Some kids, like recent immigrants or those with learning disabilities, need an extra year or two to catch up. In the current system they don't get that, and are swept along to later fail or drop out. Getting rid of social promotion would help. Getting more money for summer school and intervention programs would help even more.

Following the lead of the nation’s governors, we’re calling on all states to develop and adopt standards in English language arts and mathematics that build toward college- and career-readiness by the time students graduate from high school.

While we're at it, let's make sure our standards for history, science, geography, technology, music, theater, and physical ed are also top notch. Part of our educational stalemate stems from an absence of relevant content.

We will support the development and use of a new generation of assessments that are aligned with college- and career-ready standards, to better determine whether students have acquired the skills they need for success.

If a student DOESN'T have the skills they need for success, are you going to allow them to fail? Do they get a redo? Because I have taught several children who were clearly not ready to advance but were denied the opportunity to relearn the skills they missed. It is virtually impossible to retain ("flunk") a kid these days. Those are the students that are going to get to high school and be so behind and so overwhelmed that they drop out, which will ruin our aforementioned graduation goal.

This here is a huge part of the problem with NCLB. Testing gives you data, but it does not solve any problems. Teachers themselves can probably give more reliable predictions about students' future academic successes. We don't really need more fancy tests.

Students need a well-rounded education to contribute as citizens in our democracy and to thrive in a global economy – from literacy to mathematics, science, and technology to history, civics, foreign languages, the arts, financial literacy, and other subjects...

Finally.

...We will support states, districts, school leaders, and teachers in implementing a more complete education through improved professional development and evidence-based instructional models and supports.

Oops, lost me at "evidence-based instructional models." Do you know how hard it is to design a lesson plan that will be successful with every single classroom in the country? That's basically what they are asking. "Evidence-based" means they tested the shit out and students scored higher than when they tested the other stuff out. Students are human, though, so scientifically-testing instructional models is hardly reliable and usually impossible. (How do you gather reliable evidence of thoughtfulness?)

Effective teachers and principals.

This section goes on and on about how we need better teachers but what they don't say is how they are going to measure "effectiveness." It damn sure needs to be something other than test scores. What if Consumer Reports rated stereos solely on how loud they go?

Greater equity. To give every student a fair chance to succeed, and give principals and teachers the resources to support student success, we will call on school districts and states to take steps to ensure equity, by such means as moving toward comparability in resources between high- and low-poverty schools.

I do like this and am curious how the administration proposes to close the resource gap. One suggestions is let schools control their own budget. My old school, for example, really didn't need to spend all that money on a literacy coach who sat around and fussed with test data. We would have been better off with some teacher aids.

Fostering a Race to the Top.

Just because you raise the speed limit does not mean your cars are going to be safer.

Investing in Innovation Fund will support local and nonprofit leaders as they develop and scale up programs that have demonstrated success, and discover the next generation of innovative solutions.

Again, I have a problem with how they define "success." Some programs are successful because they keep kids out of gangs. Some programs are successful because kids grow up happy and enjoy learning. Their test scores might not be high, though, and with current legislation, they are labeled a failure.

You know what this blueprint forgot to mention? Teachers deserve greater respect and more pay. It's not us who's broken; it's the system.

texts! twenty-ten edition!

Just saw a guy with a ponytail mullet but no ponytail holder.

Discovered a really boring cheese today. Cotswald double glouster. Don't bother.

My go-to question is zombies or unicorns.
Truly does hit at the heart of a person's character.

Remember the Yearners of Zion? National Geographic has a hole spread this month so we can finally learn how to do our hair.

Nice! Has the group grown, or do they keep leaving to be part of our world?

These commercials are great. On, and the few scenes of Lost in between are ok too.

Slept over at W's last night no fooling around whatsoever but he was wearing those silly gay underwear again only this time in red.

These Nerds are too good. It is hard to stop. You will have to pry them from my cold, diabetic hands.

You missed a touching bio of the skater who grew up homeless and then was adopted and then discovered. He would be a visa commercial but he's french.

I think I'm on Team Asian Richard.

Drink every time they mention lindsey jacobellis disappointment. Double if they use the word redemption.
Sorry. Couldn't read that. The alcohol has already clouded my vision.

I really like the look. I was confused at first about who he was. I thought he was david and i wondered why he looked so chipper.

Curling is so intense...

To his credit he did not try to mash any boner into my backside.

Everyone love a giant inflatable beaver.

Crap, now I don't like his eyebrows.

They're killing their resident by leaving him in there this late. That's all three!

Now I hate how he walks.

final Olympic coverage

First of all, I totally want the closing ceremony Ralph Lauren outfit.
Second of all, Shani Davis is FINE.
Third, LONDON 2012 !!!!

On a side note, Americans are so freaking self-indulged. That practically every athlete is holding out their iphone or flip-phone or camcorder to record their every step is a bit sick. I'm glad Evan Lysacek is using his own eyes and experiencing for himself.

soprano for keeps

Whoa, after all that singing, when I'm warmed up, I can hit a high G. And it sounds good!

VANCOUVER2010 !!!!!

If you are looking for an introduction to popular classical music, just watch a bunch of figure skating programs.

thank god he's back

Johnny Weir, you're number one in my queue.

live blog of report card weekend

I sat down on the couch to write these effing report cards, which may have been due on Friday, but my knitting project was much too inviting to pass up. Pea green scarf, finished at last. It only took thirteen months.

. . .

I like to start with the high achievers, because then I can copy and paste. Parents don't really need specifics when their kid is smart.

. . .

Drinking, watching Troy, and writing report cards. Brilliant combination? Or recipe for disaster? I'll find out on Tuesday, when we get the first draft. Let's hope I remember to finish.

. . .

Ooh, new Sarah Palin disasters afloat! And she sorta kinda maybe really just admitted to potentially running for president in 2012. Let's all hope that Email Gate and Property-Tax Gate blow up real big before then.

. . .

I've moved on to 300. It's Greek movie night. My last ten report cards are really pushing the creative boundaries of how to respectfully convey to parents that their child cannot read, or is a total dickhead.

. . .

Good lord, I need to quit. Five more till I'm done, but they will have to wait until tomorrow. My head is a swimming mess of Baileys and gladiator sandals. I cannot think of anything nice to say about Veronica, other than I like her new haircut. This won't do.

rainy Friday

Last night I had dinner with W and then a sleepover and it was the nicest non-date I think I've ever had. First of all, his new apartment is way up in Topanga Canyon, so it was all peaceful and isolated and tree-house like, and the rain was pattering on the windows. The view from his living room is awesome because you can see across the whole canyon and it's all green and alive right now.

We had a Japanese dinner planned and my contribution of sushi was awesome even though I couldn't find sticky rice and used risotto instead. I just made avocado rolls but there is nothing so delicious as that mix of creamy avo and salty soy sauce and tangy ginger and warm rice. Yum.

W made a tofu salad that was the worst recipe he has ever not followed. The directions actually called for carrots and snow peas to be "chopped up into matchsticks," which I dutifully did. It was quite labor intensive and I complained appropriately. One of the final steps of the recipe was to put the chopped up carrots into the blender, thus rendering the matchsticking a complete waste of time. It was supposed to be a pate but owing to the fact that W didn't read the directions ahead of time and doesn't own a blender, it came out like chopped up tofu with some tiny pieces of carrot. No seasoning.

The other failed dish was some fancy potato and tamari thing that ended up just being mashed potatoes. It was decent.

So there was good sushi and mashed potatoes and a bowl full of broken tofu. We laaafffed about the awfulness because Wade is actually a good cook. We had mochi for dessert which made up for everything.

Then we watched the new LOST episode (me for the second time) and fell asleep and I am proud to report that I kept my pants and my sweatshirt on the entire time and no tomfoolery was had.

We are both good sleepers and spooned the whole night and I only woke up once to have my daily six am allergy attack and immediately fell back asleep and then got up at about ten thirty. The rain had stopped and it was sunny and misty all at the same time. Part of the boulevard was closed due to rocksliding in the night so I had to take the valley way out. It was beautiful.

flashback city

First, I had Friday night dinner and Celebrity party at Lynn's house with her friend Jones, and we figured out that he came and subbed for yoga at my school several months ago. He was memorable because the kids had been total shits up until then, and the two days that he came in he was whipping them into shape, and we were all wishing he could stay forever. Apparently he passed up the permanent job so the current teacher could take it. They are friends.

(Coincidentally, Jones is also the one who did the robot / puppet / vampire dance bit to Don't Stop Believing at Lynn and Stephen's anniversary LUV salon. I reenacted this skit to teach my students about theme. That was in November, a few weeks before the yoga switcheroo. It was during the reenactment that we discovered that Stephen (above) teaches karate to my favorite student Jordan.)

Then there was the DOTs thing.

Most recently (tonight), I was having dinner with Emily Shmemily and her fiance Michael, and we realized that he was my neighbor in college. Not like stranger neighbors who happened to live on the same street, but like neighbors whose roommates were best friends and who had been been in each other's apartment. Our windows were facing each other fifty feet apart. After having the whole conversation I can vaguely picture him on the stairs. No less embarrassing is that neither of us recognize the other. We've been hanging out since August.

It's Johnny Cammareri...!

Moonstruck might be my new favorite movie of all time.

she smite him, dead he lay, she hit him with a tent pin and he fell down dead

This morning I went to shul randomly because I happened to wake up early and I happened to have a conversation last night about meeting Jewish guys at shul and I happened to be feeling guilty about not doing anything religious in a long while. When I got there I was not really feeling it and being uncomfortable because I recognized a lot of the faces in there but didn't really know anyone. Like, I think a handful of people had been at our parties on Reeves.

So then the torah reading finishes and Hillel, my old bat mitzvah tutor, who also happens to be a leader/cantor there, he turns to me and asks if I want to do the haftarah. Totally weird, I make a face and say no. Because that's not the kind of thing you do on the fly. But then he tells me that it's Beshalach, my portion, and do I remember what a long freaking haftarah I had. Yes, I remember the pages and pages. No, I'm not going to sing it. But awesome coincidence! Bizarre that today of all days I felt compelled to go to shul. And at Ikar, of all places, where my teacher actually remembered that that was me.

ego boost!

I went to an a capella show at UCLA with Rebecca tonight and we ran into the DOTs!!! I was sitting and listening to my neighbor chat about the workshops she went to that day, and started talking to her about singing. She asked which group I was in, and I told her I graduated but used to be in UCSD DOTs. She was like, WHAT THAT IS MY GROUP and I very proudly mumbled that I started it. Screaming ensued. She showed me her DOTs tshirt, and dragged me over to meet the rest of the girls. They were all super excited to meet me and I was super surprised that they knew who I was. (Even though my name and bio is still on their website. And I arranged several of the songs on their CD.)

After the show we said hi again and there was some mild hysteria. We took a picture together and they all told me how DOTs has changed their lives. I believe it. The pictures online make the group look like an awesome thing to be a part of, and I don't doubt that they have a lot of fun being silly and being girly. They had eighty girls try out last quarter. EIGHTY. That's a long way from 2001 when the five of us would meet in my dorm room and I would hum out parts and we had maybe three applicants when we did auditions.

They are performing at ICCA in two weeks and I'm so excited. That is big time. They are super happy and I am super happy and we had a love fest there in the ballroom of Ackerman Union. I am so proud to have started this group that has grown into something special.

persuasive essay

I'm really excited to grade this assignment.